Heyah! Anyone for Guacamole? (Week 44)

Well hi!

It was a week of work and blessings. I am honestly very happy today and I am very grateful to be here serving a mission.

Paulo and Rosana were confirmed yesterday. They are a very very special family and I am very grateful that the members are helping them so much to be welcome in the branch. They have a little daughter called Susana who is the happiest, most talkative and playful 4 year old ever. I am so grateful that they are all accepting the gospel.

I am attaching a picture of some avocados a member gave us. They are quite a bit bigger than the avocados in the States.

We are working with a girl called Karol. We taught her a few weeks ago but didn't have a chance to return until yesterday. When we taught her yesterday, she told us about a dream that she had after she prayed a lot about the Book of Mormon. She saw herself being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and said that she felt so much peace after she prayed that she knew that she needed to be baptized. I am so grateful for the blessings of the Lord - this really is His work and we are privileged to take part. He does most of the work I think so I have no reason to complain or get discouraged.

We were talking with a rapaz (young man) yesterday who was calling us crazy for being members of the Church. `You guys can´t do anything! How are you guys happy being here away from your family and everything in your life?` he said. Honestly, I told him that even though it is very hard to be away from family and friends, I am honestly very happy because I know that I am doing what the Lord wants. I was very grateful that in that moment, I could honestly tell him that I know the gospel brings happiness and peace (John 14:26-27).

Well I am happy, healthy and very grateful to be here. I have a lot of work to do still - man, I need to improve a ton, but I am grateful for this mountain I get to climb. Just like the hill above Timpview - just keep running and giving your all and the view at the top will be the best thing ever. I know that God lives and that Christ is our Savior. I know that we can truly be happy if we follow him!

Elder Jacob

Well Hi! (Week 43)

Hey All!

So they changed the rules about the email. I am trying to stay on top of all my thoughts today because I have to do this survey for the Church about Preach My Gospel, send President a letter, report key indicators and write you guys, all within one hour (that is the new rule about the email - we only have an hour.) Sorry if I am a little scattered today - I am trying to do three things at once!

It was a good week. We had a divisão with the Zone Leaders which really helped animate and give the work here a new twist. I really am grateful for Elder Jones - he is from Philly and a really spiritual guy. He helped us a lot and we were blessed with the baptism of Paulo and Rosana yesterday. They are a very humble and special couple that heard about the Church in Sao Paulo and have a desire to have the blessings of God in their life. I am really grateful for the help of the members here in Tres Coracoes - the branch is really great and has a lot of really strong and dedicated members. It makes all the difference.

This week, our goal is to work the Area Book and find a family that is ready for the gospel. I am really happy and excited to work this week. This really is the work of the Lord and I am just grateful to be part of the great final cause of Christ as Elder Holland called it. I know that the Savior Lives and that is probably the most important thing. I love you all!

Elder Jacob

God´s a God of Mercy! Praise the Lord! (Week 42)

Hiyah folks!

You´re the meaning in my life! You´re the inspiration! Gotta love Chicago. I am extremely happy to be writing you all this letter because it is the dawning of a new day here in Tres Coracoes.

First of all, I will attach a picture of me in front of a very pretty Catholic Church here in Tres Coracoes.

Second of all, I will explain the lesion on my forehead. I was, as I said, very excited to receive the exercise book that Dad sent. In my enthusiasm, I got into the push-up position to really start cranking out some push-ups. Due to my excessive excitement, I foolishly placed my head close the wall instead of away from the wall. So, when I went down to do the first pushup, I regrettably bashed my head on the wall. It didn´t hurt that bad, but started to scab the next day. There is true wisdom in the Lord´s counsel to be temperate in all things.

We are working hard here and seeking to follow the Lord´s will for us here in Tres Coracoes. We are helping a woman called Tatiane stop smoking so that she can be baptized. She has four little kids that she is raising all by herself. I really want to help her change her life - the gospel will help and comfort her so much. She came to church yesterday and really liked it. We are going to fast and pray with her this week. The great joy of serving a mission I think is helping other people change their lives through the gospel. That´s what it is all about.

Anyone else getting excited for General Conference? I sure am.

