New photos

Here are some new photos pf Kyle's Mission.

What does belligerent mean. 2010-02-22

It seems like only seconds ago that I wrote you all. The mission is passing extremely fast. I am so grateful to hear from all of you, and to know that everything is going great. Kraig, you always help me a ton to keep going. Thanks. I love you all a TON, and I miss you much.

       So this week we have been working a lot with a lady named Dora Acosta, she is about 60 and is just really awesome. She owns a restaurant and we have an appointment with her tomorrow to eat lunch with her, we are way excited. So she has already had the lessons with the missionaries a long while back, but they took the missionaries out of campo largo for about three years. Now we´re back. Elder Mccroby found her with his past companion Elder Smith and this week we put a date for her baptism, for the 20th of march, so we are way stoked for that, she studied english for a while, at times she blurts out random words in english while she is speaking to us. The owner of the restaurant was born in argentina but his parents came here from ukraine, he has been teaching me some ukrainian haha. We have 3 baptismal dates for the 20th. One of which is a man named Ricardo, who I think I have already told you about, he is doing well. It rained really hard this sunday, so we only had about 8 people in total at church, us missionaries, president of the branch, and 5 members. How sad. I also found out something that shocked me, If we don´t start having more active men in the branch, president del castillo is going to shut it down, and the members of campo largo will have to travel an hour to be able to go to church in saenz peña, the main city, costing 8 pesos each way. The people here don´t have that kind of money, they barely have enough to buy food, let alone 16 pesos every sunday. So basically, it is all up to us. If we don´t start baptizing and reactivating men, a lot of members are going to be forced in active. I feel very inadequate for the job. But, God calls us in our weakness.

      The third is a girl named Belen, about 16 and really awesome, she came to church the week anterior, but people in argentina don´t know how to sing... and with lack of a piano and the skills to play it, we are out of luck, so she didn´t have the best experience at church. However, she did go to an activity for the youth in saenz peña and really enjoyed that, they had some discourses that she really enjoyed.

    This week, we went to an appointment, but, no one was home. Except 2 dogs, so they came out to greet us, we had a nice chat, shared some homemade juice and commited them to baptism only to find out we can´t baptize dogs, the hair  clogs the drain in the baptismal font... That was our week, full of a lot of heat, a lot. It got to be about 115 degrees this week. It was awesome.

     So let us all remember the amazing words of my favorite hymn, "Lead Kindly light, amidst the encircling gloom, lead thou me on, the night is dark and I am far from home, lead thou me on. Keep thou my feet, I do not ask to see. The distant scene, one step enough for me." This has helped me a ton in these past weeks.

                   To infinity and beyond,

                                   Elder Jacobson 

2/15/2010

Hey,

            I am so glad to hear from everyone, in truth! It always seems like everyone gets sick at the same time no? I am praying for you all and I hope you all get well real soon, nobody likes to be sick

                           I have been here in Campo Largo for almost 3 weeks already and until now, with a ton of success. No new baptisms until now, but with  a few more active members at church that were previously inactive. So as you may have heard we lack men. My comp and I have been trying to find ways to capture the men, so basically when we do trackting we walk fast and go talk to the people sitting outside drinking mate. In formosa we did a lot of clapping houses, here it´s a bit different. Since there is so much heat, everyone sleeps the siesta. EVERYONE . Except for us of course, so for about 2 hours everyday we are walking in severe heat, looking for the first sign of movement. I am sure that through obedience we will see the blessings. To motivate us to talk to the hombres, my comp and I have made up a competition, whoever sees a man, and calls out “hombre”, gets to contact him. Whoever contacts the most men in the week gets icecream on the tab of the other. However, when we started playing that game, my comp stopped contacting the people, since I win all the time…. so it didn´t quite work how I wanted it to… But we are definately talking with more men. In one of those instances we met a man named Ricardo, who had been listening to the missionaries 3 years ago, but then the mission president took the missionaries out of the area due to some problems in the branch (I´m pretty sure that some members were trying to beat up the missionaries or something, maybe its just a rumor, for the record, nobody has tried to kill us yet, well no humans. I got bit once by a dog, and my comp almost got bit. ) So he invited us over to our house and we had a pretty sweet lesson with him. He knows more than we do about the book of mormon, I swear. He knew what year God and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph, the name of the Hill Cumorah, everything. In our first visit, he was practically showing off all of his knowledge of the church, haha. He´s a stud. So we placed a baptismal date with him for the 20th of March. We also met a girl named Belen, 16 yrs old, Who is the niece of one of the members here in the branch. She understood the first lesson so well, she is awesome. She also came to church this past Sunday, but she didn´t have the best experience. The thing here in campo largo, is that 1st, we don´t exactly have a church building. We are renting out an old store, piano not included. As for the acapella talents of our branch, we´ll just say they have really sweet spirits. Secondly, it was branch conference, so the district president came and spoke, very very quietly. While we have the fans turned up. We couldn´t hear anything and with all of the sustaining of leaders, it kinda weirded her out. So that was really sad that she didn´t have a very good experience. Because she is really awesome.

