I Hate Cats

Hey everyone I might have to cut this one short because we are timed here and only have 30 min and when we came to email they started the clock and my latino forgot his email so we had to go back and get it and they won’t restart our time so sorry. But no worries. Its all good! So this week was a much different proselyting experience! We went to a new area pretty much downtown Lima area or closer to the city. Which means no mountains. Which was a nice change. Anyway we’re sitting in the chapel waiting to get our assignments and assigned a member and there’s this one member thats just jumpin around touching all the Americans and keeps saying “Snickers”. And I’m like as long as we don’t get him. Who gets him. Ya we do. Our teacher from the mtc took me over before we left and straight up told me that he is crazy and that we need to be careful. haha, I was like oh great! Anyway, this guy has no idea where anything is on our direction sheet and we waste like an hr and a half just walking and getting nowhere. I finally tried to say in spanish that it might be best if we just try teaching people because obviously the direction thing isn’t working. They didn’t really understand me but followed me as I went and tried talking to this older man. We ended up having a great talk and he said he loved Christ and thinks that our church is great and wants to hear more.I gave him a Book of Mormon. I forgot to get his name and address so I’m bummed about that and dont want to forget that again! Well lets just say I hate cats! There are hundreds of nasty cats roaming around and our member decides he wants to catch and pick up this crazy one! He brings it over grabs my arm and tries to have me hold it. Even if missionaries were allowed to I still wouldn’t have touched this thing. I kept saying no but he kept pulling me towards him and he didn’t get it so I finally grabbed his arm and ripped it off and said no puedo. I felt bad for being so harsh but I am not about to get some disease. Anyway, that was a little adrenaline boost but the real one was walking under this bridge tunnel thing. We were walking through and all the sudden like 10 dogs from each side come running in barking like crazy. These were mean looking dogs and for the first time on the mission I was actually scared scared. I kid you not, these dogs acted like they wanted to kill us. They were all around us but thanks to our crazy member he raised his hands and ran at them screaming and kicking them. It was nuts! haha. At that moment I loved him, because I booked it as fast as I could out of the tunnel! Well, its been a good week. Its crazy to think that this will be the last time I get to email from the mtc! Im gonna be in ECUADOR next week! I can’t believe it! My spanish has improved but when I go out on saturdays I get a reality check that I literally don’t know anything! So it wont be too big of a shock. Well sunday they picked two missionaries to give talks in sacrament meeting. The last 5 weeks they have always been latinos. And you guessed it, I would be the first gringo to speak. They call you to come up and just give a talk without preparation and when they called my name everyone was shocked because a gringo was going to talk. haha, it was funny. But I wont lie, I am grateful for the opportunity. I really needed practice and it was nice to just speak simple words from my heart! Thats all i can do because i dont know spanish but i have learned that simple words can be some of the most powerful! I prayed for help and god definitely blessed me with the spirit to be comfortable and speak. It was awesome! All the latinos shook my hand afterwards and said they understand. It keeps boosting me up because i realize i dont need to understand or speak spanish yet as long as i can share my testimony and share the gospel. I love the spirit. I got a letter this week from my best friend and she talked about the importance of having the spirit always. I really appreciated it because it is so true. The spirit is probably the most important thing here. It is actually! Without God and the spirit none of this would be possible. I am so thankful for God’s love and comfort and knowing that he is with us wherever we go. One of my favorite parts of lessons and starting of the restoration principle in preach my gospel is that God is our loving father in heaven and he loves us. It is so true.! This gospel is amazing! I’m so grateful to get to share it! One more week and its game time! Wish me luck! I love you all so much!

Elder Jacobsen