10. The Lord wants converted souls not convinced

Dear Family and Friends, So, we started the week with 5 investigators with baptismal dates marked as high hopes. Now, the hopes are still going great because we only slightly lost one because they are what we call mole which means soft in english. basically, they just dont want to commit. So, we have managed to keep all of our investigators going either by there own will or our pushing. I just get so happy when they keep their commitments and recieve answers to their questions. One of our investigators started the first lesson by saying that they would never be able to ever know which church was true. 2 weeks later, she has told us that this is the true church and she just has troubles with one of Gods commandments. It is miraculous to see the change in her faith, testimony, and just outlook on life. This truly is a life-changing message. In summary, we have 4 baptisms marked for this saturday and 3 of them seem really solid for the moment. During every prayer we pray to know how to help them and pray that the spirit will testify with a stronger assurance in their heart. This also is a work of hearts not minds. It is amazing how many opportunities we could have to make others questions their beliefs, but that is not our purpose. we want converted souls not convinced. We only get new members if they have a personal testimony not a satisfied mind. It also felt really good this week to find some new investigators. this work really is an ongoing cycle. We talk to 100 people, 8-10 hear a message, 2-3 go to church and 1 or less get baptized. and as discouraging as these numbers sound they are some of the best odds in the world. our mission has gone from a goal of 40 baptisms a month to almost 200 just in the last 5 years. We are also reallly concerned about conversion beyond baptism. I dont want any of my baptisms to ever leave the church. So, you will all be happy to know that I am eating plenty. But, it is also pretty unhealthy. If I am lucky, I get one serving of vegtables a day and fruits are all in juice form. One meal this week had rice, beans, pasta, and a casserole with potatoes and more pasta. I think I might need something other that carbs. But, i can still walk everyday and I feel great so everything must be ok. Im very grateful for my youth. I didnt even mention how much soda the people drink here. The houses here are definately more humble but they are so much smarter when they build them. Because of the heat, all of the houses are made of like bricks and rocks, things that do not heat up very much. The ground is tile and never gets hot either. Also, the windows are typically set up to get a great breeze and cool everything off quickly. So, on the days when the sun is beating down and it is like 100 degrees, the houses dont absorb heat and the people just stay inside. The only way i can compare it is to caving. the caves are always 50 degrees all year round regardless of the weather. Carpets are close to non-existant, especially really large ones for an entire room, and everyone uses covers over their couches to make them last longer. it has always suprized me that no matter how humble the house, they always have a tv. Its funny because you can never judge the outside of a house either. you may look at a house and get really nervous about lunch and it is wonderful inside. I havent really figured out why. My newest favorite food is called Farofa. it is basically, ground up wheat that is then cooked on a stove with some spices and a type of fruit i think. I dont reallly know how to describe it besides being really good and makes your mouth really dry. I hear that not a lot of americans like it. I find out next week at transfers if the package arrives. We are going to have a entire mission christmas party on transfer day and I really hope we stay here. Suprisingly, it is very rare to stay in one place longer that 4-5 months. so, to sum up the week I have a picture of me and pizza (american pizza) that we ordered when a lunch fell through. Very good but not worth the price. Everything american here is very expensive. Nutella, 15 reais for the very small size. Icecream, 20 reais for a quart. but, the food down here is great. so there is no problem. I was really happy to hear from the entire family this week. I cant wait to hear about Daniel and Work Crew, and more of Aubreys memories of us. I also cant wait to hear from Brealynn again. It feels like so long. Love, Elder Jacobson (Andrew)

