Last week was so unusual and I was having some different feelings. Here is why.

HELLO diha sa akong mga higala!

First of all... wow. It's April 30th. How did this happen? I just can't believe how fast time is going! We find out who is transferred on Monday. I'm not sure what to expect because Elder Tavui and I have been here the same amount of time so... One will transfer and one of us will stay. I'll be completely happy either way.

Elder Painchaud speaks French...no English!

 This week was great!! If I was just a normal person over here with no name badge, nothing too too awfully exciting happened.....BUT VERY EXCITING things happened in the life of Elder James Ryan Jacobs. Haha! I love my mission!

Saturday was SO awesome!!! Little Lisa (10yr) had her baptismal interview and she is getting baptized this Saturday. She is great! All of her older siblings have been baptized except for one. We are still working with Sunshine, but she's not quite there yet. So close! But Lisa is a superstar right now. Smartest 10 yr old I've met since like 9 years ago... (Jokes :) As Elder Buck went and did that interview, I went out with his companion, Elder Painchaud, for a couple hours in our area. It was awesome, but more on that later cause I actually went on exchanges with him Monday!

Hey! Hello there! Wait up!

Sunday was a very amazing day. I loved it. Last Sunday was our Siaton Branch Conference. We had the District President come with his counselors and others. The branch out here in Siaton is doing great and progressing little by little, but the conference and training that took place from the district leaders did wonders. It was awesome! ALSO! Rocky Dela Torre (Lomer's kuya, or older brother) advanced to the office of a Priest! We have been trying to work with him and, since his brother got baptized, he has been coming back to church! I can't wait to see him next week up at the sacrament table :) Next week, Juliebert will be ordained a Deacon as well! Things just keep getting better!

I have an important message to share with you....

On Monday Elder Tavui went to Zamboanguita to work with Elder Buck so Elder Painchaud came here with me! He is awesome. From Canada and really doesn't speak too much English because his first language is French. Hahahaha mom :) I had never heard a french accent speaking bisaya words until a couple weeks ago when I met him.. 

About the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.....

Last week was so unusual and I was having some different feelings. Here is why. The people here are great - I love them so much. Most of them say they are Catholic but they never go to church and do not understand Catholic doctrine. So what do they mean when they say "I am Catholic"? 

I'm trying to understand. But here in the Philippines Easter is looked at as a "Catholic Only" holiday(?) and they do all kinds of weird rituals, things I've never read about in the Bible. I can't even count the times that I needed to explain the true doctrine of Resurrection to people. People think that either everyone gets resurrected and goes straight to heaven to live forever, OR only the good people get resurrected and the rest go to Hell. 

Let's get that straight really quick.. Everyone gets resurrected. Everyone - yes, from Hitler to Abe Lincoln. It is a gift given to all. One of the major purposes of resurrection is that we are able to come before the judgment bar (see 2 Nephi 9:22). 

So in short, lets make sure that we do every needful thing here in this life while we have it so that we can stand at Judgment Day in our perfect bodies and receive the highest glory of them all – Eternal Life in the Celestial Kingdom as Brothers and Sisters!  Do everything you can to make sure that Resurrection is just the beginning! Don’t take it for granted and don’t be satisfied with anything lower than our rightful inheritance, being heirs to the Kingdom. 

Tracting.......

As I said, this Monday we have Transfer Meeting. How is this happening? I just pray that we are taking full use of the time that our Father has given us. 

That is what I am trying to do every single minute. I know that my two years are going to be short. 




I know that your 4 years in college , 3 in Grad school, 2 in internship, 5 in working your first job, and 70 living your life will be gone before you know it. 

Let's do everything that is needed to secure what is ours. We cannot waste an hour of this precious time, just like we read in 2 Nephi 9:27. Just keep swimming through the hard times, but triumph at the same time. I know that we can and I hope that you will.

I love you all so very much and hope the best for every single one of you this week. Keep up the maintainance of the side of the world YOU are assigned to be in at this time. I love you!!!

Love,

Elder Jacobs               This is the internet Cafe where I am typing this!!

Yep...it's hot in here.....

It was cool....and creepy.....

Kamusta sa tanan!

