25. Been a little frustrated this week - 3 March 2014

Hello family!!! 

What a fast week. I cant believe I only have one more p-day before this transfer is over!!! nuts. Have to admit I have been a little frustrated this week because people are just not keeping commitments or just don't want to hear the message of the restored gospel. 

I remember early in the week we talked to this girl that was next to one of our potential investigators. We clapped at here gate and talked to here about the gospel of Jesus Christ and that God has a plan for us. 

The entire time she seemed to be soaking it all in and seemed very excited. We bore our testimonies that she could pray to God and know that these things are true. she said she would and told us that she thought that what we were doing was very special. 

She even said that my accent was very pretty. 

Man did she have us both fooled. We clapped at the next house and tried to get in but after about 5 minutes of answering questions and bearing testimony they denied our invitation. We turned to leave and saw the gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet on the ground crumpled up. 

I know that these times o difficulty will be but a small while and this week has been a great opportunity to take a step back and look at what we are doing and what we need to do better. I have been reading Preach my gospel and the White hand book to see what I can do to improve. I have found somethings that I know I need to do better. 

Thetas the thing about missionary work is that you can never settle. you have to always be looking for things that you can do better. how you can invite the spirit into the lessons better. I have been studding about how I can better recognize and live worthy to have the spirit always in my work. I know that as I do my very best to obey all the mission rules the lord will bless us and we will be able to have a stronger spirit with us. For if you have not the spirit you can not teach. Oh how true it is. 

I am excited for this week to improve and learn more about how I can be better.

I love you all so much. One thing that people don't seemed to understand is how our church different, why it is important to do everything with authority. IT is because the priesthood power that the church has is the sealing power that binds every earthly thing to heaven. It is the only way to make everything eternal. My mindset has finally changed. I am not here to baptize people I am here to help them do the things that are going to last throughout eternity. The things that everyone must do to receive eternal joy. The same joy that I have because I know I have you all forever. Being away from you is hard and I miss you so much but I know that we will be forever. that is a blessing that not everyone has. And that is why I am here, to give these people all that I have. 

I love you all so much. Thank you for every prayer. 

                                                       até o próximo 

                                                 Love Elder B. Jacobson

24. I have one other story for you all

Hello Everyone, 

This has been a very interesting week. 

First i want to tell you about a very cool investigator we have. His name in Antoinio. we found him 5 days ago and taught him the first lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was very excited about it and said that he would read and pray to know that it was true. We felt a prompting to come to church when he knew that our message was true. He said 'When i know its true ill come to your church" 

We talked with a member,  to see if he knew Antonio. they live two houses away from each other. He said he did. so we asked O. if he could help us fellowship him. He was happy to do so. Yesterday Antonio came to church with the help of Orlando. And tonight we are going to teach a lessons at O. house with Antonio and watch the Restoration video.

It is great to see what can happen when the members and missionaries work together. 

I have one other story for you all,

We got a call from our Ward mission leader at 3 in the morning from Edson, our ward mission leader. my companion was telling me to get up we had to go but he did not tell me why. we met our ward mission leader outside of our apartment and he asked if i had oil. I did only because i leave it on our house key chain. at that point i knew we were going to give a blessing but i did not know what for. we drove four blocks or so from our house and edson parked the car on the side of the road next to the only house that had lights on. 

when i got out i heard a woman yelling something over and over again but i did not understand what. To be honest i thought she was having a baby. 

When we walked into the house i saw the woman laying on the bed kicking and screaming. two men we trying to hold her down. she was spitting and shaking.    So you know how in the scriptures how you always read about how Jesus was always casting out devils. A few days before this i was thinking about how i had never seen a person  that had a ``devil`` in them. i guess there's a first time for everything. Edsom had to hold her head down so we could bless her. Elder Costa did the oil and I did the blessing. ALL i could say was feel the love the savior has for you and to be at peace. We left the room, she struggled a little more but 3 min. after the blessing she stopped screaming. I could hear nothing from inside the room and as far as I know she was fine after that moment. 

