Duale

Buenos Tardes! I hope everyone is doing great!  First off, I want to thank all of my friends and family for all the love and support! You are the best! This holiday season I recieved many Christmas cards, letters, and some packages, all full with love and support. Thank you so much and it was the best just reading how well everyone is doing and truley just making the best of life! 

Well, things are going good here in Ecuador. Im sure your a little curious whats up in my new sector so ill try to share a little bit of what I know so far.  Well our zone is only 10 Elders rather than my last zone of 20. Our district has 6 of the 10. And our sectors are all HUGE! I will never get to know all of my sector because the majority of it is all fields and and cantones or pueblos that take half an hour to travel to. The interchange we had this week to go to the other sector took 2 and a half hours in bus! So the whole zone and sizes of everything has changed a lot. My sector is called Daule and we are all around the river Daule which is a big river that passes around here. 

From what i can see my sector consists of all three catigories. Field and farm, Poor like Monte Sinai, and Rich. Our house is rich! We live in the city area where the majority of the people are and its a lot richer than my last sector. But what they havnt got yet is paved roads so its all mud mud mud!!! Tons of mud, because we have now entered the rainy season! And it just rains on and off for about 5 months! Crazy! 

So i thought Monte sinai had a lot of mosquitos.. I was wrong! Living by a river there are millions! And at night you see them on any light and it looks like a moving cloud at each light. I have never been bitten so much in my entire life! They all tease me because i show them my arms and it looks like i have some disease and they say i have new blood. Oh, and if your wondering if i use spray. Yes, i do, but it doesnt seem to do much. haha... Oh and some of your letters have asked what the wheathers like. And i can almost promise you that the answer will always be about the same. HOT! haha. Hot and humid. And i never thought rain would make the wheather hotter. But it does here. I keep tricking myself out becuase im so used to rain always being cold or refreshing. And i go out expecting to cool off and bam just another heat wave. haha... But its all good. 

Que mas... i dont have much time but of course ill keep you updated as time goes. Oh, its not a ward here. Its a branch. An average of about 100 on the Sundays. So we got work to do to make a ward! Well, still trying to get to know everything. I thought that id only say im homesick of home in the mission but i will admit that i am homesick of Monte Sinai! I wasnt given anytime to say bye to anyone.. I miss all the members, converts, and families! And just houses of Cana. Theres not as many here and when i see a house of cana i just miss Monte sinai. But thats the misison and i got to get over it. My goal is to return back one day. so i plan and visiting these great people in ecuador! Well, no time. Love and miss you all so much! Chao! 

Elder jacobsen 

p.s. ¨SHOUT OUT TO ONE OF MY FAVORITE GIRLS IN THE WORLD... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACQUELYN! LOVE YOU!!¨

Also I attached a couple pics of inside our house. Its honestly a way nice house... Nicer than my dorms in Chapman Hall! hahaha! And the other is of my companion Elder Izaguirre...