Tomorrows another day, so bring on the rain

Yes ladies and gentle men. the rainy season has started back up, and let me
tell you, it came with a bang. ha 2 days out of the week it rained hard.
actually it wasnt super hard, but the most ive seen it a while. Elder Jack was
pretty excited to see so much rain. i remember thats how i felt when the rainy
season started last year, i thought it was cool to hear the rain pounding on the
metal roofs, and see rivers running down every road. 3 months later when i had
fungus growing on my skin, and my feet were falling to pieces from being wet
24/7 i wasnt so thrilled about the rain, but i guess its all part of the
experience. so this week was pretty nuts, but pretty good at the same
time. we didnt make a whole lot of progress in our area, but we did alot of
good, and things ended well yesterday. on tuesday we went to work in san
felipe, the area of the zone leaders, because there were two families there
that needed baptismal interviews. i was doing interviews from like 7 till like
10 at night (we got home a little late that night) and into wednesday we had to
finish one more. we spent the night in the zone leaders house because there was
no buses back to our area. thursday was a normal, but then on friday i had to
go to Calahuache to interview another family. we got done like a 7 but at that
time there wasnt any busses again, so we had to sleep in the elders house
there. on saturday we went to the wedding and baptism of the family because
they had invited us. it was awesome. saturday in the afternoon we had our
english class. i kind of didnt want to do it because the only people who show up
are kids who ask for candy. but on while we were waiting one of our neighbors
that we had invited showed up. so we taught him a little and he taught us some
things in kiche. Sunday we talked to the members about a goal of attendance and
used a poster we had made to show the goal and the actual number, it really
motivated alot of people, and i could tell they were all excited to go visit so
more people come. that was phase 1 of 3 that we have planned. things are gonna
start moving, i know it. Things are going well with Elder Jack. we get
along very well . something that has helped alot are the companionship
inventories that we have. its when we talk about the strong points, and the
things that could improve of each other. its helped because if there is anything
that the other does that we dont like we feel open to talk about it, and to find
a solucion. its cool. we do pretty well teaching. sometimes i struggle
because i get in talking mode, and i dont give time to him to say what he
feels. but im trying to get better and listen more and talk less. so
in the end things still arent exactly where i want them to be. i feel like ive
procrastinated alot, and that i should have acted quicker to get things done.
but ive got some high goals to get things done, and the future looks bright.
Tomorrows another day, and im thirsty anyway, so bring on the rain. . . . even
though i hate the rain here. i love you all. enjoy the week and
especially general conference. take good notes and look for personal revelation
to your specific life problems. times going fast. talk to ya´ll next week.
Adios Elder Jacobson

