Hey Guys!
Sorry I didn't get a letter out last week, I didn't have time! I think if I had organized a lil better, I could have gotten a quick letter out, but there were a lot of crazy things to do.
I am pretty pumped about Jeremy starting up his new season! Thats sweet! Id like to take this moment to remind you of a great game from my past.
In 2008, Canby started out the season with a fantastic battle against Sprague High School. It was epic for sure, and a blast. In this game, Sprague, running the wing-T offense, was rotating their quarter-backs every series. The defensive line found great fun in trying to destroy the both of them. One of the quarter-backs, a sophomore, was named J K. He was an active member of the Church, and after two more years of High School, decided to serve a full-time mission.
Elder Jeff Kidd is now my companion. I try not to remind him who won that game.
I got transferred! After just one transfer in Jardim Apurá, I had to repack my bags and hit the road. It was really hard to leave my last area. The members were incredible, and the is a lot of wonderful people there. Especially Elder Augusto. It was really hard to say good-bye to him, and to my other responsiblities. Im going to miss a lot it. At least Elder Augusto is still in the zone, and I can talk to him all the time. That kid changed my life, I owe a lot to him.
On the upside, Elder Kidd and I are opening the area, a new branch in the mission. Ramo Campanário! Its actualy really close to my last area, its in the same zone. Actually, its the fourth area Ive passed in the zone haha. Sweet. The branch was opened about 7 weeks ago. The Zone leaders were taking care of the branch, and the ward which it had broken off from, and now we entered to just take care of the branch, and the Zone Leaders will take care of the ward. The branch has 8 complete families, and the attendance is around 40 I think. I'm pretty excited. Way excited. We need 7 men to become a ward. So thats the goal, baptize a least 8 men in the transfer, a long with many others.
We I orginally was told by President about the new area, we didn't even have a house! But we are now living with another dupla of Elderes in a neighbooring area. Its a pretty nice house. We were sleeping on air matresses for awhile, but now we have bunk beds! We just gotta finish putting it together...
My companion is a stud. I like him a lot. Even in his first weeks, he is speaking with EVERYONE in the streets. He is determined to learn fast and to work hard. He has an incredible atitude. He is helping me out a ton already. I love working with him. His Portuguese isnt where he would like it to be, but we are working on it! We are living in a house of all Americas unfortunately, and two of the missionaries are in their first transfer. But we made a goal to only speak Portuguese. Its pretty fun.
Just to let you know how incredible my companion is, the other day on a bus, I overheard my companion invite someone to be baptized! So cool! The guy is my hero. I couldn't ask for a better companion. The Lord sent me exactly the Elder I needed at this point in my mission.I can tell we will be great life-long friends.
The branch had their first baptism this week! And we hope for many, many more. The Lord truly is wonderful to me, and I hope that he continues to bless you, my family and friends. I realize that i am not perfect. I have a lot of weaknesses, but i thank you all for always loving me despeit them. I pray that the Lord can give me strength and energy to continue His work and at His pace. Which i assume is rather accelerated.
I am out of words. Just pray for us :) Especially for Elder K so he can keep learning so quickly the language. You guys should hang out some time with his folks. Seem pretty cool. And pray that we can baptize these 8 men, and their families, and many more! I love you all! Have a great week! Appreciate ya!
love, Elder Jake
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Aug 8, 2011 letter
Dear Mom and family,
Today will be the start of one more crazy week! We wont have P-day. But I'm pretty excited, we have Zone Conference this week. I love Zone conference because of the many incredible missionaries which I get to see and interact with. They are such great examples and inspirations to me. I love our mission. Pretty sure its the best in the whole world :)
So the plan is that Elder Augusto and his sister (Don't laugh too hard, her name is Wayne) will be coming to our house for thanksgiving week (23rd until who knows when). Elder Augusto will arrive from Brasil, and Wayne will be coming down from Canada where she will be doing some sort of exchange program. Should be a pretty fun week. They both speak some decent English, so they will have a blast. They are both crazy people as well, you'll love em.
Lucia and the others are doing great! Lucia even helped us out picking people up for church in her car (which was lowered-shes 50 and so funny). SHe has such a strong testimony. She is really happy. She said some people have tried to convince her it was the wrong choice, but she said that she knows it was the right thing to do, so she'll stay strong.
Jessica is a young women (24) who was baptized this week. She is a trooper. She said everything was going wrong, everything seemed to turn for the worse when she decided to get baptized. Everything. She lost her job, had some family issues, missed her hair appointment (oh no!) and a whole lot more. Many people tried to convince her as well that it wasn't the right choice. I will get the full story later today I think. even with all these struggles, she was another great example. She expressed that she knew what she felt and knew what she needed to do, and nothing would stop her. What a wonderful example. IT was great to see her get baptized.
