Ok, so I totally just wrote alot and then some crap happened, and here I am starting over. This is going to be REALLY short I assume, I'm already two hours on the computer. I feel horrible and I feel bad for having sent you a few things, I used Gmail to send you something special. We´re not supposed to use other services. I spent alot of time on that thing two. The other mail you´re going to receive needs to be seen with my laptop. Your computer doesn´t have all the programs you need to check it out. If you have problems have Daniel come over, ok??
Well, I do know those two pollo places you were talking about, one´s grilled chicken the other is rostiserie. They´re pretty good, we walk by there every day. Lol. There´s a few other fun places, I have a hankering for more chinese food, but nobody here really likes it. They like it...but they don´t REALLY like it, it´s not something they WANT to go do very much. Oh well, Elder Danielson does, we´ll have to organize that one. Just him and I, the others can go get something. Tomorrow morning I just remembered we´re going to go meet a friend of ours in a litle garden place. We met him last Tuesday contacting and he came running back at us. He passed us we just said hi, and then all of a sudden ¨HEY!¨ I turn around and he comes running at us. ¨Hey are you the mormons?¨ ... I reply ¨Why, yes we are!¨ = D
He wanted to come to church, but we usually don´t trust people who say they´re going to go to church in the street. It´s never EVER happened til now. He came! We can´t even get our own investigators to go! This guy ... we were walking Sunday morning to the church and we passed him, I said good morning, and then I recognized his hat. I turned around, HEY! Lol We started talking and he said he was on his way to the church. The funniest part about all of that is that it hit daylight savings time this last week...We got up an hour early. And got to church an hour early...
David was baptized! That went down well. He was just... too easy it seemed. It was just... yeah I believe, yeah I read the Book of Mormon, the law of chastity is this this this, word of wisdom is this this this. Just ... just like that. Nothing else to it. At the same time though he never expressed that he was supurbly grateful for the gospel or that he really had a testimony, nothing like that. We baptized him on Saturday. He rolled his little chair up to the font, no problem, not a single compliant or sign of discomfort, struggled down the stairs with me and we got into the font, he stumbled while we were down there and I had to support him, but I held him up, performed the ordinance and pulled him out of the water. I had told him before. ´Just sit in the water, don´t worry about anything, just sit back and I´ll pull you out´.
A little later, my same words came back to me as I thought about the arms of angels who pull me out. The arms of the Savior who, with outstretched arms pulls me up out of the water. So I don´t drown. You have to kick and kick and kick ... sometimes more kicks to keep your head above the water. The Lord lets your legs get strong your lungs get better, your arms larger, holding yourself out of the water. If we don´t do our part and kick, we´ll drown. But if we give it the best we can his arms are there. We can´t get out of the water by ourselves. There is nothing to grab on to or step up on except the word of god and the arms of our Savior. Just do our part and grab on. He´ll pull us out. After the baptism a few people congratulated him, then i went up and said Felicidades amigo, and stooped down for a little hug. He started to choke up. Elder Nichols went down for another hug, he started to tear. Elder Danielson congratulated him and said a few welcoming words. He went for it, he cried a little.
Sunday morning though we went over there. Elder Nichols had planned to pick him up in the morning as if by divine revelation. We went over there with Elder Danielson and found David sick sick sick. He couldn´t (supuestamente, (supposedly) because he got up and went to the bathroom fine) got out of bed. I´m not saying it wasn´t bad, it was. It was really bad. He was writhing in pain. Writhing would be the desriptive word. We called in for his medicine for him, they brought it by and after church, actually at like 7 we came back and a sister in the ward (Hermana Karmen) had studied a little nursing and injected him. After that it was all good. We confirmed him then and there also, in his house.
Sunday night we went with Jorge and his 3 younger kids. We taught them the plan of salvation and asked Jorge if he was still interested in baptism. He replied ¨I´m more sure about it now.¨ His three kids also are going to get baptized with him on the 7th of November. He´s a single man, divorced awhile back. The youngest daughter (8 years old) lives with the mom, the other 2 boys (11 and 13) Israel and Manuel, live with him and the oldest boy Axel, (like 20 something) lives in Manzanillo but comes up for the weekends and came to church about 8 days ago. it worked out well, he may have a friend in the church and we´re working with him that he can get his answer to. I want to baptize people with testimony. Only. Not cause the family does too. It´s been a rough week. I´m really over saturated it seems. I haven´t read The Book of Mormon in over a week. I KNOW that´s part of the problem. I´m trying to clean the whole house but the other elders are helping now. That´s the good part. I have district class to plan and area to worry about. We need to find new people, not just new people but I want to find by the Spirit. Family´s that are prepared by the Lord. Well that´s the gist of it for now. To answer your questions, I have used a little bit of the money that dad gave me. I´ve been stocked up for a little while though. I FINALLY bought a watch on Saturday. A little plastic weiner watch. This guy wanted 40 bucks for it. I got him down to 30. 300 pesos. It´s nice though watch alarm water proof and light. It gets the job done, it´s plastic though, the ONLY disadvantage. Other than that I´m satisfied! Lol. For now...(Christmas?? ´,= 0 ... )
I hope I get my garments now too! Lol, I need to lay to rest a few pairs with exceptional holes and deteriorations. Lol. I hate to list more stuff I need, lol. But I´ve run into a few snags. 1. They don´t sell CD players any more here, I CAN NOT find any. Could you just send that little grey one I have? It doesn´t take any cords....don´t worry about cords. Remember that little black thing you bought me for my ZUNE? in the MTC to play music with?? Send that and all the CD´s that are from the church, KK? Also, remember that studly jacket I bought from Marshall´s once? I need that, lol. I need a rain jacket and something to keep me a little warm here in winter, lol That´d be awesome. And as long as you´re going to send something I´m out of socks again. Those old shoes I had put holes in them all. I bought some here, but they´re really REALLY tiny, lol. That and they want about $4, literally, for one pair of crappy socks. So I thought I´d just ask you, lol.
