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
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