To all the wonderful people who are going on missions or are serving right now, I say GOOD ON YA MATE! One of my favorite hymns is Praise the Lord, The Almighty. And there is a line there that I really love and teaches a profound truth. The third verse says `Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, who with His love doth befriend thee.` Just think! What can God do? Anything and everything! If you feel down or discouraged or overwhelmed and think you can´t go on, just remember that God has all power and He will support you and befriend you with his love.

Elder Sipião continues to be a great companion. Today we had a really great discussion about faith. He helps me see how I can have more faith and he has some incredible insights about the gospel. He joined the Church all by himself when he was 15 and has a fervent testimony of the truth. It really is a blessing to serve with him. He, like I said, has a great love for American pop music. Whenever we feel down or discouraged, he will sing Keep Holdin´on by Avril Lavrigne. Never thought I would appreciate that song as much as I do now.

Sometimes, you have hard times on the mission. Sometimes you feel like you are giving your all, but it just isn't working. What I do when I feel like that is I sing a hymn. Silly as it may seem, I find immense comfort in Vinde Os Santos or Alegres Cantemos. Today, I sang Do You Hear the People Sing and really, I felt the Spirit very strongly. It is really cool how the Spirit can speak to us and I feel the Spirit especially strongly when I sing. What a blessing music is.

I know that Joseph Smith was called of God. I know that God lives and the only way to true happiness is the gospel. To all who read this, please keep the commandments and stay close to the Lord! You are all loved and watched over by our Heavenly Father. I know that He loves all His children.

I love you all!

Elder Jacob

It´s Christmas Again! (Week 41)

Opa!

How´s it going? Weather report first - it is a balmy 62 degrees (which is good news for you reptiles) and sunny. I was thinking about writing my email like a report from NPR today so I´ll do that. Here goes:

Dun dun dun, dun...dun....dun. Hi. For the LDS Church in Tres Coracoes, I´m Lakshmi Singh and I´m Robert Seagull. You´re listening to The Gospel, from NPR News.

Alright, I had my fun. It was a bit of tough week this week. We worked hard but the two investigators that we had progressing decided to listen to the natural man and stay where they are spiritually speaking. We were feeling a bit down, but the Lord blessed us with several investigators at church and right now we have one young man named Marcelo who accepted to be baptized this Sunday! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation yesterday and while Elder Sipião was explaining something, I had the thought come into my head to ask him `Now that you know God´s plan for you, what do you want to do?´ I asked him the question and he said, `Well, I want to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized.` It was a tender mercy and I am so grateful for the times when the Spirit takes over and teaches. It really is a neat thing.

Elder Sipião is a great companion. He enjoys American music and sometimes to relieve stress, he sings Katy Perry or Adele. I think I like Teenage Dream better when sung with a Brazilian accent, haha. He´s a great friend and I am very glad to be with him.

I got the package with the exercise book and man, I can´t tell you thank you enough. That book is perfect. I am doing different exercises everyday so it is not boring and I´m already sore and feeling better. Thank you so much! And those pictures were just wonderful. Also I got wonderful letters from both Grandparents! Thank you! Tell Grandma Bowler and Grandma Jacob thank you for the ties! I also got a really great letter from Demarie which was really nice and inspiring to read, tell her a big thank you for me. And Maddie Hall and Caleb Jenson sent me a large pacakge of Christmas goodies and a BYU pillowcase! Wow! They are wonderful friends! Elder Sipião and I enjoyed munching some Krisp Kringles during our planning session last night. Thank you for all the support.

Tell Zach to keep on keepin´on and stop being a Karma Chameleon for me will ya?

I am doing well but I have a lot to improve this week. I am really learning about the difference between being 100% obedient and being stressed - believe me, there is a difference! With the help of the Lord and Elder Sipião, we will have a really great week this week.

We sang Now Let Us Rejoice yesterday in Sacrament meeting (of course it was in Portuguese so I should say we sang Alegres Cantemos) and while singing, I was getting really choked up. There hadn´t been a lot of visible success this week and I was feeling down about how I was doing when we started to sing and I remembered how W.W. Phelps, when he wrote this hymn, wrote it just after Haun´s Mill and what a hard trying time that was for the Church. I was reminded to always have faith in the resurrection and the Second Coming of the Savior. What a blessing we have as members of the Church to sing and praise our God every sunday and then partake of the sacrament to renew our convenants with the Lord. I know the Lord lives and this is His Church. I know it with all my soul. Many people may talk about the blessings that come from serving a mission but I know that the great blessing is to serve a mission - even when it is hard. I am very grateful to be here serving.

