Hey.
Well first of all,
this week I broke my glasses. I was trying to bend them
into shape since they
kept sliding down my nose, and the part of the frame
just above the lens
broke. So it has a tiny fracture in it.
The good news is that
my backup glasses work great, and they don't slide
down my nose. So
everything's good. Yes, I know I'm an idiot.
But with forearms
like mine, sometimes you just misjudge your own strength.
I tried to superglue
them back together, but it didn't work out like I had
planned and I ended
up supergluing my fingers together.
All joking aside, I
should have a warranty on that frame, right? I don't
think it's quite been
a year since I got them. The lenses are undamaged so
no worries there. If
not, I'm perfectly happy to finish my mission with my
older ones. Or
there's the whole contacts thing I mentioned to you.
Things are still
generally the same here. I don't know about you guys.
I've been trying
really hard to not focus on the fact that we just don't
have enough to do.
It's a pretty heavy responsibility to bear, being the
missionaries and
feeling like it's all on you to build the ward that you're
in. And our ward
needs it more than most. But Bishop Smith is really
missionary minded and
we have a good group of people to work with, so we'll
see what happens.
On Wednesday we set a baptismal date for the 20th of April
with one of our
investigators. That
was a pretty neat experience. We'll have to see
what happens. As of
now, his wife isn't very interested in what we're
teaching, and that
may present a problem. But we'll work with her. That's
why we're here.
I'm really excited
for General Conference next week! It's something that
I've grown to love.
Sometimes it can be hard to sit through hours of talks
and catch everything
without spacing out a little, but when I try to take
notes I get some
really great personal revelation from it.
On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Christensen. We
had a great time.
During our lesson
with one of our investigators we were able to
commit him to be
baptized on the 20th as well! It was a really cool
experience because
before he had been completely unwilling to commit to a
date for baptism, but
after reading the Book of Mormon with him during the
lesson, he told us
that he has always "felt something special" while reading
the Book of Mormon,
but couldn't ever really explain it. It was the perfect
opportunity to
testify of the power of the Holy Ghost. So that was the big
highlight of our
week.
I translated in
sacrament meeting yesterday for a lady because our equipment
was broken. It was...
humbling. The hard part was that it was testimony
meeting, and
testimonies are always harder to translate than regular
structured talks. I
did okay though!
Sorry this email is
shorter. There just isn't a whole lot to talk about. I'm
doing well though and
I'm looking forward to seeing you all in May!
I didn't know you
were going to Puerto Rico. Lucky...
Send me lot's of
pictures! Study up on your Spanglish!
Love you all,
Jake
PS
Hey mom!
Thanks for being proud of me. I hope that pride = biscotti
;)
To answer your question about Rodriguez, he's from Puebla
Mexico, he used to work in landscaping, and he's a really great Elder. I'm
going to be sorry to see him go. We put up a picture of our district on FB, but
that's the only picture I've taken since I got here. Honestly, California just
isn't anything special. Where we are looks like every other semi-city area in
the U.S.
Thanks for all of your support, mom. and keep feeding those
missionaries well! They're homesick sometimes and in need of some good food.
I'm going to go ahead and thank you on their behalf because I know the value of
a meal with members :)
Speaking of the temple - I'll be able to go to the temple
with my new companion! It's about 20 min. out of the mission in Sacramento.
I've heard it's a really beautiful one.
Anyways, love you mom!
Excited to talk to you in May!
- Jake
