Make your siblings your best friends. Make them the ones you go to first.

HELLO!!!

I'm teaching the kids here everything I know!

Okay, this was a crazy fast week! It was so awesome though!! I have lots to share so I'm going to jump right in! Stop me if I go too fast ;)

To all those who had the belief that Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at our friend's house....

only exists in the North American Continent, 

THINK AGAIN! Elder Edvalson and I got invited to a family's house last Thursday. Yes, they are filipino; no, they were not raised in the Philippines. 

They lived in the states for over 40 years. They don't even speak Bisaya haha. They aren't members but they invited us over to have a real Thanksgiving dinner. Oh my goodness was I in heaven. 

I haven't had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and Dr. Pepper IN SUCH A LONG TIME. Just stop and think about how happy I was that day. 

Yea. It was awesome.

Okay, next. We had transfer calls on Monday! I am still praying for a confirming revelation that Elder Edvalson really is supposed to leave me :( 

Haha just kidding. I know it's what needs to happen, but that doesn't change how hard it is! 

We have gotten super close this last transfer and I am so grateful for everything he has taught me. He will be transferring to Basak (in the city). 

Don't look Mom...

My new companion's name is Elder Consigna! I have met him a couple times and I know he is a great missionary! This will be his first transfer as a Zone Leader so we'll get some training in as well! 

We have two areas being whitewashed in our zone! Wow. That is crazy! 

 

On top of that, we get two brand new missionaries! I am so excited! I love working with the missionaries that just got here. It's gonna be a good transfer.

 Next, I want to just share a really quick verse I read this week that really

Wow! My amazing brother, Billy, is even famous here!!!

caused me to think back on my family and everything since I was little up until now. 

Family first is something that my parents have done an amazing job teaching me since I was born. 

I came across it as I was studying. Alma Chapter 39 was listed as a reference for the question, "How can I avoid the evils that threaten my family?" Let's read one verse. The counsel of a father to a son: 

Alma 39:10 - "And I command you to take it upon you to counsel with your elder brothers in your undertakings; for behold, thou art in thy youth, and ye stand in need to be nourished by your brothers. And give heed to their counsel."

Since before I can remember, my mom and dad have instilled this true phrase in me: "Your brothers are your best friends. They will always be there for you. Talk with them as much as possible." 

I love my brothers. Billy, Danny, and Jon are my best friends in this life. I can't relate the countless experiences that we've had together. I am so grateful for the counsel and examples that they have given. 

My only advice to all those who read this: Make your siblings your best friends. Make them the ones you go to first. 

"God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be." I love my family. I am grateful for righteous parents who have done everything imaginable to raise their children in truth and light. Love you!

Lastly, before I close.... We have received several texts from the mission office this morning warning of an upcoming hurricane/typhoon. We are not sure the level of severity, but it is scheduled to hit somewhere around here this upcoming weekend. 

Don't worry about us; we'll be fine :) We will have 72 hour kits and everything packed so don't worry! We have a whole procedure that we follow as Zone Leaders.

But please just keep these people in your prayers. They have experienced so many hardships. I have no doubt that they can overcome anything thrown their way, but let's lift and strengthen them through prayer. Thank you! I love you all so so so much! 

Love,

Elder Jacobs

I sure do miss all of you. But I'm doing great.

Hello to all my favorites!! 

How is everyone doing?? I sure do miss all of you. But I'm doing great.

Say hello to my little friends...

The last few weeks have been crazy! Ever since getting here in Carcar, I feel as if things haven't stopped or even slowed down.

When I was transferred here there wasn't a single person on the calendar to teach! My companion and I are basically starting from scratch to work in this area. So it has been crazy busy!

This week was awesome! We had Zone Conference in Naga on Thursday. It was a great opportunity. 

President McCurdy shared on the Beatitudes and it was so interesting. 

One quote that stuck out was that Matthew 5 is a perfect example that "the Greatest Man that ever lived, gave the greatest sermon ever given." We have so much to learn.

We do a lot of walking on roads like this one.

It's so awesome to get to know missionaries from other parts of the world!

My companion is the Elder in front.

And I am learning so many different ways to cook outside. These are ovens!

I love to camp! Good thing...the mission here is just like camping!

"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;"

I have heard countless times that it is "so hard to go home from a mission and keep the same good habits of study, prayer, etc."... I feel that this is true for those who have not developed the self-control, self-mastery, and true determination that needs to exist in us. It is kind of summarized in the cliche phrase, "it needs to start from the inside out."

I know that the only way that we can fulfill what has been required of us - to be even as Christ - is to understand this principle. We have to get to the point where true obedience is part of us, or is ingrained within us. We need to glory in our Father and His Son. I know that this is possible in and through the power of the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

A real tree house!!!!!