Sad days

well, the days arent really that sad, things are going fairly well in the area,
and in my life. the only sad day has been today, ill tell you why. my zone
this month has done really well, we baptized a ton of familias and things are
looking good. so as a reward they let us play soccer today. i was so pumped.
when the moment finally arrived i tied up my sneaks and ran onto the field.
for a moment i was back in my prime, king of the field, ready for anything. i
took my place on the left wing, the opening kick off, and the game started.
exactly 3 and a half minutes later i was laying on my back gasping for air,
wondering what happened to the good old days. now (4 hours later) my head
hurts, my feet ache and my legs are sore. 3 months without playing soccer and
im like an old man. ha i dont know what has happened to me, but yes indeed, it
has been a sad day.
but other than that things are moving along in the work. we continue
to find, little by little new investigators, and get to know more and more
people. every day i learn new lessons about effective ways to work, and things
that wont bring any results. i sometimes feel that im waisting alot of time.
but i think that the only way we lose time is when we make the mistake of
failing to learn from our incorrect descisiones. (ya i just made that up, but
you can quote me if you want). so that is the goal, to never make the same
mistake twice and to continue to get better from every mistake.
ive recognized in myself one of my strong strengths and one of my big
weaknesses. my strength is that im an idea person. my mind is constantly
going, like a ferris wheel in outer space, not always but fairly often i will
receive inspiration and get an idea that i know will work. its cool for me to
see how i can look at any problem and then think and ponder and pray about it,
and almost always the solution comes. the weakness is that im not a go and
doer. usually i get worried that my ideas will fail, or that people wont like
them, or sometimes i just get lazy, and my ideas wind up ship wrecked on the
rocks of good intent and laziness. i think thats one of the cool things about
training right now. because i have almost always been put with elders that are
go getters. but lately i have had to step up and start doing things. awesome
huh, the mission is a great chance to recognize your weaknesses and be made
stronger.
as far as investigators go we arent doing great, but tampoco horrible.
most of the families we find are hard to get a hold of the next time. either
they hide from us, or we just cant find them. but yesterday a recent convert
took us to his moms house. they fed us dinner (it made me think of the story of
alma and amulek) then we talked to them. they seemed interested and the member
helped us out a ton in teaching them. im fairly sure that they will start
coming to church. Other than that we are working with a couple named Melgin,
and Paola. we can only teach them once a week so the progression has been slow.
we have been battling with them to get them to read the book of mormon, and it
sounds like they are starting. on saturday melgin told us he didnt want to go to
any church because every church he goes to just criticizes and talks bad about
him. i asked if he would go to a church if it wasnt like that and he said yes,
and we committed him to come to church and try it out. he said he would come and
if he liked it he would be baptized.
on sunday right before sacrament meeting the 2nd counceler asked if we
could speak on missionary work. ha the funny thing was that when he announced
it he said elder Jack was gonna speak first. ha so with like 2 minutes of
preparation elder Jack had to give a talk in a language he is still learning.
but he did it like a champ. it was cool to see how the spirit helped him and
me to say things we wouldnt have been able to say otherwise. in the end i was
grateful for an opportunidad to teach and gain the confidence of the members a
little more.. thats what its all about.
well im a little low on time. but how cool that all the family
continues to DOWORK back in utah. i guess you all finally decided to follow my
example. IDOWORK. hey here is a suggestion for you, read "the family a
proclimation to the world" as a family, and hang it up somewhere in the house.
its awesome and talks pretty well against all the crap the goes on in the
world. go do it.
i love you all. keep working hard. finish the school year strong.
continue to pray for me, i always need it. ill keep praying for all you. talk
to you later.
Elder Jacobson

4 ways to know

I read an interesting article here that i think might be interesting for you.
the title is four ways to know. It explains that some people on this earth
were born as humans, but were actually meant to be flies. there is an easy
formula, 4 ways, to be exact to know if you are, or have contact with a fly
human. they are1. you can fly and land on walls2. you sometimes get
your guts eaten out by spiders3. you eat fecal matter4. you have 6 legs
and millions of eyes. if any of those traits describe you, you will probably
want to contact the fly human organization. so the week was
pretty good. its still going slower than i would like. i never have thought
of myself as an impatient person. but ive noticed here that if things dont
go well right away i sometimes get anxious and frustrated. but i think one
of the big lessons that i can learn here is to just do my best and not worry
so much about how quickly we have success. its not easy, but im
learning. the good news is that we are starting to gain success among
the members. i feel like we have more confidence with them, and they
have more confidence in us as missionaries. i think that if we can
start to get them all more involved in missionary work we wont be far
from success. we still arent in our new chapel. its kind of tough
because every week they say that one more week and it will be done, but
then saturday they announce that it will be in our house again. but
i guess i have nothing to complain about, all the elders before me had to
live with it like that. i dont know why i wouldnt. yesterday we were
introduced to a beautiful family. we only talked to them a little bit, but
they seem super awesome. they have a 15 day old baby girl, and they havent
been able to think of a name for her,they asked the names of our sisters and
i said Lonica. they really liked it. so possibly their will be a little
girl here named after the lon. So i was thinking about something last
night that might help jordan. Sometimes i like to just let my mind wander.
so last night it was taking me to all the places i have been since i
graduated. fora while i was in kentucky. i could walk in and out of the
barracks,up to the mess hall, the places where we ran the firing ranges.
the whole thing. then i went to san antonio. i could see all the
places i lived, the movie theatre where we always went. the church where
we had our services. more than the places i saw the people. tons
of people who i had known and loved. after that i was at home with
the family and friends. later i went to each of my areas, re walked
the streets, re saw the faces, and re lived alot of experiences. i said
a quiet prayer thanking Heavenly Father for taking me to all those places
and letting me get to know all those people. i realized that if i hadnt
made the decision to leave i never would have had the experiences i had or
known the people i love. So what am i trying to say. im not telling you to
leave. but what im telling you is that there are things you can never do,
and people you can never know if you never get out of syracuse. think of all
the people waiting to know you in the places you will go, and the stories you
wont be able to tell if you never get out of the house. In the end the only
way to make the right to decision is to do what it says in james 1 5
ask God. what i like to do is weigh out the pros and cons in my mind
then kneel down and with a prayer make a decision. trust the
scripture,Heavenly Father loves you and will tell you what to do.
Well, good luck to everyone in there various competitions. im sure you wont
need luck, because you all pwn. just do work, im excited to hear all about
it. so im almost out of time, but the weeks are going by super
fast now. only 6 more little months. ha imma try to lose
myself completely in the work. its hard sometimes but i know i can do it.
I love you all. Adios