Well, this week has been another one for the record book. Haha it was a pretty normal week on the mission, which means another full week of miracles, spiritual growth, laughing, crying, bleeding, you name it. Haha just kidding :) But really, it was awesome:

Wednesday to Friday morning - I went on exchanges with my District Leader, Elder Buck, down in Zamboanguita (however you spell that). It was great! I love going on splits with more dugay (...older?) missionaries because I am able to learn so much from them Even in such a short amount of time, there is always lots to learn.

We had some great lessons and found a few new potential investigators.

We also went a little out of our way and found a beautiful area for a hike! 

Just sharing the stream with a few friends........

But the real fun came on Thursday night. Sometimes - due to the incredibly advanced technology here in the Philippines - we experience what we call "Brown-outs". 

Basically just when all the electricity shuts off for a little while.

Just part of life in the Philippines!

Not gunna lie, it is a pretty regular occurrence; however, typically it only lasts maybe an hour tops. Thursday night at about 6pm every light, refrigerator, and iMac (oh wait...) shut down for a little bit. And by a little bit I mean from 6pm to 2am. 

Don't worry, we always have candles, BUT that was kind of a long, sweaty night on a plastic bed without sheets. (Elder Buck's companion took his sheets??? WHO DOES THAT?!?). 

Anyways, it was awesome.

Friday was normal. Except for the fact it was "Holy Week" here.  Every single day there were some.. different cultural hor d'oeuvres/traditions that I have never read about in the scriptures... Friday night I promise there were 6,000 people walking down my street with candles in their hands. It was cool.... And creepy.  ( side question: has that always been a thing or is it just not that big in America? I never had neighbors walking in the streets with candles where we lived in RSM!!! AND I tried to learn something about it in the Bible but could not find a single thing.)

I had the opportunity to talk to President Schmutz this week.

President and the AP's presented a couple workshops, then we each get to interview with President. It was amazing. I love that man. I am going to miss him so much when he leaves on the first of July. So this was the last time I am really going to be able to talk to President Schmutz one on one for more than 10 minutes :( All is well though and I am very optimistic about the future :)

Yesterday, we had a great experience. We were just travelling between a couple appointments we had and Elder Tavui and I met a man, started talking about the gospel, and found out that - because of it - his life will probably never be the same.  Wow.. He is exactly what every missionary dreams of. He was prepared and ready to have the Gospel in his life! 

Also, about 4 members from this branch left for the temple! One is a first time and two are a couple being sealed. That is a HUGE deal because we are so far out here that nobody can ever afford to get all the way to Cebu, but they figured it out! Love these blessings.

Today we have a zone activity at the church. I think we're just gunna play some games and stuff. I'm bringing my tennis ball and frisbee. And we have a volleyball as well. I'm stoked. It is like a potluck so we'll all bring something to eat as well. Not sure what anyone else is bringing, but Elder Tavui and I already pre-ordered our dog brain and pig intestine shakes. Should be a party ;)

So delicious!!

So typically when I share spiritual thoughts, they are from my personal study throughout the week. I share them not to preach or make anyone feel uncomfortable, but to give you all an opportunity to DO YOUR OWN STUDY and learn even more. 

This week, I studied about the Light of Christ. This is going to be short with lots of scriptures. First of all, the Light of Christ is not our conscience - although it is very related.

 When reading the scriptures it sometimes refers to the Light of Christ as many many different names, but it is referring to all that is good in the world. Every time a person thinks of doing a good deed or feels a prompting by the Holy Ghost, it comes by means of the Light of Christ. 

One of our purposes in life is to learn to control our natural desires and become a saint (Mosiah 3:19). The way we do this is by constantly hearkening and obeying the commandments and allowing ourselves to have more capacity to reflect the Light of Christ in our own countenances. 

The Light of Christ is not given to us - it resides with Christ - but is in, around, and through all things. We can reflect it as we live like the Savior. A great example is in Alma 19:6 with King Lamoni. D&C 93:28-32, 39 and Moroni 7:12-19 are great study scriptures if you're down for a spiritual monster of a study.

 I know that, after we are baptized in the true church of Christ, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and hearken and obey the voice of the spirit in all things, we can grow brighter and brighter until we arrive at that perfect day - when we stand before our Heavenly Father, His Son, and the Holy Ghost to be judged. (see D&C 50:24). It is our purpose to reject the natural man and become a saint. As we do, we reflect the Light of Christ. 

