Eating Soap

Im going to start this weeks email by sharing a true spiritual experience. It
all started when i received my christmas package on january 6th. i was a little
perturbed, but then i remembered that i dont know the meaning of perturbed, i
felt better after that. i opened the package, anxious and excited to see what
goodies awaited me. in an instant all 4 of my senses were filled with the
sights sounds and smells of the christmas season, and my heart was filled with
the christmas spirit. then a precurious object caught my eye. it was not
large, the size of a dead mouse perhaps, but something about it called my
attention, like the 1 true ring of power calls the attention of a weary ork (that
was an assimile). the object was of curious workmanship. it had 2 eyes, a
childlike smile, and 3 gumdrop buttons. all the elders in the house shed tears
of joy as we came to realize that it was Christmas fudge in the form of a
gingerbread man. each of us vied for the chance to take the first bight, but
finally my wise comp spoke with the voice of reason and said that since it was
my package i should take the first bight. i had to calm my nerves as i slowly
untied the dainty gold ribbon and pulled off the plastic covering. then
waisting no time i lifted the fudge to my lips and bit off the arm. as i chewed
a strange sensation came into my mouth. It was soap.
well this week went well. it went by super fast, hard to believe that
we are already into the middle of january. not a whole lot of exciting things
happened but ill fill you in on the highlights.
this week we continued working alot with the members. we tried to go
back with everyone that we had taught. we asked them if they had went to talk
to their investigators, most said no, but a few said yes, and that makes me
happy. 1 cool thing is that the members tell us that one of our recent
converts, macedonio, and his wife have started inviting people to church. how
cool huh, they say that you can tell the level of someones conversion by how
great is their desire to share the gospel. on top of that we would ask if they
had started reading the book of mormon. all of them said no. its tough because
here no one has the habit of reading. but everytime they said no we told them
to get out their book of mormons ( 1 book, multiple mormons) and we read the
first 3 or four chapters to get them started. i think it may be some work, but
i really want to get this ward to read the BOM.
yesterday we saw some fruit of our labor. 1 hna, Hna leti, told us she
woke up at 4 to make breakfast and get ready so that she would have time to go
get her friend for church. and she came. after church we took her into a
class room and challenged her to baptism (our leaders get mad at us if we wait
any longer than that haha) she told us that she had never been baptized because
she feels like she is going to drown. we told her that faith means leaving
behind her fear to do what God wants, and she agreed to be baptized. ha we dont
have a sure date, but soon enough i think.
a few days ago i was studying faith. it always amazes and confuses me
how faith is all that is required to work miracles. i was pondering alot about
it and the story of jesus and peter walking on the water came into my mind. so
i looked in jesus the christ to read about it. is pretty awesome what it says
there. it says that we as humans cant fathom the physics required to make water
support the weight of a man. but faith was the power required to make this
miracle happen. To me its so crazy to read things like that. Faith is the
power to control the particles and intelligences that make up the universe.
faith can do anything. how cool.
right now is the city fair in san sebastian. in my city they make a
special traditional dish that they dont make anywhere else in the world. so for
this whole week people are going to be coming from all parts of guatemala to our
tiny city. the members tell us that usually they dont let the elders leave during
the fair because its only drunks, and no one wants to listen to us any way.
they havent said anything to us, but imma going to ask today.
so yes the package came. thanks to everyone for everything. my comp
wants me to send a special thanks for the beef jerkey, he loves that stuff. and
thanks for the reading lights. usually at night we connect them to the shoulder
straps on our back pack and pretend we are master chief off of halo I II and
III. its not that exciting, but we entertain ourselves.
well thats about the week. it was fun and the work is moving along.
thanks for everything. I love you all. hang in there and keep trying to
spread the gospel. good luck in work and best birthday wishes to you all.
Adios
Elder Jacobson