I love this life! Isn't there just so much to learn?? So awesome! We can't  get overwhelmed. Just take it in and do your absolute best! :) I am beyond grateful for the patience that my Father in Heaven has in me. I hope you thank Him for that as well.

I want to study more about obedience and self control in the future, so if anyone else has something to add - insights, scripture references, etc. - email me! I would be a very happy missionary :) 

I love all of you so much! I am so grateful to have every one of you as an example to me. Especially all of you who are reading this :)

Love,

Elder James Ryan Jacobs

Well...we've got to go through it.

Hello Everyone!

First of all, I am so sorry! I feel like since I have gotten here to Carcar,

I have had such a short amount of time to email and I've just been able to email my mom a few short sentences! 

I will do my best to get better at that :) I am still doing great and loving life - trials and all! 

Isn't it such a blessing for us to truly understand the reason that hard things are such an integral part of our life? They make us who we need to be. 

I think it was Elder Nelson that said one time, "Before we think to beg Heavenly Father to take a trial away, let's remember that - by doing so - we may be forfeiting our own personal fore-ordination." (not an exact quote.. just something I was thinking about)

So this last week was awesome! On Saturday, Jet and Juriz came down from the city (my last area) and worked with us! They just wanted to travel down and work with us for the day so it was so awesome! We were able to go on exchanges as well and got lots done! Jet leaves on his mission this December heading to Salt Lake City!!! So awesome.

I wanted to share something I studied this morning. As I was in the Christlike Attributes Chapter of Preach My Gospel, I found myself on the Doctrine and Attribute of "Patience". 

I had SUCH A FUN STUDY this morning! 

I started in Mosiah 24:9-16. Alma and his brethren here are put in a situation where they are unable to pray vocally. Of course, they don't let that stop them from Praying, so they "pour out their hearts" to God in prayer.

 I realized something different as I read this today.

Sometimes we are put in situations (by our own free will or because of the choices of others) where we can't do the most perfect thing.

 For example, Alma knew that the best way to pray was vocally, but he just couldn't do it.

 What I learned is that one part of patience is that we are confidently satisfied before the Lord, when we know we are doing ALL THAT WE CAN. 

Are you ever in a situation that, for whatever reason, you can't do all that you wish you could do? Well, do what you can...focus on that.

Cross reference that to D&C 123:17. We gain capacity to be patient when we know that we have done all in our power. Then we wait for the Lord to fulfill His promises.

We've got a lot of land to cover....

 I continued on and found a new all time favorite verse: D&C 101:38. I absolutely love it.

 "And seek the face of the Lord always, that in patience ye may possess your souls, and ye shall have eternal life." 

Cross that over to D&C 93:1 to get the process. I love the phrase "in patience ye may possess your souls." We will be able to bring all under subjection as we live the gospel and use the Atonement. Sorry this is so scattered, I hope you can get something out of it. 

In closing, there was one overall lesson I learned this morning:

Alright...well....we've got to go through it....

Patience is a lot more than just not showing emotion when we are annoyed, frustrated, or angry. It's deeper than that. 

It is changing how we think about the situation. There is no point in just not showing your are angry while, the whole time, complaining in your thoughts about the situation. We are patient from the inside out. Prayer helps a lot.

I am so grateful for all of your examples that you have given me throughout my life. I LOVE all of you. Whether it was through church, school, family, or anything, I am glad that we met because I've learn so much from each and every one of you. 

Let's keep moving forward, remembering always Who gives us the blessings every day. Keep Christ at the center of our lives and build every single day upon that foundation. We can all become just like Him, but it starts as we make the decision to act. As we pick one of His attributes and one by one, grace by grace, little by little, place them inside of us.

Love you all and hope you have an amazing week :)  Elder Jacobs

I'm going to Carcar!

Hello to my Bestest Friends!

WOW was this week awesome. So hard and so good!

It's really amazing how hard we work as missionaries to share goodness with people. But I think the fact that it's hard and we do it anyways makes it so much more rewarding. We feel good at the end of every day no matter what happens. 

Hahah it's so fun being a missionary ;)

I have lots to share so I'm gunna just jump right in!

We had our baptism on Saturday!

It went so well!! The Gaabucayan Family is awesome!

All three kids were baptized and it was a huge success. Now the family has made plans for being sealed in the temple. I can't even describe the joy we feel! 

AND.........

Just in time to get transferred :( 

We had transfer meeting on Monday and I got the bittersweet news that I will be leaving my home here in San Nicolas and moving out to Carcar! Nothing in me wants to leave these

Hello America!

wonderful members and investigators, but I am excited nonetheless to get to work again in a new area. 

Carcar is about 25 miles south of where I am now but it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there...on a bus....

What's more is that my new companion, Elder Edvalson, and I have already lived in the same house together back in Siaton! So it'll be a nice reunion! 

