Work'n

well i think i will start out this e mail with a riddle and its this. what is the difference between an ant-eater and me. answer. i dont have a long snout. other than that, there really is no difference. you see this past monday i decided to splurge a little, and bought a box of lucky charms. it wasnt really in my budget, but i thought id treat myself, to some magical deliciousness. well one time i left the bag open and forgeted to roll it like normal. thats when out of nowhere the next day i find the whole thing full of little critters that were little ants. but i was just a little bit T.O.-ed because i didnt want to waist a lot of pisto (as they say here in guate) so i made a final descision and eat the luck charms any way only by carefully desciphering the little ugly creatures and then removing them.
so thats the bad news that i probly ate a bunch of ants. but other than that things are good here. on monday night like at 11 they told us the changes. turns out that i will be killing elder velasquez here in pueblo nuevo. im pretty happy. i like it alot here. and
we have some people preparing for baptism. yesterday we had the same 3 young men come to church for the third time. they say they are really liking it. the older of the two, kevin, told us that before he had alot of problems in his life, but then we came and invited him to church and that its been helping alot. there good kids, we will see if they are ready for july. also the family that we have been teaching continues progressing. they havent come to church again, but were pushing for this sunday. the ward is not really progressing alot. the hard thing is that there is alot of talk about doing things, but not alot gets done. its not really anyones fault. the branch president has a calling in the stake, works in the temple, and is having some pretty serious financial problems right now. the rest of the branch is like the same. its hard, but im really greatful that i dont have anything to think about besides working and sharing the gospel. sometimes alot of the weight of the work falls solely on the shoulders of the missionaries, but its really been a growing experience, and ive been able to really love and get to know the members here. how awesome is the mission. never a dull moment.
well what else can i tell you. pretty nuts that my travel iteneraery already came eh. its so wierd, i really feel like the whole thing is just like a dream. sometimes i imagine myself on the plane coming home, looking out the window (seat 24A if your wondering) and just wondering where the last two years went. the thought helps me to keep working hard. sometimes i feel tired and weak. but i realize that theres no time to slow down. despite their exhuastion the good runners give a double effort in the final meters of the race. id like to do the same.
today we were playing soccer and the sister missionaries were playing. i was goaly and there was a corner kick. the ball came in and i stuck my foot out. the ball jumped off my foot and hit a sister missionary ( who happened to be on my team) square in the face then went directly into the goal. ha every one looked at me like "Elder Jacobson what a jerk" i felt like a ding bat. ha just another learning experience i guess. but it was fun. i like our zone and my new district alot. we have fun and are working hard.
well life is good. im pretty lost in the work. or maybe im just lost and working. but any way you say it im doing my best here. i think i fail at alot of things, but i think Heavenly Father doesnt expect perfection just a willing heart and mind. i get along well with my comp. we are like brothers. im not sick. i eat well. im studying and praying. thats about it.
have a great week. enjoy your summer and dont make fun of me at the snake river this year. i love you all. keep it real.
Elder Jacobson

changes eminent

well yesterday was the last day of the change. how crazy how fast things have gone. it seems like elder velasquez just got here. come to think of it it seems like i just got here. but i wont know till tonight if i have chenges or not. i actually feel like i will stay one more time here. we have some good things going in the district and President wants july to be a great month, so maybe he´ll leave me here because i already know the areas and the investigators and all that jazz. but who knows.
it was a pretty good week. in the mission they want us to focus on baptizing, but at the same time on retaining the members. its a challenge because alot of people get baptized and are super excited but then the challenges come. alot of time the members dont really know how to help so they inactivate quickly. so this week we focused alot on the less actives and recent converts. we even did a class with the members to try to teach them how to retain the people that are baptized. we had a little bucket and put three holes in it at different levels in the bucket. we then explained how sometimes there is baptisms, but as the people get baptized they come in one door and go out the other. we visualized this by pooring water in and watching it fall out the holes. then we watched a video of when pres hinckley explains that ever member needs a freind an assignment and to be noureshced by the good word. as we explained each one we stopped the hole with some clay and showed how each time the number of members continued going up. i think it will help. poco a poco.
what else can i say. we found out that some of the young women that are recent converts arent coming to church because they feel bad that they dont have dresses to wear and they dont like coming in jeans. so we talked to some of the members and rounded up som church cloths for them. on saturday we went with some of the young women and a leader to give it to them. only one was in the house when we got there, but her and her mom seemed really greatful, i think it will help. later the lady that we took with us to deliver the clothes invited us to lunch in her house. while we were waiting for lunch i saw a lizard and tried to catch it but it got away. then i told everyone there that i hade been raised by lizards and could communicate with them. i put my hands on my mouth and started saying keee ke kee key. every one laughed, untill the lizard jumped into my hands, then they were just suprised. ha just kidding about the last part, but i really did do that. one of the cool things about not being from around here is that i can do whatever i want without being made fun of because they just think thats the way things are.
in church yesterday we had two young men come. it was there second week in a row. i think they will get baptized soon. they look really posotive. the family we are teaching continues to progress. i feel the spirit there every time we teach. we challenged them to baptism again and they said yes. we just have to get them to come to church a little more. but things are moving along.
im really happy. i have loved this area and the people alot. if feel like i have learned alot of things that will really help me in my life. i hope all is well there. if i ever cant understand any one i will just slap them in the face. ha have a good week. i love you all. talk to you later
Elder Jacobson
ps i got my flight plans today. how crazy

