Well, the guy who was supposed to be baptized 2 times by now is officially moved to Moses Lake, so I suppose the Elders over there will have to make sure it happens. It was pretty shocking to us. However, since that time the Lord has blessed us and we have a golden young family lined up for baptism on the 5th of September. Also another young family should be baptized the middle of September and another guy (and maybe his wife) for the middle of September. The Lord has really been blessing us, giving us the "over-the-top blessings." Over the top blessings come when one realizes that his own efforts are not sufficient to reach the height of the mountain nor go over it without the Lord making it happen. the phrase "over-the-top" stems from the imagery of trying to cross a mountain, and with our own efforts we can almost reach the top, but with each mistake we fall back a little, but then with more effort we can almost reach the top. Then we fall back again due to some mistakes, causing great frustration to the one making the efforts. Only when he takes a moment to think of what he can do to qualify for the over-the-top blessings does the Lord bless him with them. That's what my companion and I did when the golden family canceled on us for the third time in three weeks - which is out of our control. We simply identified a few things that would make us better people and missionaries, and went to work. Then the Lord blessed us with an over-the-top blessing. The didn't cancel, and they accepted the invitation to be baptized. Over-the-top blessings are blessings which the Lord gives us, which we physically could not create on our own. We could not make them not cancel on us, nor accept the invitation, but the Lord was able to. (their agency still played a part, but the Lord allowed us to teach with the Spirit so that it touched them, and they exercised their agency under the influence of the same spirit.) Clearly two over the top blessings.
Sounds like things are going good there. Hopefully the risk game doesn't get too competitive. We didn't see the temple dedication, I don't even know what temple you're talking about actually. We are isolated from the Utah world/culture.
Another story. There was a guy who had been taught before, but didn't have much motivation for it. We taught him on July 2nd and because he is super humble he said we could come back. Every time we came back for the next month he was never there, or he was busy or something, So we quite going. For some reason we were knocking on his door again one day. he accepted to let us teach him and my companion, being bolder than bold committed him to be baptized on 9/12. He accepted the invitation and asked many questions concerning the ordinance of baptism. The next time we went back he had been waiting for us, and he seems committed to being baptized. Sadly he didn't go to church due to having to do a favor for a friend which brought him home at 4 in the morning after a long day of work, etc. He should be there next week, and the baptism should be in mid-September. But why wasn't he like this with the missionaries before him, or when we taught him a month before? Because no one had been bold enough to do invite him immediately to be baptized, FEARING that he would not want to accept it. The spirit is bold, we can't be AFRAID to follow it.

The only bad news is that 3 people who should have been in church yesterday weren't. The only bad news is that I think I'm getting old. I ran 2.4 miles in 19 minutes , which is like more than 8 minutes a mile. pathetic. I ran a 5k in the same amount of time back in the day.
Elder Casco is still my companion. We get along better than any of my other companions so we are hoping that we get another 6 more weeks together, which we will find out about in less than two weeks. I've gone through companionships like I go through cereal so they aren't lasting long, so I'm trying to make this one last.
Well I'm straight out of ideas of what to write about... maybe next week I'll have some more. I'm sure I will. It gets super cold at night, and I always leave the window open so I go to bed hot, but wake up shivering. it's been pretty exciting. My snoring companion hates it though, but he'll get over it. I'd rather be cold than hot that's for sure. He's got plenty of blankets so he'll be alright.
SLY
-Elder Jacobson
D&C 108:7... think if everytime you talked to someone you were lifting them up, if you talked to them once a day for a month, they would be a new person. That's my new dream, to personify this scripture.

