Jacob - March 20, 2017

Hey family, My week went pretty well, my comp and I did all of stuff that we've been doing these past few weeks. Just finding and teaching. But things are going well. We may not be getting tons of investigators, but we are still talking to lots of people so we are adding to our people to visit list. Everything is going good though, my comp and I are excited with what is going on and how things are picking up. We have a few activists that are coming weekend, there is a baptism for an investigator of the sisters as well as a 8 year old in our area. Those will happen on Saturday. Friday we are going to have a church tour where members will talk about what each organization of the church is, pretty much the role of young men, young women's, primary, relief society etc. We are excited and we hope lots of people come. This week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with elder Sorto, he's a new missionary and we had a good time together. He was in my area so bike was a bit tough for him, but we taught a lot and it was good. Also this week we had a zone conference about chapter 2 of PMG. We spoke mostly about study journals & specific lesson plans, making sure we are preparing for our investigators. Also while we there they shared with us the new Easter Initiative. It's focus is on how Christ is the prince of peace and will share 8 methods on how to obtain more peace in our lives. So there's a super cool main theme video and then each other principle has a video as well. But we are super excited for that as well. Lots of good things will be happening soon. But that's it for this email. Love you, have a good one!


Elder Baer

Jacob - March 13, 2017

Hey Family, I'm not sure how long this email will be, but we'll see. Anyways this week was good. We did a lot of finding, but the work is going well. We keep finding cool people, it's just difficult to find them again usually, but little by little. This week I went on an exchange with a zone leader, elder Seibold. That was a lot of fun and I had a good time with him. I learned a little bit more about how to magnify my assignment as well, how to best help the district. I also went on an exchange with elder Schoen. That was good as well. We just worked a bunch and went to the temple since there was temple tours this week. There was a RCLA that went so we got to go as well and check out the temple, it was fun and good to feel the spirit there. Also this week I tried some strange foods, first off I got some sushi (it's super good), there's one roll called the dragons crown which was good and another that was tempura shrimp and on the outside it had salmon, also really good. Later in the week we saw a less active guy, we still need to see if he has records still. But when we were there he gave us a caldo de mariscos (seafood soup thing), but inside of it was octopus so that was interesting. Yesterday on Sunday we ate at the Luna's afterwards we went to his parents house across the street and I tried menudo for the first time. Man that stuff is weird, for those that don't know it's the stomach lining of a cow. The taste is ok, but the texture got to me. It's one of those dishes that not many missionaries enjoy. Other than that this week was normal. I honestly can't remember much of what happened, but that's how it goes. (Thank goodness for journals). But I love you all and hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Baer

Jacob - March 7, 2017

This week for me was good, I already gave you a little info about the
beginning of it and I think the second half was good as well. We are
still doing lot's of finding, but we were able to find a cool apt
complex that is mostly hispanic, we are going back there later tonight
and then at 8:30 we are going to be doing an exchange with the zone
leaders. So i'm excited. We have a lot of good goals for the week and
we are going to try and visit all the active and less active members
in our area. We are going to try and help them do missionary work so
we figured being around them and leaving our influence might help them
get involved. Also speaking of members, tomorrow is a member
missionary where the members come knock doors with the missionaries
and I think it'll bring a lot of success to the area they are
knocking.
Me being a district leader is good. The only big responsibilities I
worry about are following up with everyone, district meetings & calls,
but that's about it. Also I give the district permission to do stuff
if they need it.
The weather here has been warming up a lot. It hasn't rained very
much, but some nights I can survive just wearing a short sleeve white
shirt. It's pretty nice, but today is chilly. i'll probably wear a
sweater when working.
I hope work is going well for you. Sounds like a busy week, but that's
nothing new for you. I hope you'll have a good one with all that you
do. How is it being alone at home? Does tayler and lexie see you a
lot?
Also I was hoping if you could some how get me some more pictures of
my afro hair. I know my senior photo it looked really nice. But that
would be super awesome, I got some friends that what to see it and I
forgot to save them to my ipad when you sent them the first time
around. But I love you mom, have an amazing week and I'll talk to you
soon!

Jacob - March 2, 2017

This past week and a half has been
good. Being a district leader is pretty fun, it's just a lot of
communication with the district and following up with their goals and
trying to help them become good missionaries. My first meeting was
about how we can focus on the younger generation, it went well. Also
one of my responsibilities is to go on exchanges with each of the
elders in my district, I've yet to do that, but this coming week, i'll
get jumping on that. The work has been going well. We are still
talking with lot's of people and we have a lot of people that we pass
by to try and teach, but for the most part we find people that are
super hesitant to accept us or it's difficult to find them home again.
Seems like everyone here in California work two jobs. Which is
understandable since the real estate cost is so dang high + the cost
to live. Makes me grateful that the church helps us out with all the
costs. This week so far has been really good as well. We had a really
good zone meeting where we spoke about our purpose of missionaries
(pretty much PMG chapter 1). I enjoyed that and it helped me renew my
vision on why I do missionary work.

These past few days I've been doing a study about following christ,
I've gone from Matt. 16:24 which took me to Alma 39:9, verse 13 of
alma 39 caught my attention and I decided to look up the phrase "Turn
to the Lord," there were some really cool scriptures in the Old
Testament about that subject and that's where my focus has been
recently. It's actually pretty cool the things we can learn from the
Old Testament, I didn't pay that much attention in Seminary, but
fortunately I have the time now. One of my favorite verses is in
Jeremiah 32:39, "And I will give them one heart, and one way, that
they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children
after them:" (Verses 37-41 are all good). I like this scripture
because everyone i meet says the same thing.. It's the same God, so it
doesn't matter which church I join. But we know it's not that way.
There's only "one way" that leads back to our heavenly father, the
gospel of jesus christ and through the ordinances of the priesthood.
Make me really grateful for my testimony and the things that I've
learned. I'd encourage all of you to keep up on your scripture studies
and to never forget to pray! (2nd nephi 32:8-9). Always strive to
increase your faith. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful
weekend! :)