8/5/13

Los Cerros

Hola!

 

So I have learned a little bit more about our area now.  We are about fifteen minutes from the heart of monterrey, but you would have no idea from where we live.  Our area is mosty Cerros (hills). Well they call them hills, but they are really mountains. And everyone that lives there is super dupe poor. I also found out that we live in the most dangerous part of the city ha.  The two main hills in our area are the homes of two rival gangs.  The locals all say that it gets dangerous up there, and that we should avoid it, but thats most of our area, and where our two investigators live ha.  So we have been listing closely to the spirit to tell us when we should leave, and when we go all we take are books of mormon.  We leave all our money and bags at the house.  And did I mention that it is hot? It got up over 110 this week and very humid.  We are dripping sweat all day long.  It's fun to finally get into a house teach a lesson and then when we leave the dirt floor has turned to mud from our sweat haha.  But I enjoy the heat. And we don't let it keep us from working our hardest.

 

We have a couple of progressing investigators now.  Pedro is really good, he just has to work all the time.  He works in the Costco parking lot moving shopping carts, and his family has nothing.  But we found a way through the ward that we could take his family food.  So we went up there the other day to drop off the food and the wife was really excited to see us.  She hadn't been apart of the lessons we had taught pedro, because she's catholic, but she was happy to see us.  We asked her what was up and she said that she started reading the book that we left pedro.  And that she new that it was a true book!! We were so happy because now we will start teaching her too.  the only problem with them is that they aren't married.  It seems like basically everyone here isn't married ha.  But we will work through that with them and hopefully get them to church this week! 

 

We had a funny experience with our investigator Antonio.  We gave him the first lesson in his front yard and told him that we would like to end with a prayer.  My comp

asked him if he would say it and he agreed to.  But we got down on our knees and he didn't say anything.  We both thought that he was just praying in his head, so we started to say our own prayers in our heads to help him feel the spirit.  After about five minutes we kind of mad eye contact, and we said, Is that how you guys pray? Me and my comp both just started laughing. I guess he thought that we were going to say it and we thought he was.  It was an awkward five minutes haha, but we ended it with a real prayer after that!

 

Also we had a great lesson with the second counselor of our ward this week.  We have been struggling to find investigators so we decided to find a way to use the ward more.  We scheduled a lesson with Him his wife and their 2 year old where we would just teach them a good lesson and then ask for referals.  We got the idea from one of the District training dvds.  And it was awesome.  We taught about joseph smith and how much our lives have been blessed because of his faith and the restoration of the gospel.  Then we had them share their experiences with faith and with blessings.  The spirit was really strong in their home and it was the right time to ask them.  So we asked who they knew that needed these blessings.  They said that they were the only members in their families.  So we scheduled a family home evening with the rest of their family for next week! They said that there would be around 6-8 members of their family there! We are really excited to teach them and and have the 2nd counselor help us help them feel the spirit.

 

I am really enjoying serving the lord.  It has been a lot of hard work, but when you realize your success there isn't a more rewarding feeling.  I hope that you are all doing well and looking for missionary opportunities in your lives!

 

con amor,

Elder Jacobsen

I am loving the food!!

7/29/13

BIENVENIDOS A MEXICO!!!

Hola hola hola everybody!!

Well it has been an extremely crazy week! I'll try to fill you in on as much as I possibly can.  My companion is Elder Leishman. He is from Paradise, UT, so yes he's white ha.  But he has been out eight months so he speaks really good spanish and is an awesome trainer.  Our area is Mirador B.  It's a new area that hasn't had any missionary work done in it in a while.  So the work has been pretty tough.  We split a pretty good sized ward with our district leaders, and somehow they ended up with 90% of the active members in their area. We started out this week just looking for members in our area so that we could get to know them.  It was tough because we didn't even have a member list until friday night ha.  We have also been spending a lot of time trying to find the less actives in our area, because there is really a lot.  The only problem is that more than half of the addresses don't even exist.  So we have been looking for houses that aren't even on the map most of the time.  