Mateus who was baptized last week gave a wonderful testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. He said "I feel like Joseph Smith". He has visited many churches, and had searched for the truth. And finally found it. He is an excellent member of the church already. He will get a calling this week and will ordained to the preisthood a well. Woohoo!
Joseph Smith said: "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." My testimony about missionary work has really grown in this ward. When a ward gets excited about missionary work, things change and everything else falls in to place. When we arrived in the ward, we realized this ward was excited. And we all started running. As the ward has gotten truely involved with missionary work, the ward has taken great strides. Attendance has gone up - passed their trimester goal by almost 40! Less actives are coming back. New members are entering. Both active and less active members are strentghening their testimonies as they share the gospel with others. And they are loving it. There is such a great love and desire in the ward to help one another. I love it." . . . Member-missionary work is one of the great keys to the individual growth of our members. It is my conviction that member-missionary work will raise the spirituality in any ward where applied"- Ezra Taft Benson. The promise of that prophet is being fulfilled. For this, I am eternally grateful. These members are changing my life, as well as the lives of many others.
So basically, I love this ward. Its incredible. I love my live.
It sounds like the Lord is blessing our family a lot. I am so proud of you and all the things which you are able to get done, and get done well! My family is a great example. I am super blessed with so many many things in my life!
This week will be a great one! And I hope its great for you all as well!
Love, Elder Jake
Today will be the start of one more crazy week! We wont have P-day. But I'm pretty excited, we have Zone Conference this week. I love Zone conference because of the many incredible missionaries which I get to see and interact with. They are such great examples and inspirations to me. I love our mission. Pretty sure its the best in the whole world :)
So the plan is that Elder Augusto and his sister (Don't laugh too hard, her name is Wayne) will be coming to our house for thanksgiving week (23rd until who knows when). Elder Augusto will arrive from Brasil, and Wayne will be coming down from Canada where she will be doing some sort of exchange program. Should be a pretty fun week. They both speak some decent English, so they will have a blast. They are both crazy people as well, you'll love em.
Lucia and the others are doing great! Lucia even helped us out picking people up for church in her car (which was lowered-shes 50 and so funny). SHe has such a strong testimony. She is really happy. She said some people have tried to convince her it was the wrong choice, but she said that she knows it was the right thing to do, so she'll stay strong.
Jessica is a young women (24) who was baptized this week. She is a trooper. She said everything was going wrong, everything seemed to turn for the worse when she decided to get baptized. Everything. She lost her job, had some family issues, missed her hair appointment (oh no!) and a whole lot more. Many people tried to convince her as well that it wasn't the right choice. I will get the full story later today I think. even with all these struggles, she was another great example. She expressed that she knew what she felt and knew what she needed to do, and nothing would stop her. What a wonderful example. IT was great to see her get baptized.
Mateus who was baptized last week gave a wonderful testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. He said "I feel like Joseph Smith". He has visited many churches, and had searched for the truth. And finally found it. He is an excellent member of the church already. He will get a calling this week and will ordained to the preisthood a well. Woohoo!
Joseph Smith said: "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." My testimony about missionary work has really grown in this ward. When a ward gets excited about missionary work, things change and everything else falls in to place. When we arrived in the ward, we realized this ward was excited. And we all started running. As the ward has gotten truely involved with missionary work, the ward has taken great strides. Attendance has gone up - passed their trimester goal by almost 40! Less actives are coming back. New members are entering. Both active and less active members are strentghening their testimonies as they share the gospel with others. And they are loving it. There is such a great love and desire in the ward to help one another. I love it." . . . Member-missionary work is one of the great keys to the individual growth of our members. It is my conviction that member-missionary work will raise the spirituality in any ward where applied"- Ezra Taft Benson. The promise of that prophet is being fulfilled. For this, I am eternally grateful. These members are changing my life, as well as the lives of many others.
So basically, I love this ward. Its incredible. I love my live.
It sounds like the Lord is blessing our family a lot. I am so proud of you and all the things which you are able to get done, and get done well! My family is a great example. I am super blessed with so many many things in my life!
This week will be a great one! And I hope its great for you all as well!
Love, Elder Jake
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Aug 2, 2011 Letter
Hey Guys,
I am grateful for you all! This week was insane! So insane. I cant explain how crazy it was, but it was fun. And tiring. And crazy.
We were able to have a wonderful baptismal meeting on Sunday evening, which was the highlight, and the focus of the whole week. The "Big Game" you could say.
Every single person we had been committed to be baptized this week fell at least once during the week. They all at one point said that they didn't want to baptized, or this week isnt going to work. We were able to see the Lord working miracles in our area, but also the "Enemy" working his lil tail off. The Lord was able to touch each one, and help them to come unto Him this week.
Lucia was baptized this week. She is a funny lady. She is a single mom, and her daughter (17) was baptized a few months ago. She was a little unsure at first, but after the baptismal interview, she said she would be baptized this week! On Sunday, we got to the church and she wasnt there! NOOO!! So we called her up and she said she was coming, but she wasnt going to be baptized.