I am definitely going to miss so many of the families I've gotten close to. The Alidon and Tan Families have literally been like family for me here in San Nicolas! I can't wait to see how well they are going to continue and progress in this wonderful gospel!

Oh! Let me help you with those grocery bags.....

Yesterday on splits with Elder Knutson, we met a 62 year old nanay (old lady) who plays DUTA online... It's the computer game that all the kids play here in the internet shops! Like World of Warcraft. Hahahhahahaha

I wanted to share something really quickly that I studied yesterday! It's about the Book of Mormon. Many of us have heard of or read the Book of Mormon. Today, I hope to give us a little bit more excitement to read, ponder, and pray about this wonderful book. As I was studying in Preach My Gospel, I came across a page at the beginning of Lesson 2 that talks about "helping others learn of Jesus Christ". I decided to study a little more into it! This is a part of what I found!

Have you read the Book of Mormon?

In the Introduction of the Book of Mormon, we learn that there are three ideas mentioned about Jesus Christ. In other words, there are three ways that The Book of Mormon fulfills its purpose as "Another Testament of Jesus Christ". It testifies of:

1. Christ's personal ministry on the earth: both Pre- and Post- Resurrection

2. The truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God

3. Jesus Christ's divine calling as Savior of the world.

Start today reading the Book of Mormon! Every page is about Jesus Christ. It truly testifies of Him. 

Christ promises us in 3 Nephi 28:10.... "ye shall have fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am"

Who doesn't want that happiness?? I know I do! So please come and follow Christ with me! If you haven't read the Book of Mormon yet, do so! Learn of Christ. Learn of his doctrines. Learn how to live with your families in His presence for ever and ever. I love you all so much! I am so grateful for the wonderful evidence that Heavenly Father has given us. Let's do our part and ask for a free copy of "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ" and change our lives for the better. 

Love our new Zone shirts!

Love you sooooo much!!!

Elder Jacobs :)

P.S. President Monson has a twitter account?? Awesome.

Conference Didn't Get Better,I Did!!

 Hello Friends and family!!

I've been thinking about you all week!! What a fantastic week!! Rain and I'm pretty sure it was like 120 degrees here!! Haha! The cold showers are a blessing!! (We do not have hot water...I haven't taken a warm shower for a year! And I love it!)

I was able to watch General Conference this weekend and it was AMAZING!!! I LOVED Elder Bednar's talk.... Perfect. 

Also, I liked President Uchtdorf's on Saturday Afternoon(?) Where he talked about seeking truth and revelation.

We are so fortunate to have such wise counsel from the leaders of the Church. We never have to wonder about what we should do. We can read the Scriptures, listen to church leaders and PRAY to know for ourselves!

 I remember my Dad said last conference that he didn't think conference got better, but he himself had experienced growth and so it seemed that Conference was better!  I love that. 

I thought it was so interesting how many spoke on the topic of "Prophets"

  

Eugenia, Ever, and Revodem are being baptized this Saturday!! The less-active family we have been working with for two transfers!! I'm so excited!

 

My guapo missionary in training.....

We also have a crew from SLC coming to film a documentary for the church this week! In our stake!! They chose three recent convert families in our ward to interview. The Alidon family is one of them! So awesome! 

We have transfers already coming up next week as well!! I've been here two transfers. I may very well stay, but typically ZL's stay two and then transfer. We'll see!

 Here are some things about my mission that you might find interesting:

No ovens! We mostly cook outside on coals or on a hotplate inside.

 Milk honestly doesn't really exist. You can't buy it in the grocery stores except in Dumaguete over on Negros Island.. And even when you can find it, no it is not like home haha.. I miss cereal with milk :)

We always get up at 6:30 or earlier if I have some extra things to do like laundry or studying

I love studying!

No ice cream....it's kinda hard when there isn't really any milk /: But there are 7-elevens that have slurpees and soft serve sometimes!

 I really like the dogs. Not the ones on the streets.. but the pets. Ugh, the ones on the streets are disgusting! Don't ever touch them..

We eat at McDonalds about every other week probably.. I usually just get a chicken sandwich or a burger.. They're good!

We went to a members to eat and.......

Guess what's for dinner......


Sorry I'm short of time this week, but know that I am happy and well and I LOVE SERVING A MISSION. I love the Gospel and the goodness that comes from living it. I love seeing peoples lives change in positive ways when they live Gospel principles. Seek to know for yourselves that this gospel of Jesus Christ is true and live the principles to find real happiness. I love you all!
Elder J. Jacobs

Saturday was a crazy storm. Monday was an even crazier storm. IT WAS SO AWESOME.

Hello There!!!

Happy to report on another fantasmic week of missionary work. 

I think it was one of the harder weeks of the mission -

Every. Single. Day.

Mostly due to the CRAZY weather lately... floods every day!