I hear so many times, both here and at home, the question: "Why are Mormons so bright and happy all the time? It's almost like they are literally glowing.." It's because they are. I can testify to anyone that "The Mormons" have figured it out. And we want to share it with anyone that will hear.

I love you all so much and I hope you can feel even just a little bit of the fervency in my testimony. I know this is true, but you need to find it out for yourself :) Love you and have an amazing week.

Loveeeeee,

Elder Jacobs

General Conference was the BEST!

I loved the themes of General Conference. General Conference is twice a year when the Prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson, and church leaders speak to us about the things that are important today.

The conference is televised so that people all over the world can watch and listen at the same time! 

Some of the themes of General Conference were courage to stand strong, love one another, and learn the doctrine. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to hear our living prophets and apostles speak to us. If you haven't seen, heard, or read any of it. DO IT! Haha just log onto LDS.org and it is all there. I love you all and just want you to feel how I feel.

 Remember last week? I said the biggest thing I have learned on my mission is that understanding the Doctrine of Jesus Christ changes people.

 I want to refer to four speakers at conference. 

1) President Uchtdorf Sunday AM: "When the Apostles understood who their Savior was, they were changed completely" 

2) President Packer Sunday PM: "In the church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], we know who He is." 

3) Elder Michael John U. Teh Sunday PM: One of the treasures we should seek for in heaven is "understanding the doctrine of Christ and strengthen our testimony of it." 

4) Elder Bednar Sunday AM: "As we study and learn more about the Atonement of Christ, we allow ourselves to gain more load, giving us traction to get home." 

I apologize if the quotes weren't exactly as they were said, but you get the picture. Doctrine changes us. In some instances it changes our behavior into something better. In other instances, it increases our spiritual capacity to withstand or do more - allowing us to grow more than we thought we could. 

But my question was, why? Why does just understanding doctrine change us? The truth is, it doesn't. 

It's what understanding doctrine makes us DO that changes us. In Jarom 1:12 we learn why. "They did prick their hearts with the word, continually stirring them up unto repentance." Repentance is what changes us. As we learn and understand more, we learn and understand what it is that we need to be doing - so, in consequence, we change. We become more like our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.

I love the Gospel Of Jesus Christ and I love the changes I have gone through as I understand Gospel principles!!

Love,

Elder Jimmy Jacobs

Love. This.

Hello All!!

Ohmygoodness where do I even start?!? This week was incredible! Every day I am grateful for the decision I made to be here. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the world than right here in this internet-han in Siaton, Negros Oriental, Philippines :) 

But I'm gunna be honest. It is HARD.

One day last week every single plan we had fell through.

Now, you may not think that is very impressive, but let me just explain something really quick. 

Missionaries plan. Like, we plan the time that we're gunna plan. 

Our back-up plans have back-up plans. 

When I say everything fell through, it means everything. SO we got to go tracting for 6 hours and it was the best 6 hours ever... hahah well, almost. We did find some new people, but let's just say it was a long day. We did our best and that's all that counts.

AND....I have no idea what's going on here with the weather..... If anyone over there can let me know what's on the news in terms of weather... Much appreciated. 

There has to be a huge bagio (storm) going on right now because since last Friday we haven't seen the sun. In the middle of our lessons on Friday, it started POURING. Two elders, one umbrella. Awkward.

Two guys sharing an umbrella.....weird.

On Monday we went on a run in the pouring rain early in the morning. It was awesome. As I was running, a little nanay (...old woman..?) kept smiling at me and waving so of course I stopped and talked to her. We hadn't even talked for 45 seconds when she said, "you know, I want my kids to be just like you." 

Me: "Really? Why is that, sister?" 

Nanay:"Cause you're so HAPPY" 

Me:"Aww thank you sister.... *explain it's because of the Gospel*.... How old are your kids?" 

Nany:"30, 28, and 26" 

Hahahahahah I was totally expecting them to be like... kids... Guess not. Moral of the story, BE HAPPY! 

Remember always that to be "Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal" (SMILE).

My Samoan Companion, Elder Tavui

Tuesday - Wow. What a lesson. We were returning back to one of our investigators and turns out her brother was visiting from out of town. Awesome, right? 