However most of time we have spent contacting.  Because we got to the area and we have a brand new area book, with 0 old investigators.  I really like the contacting, but I understand about 10% of what is said ha.  So after everyone I have Elder Leishman give me a quick recap of what went well, because to me they all look good as long as the person accepts a card or a book of mormon, but usually the conversations don't go as well as I think.  I like talking to people a little bit more than Elder Leishman does though, so I will usually greet the person and introduce ourselves, but then Elder Leishman does most of the talking.  It has been pretty tough to find investigators though.  Not a lot of people have been open to our message.  We thought that we had one good one, we gave him the lesson of the restoration outside his store, and left him a book of mormon to read, but we went back the next two days and he hadn't done anything that we asked him too.  He said that he was too busy with work and taking his kids to the park ha. Oh well we will keep trying with him.  

We have spent quite a bit of time teaching with the district leaders too.  They are both from mexico and are really funny to be around.  they know the are a little bit better than we do, so they have been showing us where some of the member live, and helping us contact.  My first day here they were showing us around and we ended up crossing basically 1-15 on foot haha. I'm not going to lie, I was scared for my life.  But I guess thats just how the Mexicans do it.  My companion and I have taken the bridge that goes over the freeway ever since that experience haha.  Another cool thing, there is a story about a man from monterrey in Preach My Gospel.  and he is in our area! we got to have dinner with him on sunday and it was really cool!

So yesterday after church we were really frustrated, because we have had very little success with our numbers and investigators.  We decided to say a prayer right in the middle of the street that we would be able to find someone to teach.  And the answer came only after 4or5 more rejections haha.  My companion said he really just wanted a nice family to teach.  So we went on contacting and I greeted this guy that stopped to talk to us.  We had been rejected all day so Elder Leishman just asked him, why did you stop? He said that he loved hearing the word of God.  So we were going to set up an appoitment with him for later because it was late, but instead we just followed him to his house.  He has a wife and twin boys, and his name is Pedro Sanchez (like napoleon dynamite ha) We taught him the plan of salvation and he loved everything he said.  We are really hoping that he does his reading that we left him.  because we both felt the spirit so strong during the lesson.  It was awesome to have our prayer answered like that!

Well this is by far the longest letter I have written, but there is still a ton I have left out.  Oh the city is crazy.  I have seen 2013 audis, but also grandpas riding donkeys with their grandsons in a river bed ha.  On one side of the freeway is a costco and walmart and a mall, and then the other side is nothing but cinder blocks.  It has been over 100 ever day and is super humid.  Our apartment is pretty nice, except its on the top floor so it is like 90 degrees every night.

Well I miss all you guys! I hope you are all great 

Elder Jacobsen

I am trying to send some pictures, but the computer is being difficult.  I will send them in another email.

Oh and we taught a lady that looked exactly like Bathilda Bagshot hahahaha. She was like 900 years old.  I thought you might like that :)

They have King Jullians for sale here!!!

7/22/13

I MADE IT!!

Hola Hola Hola

President Swapp gave us the opportunity to send a letter and a quick email tonight!  Sooooo I made it to Mexico!  And let me tell you, it is so awesome!  I will be able to send some pictures next week hopefully, but for now you will have to take my word for it. 

The city is amazing! It is surrounded my huge green mountains and it is just stuffed full of people.  Stepping off the airplane for the first time was a bit of a shock ha.  We had to make it through customs and everything without speaking any English. It was exciting, nerve wracking, and a whole lot of fun at the same time.

President and Sister Swapp picked us up from the airport with like 10 other missionaries.  Stetson Clayton is here with me! He graduated the year before I did and got his call the same day I did.  There are 12 Elders from Provo, and 12 from Mexico City.  I have been hanging around the Mexican elders so that I can practice my spanish.  And guess what, we can communicate a little bit! It´s pretty exciting.  We are all staying in the AP´s house tonight, so like 30 of us with two showers, so this should be interesting.