After a lil miracle, she agreed to bring a towel and all and decide at the church. After a few minutes I decided to call and ask em if they wanted a ride. Her daughter said that Lucia wasnt going to church, and wasnt going to be baptized. NOOO! So, with faith, we grabbed this awesome brother (who was on crutches and in a neck brace-thats faith!) to drive us to her house and pick her up. Finally we finally got there and were able to, through one more miracle, help her to go to church, and bring her towel! She was able to be baptized! Our faith was being tried until the last moment! But she was able to make that covenant with the Lord.
I love the Lord. He is teaching me so many things, and helping me to feel - and follow - the Spirit. He knows so much better than I do. He loves us so much, and if we trust in Him, great things can happen!
I love my life here, a vida é a luta sem quartel (hino 142), but i love it. I am grateful for all you! More next week!
Keep up the great work, and dominating life! congrats on the intense work out plans Mom! My hero!
Have a great one! Love Elder Loveland
I am grateful for you all! This week was insane! So insane. I cant explain how crazy it was, but it was fun. And tiring. And crazy.
We were able to have a wonderful baptismal meeting on Sunday evening, which was the highlight, and the focus of the whole week. The "Big Game" you could say.
Every single person we had been committed to be baptized this week fell at least once during the week. They all at one point said that they didn't want to baptized, or this week isnt going to work. We were able to see the Lord working miracles in our area, but also the "Enemy" working his lil tail off. The Lord was able to touch each one, and help them to come unto Him this week.
Lucia was baptized this week. She is a funny lady. She is a single mom, and her daughter (17) was baptized a few months ago. She was a little unsure at first, but after the baptismal interview, she said she would be baptized this week! On Sunday, we got to the church and she wasnt there! NOOO!! So we called her up and she said she was coming, but she wasnt going to be baptized.
After a lil miracle, she agreed to bring a towel and all and decide at the church. After a few minutes I decided to call and ask em if they wanted a ride. Her daughter said that Lucia wasnt going to church, and wasnt going to be baptized. NOOO! So, with faith, we grabbed this awesome brother (who was on crutches and in a neck brace-thats faith!) to drive us to her house and pick her up. Finally we finally got there and were able to, through one more miracle, help her to go to church, and bring her towel! She was able to be baptized! Our faith was being tried until the last moment! But she was able to make that covenant with the Lord.
I love the Lord. He is teaching me so many things, and helping me to feel - and follow - the Spirit. He knows so much better than I do. He loves us so much, and if we trust in Him, great things can happen!
I love my life here, a vida é a luta sem quartel (hino 142), but i love it. I am grateful for all you! More next week!
Keep up the great work, and dominating life! congrats on the intense work out plans Mom! My hero!
Have a great one! Love Elder Loveland
Sunday, July 31, 2011
July 26, 2011 letter
Hey Guys!
Well, I was super grateful to hear you were all praying for me during the reunion. I felt it. It was a hard week, but it turned out to be the best week of my entire mission. I have been filled with so much gratitude for the blessings the Lord has poured upon us this week. It has been incredible. I cannot express how grateful I feel for all the thousands of blessings I have in my life. Its ridiculous.
This week we were able to work! We had only one day of meetings! Killed the whole day as well, but at least it was only one! And boy did we work. We were able to do divisons everyday with members. There are investigators that will be baptized this week that Ive never even taught! Just as my companion doesn't know others. Incredible. I have never seen numbers like I have seen this week. The Lord is putting lots and lots of people in our path! The Lord is making miracles happen here.
This week I have been able to understand what is means to be constantly praying. I have been trying to be copnstantly speaking with my Heavenly Father, thanking Him, and asking for His help. It was a rough week, and many times our faith was tested. but it ended quite well.
For this next week we have an incredible group of wonderful people that will be baptized. I have never seen so many people prepared to be baptized in the same week. Makes me wanna cry Im so happy haha.
One of these people is Mateus. He is 14, and super smart. I love this kid. He stopped Romário, the best member of the ward haha, and said he wanted to know more about the church. We were able to teach him and he is so prepared for the Gospel. We taught him last night. He was having a hard time not drinking coffee. When we told him that he had to stop drinking coffee last night, he sank in his chair. After a second, he said, okay, i can do it! Hes a stud!
Despite all this wonderfulness, "O Inimigo" [the enemy] has a was of tearing us down. Sunday morning was one of these moments. I was super discouraged with myself. THe work was going great, but I was down on myself for not teaching as well as I wanted to, for not being able to connect with some people as I wanted to, and feeling like I was just not that good at all. So I prayed. A lot. And I smiled, for absolutely no reason until I could cheer myself up. And the day turned out wonderful. I just smiled and got to work, kept speaking with people on the street, and praying. And it went really well. And that evening, I was able to speak at a stake fireside. That was a wonderful oportunity to be able to see and speak to so many beloved friends. I love my life.
