Change 6

well another change has passed by. hard to believe that i have been here in san pablo for 6 weeks already. Its been a fun change, and i feel like i have learned alot. its cool to me how i get to know and love every area that im in. ha they are going to tell us about changes today in the afternoon. im pretty sure that i will be staying here for another six weeks, but thats what i thought about san felipe as well. ha who knows, im not really worried about it, ill be happy either way.

it was kind of a tough week. these past few weeks we have found alot of investigators. many of whom seemed very positive to me. but lately they have kind of been falling, or in other words, they are choosing not to progress. before they seemed really excited when we would come, and they were excited to go to church, and change their lives, but almost none of our investigators came to church yesterday. my comp and i came to the realization that it is probably time to stop focusing so much time on them, and go to look for others. its sad to me, because many of them know that what we teach is true, and will make their lives better, but they choose not to act on what they are learning. I guess that must be how Heavenly Father feels. He is constantly teaching us things that well make us happier, but alot of times we choose not to act, or change, or repent to be better. Im sure He could take away our agency, and force us to do things, but His love is such that He allows us to struggle and suffer because He understands that we will only progress when we learn to make our own choices to follow HIm. Ha, its amazing to me how great the Plan of salvation really is. Especially when i think that the final result of it all is that we will be Gods like Him.

The good news is that Im sure that we will find more people to teach. our goal for this month is 3 families baptized. it would truly be a miracle, but i know that Heavenly Father works miracles according to our faith, so im going to try to not doubt, and put all my trust in Him. Get ready for a miracle.

saturday night was pretty cool, we have alot of young men in our branch that are of the age to go on a mission, but are having trouble deciding. we wanted to do something to get them excited, and to get to know them better, so we got permission to invite them to dinner. like 4 of them came to our house, and they all brought something to eat. my comp cooked fish, and they were playing soccer with a little plastic ball. while all this was going on i mixed up a cake mix that was left in the house, and started cooking little cakes in a waffle maker that my papa elder heywood gave me. ha it all came out pretty good, and we had alot of fun. All 4 of them came to church yesterday, and i think the stake is working with them to fill out their papers.

Well im still enjoying life. i discovered a know fruit that i am addicted to . its called rambotan. the best way to describe it is its like a grape, but as big as a kiwi. its super juicy and super sweet, and they sell like 15 for 3 quetz. ha i live on rambotan.

well crap i didnt realize, but im out of time. but i love you all. have fun with everything. keep working hard. talk to you next week

Elder Jacobson

Feliz cumpleaños al perro

Directly translated, the subject means "happy birth day to the dog" . but what it should say is happy birthday to the dawg. hard to believe jolling is already more than 71 years old. i know hes gettin the ladies. haha just kidding, but happy birthday jalen. i hope you had a good day and are still doin work.

well this week was good, and we worked very hard. we have been blessed these last 2 weeks to find alot of new investigators, so we have had alot of work to make sure we can get back to visit all of the people, to make sure they can progress. saturday night and sunday night reminded me of the first few weeks of basic training, when i would stagger to my bed, start my night time prayer, and the next thing i know i wake up to the sound of my alarm. ha its tough, but its a good feeling to know that im giving my all, and we are starting to see results.

im getting to know and like my area alot. i get along well with the members, and they like us alot because they can tell that we are missionaries that like to work. the weather has been pretty nice, usually its hot in the morning and rains all afternoon. but the rain keeps it cool, so i cant complain. Im starting to get to know the are really well. in my first area i felt lost for like the first 3 months, but now i think i can find pretty much any where. san pablo is a fairly small town. i live about 5 minutes away from the center. my favorite places in the town are the bread store and the smoothie store, ha i think when i come home i will miss the bread here the most. the people are all really nice and always take time to talk to us in the streets. my spanish is still improving, but not as much as before. but its rare when i cant think of a word to say something, i think now i mainly need to focus on my accent. but i have to say that life is going great for me.

i have been praying alot that we could help some people to commit to baptism (nothing new there). we have alot of people that are ready, and even have testimonies of the truth, but they all seem to have their challenges, the road to salvation will never be easy. but yesterday we had a breakthrough with one of our investigators. we taught her with her boy friend who is a returned missionary. it was a great lesson and she told us that she knew the church was true and that she wanted to get baptized, but just wanted to wait. her boyfriend helped a ton and in the end she said that she wanted to get baptized as soon as we were done teaching the lessons. It was great to see how the spirit worked with us all and in the end she accepted the truth.