But I am happy to say that I am doing my best to live after the manner of happiness :) 

The people here are such a great example to me. They live with this weather and never complain. They just deal with it.

They are happy even with three inches of water covering the floors of their homes.

Wading through water in the house!

It makes me think about all that we have been blessed with where most of us live. We should NEVER complain.

And as far as missionary work....don't you even worry. We go out to do the work NO MATTER WHAT!

We splash, wade, float and even swim to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to whoever will listen.

Here's one creative way to avoid soaking our shoes.....again.

Saturday was a crazy storm. Monday was an even crazier storm.

 IT WAS SO AWESOME.

Well, I guess I shouldn't say it was awesome because everywhere just floods when storms come through, 

But it gives us some more challenges to work through and learn from so that's definitely an upside. Now I'm even more prepared for the next one :) 

We were at one appointment on Monday and about halfway through the lesson it starts POURING. By the time the lesson ended (about 10 min later) the entire walkway was flooded. I'm not going to lie, I have been waiting for almost a year to be able to request what I requested that day... Leap Frog with the chairs. It was awesome. We grabbed two chairs and took turns getting to the door of the house! It was quite the experience :)

Sprinkling some wood-chippy stuff to absorb water.

We had a successful finish to the Walk for Peace event and Zone Conference yesterday!

On Thursday, last week, we hosted the event at the Plaza. 

It was great! I actually would like to give a personal thank you to Elder Giar for this one... 

Yes! there was lots of audio/visual equipment... 

No!  There was nobody there that knew how it all fits together. 

Thanks for teaching me, my brother :) 

We successfully had projectors working and mics, pianos, and computers wired through the soundboard. It was really fun!

Yes, my pants and shoes are always wet. Always.

I actually wanted to mention a couple things that stood out to me at 

I had help sprinkling wood-chippy stuff.....

Zone Conference yesterday. Among lots and lots of amazing things discussed, there were two phrases that were resounding in my ears for the rest of the night. 

The first of which, I might discuss next week because I want to study more about it. The second ties into what I shared last week about being happy. Here they are-

1. "Instead of focusing so much on trying to live a 100% perfect life with no mistakes, I believe we need to focus more on learning how to repent PERFECTLY for our sins."

- President McCurdy

2. "There is nothing inside of me that wants to be disobedient to my Heavenly Father."

- Sister Dustin

I want to focus on this second quote by Sister Dustin - who, having reached the end of her mission, will be going home this transfer. Sister McCurdy shared an amazing workshop with us on Elder Holland's address given recently at BYU-Idaho. It was about what it means to be happy and how it is achieved.

I want to print this talk out and study a little more on the topic, but I want to share the three overall things that Elder Holland shared. We read in 2 Nephi 5:27 an interesting verse: 

"And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness."

We notice it doesn't say that the people of Nephi here lived happily, but rather they lived AFTER THE MANNER of happiness. I love this. We can unlock an amazing secret to happiness if we can emulate this strategy and live as they lived. But what is this "manner of happiness"? Elder Holland described it in three ways:

1. Living AND BEING OBEDIENT to the principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in His true church.

- This is where Sister Dustin's testimony comes in. We need to get to a point in our life where there is literally nothing inside of us that wants to disobey our Father in Heaven. I think we would all like to say that this is how we feel - and it very well may be - but it can go deeper than that. We need to have the Natural Man inside all of us rooted out and replaced with the Spirit of the Lord. This is when we can truly start down the road to eternal happiness.

2. Understanding that true happiness is something that we need to CHOOSE, it will not just happen automatically.

- I mentioned this last week so I won't beat a dead horse here (sorry, thank my dad for the weird phrases I sometimes use. Still trying to fit in a "horse shoes and hand grenades" line somewhere... ;)..) It's up to us! So choose to be happy and have a good attitude!

- "Man is only as happy as he sets his mind to be." - Abe Lincoln

3. We need to be an industrious people.

- We need to be proactive! We need to DO things with our hands. We can't sit around and say, "someday I'll understand," or, "someday I'll be happy." We need to get started TODAY! Happiness is something that comes when we aren't focused on it, but rather on others. When we are focused on living the way that Christ taught, true happiness just comes.

Anyways, I know this is basically what we talked about last week, but I just thought that was so awesome that it was exactly what Sister McCurdy felt inspired to share with the mission yesterday. It's a life principle, so let's learn it. I love learning :)

I love you all so much!! Be happy! I know that so many of you are doing harder things than I am right now, but that is not at all an excuse to be unhappy. It's the purpose of our existence to do hard things and to learn. I know that as we start to understand the big picture of life, we understand that there is nothing we desire more than receiving a fullness of joy at the right hand of God.

Love you,

Elder Jacobs

Mmmmmm....delicious dried fish.