Of course it's awesome... especially because he introduced himself as "Pastor Roni". Hahah oh boy. 

Side note - missionaries are always very cautious when handling situations like this because we were not called on missions to debate, argue, or "Bible Study" (as they call it here - everyone just shares what they think this verse in the Bible means). 

Long story short. We had an amazing lesson. We didn't use the Bible because  any missionary who has worked in a very catholic, or any religion really, culture, knows that when you use the Bible, it invites a spirit of contention into the lesson. Just because everyone has so many different interpretations of it. We shared everything we needed to from the Book of Mormon and testified.I am so grateful for the Spirit that was felt in the lesson from the Book of Mormon and pure testimony. I loved it.

 

I am going to talk about General Conference in another post this week, so I won't go into how much I LOVED every second of it in this post!!!

On Saturday morning, Elder Tavui and I traveled over to Bacong to help Elder Rose and his companion gather some of their investigators to go to conference (ours couldn't come because we are SUPER far from Dumaguete and that's where conference was..). Elder Rose and I went to get one family, but the father just got laid off of work the day before, so they didn't have any plete (money) to get to Dumaguete. 

Sadly, we aren't allowed to give any money to help so we had to just let him know that he'll have another chance and then we left. About 30 minutes later we're waiting for Conference to start and... Up comes Edgar (the investigator). He rode his bicycle from Bacong to Dumaguete. It's like 8km... He rode his bike!! It was amazing. It's experiences like these that keep me going. Love it. I love these people. I love serving the Lord and I love where I'm serving.

I'm in paradise!

Okay well I love you all so so so much and hope that you have an awesome week! I know you will, just make sure you help someone else to have a good week as well. 

Love you!!

Elder Jacobs

Sorry Mom!!! I had to...........

It's already been SIX MONTHS!

Maayong Hapon sa inyung tanan diha!

First of all, I just have to adress the fact that HOW HAVE I ALREADY BEEN GONE FOR 6 MONTHS? 

 I know that's only like a quarter of my mission,

but it's crazy to think that it's already a quarter done. 

From now on, I'm going to look at it like this... I still have a year and a half! Phew, good thing... because I still have so much left to do here! 

Everything is doing so well here. I am so grateful to be here at this point in my life. I can honestly say, I don't know how anyone could truly become the person they are meant to be without going on their mission and applying the things that they have learned. 

This week was an awesome week. I loved it. I also don't know how it went by so quickly. I have learned so much in such a short week here on the mission. 

Ok...let's go to that house over there........

This past week, Elder Tavui and I have been trying to just work with every single thing we have. I know that's what we need to do every single week, but this week, we really put it in our minds to give EVERYTHING. It was awesome. It was tiring. But it was awesome. 

We have been working HARD! I have come home every night wanting nothing but to pray and sleep. 

Sunday was a tender mercy of the Lord. It was the Daily Bread of our week. We had 7 investigators come to church this last week. 4 of them are brand new and are an AWESOME family of siblings - the Depaublos family. 1 is a very nice security guard (Bro. Torres) that we have been teaching for the past few weeks (up until this week, he has had work every Sunday - he asked for a replacement starting now on, and CAME TO CHURCH!!). The other 2 were our IBD's for a little later on in the month - Lisa and Sunshine. I was so grateful to be able to sit with these wonderful people I love at church. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the tender mercies that He sends our way always.

Monday - We went on exchanges with our Zone Leaders. I went and worked in Bayawan with Elder Blount (from North Carolina) and Elder Tavui and Elder Emnace (from Davao) stayed here in Siaton. I love these opportunities I get to work with my leaders in the mission. They are truly amazing missionaries and every time I get to work with them, I am reminded what I want to become.

Wednesday - Today is just an awesome day. I hope your's is as well :)

 The fruit here is amazing!! My favorite is definitely mango. I never ate it before, but now it's basically the most popular fruit here. I LOVE getting mangos and making mango floats (delicious dessert - google it) when we have a little time.

Also, lots of bananas (Hey Danny), and pineapples mixed in. There are also some weirder ones, but I haven't memorized all the names yet. There's jack fruit and dorian. They are alright haha. 

As I think about the past 6 months of my life, I was trying to summarize it in one sentence. Maybe the one big thing that I have learned. 