Tomorrow I get to find out who my trainer is, and what area I will be in.  They said that we should be in our areas by like noon! I´m really excited to get out and get to work!

I love you all and hope you are doing great!

Elder Jacobsen

7/20/13

IT'S TIME!!!

Hola hola hola

Okay first off, there has been some changes to the travel plans.  I now have to be at the travel office at 2:30 in the morning haha.  My flight leaves at 6:23 from salt lake and I get to Houston at 10:34 for a 3 hour layover.  So I do not know what will work best to call.  You guys will have to email me back quick and tell me.  And yes I have permission to email today ha, they told us to treat it as a pday!

Thank you for all the treats Mom and The Nelson fam! they were delicious and everyone in my district gobbled them up.  Thanks for making me the most loved missionary in the Mtc

This week has been difficult trying not to treat it like the last week of school haha.  Everyone is just so ready to leave...especially Elder Jacobsen ha.  I just really want to get to Mexico!  We got to go to infield orientation this week.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of information ha.  We were all wondering why they waited till the 2nd to last day of our last week to tell us so much stuff ha.  But it's all good! Oh and all of my district has received their visas! A couple of them got to go to Vegas to get theirs.  I was a little jealous, but we had a great day at the MTC because all our teachers just told us stories about their missions ha.

We got to do one really fun activity this week.  It was practicing contacting on the street.  Of course it was just a role play with the elders in my district, but it was a lot of fun! For one of the practices the elder playing the part of the investigator was supposed to be an anti mormon ha.  It was really funny because out of no where we all heard, "ayudame! ayudame!" It was Elder Bowen pretending to me an investigator. He was on one side of a big tree and the missionary was on the other trying to get around to talk to him haha.  It was so funny because they kept running around and switching sides, but the missionary never got to talk to him hahaha.  We had to end the practice there because no of us could take it seriously after that.

Sorry this email has been short and all over the place, but its getting pretty hectic trying to pack and everything! I hope that I hear from you guys today! Because.......IT'S TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Jacobsen

The picture with the Teacher standing up is Hermano Rouse, and the other is Hermano Urquhart. I have loved them both, they are awesome!!

7/15/13

One More Week

Hola hola hola!

Another successful week of being the most loved missionary at the MTC!  Thanks for all the packages Grammy, Jill, and Mom! The treats were delicious and my district is very thankful ha. 

I'm just going to start out with the most exciting news......I got my travel plans!!! I leave on the 22nd at 4:30 in the morning from the MTC haha.  Our flight isn't till 8:35, so i dont know why we are leaving so early ha, but I am excited! It's me my companion, and 9 other missionaries that are all going to Monterrey West.  My companion is our travel leader, but he has only been on a plane once before so i have been joking with him that he wont know how to get through the airport ha.  Also, half my district, including him haven't gotten their visas yet, so it will be interesting to see if they can get them this week.  I don't know what you want to do so that I can call. I think that you sent liza a phone or something? But I was thinking that I would be able to call around 7.  We also have an hour layover in Dallas that might work.

I have been freaking out because I just saw the picture of the Moomba! Are you guys messing with me haha? It seems like it is too good to be true!

So we had a really cool experience this week.  We got to do a skype lesson with a woman from Mexico! She was member ha, but it was still really fun! We understood about a quarter of the words she said, in fact we didn't even get her name haha..it was like..something something Silvia something something Lopez. So we just nodded our heads haha.  It also didnt help that she had her hand on the space bar the whole time so it was making that really annoying noise that computers do when you hold the space bar ha.  But we gave her a lesson about Lehi's dream, reading the book of mormon every day, and holding fast to the Iron Rod.  It maybe wasn't the best choice for a lesson, because iron rod in spanish is "barro de hierro" and I cant roll my r's haha.  So the first time I said it she just started laughing. And then I had to say it like 20 more times haha.