Have a wonderful week!

 

Elder Jacob

Man in the Mirror‏ (Week 40)

Hiyah!

It is always a blessing to write you guys email - I love and miss you all so very much. Tudo bem aqui (all good here). It´s still beautiful here by the way and the sky is awesome.

Last night, we had a really great fireside with the 1st counselor of the mission, Pres. Monteiro. We had a turnout of 120 and 16 pesquisadores! I think the branch and everyone will be more animated to share the gospel because of what happened last night. It was a really great blessing of the Lord.

Two young men in the ward, Caio and Gustavo were called to be ward missionaries yesterday. Today we are going to have a meeting to decide how we are going to work with them in this area. They are such examples to me - they teach and work with us almost everyday and are a great asset to this area. I am very impressed with them and it is an honor to work with them.

Elder Sipião is a great companion who continues to teach me a lot. We read the Book of Mormon together to practice the language - I read in Portuguese and he reads in English and we both laugh at each others accents. It´s a good trade off. We´re going to be good friends and I feel like I will be here in Três Corações for a good while which I am happy about. We´ve got to really get to work this week - it´s been two weeks since a baptism and we´ve got a lot of good people to teach and help this week.

That is super exciting about how many new missions they are making! We got the call on Thursday that they will create 7 new missions in Brazil, but they dont know/didn´t tell us where they will make them. They said they will create them in July of this year. The mission Brazil Belo Horizonte was divided a few years ago so it is very possible that they will divide the mission again. We´ll just have to see what the Lord wants. But one things for sure - it is very great to be serving at this time.

To close, I´ll share a small thought that I had during personal study today. Alma 29:2 says, Ì would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and ocme unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.` I read this scripture and wondered, `Why does repentance and the plan of redemption mean no more sorrow?` The answer is simple and true. All men everywhere can change. You can change. I can change. But we can´t do it alone - we need the Savior and His Sacrifice. We need His Grace but the blessed news is that He made the sacrifice, He paid the price and we can be free from our sins and weaknesses! Isn´t that wonderful? Through Christ, we can change. Elder Holland said, ´After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before.` and Pres. Packer said, `To me, perhaps th most beautiful phrase in all scripture is when the Lord said, ´Behold, he who has repented of His sins, the same is forgiven and I the Lord remember them no more.` That is the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Atonement: to take anyone who comes, anyone who will join, and put them through an experience so that at the end of their life, they can go through the veil having repented of their sins and having been washed clean through the blood of Christ.` (end quote.) The Atonement is why we do missionary work. As the song `These are the Days` says, We Believe the World Can Change! Because we have been changed through repentance and the Atonement of Christ, we feel the desire to help others. I really am so grateful to be here serving a mission. I know that Christ lives and He has all power. Have faith that you and other will change. Christ will bless us as we diligently seek Him.

Elder Jacob

This tent? This guy? This paramecium? (Week 39)

Elder Jacob and Elder Sipiao at a baptism.

A beautiful view . . . it's idyllic!

They have R.O.U.S.´s here in Três Coraçoes. Brazilians call them capivara. 

I don´t think they exist.

My desk 

Hello my family!

It´s another b-e-a-utiful day here in Três Corações. You may think it weird that I always talk about the weather, but really, it is just great here. After sending email, Elder Sipião and I are going to get some açai and write some letters in the town square.

It was a good week and I´ve learned a lot. We´re working hard to have a good turnout for the fireside on missionary work this Sunday. The youth are going to sing songs they learned at youth conference and Pres. Monteiro, counselor to Pres. Fortunato, is going to speak. It will be a really good night; I am excited.

Just so you know, SpongeBob is very popular here in Brazil. His name is Bobesponge here. Elder Sipião and I relieved some stress yesterday recounting some of the great adventures of that porous fry cook. Patrick´s name is Patrique haha.

