Pictures with Email #104

Email #104…the Grand Finale

Well family…
See you in a bit.

I´d like to thank everyone for the support you have given me on my mission. I can´t believe it´s ending. It hasn´t really hit me yet, but it´s ending. Yet, thank you for you support, for you love, and help throughout these two years.

We finished the mission off well. Last Saturday we baptized the A____ family: martin and dina. Martin is the firefighter. They are a great, great family. The wife is a hilarious, short lady. She said that when she was confirmed that she felt such a great joy that she wanted to shout out in joy… haha… she is the funniest little lady I´ve ever met. We gave her this big dress for her baptism, and after trying it on she lept out of her room like a super hero. We are all doing the super-hero pose in the picture to illustrate that.

All of our converts here in A_____ are doing very well. Some of the young men that we baptized were blessing the sacrament and particpating in the church ordinances like they had been members for years. I feel very happy, and very content with my mission. It hasn´t been perfect, but I have been constant and tried my best.

My thoughts on ending the mission… To be honest, I don´t feel like it´s ending, and the truth is, it´s not. The mission, for me, has inplanted within me a higher meaning to life. I now understand more fully the purpose of life, and I understand my role in helping other people come to Christ. We are to be as God is, and God´s purpose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, therefore that should also be our purpose. I feel like the mission has ingrained that purpose in my life, and in that sense the mission will never end for me. Although I won´t have the plaque, and the clothes… I still feel like I will constantly have the desire to help others come closer to Christ. In that sense, I do not feel satisfied yet, because there is much to do.

In the beginning, I thought I could pay Jesus Christ back for what he had done to me. As I finish the mission, I realize that is a completely ridiculous presumption. I feel deeper in debt than I did before, but that is because I understand more fully the atonement of Jesus Christ. This feeling of insufficiency will be the catalyst to help me continue laboring in the work of salvation for the rest of my life.

I wouldn´t trade the mission and what has happened these past years for all the riches in the world. I have truly learned what is important now. I felt like I have made eternal ripples in the lives of others. The mission is a selfless thing, and is designed to eternally bless the lives of other people. Yet, as we do this, the Lord blesses us as well. Although I am far from perfecting the principle, I can say that the scripture in Mark is true, “he that saves his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and for the gospel´s, the same shall find it.” I have found a whole new life as I have left behind my personal interests and chosen to follow the Lord.

I love the Lord. I love this gospel. I feel ready to continue on with life, and I know exactly what to do. Although I don´t know the specifics, I know that if we put the Lord first, He will put us first as well. I know that this is the Lord´s church.

I love you all,
Elder Christian Jacobsen

Pictures with Email #103

Email #103

Well parents..

I´ll fill you in on the highlights of the week.

Yesterday we had the baptism of a young man named K____. It was hard to get him there… his mom didn´t want to give him the permission for a long time. The best part was… the mom went yesterday! After K_____ was baptized, he stood up and gave his testimony. With tears, he expressed the great joy that he felt and gave his thanks to all those who helped him reach this point. The mother cried, and it was obvious that the holy ghost was cracking her open. We hope the best from this. Perhaps a great seed was planted yesterday for her. If this doesn´t touch her, nothing will.

We´re getting ready for the family baptism this saturday. The a______ family will be getting baptized this friday, and we are so excited for them. They are on fire! Brother a____ is a firefighter, and the other week he taught the ward in mutual a lesson about fire safety. They are a cool family, and we are excited for them.

Finishing my mission… I have one week left. I feel great! I feel super satisfied and happy. I feel like I´ve been very diligent my entire mission. I have had great success, and little success as well. Yet, I feel like I have done my part, and that my mission has made eternal ripples in the lives of others. There is no greater thing on Earth that one can do. Next week I´ll write my finishing letter, reckon.

I love you family,

see you in a week…. that´s weird… but I´m super excited,

love, Elder Jacobsen

Pictures with Email #102

Email #102

Hey family,

This week was good. We´re preparing for three baptisms in the last two weeks of the mission. We have one this Saturday, then we have two more the next saturday. We are baptizing a young man named Kenneth (heh hehh dad), and the m_____ family on the 19th. They are good people, and will be great converts.

