April 29, 2003- Unexpected letter!

Things are going good here. What's up with Church? Mom said a couple families were moving out. I hope the missionaries are putting in hard work up there. We (the guys in my district who are also going to Reno) got a news letter from the mission president. They had a goal of 75 baptism for last month and only made it half way. I'm a little worried, but what ever happens will happen. I had a feeling that taking the oil pan off was going to be a little harder than expected once I really looked at it. At least you get the old one off and the new one on, hopefully putting it back together wont be a problem (knock on wood). Mom had said she thought getting the ducks was a mistake once they got really big and smelly. How much bigger are they and the chickens now since I left? Hopefully they wont get too big before you can build the coop. I don't know much of anything hahaha but I don't think I will learn as much at the MTC as I will finally getting out there.

I forgot to mention some things in my last letter. We fly out to Reno tomorrow, April 30th. We will only have been here 12 full days and we are all super excited to get out there. I also forgot to mention that my companion and I were asked to be zone leaders over our district and 2 other districts of new missionaries that showed up last Wednesday. Each district is made up of about four sets of missionaries, two sets of Elders and two sets of Sisters. We pretty much told them the rules, showed them around, and answered their questions and concerns. We also checked up on them every once in awhile to see how they were doing. It was a lot of fun.

I miss you guys a lot but I'm looking forward to finally starting to serve the Lord in Reno.

 

P.S. I will be making a phone call from the airport early tomorrow, probably before or around 8am, before I fly out. Hopefully I can make it earlier before the kids leave for school. Talk to you then.

April 24, 2013 Letter to Uncle Dan's family

Dear Dan, Heather, Holly and Eli. And Peter too, I guess :)

I really enjoyed seeing you all again, too. I know, I was thinking about it and I realized it had been two years since I was there last. I didn't think it had been that long.

Peter, being at the MTC is amazing. I have never felt so good for so long in a long time. The hours are long and I'm always exhausted at the end of the day but I'm always excited for tomorrow.

Eli, I had a lot of fun too. I hope the next time I play, I can stay away from the ledges.

My companion, Elder C, is only a doofus sometimes. He took offense to that but I reminded him that he scarred a sister service missionary for life by confusing her for her identical twin and insisting she was in his ward and had even asked her to speak at his farewell. The look of confusion mixed with terror on her face was priceless. Over all though, he is a really good companion and missionary. He's always excited and is always ready to meet and talk to new people. I guess I can keep him around for awhile.

Hope to hear from you soon,

 

P.S. The food is, indeed, delicious.

April 24, 2013

It was good, and so was this last week. My P-day is Wednesday and I only get a half hour to write to you and my mission president which kinda sucks. That's nuts how much snow came down, I hope it was warmer this week. It's been really nice here, in the 40's and 50's. My companion is Elder Koby Campbell, if you haven't gotten my hand written letter yet. He's a nice guy and I like him a lot. It was fun getting to spend some time with your family and hearing other mission stories.

That sucks, hopefully more people will move in or come back to church. I did get a new pair of shoes and they are really nice. I can't remember what they're called though. That's cool about Jaeden's project. I know she will do a good job.

Instead of tic tacs could you send mint life savers? They last longer, haha. (Mom's note... too late kid! I got several packages on the way! If anyone else wants to send him some feel free. I will send some in a couple of weeks.)

My companion and I had our first real investigator experience. Here, its called TRC and you meet with someone you have never met before that may or may not be a member of the Church. Our investigator, Thrijae (pronounced 3 jay), is this big Hawaiian guy who didn't want to even let us in at first. We told him it would only take a minute of his time and he agreed. After a few minutes, he asked us to stay and talk with him longer. At first, he was really cold and didn't want to talk to us at all. By the end, we were all choking back tears the spirit was so strong. It was amazing how just a couple of young punks like us who hadn't even been missionaries for a week testified of the truth to a complete stranger enough that he agreed to be baptized. I have never felt so amazing in my life and I cannot wait to get to Reno and do it for real.

I miss you guys too, kinda, not really.Haha, just kidding :)

 

April 17, 2013

Dear Everyone,
Today was a long first day at the MTC. I guess I'll start with my companion. His name is Koby C___. He's a pretty cool guy, very similar to me. He is 21, has a two year in engineering and theater, a weird combo he told me. He is also going to Reno, as well as our roommates. We are all writing letters home. All of these guys have never left their families before. When we got here, one elder took us to our rooms and carried our luggage. He was struggling pretty hard so I ended up helping him.  We then went to class and met the other missionaries in our "district", which is pretty much just the people we go to class with. Our roommates are in our district, so it's pretty nice. After class we went to a meeting with the mission presidency and other leaders. It was a neat experience. After that we ate dinner and after that we went to another activity. This activity involved us preaching the gospel to an "investigator". We all failed miserably, it was a very humbling experience. We all realized that this is real and that these are real people who have real feelings and concerns. I never realized how much I would have to rely on the Lord to do this. However, I am very excited about the future. I have learned so much on just the first day, it's crazy. I cannot wait to go to Reno and do this for real. I love and miss all of you.
Love,
Elder Jacob K

P.S. My roommates are Elder T___ from Utah and Elder W___ from Arizona. They are pretty cool guys too. Our zone leaders are Elder N___ and Elder S____ they are nice guys and have been pretty helpful. We walked around with them after the investigator activity. It's about 9:30 here and we start again bright and early tomorrow, it should be a good time. And please send tic-tacs    not gum. :)