Hey!
Well, I am exhausted! I donno why, but I haven't slept super good the past two mights, and we have been workin harder than ever! I love it, it has been good!
It was super good to hear from all you on Christmas, super good! Afterwords I was on fire and just wanted to work! Unfortunately, didn't really get to teach anybody that day. There were some crazy parties goin down, and nobody could hear when we "knocked doors". Nobody answered for our set lessons. So we stopped by a members home, not sure why. But I was sitting there trying to figure out how to get the music to turn off. It was so freaking loud. Couldn't hear anything inside the house of the member. So the thought came to me, if it started raining, people would go inside! So I told my companion and prayed for rain. It came! But not enough, so I prayed for more rain. And it started pourin. It was really cool. It was a great reminder to me that this isn't our work, and we aren't doing it alone. Nothing great came out of our teaching in the rain, but it was a great testimony builder for me, and that was much appreciated.
Saturday we helped a family move. One of the sons is a member, and the others aren't. It was a lot of fun, but sadly they moved out of our area, so we don't get to teach them anymore! It was fun though, and I had a good workout. They often would say "Elder Loveland, carry this stove down to the house." (The truck had to park pretty far because of the small streets.) And so I would haha.They made a lot of jokes, 99% of which I didn't understand. But it was a much needed workout. Saturday morning we also went running which was super great. I loved that.
Sunday was a good, long day, lots of walking and no one was home! Francisco was not at church, and I'm trying to get either us or a member to go with him next week. I think my companion finally agrees thats a good plan.
Our best investigator right now is a 16 year old boy named Davi (Dave). He wants so badly to be baptized, but he has been recovering from surgery and just now can sit up in bed, with some great effort. I'm not sure if he will ever walk.I have been talking to his mother, who won't let him go to church because he is not healthy enough. Which is probably true. But now he is, and I promised him the Lord would help him if he did his part.
I have had some great conversations with him! My companion likes to play his guitar with the neighbor, so I have had some great opportunities to talk to Davi. Yesterday we talked about Mormons in the NFL, of which he is a big fan. He loves Steve Young a ton, was suprised he was a Mormon. He is a great kid. This Sunday I will carry him to church if I have to. His mom is a member,and we committed her to stop smoking and come back to church. Smoking is tough for her, don't think that lasted a full day. So I'm open for ideas with that one!
I have been asking "how" a lot lately, and i think its drivin him [my companion] nuts a bit. But we often set goals and our plans don't match. And we just show up at the house and then he just starts and I testify. I am trying to plan more with my comp the lessons, I need to, because I can't wing it a well in Portuguese. [Its ironically amusing since in high school, he would often pull things together at the last moment, including major writing assignments!] That's tough, especially when its a workout just to figure out what people are saying!
He is a super good teacher and really connects well with people. Super good comp, I love him a ton, and works hard. I learn so much from him everyday, and just try to do my part. I often feel inadequent to help, but I have been thinking back to the setting apart when Pres Lindgreen said the language would not be a barrier. So I just trust that, and open my mouth. Pretty funny when someone just openly starts laughing during my testimony though. Haha! Not what I was going for!
I am trying to be more positive this week. I don't think I've ever had a huge problem with this but, lately I have become impatient when we spend a ton of time at members, or other stuff. But I had a talk with one of the other elders, and he helped remind me to make the best out of every situation. If you are in a members house for two hours, talk to the members, they are excellent language practice. Really try to understand them. Seems obvious, but it was something I was looking over, for sure.
My companion is kind of mad at me for telling the president I used gmail last week. He asked me specifically in an email, among a billion other questions if I was only using myldsmail. So I explained why I used it [to send pictures], and hopefully he won't kill me or my companion.
I kind of get the feeling everyone here has the mindset that if the president doesn't know, its not breaking the rules. Not a huge problem with my companion, but it is a little depressing. Haha. I have never been a fan of rules, but on the mission, on the Lord's time, and on the Lord's errand, Ill do my best to follow the Lord and my leaders. He knows the best way to bring people to Christ, and that requires sacrifice on our part. Since I only have two years, I'm gonna do my best to be obedient. After the mish, I guess we´ll just have to wait and see ;) haha
This past week I have worked on my contacts, and not scaring people! I am kinda large and when I get excited, I just kind of charge in and start up a conversation. Bold, which is good, but scary. Scary is bad. This lady ran away from me this week! Hahaha, its gettin better, and I'm working at smoothing out the bold and being myself, which is tough in a different language! But it is coming!
Well, I am not sure what else to say! Have a great week! And pray for me! Also send me and address for Jacob, so I can send him a letter!
Peace out, I love you all! The kids can send me emails if they would like! Including R and K.
Love, Elder Jake
P. S. Sometimes my P-days are on Mondays, others Tuesdays, so just write me Sunday or whatever, cause I can't tell when they will be when just yet!
