26 Oct 10

Jacob didn’t send an email letter this week, but here’s some excerpts from the email exchanges we had with him Tuesday…

- I'm glad to be away from all the strip clubs in Phoenix.

- Guess what!!! My companion loves DCI and marching band. We've been together about a week now and I love this kid. This is the companionship I've been waiting for!! His name is Elder Berardi. He is a way cool guy. I can talk anything with him. I told him that you've (Mallory) been trying to send DCI cd's for over a year now and he flipped out. He's been out for less than 4 months and he's really funny. Has a great sense of humor. He asked if you were sending videos too? We might sit down on a P-day and watch em.

- I asked him if “greenie braker” from last week’s letter means that Jacob is this Elder’s 2^nd companion and he responded with “Yep, I'm his "Mom". Trainers are fathers and Greenie brakers are mothers”.

20 Oct 10

Hey, guess what!! I'm out of Phoenix!!! Yaaaaaaaay!!!!! Hey guess what!!!! I'm in Mesa!!!!! Noooooooooooooo!!! 

Yep after 7 1/2 months in Phoenix I'm back in Mesa I was hoping to go up north to Payson or Snow Flake and have a white Christmas but nope. I'm back in East Mesa. Next to my second area. We cover a singles branch. That should be fun.

I'm on a bike now. My companions name is Elder Barardi from Illinois, and I'm Greenie-braking him (we are guessing this means he is Elder Barardi’s 2^nd companion). 

Well that's awesome to hear. I'm excited to see how CV does against Evergreen HS and the other top schools next week.

Does Mallory have a car? She never sends me anything because she says that you always tell her to send it with your packages, and then you never tell her when you’re sending them. So I guess there's a little miss communication there. 

My last weekend in Phoenix we had a baptism, a 15 year old girl whose parents are catholic and totally support they’re daughter joining the church. They said "if you're going to do this honey you need to go all the way and be committed." Her name is Denise Niccoli and she is awesome!!!! 

Tell you more next week bye.

TTI

Jacob

12 Oct 10

Wow. What a fantastic experience it must have been for Grandma. I wish I could have been there. Glad she got my card. Sorry it came late, I bought it the week before and lost it, by the time I found it, it was grandma's birthday.

That's great to hear about Albi I'm excited to see how the band does this weekend. You're right though, from the recording I saw of last week it wasn't that great sound wise. Keep going!!

This week I went on exchanges with the Spanish missionaries. This was my 4th time doing Spanish work but this one was cool because I got to talk to the Mexican people. Before I just sat back and let the Spanish missionaries talk to them but in this lesson we were having I knew exactly what was being said and what was going on and I wanted to say something so I did and Elder Nicholas translated for me. It was cool.

I feel like the relationship between Elder Richards and I has gotten lots better.

I think this medication that they gave me for my allergies gives me problems with my stomach. I have a really hard time waking up in the mornings now. Harder than usual. I didn't get out of bed until 12:30 yesterday afternoon. That was the worst day. But it seems that after I'm past the morning I'm completely fine. I get the occasional really painful stomach ache, but that’s it.

Transfers are this week. I've been here 7 1/2 months. What’s gonna happen!?!?!?!

TTI

Jacob

5 Oct 10

Wow. That's awesome news about CV! I'm so proud of them! They have improved alot since I was there. They look great!
 
General Conference was good. I liked the talk on a Consecrated Life. And Elder Uchtdorf’s talks. He's awesome!! In the priesthood session Elder Nelson gave a talk on serving missions. At the beginning of his talk he asked all the missionaries to stand were ever we were in the world. I felt honored to stand during that talk even though I knew that my Dad and brother were not able to be present at that exact moment to hear or see that I knew that they were proud of me as I stood there, a missionary for God.
 
Birthday ideas: All I really want are pictures and CD's preferably.
 
Anyway 2 more weeks and I'll be out of Phoenix hopefully. I've been here 7 months and I'm a little tired of this place. But I will be patient.
 
TTI
 
Elder Morgan

28 Sept 10

We have a baptism tonight! 

