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...

 

 

March 10, 2014

 

Hey!

I hope you and mom are doing well in Peru! Suerteros...

Well, I'm here in Citrus Heights, which is basically just northern Sacramento. Much more urban than Chico was. We actually drive down the border of the California Roseville and Sacramento missions every day. Some of the Sacramento missionaries have permission to go to the Walmart on our side of the street. Things here are ok. We don't have an overabundance of investigators, and finding seems to be the greatest challenge. The members are fantastic. We have dinner every night!

My companion is interesting (he’s autistic)... But I'm growing to love him. You can tell upon meeting him that he has some challenges. He's a good missionary though. Another missionary told me this when I asked him what my new comp was like:

"Well, he's funny, if only because he's a complete idiot".

That really bothers me. Firstly, because it runs through my head involuntarily every time my companion messes up, and makes it harder to have patience with him. Secondly, because it's completely untrue. He speaks excellent English all things considered. He's certainly got his heart in the right place. There's not a single ounce of guile or cynicism in him. And I have to say I'm thankful for the chance I have to be his companion because it's teaching me a lot about being Christ like and generally just more easygoing. So moral of the story: be kind.

This week I had a really spiritual experience reading in Ether 3. I don't think another verse of scripture has even impacted me more than when I read about the brother of Jared asking The Lord for help:

2 O Lord, thou hast said that we must be encompassed about by the floods. Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.

3 Behold, O Lord, thou hast smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity, and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock.

And then the record goes on. But just that first line "thou has said that we must be encompassed about by the floods" and later "suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness" really hit me. I can just imagine the brother of Jared looking out at the ocean, and then looking at the tiny boats he's just made and thinking: "who do we think we're kidding? how are we going to do this?" He must have been scared. And it was probably all the worse because there was no other way. Plus he was painfully aware of his own unworthiness.

I've applied that to myself a lot this week. I have to serve a mission. Since I got to C Heights I've been feeling really inadequate, and at times I would look at the calendar and say "how am I going to do this?" Like the brother of Jared, there really isn't any way around what I have to do. So this week the biggest lesson for me has been learning to rely on Heavenly Father to help me through the harder points of my mission.

So yeah. That's really just about everything for this week.

I hope your trip was a blast and that everyone is doing well. Love you guys!

Jake