I thought you might enjoy the pictures. The picture with the nacho libre masks is Elder M____and I working out in the morning. We thought we´d use the nacho libre masks to pump us up a little bit.

The 4th of July pictures were incredible! Hey dad… looking a little wrinkley over there!

This week I started reading the new testament again. I love the new testament. I love reading about discipleship, and how to be more Christian. Those are some of my favorite versus in the scriptures. My favorite of them being in Mark 8:34-35. It´s such a simple formula. If we try and save our life, we will lose it, but as we lose our life for the gospel we will find it. I think that applies so much to my life and my mission in general. It has become a life-long theme that I have adopted.

Well family, I don´t know what to write in emails anymore. We´ve done this for 2 years now, and I´m running out of ideas. I love you. Thanks for the support… thanks for the birthday wishes. I´ll try and get this visit all planned out for the week that you come.

If you have any questions, hit me up in the next 10 min.

Love,

Elder Jacobsen

Pictures with Email #101

Email #101

Hey family,

Well… thanks for the birthday wishes and what not. Yesterday we had a baptism. His name is Carlos H_____. He is a great convert, and I´m sure that someday he´ll go on mission. The people in the picture are his sister and his uncle. His uncle was the first convert of the family. He was baptized about 5 years ago. A missionary gave him a book of mormon, and he read the whole thing. Later, about a year after that, the girl Alejandra was baptized and she served a mission. Now that´s she´s home, we´ve baptized her little brother. He is 16, and he´s a good good kid.

We´re still holding strong with the other 3 dates for the next month.

The picture of me in the red shirt: we made a honduranian dish with my companion. He is honduranian, and so we made what is called Balliadas. it´s like a tortilla with… yep you guessed it… beans… eggs… and cheese. Lots of variety over here.

I´m excited to see you all here in 3 weeks. The assistants were talking to me encouraging me to go and pick you up in the airport. I´ll talk to the new president. We haven´t reached any conclusions yet, but let me know what your plans are. If it doesn´t work, then I´ll probably see you on the wednesday morning that follows. No matter the plans… find a guide, becuase I don´t really know anything touristy or my way around this country at all.

I can´t believe how fast this last change is going by! I thought time would drag on, but not at all. Things are speeding on by. I´m just trying my best to squeeze out the last of the juice before the end. I like the idea of being in the mission for more than 2 years… I´ll have about 2 weeks of overtime.

I loved the pictures of the kids, and jessica´s kids as well. They look so beautiful. Jessica´s baby girl looks alot like her as a kid.

I love you family. Next monday I have more concrete of plans.

Love,

Elder Jacobsen

Email #100

Hey family,

We managed to have an excellent week. We were able to bring a good pile of people to church, there were 11 of them, and we have been able to put about 4 baptismal dates. We`ll be finishing off the mission really well. This Sunday, Carlos will be baptized. He is my future missionary… We have put baptismal dates for the firefighter family for the 12th of July. Then, we have Brother F___ for the 20th. (He has recently had a baptismal date, but has delayed it). He has decided to get baptized on his birthday, the 20th of July.

Funny story of the week… I bought some low-quality shoes to last me the rest of the mission (don`t worry, mom.. I don`t need shoes), and they lasted me 2 days and the sole ripped off.. … Well, I was looking for the receipt to return them, and I found it all crumpled up in the original box. I don`t know what I was thinking… or why I did this, but I ironed it to flatten it out. It instantly turned a charcoal black color, and you can`t read it at all. I took this as a private, funny lesson to not buy cheap things. Yeah… it was funny. I`ll show you the receipt when I get back. That`ll be a treasure.

Everyone is getting sick over here. About half of my positive investigators had to stay home for sickness. I got sick last week as well. I think the climate is changing a bit, and this has caused everyone to get allergic. I`m good now, but I lost my voice for a few days.

Things are going well. The area is doing very well. We are finding some positive families, and I hope they can progress.

Well, I love you family. If you want me to figure out the tour guide stuff, I can do it.

Love,

Elder Jacobsen

Picture with Email #99