Jappy New Year

Well, Christmas has come and gone. its hard for me to believe that i left in the summer, and already we are looking at a new year. the time is really flying. it was great to talk to you on saturday, it was really the icing on the cake of a great day. it was sad hanging up because it went so fast, but now we have mothers day to look forward to.

so this week was a really good week for us. i think we beat our record in lessons taught and in the amount of new investigators we found. we found 15 new investigators that let us teach and invited us to come back. out of that number we probably wont baptize them all, only 13 or so, but we truly are being blessed by the Lord, and led to the people who are willing to listen. I cant think of alot of specific events this week, we've been working hard so the days kind of run together but all in all it was a very good week.

my companion told me that one of the traditions here for christmas is to make tons of tomales, and give them to everyone who comes to your house. ha so we have about 12 in our refrigerator right now. last night we contacted a house and the lady there obviously didnt want to talk to us, so we said good night, and were about to leave, but she told us to wait and gave us some tomales. its like trick or treating for food.

yesterday was really good. two different people from the ward leadership told us they really want to work to improve the ward here. so we are going to meet with the bishopric wednesday to talk about how we can improve the missionary effort here. i really think that we are going to make some big changes for the better in these next few weeks. im really excited. also we taught 3 great lessons. the second one was to a lawyer, we left him a book of mormon about 3 weeks ago and hadnt seen him since. but when we found him yesterday he told us he had been reading and made it through 2nd nephi. we explained some of his questions about it, and he promised to keep reading. after that we taught the godinez family. we had a lesson planned, but right at the beginning he asked us two questions that could be explained with the plan of salvation. so we taught him about that, and i could tell his questions were answered. at the end we told him he could pray to know it was true, then we challenged him to be baptized, and he said if he knew it was true he would. so that was a way good lesson. and to finish off the day the mom fed us a way good tomale, and served us this juice drink with chunks of apple pineapple, grapes, and peanuts in it.

So im loving life here. its not always easy but i always know im doing the right thing. i love you all, thanks for a great christmas and for the great blessings you have always been in my life. have a happy new year. ill talk to you next week.

Elder Jacobson.

1 Week Til Christmas

buenes dias otra vez familia. como estan todos. Otra semana se fue como un sueño. la vida aqui is bien hermosa. esta semana tuvimos la actividad de la navidad. la parte mejor de todo fue cundo nos dijeron los regalos de ustedes, pero creo que ustedes podian haber encontradas un foto mejor de yo como niño. (that was a hard sentance, so i dont know if it makes sense) espero que todos estén teniendo un buena navidad.

well thats my spanish, its probly hard to tell if im improving at all, but i really feel like its getting better.

so any way this week went by so fast. its hard to believe, im already done with my first change, and im only about 3 weeks away from having 2 months in the feild, its nuts how fast things are going. this week was pretty awesome. on tuesday we had our christmas activity. it was a good time to be with some old friends, and relax a little. all the zones did little skits, and they passed out the presents you sent. it was a proud moment for me. and everyone was so happy to get them. one of the latin elders come and found me and showed me lonicas letter. ha he couldnt understand it, but i know he was happy to get it. I know everyone was so grateful.

on wednesday we had another conference in malacatan, about 2 hours in bus away. between the christmas activity and that it was alot of travel, but definitely worth it. in the conference they talked about the importance of obedience and agency, and how we gain agency when we obey, and lose it when we take the easy way. also one of the assistants talked about a way to have more success is to always focus on our goals. it made me think about the power of the secret. so my companion and i are going to focus our thoughts on the goals that we have. which is to baptize a family every month, and to have our attendance at the church be over 100 people. It might be tough to do, but i have no doubt that its possible.

thursday was good, i cant remember every thing we did, but at the end of the day we found two families that seem pretty positive to me. One of the families we contacted at the door and introduced ourselves as elders. then he said oh my name is elder. we all laughed till he pulled out his drivers license and showed us his first name was elder. haha. but we taught him a short lesson and made another appt. so that was exciting.