The second baptism I've had in this area! A mother and a daughter, Gabriella and Rebecca Barron. Gabby is 22 and Rebecca is in her 40's. We've been teaching them for about 6 weeks now and have gone through alot with them. They are amazing. Rebecca's husband is a member but is less-active. We were referred by the Bishop who is there next door neighbor. We knocked on their door and said "Hey your neighbor said that we could come over and share a message about Christ with you." And they said sure. So we taught them, they read, they accepted everything. No problems with Word of Wisdom or Tithing. They were ready. And we did nothing except go where the member told us to go.

 Now we did run into a problem were Rebecca's husband, Marco. He wouldn't let her get baptized because he didn't think she was ready. Gabby doesn't need his permission to be baptized. His whole side of the family, who are all members, was not happy with him. We went over Sunday night to finalize "Gabby's" baptism and got Marco to come out and we talked with him, and got his permission to baptize his wife. A lot of prayers were answered that night.

 A great story on how member missionary work, works. Sometimes all you have to do is point, like the Bishop did, and others will come unto Christ.

 The contacts cost $45 for a box which would last me about 3 months so the total cost for each eye it cost $90. That's why my account seems so low. No need to be in a rush to put money in, I'm fine right now. Actually I have more money at the end of this month then I know what to do with. Usually I run out on my card.

 For next April, that's fine, I don't want you to feel like I don't care about everyone else, I do, but the only person who really matters in all this is Mom. That's why we call on Mother’s day. Dad had a part in helping me along spiritually and I don't know where I would be without Dad giving me those long talks over the phone about my grades and about my church etiquette and my Eagle Scout and my Duty to God and my summer school classes and keeping me going in marching band... anyway. That's why he gets to come, beside the fact that he's attached to Mom at the heart. Everyone else are great supporters and loved ones and I know they want to be a part of this. But, the truth is they have been a part of it the whole way. It's not the end that matters but the journey. Not everyone will be able to come, but that's not important. I can feel their love anyway.

 Love you all!

TTI

21 Sept 10

I know I've been a little neglectful in my posting. But, this was such a good letter, how things can come full circle in the gospel.

"This week was a pretty awesome week! It was crazy! So first, we had P-day on Monday, then Tuesday-Friday was 7 hours of Leadership Training and then I got sick for Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say our numbers last week were not so good. The only stat that stayed the same was TTI's of which we got 49 last week, and we tried hard to maintain that. Elder Richards was hardly in our area this week during Leadership Training, he was with other missionaries who's companions were also at the meeting. So he had to work in 3 areas this week including the American Sign Language Missionaries who cover the entire state of Arizona. So, it was a little rough.

But the meetings were awesome! I was completely drained afterward, but they were awesome! We learned how to better focus our teaching to what our investigators need and bring them one step closer to baptism. Nothing new or spectacular just more practice. It was great. Now if I could just get over my allergies to apply it to my area it will be great.

That's right I have Allergies. It all started when I got to the MTC and I lost my voice for a morning, then I started to get congested and when I got to Arizona it never went away. So the doctor down here who sees all the missionaries gave me some stuff to take care of all that. So I'm allergic to Arizona! Yeah!

I went to a baptism in my 1st area last night of a guy that I taught who was waiting a very long time to get baptized. His name was John Delpp. He had been on parole for a very long time and last night he was able to enter into the waters of baptism. Elder Tackett flew out from Virginia to baptize him. I have never seen a more packed baptism then John’s. They had to hold it in the chapel there were so many people. He was converted 5 years ago in prison and came to the Riverview ward for a year before he could get baptized it was such an awesome baptism. What made it cooler was that Johnny and Rayleen Avachuco were there and they are strong in the church. Rayleen gave the opening prayer and Johnny did the talk on the Holy Ghost.

It will be a full year on the 26th of this month when the Avachucos got baptized. I don't think they want to go to the Temple just yet. But they are awesome and as strong as ever in the church.

