Week #4 It Has Begun!

Hola mi familia y amigos! first off i want to apoligize for all the typing mistakes im about to make because these keyboards are really wierd. well i made it! Woke up at 2am yesterday and finally got here at 2am this morning. By far the longest day yet! haha. Goodbyes were not to bad in provo and i was excited to leave rather than sad. Elder Jarvis was a little down about it but i know he{ll be fine! It was nice to get out into the real world again! People would come up to us and tell us good luck and then you would have kids say mom dad look, theres the missionaries! It was becoming more and more reall! when we finally reached the miami airport we went to check on our gate to lima and thats when it started.. We got in the plane and there was not one bit of english, not even the flight attendants! I was like oh boy! There was like us 4 elders and maybe a couple other gringos compared to hundreds of natives and then some random asain couple next to us! It was sweet though! Oh and i definitly had a brian reagon moment! Being in the very back of the plane we were to be last to get dinner. they anounced that they had carne, pollo, and pasta. I was craving one last bit of meat but i saw exactly what was going on as they slowly came down the huge plane! By the time they got to us they said we have a nice cold fish head. haha kidding, but only pasta was left. that was my last american meal! We landed in lima and had to wait for a couple more missionaries for a couple hours. when we finally left we were loaded into this wierd van thing and the adventure and crazyness began! If you ever think you{ve seen crazy traffic you have not. It was the most exciting scary drive i have ever experienced in my life. theres a horn honk like every half a second and i thought we were going to get slammed like 100 times! I was holding on to my seat belt and ready to crash for dear life. at the same time it was awesome seeing the city of lima! I dont care how hard this is going to be, its gonna be fun! They love neon in the city. i hear we get a tour of it next week so im way excited. we made it the the ccm (mtc) and when we unloaded all our bags a man came up to us and just started talking and pointing. we had no idea what he was saying. i just said si si si and followed were he pointed. we were shown our dorm and there were already threee natives sleeping so we felt way bad and tried to wake them up. one of them looked at us and i heared him mumble nuevo gringos. haha. they wernt to happy about us arriving. i was assined a top bunk but it happens to be directly underneat the only air vent! I was like praise the lord almighty. Because i was sweatin bullets. it is so hot and humid. And apparently this is nothing. All the natives had jackets and sweaters on. i couldnt believe it°! Its gonna take a long time to get use to the weather. but i do like the smell. somhow it feels like the beach which i love. and the mtc here from what ive seen so far is really nice quality. We were givin permission to sleep until 9 this morning but the native elders didnt know and kept waking us up telling us to get up but we didnt know how to tell them our instructions said to sleep to 9. we just ignored them. i felt bad. but oh well. Well thats whats happened! Not to much spiritual stuff in the last couple days. But i can say that the Lord watches out for all of us. Because i dont know how we wernt killed driving. ha! I love this gospel and pray to god i can learn this language so i can share our message! This is my new pday by the way! Hope all is well back home! I love you all!

