What I did this week

Well this week I had a lot of time to study and read scriptures, I was the only who didn't get sick so we kind of hung around the apartment for a lot of the week. I got to watch a cool Mormon message called the "Refiners Fire" In the video it explains that as we go through hardships and trials, we are uncomfortable, and under a lot of stress, but after those trials we are something a lot more beautiful. "The greater our sorrow is, the greater capacity we have to feel the saviors love"

On Thanksgiving we got to go to a members house, and we got to have kind of a latino Thanksgiving! It was awesome! 

The highlight of my week was going down to Richmond for a meeting. After the meeting we got to go out and street contact in downtown Richmond. It was a great opportunity to get out and talk to lots of people. I actually found a guy and he was saying how he appreciates and would like to hear more, but he lives in Harrisonburg. Well it just so happens I live there too haha so I got his number and we are going by  later this week! The coolest part though is me and the other Elder I went with (we did companion exchanges for the day) was a Mandarin Chinese elder, so it was really cool me talking to people in Spanish, and him in Chinese, and also both of us in English. We were pretty much Un-stoppable haha. 

But I would like to invite or challenge you guys to watch and share all the Christmas videos that are coming out everyday until Christmas. We're trying to share those messages or at least the main one that is out with as many people as possible. 

Other good news is we got John back on date! everyday I can see him getting closer and closer to reaching his own faith. So I will keep you updated! 

until next week! god be with you

-Elder Jacobson 

Today we went on a hike to Humpback rock, which was wayyy cool, and wayyy freezing

me representing the west side, west side of Harrisonburg Baptists, our absolute biggest supporters, and they let us know it whenever they drive by or we run into them...very friendly/Christ like people

(Gotta love the sarcasm!)

2 months down!

This week was very awesome. We got in contact with a "Mennonite" Pastor, and we went and did service at this shelter kind of community place, I got to shovel composte for 2 hours but it was awesome! The people we got to meet were very loving and kind! Wonderful people. 

I've had lots of personal revelation this week also through a lot of scripture study! Our investigator John is staying steady, he came to church yesterday! He claims that the peace there is just a "good vibe" and not the spirit.. haha oh well. 

Also this week I got to spend some time roping a roping dummy that the Senior missionaries from Idaho brought! That was fun! Ryan said this couple owns a ranch in Rexburg and he had to 'prove himself' before the husband would talk to him about it. :-) he loves their conversations now.

I got to on exchanges with the English Zone leaders this week, it was nice to teach in English, but I like teaching Spanish way more! Mainly the people is what I like more. We just went and walked around University of Virginia Campus and street contacted, man college kids just are not too friendly.. oh well the Lord has blessed us with tons of patience. 

This week was mainly knocking a lot of doors and not having too many answer, but we did get to do a lot of service for members which was awesome! I love doing service. 

Well I'm sorry theres not a whole lot of detail to what happened this week, but just know we are putting in a lot of work and I love serving a mission. 

-Elder Jacobson

 Pretty cool find we had our knocking doors in Elkton! Stonewall

Jacksons headquarters at one point!

And then this car that I've never seen before, it was awesome because I don't know what motor he had in it but it was wayyy fast, and then he had nitrous tanks we could see in the back. It would be so fun to drive! 

In our emails this week we shared 5 things we were thankful and he shared some with us:

- my family

- I'm grateful for my companion

- the chance I have to serve a mission

- I'm grateful for the scriptures

- I'm grateful for the sling shot we bought because we just snipe like 5 squirrels a day from our balcony (why does this not surprise me?)

- I'm grateful for you guys at home, or else I wouldn't be able to do this.

- I'm grateful for the people and lessons I've taught

- I'm grateful we can read the scriptures and worship whenever and wherever

- I'm grateful for the patience our Heavenly Father has for us

- I'm grateful also that He definitely has a hand in my healing process, because I'm where I should be  if I was finished with physical therapy

and

-I'm grateful for my mission, because going to church and talking about the gospel is the only thing I want to do now. I'm also grateful for Angus.

Lean on Faith

 We did a bunch of service this week also and we did 33 bags of leaves

one night so that was awesome

What I've learned this week is no matter how much I think I've already

leaned on God, I have to double it pretty much every week. Especially
listening to the spirit while knocking doors. 
We had a crazy experience in Elkton Virginia. It's a tiny clan with only a few
Hispanics so we had to knock on a bunch of doors in this heavy baptist
town....always fun. Anyways we were knocking this apartment complex
and I felt prompted to go this guy Brian's door, but we got talking
to him and he was really accepting of the gospel, unfortunately we had
to turn him over to the English elders. 
We also learned that there is an active clan group there and they kept telling us to leave their town. I don't know, they're just these string bean looking in-bred
hicks, so I don't even know how to take them seriously when they almost
crash this pile of crap jeep they keep driving by us in hahaha. 
Also, I've learned Mexican Spanish is soooo easy to understand, when it
comes to talking to Argentinians and Puerto Ricans it's way hard to
catch everything they're saying.

We're still teaching John our investigator who was supposed to be on
date for baptism this Saturday, but he just said he doesn't want to be
because he doesn't know everything. So he keeps asking us all these
questions that have to do with science, like where did all the different type of races come from and stuff? I don't know it's kind of frustrating because he listens to all the commandments and reads his scriptures and everything, but oh well we will be patient.
Also the 90 year old Puerto Ricans we are teaching (the Dominga family) love us and the
gospel, they're my favorite to go and teach. They could just talk for hours. And I was praying and the dog was barking and she just started freaking out and yelling at it in middle of the prayer. They hate the cold too so it's kind of funny because every time we teach them they are huddled under blankets and you can only see their faces. But we were teaching them one day and all of sudden like 13 people walk through the door, but one of them (their son in law) was baptized this summer so he sat down and started talking with us and teaching them about temples and baptism. It was awesome! Well that's my report for this week, I can't wait to hear from some of you guys and I can't wait to share what's new next week

With love
Elder Jacobson

I asked Ryan if, by clan, he meant Klan- and he did. So we might send a few extra prayers up for his safety in this area. 