We went to the Temple this morning, 6am session, It was cool. I felt like it was the last time I would be going to the Mesa Temple. It was weird. I still enjoyed it.

My check up on my eyes are tomorrow so we'll see how those new contacts do.

Love you all.

TTI

Elder Morgan

8 Jun 2010

We've hit the triple digits. I saw 111 yesterday. Because we're hanging around the Spanish missionaries alot (there on bikes) they call us for rides in this heat in our air conditioned car. 

Attack of the Bed Bugs!! Elder Forkner and I are getting bit by something. Elder Forkner has about 50 bites I don't have as many, maybe 12 but we've been sleeping at the Spanish Elders place for a few nights. The bug guy came yesterday and didn't find anything but sprayed anyway. We might have to move. 

As for the post mission plans, for the last 14 months I've told everyone that asks that I'm going to go to the Art Institute in Seattle. But in order for me to do that I need to take the ACT. So I was thinking (1) get a job, (2) prep for and take the ACT (3) get some credit. That is the extent of my post mission plans. 

One other thing, when I was doing my Eagle Project I was only obligated to do one set of horse shoe pits. Bro. Deehr told me that there needs to be 2 sets for it to be a proper game. Michael Barney was supposed to do the other set but he didn't. So I told Bro. Deehr that I would do the rest. Richy is a Life Scout he could do the other set and he could start today. 

We missed the Temple this transfer, but the Temple is very important. I plan to attend more often than every 6 weeks after next Spring. 

Other missionaries are getting impatient with me. Got to go. 

TTI 

Jacob

02 June 10

We had our Zone Development Meeting for the transfer, yesterday, and because of memorial day we could not email.

Had my last interview with President Bassett, it was good. (sounds like President Basset is going home and a new President will be starting July 1) I never have felt good about being a snitch, and that's what I felt like when I was talking to President about Elder Forkner. Even though we are teaching effectively and setting baptismal dates we aren't doing our daily planning, we hang around with the Spanish Missionaries too much and I feel left out when we do that at lunch or at the end of the day. President told me to hang in there and keep pushing Elder Forkner. (We get along great. There's just a few rules that don't seem to be in his "white bible" that are in mine).

Well do what you need to do with financial things. I'm fine on this end I don't need any money right now. The Lord will bless us as we do our best. That means we need to hammer out the kinks and work on getting out of our ruts. The Lord can't bless us unless we fulfull a commandment.

TTI

Elder Morgan

25 May 10

It's starting to get warm here. We hit 100 last week and school is out in Arizona. We had a pretty good week. Our entire district has 3 transfers or less left except the District Leader and me who came out at the same time. So last week, by Friday our TTI's were the worst they've been in my entire mission, so we called Elder Geilmen and he had about 12 for the week. SO we made a little wager. Whoever got the most TTI's on Saturday gets to buy the other companionship a 75 cent fountain drink at the QT. So we ended up with 71 TTI's and they had 57. That is the most I've ever gotten in one day. It's not the proper motivation to TTI, but we have gotten a lot of potential Investigators because of it. So our final talley for the week was 83 TTI's which is still not so good. But we taught a ton of Investigator lessons. 21 total! And we've started off great this week with 29 TTI’s, 3 lessons and 1 new Investigator for Monday. 

We also had a great experience. One of our Investigators, Kenny, is having a hard time letting his pastor know that he is meeting with us and is considering joining the Mormon church, but he doesn't know if it's worth losing his friendship because he doesn't know if the church is true yet. He has been reading and is understanding everything. So we read 2 Nephi 33 with him, and after that he closed the book looked at it for 2 min and said "It's true. I have to do it." We literally watched a man gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was been the single most spiritual moment of my mission. We're planning on setting a date with him next time.

Short on time again.

Love you all,

Elder Jacob

18 May 10

Good morning family and friends. It's looking to be a hot week here in the AZ. Last night was a long night as Elder Geilmen and Alcontara came and spent the night. Elder Geilmen and Elder Forkner have been friends their entire missions and since Elder Geilmen is going home in 3 weeks and Elder Forkner is going home in 9, they seem to want to spend every waking moment together. Geilmen and Alcontara cover the Spanish work in our area and are on bikes so we see them all the time. 