9. Lots of success bringing people to church!

Dear Family and Friends, I am hopefully going to include more pictures today but I have been kinda a slacker about taking them. This week went really fast and we had lots of success bringing people to church. We broke Elder Mitchells record of 6 people and got 8 people and 7 investigators. This is one of the most important goals because there is a rule here that people need to go to church twice before baptism. but, idk if i said this before, getting people to church is harder than marking a baptismal date. I have no idea why. So, I will report my first heartbreak. We started teaching a 60 year old couple who seemed really interested. Unfortunately they had a smoking addiction and had been smoking about 20 cigarettes a day for about 30 years each. we set a goal for them to reduce that number by 2 every day until they were down to zero and them seemed really excited to stop. We visited the next day at about 3 and they had only smoked one time that day. The wife was on her bed with a headache but they both seemed determined despite the pain. We reminded them to read the scriptures and pray for support. but then the next few days went sour. they started ignoring calls and even ignored us at their gate. Finally, after they didnt go to church on sunday we made eye contact with the husband while at his house and he let us in to talk. We dont know for sure but i think they tried to drop to zero cigarettes in 2 days and had forgotten to read the scriptures. they had given up completely and did not want to try to change anymore. they even said that they would still join the church if not for the difficulty of changing. I was so sad, but I promised to invite them to church every week and help them quit smoking. Honestly, I was just heartbroken to see their willpower completely broken. But, happier news, we are teaching another younger couple and the really enjoyed church. I dont think that they had a single complaint and their kid really enjoyed primary too. Our ward is really good at welcoming visitors and helping the missionaries because we would have been so overwelmed without their help. We are also teaching a 16 year old guy that is really hard to teach because of how much he studies. we finally got him to church and he loved it too especially the priest quorum. I talked to another priest and he is going to help us teach him. Hopefully, we can just find the time to teach him. He is really willing and super smart. right now, he just needs to pray. a thing that everyone forgets. It was good to hear about your trip to Nana and Papas house. (in case your wondering, this keyboard doesnt have an apostraphe) The car trip sounds luxurious, Aubrey. I will do some of my own bragging now. We wake up at 6:30 everyday and dont sleep until after 10:30. Saturday in the rain we got tidalwaved by 3 seperate cars and walked arround drenched. We have had to cut 9 investigators this transfer and I will probably have my first baptism this friday. I ate acai which was awesome and chauhasco which is basically texas de Brazil every week. I have a big blister on my right foot but it is going away. Last week it was close to 110 degrees and all of my clothes stink because the laundry detergent is not very good. ( the last one was an exageration, I smell fine) that about sums it up. Its too bad the Brazilian people are not too fond of sarcasm. Its a good thing I cant say a whole lot yet. I have some time to train my tongue. I bet that is why some missionaries do not like the States when they return. So, you guys are in the car right now huh. I bet that is fun. How many hours is the drive? 15? I am so excited to christmas and to skype you guys. I think we get 2 hours to call. Super excited. I think I will give my financial report since I am in debt right now. Currently, I have 42 R$ in cash and 25 R$ on my card. We will get payed again next week on P-day. we spend an average of 40 R$ every 2 weeks using the bus to get the our lunch appointments which would sometimes be 3+ hours just walking. To get to a house this week, we had a 30 min bus ride. It was crazy. She is the only member there, but goes to church almost every week. Some of the members here have so much faith. I spend another 50 R$ on food which consists of eggs, hamburgers (.39$ each, really cheap), bread, butter, sugar, fruits, and sometimes milk. Im really eating healthy cant you tell. I did make a lime shake this last week but it costs almost 5 R$ each one. so, not supper worth it. I like making abacaxi (pineapple) juice even though it takes like 30 min to get it all strained. If the pattern continues I may be able to save 25 R$ every two weeks. If not, I will not resort to starving myself, just patience. Ill save even more money because elder mitchell is going to cut my hair. I wish him the best of luck. OH, can you forward bryans weekly letter to me. we are emailing each other but only little bits of stuff. oh, and brealynns blog stuff too. man, I am demanding.

8. Week of Rain

Dear Family and Friends,

First, I just want to tell you not to judge our numbers if you see them. remember this is a work of souls not goals. haha that rhymed. we got poured on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I am downloading a picture of our street right now. this was just an example of a good area. The roads with dirt were much worse. we tromped through puddles all day and soaked the floors of everyone's house but they don't really mind. We have a mission goal of 35 addresses each week but we only got 11 because no one likes to talk in the rain and we really tried to talk to some people. 

My companion also reached the one year mark and we had a small party with an investigator and recent convert. we had an amazing pineapple chocolate cake (surprisingly great combination). 

 By the way the ugly tie you guys keep seeing me wear is called the posterity tie. It gets passed down from trainer to Greenie all along the mission. Mine only goes back like 4 generation but we have another one that has over 10. super cool but they are really ugly. not as bad as mine from home though. 

And best of all, my first baptism. She is 85 year old and has trouble hearing but she loves the church and gave up coffee to be baptized. I am wearing the jump suit because we asked the brother in the picture to do the baptism but then last minute he didn't feel like doing it because he had only seen like 3 baptisms in his life. I was sad at first but I enjoyed the opportunity. 

Hopefully, there will me many more to come.

