11 meses

well the truth is that i wont complete 11 months untill next week, but its the beginning of august so i figure im close enough. this week was a little bit tougher, but the things that dont make us stronger kill us.
it started out well. we started out with 2 baptismal dates planned. 1 was with hemanita sury, and the other was with an older ladie named angela. we went to visit them every day to make sure they were ready and excited, and everything was going well. the only thing that worried me was that the family of hna angela was very against her baptism. they told her she was playing with God and that it is a great sin to be baptized twice. but she told us she knew it was true and that she planned on going through with it. on thursday we couldnt find her in her house, and all friday we were looking for her. we went to her house on friday night and found a pastor from her other church. we think that she was there, but they wouldnt let us talk to her. so we went back saturday morning, and finally found her in her house. she told us that the knew she needed to be baptized, but was afraid of her family, so we decided to wait a week. I was pretty bumbed because her husband died about a month ago, and she really needs the gospel in her life. We could tell that satan was really working hard against her. but we are going to work with her this week and make sure it goes through.
Hna sury was baptized and everything went through beautifully. we had a little bit of difficulty getting her to church for her confirmation, because her dad tried to break up a fight and got his leg smashed, and her mom was really sick. she said she didnt feel well and didnt want to go to church. but we got alot of support from one of the member families, and in the end everything worked out perfect. Just goes to show that satan is always working against us. but in the end, he really has no power, the right will always prevail.
other than that the week went well. we are finding alot of investigators. the only problem is that usually they want to listen to us when we just teach, but when we try to help them make commitments to improve their lives, they decide that its too hard and stop listening to us. my comp and i are working on figuring out how to get the members to start working with investigators to help them keep commitments and progress. i think it will be alot more work, but yield much greater results.
on thursday we went to visit a member family. we talked to them a little and the dad told us that he had been without work for more than a month. i was impressed to talk about tithing, so we taught a pretty powerful lesson about how paying a full tithe will bless their lives. I think it helped alot, and on sunday i saw the mom take out a tithing slip. its cool to me how my testimony is always growing here. in my farewell talk i said that i didnt really have a testimony of tithing because i have never had to sacrifice to pay it. but from teaching about it and promising that everything will be better when they pay, i have really felt my testimony grow.
ive been studying, and thinking alot about character lately. Pres. Maravilla talks alot about how our character is who we are. It made me think alot about me personally, if i am someone strong, faithfull, and full of love, or someone selfish, prideful and always worying. i think that we can always improve our character by focusing on becoming more like Christ. When we can say that we are truly doing our best to be like him, we wont have to wonder what type of person we are.
well its time to go. like i said it was a tough week, but im hopeful for the future. things are looking bright, and we are going to work hard. Happy anniversary to mom and dad. You two have been married a long time. its weird, but every year that goes by i have a harder time remembering your wedding. SHOUT OUT to the siblings: Jordub Jalub johnub and lonicub. enjoy your last weeks of summer. have a good week. enjoy some fresh garden produce for me, and i will continue scarfing down rambotanes at every opportunity. I love you all talk to you soon.
Elder Jacobson

oh and by the way the razor is gillet, its the one with like five razors. and who ever gives the report of me in priesthood, you can tell them that im usually soaking wet all the time, because im either sweating, or its raining, its hard to find common ground. another interesting thing is that im getting fat again, i dont know what the deal is but im always gaining or losing weight, maybe it depends on who my cook is. ha i love you, good bye until next week.

Changes

proof that the chupacabra has migrated to san pedro


well like it said in the title changes were this week. sure enough i stayed here in San Pablo, but my comp elder altamirano got sent to another area. i was sad to see him go because we got along pretty well, but i guess it was time. my new comps name is elder matute, he is from honduras. since elder heywood i have had 2 comps from el salvador, 2 from nicaragua and now one from hoduras. hes cool, i can tell he is a missionary that will get out and get things done. i think ill be able to learn alot from him, because sometime i have good ideas, but i dont follow through, so this will be a good chance to learn something new that will help me be a more affective person.
we are coming up on our final week of the month. President says if we are working effectively we should never go more than a month without a baptism. and so far we dont have any, but the good news is that we have alot of people that are ready. we have 5 investigators that could possibly be baptized this saturday, i think it will just require alot of work and a lot of faith, but we are going to do it.
on friday the branch held a funeral service for a member that recently passed away. we went to the funeral to give support, and when we showed up one of the members asked if we could share a talk about the plan of salvation as part of the service. my comp was quick to volunteer me, by saying that i had more time in the area than him, so it would be better if i spoke. haha it wasnt a very good excuse, but i agreed. i had a few minutes to prepare, and i wrote a few things in my agenda, but when igot up to speak i forgot everything i was going to say. I basically just read the scripture out of alma 40 12 that talks about spirit paradise and bore my testimony, i dont know if i spoke that well , but hopefully something i said helped the family.

well the rainy season has kind of stopped for a while. since my new comp showed up it has been super hot here. but its nice to have a break from the rain. we still eat tons of rambotan every day, i think its the only serving of fruit i get every day, so i have to take advantage of it. if your wondering i havent gotten sick my whole mission, except a little cold in san pedro. Ive truly been blessed, because alot of missionaries have to work with sicknesses, but ive been doing well. although i if you want it never hurts to have a box of emergency. speaking of things you could send me, im out of razor heads. ive been using the same one for like a month and a half, now it basically just rubs my hair away, like shaving with sandpaper. i think if you sent me a box of 12 it would last till the end of my mish.
well it sounds like you guys are already at the river. its hard to believe that the last time we went i already had my call. times going by fast. thats cool about the room downstairs im excited to see pictures. and good choice on the colors, i approve.
well i think im gonna finish up there, ive been wanting to write some people from my other areas, so i think imma finish up early today. but i love you all. its good to hear that everyone is happy and healthy. enjoy whats left of your summer, and keep doo-won work. have a good week and send me some pictures. adios
Elder Jacobson

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