I love you mom, I´m working on letters and stuff, sorry!
Just to let you know I sent like 5 emails from Gmail to make sure you got that project ... so... good luck! Lol
I love you love you love you. Both, thank you dad, I kind of want to help you out also, but I am thoroughly convinced that my time here in Mexico is 2 years, not less... ( or more) And that afterwards I will help out. Alot! Well I´m outa here! Lol
-Jake
P.S. David is reading the Book of Mormon!!!! GOD HAS ANSWERED MY PRAYERS!!! Invite him for a family home evening or something...
take him to lunch, please and thank you! I¨M SO HAPPY!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
October 19, 2009
You do love me more than I comprehend, and I thank you alot for that, I always need it. It´s good to know and I love you too. Now is a time when I turn to it more. I notice now how we turn away from those things we have, those we love, the Lord when all goes well and we turn back when things go bad. I´ll explain later.
First off I have not yet received the garments, but I´m pretty sure the package missed zone conference by a matter of days, but surely it´s in the office by now. I´ll get it during interviews on the 29th. Speaking of the end of the month, we just got a letter from president saying some one from the area pesidency of Mexico, a member of the Seventy is coming here. I don´t know how it´s going to work exactly but we´re going to find out. Lol.
I don´t remember if I told you this or not, but I talked with some of my converts/people I know from other areas here in the mission. I got to call them up. If I did, well you know what´s going on, if not, well I called a few poeple. That was awesome, the negative not fun side is that they´re almost all inactive. But the positive side, is that it was REALLY nice to hear from them. I felt loved again. Every single one told me that they had thought about me recently, they had asked someone about me, or someone had commented about me to them. Every one. One was in Tamaulipus, below Texas next to the Gulf of Mexico, she separated from her husband and her daughter, Kimberly, is with her sister. You remember the picture of me with a short little lady and a little pudgy girl? That´s Mary Lou and Kimberly, Mary Lou is in Tamaulipas.
Moving on, sounds fun everything at home! I´m actually really glad you sent me that, I just l ke to hear about you, I feel like that´s probably more of what you´d like to hear from me, isn´t it??
All of dad´s projects make me want to work there again! DARN IT! It sounds so fun, fixing up the house and working with the old fart..er... dad. Lol, just kidding dad you´re not an old fart. You´re an old toot. It´s nicer. Not as loud and obnoxious. Bob´s an old fart. So you never said if Bill would like a nice Mexican wife. Lol. (p.s. I love Bob too, he´s not really an old fart, tell him I said hi!).
I love what you said about it´s just not the same without you somewhere in the other room playing Nintendo! Lol, I just thought that was the funniest thing in the world. Haha, you´re both going to hate me for this, but this last week, or two weeks, I remembered a few nostalgic memories, pleasing moments that have occurred in my life. Unfortunately they were basically all video game related. Lol, actually along the lines of what you just said. I remember Lance and Sierra and the other ones came over and I was locked in the garage for probably 6 hours playing a game (Star Fox Assault...I beat it that night too I believe); I don´t know what was so memorable about it, I just enjoyed chillin´ in there playing a game, that I enjoyed. Lol. This week we had a few moments of joy and splendor. Thursday and Friday were wonderful moments of growth from affliction. 6 lessons probably, more or less in the whole two day, maybe 3 or which were scheduled. We had to make the rest up. Talking to people on the streets. Saturday was interesting. The other elders, Elder Danielson and Mireles had 7 baptisms in the evening, so in the morning at 8:45 we leave for ´El Tepozal´ a pueblito, more a ranchito, hour and a half away. We get to the crucero, like the entrance and walk 3 kilometers in to the ranchito. We get there and like 3 of them are home. We pile in two cars and drive to a little place calles 4 caminos, it´s like 4 corners but it´s four different highways that meet up and there they were selling carnitas. Carnitas just for an F.Y.I. is everything the butcher DOES NOT want. HE takes all the ACTUAL meat and dices it up and all that jazz. The organs and the other wonderful succulant guzzards and innards are thrown in a GIANT pot and boiled in a grease fat like substance and then served to your liking. Usually with toothpicks and salsa. With a tortilla. We ate those, that´s only my second time. It´s not that bad, but I tend to avoid the stomach and the liver. The .. I don´t even know WHAT it is, is pure fat and the intestines are not that bad. Some other tings in there too. Anyway, I interviewed the first two inside of a truck. And then when I get out, nobody is there. The District President that was there and his wife, the couple, or parents that were getting baptized and my companion and Elder Danielson were gone! I finished up the other 5 interviews that were there still. Two little girls, the sister and the mom of the main couple. So we get out I have another taco and then they show up and say we´re late for the wedding. This couple was married on the same day as their baptism. We got´em married and then we all hit the 1-1/2 hour journey back to Cd. Guzman. I slept. We got there and finished preparing the baptism. Elder Mirales, because we were in a little publo didn´t have his clothes so we bolted to the house 30 minutes before the baptism and got back just in time to change and do the ordinance.