This week I have really been learning to be a good companion ha.  Even if the suggestion is, "Elder Jacobsen I think that we need to stay closer together." and I said, "What do you mean Elder Barrett? we are side by side all day." his response, "Well sometimes when we are walking up or down stairs you get a step or two ahead of me."  So yes our steps are now synchronized when we walk up stairs hahaha. 

Oh something else that was interesting this week. We had protesters during our temple walk yesterday haha. I don't know why they chose the MTC to do their work, but they yelled for like 3 hours straight.  They didn't realize that it just got most of the missionaries really excited to get back to the real world.

I have been reading the book of mormon in spanish, and this week I was reading about Lehi's dream again.  I love when it is talking about the great and spacious building and the angel says, "behold the wisdom of the world, they gather together to reject the apostles of the lamb" It almost seems a little bit humorous to me ha.  I can picture the people in heaven looking down on people making bad decisions and just saying, "behold the wisdom of the world." I'm so glad that I have the wisdom of the gospel and of the Holy Ghost in my life.  I can't wait to share it with others.

I love you all and miss you!

I hope that we can all live so that no one ever has to look at us and say, "behold the wisdom of the world"

Elder Jacobsen

p.s. we got permission to email again on saturday before we leave

and the last picture is with PJ tanner from hockey haha, he leaves to mexico the same day as I do!

7/8/13

Mission Mode

Hey everyone!

Its been a packed week, so I hope that I can give some what of a good summary.  First off, thanks so much for all the packages!! The cookies were awesome, my district ate all of them.  And thanks for the chips and salsa smiths! they were gone in like five seconds haha. I'll send some pictures of all that. I was a little disappointed there was no picture pack this week ha.

K so I got my visa this week! There had been some elders going to mexico that had to get reassigned, so i was a little nervous, but they called me down to the travel office and I got to go to salt lake! The consulate was down on 1300 south right by the Bee's stadium, and by Challenger School.  I was a little nervous that I might see one of the Nelsons at school haha, or Dad at lunch or something, but it was all good.  The MTC drove us down there, but we got to ride frontrunner back.  I was with nine other elders, so it was a lot of fun.  We also faced our first persecution haha.  As we were walking to frontrunner from the consulate we got flipped off twice.  One time the guy yelled "mormons suck" and the other yelled "hail satan"  We were kind of in shock ha, but we were excited to experience our first negative interactions haha.  It was weird being out of The MTC. I had forgotten that there are real people in the world ha.

A funny story from class this week.  We were playing a game called crack the code, where you had to knock on the door and pretend you were trying to get in a house.  It was Elder Wilhelmsen's turn, and he started to testify about God.  He said, "Dios es una Mujer" (god is a woman) he meant to say, "dios es el mejor" (God is the best) it was so funny hahaha.  the game had to stop because even our teacher was cracking up! It was kind of a tender moment for me, because those were the first tears i shed on my mission, tears of laughter haha.  Elder Del Toro also got mixed up when he said, "yo trabajo para las computadoras" or i work on behalf of the computers haha.  oh man spanish is a great language.

We had a great fireside this tuesday.  It's kind of hard to remember firesides from tuesday ha, because i dont get to email until the next monday, but i'll try my best!  It was Brother Richardson from the sunday school presidency.  He taught us about being REAL missionaries.  That we are looked up to by all the members of the church, and that we need to be examples.  He used the quote from David O McKay, "we'er thou art, act well thy part." It was a really powerful meeting. It helped me set some new goals to become the best missionary i can be! We also learned this week to be bold.  That boldness is not being loud, it is being sincere.  And that we have the ability to be bold because we have Jesus backing us up.  That doesnt just apply to missionaries, it applies to all of us in the church! We have learned so much about how so many doors are going to be opened to us because of the changes to missionary work.  I can't wait to be bold with the people of Mexico, and to teach and work my hardest.