also i forgot to mention that on monday, we met with the family fuentes godinez. (the family that asked about resurrection and atonement) only the three daughters out of the family were there, but we taught them about baptism, and challenged them to baptism on january 8th and they said yes. so that was way exciting. now were going to meet with the whole family tuesday, so im way excited. and hermano armando ( who is trying to stop drinking) is doing good, he came to the stake activity saturday, and we are going to try to meet every day with him to keep teaching and supporting him.

so Im a little low on time, so im not going to tell you the rest of the days, but just know that it went great, and alot of good things are starting to happen. we have alot of good ideas of how to find people and get some of the inactive people more excited about church. i think we will start playing soccer with the youth, and other things like that. we both really think that we can strengthen this area alot, and the members are really willing and looking for ways to help us. so im really excited about the future here in La Grandeza.

its awesome to here that you guys are doing so good on reading the book of mormon, well dad at least, but i imagine the others are doing it too. ive been reading in doctrine and covenants, and Jesus the Christ. i like studying and learning more.

well shoot im out of time again. but know that i love you all and hope everyone is happy and healthy there. just think we´ll be talking in about a week. im going to call you and give you my number then you can call me back. so we will figure a time then i guess. have a good week. Love Elder Jacobson

Translation:

Good day again family. How are you all. Another week went like a dream. The life here is well beautiful. This week we had the activity of Christmas. The part better than all was I propagate the gifts of you told us, but I believe that you could have found a photo better of me as a boy. (That was to hard sentence, I dont know if or makes sense) I expect that all they are having a good one Christmas.

esta empezando a aparecer mucho como la navidad

buenas dias familia jacobson. como está todos. aqui todo esta bien bien. esta semana tuvé dos reuniones afuera de mi area entonses no hizé bastante, pero trabajabamos duro y creo que vamos a tener mucho exito temprano. mi español esta mejorando bastante, ja, no sé como es cuando hablo, pero puedo entender casi todo lo que escuchar. no creo qu tenemos solo dos más semanas hasta la navidad, el tiempo se fue tan rapido. y estoy muy emoccionado a hablar con ustedes. les amo mucho.

well thats it for now. i dont know if my subject line was translated correctly, but see if you can figure out what im trying to say there. this week was really awesome. things are really getting a lot easier as we are starting to find people that are ready to hear, and i am understanding better, and know the area alot better. this week wednesday and thursday i had to go to more meetings for the new missionaries. they were way good, i learned a ton about how i can be a better missionary, and at the end we all promised to be the best missionaries this mission has ever seen. with the two meetings in the middle of the week it was hard to get alot done in the field, so im not gonna give you a day by day this week, but it was a great week here.

Exciting news for this week was that one day we talked to a man that has been struggling to quit drinking. but he expressed sincere desire to change. i could tell he really wanted to change so he could be sealed in the temple with his family. so we helped him make a plan to stop, we also took a picture of his family that he could put in his wallet to help him. on sunday we fasted for him, and we are planning on challenging him to be baptized this month. also the family that asked us about resurrection and atonement we met with two more times. we taught them about faith, repentance, and the book of mormon, which they promised to read and pray about. i can really see that they are understanding what we are teaching. today we are going to finish teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and challenge them to baptism next month. i really feel good about it because i think that they really want to know the truth. it really is so awesome being here and helping change peoples lives with the gospel.

Just as a side note its gotten almost unbelievably cold here. nothing like a utah winter, but definitely up there. to make things more interesting our water heater broke so we have been showering in ice water for about a week. its not too bad, just another experience for the journal, but were supposed to get a new one today. also just so you know i am eating very well here. like ive said before we get all 3 meals cooked for us, which is awesome. on top of that we get fed at almost every house we go into, even the complete strangers. everyone gives us some kind of hot drink (not coffee), and bread its pretty great. the people here are so nice, its really incredible

well it sounds like you guys there have about as much exciting news as i do. jalen got a car of his own, and jordan will be driving soon. ha i cant imagine what the gas bill is going to be there. but i have to say that im not happy at all that you told me about the rancheritos. not once have i considered coming home, untill now. but ill be strong and wait, but you guys there better make sure it stays open. on top of all the other good news, christmas is just around the corner, are the kids already out of school. here the kids get off school from october to february, almost half the year. ha but i hope everyone is enjoying the weather and the season. just think we will be talking in like two weeks, how crazy. tomorrow we head out to rayoo for the christmas activity. im way excited to see everyone and enjoy some relaxing time, and more importantly they promised us enough food to kill an elephant ha.