I love you mom and dad and I know that the Lord and my Father in Heaven love me. I know that I have friends who love me and I love all of them. I have been REALLY negative lately, and have a new absurd tendency to complain about stuff, which is going to stop now. I will no longer criticize anybody. It makes me feel bad, I´m not going to complain about any situation. Just look for the best. I need to wash my clothes and write a bunch of stuff still at home. I´m approaching an hour here, and curious by how much I´ll beat every one else. An hour is a problem, let alone hour and a half 2 hours. Well I´m going to jet. Saludos to everybody for me, the guys, Rena & Jordan, Susan if you want, the bro´s and whoever else. I LOVE YOU!!!!!
-Jake
First off I have not yet received the garments, but I´m pretty sure the package missed zone conference by a matter of days, but surely it´s in the office by now. I´ll get it during interviews on the 29th. Speaking of the end of the month, we just got a letter from president saying some one from the area pesidency of Mexico, a member of the Seventy is coming here. I don´t know how it´s going to work exactly but we´re going to find out. Lol.
I don´t remember if I told you this or not, but I talked with some of my converts/people I know from other areas here in the mission. I got to call them up. If I did, well you know what´s going on, if not, well I called a few poeple. That was awesome, the negative not fun side is that they´re almost all inactive. But the positive side, is that it was REALLY nice to hear from them. I felt loved again. Every single one told me that they had thought about me recently, they had asked someone about me, or someone had commented about me to them. Every one. One was in Tamaulipus, below Texas next to the Gulf of Mexico, she separated from her husband and her daughter, Kimberly, is with her sister. You remember the picture of me with a short little lady and a little pudgy girl? That´s Mary Lou and Kimberly, Mary Lou is in Tamaulipas.
Moving on, sounds fun everything at home! I´m actually really glad you sent me that, I just l ke to hear about you, I feel like that´s probably more of what you´d like to hear from me, isn´t it??
All of dad´s projects make me want to work there again! DARN IT! It sounds so fun, fixing up the house and working with the old fart..er... dad. Lol, just kidding dad you´re not an old fart. You´re an old toot. It´s nicer. Not as loud and obnoxious. Bob´s an old fart. So you never said if Bill would like a nice Mexican wife. Lol. (p.s. I love Bob too, he´s not really an old fart, tell him I said hi!).
I love what you said about it´s just not the same without you somewhere in the other room playing Nintendo! Lol, I just thought that was the funniest thing in the world. Haha, you´re both going to hate me for this, but this last week, or two weeks, I remembered a few nostalgic memories, pleasing moments that have occurred in my life. Unfortunately they were basically all video game related. Lol, actually along the lines of what you just said. I remember Lance and Sierra and the other ones came over and I was locked in the garage for probably 6 hours playing a game (Star Fox Assault...I beat it that night too I believe); I don´t know what was so memorable about it, I just enjoyed chillin´ in there playing a game, that I enjoyed. Lol. This week we had a few moments of joy and splendor. Thursday and Friday were wonderful moments of growth from affliction. 6 lessons probably, more or less in the whole two day, maybe 3 or which were scheduled. We had to make the rest up. Talking to people on the streets. Saturday was interesting. The other elders, Elder Danielson and Mireles had 7 baptisms in the evening, so in the morning at 8:45 we leave for ´El Tepozal´ a pueblito, more a ranchito, hour and a half away. We get to the crucero, like the entrance and walk 3 kilometers in to the ranchito. We get there and like 3 of them are home. We pile in two cars and drive to a little place calles 4 caminos, it´s like 4 corners but it´s four different highways that meet up and there they were selling carnitas. Carnitas just for an F.Y.I. is everything the butcher DOES NOT want. HE takes all the ACTUAL meat and dices it up and all that jazz. The organs and the other wonderful succulant guzzards and innards are thrown in a GIANT pot and boiled in a grease fat like substance and then served to your liking. Usually with toothpicks and salsa. With a tortilla. We ate those, that´s only my second time. It´s not that bad, but I tend to avoid the stomach and the liver. The .. I don´t even know WHAT it is, is pure fat and the intestines are not that bad. Some other tings in there too. Anyway, I interviewed the first two inside of a truck. And then when I get out, nobody is there. The District President that was there and his wife, the couple, or parents that were getting baptized and my companion and Elder Danielson were gone! I finished up the other 5 interviews that were there still. Two little girls, the sister and the mom of the main couple. So we get out I have another taco and then they show up and say we´re late for the wedding. This couple was married on the same day as their baptism. We got´em married and then we all hit the 1-1/2 hour journey back to Cd. Guzman. I slept. We got there and finished preparing the baptism. Elder Mirales, because we were in a little publo didn´t have his clothes so we bolted to the house 30 minutes before the baptism and got back just in time to change and do the ordinance.
I love you mom and dad and I know that the Lord and my Father in Heaven love me. I know that I have friends who love me and I love all of them. I have been REALLY negative lately, and have a new absurd tendency to complain about stuff, which is going to stop now. I will no longer criticize anybody. It makes me feel bad, I´m not going to complain about any situation. Just look for the best. I need to wash my clothes and write a bunch of stuff still at home. I´m approaching an hour here, and curious by how much I´ll beat every one else. An hour is a problem, let alone hour and a half 2 hours. Well I´m going to jet. Saludos to everybody for me, the guys, Rena & Jordan, Susan if you want, the bro´s and whoever else. I LOVE YOU!!!!!
