A Tour of My New Apartment!

Hellooooo World!!!

Remember I told you that I was transferred a couple of weeks ago? Well, today I'll tell you more about that!

I am now serving in Kamputhaw in the city of Cebu, 

right next to the temple and I LOVE it. 


There are temples all over the world. But sometimes missionaries are too far from a temple and so they do not get to go when they are on their missions.

I am so grateful that I am so close to the Cebu Temple.

My area is in the middle of the city. Lots of jeepneys, taxis, cars, motors, etc. 

I love it because - although we aren't allowed to go in the temple every day - we are SO CLOSE to it. We basically stop by every day.

This is a picture of my apartment. This is the living room where we each have a desk to study and to do paperwork.

It's pretty clean!!















And this is the kitchen. 

And this is where we sleep. I have the top bunk.

And boy do we need the fan!! It's always hot and humid!!But I'm used to it now.

Yep! That's an ironing board. We iron our white shirts pretty much every day.

Don't even ask why that blue bowl is by the bed......

My companion is Elder Gama.

He is AMAZING. I love E. Gama... He goes home to Davao the first week of April. Either Buhangin or Gensan.. 


He is such a great example of staying diligent until the end :)











Something else I LOVE about serving here in Kamputhaw is

 that we get to see our Mission President, Pres. McCurdy and Sis. McCurdy a lot.


We eat lunch at the cafeteria at the Patron House almost every day and so does he so we eat lunch with him and the office staff sometimes!

You may wonder what a mission president and his wife do.....

Basically they volunteer three years of their lives to go anywhere in the world that the church needs them....22 different countries and 18 different languages!

They come from all walks of life. Some are teachers, doctors, lawyers, pilots, businessmen. They leave behind their old lives, job and family to serve the Lord.

Mission presidents are responsible for all of the missionaries in a certain boundary. They establish mission rules, outline goals, maintain contact with all missionaries, and promote goodwill and service throughout the mission.

I love and respect Pres. McCurdy and Sis. McCurdy so much. I'm learning from them everyday.

We had another fantastic week this

past week! Everyone in the Zone is recovering from some major bad health! We are all feeling better!

Elder Gama and I are having so much fun working here in Kamputhaw. We had 7 of our investigators at church this week!! Four have baptismal dates and three came for the first time!

The work is progressing. I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity to serve here in Cebu City!

I made a cool connection yesterday as I was studying that our areas in our mission are a lot like our lives here on Earth. We are given an area and our goal is to accept it gratefully and then make it better than it was when it was given to us! That lesson can be applied in our lives!

I studied in the New Testament in Matthew 25:14-30 about the Parable of the Talents. Do you have time to read it?

I want to share a new favorite quote by Brigham Young:

"We can still improve, we are made for that purpose, our capacities are organized to expand until we can receive into our comprehension celestial knowledge and wisdom, and to continue, worlds without end."

That's why we're here. Let's take the "talents" that have been given to us, whether it may be skills, knowledge, ability, characteristics, states, etc... and use them to become better and to make the world and people around us better. I know that, through Christ's Atonement, all things are possible. I know that it is through this same name, Jesus The Christ, that we can take what we have been given and add unto it every day of our lives. 

I love you all soooo much :)  Seek the Spirit and ponder on some ways that you can improve your time on this earth. Because if we don't learn how to "improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." (Alma 34:33)

Love youuuu :)

Elder James Ryan Jacobs

I've been transferred!

Well, I am not in Carcar anymore!  I've been transferred! I am here in Kamputhaw in the city right next to the temple and I LOVE it. It's very city-like here in the city!! haha 

The work is different in the city, but I am so excited to work together with E. Gama and find, teach, and baptize those that Are seeking a better life!

 I love working here in Kamputhaw because it is so close to the Mission Offices so we get to work more closely with them! I am looking forward to getting to know the office staff a little bit more during these next few transfers!

Another plus of being here in the city... Every day, except Sunday, we have gotten up at 5:10 to play basketball with the assistants and some others at the temple complex basketball court. So awesome!


We had MLC yesterday and so all of the Zone Leaders got up super early and played basketball. It was so fun. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to make and develop friendships here on the mission. There is a special bond between missionaries in a mission that is just not found anywhere else in the world. At least, not between young men ages 18-25... I want to bear my testimony that, although we are young in age and appearance, I know that we have been set apart as missionaries of Jesus Christ. We are His.

I want to share two things on this subject. The first of which is something called, My Missionary Commission - written by Elder Bruce R. McConkie. It is as follows:

"I am called of God; my authority is above that of the Kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master and He has chosen me to represent Him. To stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts, my words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done; to say what He wants said, to be a modern living witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous Latter-day work. How great is my calling!"

Next time you see a pair of missionaries walking down the street with a black name tag greeting everyone they come into contact with, please remember that THIS is what they were called to do.

Missionaries are not perfect. But we are trying to set an example of the kind of people God wants us to be. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is perfectly patient with me. I know we all slip up sometimes, but He is always there to lift us right back up and say, "Try again."

Let's understand what our purpose in this life is. To become. To become what Christ would have us become. If we need clarification on that, we can read part of His beautifully preached, "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5:48

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

I hope we can understand that this is all made possible to us by a loving Father who, if we allow, guides us every day of our lives. I read a new favorite quote by Elder Bednar yesterday. I want to share it in closing:

"The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. "

That's why I'm here. I am trying every day to become better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I hope we all are.

 I love all of you. I am so grateful for each and every one of you that read this. I hope, after today, we understand just a little bit more of who we are as Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We love you and want to help you become what Christ sees in you; or rather, what He sees in all of us :)

Love you!

Elder James Ryan Jacobs

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