well im just about out of time, but as always i love you all and hope that all is well there. everything is good here, and i cant believe how fast the time is going, im almost done with my first change. enjoy your week, talk to you soon.

Love Elder Jacobson

Translations:

Good days family jacobson, as is all. here everything is well, and this week I has two meetings outside my area entonses not hizé fairly, but worked hard and i think we will have much success early, and my spanish is improving quite, ja, i don't know as is when i speak, but I can understand almost everything you hear, i do not think what we have only two more weeks until Christmas, the time it was so quick, and I am very emoccionado to talk to you, and i love very much.

1 Month

Justin with his companion Elder Heywood

The Christmas packages have arrived.
(I am pretty amazed that they haven't opened the presents Ü)

Es bien loco que he sido en el campo por casi un mes. puedo recordar perfectamente mi tiempo en el mtc y ya casi he cumplido un cambio. todas las cosas aqui son muy buenas. todavia no hemos tenido algunos bautismos, pero estamos trabajando con 3 familias, y 3 otras personas, y creo qu con trabajo vamos a fijar fechas por ellos, talvez por la proxima mes. estoy aprendiendo mucho, y disfrutando cada dia aqui.

Well im going to write in english now because i have a lot to say and not enough time. but this last week was pretty awesome. wednesday i went to a meeting back in retalhelea (i still dont know how to spell that). it was about a 4 hour ride. it was awesome to talk to all my ccm friends. and we got a lot of really good counsel from the president, and other missionaries. it really helped me rededicate myself to work hard. on thursday my companion left for a meeting, so i worked with an elder that came in with me. i liked it because, even though he was a native spanish speaker, i kind of had to step up and teach a little more. spending that whole day with the latin elder really helped my spanish i think. friday i went on splits with one of the assistants. they came to help us invite people to the conference we had this sunday. an area 70 and our mission president spoke so they wanted to have alot of people there. we invited every person we talked to and a lot agreed to come. i don't know how many of the people we invited came, but they said over 600 from our stake came. so that was pretty awesome.

saturday might have been the highlight. in the afternoon we talked with both the families we had been teaching. it was mostly to invite them to the conference, but we taught a little too, and i can see that they are starting to love and trust us more each time. its tough because they arent really making time for themselves to read the book of mormon or go to church. but i think with time their hearts are going to change, and they will see the importance. saturday night we went to an appointment we had made tracting. the family invited us in and we all sat down. we got to know them a little then started teaching. it was amazing how ready they were to learn. usually its like we have to fight to keep the investigators attention, and help them learn, but they were interested and were understanding every thing we taught. at one point one of the sisters said i was reading the pamphlet you gave me and i didnt understand the difference between atonement and resurrection. i know it doesnt sound like much, but i almost fell off my chair. ha it was great to see a family so ready for the gospel. sunday was really good we got to listen to the conference, and then attend the christmas devotional. it was tough to understand all the talks, but the music was incredible, and really lifted my spirits. the only bad part was seeing the lights at temple square. it made me a little homesick. ha but another elder from utah said he started crying.

well crap i only have about 5 more minutes. but i have an assignment from my mission president. after the meeting wednesday, he brought me and 2 other elders into his office and told each of us to tell our mothers thank you. his eyes filled with tears as he told us about the gifts they had received and expressed his gratitude for what you had done. he said we can learn a lot from the love that our mothers have. so thanks mom, and everyone who worked so hard to make that possible, you are all so awesome. i also have learned, and have a lot to learn from you.

well thats it for this week. but were only 7 days away from the next e mail. i love you all thanks for everything. enjoy your christmas break and christmas season. keep praying for me. ill talk to you next week.

