Stripling Warrior

Jake to Dad 8/20
More exciting news, as it stands now, we have Hannah and Catherine scheduled for
the same date, Sept 8th, and the other missionaries in the area may have
someone who can be scheduled for that date as well!
Thats good that your classes havent been keeping you too busy, have you had
much time to practice with the drumset?
John playing the cello? Way cool! Tell him to listen to some Steven Sharp
Nelson, especially "Praise to the Man" I heard it from some other
missionaries that were giving us a ride and it was waaaay cool cello stuff.
Something to aspire to!
I realized after I finished emailing last week that I didnt say Happy
Birthday to John, I cant believe hes already 11! Hell be a deacon when I get
home! He must be pretty tall now as well.
I really enjoy my scripture study! Ive been trying to read through the
entire Standard Works since I got out here and im in Section 104 of Doctrine
and Covenants and Im almost halfway through Judges at the moment. It can be
difficult at times to see the lesson in some of the Old Testament stories. A
lot of weird stuff goes on and the Israelites can be pretty frustrating at
times. They seem to forget so quickly all that the Lord has done for them! I
suppose its not much different than the Nephites in the Book of Mormon but
the way its portrayed is a bit ridiculous. Youd think there were no
righteous poeple in between their prophets and Judges! I did read a
particularly entertaining account this week in Judges Chapter 3. Its all
about a guy who assassinates this really fat guy. Hes so big in fact that
the knife gets stuck under his rolls of fat and the guy just has to leave
the knife and run. Truly inspiring! Meanwhile my Doctrine and Covenants
studies are quite interesting!
I have been studying faith as well, reading various materials and perusing
the topical guide. I borrowed a copy of Lectures on Faith from another
missionary the other day, and Im learning some interesting things! Namely
that faith is the fundamental power by which all action is motivated.
Everything we do has some form of faith at its root. I thought that was
really interesting! We already rely on faith in so many ways, it ought to be
easy to rely on it in a few more.
I dont know that I have much to tell about this week. We teach those poeple that we are lucky
enough to have (and the lessons are good to be sure!), we have some laughs
along the way, but at the end of many days, i find myself wondering "What
have we actually accomplished?"
...At least the weather has been good!
Thank you for all your support (emotional financial spiritual etc.) I do
appreciate it!
I love you!

Jake to LoraLynn 8/29:
It was alright! Not the best! Yes! We set Catherine for the 29th! But
if she doesnt get her new visa approved she will have to go back to
China for a little while and we wont be able to baptize her until she
gets back!! So pray for her!!
The ward is good! Weve done a few activities with the Young Men, and I
got to teach the 14-16 year old class about Missionary Work that one
time and there are a lot of great families were getting to know pretty
well. There are also a lot of Americans in the ward!
Im almost done with D&C and im almost done with 1 Samuel in my
reading! Chugging along!
I love you!

Jake to Mom, John 8/29:
John! Look up the story about the 5 dollar lawn! Its a good one, maybe
mom can help you its about a boy who learns to do his very best work.
Mom, i dont know if hes out of the MTC yet but see if that ladies son
knows of Elder Wandelt! Hes going to the Kiev Ukraine mission and i
think he got to Provo in July.
Mom, I wouldnt necessarily say I Miss you :P not in the sense of
Homesickness at least but i definitely love you! You would be so proud
of me for all the foods I eat now! Potatoes of course being a
highlight! Ive definitely eaten a lot of them! I wash my dishes and
make my own food as well! And then of course laundry!
I definitely dont have any opportunities to feel like a kid anymore!
There are so many things that need to be done if the work is to run
smoothly and if we are to stay fit, clean, and presentable!
There definitiely isnt much time to waste when poeple need help!
Thank you for your example to me and teaching me the right things to
do! I feel like a Stripling Warrior, raised by mother and fighting for
the liberty of my father! Its not a perfect analogy but it is close. I
havent read it in a while (im in D&C but ill look it up again later)
I love you!

Jumping for joy

Jake to Dad:
Stonehenge was cool! But like you I thought it was a bit underwhelming! Its cool to be sure and it would probably be way cool to walk around inside the structure but from a distance its just kind of cool instead of really really cool. Hannah is set for Sept. 8th aaaaaand on Friday we hope to set Catherin for the same date! She called us the other day and informed us she wants to be baptized! She already feels good at Church and she came to Swindon for a fresh start and she figures why not!! Were way excited about it! We jumpred for Joy and Elder Callen started talking about how we would both go AP for it... Then we read Alma 26 and thanked the Lord. We really hope it works out! I know Sister Langham is really preparing to make that weekend something special for Hannah and shes also been fellowhipping Catherine so Im sure she would be happy to make it an extra special event for Catherine as well! Hannah is more and more excited for her baptism all the time. Im glad things are going well with schooling and stuff! I hope youre enjoying the subject, business seems a bit daunting to me, im not sure how well I might do in it. Dad youre the man!!! You trained 3 missionaries?! And after only 5 months!? My mission Grandpa was like that, (I have an exceptionlly large mission family) I never knew anything about your mission besides the hairy armpit girl and the creepy old prostitute! Thats way cool that you had to bike 2 hours! I thought 45 minutes was bad! Have you emailed Bishop Brown bytheway? Its been a good week and Im looking forward to this week! I love you! Keep working hard!