Something that makes me sad it the fact that its coming to an end. Every time I think about it, it makes me sad. I truely love this life. I will keep running at 100 mph and just make use of what I have left. I am so grateful for your prayers. A few weeks ago I was worried about being able to end with fire and excitement, but now, the Lord has been blessing me with such a great desire to keep working. I am striving to be more in tune with Him so that He can use me as a tool in every way possible, and I think thats whats bringing me happiness. Putting my will in line with His. Thats the secret to happiness.
I dont know what these next few weeks will bring, but I know that the Lord has got some good plans for me, and I will do my best to fulfill them! Its gonna be a blast!
Well, I love you all! Thanks for the love and support! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Jake
Well, I was super grateful to hear you were all praying for me during the reunion. I felt it. It was a hard week, but it turned out to be the best week of my entire mission. I have been filled with so much gratitude for the blessings the Lord has poured upon us this week. It has been incredible. I cannot express how grateful I feel for all the thousands of blessings I have in my life. Its ridiculous.
This week we were able to work! We had only one day of meetings! Killed the whole day as well, but at least it was only one! And boy did we work. We were able to do divisons everyday with members. There are investigators that will be baptized this week that Ive never even taught! Just as my companion doesn't know others. Incredible. I have never seen numbers like I have seen this week. The Lord is putting lots and lots of people in our path! The Lord is making miracles happen here.
This week I have been able to understand what is means to be constantly praying. I have been trying to be copnstantly speaking with my Heavenly Father, thanking Him, and asking for His help. It was a rough week, and many times our faith was tested. but it ended quite well.
For this next week we have an incredible group of wonderful people that will be baptized. I have never seen so many people prepared to be baptized in the same week. Makes me wanna cry Im so happy haha.
One of these people is Mateus. He is 14, and super smart. I love this kid. He stopped Romário, the best member of the ward haha, and said he wanted to know more about the church. We were able to teach him and he is so prepared for the Gospel. We taught him last night. He was having a hard time not drinking coffee. When we told him that he had to stop drinking coffee last night, he sank in his chair. After a second, he said, okay, i can do it! Hes a stud!
Despite all this wonderfulness, "O Inimigo" [the enemy] has a was of tearing us down. Sunday morning was one of these moments. I was super discouraged with myself. THe work was going great, but I was down on myself for not teaching as well as I wanted to, for not being able to connect with some people as I wanted to, and feeling like I was just not that good at all. So I prayed. A lot. And I smiled, for absolutely no reason until I could cheer myself up. And the day turned out wonderful. I just smiled and got to work, kept speaking with people on the street, and praying. And it went really well. And that evening, I was able to speak at a stake fireside. That was a wonderful oportunity to be able to see and speak to so many beloved friends. I love my life.
Something that makes me sad it the fact that its coming to an end. Every time I think about it, it makes me sad. I truely love this life. I will keep running at 100 mph and just make use of what I have left. I am so grateful for your prayers. A few weeks ago I was worried about being able to end with fire and excitement, but now, the Lord has been blessing me with such a great desire to keep working. I am striving to be more in tune with Him so that He can use me as a tool in every way possible, and I think thats whats bringing me happiness. Putting my will in line with His. Thats the secret to happiness.
I dont know what these next few weeks will bring, but I know that the Lord has got some good plans for me, and I will do my best to fulfill them! Its gonna be a blast!
Well, I love you all! Thanks for the love and support! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Jake
July 18, 2011 letter
Hey Guys!
This week was a great one!
We got to work a fair bit in the area and that made me pretty happy. I really love the work. This ward is incredible! I have learned SO MUCH from the leadership and members here. They have such an incredible vision of the work and how meetings should work and everything. Some of, if not the, best comittee meetings Ive ever seen on my mission, maybe my life (not sure I was looking for the same things at home). I have been taking notes of things that I would do in the future if I was ever called to a position of leadership. I love the ward! The members are super excited about the work, and ive never received so many references in my life! Its crazy awesome.
One thing that I do love about the ward is the young men. There are NINE young men woho are just finishing up their papers to serve missions. Nine! (Actually 8 ym, and one young women who is also putting her papers in and just gave us a referral of a family-o gloria). I am loving their spirit and desire to work with us. We haven't taught a single lesson without a member since I got here, and I dont think we ever will. ITs super impressive. These young men remind me a ton of Kevin, Justin, Pug, Ben and the rest of the gang back home. They also will be great missionaries!
Health. Im great! Im actually doing great. I am loving my life, im on the tail end of a cold, but i thing as of this morning its gone. So that makes me happy.
Health. Im great! Im actually doing great. I am loving my life, im on the tail end of a cold, but i thing as of this morning its gone. So that makes me happy.