Translation

It's pretty crazy I've been in the field for nearly a month. I can remember well my time in the MTC and already I have almost completed a change. All things here are very good. we have not even had a few baptisms, but we are working with 3 families and 3 other people, and I qu to work we will set dates for them, perhaps by next month. I'm learning a lot, and enjoying every day here

Semana 3

Well to start out i just thought i would mention that in the internet place we are in there are some kids playing mario kart, and i have to admit that its making me pretty home sick. thinking of all the times i pwnd is making me long for those good old days again. but there will be time for that later.

this week was pretty incredible, and its hard for me to believe that another week has already gone by. I think im almost half way through my first change, and everyone says every change goes faster, if that's true im going to be home next thing i know. but a lot of good things happened this week. wednesday was kind of a challenge for me. my companion had to go to retalhuleu for a meeting, and they didnt have any one for me to be a companion with, so they found a young man in the ward to be my companion for the whole day. in the beginning i told him that my spanish still needs work so he might have to do most of the talking, and he seemed to be ok with that. we knocked on the first door and i did the usual greeting, then i introduced him, hoping he would share a little message like my companion usually does, but he just said his name and then sat silently. we sat there awkwardly for a few seconds, then finally i jumped in and tried to explain, i think i did pretty good (they could understand me at least). well to make a long story short, the rest of the day was pretty much just me talking and not understanding much. we met with a less active member, and i kind of had to keep the lesson and conversation going, because no one was really talking. it was pretty tough for me because im not much of a talker anyway. so all in all it was pretty tough, but the amazing thing is that at the end of the day i felt really good because i had tried my best, and i know that Heavenly Father was helping me and giving me words when i had nothing to say. i guess we dont ever really grow until its tough.

The rest of the week also went very well. we found new investigators, including one yesterday, that we met for the first time, taught him about Joseph Smith, and then challenged him to find out if its true, and if it is, to be baptized, he said he is going to pray a lot, and if its true he would have no problem being baptized. we also have 2 families that were working with , the navaro family and the gardonez family. both are kind of tough because its for the past two weeks they havent done what they said they would. but i think they have felt the spirit. so we are just trying to get them to pray to know if its true. we challenged hermano armando (the husband of the member family) to prepare for baptism. im not sure if i understood everything correctly, but i think he said he is just worried about making a commitment to God then falling into his old habits. which is good, i think, because he understands the importance, so we are going to work with him too.

so other than them, we are always trying to find more people, we have knocked a lot of doors, and it seems that people are letting us in pretty well. on top of that, a returned missionary gave a good talk on sunday of the importance of every member helping in the missionary effort. afterwards about 5 people came and told us they knew people we could teach, so that's pretty awesome too.

i received your Christmas package. thank you so much. you have no idea how it lifted my spirits that day. (i got it wednesday). i haven't unwrapped any of the presents yet, but i did help my self to some much needed sugary candy. I haven't given any of the bouncy balls away yet, but we are constantly being bombarded by groups of kids yelling gringos gringos. so im glad i have something now to throw at them to keep them back. i have the bag in my back pack. so once again thank you so much for sending me that and for helping me to think about others this christmas. here they have already started the christmas celebration. last night we were in a house and heard fireworks and the lady told us they were for christmas, ha i guess its not only in the u.s. so i heard its snowing there, that seems crazy to me. did you guys already go to cali? thats exciting, i bet you caught a lot of lizards because they are always slow in winter. Did dad or ernie win in golf this year? i bet it was my dad because he has been going like 3 or 4 times a week since they played last. ha

well im still loving life here. i guess i can say im a true guatemalan on the days that i eat eggs and beans for breakfast and lunch, i feel myself craving them for dinner. the weather is exactly like i like it, nice and cool, but usually pretty sunny, it hasnt rained more than once or twice. i love the people here, they are all so kind to us. its almost impossible to go into a house without getting some kind of food and drink. my favorite thing they give me is the sweet pan(bread) its just like home made sugary bread, but its so good. the members are awesome, i can tell they really want to help us in our efforts. I didnt start this e mail with spanish because i wanted to hurry, but my spanish is coming along great. in most situations i can understand almost everything, and im helping my companion more and more when we teach. every day i study a different grammar principal, and i can feel myself start to pick out that part of speach when people talk, its pretty amazing.