We are going to have a mission Christmas party the 17 and I should get the package then. I'm so excited. 

Well, I love hearing from everyone. I hope thanksgiving was awesome there just like here. We are planning an awesome week and a strong finish to our first transfer. 

7. The Work is Still hard in Brazil!

Dear Family and Friends,

I am hopefully going to include more pictures today but I have been kinda a slacker about taking them. This week went really fast and we had lots of success bringing people to church. We broke Elder Mitchel's record of 6 people and got 8 people and 7 investigators. This is one of the most important goals because there is a rule here that people need to go to church twice before baptism. but, idk if i said this before, getting people to church is harder than marking a baptismal date. I have no idea why. 

So, I will report my first heartbreak. We started teaching a 60 year old couple who seemed really interested. Unfortunately they had a smoking addiction and had been smoking about 20 cigarettes a day for about 30 years each. we set a goal for them to reduce that number by 2 every day until they were down to zero and them seemed really excited to stop. We visited the next day at about 3 and they had only smoked one time that day. The wife was on her bed with a headache but they both seemed determined despite the pain. We reminded them to read the scriptures and pray for support. but then the next few days went sour. they started ignoring calls and even ignored us at their gate. Finally, after they didn't go to church on Sunday we made eye contact with the husband while at his house and he let us in to talk. We don't know for sure but i think they tried to drop to zero cigarettes in 2 days and had forgotten to read the scriptures. they had given up completely and did not want to try to change anymore. they even said that they would still join the church if not for the difficulty of changing. I was so sad, but I promised to invite them to church every week and help them quit smoking. Honestly, I was just heartbroken to see their willpower completely broken. 

But, happier news, we are teaching another younger couple and the really enjoyed church. I don't think that they had a single complaint and their kid really enjoyed primary too. Our ward is really good at welcoming visitors and helping the missionaries because we would have been so overwhelmed without their help. We are also teaching a 16 year old guy that is really hard to teach because of how much he studies. we finally got him to church and he loved it too especially the priest quorum. I talked to another priest and he is going to help us teach him. Hopefully, we can just find the time to teach him. He is really willing and super smart. right now, he just needs to pray. a thing that everyone forgets.

It was good to hear about your trip to Nana and Papa's house. (in case your wondering, this keyboard doesn't have an apostrophe) The car trip sounds luxurious, Aubrey. I will do some of my own bragging now. We wake up at 6:30 everyday and don't sleep until after 10:30. Saturday in the rain we got tidal waved by 3 separate cars and walked around drenched. We have had to cut 9 investigators this transfer and I will probably have my first baptism this Friday. I ate acai which was awesome and chauhasco which is basically Texas de Brazil  every week. I have a big blister on my right foot but it is going away. Last week it was close to 110 degrees and all of my clothes stink because the laundry detergent is not very good. ( the last one was an exaggeration, I smell fine) that about sums it up.

Its too bad the Brazilian people are not too fond of sarcasm. Its a good thing I cant say a whole lot yet. I have some time to train my tongue. I bet that is why some missionaries do not like the States when they return. 

So, you guys are in the car right now huh. I bet that is fun. How many hours is the drive? 15? 

I am so excited to Christmas and to Skype you guys. I think we get 2 hours to call. Super excited. 

I think I will give my financial report since I am in debt right now. 

Currently, I have 42 R$ in cash and 25 R$ on my card. We will get payed again next week on P-day.

we spend an average of 40 R$ every 2 weeks using the bus to get the our lunch appointments which would sometimes be 3+ hours just walking. To get to a house this week, we had a 30 min bus ride. It was crazy. She is the only member there, but goes to church almost every week. Some of the members here have so much faith. I spend another 50 R$ on food which consists of eggs, hamburgers (.39$ each, really cheap), bread, butter, sugar, fruits, and sometimes milk. I'm really eating healthy cant you  tell. I did make a lime shake this last week but it costs almost 5 R$ each one. so, not supper worth it. I like making abacaxi (pineapple) juice even though it takes like 30 min to get it all strained. If the pattern continues I may be able to save 25 R$ every two weeks. If not, I will not resort to starving myself, just patience. 

Ill save even more money because Elder Mitchell is going to cut my hair. I wish him the best of luck. 

OH, can you forward Bryan's weekly letter to me. we are emailing each other but only little bits of stuff. oh, and Brealynn's blog stuff too. man, I am demanding.