The reason being the inspiration for our transfer. Good question. There are two parts. One, the Elders who were in this ward before us were having a few challenges and needed to be transferred. Nothing serious, just needed a new area. Two, our old ward was tired of us haha. That ward has had great missionaries for over a year and a half and had really started to take it for granted. They leadership did not want growth, just wanted to "strengthen" the members they had. So, the stake president thought it would be better if we switched to this other ward, that wants and is super ready for growth. Take advantage of the great missionaries that will pass through here in the future. It was just a suggestion, but not im really grateful and feel that it was inspiration, This area is teaching me so much about life, leadership and church membership. I love it!
We live in a great house. After the cleaning, its one of my favorite houses, if not my favorite. We are actually rather spoiled because there is a great lady who lives in front and doesnt let us wash our on clothes. SHe washes em! I have never seen my shirts so clean since the day I bought them. haha sweet.
This sister in the ward fixed my suit! It left a scar, but you have to rally pay attention to notice that is not just another seem. Im pretty pumped. Its old, but I love it. Im not gonna be able to give it up before the end of the mission. Its almost a part of me.
I was praying yesterday for some motivation or something extra to help me accelerate at the end of my mission. I want to fly towards the end! I think the answer to my prayer was in those young men. 4 of them bore their testimonies yesterday about wanting to serve missions. I think i need to do my very best to show them the best missionary I can be, show them that just cause your "old" doesn't mean you have to slow down! I felt a lo t of love for those guys, Ill do my best to help them.
I love this church. I am so grateful for the blessings of being a member andbeing able to get to know and work with such great people. They teach me so much! I am also grateful for the classes and testimonies we hear every week. I lov ehow incredible the gospel is! Helps us in all parts of our lives! What a wonderful blessing! Woohoo!
I love you all too, I hope you all have an excellent week!
July 13, 2011 letter
Well, Hey!
Saturday after the division we went to Presidents house to talk to him about transfers. We were not there to do the transfers, but to be data bases for his questions about missionaries and areas, and give suggestions when needed. it was cool to feel the Spirit and to see how revelation works with this great man. He has said various times "Information proceeds revelation". He did what was logical, and looked at it to see if it felt right. It was cool to feel a little of how he felt. Sometimes when a dupla was put together, you could just feel, in your heart and in your mind, "thats right". It made sense logically, and spiritually felt good. When all was said and done, we went home and he prayed and fasted and went to the temple to see what the Lord wanted, how he felt about it all. It was definitely a wonderful learning experience. Helped me a lot to be able to understand revelation!
Sunday evening we went to the office to pass the transfers. When President sent us the transfers, we went over them to see if there were any errors, and then corrected them with him. We finally got them set and started calling about 10:30. We got it all done by and were in bed (at the offices Elders apartment which is kinda like my second home) by 1:30am! Woohoo!
We got up early and went back over to the office and started organizing everything for the transfers, and the normal weekly follow-up. Whew. On top of everything else, the mission switched our cell phone provider to another company, so that was a nice stack of work on top of everything. We left the office at 9:30ish, got home at ten, to get started packing.
Yep, I got transfered! Actually, WE got transferred! ME and my companion we both transferred - together - to another ward! Its not that far, its actually one of the 4 wards that uses the same chapel as our old ward. Anywaysa, we spent the night packing and cleaning. Got to bed by 1:30am again. Super crazy.
We got up at 6:00 the next day to finish, and to leave by 7:30 to get to the office, make 16 copies of a training book for the trainers, and then we ran over to the chapel to start the new leadership training meeting! Woohoo! After that we started the Trainee meeting, which was part of the much longer Meet your Trainer meeting. Finally, we left there to go back to the office, say good bye to the group thats going home :(. Three of my companions, Elder Read, Finlinson, and Elder Perry, as well as my old roommate Elder Schmidt (along with many other great friends and missionaries). Then we went back towards our area, but before we got there, had one more meeting with the Stake President. We finally left there at 9, and were able to get a ride to our old house, get our bags, and finally, get into our new house. whew.
Our new house is great! It was a little dirty however, so we spent 4 or 4 hours this morning cleaning and organizing it, and throwing away a lot of stuff. I think as of tomorrow morning, we will be back on a normal schedule.
I have been a little sick as well haha. Sister Tanner heard me coughing and asked me what i was doing to get over it and I told her i was sleeping less than 7 hours a night and Im not eating reguarly. haha luckily she got distracted and didnt hear me :) But Now Im good :)
Hey, so Monday I ripped my suit! oh glory. I had my arms full of stuff from the office and I was standing up to get off the bus when we flew over a speed bumb at high speeds, throwing me out of my chair at and elevated rate. The arm rest conveniently was inside my suit pocket, so yea, its pretty ...pretty. I had those meetings the next day so I called up Elder Finlinson, and he gave me his old suit that he would need anymore. It aint pretty, but i like it.
Aside from all this, I love my new area! Its incredible. I dont know very many people yet, but those that I know are awesome! They are so excited abouyt the work! We are gonna have a blast here! I feel much more at home with these members then I felt in my last area. Its really a great blessing.