The week without rain

When i wrote that this was the week without rain it was a lie. ha its been raining so hard here. when we first got here all the members told us that we werent going to beleive how hard it rains in these parts, and they were right. sometimes we cant even leave the house. one day we moved our beds out side, well not really out side, we have like a patio that has a roof, but no walls. so any way we moved them out there to sleep because it was cooler. the next day we didnt take the time to move them back in, and we left to work. about an hour later a tropical rain storm from the burmuda triangle came rolling through. needless to say our beds were soaked. we didnt let it get us down though. in the rooms downstairs there is a bunch of fans from the old church. the only problem is that they dont have plugs, because the were wall fans. so using our guatemalen enguinuity we jammed the loose wires into the outlet until they turned on, then we put our electric stove in front of them and turned them on high. it probly wasnt very intelligent, or even really safe, but our beds dried out.

our investigators are looking good. a bunch didnt come to church. the main dissapointment was the family that came last week said they were really excited to come this week, but on saturday a cousin of the dad came to their house, there was a big fight, and in the end he got drunk and they whole family didnt come. but if anything that just encourages me. ive seen a bunch of times how whenever someone wants to do the right thing, satan sends whatever he can to bring them down. i think that it might even help because they will all realize how important the gospel is. its funny how when satan convinced adam and eve to eat the fruit he thought he was frustrating Gods plan. but in the end he only helped it. maybe something similar will happen. in church yesterday we had two suprises. one was the cousins of a memeber. they are like 3 young men that have never really wanted to listen to missionaries before, but they have been listening to us, and came to church. the other suprise was Presidente Maravilla. he was in the zone and wanted to go to talk in a sacrament meeting, so he came to ours to see the new church. he spoke about alot of cool things and helped the branch alot. after it was over and he was leaving he just looked at me and said ¨theres alot of work to do¨

yesterday night my comp and i were doing our planing for today, we were almost done, and were just deciding who else we should visit. i put my head against my wall to think and my comp did the same. that was like at 9 00. next thing i knew i woke up and it was 9 45, we had both fallen asleep. this past week we worked so hard. we are never in the house. we just get up and study and leave, to work, take an hour for lunch and keep working. we get in at 9 00 plan for the next day, talk to the zone leaders, pray and sleep. i feel like we spend every hour we have just looking for someone who wants to talk to us. and i feel like we are really being blessed for our efforts. the days seem to pass like a dream.

changes are coming up. i dont know what will happen. but ill be happy either way. i like it here alot, but ill go wherever im sent, and work as hard as i can.

i love you all. keep doin work and enjoying your lives. thanks for the pics they mean alot to me. talk to you later

Elder Jacobson

ode to imperfection

Well ive been trying for the last 15 minutes to write a powerful ode, but i couldnt even figure out where to start. come to think of it i wouldnt even know the difference between an ode and a love sonnet. i guess in the end its all poetry, and poetry is for sissy´s. hate to tell ya edgar, but you should have picked a more manly profession. like lumberjack for instance. or deep sea welder.
Any way. another week has passed. things are looking good here in the new people (pueblo nuevo). my comp and i have fallen into a good rythm. we study and plan together daily and i feel like we are working effectively. right now we are teaching 3 families that could be pretty posotive. on saturday we taught one of them about the sabath day and they all said they would come to church. its pretty common for people to say that then not go when we go to get them. but when we got to their house they were all ready and happy to go. we were in an area far from the church so we all had to mount in a tuc tuc, which is a tiny cart like the pit stop vehicle in the movie cars. there was like 8 of us. so that was cool, we had a whole family in church, and alot of people are starting to look posotive. we havent seen too much success yet, but it wont be long. we just have to pass the tryal of our faith.
on sunday i helped a member with his english homework and i kept not being albe to remember how words should be. ha it was just with the perfect tense. for example i was supposed to write a sentence like i have ran to the park. but it kept coming out like i has runned to the park, or i haved ranned to the park. or the worst one was when i said WHERE MY HAT IS AT. ha
what else can i say. today i almost wrote president asking him to leave me in my area, just because of all the things that are going on right now. ive never asked for anything in the mish before and i thought i deserved it by now. but when i thought about it the president receives the revelation from the lord of where im supposed to be. so obviously he will know better if i need to stay or go. honestly i would like to say, but ill go where im sent.
well i hate to say it but im out of time. for some reason my letters to president are getting longer each week. so sometimes i run out of time fast. but thanks for your support and prayers. congradulations to everyone for another school year complete. and to jordan for his new job, which no one has said what it is yet. have a good relaxing week. and thanks for the pictures. i love you all. have a good week
Elder Jacobson