Jake to LoraLynn:

Sorry I couldnt email on Monday! The librarys internet was down and Elder Callen was on exchange yesterday. This week has been slow but good, we did some service and had a picnic at Barbury Castle. Look that one up cuz its AWESOME. Theres no castle there any more but the mounds where the walls were and the big ditch are way cool, and its on top of a huge hill so you can see everything around it!! As for blog worth stories... hmmm. Ive got two! First we tracted into a crazy vegan lady this week! Shes ahsamed to be human and clearly doesnt understand the circle of life or the principle of agency because she wont believe in God because if she were god she wouldnt make meat eating animals and wouldnt let poeple be cruel. Apparentlyt if we didnt eat animals and didnt cut down trees it would end world hunger according to her. Second! Catherine called us the other day, Elder Callen seemed pretty excited so I asked what was up and he said she wanted to be baptized! I got really excited and he told me he was kidding but lo and behold a few minutes later I could hear her over the phone say she wants to be baptized! Then we both got excited!! We had a lesson outside with her last week and we talked about it a little and the spirit was really strong and she said that she had been kind of surprised we brought it up but after thinking about decided why not! So hopefully we can have 2 baptisms on Sept. 8th! Cool things for the week!
Anywho, I got your package!
Love you!

Four and Half Months

Jake to LoraLynn:

This last 4 1/2 months have been a blur! My 6 month mark is a transfer away!

All I hear about the Olympics opening was that it was really long. Other than that I havent heard much about the olympics other than occasional updates on Gold medals.

 

Oooooh... man.... a mission is like a scripture classroom. Its hard to resist talking about the deep doctrines and history of the gospel and the scriptures. One of my favorites has to be Abrahamic Tests, as alluded to in D&C 132;51. I will keep you posted on anything else cool I discover on my trek through the Standard works. Im currently in D&C 50 and almost done with Deuteronomy. (The Pentateuch is WAAAAY repetitive) The Old Testament is way cool though when its not laying out the law of Moses for the 5th time.

 

Now, back to that CD. Soooo. I went to Stonehenge yesterday! and Salisbury Cathedral! It was way cool! Dont worry I took pictures! Im actually wearing a Stonehenge t-shirt right now! Ya so I bought the cd in the Salisbury Cathedral gift shop (is that like the merchants in the temple?) Buuuuut... uh. Im a little at a loss for words this week but Hannah is still on track to be baptized! Transfer dodge is in and no one in Swindon is moving. Frankly I was a bit disappointed at first but its ok now, im looking forward to this transfer with Elder Callen.

 

In less positive news Hugh has officially dropped out of Church and doesnt know if he believes in God anymore. Im confident he will be back though. Hes just depressed (clinically) and hes made some mistakes that are keeping the spirit from him. Hes still an awesome guy and I know that through Cardiffs efforts and especially his friends at Church that he will come back. I just hope and pray that he can make it to the temple in time for me to go with him!

 

Thank you for the emails and the cds and all the stuff you do! I may get to write a little more but timing is weird today!

I love you!

Jake to Dad:

Im glad the move is working out and especially that I will have my own room to come back to. Ive heard a few horror stories about missionaries coming home and getting depressed and going inactive and Im sure having my own room will go a long way to help me avoid that! I have met Sister Nelson briefly! Its cool to meet missionaries that I have some obscure connection to (theres one in the group that came after mine) It would be especially cool if one of the younger guys from back home got called to this mission while I was here as well but i can only hope! How long have those missionaries in the new ward been out? Are there any recently returned missionaries you know of, because I know of a few missionaries who went home not too long ago from Mesa and Gilbert.

This week has been good, I just got the news on Monday that Im staying in Swindon and so is my companion. It should be a good transfer! Hannah will be baptized soon and were hopeful to set a date with Catherine when she is ready. There are wonderful poeple here in Swindon. Just yesterday we went to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral with a really great less actrive member of the ward. (Dont worry, I insisted to Elder Callen I wouldnt go unless we had permission from President Rasmussen first!) It was a really good time! Brother Phelps is really knowledgable about English History and a variety of other subjects so he was a great tour guide. He also happily told us hes been reading his scriptures again so our time with him is not wasted!

Im a bit at a loss this week but its good to hear things at home are ok. I Love you!