This picture was sent to my phone from a random number. I love those! The message was

"They are great missionaries. He sends his love. We had them for lunching and they wanted to make no bake cookies, so we made them! The book is blue and the church is so so true."

1st week in the field

My first week was awesome! 
I got to meet my new companion and he's awesome! He's from West Valley! 

 Elder Jacobson and Elder Turner

We have an investigator named John who's going to get baptized on the 21st hopefully!! We found 3 new investigators also, the two are these two 90 year old Puerto Ricans
and I can not understand anything they say, but the other investigator
is a mom from Honduras who is awesome and so nice! 

My scripture for the week is alma 13:27-29! I've been using this scripture this whole
week! It is awesome! Well this week has been solid! (Look these up. They are awesome!)

I'm going to give Elder Jacobson a break on his lack of detail, because he's typing with one hand! 
He is in Harrisonburg. He said it's a cool college town with a ton of chicken farms (which apparently smell worse than mink farms). He loves his new companion and seems to be happy to finally be in the field! He is getting a hard cast on his hand today (friday) so that should be a little easier for him to take care of! 

Ryan told me that he doesn't mind my sharing things he writes to us in his personal emails, so sometimes I add things on this blog so that I'll remember them later on. 

On friday he wrote 'these pictures get me through everything, but they also make me cry everytime I look at them' 

I'm so thankful for a son who loves his sisters and for his example, and for daughters who pray for, and stand as an example to their brother in all they do. 

We miss Ry so much, but I can already see and feel the blessings of having a missionary in our family. The relationships that are developing across the miles through emails is so fun to watch! 

He also sent a picture of this saying 'it would be pretty nice to someday come home to this in the driveway'

*sigh* Once a redneck....

Hospital, Virginia

Well this week was pretty crazy! I broke my hand in two places and had
to have surgery in Mexico! So that was a nice little field trip! So
that took up the last half of my week after my last email! I finally
made it here to Virginia and I already love it! 
Tomorrow I get to find out my new comp and my area! So there will be a lot more to come next week! 
Sorry I really don't have a lot of time this week because today
was technically P-day! 

On Friday morning I received a call from a Salt Lake number. He asked for Sister Jacobson and I knew that wasn't a good sign. It was Dr. Harston from the CCM and he told me that Elder Jacobson was there and there was a little problem, I thought that this was surely about his ankle. He told me that Ryan had broken his hand and it would require surgery. He said that instead of flying to Virginia on Monday, he would be flying home. I assumed he meant that we would need to do the surgery here. Dr. Harston told me that, no, the surgery needed to happen right away. It would be done in Mexico and he reassured me that the dr.'s and facilities were great. I would receive an email later that day to give me more details. Justin had left on the buffalo hunt and was out of range. I was finally able to talk to him that afternoon and gave him the few details that I had.

I know other moms will sympathize with me at the stress of having your child hurt and not being involved in any of the decisions or be there for them!

I finally called Dr. Harston back Friday night because I hadn't heard anything. He told me Elder Jacobson was just coming out of a 3 hour surgery and that I would hear from someone the next day. He did say that the surgeon said there was a possibility that Ryan could still travel to Virginia. At that point the prayers became very focused. He needed to get to Virginia. 

By 1pm on Saturday I still hadn't heard anything. I called the dr. one more time and he put me on hold. The next thing I heard was 'Hola, mom'. It was great to actually be able to talk to Ryan and hear his voice. He already sounds so much older and more mature.  He said his hand felt good and he was doing ok. I'm sure the numbing and painkillers were helping those thoughts along. 

I was once again told that I would hear the following day (Sunday) if he would be coming home or going to Virginia. I was more patient at the waiting game by this point. 

I hadn't been able to get a hold of Justin since that very first day and we had decided not to tell anyone until we knew more. I told my girls Saturday so that we could begin our fast and prayers for him. 

Sunday came a no email or phone call. Our minds were whirling, but not panicked haha! Finally, at about 5pm I got a call from President Call in the CCM and 10 minutes later a call from President Wilson in Virginia. They were sending him to Virginia and we cried happy tears. 

He is in a splint and sling for 3 weeks and then no lifting or doing anything too physical for another 3-5 weeks. 

We were able to talk to him today when he landed in Atlanta and he sounded great! I know he's thrilled to be back in the U.S. and so happy to be moving forward.

I joked that he and his companion were going to become really close really fast, with him tying his ties for him :-) He said he already learned how to do them with one hand and his teeth ha! 

Joking aside, we are truly grateful that he was able to stay and our prayers are that he'll follow dr.'s orders and heal quickly and properly.

The road to Virginia has been a long one for our Elder. We know he has important work there to do, and are so thankful for all of the support from family and friends. The number of prayers and fasts on his behalf are amazing and powerful. Ryan has specifically told me several times that he can feel our prayers and wouldn't have been able to get through these weeks without them.

Our family knows that Heavenly Father hears and answers sincere and specific prayers. We know that he is very aware of Ryan and is proud of him. This Gospel is true. I wouldn't be able to let my son go if I didn't have an unshakable testimony of this work. We are so proud of him and know he will continue to learn and grow in this journey.