         Elder Mccroby is one of the nicest people in the world, he is always always thinking of others and is constantly in prayer. He is an amazing example for me in my life and for the investigators and members in this area.

       So today we had the second rainstorm in the past 10 months here in campo largo, very very needed. Before my mission I didn´t like the rain at all, but as I have come to know the heat, I can´t wait for the rain. It always refreshes the things.

           I love you all and I wish you all the best of luck with all of your asuntos personales. I love you all so much!!! And I miss you a whole 2000 lbs.

                                     Elder Jacobson

                                         Hurrah for Israel 

I hope you enjoy my voice? 2010-01-05

¡Feliz Navidad!

Hola todos!
This week felt really long and slow,
I have no idea why, however, we are working hard
So first off, this friday I am going to call at 7 or 8 in the morning, thats the hour that they gave us, so youll have to make some sacrifices. haha. This christmas is going to be very different than all of my others in the past. There arent very many lights which is kinda sad. However, the spirit of christmas is here, the focus on christ. I have dedicated my personal study this week to the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ. I hope that I am able to know him a bit better by the beginning of next week.
Also, I wasnt transferred, I will be here for another 6 weeks, which is awesome. I really do enjoy this area, the people here are awesome. However, we have been faced with some big difficulties. Lujan hasnt come to church in the past 3 weeks. We found out that her parents have been putting so much pressure on her for being a member of the iglesia. They told her to choose between her family and the church. We have no clue what to do. We are going to try and go by her house. We are very worried for her. Also Gabriel didnt want to come to church yesterday. We found out he is hanging around with some of the not so best of people, he stopped reading his scriptures and saying his prayers. When I found that out, I was pretty devastated. We need to help them in some way... Vanina and Dalma are sticking strong in the church, they are firm in the faith. We are going to have lunch with them on christmas which will be awesome. Victor and his son Ariel have been reading consistently and praying also, they told us that they have received an answer and they know the church is true. The only problem is that him and his señora arent married.... and she doesnt want to. The same thing with Francisco Romero.
Alex beleives that the church is true, he just has some problems with the law of chastity, the problem is that he is married, but separated. Divorces here cost about 3500 dollars.... and he wants to start a family in the near future. We dont want that he is baptized and then after breaks the law of chastity. We just need to firm it in his mind that he cant do that, and have his testimony stronger.
We have also been teaching a girl named Marlene, Yesterday, she told us that she had read and prayed, and recieved an answer. She commited to be baptized and attend church this upcomming sunday. We are stoked for her.
Another of our investigators, Sandra, feels that the church is true, but she doesnt want to give up the things of the world. So we had a really good lesson about choosing God or the world. We´ll see what happens with her.
Saturday the power went out around noon, until noon the next day. Our house has insullation like an oven, it was awesome. haha. I slept on the floor because it was cooler than my bed, I had to wet my hair often to cool down, a lot of our food went sour also. However, I was still happy for some reason. I decided after the first time our power went out that I wouldnt let anything bad bother me. Life is too short to let inconvenientes bother me.
With transfers we lost some really good elders, but gained some other capos in our zone. We are stoked for this transfer, however we will probably die in the heat.
I love the book of mormon, and I encourage all of you to read it everyday, to be able to overcome temptation and have the spirit with you always, I love you all a ton. Pray always, Your father in heaven wants to talk to you. I promise. Thank you for all of your prayers. Remember, I am praying for you always.
Your son and brother,
Elder Jacobson
Hurrah for Israel!