Never did I think I would witness something like that in my life. The power that Jesus Christ has is real and it continues to work through his priesthood. I know that through Christ we can perform miracles  on this earth through our faith. The power of God is real. I know that we truly can do all things through it. Always have the faith that everything is possible to those that believe. 

I love you all so much!! have a great week.

                                              LOVE,

                                      Elder B. Jacobson

23. Today is the first time i have felt cold since I left the MTC!

Another great week in Pillar do sol. 

Today is the first time i have felt cold since I left the MTC. It Feels wonderful.

Me and elder c. have been finding all sorts of new people here. like i said before, its easy to find but almost impossible to hold on to them. All of the investigators seem to drop at the same moment, right after you teach the commandments. And i know exactly why, cuz we are asking them to do hard things in order to receive the great blessings. I think most people are afraid to do those hard things. That is why faith is so important and is the first principle of the gospel. You have to have faith before you can do anything else. So this week i have been studding the third lesson: the gospel of Jesus Christ to see what i can change in my teaching to help the people understand that they have to have faith and do the things before they can receive the witness and the blessings. 

And that is when i found "Jesus the Christ" 

I started reading it this week and have not been able to put it down. I read it at every opportunity, at the bus stops, before bed, study time. All day today!!!! CANT WAIT..

If you have this book at home somewhere start reading it, Its the biggest book in the gospel library you bought me and Andrew for our missions. I am learning how to  be a better teacher right from the example of Jesus Christ. I am learning from him how i can respond to the problems that the people here have. I am learning how to help people have a desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

This morning as i went back to the start to study a little part about pre earth life, I learned about the first and second estate that our father in heaven has for us. And i realized that we win the Second estate the same way we won the first, by conforming our lives to the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ has always been the key to our fathers plan from the very very beginning and truly it is all we need to do to receive and be all that our father in heaven is. 

As I have studies this book I have learned more of who my father in heaven is and who I am trying to become. I have learned exactly what i need to do to return and live with him again. And i have found my faith, testimony,and love in and of my savior Jesus Christ. I have found new purpose of every trial, every sorrow and every time of difficulty, and once again i have learned that through the savior NOTHING is impossible. And I know that when WE follow the savior we have access to all of his wondrous works and power that can help us become who our father in heaven wants us to become.  

I know more then I have ever known in my life that God is my literal father, I am his son, Jesus Christ is my Brother and my savior and every person on earth is apart of the great family of GOD. A family that needs to hear the truth of the gospel in a way that will give them a strong desire to follow the savior and carry the cross.  To have the faith, to follow, and endure to the end. IT WILL NOT BE EASY cuz it was not easy for our lord and savior either. But through our savior JESUS CHRIST  it will be nothing but worth every difficulty.

I love you all have a great week

elder jacobson   b 

22.

Hello!!!!
I miss you all so much, I have been thinking of you all this whole week. There is a kid in my new ward that is just like Daniel. And his name is Daniel also. He is just full of smart comments. haha. I hope all is going well with you guys. sounds like your having lots of fun with the chickens. haha.

Oh my gosh I am so tired i am going to write this email and then go home and sleep the day away!!!!! I cant wait. We have been finding so many people that seem like will have so much potential but to be honest we hardly get a second appointment in with these people. Its so frustrating. Its almost like they dropped of the planet.

Our best investigator of the week Claytom, after we taught him the The gospel of Jesus Christ, he committed to a baptism date, committed to come to church and prayed and knew that our message was true. He talked to his mom and she wanted to go to church too. We marked a time to come get them and bring them to church the next Sunday........ SADLY when we went to get them. there was no one in the house:(  DARN SO CLOSE. Hopefully this week we can find him and teach him more.

Sunday at church I was so tired, it doesn't hit you until you stop moving. It is so embarrassing (sorry i cant spell anymore and i don't have spell check in English over here) cuz I fell asleep in gospel principles class,  the teacher asked me to read, i woke up in time to hear my name but i had no idea where we were. haha oh well. It will all be worth it when we have our first baptisms this week with fingers crossed.