-Jake
October 12, 2009
Hey Mama! I may just get my goal of 30 minuts on the computer I´m only at 19 if that´s true! BLESSINGS! WOOHOOO!! Lol, the zone´s doing awesome right now, the usual zone has about 12 or 14 missionaries, we have 8, lol. And we´re number 4, I believe, it listed the best three and then we had a special mention, so I think we´re number 4, with only 4 companionships! Lol, we´re all really excited, but we have to do better, we have a goal of 26 bautismos this month and we´re going to get it, Elder Nichols and I have a goal of 5. We´re teaching a few people right now but we´re going to keep going, keep seeking keep finding! It´s all good
Crap, maybe I won´t make 30 minutes, lol, a guy just started talking to Elder Nichols, my companion here in English. He´s typing his parents and he just walks up, Hey, how´s it going. He´s speaks pretty well, actually. He just gave us his address and his number and his work address. He´s in the other elders area, we think. We´ll see.
Well I forgot what was going on... I haven´t thought about much that´s going on over there. I´m surprised David hasn´t written me lately, I expected him to write me earlier. Oh, there´s something, lol. I have been craving good food for a while now. Lol, I just finished a year. I miss it...lol. Oh well, lol. The soda here is even weird, I was a HUGE soda fan, but not anymore. I´ll tell you what though, a good Mug rootbeer, or a mountain dew, a Sierra Mist, Dr. P w/ cherry and Vanilla. ... and lime. Lol, a Coney Dog, some Rally´s burgers (checkers to be official now) There´s a lot, actually any restaurant at all sounds good right now. We´re going to tacos or something maybe. I have to give a talk at Zone Conference tomorrow and I have not done it yet. I will, we´re going on the errands now and doing the ´hay que haceres´ afterwards at home. The Elderes from Sayula are here and they want to do certain things also. There´s Chinese food here! Served by Asians, it´s awesome! Man if you thought they had a weird English accent, glory, hear it in Spanish. It´s not that bad, but it´s just not something you see everyday! I´m kind of craving after another picture of the guys, see what´s changed. An entire year. How different do they look? I was so excited to hear from Ben the other day. I´m really happy right now. Lol. Linkin Park just came on, lol. Woops, there´s nothing I can do! Lol, I need to stop glancing at the screen next to me though, innappropriate advertisements.
This song is awesome!
I want a thorough update. Sit down and write a 10 page detailed letter and I will to and I promise that I´ll send it soon! Well let me tell you about David and Jorge and I´ll get out of here;
Now Jorge we´re still working with, we see him like 2x a week, maybe. Working like that doesn´t allow progress. People think oh, my time is blah blah blah, I´m so busy, come back in 10 days. ¨What??!!?!?! No no no no no, how about tomorrow.¨
Ugh, I just saw the screen next to me again.
He seems a little preocupied with something. Concerned. He´s still interested, we challenged him to baptism, he was in a hurry to leave at the moment, and he said ´well it takes a lot of preparation right?´ So we have that one in the balance. we want to teach him and his 3 sons, who have interest in coming to the church. This Sunday I feel we´re going to go and get them up and dressed and carry them over there. Fast and testimony meeting was awesome, I had a chance to bear my testimony and just being in the room was overwhelming. Spirit strong strong strong. He believes I feel in Joseph Smith but we´re going to watch Joseph Smith prophet of the Restoration with him and then continue with the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the kids are funny. WE walked in there the other day, they look similar the two younger ones. Israel and Manuel. Israel is super active. Football (soccer), running around, likes to move and participate. Manuel is super listo (smart). One time when we went over there, there were two young women sitting on their couch. I didn´t recognize them, thought they were friends of theirs or something, then I saw the book they carried. It was asome book that had a picture of the bible on it. It couldn´t be anything good.
They were JW´s. Testigos de Jehovah. Jehovah´s Witnesses.
We asked if Jorge was home. the lady answered in a bitterly sweet voice, of course, of course one second. Jorge answered the door looking like he was having a heart attack. We said we just stopped by to say hi, we were heading to another appointment, but he invited us in and we went back into the kitchen to talk. While walking through we greeted the young TJ´s (testigos de Jehovah) and said hi to Israel and Manuel, but like I would with my buddies, you know hi five and ´dude what´s up´ it was hilarious. We get along super good w/ them, and walked back. We started talking and shared a little though and learned that Manuel, this 13 year old kid invited them in to listen. This kids insane. He invited them in to listen and was listening, studying! Lol. We left before they finished up and said bye and same thing, ´hey man, later dude! See you later, you´re going to church on Sunday right´ Yeah of course! LOL!
Sad, sad TJ´s.
The next one really quick is David. Saturday we were up in the East part of our area which is approaching the mountains there, if you have a map or something, it´s called Lomas Altas. Basically all of our appointments and the people we were going to visit fell, so we thought of something we could do before we went home, to use time wisely. I didn´t want to head back yet. It was about 8 or a little after. Like 8:15. Not a whole lot you can do. So I thought of a recent convert family all of a sudden, so we headed over there. But in the journey we got Super lost. Ridiculously lost. We went almost straight. All of a sudden I have to pee so we go looking for a little hole in the houses. Every once in a while there´s a little gap where there´s no house, so I found a little corn patch and wizzed over there in the corner as we waited for cars to pass. Kept walking and then all of a sudden. I see this giant fake palm tree. A giant fake gold palm tree. Wait a second. That´s in the COMPLETE opposite direction of which we were currently walking. After x minutes of being lost. All of a sudden we´re 2 blocks from this family. Well it´s too late now, let´s head home, says my companion. I say let´s just say hi see how they´re doing and head home; Now that we know where we are.... we went wasn´t even home somebody was watching the house. Then we heads a little down started walking down the street. Somehow we were right then exactly where we were about 40 or 30 minutes ago. Somehow we didn´t realize it. All of a sudden we hear a ´chh-chh, chh-chh´ which is a sound they do here to get your attention usually.