Love, }

elder Jacobsen

Week #3 Off to Peru

Hey Everyone! I hope everyone is doing well! I cant believe its already been three weeks! Somtimes i feel like i'll never make it through a day and then randomly im here emailing and i cant believe how time is actually flying. Life has been good here in the provo MTC. Uncle Brent told me how much he loved this place and i was a little hesitant to believe him because ive heared so many negative things but i'm actually going to have to take his side. I love it here! Its a little bit of a love hate as well (because its flippin hard, stressfull, stomach affecting, lacking of sleep, i could go on... haha.. but i wont :) But honestly, the spirit here is so strong. Singing with thousands of other missionaries, studying with thousands of other missionaries, and preparing to serve with thousands of my brothers is a pretty sweet experience! Speaking of singing. I've had to get out of my comfort zone a little to make things work with my two great companions! First off, is elder Jarvis who is very easy to get a long with because we have a lot in common. But he loves baseball and talks about it like 24/7 and ask me so many questions and quotes about it. And everytime as say Elder Jarvis, i love sports but baseball is the one that i know nothing about and have know desire to know about. He always gets mad and says its the best sport and we just laugh as he continues talking about it. Haha, At this rate i'll know more about basebal than thomas! hahanot (Speaking of T, a whole group of like 10 in my zone that were gonna go to Argentina got reassinged. So hes not alone!) I miss that guy! But anyway, i had to stretch my comfort zone even more with elder baker! Wowzers hes an interesting guy. But one way that i've realized makes him happy and forget about everything else is when i sing Phantom of the Operah, Frank Sinatra, and Josh Groban with him! Not me! And never will be! haha, but he loves it. And as awkward as it is, it is kinda fun just bolting out these random wierd songs! Dont judge me! So i weighed myself! And Havnt gained nada! I was bummed a little but i guess its a good thing. I really want to gain some weight so i dont come back a stick. But oh well! And I finally have felt like a veteran here in the MTC! ITs a fun feeling. haha. I might feel dumb every single day with spanish but when it comes to showering after gym. We got it down. SInce theres always like a mile line to shower while everyones changing we go in and turn a shower on and close the curtain. That way everyone thinks someones in it. Then we walk pass the line 5 min later and go right in. People have caught on but the first few times were hilarious seing their reactions. I felt genious for once in my life! So Spanish is Spanish. I'm not gonna keep being a baby about it! But it is so hard! Enough said! Tuesday was really tough for me but then i forgot we had another devo! Guess who came! Elder L. Tom Perry! Man am i so lucky! Two apostles in a row! And i heared from Perry of at BYU I and loved it so i was stoked!  Being tuesday he talked about how it was a very special day! 183 years ago the priesthood was restored on the earth! And because of it we have it today. He talked about the importance of it and how we may use it on our missions and for the rest of our lives! IT was so powerful and strong! He said a quote that i loved "It governs, it directs, it sustains all things. It is the Power of the Heavens and God!" That was awesome. I was overwhelmed with the fact that i have the potential and authority to act in the name of God! Through gods will i cant wait to help and serve as many people as i can through the priesthood that i contain! I love this gospel so much and exspecailly after hearing the words i did. I am still pumped today! Well, Its crazy! As i write this i only have 4 days left in the United States for 2 years! Its hard to even imagine! My last somewhat real food, bed, technology, home, and ENGLISH! I will be in PERU and ECUADOR, and i will make them my home for the next two years! I am not gonna lie, i'm pretty nervous! Not to travel or for the adventure! I cant wait for that part and all the crazy experiences. BUt mainly just commuticating. It hits me at times that i will not be able to communicate for a while. And its not the best feeling. BUt what is the best feeling is that GOD is with me! I can feel his love everyday and i know i can pray to him whenever i want! I will always have someone to communicate to! I cant wait to serve! I heared somthing that i loved, "Pray as if it all depends on the lord, and then work as if it all depends on you!" I love that! I know God will help me with what i lack! He lives, and as i work my hardest every single day. I will guide and strengthen me! This church is true! It really is. THe joy and happiness it brings is out of this world!  I love you all so much! Cant wait to here from you all!

Love Always,

Elder Jacobsen

Week #2 Loving the MTC

Hey Everyone! Wow I can’t believe its already going on the second week here! I hate to say it but they're right! Days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days! I wish it would slow down becuase I recieved my travel plans to go to Peru and I found out that there is no english spoken there. I don’t know a lick up spanish yet. I'm starting to understand a little more when americans speak slow spanish (just a little) but when my native teacher hermana Ruiz talks it sounds like one word. But all I can do is keep trying my hardest right. Hopefully it will come! Becuase right now it feels like its going to take the whole two years just to barley talk. If anyone is reading this thats in high school spanish! Learn as much as you can and don’t slack off like I did! Well a lot happened this week! First off on monday a guy came into our class and heard my companion elder Remington speak and said you need to be in advanced! I knew he wasn’t normal! He was practically fluent and I was like either I'm suppose to be in beginner or your suppose to be in advanced. So we were reasigned companions. He's now in another zone and I'm missing him a ton! He was an awesome first companion! It was hard to get him up and going in the mornings but once he was all there it was great to work with him. He helped me everyday with spanish and we connected really well. (He's from northern CA, took 4 years of spanish in HS and in college, and went to BYU). But now I have a trio companionship with elder Jarvis and elder Baker, who do not get along at all! Elder Baker is from ohio. I'll be honest and say that we have absolutely nothing in common! Haha... But he is really good at spanish and is having to be patient with the rest of us. Elder Jarvis is here from utah and we have tons in common which makes things a lot easier. Plus we both are on the same level of spanish so it makes me feel better. I have learned to love them both! Oh, I was called to be district leader on monday. Its been cool and is teaching me how to really listen and care about others. Oh back to spanish real quick... something funny happened that you might enjoy. So we were teaching a lesson in class and I was trying so hard to speak and I thought it was actually coming and when I tried to say Jesus came to save all the children in this world I said "Jesus came to save all the children in the store". I had no idea, and everyone started laughing. It was a good laugh and has happened many times since! But thats how you got to learn right!? Well the spirit is so strong here! I love it! I don’t know how you can hate it here! Tuesday night devotional, Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and spoke and it was amazing! I loved every word he said and wish I could share it all with you! One thing he said that really hit me was "when you walk in that door, you contain the kingdom of God in your hands..." Sometimes it easy to forget our purpose here but when I think about why I’m really here, to invite others to come unto Christ... It makes it a lot easier to keep going. I love what I am really here to do. To change the lives of my brothers and sisters around the world and bring them the joy and happiness of the Gospel! I am so excited! I can’t wait! I have the knowledge of the Gospel that I know to be true! I have in my hands the Book of Mormon. And it is my job to share it, and share the joy that I have been blessed with. Well what else to say... What do you want to know! There’s a bunch going on but my mind can’t think this fast with the amount of time we have to write. Well, I love and miss all of you so much! I hope all is well. You are in my prayers every day! But as much as I miss you, I know this is where the Lord wants me to be. I know I will grow from this myself but more importantly it is for the people I am to see in Ecuador and wherever I am directed to go. I've come up with a little motto for myself that really helps me. I say to myself "Brad, you got two years to do it! And the rest of eternity to look back on it!" I am going to give it all I got! I know it will be hard, its already been one of the hardest weeks of my life, but I know this is the Lords work! Wish me luck! I love you all!