So we had a great week last week. All our numbers were great except TTI's. We found 8 new investigators and taught 14 investigator lessons. Combined with our less active and member lessons we got a total of 20 lessons last week which is exactly what Elder Parry has set for weekly goals. But we only talked to 64 people so our TTI's have been a little short, but the whole point of TTI'ing is to find new investigators. The mission standard for New Investigators is 4 a week. And we doubled that, but that dosen't mean we don't have to TTI. It's not the most effective way to find but it is effective. One of our new investigatores last week came from a member who talked to her friend at school and we're pretty sure she asked her if she wanted to get baptised, and here she is learning more about modern day revelation and the restored church. 

It dosen't take much just a little prayer and faith so we can help those who don't know they're looking for it. We know were the gate is. Lets help those them find it, so they too can be happy along with us. It's the best feeling ever to see someone progress in life. It's an even better feeling to see someone progress in the gospel.

TTI

Love

Elder Morgan

11 May 10

We had a great 79 minute conversation with him Sunday night. He's doing as well as he sounds in his emails. He mentioned that he'd been studying Cleon Skousen and some deeper church doctrine and so when I wrote him today I cautioned him to be careful and not stray too far from the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, Faith, Repentance, Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost... (Mike)

"Thanks for the concern. You know what they say "If the church wasn't true the missionaries would have figured it out a long time ago. Actually these studies (which haven't been part of my morning studies) have helped me find answers to peoples questions and prepare answers to frequently asked questions that have helped others draw closer to Christ. But you are correct there have been Bishops, Stake Presidents and General Authorities that have lost there testimonies because of something they weren't prepared to hear or couldn't fully understand or just wasn't true. 

There was a guy in my last area who, on his mission, was called to look up all the anti material and find out how to defend using scriptures and talks by Apostles. He's a great guy, Bro Lowry was. I learned alot from him when we had an investigator who just wouldn't except the Book of Mormon and the investigator left us a little depressed and angry after many hours of arguing and trying to prove one thing against the other, but Bro. Lowry helped put us back in good spirits again. I know this Church is the absolute manifestation of the church Christ set up and no paper, salamander or stockmarket statistic can persuade me otherwise. Because all I need is Christ. 

Well, after you asked me if I had any bad times on my mission and I said I can't really think of any (I have a hard time coming up with memories on the spot, good or bad.) I've been really dehydrated the past few weeks but that is easily fixable. It's something I talked to President about and he told me to keep up the good spirits. I have had a few sick days on my mission. Those were probably the 3 worst days of my mission (next to exchanges with Elder Jenkins). 

But I tell you there is no better feeling as a missionary then to know you're working hard. Its hard to work hard. But hey, salvation is never easy, especially if you're working on other people's salvation too. 

Love you all, Happy 19th and 15th Birthday middle kids! 

TTI 

Jacob

27 Apr 10

All right, we had an ok week. Our TTI's were low but our lessons were great. We're running low on miles though. We're only given 1000 miles for the month and we have practically used them all up. We can only go about 20 miles a day now till Friday. We've already spent a few days on bikes so we'll be using them over the next couple days..... in Phoenix!! (I saw that it was going to be 93 today in Mesa, 70's the rest of the week, with storms on the weekend)

 

I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday (my 5th one on my mission.) and it was great. It was about Preach My Gospel and the missionary work in the Ward. We are the only companionship in the Zone that covers more then one Ward. And they both need help with missionary work. This past month has been scarce on dinners but next month looks like it's filled up nicely. The member support varries between wards.

 

My interview with President Bassett was yesterday. It was probubly one of the best interviews I've had. He helped me figure out what to say to people when they say "we don't need another book (Book of Mormon)" His coucel was great. I love that man. He is deffanently going somewere.

 

I had to help Elder Johnson out with a purchase last week so when my account gets unlocked and you see a few dollers missing, don't worry 'cuse he's paying me back.