We also got to have a devotional on the 4th! it was a really cool one because they talked all about how our founding fathers were inspired by God, and as a history buff I really loved it ha.  Then we got to watch the stadium of fire after.  Yes, I watched the byu fireworks ha.  And let me say i was very glad to find out that they didnt even compare to Eaglewood's :) The whole time I just wanted to go back to the residence so that I could pray and go to sleep.  I guess you can say that I am just in missionary mode.

I hope you are all doing great! I am definitely the most loved missionary here, lets keep it that way! :)

Elder Jacobsen

Oh and Elder Brown is on the west campus, so i havent seen him. I saw sister brown last night, and it looked like she was doing great!

7/1/13

Running On A Treadmill

Hola!

Thank you all so much for the packages and letters! They all mean so much and brighten my day every time i get them.  The hawaii package was awesome and smelled great ha, and Aunt Jill your cookies were delicious! I had a little bit of trouble getting luke's message out of the bottle ha, but the message was worth the work :) I also have to confess that I am a big fan of the picture pack mom, it was awesome! I hope that i have been responding well to all of your letters ha, I try to answer all you questions but i get mixed up sometimes.

Soo what happened this week?? Well i guess I can start by telling you about our very...different fireside haha.  It was with Janice Kapp Perry (i'm sure people know who that is, but i didnt, she wrote primary songs) and her husband.  She started off by telling us about the first time she met her husband. she said she was warming up with her clarinet and her husband walked up and said, "those lips look good for something else." Everyone started laughing, but it gets even better...after she said that her husband stood up and walked up to her at the microphone....and planted one on her for a good 10 seconds!!! Everyone started cheering and most of us gave him a standing ovation hahaha.  After he was done he walked off with one fist held high like he had just broken the color barrier at the olympics haha.  It was sooo funny!! And then after that the meeting sort of settled down, she had the whole mtc sing a melody of all her primary songs, like I Love to See the Temple and We'll Bring the World His Truth. It was really awesome! I had such a strong witness of the spirit.  I forgot how much fun the primary songs are, probably because i was never willing to sing them while i was there ha.  So Luke and all the little ones, make sure you enjoy the primary experience while you can!

This week we got two new mtc investigators ha.  I'm trying my hardest to make myself believe that they are real, and during the lessons they seem real, but its hard to not laugh about it after. Because the investigators are really our language and gospel teachers.  One of them this week is Vicente. I love teaching Vicente ha.  We had a lesson with him on saturday where we just had all the answers to his questions! We invited him to come to church, but he said that he had to go to a fiesta (he has a lot of fiestas ha) so then i asked him if he would like to come to an activity on wednesday and he said he would.  He asked what it was and without thinking I said, "noche de hogar" which is family night.  So we have our investigator coming to a family night on wednesday and i told him that we would call and text him to remind him to read and pray.  I don't know if i'll have those abilities in mexico, but it seemed right for the moment ha. And our teacher said that it was fine. I also shared with him the story of Ammon and the king and how he had the same desires as the king.  That was a really cool moment because i didnt know exactly where it was in spanish but the spirit helped me find it!!

Elder Berrett and I also had a really cool experience in an interview with our teacher hermano Rouse.  He was asking us how we thought our teaching was coming and I told him that i wasnt sure because the stuff i was saying in my lessons didnt make sense to me after ha.  He got a smile on his face and said that if the words i was saying werent mine, then they had to be the spirit's! That made me feel really good to know that the spirit has already been helping me with my teaching.  Its crazy how much more spanish i know during our lessons than i do during the day ha.

Well time here at the MTC is good.  I feel like i'm running on a treadmill though ha.  I know that i'm getting exercise and that i'm working for something, but i really just want to get on a real road and see how far i can go! Today is the halfway point here and i couldnt be more excited about that ha.

I love and miss you all! Keep sending me stuff!

Elder Jacobsen