We have a father of a member family that has not been baptized. We went to his house and shared a message. His family Shared their testimonies and a new convert shared hers. Then Elder C. asked him para ser batizado he said that he would think about it.

Every day i am just reminded how much the lord is in control of everything we do here. and i know that if we are doing our part then the lord will provided a way for us to do all that he has for us.
I know that this is true and i know the same is true for all of you in your missionary efforts.

                           Open your mouth and the lord will fill it.

I know that this is true.

I love you all so much

                                    

                  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD 

                        PAI, FALIS ANIVERSARIO

                                     PARA BENS 

                           VOCE TEM QUANTO AGORA......CEM    

                                         love Elder Bryan Jacobson

21. Well I GOT TRANSFERRED!!!!

HELLO EVERYONE,

This has been a crazy week. So you know how i said that i would be staying in Vila Maria. Well I GOT TRANSFERRED"!!!! I still don't believe it. I am with Elder Costa in PILLAR DO SOL!!!! I love this place so much, the heat is like the summer in Texas and there are individual houses here. I have some great pictures!!!!!

Almost everyone here lets us come in and share a message. I dint know what it is like trying to reteach anyone yet but i hope they are just as receptive to the end. If they are we could be getting allot of baptisms in the next couple of weeks. We have i think 3 people close to baptisms but i have not met them yet.

We have been so busy. I have been here 6 days and i still haven't had time to unpack my stuff. WORK WORK WORK!!!! Its the best.

My companion is great. The first day we had a little trouble getting used to each other. I was being a little to aggressive in trying to figure out what these his investigators had been taught and what they needed. It was after our first lesson I didn't know where they were in the lessons and Elder Costa started talking about the Restoration, Gospel of Jesus Christ and The Plan of salvation all at once. I was so confused and did not know what parts he wanted me to say. That night i tried to ask him about it ( all in Portuguese, he does not speak

English) and he pulled the ' I have 9 months and you have 4 you need to do what i say" We were not understanding each other at all. We did not have the spirit at all. That night i prayed so hard that we would be able to work everything out. I got a prompting to just take a step back and observe the situation before I start tying to change things.

After that we have not had a single problem and the work is going great.

The ward is also great. Very very small. The bishop is very young and does not have councilors

I ATE ONE REALLY STRANGE THING THIS WEEK.

CHICKEN  HEART  I have a picture.

                                                              I love you all so much!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!

    Elder B. Jacobson

20. What a great week it has been.

Hello family!!!! 

What a great week it has been.

This week Elder Ahmed and i were hoping to have two baptisms but one of them fell though because we could not contact Dennis. Elder Ahmed is leaving in two day to go home and so if i stay here it will be my job to finish teaching him and get him a new baptism date. I pray we don't have to drop him. 

Today some time tonight i find out who my new companion is going to be and if i am staying in Vila Maria again:) I will most likely be staying for my first transfer but wont be sure until tonight. 

So the Vila Maria ward is trying to become a stake and it might happen this transfer!!! Which means that the Vila Maria mission could be split into two.:) It is so cool to see how the church is growing. 

The church is growing so fast here. just this week in the SOU PAULO NORTH MISSION we had 61 baptisms!!! That means that almost every companionship had a baptism this week!!! 

Yesterday we baptised Marcos. I think I told you about him. His entire family are active but he never going. Missionaries and church leaders had been trying to get him baptised for a very long time. The stake president went with us to teach him and he was baptized after stake conference. 

I tell you that there is no better feeling in the world. I know that this transfer is going to be the hardest but i know that it will be the most rewarding because i will have the chance to play a bigger role in finding and teaching these people. One of the hardest and most important things about missionary work is having faith in heavenly father and just do it. I an always afraid to open my mouth because i was afraid of people not understanding. But this week I have tried to truly say everything that comes into my mind and heart and i know that the lord has been with me every step of the way. just like the logo on the Nike shirts JUST DO IT i know that as i just open my mouth at every opportunity the lord will fill it. 

 this is going to b my theme and goal for this transfer. 

I am so excited to see what i can accomplish with the lord on my side because i know with him i can do all things. 

I love you all so much. 

elder jacobson  B