Yep...I'm coming home September 23rd. Bitter/Sweet

Our kitchen!!

Hello!!

Well, this week was awesome!

Thank you for the constant emails and support!!

 I'm guessing my mom has been telling everyone that I come home in September because almost every email was about coming home... Hahah yes, I will be home on the 23rd BUT PLEASE STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!! ;)

Next thing coming will be the travel plans. 

It's bitter sweet for sure, but I'm not gunna lie... I'm really excited to be with all of you. I can't help to have the mindset that, when I get home, it's game time. That's when everything I've learned in these past two years gets put up against everything Satan has to throw. I'm ready for him. He's got nothing on us when we are beside Christ.

Don't mind the photo bomber.....I'll talk to him next....

 This last week we went on exchanges again.

We need to get over there...

So we will take this road...

This time, we went down in Guihulngan and worked with E. Castro and E. Labaya... They are such great missionaries who are really coming to understand their purpose. I worked with E. Labaya and was so inspired as I listened to everything he's been through in his life. He is a great example to all around him of focusing on the future and looking for good in others.

Also! Oh my goodness. I had one of the absolute BEST Sundays I have ever had on the mission. Since last Sunday, I think I told you but we were focusing so hard on the young men of the branch. I couldn't sit there and feel comfortable with 2 young men at church.. SO we really did our best this last week and come Sunday.... 8 YOUNG MEN!!! 3 of which have been in-active for a year or more.

 I AM SO HAPPY. They LOVED it as well!! They are excited to be advanced in the Priesthood and help with the sacrament.. 

I Spy an elder....

Almost there

And we had an investigator come to church (Alchier is 15 yrs. old) and he loved everything about the church. It was perfect because we were focusing so much on the young men... After the three hour block, he approached me and asked, "Brother, what is the process of becoming a member here in the youth program? Is it okay if my parents don't get baptized on the same day?" OH MAN. Can you say GOLDEN??

 He will make an amazing missionary one day. He will have to wait a few months before being baptized just because of how young he is, but I feel like he will progress and learn so quickly!! I'm so excited for him and for all the young men here in our branch :)

We have District Conference this Saturday and Sunday as well! Also, Zone Interviews with President McCurdy tomorrow (Thursday). Crazy.. Last interview before my exit interview. Trying not to think about it ;)

Love you all so much! Thank you for the examples that you all are to me! Stay strong! 

Philippians 4:13

Love,

Elder James Ryan Jacobs

We got this...

A Monkey Sanctuary!! It completed my life!!

Magundang Buhay sa lahat :)

Well, I cannot believe that another week has come and gone..

We had a great week here in the beautiful city of San Carlos. I am loving life. 

Let me just say, going to the gym works miracles. A brand new gym just opened up here in San Carlos and we talked the owner into giving us a a free membership.  I love it. 

We have gotten up every morning at 5 to go to the gym by 530. I feel SO happy. There is doctrine in exercise. Do it!

We went on exchanges two times this week. Once in Macasilao with E. Villamar and once in Calatrava with E. Parayno. 

I love working with the missionaries because it helps me really get to know them on a better level. I learn so much every time I get to go and work with other elders. 

In Macasilao, we passed a Monkey Sanctuary. It completed my life. The monkeys were hilarious! 

(Jimmy's mom here cringing....Jimmy please don't touch the monkeys........)

Also, basically the entire Macasilao area is a bunch of katuboan... Huge fields of tubo or "sugar cane". Macasilao is considered the most "far out" "bukid" "wildernessy" area in the entire Cebu Mission. 

So it was a great experience to work out there and to see that even if only 60 saints gather under two green tents on Sunday from 10-1 - the church is TRUE. 

See that little house over there......

I love being a disciple of Christ. I know that He is here with us working every day as long as we are living worthy of His presence. 

In other news, in terms of investigators... We are really trying to establish a solid teaching pool. Right when I got here, all of the previous investigators had just been baptized and so the teaching pool of investigators decreased.. 

We have lots of prospects, but they are just having a hard time getting to church because of how far it is. Our areas are all very far from the church so finding those who are both willing AND able to come to church is a challenge.

Today is the first day it's rained in a while which is surprising because it's supposed to be rainy season now.

I think that's all I have for this week! I am so happy here.

 I honestly love this church, this gospel, this truth.

 A little food for thought.. Something I read as I was reading in Brigham Young's Discourses that struck me. It's something like this:

 "The more you need to be told what to do, the less fit you are to be a leader." Let us be proactive in fulfilling the commandments. Let us not be slothful. If we know something to be true and are not doing are best to live it, there is something we need to change. I love you all and hope you all have an awesome week :)

Love,

Elder Jacobs

What did you picture when I said "I get to drive"?

Hello sa tanan nga mga kaigsoonan nako diha!