¡Feliz cumpleaños papa!

Hello Family!
First off, happy birthday dad! The big 48! That cake looks delicious, I hope you sent some in the mail for me. And what a pleseant sight it was to see snow! We lack that a little bit down here. However, all of the people have their little trees all lit up. It is nowhere near the same as the states. I kinda miss it to be honest, all of the snow, lights, trees. Wow. However, we are working a ful! Alex accepted his baptismal date for the 26th of december, we are really excited for that, we also have many other investigators that for sure might possible with a chance progress. Lets just say we are searching for the chosen ones. Those who are prepared.
Friday we had a really fun activity in the church, we set up different rooms to display the different cultures and how they celebrate christmas. In our zone we have elders from chile, peru, colombia, and the states (one from canada). So we had our room, where we built a chimney out of construction paper, made no bake cookies, peanut butter cookies, and brownies. Then we had that game with the donuts on strings where you cant use your hands and bobbing for apples. then we watched the church movie when jesus was born and how that relates with the book of mormon. Wow, I felt the spirit really strong that day, I am so greatful for my savior Jesus Christ.
The other day we were walking to our next appointment and my comp was feeling a little down, so I asked him what was up, he misses his family and being with them for christmas. I tried to help him forget about it a little. The only way to fight homesickness is to work.
What I am going to do to celebrate christmas, is to dedicate my personal study for the week before christmas to the studying of the life of Jesus, his birth, life, and atonement. I am really excited! What an awesome time of year to focus on our savior.
This week has been spiritually magnifying for me, I have been SEARCHING the scriptures, meditating them, "how does this apply to me." That has been really spiritually enriching for me. I have found things that I definately wouldnt have found otherwise.
So, we have been teaching an investigadora named elvira, and her daughter paula. haha. They are crazy. Elvira has dreams often and asks us to interpritate them, we try our best. The only thing is that she hasnt prayed to know if joseph smith was a true prophet or if the Book of mormon is true. Without that there is no way that she will be able to progress. So we placed the comitment again, with all hope that she does it.
We also had a very interesting lesson with the mother of vanina, we told her very directly that her church does not have the autoridad of God. She promised that she is going to pray, however I think that she already has it in her mind that she has her answer. We´ll see, she just has to ask with a sincere heart.
Our convert, Lujan Cardozo, hasnt come to church the past 2 weeks.... we are nervous for her. Her family was completely against her baptizm, and we think they have something to do with not letting her come to church. Its sad because she has 25 years. She knows its true and is attending institute in the stake center every week. Im praying for her.
There is a good chance that Im going to be transferred this week... I dont want to go. I love branch centenario, my area, the members, the investigators. However, I will go where you want me to go. I find out tomorrow in the night.
I also had divisions this week with elder Villaroel, HOLY MOLEY! What an amazing missionary. He is my hero. He teaches with the spirit so strong that the people cant say no. We were teaching an evangelical, and just like in first nephi, his words were confounded. He had no idea what to say. Elder Villaroel has such a strong testimony. He has truly searched the words of the prophets. I also learned something very important, that I took to heart. It doesnt matter at all what other people do or think, what matters is what God thinks. I have been a little worried about impressing others that I lost my true focus here. To serve God. To bring the world his truth. With that, I have a new desire to work, to do my best. To be my own example. I am so excited for this week, and send pics of christmas, but not too many.
I love you all a TON!!!
Your son and brother,
Elder Jacobson
Hurrah for Israel!