March 17^th, 2014

Well hey guys!

 Welcome home from Peru! It's awesome that you had such a good time! We

 should definitely go before Sam leaves on his mission. Those pictures look

 absolutely incredible.

 Things have been pretty crazy here. The week went by so fast I can hardly

 believe it's Monday again. Sadly President wouldn't let me go to the baptism

on Saturday, so I missed out on Alonso's big day. I called him though, and

 he was pretty bummed out but he understood. You come to have a lot of love

 for your investigators as they progress, and it's been great to see the

 changes he's made.

 

Sometimes missionary work is unbelievably frustrating. For instance,

 yesterday we talked with one of our investigators who said he would

 be at church today if we found him a ride. So we did, and what happens? Our

 member drives all the way to his apartment and...he’s not there. We call him and

 it turns out he took off to Sacramento for the day! I mean, seriously guy?

 We talked to you less than 24 hours ago.

 Did you think we were joking about the whole ride to church thing?

 

 On the bright side we did get our other investigator to come! She's the mother of a member.

 We'll see what happens in the next few weeks here...

 But yeah. I'm doing great. This week I learned what being a successful

 missionary is. Honestly, in terms of numbers, I'm not very successful.

 BUT numbers don't really matter. What matters is my personal dedication and

 growth. So I can confidently say that I'm being productive even if we don't

 have a lot of people to teach - because we're looking, and I'm trying to be

 100% obedient to mission rules.  That's all you need.

On Saturday we had exchanges with the Zone Lords. I went to their area with

 Elder Percival, and we had a pretty good day. Plenty of people to talk to

 when you're an English Elder...

 

Speaking of languages, I'm translating sacrament meeting next Sunday.

 Make sure to pray for me.

 

 I've come to the conclusion that while our mission here in California is

 anything but physically challenging (we have cars, hot showers,

 etc.) it's spiritually challenging instead. I feel like I'm coming a long

 way in building my self-discipline for the simple reason that here, there

 are so many temptations. It would be all too easy to just change into

 regular clothes and go the the movies for instance. Or take a road trip to

 Sacramento. But when you're disobedient, you're miserable. I know

 missionaries who don't take the rules seriously and they spend all their

 time wanting to be home. It's hard to believe, but cutting yourself off from

 the worldly things and dedicating yourself to 2 years of working for The

 Lord full time really makes you happier than anything else while on a

 mission. So that's what I'm doing.

 

Sure there are people who drive by an

cuss us out, sure we don't have a lot of work, sure California isn't a very

 interesting place to be, but it's my mission and I know why Heavenly Father

 sent me here. Because it wouldn't mean as much to me if I were anywhere

 else. I think He sent me here, to a mission that's maybe not as "fun"

 or glamorous as other ones, so that I could grow up a little and learn to

 focus on serving others instead of myself.

 

 What else...

 I found out that there happens to be a 5 Guy's in our area. Hooray

 

 I think that's just about all the news that's fit to print this week.

 Love you all!

 Jake

PS

 Mom, here's a picture of me and one of my buddies from Chico, Elder Gull.

 Proof that I'm still alive. A little on the scrawny side nowadays, but I'll

 get back to pumping iron when I come home. Too much soccer and not enough

 weights around here...