I decided nga mag.binisaya nalang ko karon para mas masaptan ninyo ang akong isulti. Kamusta na man mong tanan?? Unta, maka.tubag gihapon mo'g "okay lang" o "mao ra gihapon" o pinika-nindot "okay pa sa alright"... As in, malipayon jud ko karon nga maka.email bitaw ko sa inyo :) Nabati nako nga medjio dugay dugay naman nga wala ta kakita... Gimingaw jud ko sa inyo ba.. Pero ayaw kabalaka kay nahigugma jud gihapon ko ninyo! :)

Haha!

I'm sorry... I just felt like I needed to give you a little taste of my REAL life.. I feel like every time I email on Wednesdays it's all just fake, because English isn't my real language...

Well, this week was... crazy.

 Again... 

But it was fun, promise. 

Literally as we were leaving the Internet place last week after i emailed you, we got a call from the Macasilao elders saying that their truck was broken.. Greatttt. 

Hahah we got to the site and it only had three tires.... hahah I guess some guys on the street were trying to help and so they took off the fourth tire WHILE THE TRUCK WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Hahah soo... 

So When I told you that I get to drive here, what did you picture? Are you thinking the roads here are like the roads that you drive on?? 

Driving in the neighborhood....

On Saturday, we took the Cabagtasan elders out to their other area...

We share the road with people, bikes........

OH. MY. GOODNESS. Somebody please look up Cabagtasan on a map and just reassure me that I didn't travel to the other side of the Philippines. 

That was insane! Hahah it was... Off-roading to say the least. 

Speaking of that, can someone please send me the names of all seven dwarfs in Snow White? Our truck almost couldn't make it on those roads... I want to name it after a dwarf cause that's kind of what it reminds me of. That would be muchly appreciated :)

And animals......

We went on exchanges down in Vallehermoso on Monday to Tuesday. We worked out in their area. That area is down south towards Dumaguete. It's only about 30-40 minutes away. It was awesome!

I am doing great over here! Don't worry about me one bit.

I know there's a road here somewhere.....

I am not really liking how fast these weeks fly by, but I do feel like we are getting so many things done. 

We just need to press forward with an eye single to His glory :) I feel so blessed by Heavenly Father. I don't know how to describe it, I just feel blessed.

 I am happy with where I am at and, at the same exact time, am not content because I want to be better.

 I am excited to move forward and continue growing in knowledge and understanding. I know that this church is Christ's personal church here on Earth.

 If He were to come to one group of people on Earth, I have no doubt that we would call a meeting in a building owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love this gospel and am eternally grateful for it.

Love you all!!   Elder Jacobs

That blue building is our church building here in my new area!

I Get to Drive!!!

Hello!

I am so happy that everyone's prayers were answered and everything went well last week with my mom's knee surgery!! Love you, Mama!

Wow. Where to even begin. I think for you to understand my week more fully, I'm going to need to break it down day by day, starting with Thursday, July 2nd (ie. Transfer Day last week).

Thursday - An area out in San Carlos Zone was in need of a vehicle, so on transfer day, President asked if I would be willing to drive out an extra vehicle to San Carlos. Of course I would! Road trippp :) 

I was just missing the Harry Potter audio book and some sunflower seeds ;) that we always have on our family road trips!

 It went great. We ended up getting to Toledo City by about 10:30am, so we missed the 10am barge over to San Carlos. We ate lunch and jumped on the 1pm barge. 

I got the hammock on the barge!!

The boat ride is about 1.5-2 hours.. plenty of time for a nap....

We got everyone over there, met up with our companions (E. Jamil is AWESOME!!), and got everyone out to their areas. 

Later in the afternoon. We had a call from some elders saying that E. Relox's sickness in his stomach came back again. Remember E. Relox from Carcar?? Apparently he has been having some stomach pains lately. Anyways, we talked with Sis. McCurdy and Sis. Ellison on the phone and they came to the conclusion that we needed to get him to Silliman Hospital in Dumaguete. Remember in my second area when I had that rash and had to go to Silliman? Well...That's about 3-4 hours away from where we are now. What does that sounds like to you? 

Road trippp.... again. Hahah I am starting to see why they put a truck out here. Anyways, we were there until about 130am. We then drove through McDo and slept at the Dumaguete ZL's house. 

I get to drive here on the island of Negro!!

Friday - At 7am we went back to the ER and requested a CT Scan. Dad, this is where that 8,200 pesos that you may have noticed disappeared from my bank account came into play. 

Hahah the Scan didn't end up happening however because there was still a bunch of preparation needed, so I got a refund for that.. 

Instead, President is taking E. Relox over to the city and reassigning him closer. Anyways, that Friday around 130pm we ended up getting back to San Carlos, my new area.

Saturday - Was a pretty regular day. Except for the fact that San Carlos is where the port is to get to our areas so if any missionary crosses over to our side of Negros we are called and go pick them up and get them situated. It is a party to say the least... Haha :) 

Also, I was sad to hear the news of President Packer. I love him. I am eternally grateful and indebted for his service. This sure does make for packed October General Conference!