well what more can i say. it sounds like the fam is doing good and enjoying their summer. how is the garden and the yard looking. is the bathroom finished yet. its probably almost time to be heading to the river again. ha a few days ago i was in a part of my area with a big river. someone was burning their weeds, and we were in kind of a jungly part. the sound of the river, the smell of smoke and the trees gave me dejavu of the river, ha for a second i couldnt remember where i was. So lonica is secretary eh. well it doesnt surprise me. work hard little loni and make sure all the girls in the bee hives come to church, that is your responsibility. that goes for you as well jalen. i think when i was your age and i had callings i didnt realize that Heavenly Father will hold us responsible for all the people in our quorum. so go find them all and make sure they are all coming to church. you will be blessed, and you will be happy.

well i think its about time again. its crazy that im up to 10 months, i dont really feel the time, i think that when all my thoughts are focused on people, Gods children, it seems like i dont have enough time in the day to do what i want to. But the work is going forward. I love you all, i know that you are all doing well and enjoying life. remember to do all of the basics that help us to have the spirit. Especially Daily prayer, daily study of the Book of Mormon, and weekly church attendance. when we do these things we can be sure that the spirit will always direct us for the better.

Ha i feel like i preached alot today, but have a good week i love you all. Talk to you in 7 days. good bye

Elder Jacobson

El Cuartro de Julio

well the 4th of july has rolled around once again. this morning without even realizing i put on a red white and blue tie. another elder from the states good work on your tie choice. ha i didnt get what he meant until just now.

This week had highs and lows, but all in all it turned out great. on tuesday we had an awesome conference with President, and he talked to us about some things we could do to be more effective, and more successful. I left the conference with alot of determination to go out and start doing the things we learned, knowing that from doing them we would see success. but , like with most things, saying and thinking turned out to be alot easier than actually doing. I kind of got discouraged in the week because we werent having the instantaneous success i was hoping for. I thought, im trying to do what i was told, but its not working. but then i thought about the armies of heleman that were exactly obedient to all of the commands they were given. ha i also thought about remember the titans when the refs are cheating, and the coach says that they are going to BLITZ ALL NIGHT, and that they werent going to let the other team gain one yard. In both cases the leaders tell them what needs to be done to win, but it is up to the soldiers/players to do whatever it takes to follow the instructions of their leaders. One of the greatest parts of the gospel is that we are never going to be commanded in all things. or in other words, we are never going to be given step by step instructions on how to be successful. instead we are given commandments that will bring us joy happiness and success. it is our responsibility to seek revelation from Heavenly Father and then go and do what we are commanded to do. I dont know if my thought sequence made sense, but it was a good lesson that i learned this week.

Yesterday was a great day. we had three investigators and about 7 less active members come to church. It was good to see some fruits of our labors to boost my motivation level. We also taught some really good lessons, and we are working with 5 families. Heavenly Father has helped us to find alot of people to teach, now we just need to really help them feel the spirit so they will be ready to accept baptism.

Well i with i could write more, but im out of time. I love you all so much. keep looking and praying for opportunities to share the gospel. keep enjoying summer and have a great fourth of july. untill next week.

June 27, 2011

Well here i am again, writing you for the 32 time. ha just kidding i didnt count, but it feels like alot. It was a good week. my comp and i are getting along well and working hard, and hoping to see alot of success in this coming week. the weather has cooled down and now it just rains all the time. i cant decide if i prefer the heat or the rain. i guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

2 days ago we had the baptism of melisa and anali. like i said before it was amazing to see how Heavenly Father provided the way for us to have success when i thought we werent going to be able to. The baptisms went beautifully, even though we started about an hour late. ha i have yet to have a baptism that starts less than 40 min late. but the important thing is that they happen. I felt the spirit very strong and i know that everyone in the building did as well.

other good news is that one of our investigators, Hno Elmer came to the baptism. I have taught him a few times ,and he doesnt seem to take very seriously the things that we teach him. but in the baptism he was listening and watching very intently, im sure the spirit touched him. yesterday he came to church and stayed all three hours, and yesterday night my comp went to teach him (we did divisions) and he said that he saw a change in elmer. so pray for him, i think he wil be the next baptism that i write about.

Lately our president has been pushing us alot to work with the members. hes taught how if every one works it is the difference between 2 missionaries, and 102 missionaries harvesting. so i have been praying alot to know what we can do to get people excited about working. the answer to my prayers came yesterday. in sacrament meeting the relief society pres pulled me to the side and asked if we could teach the lesson in relief society, and we agreed. we taught about the love that Christ has for us and how we can show that love for others by sharing the gospel. then we asked who they knew that we could visit. at first no one really answered, but then, like the opening of a flood gate they all started saying people they knew. it was hard for me to get all of the names down, but i think we got it all, now we just gotta follow up.

