Last week in the MTC

(I told him that our boating tube was destroyed and that we would not be getting a new one)

Dad,
Don't even try to psych me out, never works; Too mentally solid for the psych out. That tube is the bomb, don't get rid of it, hang it up in my room or something. And don't get a new one til i come home because i don't want it ruined before i get back, know what i mean, vern?

We manned the phones here a ton, i had some strange experiences on them. We talk to people from all over the country, and when we do spanish calls people from mexico and puerto rico. I talked to this lady from Indiana, she was really nice, right up until i started talking about Joseph Smith. She quoted her preacher pretty well though, about not being able to see the face of God without dying, etc. Said some really uneducated things. Started yelling at me, blah blah blah, i tried to be nice and i didn't bash with her or anything because as Josh and probably you can testify nothing good comes from that.. she might have said that i was on a path to hell but i can't remember.

Talked to another lady five minutes after that from the Bronx. She was actually legitimately nice. She was sincerely interested and when i read to her 2 Nep 25:26 and bore my testimony she replied, "I apsolutely believe that." She was way sincere, nice, and humble, so after talking more with her for a few minutes she said she wanted the book of Mormon and the MIssionaries. I hope that works out.

Ten minutes later i talked to someone who dialed the wrong number to me, from like Carolina or something. She thought she had dialed direct TV. Then she started complaining to me about how no body would have any patience with her, and she was behind on her bills because she had had three surgeries in the past year. I asked her some questions and got her talking to me a bit when the conversation turned to how Christ can help her in her life (she also has a son who is 50 mentally challenged and blind and she struggles to help him because she can't even help herself with her hip surgery) she sincerely believes in Christ and I also talked to her a littel about the church and encouraged her to go to Mormon.org, and she said she would. I hope she does. I told her how the gospel could help her even more in her life. She said, "sorry I dialed the wrong number - well, i'm not sorry I talked to you but i'm sorry that I wasted your time." It was cool that she dialed the wrong number, almost like providence.

There are more, but the day i described to you was the most intense. My fellow missionary talked to this lady for over an hour. She was screaming at him because the missionaries came and talked to her, and that made her mad, until he bore simple testimony then she was really interested in talking with him. she really opened up, but even after an hour of talking, when challenged to listen to those missionareies - because that's what she needed - she thought about it, and still said no. How sad, but maybe later on in life she will be just a bit more humble- enough to hear them.
-Elder Jacobson
1 Peter 2:17-20
Acts 5:41

Ben is Still Happy!

Pappy,
I'm glad you didn't kill yourself or nothin on the motor cycle. It's a dangerous thing, but i suppose you gotta live up the few good years you have left.
Please take back your blasphemous statement in the which you said manti is still the best to you.... we all know that Bountiful is the best, no need to argue otherwise.
And yes, i pity you. You got a cushy life: motor cycle ridin, temple attendin', dinner eatin (real food), etc.
So does that mean you're in the bishopric if you have to talk on sunday, i thought you were saying we are getting a new bishop.
I don't know if i should tell you this, but maybe i should.. You told me to tell you the bad news, and to not tell mom, so here goes... ha ha, psych, there's no bad news, you totally fell for it. I think you're heart rate is up a little bit too because you got a little worried there for a minute.
all joking aside, life is the same as it was last week, and the week before, expect of course for the learning curve - which i hope is going upward.
-Elder Jacobson

The Blog is Finally Ready

Sorry it took so long to get this going. Ben has written several letters since leaving so I just included a few emails to let everyone know how he is doing.

He is still very humble. He said he was tired of "slam dunking everone" so he would have to go play kick ball or something.

His last letter said that he loved every minute and that he has learned to love his companions. He was having trouble with the "Right Winger" at first.

If you leave a comment I will pass them on to him.

MTC Again

MOM
Today, p day, i have very very little time to write because basically my whole day is booked. the temple finally opened and we were able to go for the first time while here at the mtc, it has been closed the whole time until today.
It was an excellent experience going with the missionaries in my district.
It was weird though not having you there in the Celestial room, i suppose i just got used to you always being there. Thanks for helping me get to the temple often before i left for the mission.
As far as the spanish is coming, it's alright. compared to some i'm way good, but comparing to people is worthless. compared to fluents.... i'm the worst. My goal however is to be fluent by Christmas so that i have many months to be very effective. I'll talk to ya'll on christmas in spanish.
Thanks for the letter and email, have fun in the city by the bay. Tell Josh to keep it real, and to listen to Stacy in relation to not being right wing.

MTC at the end of July

Mi Padre,
Si, siempre. I'm assuming that "y'all" (see Josh's vocabulary) figured out what it actually meant - definiately not "ice cream cone-jojo...
Brother Morrell was the man. Always did enjoy his lessons; mostly because he usually incorporated something concrete into the abstract concepts commonly known as the Gospel. I try to simplify things when i teach (we teach pretend investigators) and I think it's helpful.
Spanish is más o menos. I´m obviously not the best at it but i do have an unfair advantage of grammar comprehension while others wonder why there are no words such as ¨do, did , is, etc.¨ to make things past tense. It´s way better than english, alas, i know english, not spanish.
I´ve already told you waht the typical day consists of but i will refresh your ever aging memory one more time: Wake at six thirty. do something until break fast at 8:15 (i.e. class, study, gym or service.. it varies depending on the day) after breakfast we go to class, til one. the class rooms are smaller than aaron's old windowless bedroom, and we have eleven in our district. at one we eat, then we go to gym or to class depending on the day. gym is less than an hour. dinner is at six, then six forty five we class it up til nine thiry. thus concludes my monotonous day known as the mtc. It's good though. i should really be hating this but i like it. i think most everyone likes it. I don't have the emotional ups and downs like some of the others, who knows why... i'm out. Paz a fuera
-Elder Jacobson

First Email July 4th conejo@myldsmail.net

My name means the Rabbit. It's meaning is derived from the high school knick name as well as the knick name of Eminem who grew up in detroit where i claim to have matured. I'm sending you a letter today, also, don't know if this is your email so sorry if you don't get this. (if you don't get this then there is really no point in me saying sorry if you don't get it, because you won't get it.)
-Elder Jacobson
Mosiah 28:3-4