Song

Hooooolllaaa! Como estan! 

Wow, you just gotta love life. As life goes on I’m beginning to realize more and more poco a poco the love that God has for us and how he truly just wants us to be happy. So I hope your all just making the best of life and working hard in school, church, work, sports, and just everything you all do! 

Well we had a great baptism with a Senor named Carlos Rodriguez! He is awesome! We have been working with him for a while but we always lose him because he doesn’t really have a set place to live at. But he is a man that truly loves the Lord and looks always to do the Lord’s will. We had no trouble teaching him the word of wisdom, chastity, or anything. He has had a huge background with lots of other religions and studies doctrine like crazy but says he has always been so confused with all the churches and always looking for the truth. He knew God existed but he didn’t know where to go. Anyway, it was a perfect story of a guy looking for the truth and two missionaries finding him and now he’s a member de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. He actually has a strong testimony and says it all makes sense now. Anyway, that made me really happy. We want to talk to the members and see if we can build him a house of cana but we’re not sure if it’s possible. We´ll have to see. 

Well not to long ago I was able to get a couple songs that just recently came out on the church lds.org website two of which are called “Glorious” and “Its a New Start”. I have come to love them both! I realize how much I love music but I don’t know what it is with those two songs but they have really, really helped me! Both of these songs and the meanings that I have taken out of them have really been able to apply to my life. I would love to talk about each one but not enough time right now.   So, I’ll share a little bit about the song “Glorious” because “It’s a New Start” is a little easier to understand. I have taken the song “Glorious” in somewhat of a different way I guess you can say. I love the song and its lyrics but I have taken my own meaning from it. One of the parts I love is when it says, “ITS  A SYMPHONY”. As a few of you know, at times I like to make my own music on the piano and like to play around and come up with a song. I have been thinking about this song and how it can apply to life. I’ve come to think of life in somewhat of a different way. That each one of us in life is creating our own personal symphonies or songs you can say. There is a purpose as the song says. We each have a purpose here and as we live our lives we have to find the pieces and notes that all come together. It’s a process. We can’t do it all at once but we improve each time or each day. When I would play with songs I would often get lost or not know what to play next and that happens often in our lives. As I tried to find the right notes I often messed up and had to try again. And I had to truly listen. In life it is ok to mess up. I testify that we are not perfect. We mess up. And though it’s hard we have to keep trying and keep progressing. And we have to listen. But not just with ours ears but with our heart. If we listen to our hearts and the sweet spirit of the Lord we will be guided and know what to do next. God loves us, and he wants to guide and help us even when we make mistakes. But we have to listen. Sometimes in my song I will think something sounds good for a moment and as I continue I realize it doesn’t match at all and it would ruin the whole song! Now, Satan exists and will try to present things that for the short moment seem interesting or good. But in the grand picture it’s not the best and in the end of the song or life it will mess it all up. We have to find these notes and take them out. They might be all over and it’s hard to get rid of them but it’s worth it in the end. Or maybe you have a piece of the song that you like but if it doesn’t fit it doesn’t fit. You got to take it out! That could be like addictions or sins. We have to take out the sin of our life and progress and do the will of the Lord and not of the world! And to finish up. Lots of times I have the song where I like it and it does sound good but as I listen more and play more I find something better to put in or exchange out. In life, we shouldn’t be afraid to improve. We might be doing something that’s not bad but its not the best. As we get older and live life we need to be willing to adjust and humble ourselves before the Lord. It’s a process but we can enjoy it. I like playing around on the piano. I enjoy it. We need to enjoy life and do our best! I have dedicated a couple of songs and it is the same in real life. We dedicate our life to God and will have to play it to him. Though it will not be perfect if God sees that we have a sincere heart and are trying our best to improve he will erase and forget our many mistakes. I love that! The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and is something very big for me and my life and for all of us. I love this gospel and know there is nothing better. I invite all of you to make your song but never forget who you’re making it for. I love you all so much!  Take care! 

Elder Jacobsen 

Weather

Well hello my wonderful family and friends! 

How is everyone doing! Hows the weather. I imagine that in Cali its pretty nice. Im sure you can guess how the weather is here! haha! ITs Hot, Humid, Rainy, and hot and more humid! haha! But actually im way excited because today at least for right now it is bright and sunny which i like a lot more than the rain. Being here in Ecuador for a little while i have realized a couple things on how i like the weather. So if i had to pick one type of weather to live in for the rest of my life it would definitely be the sun but not scorching hot (you can say southern California) but i will not say i am one of those people that do not like rain or snow or cold. I love the snow and i dont dislike rain. Its just a matter of how much time! I love to throw in little change and i would love a month of snow here in the mission but ya i dont know were im going with all this. I guess i just say you can find joy and fun in whatever type of weather your in! So ya, just enjoy life! haha. 