 

Thats all I have for you this week. TTI

 

Jacob

20 April 10

....the Phoenix Zone (where Jacob is currently serving) is actually made up of more Spanish companionships then English. We see the Spanish missionaries all the time. The Culture of the mission is great and it's always great to see other missionaries at the same apartment complex ministering to the Spanish people. It definitely strengthens me during my hard times. (There is a young man in our ward that was just called to Jacob's Mission, speaking Spanish. Just before Jacob left, we had boundary changes and mix-ups all over the Stake, so he is not familiar with the family. He would totally recognize them though, he's not connecting the dots!)

 

I'm pretty sure I'm staying in the Arizona Mesa mission. Only the Winslow and Holbrook Stakes are going to the New Mexico mission and I'm in the Phoenix East Stake and it's most likely that I will stay here.

 

We had a pretty awesome lesson yesterday with 2 of our investigators. They had broken the news to us that they plan on being married May 1st. Which is great (we hadn't even taught the law of Chastity yet) and we moved on to teach the Plan of Salvation. At the end I felt prompted to tack a mormon.org card which has the Salt Lake Temple on it and teach eternal marriage. So I did. Afterward, Aaron, the husband asked us, "How do we do that? We want to do that. We want to be married in the Temple" We told them that it's not impossible and everyone can be married in the Temple. We have to prepare ourselves to enter the Temple because it is the House of God. And we need to be Baptised by proper authority. They said "I don't care if I need to be baptized again we will do what ever we can to be married there! " Why can't we all be like Aaron and Evett? Where we try and do our best to be together with the ones we love? Why is it so hard? Because it was hard for Him.

 

We went to the Temple this morning and had a great session and thought a lot about Aaron and Evett as I was there..........."

 

TTI

 

Yacoob

I thought for the last part of his Mission, I would add the Spiritual Thought that Mike puts into his letter to Jacob, they are always good. Love, Jenn =)

We know that opposition will be for our experience in the end, for all of us, if we can stay focused here and now. In the words of Lloyd Newell of Music and the Spoken Word, “…who among us has not faced a challenge or difficulty with some uncertainty or misgiving? Are we strong enough, wise enough, brave enough to carry on? It’s been said that old age is not for the weak, but neither is it for the young or the middle aged. Whatever you face right now, remember that you have faced other problems and made it past them, gone through trials before and come out stronger on the other side. You’ve learned and grown and now you have the wisdom that comes of experience…and what you’ve witnessed your whole life is courage and strength and faith, and none of it was acquired in a day, a month or a year. It comes little by little, over time…”

04 Apr 10

Earthquake? I have no idea what you're talking about. (This is what happens when he doesn't watch the news. We had other friends in Mesa who felt the earthquake in Baja, so when we asked Jacob in his letter, this was his response) 

Well, I hope Tyler realizes that each of us are missionaries no matter if we serve for 2 years or not. The Lord still loves him and Tyler obviously has a desire to serve, so like the Lord has promised he is called to the work. (One of his friends came home from the MTC) 

I loved the package. Thank you everyone who sent a picture. It was SWEET! The first thing I said after viewing all the pictures was. "HOLY CRAP!! MY FAMILY IS HUGE!!!!" Seriously! Your all enormous! Becca is... pretty? I can't believe I just called my own sister pretty. And Richy is like a Kenyan in China!!!

So why does Brianna have such a long engagement? How did they meet? Who is he? Where is he from? You can't just do this to me! (His cousin got engaged. I thought she had sent him the info, but I guess not. I will fill him in) 

So the Easter Pageant was this last week .I missed it last year 'cuse I was in the MTC but I got to see it this year. As missionaries we got to "work it", meaning we got to go around the audience and ask people if they would like to learn more. We just talked to another guy this morning who saw the Easter Pageant (play on Christ's last week) and he was very touched by it though he couldn't be sealed with his wife who is a member, after she died. We told him there's a process so that everyone is invited to attend the Temple, you just have to make certain promises (baptism). He was very interested and wanted to learn more.