good news and bad news.

the good news is that the poor bird didnt die. the bad news is that it
smashed into the windshield of the bus i was in on the way here. haha, the other
bad news is that i didnt get it on video.
Well, another week passes here in Pueblito nuevo. The work continues as
always. The truth is that it has been going a little slow for me. its been
tough trying to open area. arriving and not knowing any one or anything in the
area. ha sometimes i feel like i only know like ten people in my whole area.
the hard thing is that the main allies in the work are the members, but a bunch
arent coming to church right now, because the house is far away. so we dont
know who to go visit to ask for references or ask for help with our
investigators. so we mainly just go tracting all day. its not super hard, i
just feel like its not that effective. from all my 18 months of experience the
chances of someone getting baptized off of a contact are way smaller than the
chances of someone getting baptized off a reference. so thats our challenge
right now, mainly just getting to know people. it makes me have alot of respect
for all you returned missionaries who spent your whole missions in areas where
the church was just getting started. but all is good here. were gonna be
patient and hopeful and watch how Heavenly Father blesses us.
I like my area alot though. the climate is about perfect. it hardly
ever gets hot, and its never cold, it stays at about utah spring weather the
whole day. the people are really friendly. we can talk to pretty much anyone in
the whole town and they will give us time and listen to us. the members give
us lunch for free like 3 out of the seven days. on days they dont give us
lunch, and for dinner we just cook in the house. the only thing we ever make is
noodles with speghetti sauce. ha its the fastest, easiest and best tasting.
there is a fruit stand by the house of some of the elders in our district that
sells everything really cheap, so any time we go there we come home with our
bags full of produce. right now in the house weve got about 12 purple bananas
and 6 mangos. ha i love fruit. we get along great in the district. all of our
personalities are way different, but somehow the combination (secret combination)
is just right to make us all have fun together. Elder Jack and i continue to
get along as well. he is learning way fast, and i feel like i have to do less
and less each day.
well thats it for now, im out of time. but i love you all. have a
great week. remember the quote from batman "Why do we fall bruce. so we can
learn to pick ourselves back up" being able to fall and get back up and keep
going is a Godly attribute that we need to learn and apply in our lives to
progress and become like our Heavenly Father. if we got everything right the
first time we tried we would never grow from having to try over and over again.
the scriptures teach that if everything is going bad, we can take only a moment
to feel bad, then we need to get back to work. (Jacob 5). well thats my
preaching for the week. i love you all keep doin work. and by the way the
fourth missionary was way helpful, really changes the way we think about
things. love you all
Elder Jacobson