Quick note, the timer here in the ciber is jumping by 4 minutes...that´s not cool...
We stop and look to the right and there is this little old man in a wheel chair. He told us first off that missionaries had stopped with him before. Then all of a sudden they stopped. He knew about the BOok of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith and the Plan of Salvation and wanted to go to church. He told us that he wsas going to go anyway but in that moment he found us. He had already gone to the church 10 we thought and the branch president thought he was a member, but he´s not, he was never baptized. The missionaries about 2 years ago never ever taught him baptism, or so he tells us. He told us he feels baptism is what he needs, what will help him free his mind. Or help him get over his difficulties right now. He´s .. glory 60 years...70 would be better. His mom died about a year ago and his sister just 3 weeks ago and he has arthritis and has to use a wheel chair, for the pain. Nobody lives with him and nobody takes care of him and sometimes he goes up to 3 days without eating. His sister took care of him but de repente died. We ate with a sister yesterday, oh goodness...
I have to tell you that too...
She gave us a little food to carry to him and we dropped it off with him. We wheeled him to and from Church and he enjoyed it. Stayed the three hours. Well I guess he wasn´t going to escape... He wants to get baptized and we´re helping him out. It´s a miracle, God helping his children.
Now the other story. I was obligated yesterday to ask you if Bill... yes your dear brother would be interested in a hard work, professional chef of a woman. As we ate with the Hermana yesterday she asked if she could ask a serious serious question... if we knew anybody older single men. I mentioned my lovely crack case uncles. And she was hooked. She wants to know if Bill would be interested. She´s happy to travel there or if he´d like to travel here. She is the former owner of the oldest restaurant in Cd. Guzman and is known for her wonderful skills as cook and chef. Hard working and single, Lola is looking for a man.
Ok I did my work... now I´m not obligated...
Thank you! I love you more than anything, literally! Even Nintendo...but it´s close! Lol, jk- it´s not even close!
I was going to write a few things for your birthday but I think I´m going to reserve them for a hand written letter.
Love,
-Jake
Crap, maybe I won´t make 30 minutes, lol, a guy just started talking to Elder Nichols, my companion here in English. He´s typing his parents and he just walks up, Hey, how´s it going. He´s speaks pretty well, actually. He just gave us his address and his number and his work address. He´s in the other elders area, we think. We´ll see.
Well I forgot what was going on... I haven´t thought about much that´s going on over there. I´m surprised David hasn´t written me lately, I expected him to write me earlier. Oh, there´s something, lol. I have been craving good food for a while now. Lol, I just finished a year. I miss it...lol. Oh well, lol. The soda here is even weird, I was a HUGE soda fan, but not anymore. I´ll tell you what though, a good Mug rootbeer, or a mountain dew, a Sierra Mist, Dr. P w/ cherry and Vanilla. ... and lime. Lol, a Coney Dog, some Rally´s burgers (checkers to be official now) There´s a lot, actually any restaurant at all sounds good right now. We´re going to tacos or something maybe. I have to give a talk at Zone Conference tomorrow and I have not done it yet. I will, we´re going on the errands now and doing the ´hay que haceres´ afterwards at home. The Elderes from Sayula are here and they want to do certain things also. There´s Chinese food here! Served by Asians, it´s awesome! Man if you thought they had a weird English accent, glory, hear it in Spanish. It´s not that bad, but it´s just not something you see everyday! I´m kind of craving after another picture of the guys, see what´s changed. An entire year. How different do they look? I was so excited to hear from Ben the other day. I´m really happy right now. Lol. Linkin Park just came on, lol. Woops, there´s nothing I can do! Lol, I need to stop glancing at the screen next to me though, innappropriate advertisements.
This song is awesome!
I want a thorough update. Sit down and write a 10 page detailed letter and I will to and I promise that I´ll send it soon! Well let me tell you about David and Jorge and I´ll get out of here;
Now Jorge we´re still working with, we see him like 2x a week, maybe. Working like that doesn´t allow progress. People think oh, my time is blah blah blah, I´m so busy, come back in 10 days. ¨What??!!?!?! No no no no no, how about tomorrow.¨
Ugh, I just saw the screen next to me again.
He seems a little preocupied with something. Concerned. He´s still interested, we challenged him to baptism, he was in a hurry to leave at the moment, and he said ´well it takes a lot of preparation right?´ So we have that one in the balance. we want to teach him and his 3 sons, who have interest in coming to the church. This Sunday I feel we´re going to go and get them up and dressed and carry them over there. Fast and testimony meeting was awesome, I had a chance to bear my testimony and just being in the room was overwhelming. Spirit strong strong strong. He believes I feel in Joseph Smith but we´re going to watch Joseph Smith prophet of the Restoration with him and then continue with the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the kids are funny. WE walked in there the other day, they look similar the two younger ones. Israel and Manuel. Israel is super active. Football (soccer), running around, likes to move and participate. Manuel is super listo (smart). One time when we went over there, there were two young women sitting on their couch. I didn´t recognize them, thought they were friends of theirs or something, then I saw the book they carried. It was asome book that had a picture of the bible on it. It couldn´t be anything good.
