May 13, 2013

I really enjoyed talking to you guys last night too. Hopefully be Christmas we can figure out Skype and I can see you guys. Nothing much has changed here. After we talked we went to dinner then went to a neighborhood and visited a few people with the little time we had left. Erica is still really excited to here more about our message and Brandon has been talking about how great he thinks we are and the things we have been teaching him so we have high hopes for them. We also visited the F___s, an older recent convert couple in the ward. They introduced me to their birds, all 30 of them, haha, it was so loud I could hardly hear myself. They are super nice, though. We also visited Oscar, an investigator we met while he drove his bike down the street while intoxicated. He still loves the Book of Mormon and the "Jesus boys" as he calls us, haha. We are going to try and meet with him again tomorrow night.

Nothing much new has happened this week. I went to California for the first time last Tuesday for Zone Conference in Susanville. That was alright but I can't wash California off myself, hahaha. We might be getting a car next transfer, but since the other Elders we live with already have one, we might not get it because technically we already do, even though we can't use it.

I love and miss you guys.

May 6, 2013

Jen: I was lucky today and got to do some email/texting with Jake, so I will just combine them all in here. Also I saw today that the Mission President's wife put up a bunch of pictures of Jacob on their blog http://nevadarenomission.blogspot.com/


Dear Mom,
I hope you are able to find a new home for the ducks or sort something out with them. That's awesome that they follow you around, though, it looks like having them upstairs is working out. Hopefully the wheezing one isn't going to die or get the other ones sick. I don't think I would clean 16 turds for only a dollar, but I guess it's good that they will, haha (This is referring to my letter to him about his brother and sister cleaning up the winter's dog mess in the yard). I'm not sure where dad's wrenches are, maybe downstairs or in the Lumina. I cleaned out all the cars before I sold them so I'm not sure. The tires are mine.

I gave them both cards, is there a way to get that information to them? I'm not sure how much I can do from here. Do you need the information off my health card? (This is referring to a medical bill we got.)

I've gotten a few different letters, no cookies though. I don't think there is anything I need this week.

Things are going well here. My companion, Elder B___, and I stay pretty busy. We taught over 18 lessons this week, with one investigator, Charles, that is committed to baptism either on the 18th or 25th depending on when one of his close friends can attend. So far, I haven't ran into anyone that has wanted to kill me yet, haha. I love being here and I love the people. There are so many people that we teach that have had really rough lives, it's crazy and heartbreaking sometimes. Yesterday, Sunday, was probably one of the coolest days ever. After church, we visited Dianna, a recent convert who hasn't been to church in a while. After we talked with her, she and her husband offered to drop us off at our next appointment but we both felt that we should walk. As we walked, there was an older guy walking towards us but when he got to about 100 yards he crossed the street, not uncommon for us because it's pretty easy to pick out the missionaries. However, when we got closer he crossed back over to talk to us. He had lost his dog and wondered if we had seen it. We hadn't but we offered to help him look. As we looked, we started talking to him about religion. He told us that while in prison some time ago, he had found god. We asked what religion he was affiliated with and he said none but that the people he had talked to in prison and been LDS missionaries. We never found his dog, but he asked if he could come to church with us, before we had even had a real teaching lesson with him! We said he could but we set up a time to meet him first. That was pretty cool.

After that we stopped by the house of Brandon, another person we had met earlier this week. He was at work but a couple of his roommates, Erica and Fancy, were there. Everyone that lives in that house is our age or a little younger and think that we are nuts for being missionaries, but they always have questions and like talking to us. Erica wanted to know where god came from so we said we could tell her, but we would have to start from the beginning. We ended up talking a little bit about Jesus Christ and the atonement, because she also wanted to know about forgiveness for sin, and she invited us to come back the next day because she wanted to know more. We are very excited for her. It's crazy how being a missionary opens doors for you. Even though they thinking we are out of our minds, they are impressed that we put other people before ourselves, something they aren't used to. People that don't even know us feel comfortable sharing really personal information with us. In the case of Erica and Fancy, it was very personal, let me tell you. It is really sad, though. They have very low standards and expectations for themselves and the people they associate with. Fancy told us about her boyfriend and said," He has a job, a license (no car though) and a high school diploma, what more could I want?" At first I thought she was joking, but she was absolutely serious. Elder B___ and I were shocked, we didn't know what to say to that. It's their lifestyle, though, they don't think they can do better. They are interested in the Gospel, though, so we are hopeful for them.

 

ETA: Email 2: Did they tell you my area? If not, my zone is Quincy, which is technically pretty far into the California part of our mission but my area is in the Stead ward, which is pretty much in Reno.

I love you and miss you.

ETA: Email 3: ...on mother's day I will probably call at about 4 your time.

ETA: Email 4: I love you too. I forgot to tell you about my new companion. His name is Elder B___, he is from Orem, Utah. He just turned 19 back in April and has only been out 3 months himself. We get along well. I think he is the second kid out of a few, I know he has an older brother serving a mission in Canada right now and a sister that is in high school. He is pretty mellow but he takes missionary work seriously. I think we will get along for the 12 weeks he is training me.

 

Dear Joy,

I hope your scratches get better. I'm also sorry you hurt your arm again, I hope that it's not causing you any problems. How do you like playing the piano? I bet you'll be really good by the time I get back. I'm glad you're having fun. I love you and miss you everyday.

 

Dear Jaeden,

I'm happy that you are starting the piano again. I wish I could have learned how to play it when I was little, I bet you'll be really good at it and happy that you learned how to play. Mom had said the ducks were being a bunch of goofs. I know you will do good on the MCA's. I love you monkey monkey underwear!

 

Sorry, blogger is not letting me delete the second saluting picture. :/

May 1, 2013

Today we received an email from Jacob's mission president letting us know that Elder K had arrived and they attached pictures of Jacob with the Mission President and his wife, and also a picture of Jacob with his new companion. They also sent a picture of his handwritten letter to us, that they had him write right away when he got there. Jacob's P-Day, which is a preparation day, is on Mondays and so that is when we will receive letters from him.



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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. :)