Well this week was the carnival which we were given permission to leave but we ended not leaving do to a weak gringo. Yes i was a little under the weather. (Geeze, enough of the word weather.) ha! But its all good. Dont worry! Im doing a lot better! I was sent to a clinic in Guayaquil and will see what they say (Im still good with my goal of not going to the hospital! wahoo!) But unfortunately i wasnt able to see to much of the crazy ecuadorian  carnival! The next one! I hope! But we did leave to eat lunch and i saw enough to be abe to tell you guys that its crazy! And i wouldnt have been able to take pictures anyway because the camera would get destroyed. What else... Oh the elections were yesterday! i dont know who won yet but well see. Jeeze they go nuts here with elections. TOns of parades and street meetings and whatnot. THe streets yesterday were packed like crazy because the whole country has to vote all in one day! And if your grew up in Daule but moved to Gauyaquil (as an example) you have to come back to Daule to vote! Its nuts so the traffic was just a reck! And we got word that all north americans have to avoid as much as possible and be in the house at 4! Dont know why but thats what they told us. So ya. 

Well not much else to say. I wont lie to you and say we had the most amazing week of work because it was a little slow but i did have a lot of time to study more about this wonderful gospel! I love it so much! It gives me so much hope! Hope or Esperanza is becoming a big big word for me and my life! I have been learning and realizing that with out faith and hope there is nothing. I dont have a chance! Im done! But there is faith and there is hope! And i love it and am trying my best to increase my faith and hope. We can all do that everyday through HUMBLE prayer with our father in heaven and really SEARCHING the scriptures! I have found SO MUCH comfort in those two things i cant even express it. I wont go into it today another day! But they are amazing sources of help and love that can really help us. I will tell you that they have literally Saved me. I know god loves us and truly wants the best for us! Take care! I love and miss you all! 


Elder Jacobsen 

Ps. I attached one picture for the girls that like to brush there hair! Dont play with your hair and a comb while watching tv. THis is what happens. haha) 

Carnival

Well hello family and friends. How is everyone doing. Well here in Ecuador its the time of year they call Carnival and its a little bit crazy! haha. It started yesterday and last to Wednesday.  Here in Ecuador everyone goes nuts with music all day, and its really just a Giant water fight, mud fight, silly string fight, paint fight, powder fight, you name it.  They just go crazy with it and then jump in the river or a little plastic pool to clean up and then they start over again. haha. Its crazy. So yesterday going home from church they got us. But not bad at all. The silly spray does the least damage and thats what a few boys sprayed us with. Anyway, the past year the missionaries were not allowed to go out but this year we are allowed to leave according to our own judgment but if we get hit with more than water we have to go back. Haha, so i think we will go out tomorrow and try to avoid as much as possible but I'm almost positive well get sprayed with something. Who knows. 

Well, i have been studying the doctrine of Christ this week for most of my personal studies and I have really loved it. It has helped me a lot! I love 2nefi 31! its great! The doctrine of Christ is all over the book of mormon and the bible but that specific chapter is just packed. And i love it because it just repeats over and over and over again the process of what we need to do to receive the great blessing of the eternal life with or loving father in heaven. I dont have time to write everything so i invite all of you to read it. It repeats the 5 simple steps that we need to follow. Have faith, repent, baptism, holy ghost, and endure to the end! If we humbly follow those steps and with a sincere heart and love for our father, we have the promise. I love that! I love you all so much! I hope you are all enjoy life and living it up to the best. God bless you all!

Elder Jacobsen 

Gangster Missionary

Well its rainy season! haha. So hows everyone doing! Can you believe that January is already gone! This is nuts! But as i was saying, its rainy season! January was a little teaser. And i guess now in Feb and March it just gets crazy and lighting begins to come as well. Well time is flying! And its wierd because this week was not the easiest week but yet i cant believe its already monday. I guess im just starting to get used to things a little bit better. 

But ya, this week was a little slower. We had to contact like all week and thought we found some great people but then they all fell through or the ones that we committed to church didnt come to church. I have catholic friends and i love and respect you but ill tell ya that im not likin the cathlics to much here in Daule Ecuador. hahaha. I didnt think this was a shut the door in the face mission but it is here. Maybe its because were in a richer city but still. Has caught me off guard. Ive been thinking of what im doing wrong but i realize that we just got to push foward and do our best and the lord will do the rest! 

So my companion is doing good. being his ¨gangster missionary¨self. haha. Im doing my best trying to get along and so far we havnt had any big problems. But he cracks me up at times telling me all his gang stories in honduras and how gangster he is. He told me how his last companion who he apparently didnt like much because he told his companion in front of the asistants that if he wasnt in the misison and had a gun he would turn him into dust. I was like, thats real comforting. haha. Anyway i have a lot of other funny stories from this guy but i wont drag on from it. Im learning a lot from him and i hope that i can help him in a few things. (like avoiding his plan to kill the guys that killed his uncle when he gets back) Lets just say that companionship study will be on Perdon (forgivness) tomorrow. 

Well i love this work! I really do! Theres nothing better than just sharing this great gospel that literally changes lives! I love and miss you all so much! 

Elder Jacobsen 

P.s. Heres a picture of my companion that he took while i was in the bathroom. 

The Other picture is the coolest thing in the world! Out of two Carls Juniors that are in our misison one of them happens to be in our zone and i couldnt be happier to see this sign.! Coolest thing ever! By one Combo get another full combo free! Haleluya! I was in heaven! Life is good! Dont worry! I just ate 2 Western double bacons! 