They were JW´s. Testigos de Jehovah. Jehovah´s Witnesses.
We asked if Jorge was home. the lady answered in a bitterly sweet voice, of course, of course one second. Jorge answered the door looking like he was having a heart attack. We said we just stopped by to say hi, we were heading to another appointment, but he invited us in and we went back into the kitchen to talk. While walking through we greeted the young TJ´s (testigos de Jehovah) and said hi to Israel and Manuel, but like I would with my buddies, you know hi five and ´dude what´s up´ it was hilarious. We get along super good w/ them, and walked back. We started talking and shared a little though and learned that Manuel, this 13 year old kid invited them in to listen. This kids insane. He invited them in to listen and was listening, studying! Lol. We left before they finished up and said bye and same thing, ´hey man, later dude! See you later, you´re going to church on Sunday right´ Yeah of course! LOL!
Sad, sad TJ´s.
The next one really quick is David. Saturday we were up in the East part of our area which is approaching the mountains there, if you have a map or something, it´s called Lomas Altas. Basically all of our appointments and the people we were going to visit fell, so we thought of something we could do before we went home, to use time wisely. I didn´t want to head back yet. It was about 8 or a little after. Like 8:15. Not a whole lot you can do. So I thought of a recent convert family all of a sudden, so we headed over there. But in the journey we got Super lost. Ridiculously lost. We went almost straight. All of a sudden I have to pee so we go looking for a little hole in the houses. Every once in a while there´s a little gap where there´s no house, so I found a little corn patch and wizzed over there in the corner as we waited for cars to pass. Kept walking and then all of a sudden. I see this giant fake palm tree. A giant fake gold palm tree. Wait a second. That´s in the COMPLETE opposite direction of which we were currently walking. After x minutes of being lost. All of a sudden we´re 2 blocks from this family. Well it´s too late now, let´s head home, says my companion. I say let´s just say hi see how they´re doing and head home; Now that we know where we are.... we went wasn´t even home somebody was watching the house. Then we heads a little down started walking down the street. Somehow we were right then exactly where we were about 40 or 30 minutes ago. Somehow we didn´t realize it. All of a sudden we hear a ´chh-chh, chh-chh´ which is a sound they do here to get your attention usually.
Quick note, the timer here in the ciber is jumping by 4 minutes...that´s not cool...
We stop and look to the right and there is this little old man in a wheel chair. He told us first off that missionaries had stopped with him before. Then all of a sudden they stopped. He knew about the BOok of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith and the Plan of Salvation and wanted to go to church. He told us that he wsas going to go anyway but in that moment he found us. He had already gone to the church 10 we thought and the branch president thought he was a member, but he´s not, he was never baptized. The missionaries about 2 years ago never ever taught him baptism, or so he tells us. He told us he feels baptism is what he needs, what will help him free his mind. Or help him get over his difficulties right now. He´s .. glory 60 years...70 would be better. His mom died about a year ago and his sister just 3 weeks ago and he has arthritis and has to use a wheel chair, for the pain. Nobody lives with him and nobody takes care of him and sometimes he goes up to 3 days without eating. His sister took care of him but de repente died. We ate with a sister yesterday, oh goodness...
I have to tell you that too...
She gave us a little food to carry to him and we dropped it off with him. We wheeled him to and from Church and he enjoyed it. Stayed the three hours. Well I guess he wasn´t going to escape... He wants to get baptized and we´re helping him out. It´s a miracle, God helping his children.
Now the other story. I was obligated yesterday to ask you if Bill... yes your dear brother would be interested in a hard work, professional chef of a woman. As we ate with the Hermana yesterday she asked if she could ask a serious serious question... if we knew anybody older single men. I mentioned my lovely crack case uncles. And she was hooked. She wants to know if Bill would be interested. She´s happy to travel there or if he´d like to travel here. She is the former owner of the oldest restaurant in Cd. Guzman and is known for her wonderful skills as cook and chef. Hard working and single, Lola is looking for a man.
Ok I did my work... now I´m not obligated...
Thank you! I love you more than anything, literally! Even Nintendo...but it´s close! Lol, jk- it´s not even close!
I was going to write a few things for your birthday but I think I´m going to reserve them for a hand written letter.
Love,
-Jake
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
October 5, 2009
Well, two awesome messages, thank you for writing, I love to hear your voices even though it´s a pirated copy I´m just running through my head as I read. I really do love you both and am grateful for the example that you set me. I already forgot most of what I just read in your two letters and there was nothing bolded so I´m assuming to write whatever I feel like. Lol. I was SUPER excited for today, but the days already over as 5 o´clock rolls around just an hour ago we left the house at 1 o´clock. 1-5, BOOM! Gone, I´m going to make a few phone calls and exhort my converts to repentance. No, i just want to hear from them, lol. Well the work continues here, a lot of late nights unfortunately, and I feel like as fast it went by it went by slowly too, just because I look back and all of what has hapened was just this week! UGH! This was a tough week. Tough just for time, get this. Monday we have a meeting and the new elders are coming in, so there goes Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning we go with the new elders to Sayula to show them their area and come back, pack and head to Guadalajara for Zone Leader Capacitation. We´re there Tuesday afternoon, well got their late, then all of Wednesday and had an adventure then, lol. THen left Thursday morning to get back in time for the lunch appointment, then we planned. Worked Friday then COnference on Sat. and Sun. Lol. So...yeah, it was busy.