 And guess who I ran into at the Pageant? .....................................................Hillary Lake (Jenna Demars' daughter, they were in high school together, she was his senior prom date)! Yup. We got our picture taken together. I was talking to this guy and all of a sudden Sister Lake comes up and smiles at me and say's "Hi, Elder Morgan (without looking at my name tag)" I stared at her for a second, recognizing her from somewhere but couldn't remember where. And then I remembered. " ...say hello to Hillary" and she pointed behind me and she came walking down the sidewalk and we were both speechless. Wierdest/ Best story of my mission next to Tesha. 

Speaking of General Conference, talk about calling down the powers of Heaven! It was amazing. Was General Conference this awesome before I came on my mission or is it just because it's the Last Days? I don't have my notes on me to talk about specifics but I love those men. I've decided that my favorite speaker is President Uchtdorf. He is my favorite.  

Then after that we had Zone Conference on Monday. Great stuff. President Bassett is going to be anoucned in the next conference as a new General Authority, he's so awesome. (That is not quite how it works, just shows how much Jacob admires his Mission President)

 TTI

 Elder Morgan

24 Mar 10

I'm now in the Phoenix Zone. My new companion is Elder Johnson from Bountiful UT. He's been out for about 14 months. I'm in a car now. So it's exciting stuff.

I did get the homemade cookie cake. It was very good. Thank you. (My Visiting Teacher was visiting her son in Mesa. She and her grandkids made a giant cookie, decorated it and left it on his doorstep. She is the best!!)

Now I'm emailing from a Library now which means I have limited time, about an hour. So I won't have as much time to chat as I have before. But I would still love to do so. 

Not much to report this week as I have only been in the area for a day. But I'm sure I'll have an amazing missionary story for you next week. 

Elder Johnson is a really cool missionary. I'm excited to work with him.

Elder Morgan

Such a kid of few words this week. Love Jenn =)

16 Mar 10

Well we had an amazing Zone Development Meeting yesterday. I had an interview with President Bassett and it was awesome. That man is definitely going to be the next Apostle.

We've had probably the worst week ever on our mission’s numbers this past week. All our lessons fell through and nobody would answer the door. But then we had the best day ever yesterday. We found a new investigator and taught a lady that's going to get baptized this week.

Her name is Kim and she has an 8 year old daughter named Ashlyn and they are both getting baptized on Saturday at 3. She is awesome. She will be the fastest person to get baptized after finding her. 5 weeks it took her. And she's ready.

Today we're having lunch with the Avichucos! Yeay! This past transfer Elder Hoopes came down from Heber and is serving in the area next to us so Rayleen Avichuco called on Sunday and said it's time for a Family Reunion! SO we're meeting at Jack-in-the-Box and they’re bringing their son, Brother Taylor (the ward mission leader) and their missionaries. So it's going to be an awesome day.

We turned Mandi and Mike over to the ward since they weren't keeping their commitments. I had a hard time doing that. They have become my friends and I had a hard time telling them that there’s other people out there that are willing to keep the commitments we were leaving with them. But that doesn't mean that we would stop coming by. I talked with President Bassett about that and he told me the difference between being bold and overbearing is love. "If they know you love them then you can say whatever you want to them." he said. And that's something I've always struggled with is knowing how to drop investigators. Because I really do love them and I think they do benefit from our lessons.

Anyway, transfers are this week. I'll let you know what's going on.

Love you all. TTI

Jacob

09 Mar 10

Well, this has been a very Spiritual week. We have had wonderful blessings given to use this week.

We had Stake Conference this past Sunday. Where President Jensen (2nd counselor) talked on "the real world" and how we should not let these electronic devices distract from the Spirit. President Lambert (1st counselor) talked on Testimonies and how we as members of the church can know if we have a testimony. And President Whimmpy (Stake President) on Happiness. I loved Conference. Because Scooter, who was baptized on Jan. 9, was invited by President Lambert to share his testimony to the entire Stake, which were spread between 2 buildings. His testimony was so pure and simple my heart broke. I am so proud of him and his brother Tee-tye. They are so smart and are excited to be missionaries. They call us their best friends. And I can see the love they have for us when we come and visit. They run out the door excited to shake our hand with our own secret handshakes. They are awesome.