As far as investigators go, we are being extremely blessed with great help of the members here in the branch. We had 10 pesquisadores in sacrament meeting yesterday! Alright! The Lord is really helping us. I am learning everyday out here that this really is the Lord´s work and you can´t forget to trust in Him. At times, I may think I know what to do or that I can do this by my self, but the gospel truth of the matter is that I have to trust in the Lord. If I am obedient and doing my best, I know the Lord will bless me.

One of the greatest blessings of the mission is studying the scriptures every morning. The only way I can describe it is a spiritual feast. There is such a special spirit in the scriptures; I am convinced that one of the most powerful ways to deepen our testimony is diligent, sincere study of the scriptures. It´s not just about understanding or gaining knowledge but feeling the truth of the gospel through the scriptures. Sometimes I couldn´t exactly tell you the new thing that I learned but I always feel the Spirit testify of the gospel through the scriptures. I am blessed with a companion who likes to discuss the gospel so we have had a good time discussing many topics together.

To anyone contemplating a mission, I just want to put my plug out there that what I have learned about myself, how to work with others and about the Lord and His purposes while here is something priceless. I am learning and will continue to learn how to be a true disciple of Christ and I can´t tell you how grateful I am for the Lord calling me to be a missionary. So if you are contemplating a mission, think about what you want in life and how serving a mission will bless your goals and then go to the Lord. I can only speak for myself, but I am very grateful to be serving a mission.

And with that, I´ll sign off for the day! Keep smiling and living the life! Ba dee ah, never was a cloudy day!

Elder Jacob

It´s a Christmas Miracle! (Week 38)

Hello All!

Que benção! It´s a blessing to email you today. It´s Carnaval here in Brazil so most everything is closed but luckily we found a lan house that was open. And I finally got the Christmas Letters! So today, it is kind of like Christmas! Hurrah!

Big news first - it is sunny today and man, it is beautiful here. Smaller news second - I was made senior. Elder Fernandes was transferred last Monday to BH where he will serve very capably as district leader. My new companion is called Elder Sipião from Curitiba. He is a fantastic missionary, a convert of 4 years to the Church and it has been a real pleasure to serve with him this week. But I will be honest - it was stressful this week. Now, the responsibility of where we go, what we do, how many lessons we teach and everything is on me. For anyone that knows me, I can let stress and guilt get the better of me sometimes. The greatest blessing and promise the Lord gives us is ``Ask and Ye Shall Receive.` I´ve been asking a lot this week and I´ve been receiving a lot this week. Like Elder Hales said in his talk last conference, `The Savior has promised that He will make us equal to His Work. ´Follow me`he said ànd I will make you fishers of men. As we follow Him, He blesses us with gifts, talents and the strenght to do His will, allowing us to go beyond our comfort zones and do things that we´ve never before thought possible.` I know that this is true - I am not equal to the work of the Lord just yet, but I feel like I´m making progress and I know that the Lord is with me in this process of changing and becoming a converted disciple of Christ.

One of the greatest blessings we received this week was the baptism of Cassio. Cassio is a friend of the president of the young men here in the branch. He was already taught by the missionaries last year but moved to Sao Paulo before being baptized. He moved back to Tres Coracoes recently. Cassio has a really sincere desire to serve Christ and my faith was strengthened as I heard him talk about his desire to be baptized. The whole week, I had been praying to find someone who was ready to be baptized and the Lord answered our prayers.

We are going to have a fireside in two weeks called the Search for Happiness and our goal is to bring 40 investigators to the chapel. I ask you´re prayers in this endeavor - it is going to be a really great fireside.

We were practicing and studying as companions today when I just felt the Spirit testify that this work is true. I, really suddenly, just felt incredibly happy because I know that the gospel has the power to cleanse us of our sins. I need that cleansing, that purity of Christ so much in my life. I am so grateful for the incredible hope of the gospel - that we can change! That we can be different and through Christ, one day we can receive a fullness of light and truth. Man, the gospel is true. I know it.

I hope you all are happy and healthy and close to the Lord. I know the Lord answers prayers. I heard a quote in the CTM that I was thinkning about the other day that I´ll close with - If you´re not as close to the Lord as you were yesterday, guess who moved? The Lord is constantly waiting and ready to help us with our difficulties - just trust in Him and do what is right. It will all work out for the best. I love you all.

Elder Jacob