And indeed it is! It is a sunny time
of the year and I am enjoying the very pleasant weather. I am proud to say that
we have only reached 95 degrees a couple times and it hasn't been too bad. I
heard it gets a little warmer so we'll see how that goes haha. But right now it
is beautiful and the sunsets are all they are cracked up to be!
Your very important question: no
news on new email time limit. I would love an extra 30 minutes, but right now
it is 60 minutes. I'll keep you updated. Only time to email you and President
Taylor for now.
Guess what--We made miles this
month!!! 1396/1400 for March. Those four miles are called breathing room haha.
It wasn't a very spiritual endeavor for Elder Pollmeier and I but we have made
the commitment to stay exactly obedient and even when it seemed impossible (3/4
the way through the month we had averaged 56 miles per day and for the last few
days we could only average 28) we were able to change plans and recommit ourselves
to achieving something hard. It took a lot of biking for us the last two weeks.
It was fun and the weather is nice and we got to contact SOOO MANY people. That
was my favorite part. People are put in your path when you are an obedient and
hard working servant of the Lord. We have already been ordained to be that, but
the calling is conditional, in my opinion, on how you treat it. And so, the
Lord has rewarded us with running into people all over our area. For the most
part, because just about all of them speak English, and many are very
disinterested, I will not see what becomes of them, but the least I can do is
plant a seed or help them feel the Spirit. And even if only 1/100 people you
contact were placed in your path for a reason it is all worth it for that one
you can bear testimony of the Restoration to. So anyway, on our long bike rides
we have stopped many times to contact someone. I am very surprised at how shy I
am on my mission so far. I am also surprised at how much I need to get out of
my shell and say the things I should. I am working hard on that every day. The
Lord blesses those who open their mouth with the words to say and the Spirit to
testify of those words. This doesn't just apply to missionaries though! If
anything, be examples of obedience, love, and humility to everyone around you.
That is the easiest ways to plant seeds of the blessing of the Church in others
and to also live a happy and successful life for yourself! One of the things I
have noticed in my short time in the mission so far (Dad sent me a letter
saying that I was 1/12 of the way done. WHHHAAAT? That kind of weirded me out a
bit. I feel like it is the first significant checkpoint I've gotten too--by the
numbers--but there is still a lot I need to do, learn, and a lot I haven't
done. So it worried me just a little too. I need to work hard to reaching my
potential here with my last 22 months, and then some more.) is how much the
mission is motivating me to do so many things after my mission. Never in my
Gospel, and of course, have nine kids haha. It is one of my dreams. But
seriously. The Mission is an MTC for your life, and I am living it. I still
have a lot of work to do and a long way to go, but this perspective has helped
me understand the importance of this mission for the rest of my mortal service
to My Heavenly Father.
A little something on my personal
studying: I came into the field with the desires to improve my study habits
since they have never been consistently good for me in my life. I am happy to
say that I have seen such awesome and amazing growth! I can testify to you that
any studying--no matter the length--that begins and ends with a sincere prayer
of real intent--is guided by the Spirit. You may not exactly feel it every
time, but just have faith that it is. The Spirit will guide you to find what
applies to you and what will apply to your day that day. Pay attention to what
you study, write something--if not just one thing--down as directed by the
Spirit and see it come up in your day. I will share a small experience of mine:
I was doing morning personal study. Chapter 4 of PMG (the best one). and I came
across some verses of understanding the Spirit. The first 5 of 2 Nephi 32 are
so perfect to understanding the Spirit simply. First off, Nephi says something
like 'after you commit to enduring to the end after baptism is that everything?
Of course not. You have been given the Spirit to guide and teach you. Use it.
Take advantage of it. Feast upon the words of Christ." And that's not just
scriptures. That is receiving revelation from the Spirit. Anyway, I came across
these verses and immediately Jose popped in my mind. He still has doubts. He
has been catholic his whole life and has the education of a 3rd grader. So he
doesn't want to change to Mormonism so quick after so long and he doesn't
understand the scriptures or the Spirit. So we read verses 4 and 5 and taught
him that he will learn by the Spirit after we are given it upon confirmation.
We took Obispo Denoso (who hasn't been with the missionaries for a lesson in
eight months until I asked him in Spanish!!-- so he came with us. He really
trusts us too) who is our big gun of the ward, and tried to resolve his doubts
this way. The Spirit was so strong and he said he'd pray again. So we will be
setting a date with him next lesson after his prayer is answered. Such is the
power of Spirit-guided scripture studying. I wish I would've been doing this
before my mission.
Thank you so much for the package!
There is a lot in there that I will be eating. All of it actually. I already
tried the rice with some chicken and the sauce. Very very good and pretty easy.
Today I am getting stuff for meat loaf so thank you for that. We have been
getting fed pretty well this past week though. Elder Pollmeier leaving soon and
having excellent relationships with ward members has their perks for not only
being a great example of something I need to do, but also goodbye dinners. I
had seven tacos of Seviche at one house. Seviche is like a salad with crab and
salmon in it. It was sooo good. Also, for Easter we were invited to another
feast at Obispo's. That is where we eat three pounds of meat every time we go
haha. It was sooo good. I had a few thousand calories of Chilean awesomeness
for the holiday. Homemade cheesecake at the end.
Right now, as a missionary, I am
working on not being dependent. Not being dependent on Elder Pollmeier and his
wisdom and experience, the investigators for being able to learn the concepts
on their own, on the Spirit to be able to testify through me every time I speak,
the members to following through on the help that we need, and the prayers that
are offered on the missionaries' behalf all over the world. These are all great
things and I know the Lord didn't send us out here to do it alone, but I need
to learn how to push myself and learn for myself through the Spirit. Elder
Pollmeier is a fantastic trainer in this way. He is so smart and experienced as
a missionary, member, and person, but I need to learn things for myself. He is
such a help in this way. I will ask him a question about the language, the
investigators, teaching, or anything in the mission and he will say "what
do you think?" Frustrated, I will come up with an answer. He then says
"Ok sounds good." I reluctantly accept his answer which is supposed
to help me learn for myself. It shows a great deal of humility in himself not
to tell me everything he knows and patience and trust in me that I can learn on
my own. This has helped me in leaps and bounds. My growth can hit expontential
growth. He has taught me how to fish! Anyway, food for thought.
I love you all. Thanks for the advice and prayers and thoughts on my behalf. Thanks for the emails and news you are sending me. This is basically the only thing I send out of the state of Arizona each week so tell everyone I love them and appreciate their support and wish I could reply to them or contact them individually. I pray for you all--Evan and Grandma and the whole family too.
Love, Elder Jacob Parry
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