Here´s the good stuff though, we had our first lesson with Jorge this last Sunday, taught him lesson 1, we met him week one here at a bus stop and could never find him. Finally taught him and came back...some day entre semana. Like Friday moning, yeah it was Friday morning, we talked to him and his mom is Super Catholic Woman, she even has her own comic book. On the same page of the comic book is Jorge! The catholic mom starts to tell him, the mormons this the mormons that...blahblah, nag nag, apostasy apostasy *cough* I don´t know what I´m talking about *cough*. He responds, they don´t worship Joseph Smith he was just an instrument in bringing about the restoration of the church of Christ, he was a prophet and translated the Book of Mormon, which is true.
Let´s just say that it was awesome. After all that, he said he still hasn´t gotten an answer to his prayer, we´ll work with that. lol. We´re working with he and his 3 sons. Axel, Manuel and Israel. He´s separated and the wife is poking around with other men.
We also have Catalina y her daughter... i forgot her name. But they´re references de la Hna. MariKarmen, we went with the Hna. and they were all just sitting inside and kind of looking at us awkwardly, my mouth just opened. A conversation about the business (they own a hair salon) and the times commenced. Later I felt the impression, now, talk about he gospel, change it. I asked about The Book of Mormon that they were given earlier by the Hna. (Hernmana), I don´t remember how i transitioned it, but we explained with the Hermana how the book came around, about God´s love for us, His prophets, Christ´s church, the Great Apostasy and the Restoration. Challenging them to read a chapter in the book of mormon, Alma 7 and ask God of it´s divinity. I know they did it and I´m so excited to go back. The Hermana gave firm, strong testimony. It was amazing. They like to do stuff on Sunday but after we explain the Sabbath Holy and to keep it holy she´ll be ok. Theyre our heavy hitters and we have a few others. I hope to make it more, there is no excuse to not baptize more, and to not reactivate more.
Actualy I wanted to ask Dad about that, Dad how can I help the less active members¿? How can I show more love to them, and to our investigatores? We have an invetsigator that believes us but doesn´t want to be committed doesn´t want to be baptized for that. Says, well what if later I don´t want to go to your church? How can we explain to her? Well that´s my time, but I´ll talk to you soon!
Tell the guys I love them. Rena too! Lol,I was going to make it a surprise and send you a package but I think knowing you don´t know, I postpone and postpone and postpone it, so now I´m going to tell you so I know you´re waiting on it, then I´ll have to do it! Lol.
Well that´s the jist of it. Conference was amazing though I couldn´t pay attention all of Sunday. Ugh, lol. Well I love you and talk to you soon!
-Jake
Here´s the good stuff though, we had our first lesson with Jorge this last Sunday, taught him lesson 1, we met him week one here at a bus stop and could never find him. Finally taught him and came back...some day entre semana. Like Friday moning, yeah it was Friday morning, we talked to him and his mom is Super Catholic Woman, she even has her own comic book. On the same page of the comic book is Jorge! The catholic mom starts to tell him, the mormons this the mormons that...blahblah, nag nag, apostasy apostasy *cough* I don´t know what I´m talking about *cough*. He responds, they don´t worship Joseph Smith he was just an instrument in bringing about the restoration of the church of Christ, he was a prophet and translated the Book of Mormon, which is true.
Let´s just say that it was awesome. After all that, he said he still hasn´t gotten an answer to his prayer, we´ll work with that. lol. We´re working with he and his 3 sons. Axel, Manuel and Israel. He´s separated and the wife is poking around with other men.
We also have Catalina y her daughter... i forgot her name. But they´re references de la Hna. MariKarmen, we went with the Hna. and they were all just sitting inside and kind of looking at us awkwardly, my mouth just opened. A conversation about the business (they own a hair salon) and the times commenced. Later I felt the impression, now, talk about he gospel, change it. I asked about The Book of Mormon that they were given earlier by the Hna. (Hernmana), I don´t remember how i transitioned it, but we explained with the Hermana how the book came around, about God´s love for us, His prophets, Christ´s church, the Great Apostasy and the Restoration. Challenging them to read a chapter in the book of mormon, Alma 7 and ask God of it´s divinity. I know they did it and I´m so excited to go back. The Hermana gave firm, strong testimony. It was amazing. They like to do stuff on Sunday but after we explain the Sabbath Holy and to keep it holy she´ll be ok. Theyre our heavy hitters and we have a few others. I hope to make it more, there is no excuse to not baptize more, and to not reactivate more.
Actualy I wanted to ask Dad about that, Dad how can I help the less active members¿? How can I show more love to them, and to our investigatores? We have an invetsigator that believes us but doesn´t want to be committed doesn´t want to be baptized for that. Says, well what if later I don´t want to go to your church? How can we explain to her? Well that´s my time, but I´ll talk to you soon!
Tell the guys I love them. Rena too! Lol,I was going to make it a surprise and send you a package but I think knowing you don´t know, I postpone and postpone and postpone it, so now I´m going to tell you so I know you´re waiting on it, then I´ll have to do it! Lol.
Well that´s the jist of it. Conference was amazing though I couldn´t pay attention all of Sunday. Ugh, lol. Well I love you and talk to you soon!