Well, thats pretty much my week. Super lame for the reader haha but its the best I got. Next week we will be able to talk more about the work in this great nex ward, Jardim Apurá!
I love you all! Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Jake
If you wanted like to hear today how this week was calmer and a more "normal", you may stop reading now. This week was insane! we had a lot of work to do with transfers and everything else!
We did a division with Elder Tyree and Elder Jakson this week, which was fun. ANd hard. I stayed in the area and was having a hard time finding people to teach. It was annoyning haha, but we worked hard. It was a normal division, just that one day of normal work before the hurricane started up again...
We did a division with Elder Tyree and Elder Jakson this week, which was fun. ANd hard. I stayed in the area and was having a hard time finding people to teach. It was annoyning haha, but we worked hard. It was a normal division, just that one day of normal work before the hurricane started up again...
Saturday after the division we went to Presidents house to talk to him about transfers. We were not there to do the transfers, but to be data bases for his questions about missionaries and areas, and give suggestions when needed. it was cool to feel the Spirit and to see how revelation works with this great man. He has said various times "Information proceeds revelation". He did what was logical, and looked at it to see if it felt right. It was cool to feel a little of how he felt. Sometimes when a dupla was put together, you could just feel, in your heart and in your mind, "thats right". It made sense logically, and spiritually felt good. When all was said and done, we went home and he prayed and fasted and went to the temple to see what the Lord wanted, how he felt about it all. It was definitely a wonderful learning experience. Helped me a lot to be able to understand revelation!
Sunday we had a normal Sunday at church. I was asked to speak on the spot! I started to pray to know what to say, and then it came to me. So I spoke about my family! It was the first time I had ever done that really in a talk. I started out by introducing each one of you, and telling them a little bit about you. After that, I talked about how much I missed you. Then I asked, "how sad would it be for my family, if I was never able to come back home?" The Spirit was able to teach me at that moment how badly Heavenly Father wants all of us to go back and live with Him. And how important it is that we help others, our brothers and sisters to come home for that big thanksgiving dinner! I love how the Lord teaches me as I try to teach others.
Sunday evening we went to the office to pass the transfers. When President sent us the transfers, we went over them to see if there were any errors, and then corrected them with him. We finally got them set and started calling about 10:30. We got it all done by and were in bed (at the offices Elders apartment which is kinda like my second home) by 1:30am! Woohoo!
We got up early and went back over to the office and started organizing everything for the transfers, and the normal weekly follow-up. Whew. On top of everything else, the mission switched our cell phone provider to another company, so that was a nice stack of work on top of everything. We left the office at 9:30ish, got home at ten, to get started packing.
Yep, I got transfered! Actually, WE got transferred! ME and my companion we both transferred - together - to another ward! Its not that far, its actually one of the 4 wards that uses the same chapel as our old ward. Anywaysa, we spent the night packing and cleaning. Got to bed by 1:30am again. Super crazy.
We got up at 6:00 the next day to finish, and to leave by 7:30 to get to the office, make 16 copies of a training book for the trainers, and then we ran over to the chapel to start the new leadership training meeting! Woohoo! After that we started the Trainee meeting, which was part of the much longer Meet your Trainer meeting. Finally, we left there to go back to the office, say good bye to the group thats going home :(. Three of my companions, Elder Read, Finlinson, and Elder Perry, as well as my old roommate Elder Schmidt (along with many other great friends and missionaries). Then we went back towards our area, but before we got there, had one more meeting with the Stake President. We finally left there at 9, and were able to get a ride to our old house, get our bags, and finally, get into our new house. whew.
Our new house is great! It was a little dirty however, so we spent 4 or 4 hours this morning cleaning and organizing it, and throwing away a lot of stuff. I think as of tomorrow morning, we will be back on a normal schedule.
I have been a little sick as well haha. Sister Tanner heard me coughing and asked me what i was doing to get over it and I told her i was sleeping less than 7 hours a night and Im not eating reguarly. haha luckily she got distracted and didnt hear me :) But Now Im good :)
Hey, so Monday I ripped my suit! oh glory. I had my arms full of stuff from the office and I was standing up to get off the bus when we flew over a speed bumb at high speeds, throwing me out of my chair at and elevated rate. The arm rest conveniently was inside my suit pocket, so yea, its pretty ...pretty. I had those meetings the next day so I called up Elder Finlinson, and he gave me his old suit that he would need anymore. It aint pretty, but i like it.
Aside from all this, I love my new area! Its incredible. I dont know very many people yet, but those that I know are awesome! They are so excited abouyt the work! We are gonna have a blast here! I feel much more at home with these members then I felt in my last area. Its really a great blessing.
Well, thats pretty much my week. Super lame for the reader haha but its the best I got. Next week we will be able to talk more about the work in this great nex ward, Jardim Apurá!