Elder Jacobsen

Week #1 "Attitude is Everything"

Hey Everyone! I hope everything is going great back home? It's only been a few days since ive seen and talked to a lot of you so this letter wil probably be somewhat short and sweet. Plus, you only 30 minutes to email here in the MTC which is not much! So if i scatter around a ton or randomly say gotta go then please forgive me! haha. Speaking of the MTC, it is crazy that i am here! Its almost surreal! When we walked in they gave you your name tag and when i looked down and saw Elder Jacobsen i was filled with joy and it was then official! Then i kept reading and saw "La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos de los ultimos Dios" and thought uh oh! Haha, i almost forgot i was to learn spanish but bring it on right! In our first mini devotional with all the new elders we sang "to brign the world its truth" but they changed the song so that instead of saying "we will be, the lords missionaries" we sang "We are NOW the Lords missionaries..." and i immediatly got emotional! It was awesome! I am now the Lords servant and will be serving him and doing only his will for the next two years! it is awesome! Well Attitude definitly is everything here in the MTC! I've been told countless times that the first week is horrible or even the MTC is horrible! But i dont know what it is but i have loved the last few days and thought it has been great! Flying here was definitly a good idea. I think having my mindset in the right place has helped a ton! it was tough watching all the missionaries being dropped of by there parents and family because everyone was balling! And i'm sure it has been tough for those elders to get into it! Not that i dont miss all of you or have feelings for all of you but god has helped me accept and know that this is where i need to be! I have been blessed with a great first companion and district! Elder Remington is my companion along with Elder Jarvis and Elder Baker in our room. Our room is our district except for one other sister missionary hermana Harbison! I have gotten so lucky, because all of them have been great in many different ways! Elder Remington is a genius exsepcially when it comes to spanish! Elder Baker is up there in the genius too! They both know all these random facts and whatnot! Oh Elder Remington is going to the same mission as me which is awesome! So far we know of three others in our mission! I have to admit, as great as its been it has been hard and stressfull! Spanish is the killer! The first class our teacher Hermana Ruiz came in and just started talking! For like 10 minutes just imagine my jaw dropped! I didnt understand one word! Every time she looked at me i just nodded my head and said si haha... Eventually she asked if i understand and i said "I think im in the wrong class" haha... That was a reality check! I dont know anything! But she talked to me a little and said I know enough to be in intermediate and i would learn hardly anything in beginner so i guess its all good. Oh yesterday we had our first lesson with our investigator Paco and its was brutal! haha, elder Remington talked like 60% of the time becuase he's practically fluent sister harbison who also taught with us talked most of the rest and i said "el libro de mormon is verdadero" hahajk... i said a little more. But i am definitly the underdog in the district when it comes to spanish along with Elder Jarvis. But we help with the other aspects of exercising and staying positive! Everyone here is great! It is HARD Work but i'm ok with that because what doesnt kill ya makes you strong right!? The Gospel is true, i know it! The is the Lords church and i cant wait to preach and teach to the people of Ecuador. Just pray for me that i can eventually understand and learn a little bit of this language. Well i have 37 seconds! haha. I'll try to know what to say more next time! May God be with you all! I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you!
Love,
Elder Jacobsen