Since Jake’s mission still is not allowed to email I have collected the last 4 or 5 letters to share with you. I have taken the liberty to leave some things out but tried to keep in the most important parts of the letters in his exact words. I feel like he is having a true missionary experience, hard, challenging, rewarding and spiritual.
October 4th 2010, “This week was filled with a lot of ups and downs. Did you all love conference? I did! It was great! I am learning so much out here. My testimony is growing everyday. I got to go back to Marysville to baptize the rest of the Placencia family. It was my second time in the water. I got to bap. Betty, the oldest sister. Funny thing, the water was somehow draining and she kept kicking her foot out of the water so on the 4th try we knelt down and it worked, ha ha then I did my first confirmation. It was cool, all in Spanish, I am getting better.”
“Last night we went to a member’s house with two other missionaries for an enchilada eating contest! I ended up winning with 21 enchiladas. Yes, I know, I am chubby! I have been changing out here with this companion. I feel like nothing is fun and I hardly ever laugh. I hope you will like the boring Jake when I get home Blaaaaaaaaaa I am running out of energy.”
“Now I am going to give you a couple of senarios: We are driving in our toyota, and Elder Kamstra pushes in the CD which is classical music, which is fine with me, we can listen to classical, Christian, and any church music. Everytime he asks me a question he gives me this seriously intense stare. He stares at me everytime he gets done saying something. It was freaking me out. By the end of the very long car ride, everytime he would stare at me it was like I was Harry Potter and he was Voldamort, and when he starred my forehead burned like the scar. It was very uncomfortable.”
“We are eating at a member’s house and I see spagettii! Yes finally I am starving, First I eat all my sides around the spagettii, anticipating the delicious main course. Then it was time to take the first couple bites. It tastes strange. All of a sudden it hits me that this spagettii is horrid. So terrible. So I smell it again thinking it is just in my mind and oh no it is ugh sosoo bad.”
October 11th 2010, “I am feeling better than I was last week. I have learned that you can’t just persevere though a trial (hard companions) but you have to overcome them and better yourself. I am learning to get along with people that I could not have even looked at at home. I am pretty happy. I understand my purpose personally out here now. No one is going to be working as hard as I would want. So I just need to leave them better missionaries then they were before. It is really hard for me to get up at 6:30 when my comp. never does. I am trying to gently be a warning voice to him, just like missionaries are the warning voice of repentance. We have transfers on the 18th. I don’t know what will happen. I love you with all my heart. The church is true. Never let someone offend you and end up not going to church or something because of it. Salvation is worth a lot more than what we can comprehend!!”
October 18th , “Dear family, I had another hard week, I really want to have joy but feel like I am kinda scrapping the bottom of the barrell. I am holding my breath for transfers, tomorrow. I picked up some juicy stories about the elders casting out devils during this week but it is not something I want to write about. I really like some of the members here. We get to eat good food with a particular few. Some of them really help us out with investigators and missionary work.”
“I am making some good friends out here. Elder Muir had a collapsed lung and couldn’t go to the Phillipines and is so cool. Also Elder Warhurst from St. George has my same hair color (weird) and loves baseball and is very cool.”
We are getting to do service for a man whose wife died 3 days after delivering a baby. His backyard is like a jungle. We have been weeding with Elder Griffin (Kiwi)and Warhurst, Yeah Weeding!! We have literally transformed his backyard. His daughter Maya, age five, is like my best friend. I have her and all of her friends who love me. P.S. who knew that I could attract so many little girls? I promise I am not a pedifile. They are just so awesome!” “Our main investigator has been out of town this week so it’s been really slow. “
“We had Elder Packard from the 70s come to our mission for a conference. After Elder Muir and I hung back to talk with him and the President and we got to talk with him for 5 min. just by ourselves! Elder Packard obviously know Grandpa Lee and it was cool to brag to him my full name. His wife then jumped in on our conversation and said, “You have big shoes to fill!” and then I laid her out in a tackle. Just kidding…. About the tackle part.” “I have been taking a lot of pictures. A lot of them are not of me so you might be disappointed but the landscape here is so beautiful! I have turned into a landscape photographer. Washington is beautiful, sometimes too beautiful, the green starts hurting my eyes!”
“I went and opened the door the other day and it was the zone leaders at 10:30 am. I got up from my desk, this was during language study, after studying Negation and How to Form Questions, in my red spanish text book. It got out why my comp. wasn’t studying and I told them he was still sleeping like always. Anyway, he got to talk to them. It was weird.”
“this transfer the homesickness has started to go away. I think without Christ in my life right now I probably would have killed by companion by now. And if this transfer went homicide free anything is possible. I love my Savior and what He did for us. I love the countless blessings God sends my way everyday, and I love when he stops sending them , and sends me a trial, probably not during it, but after I feel pretty good. This church is true and there isn’t a trial that could come my way to shake me from my testimony. The Church of Jesus Christ in its perfection is here again! Proclaim it to everyone in the world!”
October 12th, “Im staying Elder Kamstra is leaving…I am feeling optimistic of who I can get tomorrow.”
October 19th “ Wow… one of the hardest days of my life. I have been with a companion for this last week in Bothell, he got sent home. It was for something he did in the last area. Now I am with the Kirkland Elders. It will be three Elders together for one whole transfer. They are Elder Daniels from P.G. Student Council and Elder Burnett. I don’t think they are very happy about me coming in. I feel sick to my stomach. But I know this will all work out.
October 13th “Now it is Wed. morning. I feel a little better. This transfer is going to be all right. Three packs are fun!” Tell everyone that I love and miss them. I think my family and friends are the best!!! Love, Jake
No comments:
Post a Comment