I love you all! Thanks for everything!
Love, Elder Jake
Thursday, July 7, 2011
July 5th letter - New mission president
Hey Guys,
It was definitely hard to say good-bye to President and Sister Richardson, but because we were running around like camels with our heads cut off, it didn't really set in until I was in the subway heading to the zone conference. It was crazy. I hope very badly to see that wonderful couple agian soon. They have had such a profound impact on my life.
President and Sister Tanner are awesome. Super humble, kind and inspiring people. It has been a pleasure to get to know them. When I first met him, I wasn't really sure what to think. He´s incredibly different than Pres Richardson. I met him and I walked away thinking "I don't know about this guy because he is so different than we are used to." But I have been able to see quickly his love and his strengths and I know for sure he is what we need at this point. I really love them both.
Their first week has been an adventure for sure. Their flight got delayed, a lot. SO they got in Wednesday at midnight, went through customs, got to the mission home at two and then met with the Richardsons until 4:00am. Poor guys. Then they came to the office and had another meeting with President from 9 :30ish til 12:00 and then had a zone conference from noon til 4. And it just goes on. They are champions. They also have been with out phones, money, internet, and a map. In one of the biggest cities in the world! Their GPS isnt exactly the most accurate thing, and really gets them good and lost at times. But through all this, they just keep laughing and having a great time.
I discovered that President Tanner wrote "I love the Lord" that song we sang on the CD. Pretty pumped about that!
One thing i have enjoyed is translating for Sister Tanner. ITs fun. Im not that good yet, but I really like it. Something to look into for the future.
Through all this, unfortunately, we haven't had hardly any time to work in our area. I miss that! I want to get back to work. I hope that this week It brings such a sweet spirit into our lives! I also have not been able to study this scriptures very much, or sleep, or eat! (I think I've lost a few kilos this week haha). On top of it all, I missed church because of a baptismal interview. Oh crazy. I need a lil spiritual injection, so i think I'll bury myself in the Book of Mormon a bit this afternoon. I love that book. I feel like many times it literally is the iron rod, and its the only think that keeps me going, I just hold on tight and it drags me where I need to go.
Our wonderful family gave up :(. Right after the baptismal interviews, they drank coffee, and one of them decided to spend the night at her boyfriends house. Thats always really hard. We aren´t really sure why this all is happening. I think the Lord is trying to teach me a lot of things.
However, this week Jaqueline was baptized! She is 21 and good friends with the bishop and a few other members of the church. Super well prepared by the Lord. With each baptism we see, I realize more and more that I have very little to do with the baptisms, its the Lord that does it all. And does it much better than I could ever do.
I feel like this letter is crazy and scattered, but maybe that explains best my week! It was a fantastic week, and I loved it. I kinda like crazy and scattered sometimes. But I'm excited to get back to work soon! Thats for sure! Should be almost a normal week! Just two more trips to the office i think! Oh Glory. :)
Love Elder Jake
Woohoo! This week has been crazy! I'm going crazy haha.
It was definitely hard to say good-bye to President and Sister Richardson, but because we were running around like camels with our heads cut off, it didn't really set in until I was in the subway heading to the zone conference. It was crazy. I hope very badly to see that wonderful couple agian soon. They have had such a profound impact on my life.
President and Sister Tanner are awesome. Super humble, kind and inspiring people. It has been a pleasure to get to know them. When I first met him, I wasn't really sure what to think. He´s incredibly different than Pres Richardson. I met him and I walked away thinking "I don't know about this guy because he is so different than we are used to." But I have been able to see quickly his love and his strengths and I know for sure he is what we need at this point. I really love them both.
Their first week has been an adventure for sure. Their flight got delayed, a lot. SO they got in Wednesday at midnight, went through customs, got to the mission home at two and then met with the Richardsons until 4:00am. Poor guys. Then they came to the office and had another meeting with President from 9 :30ish til 12:00 and then had a zone conference from noon til 4. And it just goes on. They are champions. They also have been with out phones, money, internet, and a map. In one of the biggest cities in the world! Their GPS isnt exactly the most accurate thing, and really gets them good and lost at times. But through all this, they just keep laughing and having a great time.
I discovered that President Tanner wrote "I love the Lord" that song we sang on the CD. Pretty pumped about that!
Yesterday we had one of the craziest meetings of my mission with President, about transfers. For three hours me and my companion just talked at him, explaining the zones and the wards and the missionaries and problems that need be resolved on the transfer and answering his questions. He is truly an inspired man. He will be an excellent President.
One thing i have enjoyed is translating for Sister Tanner. ITs fun. Im not that good yet, but I really like it. Something to look into for the future.