well its almost christmas and that means i will get to talk to you, that will be so great. except im worried i wont recognize any ones voices. i bet jordans voice has gotten a lot deeper since i left, he is growing up so fast. well im about out of time. but again i just want to tell you that i love you all, and as usual this week ive been so grateful for the things you all taught me and the great help it has been in my life. remember that we grow the most through the hard times, but that everything will always work out .i love you. hasta next week.

Elder Jacobson

Para Mi Familia

Otra semana ha pasado como un sueño otra vez. Esta loco como cada semana siente más rapido que la semana pasada. esta semana trabajamos duro para encontrar personas para enseñar. mi español esta mejorando y estoy participando en los lecciones más y más. ayer era domingo y tuvimos un ivestigador ir a la iglesia con su familia quienes son miembros. y tambien creo que encontramos un familia de oro. esta familia fue bien listo para escuchar a nuestro mensaje y les enseñamos sobre José Smith y la resuaracion. cundo les compartimos la historia de la primer vision, senté el espiritu bien fuerte y pienso que ellos lo sentieron tambien. in final esta semana fue muy bien.

so any way this week has been way good and went by crazy fast. its like I wake up, and next thing i know im going to bed. this week we worked hard to find people to teach because we really dont have that many investigators. we walked a lot and knocked a lot of doors. the people are very friendly and they usually accepted a return apt. even though i dont know if they really wanted to, ha but they wont be sad they did.

this area isnt a place for the faint of heart or weak of legs. the entire area is on the side of a big hill, with little hills dispersed throughout it. so basically if were not walking up hill we are walking down hill, and we will be walking uphill to get back. the other day we went with an investigator, he was going to show us where some members and others lived. we started walking and walked for about forty five minutes straight uphill ha i couldnt believe how far we went. but it turned out to be a great experience in meeting a member who hasnt been able to come to church for a while. she promised to do everything she could to be there next week. but the lack of flatness is made up for by the lack of hotness. the weather here for me is perfect. its usually pretty cool in the mornings, but i love it.

in church yesterday an investigator came who is the husband of a family of members. i think his wife wants really bad for him to get baptized, and we told her in our time here we are going to baptize him. so it was really exciting to see him there, and i think he liked the time with his family. on top of that yesterday we went to a return apt. with a family we had taught once before, but i couldnt tell if they were really interested. we were a little late because the lesson before went long. and when we got there the dad said, we were worried you wouldnt come. then we taught them about joseph smith and i think they felt the spirit, they promised to pray about it and we are going back next week. our mission president said we should focus on families, because only as families can the people experience the full joys of the temple. it makes me so excited to think that maybe these families that we are working with will one day be in the temple.

well its hard to believe its almost christmas. i dont know what it will be like here other than that we will eat a lot. but im excited for you guys. just thinking about snow and all the family together makes me excited. I hope that you all can find a way to enjoy it even if im not there, just hire someone to tell stupid jokes and it will be like i never left.

well im sorry but the timers going off which means its time to go. i wish i could write more but thats all for now. I love you all so much. and like when i left before, i dont feel overly home sick. but i definitely appreciate the time we spent together a whole lot more. im already excited for our first time together again. but that will come fast so i dont have time to think about that. I love you all , work hard until next week, be happy its almost christmas. till next week love