Police

Muy buenas tardes! Como estan! I hope everyone is doing great back home! Well first off i want to say thanks again to everyone for sending me letters and xmas cards and just your love and support for the holidays. I recieved a few this week and it really means alot. You know who you are. Thank you so much! I am so lucky to have such wondeful family and friends! Well this week has been pretty good week. Really weve just been contacting a ton... We dont have much. To tell you the truth, we have one investigador thats truley progressing. So please pray that we can find some new people to teach. And dont want to be picky, but maybe add to find a family. haha. But we have had some fun contacting. Contacting is something that some missionaries dread, like, are have to be in the mood. The good thing is, we have been making the best of it and just having contest who and doing daring games and just things to make it go by fast. 

We had some funny experiences and ill share one real quick. Well, lets say we got to know the police. So we were knocking doors and we come across a door and the a man answers who has a gun in his belt and i was like flippin out because there was no uniform that said police but he was nice and said how can i help you. I was like what? Just confused... We both didnt talk not knowing what to say. He asked agian what we wanted or if we had a problem. I just decided to tell him who we were. He practically said ok cool what do you want me to do. Lets just say we were walking under the signs and never saw the sign that said police station and i said what we want is that you listen to our message. He opened the doors and somewhat frusterated but nicley expalined and we just said sorry and walked away laughing feeling so dumb... But its all good. You learn really quick here in the mission to forget yourself and get over embarassment and just give what you can to the lord. 

Something that i was studing the other day was an article on missionaries. And somthing that i came across that i loved and i really want to improve. It was about what kind of person we are. Are we the kind of person that sees the multiple blessings that we recieve everyday or the kind of person that focuses only and that one bad thing or negative. Everyday we can choose to be happy or sad. Its that simple. Even when we mess up. Nobody is perfect. Im as far as it comes from perfect and have messed of a ton. But a quote that i read is something like this. Sorry for the man that does not make mistakes. Because every mistake is a chance to learn and improve. Though i dont like making mistakes and im not proud of any of my mistakes, Thanks to the love of god and the atonment of Christ and the agency to choose to be happy and live the gospel we can truley live and love life! So have a great day! Viva la vida! I love and miss you all tons! 

Elder Jacobsen 

P.S. I attached a few pictures. First is of some of the members! The others are to answer a question that it seems everyone has been asking me. Yes there are a lot of mosquitos! And Yes they bite me! HAHA ... Ignoring my WHITE feet (havnt seen the sun in almost a year) and my hairy legs and feet(you can teas me all you want haha) here are some average bug bites that i get on a day to day basis here in DAULE ECUADOR. Gotta love it! But honestly, its all worth it! Theres nothing better than serving the Lord! 

Bugs

Hola! Como estan! I hope everyone is doing well! Well its been a good week! Im finally starting to get to know me new sector and how to get around. Its a very big sector. Bigger than Monte Sinai and has a litle bit of everything. So in all of our lunches we have had just tons of rice. Tons! And of course i am told that Daule is the capital of rice fields in Ecuador! Haha! Rice rice rice! wahoo! If anyone offers me rice when i get home i will smile and walk away. Dont get offended. haha, just kidding. But there is tons of rice here. Tons of rice fields! Also i dont know if i mentioned but this should also be the capital of mosquitos! Holy cow there are so many mosquitos and crickets here! Just bugs!!! I pretty sure its all becuase of the river daule that goes through here. 

Well, the work is going well. I will be honest and say that its a little tougher in this zone. Our zone was 10 elders and is now 8 because one of the sectors was closed down because it has been 3 months without baptisms. And i guess its a rule or somthing to shutit down for a while. But i know that the lord is preparing his children to hear the gospel. We jsut have to find them and teach them. But teach them with love and the spirit. If you dont love the people, you will never get anywhere. As i am learning to love my brothers and sisters in ecuador i am really starting to see the joy and love that our father in heaven has for us. Well me and elder Izaguirre had our first baptism as a companionship, which is always fun! But we had a little challenge before. When we went to get the font ready we had a suprise when we walked in (ill try to attach a foto). We had lots of little friends to clean up. I forgot to tell you! I had my first Wedding! WAHOOO! we finally got someon married. His name is sergio! Great guy! haha. Oh, so i was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting and it went well. I love the power of prayer. I can honestly promise that when i prayed that the lord will help me and then i went up to speak and before i knew it i wasnt the one speaking. it is somthing i cant explain but i love it. I testify that our loving father in heaven is a god of miracles. He has been, he is now, and he always be! I have seen, heared, and witnessed many in this short 8 months. If we open our hearts a little we can seek and find miracles every day! In my talk i invited all the members to ask in the personal prayers that god will give them oppertunities to share the gospel. I invite you all as well! The lord is preparing them and will put them in our paths. And we are promised that the spirit will help us speak! Dont be afraid! I love you all so much! This is a great work! 

Hasta luego! 

Elder Jacobsen 

Baptism

Crickets in the Church

Wedding

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...