August 17th

Mother,
We got some good news and some bad news. The bad news. The guy Ramon who was supposed to be baptized this coming week is no longer going to be baptized this coming week. Basically his girlfriend in California told him he can forget about her if he gets baptized so he chickened out, though we haven't given up on him. The good news. we found a young couple and they agreed to be baptized, now we just need to get them to agree to come to church regularly and keep the commandments. September 6th will hopefully be a big day for those two.
We are working with some awesome people, we just haven't been able to nail them down yet, which can be a little frustrating. They have so much potential, they just haven't seen it yet. Another good note, two people who I taught while in Warden are currently scheduled to be baptized as well.
The work is tough but I love it. I think the thing that is so frustrating about being a missionary is that virtually everything (besides my own actions) is outside of my control. Where as in track (which is basically the way I learned to confront challenges - through sports) virtually everything is in your control. So having to do so much and trust in someone other than myself is something not very easy for me. I only am realizing this now because I went on an exchange with a missionary who was in counseling for a while and he taught me so many amazing things about the human mind, feelings, thoughts, and how the three influence each other. Basically he inspired me and now I want to be a counselor, probably for LDS family services. That exchange changed my life.
I should have a bunch of new stories the up coming week. I don't know how long I'll be here, but I'm thinking I want to stay now that all these awesome things are occurring. Love you mom.
Sorry it's short.
-Elder Jacobson

Sorry for being a slacker post!!! The mother not the missionary!

Mom,
I just felt my love handles, despite what you say, I'm fatter than fat. Luckily my companion is even fatter so my self esteem is still high because his is low. Notice mine would not be high if his was. Probably an unhealthy relationship but what can you do. Considering his laziness in the morning exercises i have nothing to worry about as far as him becoming skinnier than me. (I tell this to him so it's not gossip.) Speaking of my companion we have 6 more weeks together and then I prophecy that i will be leaving. Probably to Wenatchee, or Moses Lake. The girls I know don't write me anymore. and trust me, that is not a complaint. I'm long past that stage. Stage one: shock. Stage two: complaint. Stage three: desperation. Stage four: desperation. Stage five: successful re-adjustment. I've been hoping back and forth between stage 4 and 5, I even wrote Elder Robertson's girlfriend out of desperation, but i was back in stage 5 when Candace wrote me again and I forgot to open it for a few days (the latter is actually not true but I thought it was funny). (note, Elder Robertson's girlfriend hasn't written back to me and it's been three weeks.) So things here are going pretty well. We have so many people who are close to baptism with just a few things they are working to overcome. There is a 15 year old girl who has two siblings on the mission who is more active than active who can't be baptized because the mom doesn't want her to be. It's straight sad. She starting crying when we talked to her for two minutes while expressing her fear of upsetting her mom. The Lord will help her overcome. Royal is great, though the district I'm in hasn't been as bad numbers wise in 8 months. Looks I screwed that up, but that's OK, August will be a pivotal month. We just gotta have the faith.

Mom,
Kill me. I wrote you a long email but this bloody computer screwed the whole thing up! I simply don't have time to do it all again either. The jest of it said: I removed 7 chunks of toe nail from the skin in my toe (it was ingrown). The bump on my wrist is now taller than the natural bump we all have on the wrist. If you could send me the black thumb brace I once used that would be good, I actually used to use a bandanna for it but the brace is better. We have a baptism on Saturday for Ramon. We have a mission tour tmrw, with Elder Hafen of the 70, and I get to see Elder Robertson again. Hurrah! I told a cool story about a new investigator we found but I'll save it for when he gets baptized. So it's a to be continued email now. Just stay tuned for information about Ramon's Baptism. More than anything I just wanted to say I love you. Thanks for the support, and next week you'll get a better email.


Dad,
I have learned a plethera of things over the first year, but it's been a slow process. Basically the trick to getting a long is calling people out when they make you mad instead of bottling it up. Hopefully your companion is humble or it's hopeless, and more importantly hopefully you're humble.
The trick to success is being willing to be bolder than bold, doing everything possible to help them progress, otherwise the Lord won't come to help us for we are not doing all we can do.
The work here is going good. OUr baptism for the 8th is pretty solid. Ramon is overly humble that I'm pretty sure it's going to happen, and change his life. He committed with dedication to give up drinking to live the word of wisdom. We are anticipating more success, it's just moved slowly because we haven't been teaching bolder boldly.
My companion and I will be together at least 6 more weeks here in Royal City. This is smaller than Radiator springs, there is only one blinking light and that's 5 miles from the city on intersecting county roads.
Love you dad, things are good here. tune in next week.