Elder Jacobson

Another week has passed like a dream again. This crazy as every week feels faster than last week. This week we worked hard to find people to teach. my Spanish is improving and I am participating in lessons and more. Yesterday was Sunday and we had a investigator go to church with his family who are members. and also I think we found a family of gold. this family was well ready to hear our message and teach them about Joseph Smith and resurrection. When did we share the story of the first vision, feel the spirit very strong and I think they sat down too. final in this week went very well.

premera semana en el campo

Justin and his Trainer in La Grandeza

Elder Heywood and Elder Jacobson

(looks like the tie trading has begun. I don't remember him packing this green tie! Ü)

yo attatched algo fotos de mi experiencia misional. tengo mucho más, pero el computador toma 5 minutos cada foto, entonses solo les dio 5. mi primer semana en el campo ha sido muy bien. esta muy differente del ccm, y me gusta mucho. mi compañero se llama Elder Heywood. el teine como 14 meses en el campo, y El es bien calidad, puedo ver que el esta listo para trabajar, y yo sé que peudo aprender mucho de el. nuestra area se llama lagrandesa, y tambien esta muy bien. estamos los dos nuevos en esta area, entonses no sabemos casi nada, pero estamos aprendiendo cada dia. mi español no es perfecto, pero puedo entender mucho de la genta aqui. Dijo Elder Heywood que despues uno cambio, voy a entender casi todo. veremos.

well thats all my spanish for this week. ha i hope all that made sense to you, because im not sure if it even makes sense to me. so like i said my new companions name is Elder Heywood. He is awesome. he has a year plus a few months in the field, and im his second son. i can tell he likes to work hard and that i can learn a lot from him, and i think that we are going to get a lot done with our time together. our area is called la grandeza. its up in the mountains like i was hoping for, and it is living up to its reputation of being nice and cold, its been real nice for me. our area just got split from another so in a way we are kind of opening the area, so thats way cool. Its been some work because we dont know anything about the area or the people. luckily there is one elder here that has been in the area about 3 months, so he kind of is showing us the ropes, and introducing us to the people. we met the bishop and his counselors, a bunch of members and 1 investigator named hermana monica. we also found 2 people and taught them lessons, and we have appointments to return and teach again. on sunday the attendance was 59 which is pretty good for our little area, but the member roster has like 300 plus, so alot of work is going to be reactivating. elder heywood says it will be a lot of work, but i have a good feeling that we are going to strengthen this area a lot, i think that we can work miracles here.

the people are awesome. the area we are in is quiet, and very calm. a lot of members say that other areas are sometimes dangerous, but ours is very calm and tranquilo. we live in a house with 2 other elders, and they are way cool as well. we live in the house of a family of a mom, and her 3 kids, 2 are older then us, and the other one is 15 or 16. on top of those 4 there is a bunch of people always coming and going, i dont know yet who is related and how, its just like a big happy family. they cook all the meals for us, and its always really good, especially they have this drink that is like vanilla hot chocolate, that they always serve on the cold mornings, its so good.

well i dont have a lot of time left, but ill just say that things are great here. sometimes im not really sure whats going on, but i think my spanish is getting better everyday. Im learning alot to trust my Heavenly Father and have patience. Im so grateful for this chance to learn grow and serve. i love you all, and im grateful to have had such a great family. i hope all is going well there, and that everyone is happy and content with life. enjoy your week. until next week. Elder Jacobson.

Translation

I attatched some pictures of my missionary experience. I have a lot more, but the computer takes 5 minutes per photo, entonses only gave them 5. my first week in the field has been very positive. It is very differente from ccm, and I really like it. my companion is Elder Heywood. He has 14 months in the field, and the quality is good, I can see that he is ready to work, and I know that I'll learn a lot from him. La grandeza our area is called, and is also very good. we are both new to this area, entonses know almost nothing, but we are learning every day. My Spanish is not perfect, but I can understand a lot of people here. Elder Heywood said that after a change, I will understand almost everything. we'll see.

with Elder Bassett

With Elder Evans (companion in the Provo MTC)

With the CCM President and His wife (I think)

With Elder Thornley(Companion at the CCM)

With his Class?