After Stake Conference we went to a Mission Presidents Fireside. That's were Recent Converts share there testimonies and conversion stories and at the end President and Sister Bassett share there testimonies as well. I had never been to one before. And let me tell you, President Bassett is very likely to become a General Authority. He is only 42 and he has been a Bishop, Stake President and Mission President. Just like President Monson.

We got a call from Sister Livingston in the Mission Office. She said that there was a baby in the Falcon Hill ward that needed a blessing as soon as possible. She gave us the address and the name of the mother. We had a scheduled appointment that we would be late, too. We found the apartment in a very confusing complex pretty fast. We knocked on the door and a young women answered. She looked at us and looked back and said "Oh, I didn't know if you were coming. My mom said she called the missionaries but... never mind, thank you for coming. You can come in." We stepped in while she disappeared into another room to change out of her jammies. The baby was laying on his stomach, sleeping on the couch. He was very tiny. Mom came back with some masks for us to ware and said it was doctors orders. She said the baby was 4 weeks old and she had spent the past 3 weeks going to and from the hospital. She told us that he was sick with something I had never heard before. We figured she was less-active because of clues from what she was wearing and from other things around the house. We told her to hold the baby while we gave the blessing. Elder Lemmon anointed and I sealed and blessed. As soon as my hands touched his tiny head, the Spirit took over my body and opened my mouth. I could see Heavenly Fathers love for this young baby. I thought I could feel what he would go through in his life. I'm not sure what it was but I know that at that time I wanted that child to heal and have the chance to live his life as I have. I know God loved all 4 of us in that room equally enough as he loved Joseph Smith to answer his question. Because of that, he will answer our questions.

Time is short and it's time to go. talk to you next week. Love you all. TTI

Jacob

3 Mar 10

Well, it didn't seem like it till the end but it has been a very long week. We had Zone Conference, then we went on exchanges, then I had bike trouble (cool story) then we had a long lesson on Saturday that we ended up milking a baptism date out of, then Sunday which is all ready long with four sacrament meetings to go to. Just long.

So with all the rain my bike got all the grease washed out of the crank and it was making this horrible squeek, you know the kind that not only get to your ears but somehow the sound waves travel through the canals in your ears and down the spinal cord to, anyway it was just unpleasant. So I got some tools and tried to grease up the crank as best as I could, put it back together and it sounded great, meaning silent. So we continued that night on our bikes and I just got a lot of resistance. So fearing I broke something I called up John Delp (the one guy who gave me the bike.) to come and fix it. He came and it was good seeing him from my last area. He's been on probation for 2 years so he can't get baptized but he told me then that the missionaries set a date for him. His last day on probation is September 13. He's getting baptized September 14. I told him I would do my best to be there. 

Apparently I had destroyed the ball bearings in the bike. He got new ones and installed it for free. I love that man. I'll take you to meet him once you come and pick me up, Dad. 

We set a baptismal date for a girl named Kim Christmas. March 20^th. 

Kinda short on time today but love you all and TTI

Jacob

24 Feb 10

Well, we had Zone Conference yesterday and received some startling yet exciting news... They're splitting our mission. As of July 1 the New Mexico Farmington Mission will be born. The missions it will effect are the Utah Provo Mission, a mission in New Mexico somewere, the Arizona Mesa, Tucson and Phoenix missions. Two of our Zones up north that cover Holbrook and Payson will go to the new mission. That means that the missionaries in those zones will also be a part of the new mission. Not speculating at all, but I have been in this area for 5 months. I'm due for a transfer. There is a good chance that I could be going up north. Now, not to be completely absurd and get everyone excited for what might happen, but Tyler (Hamberg from our Ward in the MTC now) is going to the Phoenix mission that is also being effected by this change. The Phoenix Mission is the one losing the most territory. So it could be possible that Tyler and I could be in the same mission as of July 1.

