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

Transfer :)

3 March, 2014

Well, I'm being transferred down south (finally) to Citrus Heights, CA. That's the only Spanish Ward in the whole mission, so I'm really excited.   Being with my new companion might be an interesting experience.   He’s autistic.  But I'll probably learn a lot from it! I'm just excited to be in a new area and meet new people, and a little bit nervous too. So keep me in your prayers.

If you want my guess about the credit card, it was those granola-munching hippies! That's how they do it you know. One distracts you by waving a Schnozzle bag around in the air and the other sneaks up behind you and pinches your wallet. Predatory tactics learned by watching many hours of National Geographic, I'm sure.

Anyways, I'm happy to hear that he resorts are finally getting some snowfall. Out here it's basically already becoming summer again. I'm not looking forward to 120 degree weather. But oh well. At least we have a car.

Tell the Bensons I said ¡Hola!

I'm looking forward to doing some fun stuff like skiing and going to movies with everyone when I get home. Right now the time is flying by - and I'm sure it'll only go faster now that I'm being sent to a new area. I'll be excited to send you the report of my first week there.

My week was so-so. I was starting to get really tired of Chico, so pushing through that and getting all of our work done was hard. But it reinforced the fact that this work isn't really about individual missionaries, in spite of what I've been learning and how my testimony has grown. I realized that I needed to help prepare this area for missionaries in the future to have more success. So I think that experience helped me prepare to be transferred to Citrus Heights.

Nothing else is really new. A family we’ve been teaching came to church yesterday but could only stay for sacrament meeting. I'll have to get their email address so I can see what happens. It would be great to see them get baptized in the future. We also taught a first lesson to a lady from Puerto Rico. She's the mother of a member. Really nice lady in spite of the fact that she's had a HARD life. My Spanish is getting better than ever. When I have the spirit helping me, it doesn't even hinder my teaching anymore. So that's great. I've decided that the worst part about stateside missions is catching movie commercials on people's TVs. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. Being taunted by everything from Godzilla to Captain America is the worst.

I enjoyed a microwave-heated maple bar for breakfast this morning to celebrate my exit from Chico. It was pretty good. I'd send you a picture but I already ate it.

I'm going to go get a haircut today. Probably play some soccer. It'll be fun.

Love you all!

Jake

A Nut Farm!

Feb 23, 2014

Hey guys!
Sorry I didn’t email earlier, we went on a tour of one of the church nut farms
out here (see pictures below).

Well, this week I have some bad news and some good news. The family we have been teaching
can't get baptized yet because they aren't married, and lack the documents
that they need to get married in the U.S. So we're going to be working with
them for a while. Or at least Elder Huamán is. I think I'm going to be
leaving in a week.

The good news is that another investigator is getting baptized on
the 8th now. So that will be pretty great. I don't know what I'll do if I'm
in another area though, because it's a mission rule that you can only go
back to seen one baptism that doesn't take place in an area adjacent to
yours. So if I go any further south than Gridley, I'll have to use it.

Well, I've been out about 8 months now, and I haven't had a lot of baptisms.
If you call that "success" then I'm not doing so well. But I think that a
big part of missionary success is the changes you see in yourself. Coming
out on a mission makes you grow up, but it only changes you if you let it.
There are plenty of guys who come out because they felt pressured to, or
just wanted to go somewhere cool, and spend two years being disobedient or
lazy and then go home exactly the same as they came out. That's a pretty big
waste of time and money if you ask me.

But I feel like my testimony has grown a lot, and that I'm becoming the kind
of person that God wants me to be. That's the most important thing.

So yeah. I'm feeling ready to leave Chico. President Weston asked me in my
last interview if I was "ready for a change" so I'm guessing that means I'm
leaving.

On Saturday I spent the day down in Gridley doing service with Elder
Crockett who dies in a week. He's pretty trunky, but we had a good time. We
helped one of the members pull a tree down with a tractor and cut it up into
moveable pieces. It was nice to finally see something new/take a break from
our area and all of the same old people. I'm ready to trade out this area's
problems for another area's problems and see what I can do.
I just hope I don't get put with an Elder who doesn't speak much Spanish or
is lazy. There are a few who have been out as long as me, or even longer,
and speak next to nothing (usually the lack of Spanish stems from laziness).
I mean, when you've got guys saying "me llamo es Élder..." there are some
issues with that.

But enough ranting. My week was good.

What else is new....

We're teaching an investigator to speak English, starting from the most basic
step: the alphabet. Considering Elder Huamán and I have no language teaching
experience whatsoever between the two us us, discounting one investigator from the
beginning of my mission, I think we're doing all right. The biggest
difficulty is that our current investigator has a speech impediment, so sometimes it's hard
for me to understand his Spanish. But since all he speaks is Spanish, I have
to step it up a little.

Elder Crockett gave me a telescoping back scratcher that you can clip into
your shirt pocket like a pen. It's pretty useful.

Love,
Jake

 

 

Another Great Week

Hey!

The biggest news this week is that the family we have been teaching are getting baptized on March 1st. Or at least they agreed to that date. They came to church again yesterday and they really enjoyed it, which is good because sometimes it's hard for new investigators to enjoy 3 hours of church meetings. But I'm really excited for them and I'm glad that I stayed here in Chico for another transfer, or else I never would have met them. Who knows? We might never have even found them. They're my one and only proof that knocking doors works on occasion. We're going to start teaching the husband English tomorrow.