-Jake
September 28, 2009
I already have an hour here in the computer so this might ... MIGHT be short. Right... I´m making a list for the ward where they can fill out their name (if they have a book of mormon) and who they gave it too and their address. We´re having alot of help from our branch(s), it´s really good. Well for this week we baptized a kid of 9 years old this last friday out in a little place called Tuxpan, it´s about a half hour bus ride from here. His family is getting back into the swing of things, a little more active, it´s pretty cool! I´m excited for them, we were there and their other son, Oscar, came in the room, and we started talking to him about the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance and how he still had hope, he came to the baptism and I´m yet to know if he went to church yesterday. Saturday morning at 4:30 we went to the church to hitch a bus for THE TEMPLE! Lol, it was great, I love the temple. I received a few blessings there. It was kind of nerve wracking at first. Because we got there and Presidente Saucedo was there. SPeak of the man himself, he was there to interview a few members. THe mission presidentes are in charge of distritos, since we´re not a stake, he interviews the members to see if they´re worthy of temple worship. We got out walked over and shook his hand and then he steps a little ways off and askes me to follow him and said first Ëlder Taylor I´m going to have to ask you to cut your hair¨ Será hecho, lol. Then he added, ¨Only the people in the city are supposed to come to the temple and only with my permission, you shouldn´t have come sin advisarme.¨ Uh... Presidente, I was under the impression that Elder Danielson asked you last week. I believed that you did know. He calls ELder Danielson over and talks for a second. He was going to interview the poeple there and then head out here to check out the house and interview us, but he said that while your here let´s go interview you all now. We did and then we learned that he thought we had just gone the week before and then came again a week later. Oy... lol. Everything worked out in the end. Elder Nichols and I are echando las ganas here. He seems a little sick of me right now, but I´m almost postitive that he´s exhausted. Lol, I want to take a nap so bad right now. I´m going to, go cut the hair and then head out. Now, I´m sorry I´ve taken out almost $100. That won´t happen again. Here´s the catch, We were at the temple and went to 7-11 to buy a few things and I got some sandwiches, well they couldn´t take cards, so I went to the atm and I didn´t have money with me. I didn´t want to pull out... 100 pesos either. And have them charge me 200 usage fee. So I pulled out 500 to use over the next few hou..er, hmm,.... days/weeks. Now, we just got back from Sorianna (Fry´s food and drug) and I bought some bedsheets ($120 pesos) and another 400 pesos of food. And I didn´t bring enough money, lol. I´m good on food though for at least 2 weeks! Breakfast burrito stuff, pancake mix cereal bread and butter and yoghurt and .. man I´m not going to get bored soon. Lol.
OH!! Wow, mom I got the package of the shoes and stuff. Thank you soo much, its perfect todo. The shoes are different then the others, it has a little softspot but it´s thicker and smaller then the others I had. I think they´ll work perfectly, that and Black AND brown, that´s awesome Lol, thank you. I wore those old leather bottomed ones we bought at Men´s Wearhouse, I still use those at church and what have ya´ but now I have two pairs of cool shoes. I tried on the charcoal pants you gave me and if I sit down in them they´ll rip, lol. They´re pretty small around the thighs. The others are perfect fit though. Lol. I´m leaning my head against the wall right now with my eyes closed not even looking at what I type, so if there´s some errors, sorry. Lol. Thank you so much for the packages and everything, it´s been a great help, thank you. If you send another like you said with something, throw in a few ( FEW!!!, like 3 or so) garment bottoms. The spandex I only have like 2 of again. I´m going to be burning alot of stuff here soon. Lol.
Well it sounds like the turtle is doing good, I was AWESOME AND AMAZING to hear from Daniel and Josh, just to read what´s up just is a delightful little thing to do on Monday´s. Lol.
Oh, before I forget again, I have another 100 something pictures on there, that´s all of them. And... yeah one more thing, yesterday they made me zone leader. So, yeah, pray for me... please.
Love,
-Jake
P.S. Can you put bahama bucks in a to go cup and send it down here¿?
P.S.S. Elder Danielsons dad, I don´t think is a doctor, he is Somoan though! Lives on a street called ´Nopal´ in Chandler. I don´t know anything else off the top of my head.
Love ya love ya love ya!
OH!! Wow, mom I got the package of the shoes and stuff. Thank you soo much, its perfect todo. The shoes are different then the others, it has a little softspot but it´s thicker and smaller then the others I had. I think they´ll work perfectly, that and Black AND brown, that´s awesome Lol, thank you. I wore those old leather bottomed ones we bought at Men´s Wearhouse, I still use those at church and what have ya´ but now I have two pairs of cool shoes. I tried on the charcoal pants you gave me and if I sit down in them they´ll rip, lol. They´re pretty small around the thighs. The others are perfect fit though. Lol. I´m leaning my head against the wall right now with my eyes closed not even looking at what I type, so if there´s some errors, sorry. Lol. Thank you so much for the packages and everything, it´s been a great help, thank you. If you send another like you said with something, throw in a few ( FEW!!!, like 3 or so) garment bottoms. The spandex I only have like 2 of again. I´m going to be burning alot of stuff here soon. Lol.
Well it sounds like the turtle is doing good, I was AWESOME AND AMAZING to hear from Daniel and Josh, just to read what´s up just is a delightful little thing to do on Monday´s. Lol.
Oh, before I forget again, I have another 100 something pictures on there, that´s all of them. And... yeah one more thing, yesterday they made me zone leader. So, yeah, pray for me... please.
Love,
-Jake
P.S. Can you put bahama bucks in a to go cup and send it down here¿?
P.S.S. Elder Danielsons dad, I don´t think is a doctor, he is Somoan though! Lives on a street called ´Nopal´ in Chandler. I don´t know anything else off the top of my head.
Love ya love ya love ya!
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