 

This is very exciting news. 1. the Church is growing significantly 2. The Arizona Mesa Mission will be the smallest mission in Arizona. Enough to hold its own. That means that we have been making extraordinary progress as a mission.

 

Elder Lemmon and I had a pretty good week. Nothing bad happened. Nothing amazing eather. We've been working hard to find new investigators and we've been receiving blessings as we've done so. But it seems we're on the down slope. We've learned each others weaknessess and have gotten to know each other a little more which makes it easier for us to excuse the other. But it's good because as we started out not knowing eachother and doing great as a companionship, how much more joy will it bring when we do know each other and do great.

 

I love the Book of Mormon. I know it's true. I know that we can be together forever as we apply it's teachings which is the hard part, at least for me.

 

TTI

 

Jacob

I had to ask Mike what TTI stood for. He says it's Teach, Testify, Inspire.....something they use in the mission.

Faith

Yes, I have been gone for quite a while. I almost forgot my password to into my Blog account! But Jacob has had a great experience I wanted to share.

Jacob had some dental issues last week and here is his side of the story.

Well, last Wednesday I had a dentist appointment at 8:30 am. Doctor Gills took one look at the upper right wisdom tooth and said, "That's going to have to come out. Today." I was happy to have it out 'cause it hurt to yawn, cough, spit, chew, suck, lick, gnaw etc., everything except talk. So he made a phone call to an Oral Surgeon who is a member, named Doctor Porter who said he could fit me in that very morning. On the way there I called Sister Bassett and informed her of the situation. She said she would have to make a few calls to Salt Lake and to Mom before they could operate. We get there and the secretary knew who we were and was poking fun at me for not getting my wisdom teeth out before my mission. I filled out the little forms and signed papers and they said they would do everything for free. They checked out the tooth ran through the procedure with me and said they were ready. I called Sister Bassett to get the okay and off we were to the operating room. Elder Lemmon was with me the whole time. They stuck me on some laughing gas (which didn't do anything) and gave me three shots of Novocain. Everything was numb. But when he finally pulled the sucker out, it hurt!!! They stuck a piece of gauze in my mouth and gave me my prescription and sent me off. We were in and out. The whole thing took about 10- 15 minutes. I called Sister Bassett and told her how it went and that I knew I could not cover the price for the prescriptions they gave me. (a narcotic, Ibuprofen, and Antibiotics) Elder Lemmon said he could cover the difference. The total was $50.07. We were in line to make the purchase and a lady in front of us noticed my lack of finances and asked for cash back and paid 40$ of it. She said "I'm not even a member of your church, but I know I need to help you because of what you do, and I need the blessings as well."

The whole thing cost me $10. 

I thought back to when we were in the Oral Surgeons office in Spokane and Mom was trying to decide a date to have the surgery to get all of my wisdom teeth out and the total cost was about $4,000. I didn't want to do it 'cause I don't like being put under (anesthesia), but I just felt like it wasn't supposed to happen. Dad was unemployed at the time and it would have put us in a very tight spot. I excused it as taking one for the family because I knew my wisdom teeth would cause me problems on my mission. And they have as each one has grown in. But now I see what blessings and a leap of faith it was. I didn't know I was taking a leap of faith. But I am very thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of my family and what is best for them.

The very first week with Elder Lemmon has gone by fast. The first couple days were tough 'cause I couldn't ride a bike thanks to the drugs. But we were able to have someone from each Ward pick us up and drive us around.

Our numbers have sky rocketed since we got back on our bikes. When I was with Elder Davenport we got about 13 TTI a day. Yesterday we got 54 TTI's!! And we found 3 new investigators! Insanity!! So it's been awesome.

I will defiantly pray more for my family and the struggles they are facing.

Love you all. Look forward to seeing what’s new in my family’s life next week.

TTI

Jacob

As a side note, we keep hearing from friends of friends, that Jacob has eaten in their home! That is cool for us, the LDS world is small and close! Love, Jenn =)