so to answer some questions. im still junior comp, but we have almost the same amount of time so we pretty much dont even go by junior senior comp. my comp is from nicaragua. the living conditions are good. the house is big, and we have running water. the only downsides are that the toilet doesnt flush normal so we have to pour water from the sink into it. and the bugs are really starting to bug me. in our kitchen there is millions of cockroaches. and there is ants all over. there is really no way to prevent them, so i just deal wih them. ha i night i spray like a gallon of bug spray on me so i dont get eaten in my sleep. but other than that life is excellent.

this week i learned alot about love. ive realized that in most things we do we can do it out of obligation, or out of love for Heavenly Father and his children. its like the law of moses and the higher law that Jesus talked about. im really starting to see how the work, and all the parts of my life go better when i am focused on trying to think of others.

well im low on time. but once again ill say i love you. happy fourth of july, enjoy a hamburger for me. keep working hard and go talk to the missionaries about one of your friends that they can teach. you cant know how much of a blessing it will be to them when you do. have a good week. I love you

livin la vida loca

im not really living the crazy life, but sometimes i feel like my life is pretty crazy. the weirdest thing for me is time, sometimes it feels like a day will never end, but then i blink and its p day again. how crazy is it that we are almost done with june.

this week was good. im still getting used to my new area. sometimes i feel a little lost because i have trouble remembering all the names and places and needs and challenges, and all the other stuff that a missionary needs to keep track of. but im trying to be patient, I remember that i felt the same way in La Grandeza, and now i know that place like the back of my hand, so i figure it will come, its just going to take some time.

we had some ups and downs this week. this coming saturday is going to be our last chance to baptize this month, so the zone leaders have been putting some stress on us to baptize people. they really stress baptism alot, but i have learned from the president and my personal study that every time the Lord has a blessed and happy people it is when they are all converted and baptized, because that is what Jesus wants us to do, so i understand why they put so much focus on baptism. But i was excited this week because we had one investigator that was really positive, and i felt pretty sure that he would be baptized this saturday. but he didnt come to church and when we went to see what happened his wife (who is a member) told us that they had talked alot and that he wants to go back to his own church. Well needless to say i was pretty bummed, but i guess that part of life is that people always have their agency to choose between happiness and misery. we are going to keep working.

The good news is that Heavenly Father always provides a way for us to have success. when i first got here my ran into a lady in the street, and my comp told me that she was an investigator who wanted to get baptized but couldnt because she couldnt get permision from her parents. well its kind of a long story, but suficeth to say that her mom gave her permision, so she is going to be baptized this saturday. Just goes to show that Gods ways are higher than ours, and when one door closes there is always another that opens

My comp and i are getting along well. the first week was kind of a get to know you week, so we didnt talk a whole lot. but we are both starting to open up. hes way funny, and we can mess around with each other with out getting mad. The members are cool too. Im starting to get to know them better and feel more at home. I hope that President leaves me here for a long time so that i can really make a difference in this area.

well thats about it for now. im having fun and loving life and it sounds like your doing the same. im excited to come home to raspberries, strawberries blackberries, cherries apples plums pears and whatever else there is. keep working hard and reading the scriptures. enjoy the cold weather, because the grass is always greener on the other side. I love you all, enjoy your week.