Sunday - A good first fast and testimony meeting in our new area. The branch we are in is pretty small. Right around 100 attendance. I say small, that's really not that small seeing as I've been to branches with 30 attendance. But we are excited to work with the branch and get things going!

Monday - We woke up and had to hit the road again. We have Missionary Leadership Council on Tuesday in Cebu. It starts, however, with a meeting on Monday night at 5pm. And before that, we had to take E. Relox to get some tests done in the city.

Tuesday - MLC all day. Temple session at night :)

Wednesday - Well, now I am sitting in San Carlos at an internet-an just after getting off the barge. We haven't been home yet. I am tired that's for sure. But THIS WEEK COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER!

Rigging a clothesline!

Hahah I am excited to get to work in our area. I am learning and experiencing the Atonement of Jesus Christ in so many different ways. I am so grateful for the enabling power I am given every single day as I do my best. Life is hard, but we can do hard things. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In closing, this is just a short passage from the Book of Mormon that I have been pondering a lot lately. Alma 49:6-8

 "Now the leaders of the Lamanites had supposed, because of the greatness of their numbers, yea, they supposed that they should be privileged to come upon them as they had hitherto done; yea, and they had also prepared themselves with shields, and with breastplates; and they had also prepared themselves with garments of skins, yea, very thick garments to cover their nakedness.

And being thus prepared they supposed that they should easily overpower and subject their brethren to the yoke of bondage, or slay and massacre them according to their pleasure.

But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni."

If we are prepared, we have no reason to fear. This applies in all aspects of life, both temporally and spiritually. I am so grateful to have prophets like Moroni who can teach us how it is exactly that we need to be preparing. I am doing my best to prepare and my prayer is that you are too. I hope that you realize that, with the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have zero excuse to not be prepared. Please hearken to what our prophets tell us to do. Don't procrastinate and say "I'm good enough" or "That won't happen to me". Just get prepared.

I love you all so much!! Thank you for everything! Have an amazing week!!

Love,

Elder James Ryan Jacobs

HELLO!!

Wow I honestly have no idea where to start. There are so many things running through my head right now, I can't organize all of them. 

The baptism last Saturday was BEYOND successful. Angel is sooo cool! Krys Jefferson (our last Recent Convert) was the one who baptized her. It was perfect timing as well because Krys and his mom, Jocelyn, just got out of the temple from doing baptisms for the dead in time to come down the hill to the baptism! All of the youth in the ward came as well. And the young women sang a song for Angel as well. It was such a cool spiritual experience.

The sad/happy news is that I am being transferred... I'm going out to San Carlos, Negros Occidental! That is the jungle island that I was on in the beginning of my mission! I am excited and not only because President is giving us a truck!!

I'm sure gonna miss this guy!

But I can't explain how sad I am to leave these people here in the city.

 Kamputhaw Ward is AMAZING. I love everyone here.

I'm sorry, mom, but I counted this morning and I have 5 people here that I call "Mom" or "Mama" on a regular basis: Sis. Sabado, Nanay Caballero (Angel's mom), Sis. Garcia (receptionist at the patron house of the temple), Jocelyn (Krys' mom), and Sister Pinky (Bishop's wife).

I love this area.

One of my favorite little guys!

 But I am excited for some new adventures!

That will be my last area.I will stay there until September. I will still be a Zone Leader there and the zone is a lot bigger. I think 18 or 20 missionaries. Nakalimot na ako..

I leave tomorrow to head out there. I will take the new missionaries with me as well. 

Last night, the Tan Family texted (somehow they knew I was transferring) and wanted to take us out to dinner again.

We went to a place called Abuhan. It was delicious. Then we had crepes after. Mango, Banana, and Hazelnut. Be jealous. We also just had an investigator drop off a cake and present for us earlier at the temple.

This morning we decided to go to seminary again.

Righteous youth at 5:00am Seminary!!

Yes, there were 30 STUDENTS AT THE 5AM SEMINARY CLASS. Including Angel! She is the best 14 year old ever. 

I feel like we have SO MUCH to do today. We have to meet some members at the temple for a little, them buy some quick things from a shop that the Busay Bishop owns (can you say discount??), then lunch at the Sabado's house, then pick up a jersey I had made, then teach Ruth, then pick up some pants I had made, then have an FHE with a bunch of families at the Villanocha's house. And it just started POURING. :)

Taking a nap on our comfy couch!?!?

I love all of you so much.

I am so happy to be a servant of the Lord. I love this work. I am so grateful to have the Spirit in my life. I am grateful to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion.

I know that that is the greatest gift that Christ left on this earth when He returned to His Father. I hope that we don't take that for granted. I hope that we all live worthy of this gift.

Have an amazing week! Take care of my mom please :) Love you!!!

Love,

Elder Jacobs