Zone conference was this Friday, and was great as usual. My favorite part of zone conference is the free lunch. Usually we get Subway, but this time the Relief Society made us tacos and nachos. That was when I learned where the time-honored stereotype that the Relief Society over prepares everything comes from. Since it was Valentine's Day, everything was covered in heart-shaped doilies in various colors. They even left paper hearts on the floor with instructions for moving through the taco assembly line. But other than that it was really good, and it was great of them to put all that work into feeding us. Perks of being a missionary. 

This Saturday we get to go to a baptism for two of Elder Huamán's investigators in Lincoln. Well, he gets to. I get to go halfway and then trade places with his old companion Elder Howlett for the day so they can go. I'll be spending most of the day in Gridley with Elder Crockett, who used to be up here in Orland. It'll be fun. Especially to get out of the area a little. 

I've started writing in my journal every night again. I figure I'll want something to give my kids to show them what my mission was like. I'll also probably want to remember when I'm older. The only thing I haven't really gotten in the habit of is picture taking (sorry mom). It's just that we're in California. There's not a whole lot of picture-worthy stuff here, to be completely honest. I'll definitely take pictures at the baptism on the 1st though.  

Love you!

Jake

P.S.

Hey mom, forgot to tell you that I got that package, 

Thanks! I love the tie clip! And the grapefruits were nice and fresh, too

Love you guys

Jake

10 February, 2014

Dear Family,

This week I found out how to say "krabby patty" in Spanish. It's "cangre burge" (cangrejo hamburguesa) in case you were wondering. Just another gem from the world of American television dubbed into other languages. 

This week was pretty good, con la excepción de que he estado un poco resfriado, y acabo de estar con tos también. In other words I've had a cold and a bad cough. It's been raining here since last Thursday, which was incredible because last Sunday all the members in the area fasted together for rain. Now we just have to figure out how to turn it off before we all drown...

                The highlight this week was that one of our families we’re teaching came to church and stayed for all three hours with both of their daughters. They said they loved it and plan to come every week. I think the chances of them getting baptized are pretty high. They're such great people - and have been prepared to receive the gospel. We also met with another investigator yesterday who’s gone through a 180 degree change since Elder Edwards and I met with him a few months ago. He related some of his experiences being in the Peruvian military to Elder Huamán and I, and he told us that he'll come to church the week after next. I think we really made some headway with him. He wants to learn about the gospel now, especially El Libro de Mormón. 

                 So yeah. I've seen some real progress with my Spanish this week. I no longer sound like a gringo at all. I used to think the accent wouldn't be too bad, I mean, I could roll my Rs and everything, but it's harder than you might think to pass yourself off as semi-fluent and not likely to hurt yourself trying to say words like "ronronear" or "tergiversar" (my Spanish vocabulary word from Sunday, courtesy of Juan - who teaches me a lot just by conversing with us because he's highly educated and speaks Spanish accordingly). 

                My amusing anecdote for the week actually comes from last week when we helped the Mannings paint a casita on the church nut farm. They gave us all coveralls with hoods to work in, but the zipper on mine was broken, so they solved the problem by giving me another one in XXXL, which I decided to just wear over the first one. So, covered in excess material and therefore looking something like the Michelin Man crossed with a ninja (I'll send some pictures later) we set to work. It was a pretty fun experience, albeit hotter than I would have liked.        

                 Yesterday I got a reproving call from Sister Weston reminding me to write my weekly email to President because I completely forgot to. And by reproving I mean as reproving as Sister Weston can possibly be. She's a really sweet lady. I'm fairly certain that President has Sister Weston make calls like that sometimes so that he doesn't freak the missionaries out. 

                I have yet to be with a companion that I didn't like, it's true. I guess it will happen somewhere along the line. Hopefully not anytime soon though.

Love you all and have a great week.

-Jake

Joy in Sharing the Gospel

3 Feb, 2014

Hi everyone!

This week has been great. We had 10 lessons, which is an improvement
from last week, and definitely a high point for us. Probably because
we've found so many new people to teach. On Tuesday I took over the
area for exchanges, which usually entails dragging an English elder
around to all of your lessons in Spanish. We were going to go tracting
for a few hours, and I was with a guy who is particularly quiet. So
rather than saying everything at every door, I decided to go grab
Bryan Arevalo from our branch, who's preparing for a mission. He came
along with us and we knocked nearly every door in the apartment
complex until we came to one where we found  a nice couple. They
invited us in, and we taught them the first lesson. It was only the
second time I've ever been invited to come in at the door on my
mission. Now they're our two newest investigators. They're really
nice. The wife is a professional translator and speaks both Spanish and
English, but the husband is just starting to learn English and doesn't
read very well in either language. I have high hopes for them. It was
definitely a highlight on my mission - the first time I've ever been
happy to be out tracting. And not just happy, but feeling the joy of
sharing the gospel. It doesn't come all the time. Some days are just
drudgery. But when it does, it's a powerful testimony-builder.

Well, today is p day, and I've budgeted my money so that I only spend
so much every week and won't run out. That should be less of a problem
though because now we're getting dinners from the English wards again,
and I won't have to spend money on ingredients to make dinner.
Time goes by fast on a mission, but January has gone even quicker than
usual. It's crazy. The Whitings are about to go home, and we'll be
getting a new senior couple in the branch. I think I'll be transferred
on March 4th because in our interviews with President Weston he asked
me if I was "ready for a change" which usually means "you're leaving
whether you like it or not".

We've also heard that they're forming an all Spanish district
somewhere in the mission, so that should be pretty cool.

I had actually seen that “new mission presidents” article before. A member showed it to us.
It's interesting that he's from Germany. That will be a cool
transition to see.

Love,
Jake