Elder Jacobson

Changes

another changed has finished up. i only had about 1 change in san felipe so i figured i would have at least another change there. so I was super surprised when our zone leaders told me i would be heading out. That day (tuesday) we went running around trying to say good bye to everyone. It was pretty easy because i didnt have that much time there so no one was really crying or anything. until we went to the house of the young man that we just baptized. we already had an appt with them so we taught them a lesson like normal. then at the end i announced that i would be leaving the next day. we took a picture and and talked for a few minutes, then it was time to go. i went around shaking hands. when i shook his moms hand she pulled me in and gave me a big hug haha (dont tell President) then when i went to shake gustavos hand his eyes filled up with tears and he started telling me thanks for everything. I gave him a hug, and looked up to see that the whole family had tears in their eyes. It was freakin hard to leave the house, but it was already late so we had to take off.
on wednesday we had the change meeting. when President walked in he shook my hand and said that he heard a young man in san pedro bear his testimony about how my comp and i had really been a big help to him in deciding to go on his mission. When the meeting started he gave a talk to all the missionaries, and in his talk he mentioned an experience that he had in a stake conference in san pedro where a young man bore his testimony about how, before, he was afraid to talk about the church in his house, or even bring a book of mormon into his house because his parents were so strongly against the church. Until two missionaries ( he didnt mention names) showed up. he talked about how his dad came to like the two missionaries, and how he started to accept that his son was a member. he also said that when the two missionaries left his dad was crying because he didnt want to see them go. and in the end the parents finally gave him permission to go on a mission. Ha i was super happy in the meeting. It was good for me to hear, because i felt like in my 6 months i didnt accomplish very much in san pedro. but i guess we never know what kind of influence we can make when we truly try to do the right thing.
My new area and comp are awesome. My area is called San Pablo and its in Malacatan, and my comps name is elder altamirano ( in spanish his name means tall/high mirano... I dont know what a mirano is). People told me that my area wasnt that hot, ha thats always the first thing i ask about an area, but i think they were all lying through their teeth because i am dying here. its not unbearable but more than im used too. but other than the heat i can tell that this area is awesome. I forgot to mention, but in the change meeting when they told me where i was going President said that he had heard that there was like 14 people in my area that were close to baptism, he said "I expect alot out of your area Elder Jacobson" ha so that puts some pressure on me to have alot of success. but it should help me to work harder. the first week we went around getting to know people. its cool to see how the people in every different area have their own "forma de ser". Its always a change when they move me.. ha i guess thats why they call it changes. but i can tell that i am going to like the people here. they are really humble and kind. i like it alot. As far as investigators go, we have alot of people that are married to a member but never got baptized. for a missionary someone like that is a perfect candidate for baptism. so we´ll see what we can do to help them towards baptism and being sealled in the temple.
well what more can i say. Ive been told by like five people that i have lost a ton of weight. ha my comp, who had seen me in san pedro, said that he didnt recognize me when i got here because he thought i was one of those chubby kids. hahaha i dont now what i am doing different but i guess my fatness is fluctuating alot here. how weird. I showed my comp the magic trick where you put something on your thumb and make it look like you have it in your armpit but its really in your hand and it appears being your head. ha he was freakin out about it and now he tells every member and investigator that we visit that i have a trick to show them. ha everyone here loves it. they also like the one where i push the pencil into my eye. but i dont like that one as much because it scares the little kids and ive lost too many pencils.
Well its time to finish off again. but just know that i am enjoying my life here. Im learning alot of things that will really help me in the future. Keep me updated on how things are going with your summer. ha its crazy to think but you guys are probly getting ready for the snake river. how crazy. I love you all and pray that you are all happy and healthy. Remember that keeping the commandments is what will make us happy and bring us blessings. have a good week. Adios
Elder Jacobson.

9 months

well i havent reached nine months yet, but almost. another week has been lost in the sands of time. how crazy.
Well i guess ill give you the good news first. Hno Gustavo was baptized on saturday, and confirmed yesterday. on friday night the zone leaders told us that another area had a baptism planned for the same time. so we had to wait with the family for like 30 minutes outside of the church. ha its crazy how it seems like a baptism never goes through smoothly. I think satan does everything he can to prevent them. but his power is basically nothing, so the baptisms always go through. before the baptism gustavo went to change into his white clothes and he was in the changing room for a long time. I started getting nervous and wondering what was going on. my comp went to check on him, and when he came back he said that gustavo was praying. its amazing to see how he changed so much from the first time we met him, to how he is now. On sunday he was also ordained to the office of a teacher. and on the 14th of this month he is going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.
Well i guess I should also tell you the bad news. but im low on time, and my keyboard is retarded so it takes forever to write. I fill you in next week.
So its time for changes again. they wont tell us untill tomorrow, but im pretty sure i will stay here for another change. I hope so at least. I like it alot here. Im good friends with the members, and they help out a ton with missionary work. and we are starting to have success with some of our investigators. so hopefully i will have another change, but if i am called to paths that i do not know, Ill answer dear lord with my hand in thine... you know the rest.
Well hna josefina came to church again. when we showed up to her house to invite her she said i dont think ill be able to go today, and she started to tell us some difficulties she had been having in her life. we talked to her a little and after a while she said, ok ill do everything i can to go to church. we continued talking, it was mostly her taliking and us commenting on what she said. but after a little more time she said, i promise you that ill be in church today. and sure enough she came. it was cool how we hardly said anything about going to church, but the spirit told her what she needed to do.
Well its cool that schools already out. im sure everyone has gotten really good at x box these last few days. ha. i wonder if you could send me some tomatoes and some rasberries. but if not at least save me some.
well crap i wanted to write more but im low again on time. so ill finish up now with a poem that i wrote. but its in spanish.

Si Quieres
Si quieres caminar en mi tereno, te matarè
Si quieres comer mi comida, te matarè
Si quieres tirar juevos a mi casa, quemarè tu casa
Y si quieres ser mi amigo hasta el fin de tus dias, me vale, te matarè

well thats it, i hope you like it. have i good week and dont be too lazy with your summer. read the scriptures and say your prayers. always look for people to serve and with whom you can share the gospel. I love you all.
Elder Jacobson


I translated Justin's poem and all I can say is....I can't explain the crazy kid! ha ha

If You Want
If you want to walk around my land, i'll kill you
if you want to eat my food, i'll kill you
if you want to throw eggs at my house, i'll burned your house
and if you want to be my friend until the end of your days, i'd better, i'll kill you