Through all this, unfortunately, we haven't had hardly any time to work in our area. I miss that! I want to get back to work. I hope that this week It brings such a sweet spirit into our lives! I also have not been able to study this scriptures very much, or sleep, or eat! (I think I've lost a few kilos this week haha). On top of it all, I missed church because of a baptismal interview. Oh crazy. I need a lil spiritual injection, so i think I'll bury myself in the Book of Mormon a bit this afternoon. I love that book. I feel like many times it literally is the iron rod, and its the only think that keeps me going, I just hold on tight and it drags me where I need to go.
Our wonderful family gave up :(. Right after the baptismal interviews, they drank coffee, and one of them decided to spend the night at her boyfriends house. Thats always really hard. We aren´t really sure why this all is happening. I think the Lord is trying to teach me a lot of things.
However, this week Jaqueline was baptized! She is 21 and good friends with the bishop and a few other members of the church. Super well prepared by the Lord. With each baptism we see, I realize more and more that I have very little to do with the baptisms, its the Lord that does it all. And does it much better than I could ever do.
It sounds like you had a great week! I am super proud of mom and dad for the half-marathon! Thats awesome! I showed my comp that picture of you guys at the finish line. I was pumped.
I feel like this letter is crazy and scattered, but maybe that explains best my week! It was a fantastic week, and I loved it. I kinda like crazy and scattered sometimes. But I'm excited to get back to work soon! Thats for sure! Should be almost a normal week! Just two more trips to the office i think! Oh Glory. :)
I love you all! I really hope you never forget that. Have a great week!
Love Elder Jake
Saturday, July 2, 2011
June 27, 2011 letter
Hey Family and Friends!
Adam chose a perfect week to come home. Normally that would be considered a somewhat "trunky" bit of news, but this week, i will have zero time to think! Woohoo!
Presidente and Síster Richardson are going home this week! AHH! I have seen him say "good-bye" in many meetings, but because Ill see him this week, Ive been putting those thoughts off. It hasn't fully hit me yet. But it will, and it'll hurt. Such a great man, a great family.
During my mission, on a few occasions, President and Sister have spoken a few times on what to do to have a strong, successful family. Interestingly, everything they said, I have seen in my parents! Family nights, daily family scripture study, family prayer, frequent visits to the temple, frequent personal father-son interviews, frequent testimony bearing, time together, and the list goes on. I was touched by this. Many of my companions do not have that kind of support. Many do not have parents in the church, or active in the church. I am not sure what I did to deserve such a great family, I probably needed it a lot more than them haha. But I sure am grateful . My family rocks!
This week will be FULL of meetings. Tuesday we will have our normal meeting with President Richardson (which may be more like a party if Sister has her way haha). Wednesday, at 7:00am Presidente Tanner gets in, and as soon as he touches his foot on Brasilian soil, is the President of the mission. We will meet him and his wife and maybe have a meeting with him after his meetings w/ Pres. R. Then Pres. Richardson will take off (that's gonna hurt) and Pres Tanner is going to leave with us to work in our area! Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we will have zone conferences for everyone to meet him. Sunday we have "off". Monday we have Jedi Council. Tuesday we are back in the office for our weekly meeting with President and Sister Tanner. 7 days, 6 in meetings! Woohoo! Im gonna go crazy! Im gonna wake up early a lot this week to run and stuff so that I don't get too restless during all these meetings.
On top of this, we have a wonderful family we want to baptize on our "day off", Sunday, and a whole load of new investigators to find! We have no one for the next weeks! We have got to have some miracles this week. I am excited to see what happens.
I was really touched with the turn out for Sister E's funeral. What an incredible women. And what a wonderful community we live in! I was quite pleased by the number of teachers and others there. I an also grateful for the Plan of Salvation! How wonderful if will be to see her running about, talking up a storm again. Itll be a great day. Makes all we do as members worth it. All we do to strengthen and uplift others, inviting them to come unto Christ. Its all worth it. We will all be able to be together again! Thats why we do it. For them, and for the Lord.
Last night was a two-stake baptismal service. President spoke, and him and I were able to be testimonies for the many baptisms. It was a really cool experience. We were blessed to be able to baptize a man named Wesley! Super cool guy, rally happy, and really excited about the church. He has a little bit of Down Syndrome (did i spell that right?), but he has the mentality of a 15 yr old I think. Great guy, really happy, LOVES the church and the his friends (Patrick and Sebastião) will be a great support for him as well. He really wants to serve others. Wants to be a missionary. Another incredible soul sent from our Heavenly Father to teach and uplift us.
Well, gotta fly, Love you all! Send Adam a big ol hug. PS My comp reminds me a ton of Adam. Maybe thats way hes one my favorites. Anyways, love ya!
Love Jake
Photos
The elder from Dads missionFatima's Baptism with Pres. Richardson
Pizza night with Elder Mickelson and my old trainer Elder dos Reis!
Reunion! Elder Aaron Graham (Ross and I taught him seminary once), eu, and Sister Petita (served there for a transfer waiting for her visa. woohoo! Sister Petita showed me pictures of that amazing house. SO SWEET.
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