As I was thinking, I was reminded of a quote that says it perfectly - way better than I ever could. 

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior," (Pres. Boyd K. Packer). 

It's true, brothers and sisters. I love this Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the pure, simple, and true doctrine that are contained in it. Every day I strive to do what I need to do here to further the kingdom of God on the earth. I love studying the scriptures. I hope that you do to. Try and develop a love for them. I promise that everything else will fall into place if we just develop first this love. 

Here's a funnyish story that happens almost every single day of my life. So our house that we're renting has an owner that lives out back. He used to live in the house though. There was a sign out front when he lived here that said he sells ice. (ice is one of those things that you kinda have to go out of your way to get - almost like the black market). 

Anyways..... Almost every single day - and I'm not kidding when I say that - there is an "AYOOOO" outside. We go out to just find people yelling "iceee, iceee". Everytime we have to explain the entire situation and that "No... we're sorry. Brother Walden does NOT sell ice anymore. But we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....." and that's where it goes from there. Hahaha. 

Also, some kids that think they're funny will ring the doorbell thing at like one in the morning and stand out and yell "iceeeeeee." Haha they're my friends though... I think....

I hope you all have an unbelievably amazing week. I love you all so very much. I am doing fantastic over here. Bisag kapoy nga lawas matag adlaw, okay kaayo gihapon tungod kay nasayud jud ko, wala'y duhaduha sa akong kasingkasing, nga tinuod kining Ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo. I love you - just keep moving forward and loving life <3

Love,

Elder Jacobs

That's one way to move it

This week was quite the normal, awesome, superb, wonderful, pangmissionary week!

Maayong Buntag, Udto, Hapon, or Gabii sa tanan!

Walking to the next house!

(Good morning, noon or night!)

This week was quite the normal, awesome, superb, wonderful, pangmissionary week! I love being a missionary at this time of my life and at this time in the world. 

 We had weekly planning this week and then an Area Coordination Meeting. Holy cow.... Guess how many missionaries we now have. 4. FOUR!!



Kami lang duh a ni (There's me)  Elder Tavui and two sisters. I don't know if you've looked at a map of Siaton

 and the surrounding areas over here on Negros Oriental, but IT'S GINORMOUS. 



The whole meeting was focused on how we are going to tackle this area. I know that we can, and I am so grateful for the trust that my Savior has in us to take care of this portion of His vineyard, but.... wow. From Liko-Liko to Cabrera. Look it up if you got some time :) 

The sisters are STL's (which means they're super important or something like that..) and so they are always traveling and working in other areas on Negros. So this entire week was just Elder Tavui and I. We are going to sit down again just us two and decide how we are going to change our style of missionary work to be the most beneficial. We already have some great ideas. I'm stoked.

Should we go this way? Or that way?

On Saturday we walked from Giligoan to Liko-Liko which was a party.?........?.........

On Tuesday we had quite the unbelievable experience. In our Monday night planning session, we were half-way through and we had a prompting to not do what we were planning to do. We knew the sisters weren't going to be here (they were traveling to Cebu), so we decided to work in their area - which is a lot closer to the church. So we planned for it.

Just talking to our neighbors........

It was amazing. We met so many new people and we now have three new investigators. I am so grateful for the small prompting that told us to work in this area. We are trying to focus on the little barungays or cities close to the church so that the plete or... uh... money that you have to pay for transportation... isn't impossible for our investigators. It was great.

This morning we helped Sister Garcia by chopping up some firewood for them to be able to cook and have in storage. It was awesome. And yes, I'm sore.

Our recent converts gave us some lubi - or coconut - to make buko juice!!

Brother Wilson climbed up and got some for us. I'll let you know how it turns out. Unta, lami jud kaayo siya :)









Also, I made some friends on the beach on Saturday. They had some octopus and squid in a pot so OF COURSE I ate it. It was delicious. Here are a couple pictures :)

 

I love you all so very much and hope that you have the most amazing week out of everyone in the whole wide world. Know that I'm doing great. I love it here. I am being watched over, protected, and guided every single day. Jesus Christ lives and He is my Savior and Redeemer.

Love you!!!!

Elder James Ryan Jacobs

P.S. Buhaton ba nato ang atong kaugalingong parte?

P.P.S. Will we do our own individual part?