19 Months in the Mission!

E. Larson and I are working our area well. We get the chance to visit a "boys home" and share a message with them. We are not allowed to teach our doctrine, but we can share a uplifting thought with them. It is great way to still be a missionary.

Carnival started this week here in Sint Maarten, and it is crazy just as usual!

There are big trucks with large speakers on them that drive around the island at night.

This week I hit 19 months, and it feels great. Sometimes it is stressful to think about coming home, but I still got time.

Yesterday, I gave a talk in church. I used Lynn G. Robbins talk from General conference, and I also used an article called: "Mindset" as well. My dad gave that article to me, and it has helped me very much. So, I thought I would share it with others.

We have found many new investigators this week. We are teaching many people from many different countries around the world. We teach some lessons in Spanish (I try to speak Spanish) and we also learn phrases in Dutch, French, and others.

We played some golf this morning with our mission president!! He is so cool! He and Sis. Herrington treated us to a nice lunch at a resort here. We have zone conference tomorrow, and it should be great!

Here is a picture of an iguana our land lords dog killed, and ate. There are a lot of them here!

Well, Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

-Grant

Flying up the island chain/ I'm in St. Martin!! - Update April 9, 2018

Boy, It has been hard to say good bye to the people of St. Lucia. I will miss that place and I hope I get to return again one day.

I took a flight from St. Lucia to St. Vincent, then Barbados then to Guadeloupe where I spent the night at a super fancy 4 star resort with other missionaries! I got stuck in St. vincent for 2 hours and Barbados for 3 hours... "Liat" is terrible! When Arriving in Barbados, I met 3 other elders coming with me to St. martin (Jackson, Orme, Bennett) 

We spent the night at "La Creole" When Elder Cook came to dedicate the island, this is where he stayed ;)

 It was so nice! It is owned by the french and the know how to cook real nice food! Oh The food was SO good! It was a party and a nice break from all the flying we do.

While on our way to St. martin the next day, I got to see MANY islands. I saw them all!

That was something really special, to witness the beauty of these tiny islands in this large sea.

Upon arrival in St. Martin, the damage done by hurricane Irma is incredible! Most large palm trees are blown down or sideways, buildings have been ravaged by debris and a lot of them are destroyed.
It is a lot better than it used to be. It is still taking a toll here, but its ok. 

I met my new comp E. Larson, And I like him. He is super cool.

I hope we find much success here this transfer.

I would describe the climate here as a desert! It is very dry and not a lot of greenery. Maybe due to the past storm.

Well, we visited a small Star Wars museum here! It was neat. A lot of fun meeting "Nick Marley" He did made the Yoda character and many other props on the set.

I look forward to this coming week, and getting to know the island and the people here more.

Also, There are so many iguanas here! It is crazy!

 I love and miss you all!

-E. Jacobson

F.H.E / M.L.C. / G.C. / Transfers!!!

  One of the families we have been teaching, (Jessica's family) has been awesome!

We introduced to Her and her 3 older boys, and their wives what a "F.H.E". is. We had a fun object lesson and then a game that had them laughing for days! Its called "Splash". We are noticing the fruits from the gospel are becoming part of their lives. It is awesome. We also did service for them. We helped pressure wash their little shop they own. They fed us some real nice "fish cakes" then the fed us lunch. I love this family.

We had another 4 hour M.L.C. meeting over skype and we have been counseling the goals we have set and what could be improved.

I got to do a trade-off with a good friend of mine in the mission (E. Newman).

General Conference was Lit!

We had 7 of our investigators come, and all were stunned and amazed by it! One of the families (Mandla & Kindra) came for one session then left..... They were walking down the street until the both stopped and felt like they needed to go back. They knew when they came back, that this is where they NEEDED to be. The next day we visited them and answered many of their awesome question. The couple looked a teach other and looked at us and said they are seriously considering baptism now. They understand this is the way. The father broke into tears and told us he wants to be sealed and baptize his brother as proxy, who is dead. What a sacred experience.

Going back to conference, I honestly like the new changes. I really feel it is for the best. I felt an honor to sustain President Nelson as Prophet and President of the church. What a GREAT man!

7 new temples!!! India! Russia!! WOW!

President Herrington flew to St. Lucia on Thursday, and we happened to run into him at the airport, and he saw me and decided to tell me my transfer call!!!! I am going to ST. MARTEN! WOW! That will make it my fifth and last island. I am grateful to have the rare chance of visiting, and serving on ALL 5 English islands. St. Marten is actually half Dutch and Half French. It is super tiny  and recently suffered from a category 5 hurricane just a few months ago. I know there will be a lot of service opportunities there. I am excited for it. I will be with E. Larson and he has been out for a few months. I have met him before. Should be fun. I am no longer a ZL. President is giving me a break... ha ha. That's what he says.

The hard part is saying goodbye to the people I have met and come to love. Members have shared the coolest things and and nicest things to me as I prepare to leave. I hope to come back one day.

I love this mission.

I miss you all.

Have a great week!

Weight off of our shoulders!!- Mar 26, 2018

We had some really juicy contacting this week. We found some awesome people that live really close to where we live.

One experience: We just arrived and started to contact some nice looking homes, and on our first house, we got yelled at and rejected then the door slammed. We went on to the next house, then another until we got stopped. The guy from the fisrt house came back to us in the street and apologized for his behavior. It was a very heart warming experience. He told us that he expects everyone our age to be just like the crazy kids that are always in the news (like school shootings). He told us that he was sorry the way he acted because he felt as if he shouldn't have yelled at us or discouraged us cause he knows we are doing: "A Good Service". He recognized that not all people in the world do evil things. We had a great conversation with this man, and he eventually accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. He is eager to hear our message this week.

We welcomed a new senior couple to the island this week! Elder & Sister Boggs are the new addition to ST. Lucia.

They are from Pennsylvania and they truly love the Lord.

They have now inherited most of our responsibilities and it is awesome! We have time to do things now!

Elder And Sister Fielden here, took them and E. Schmidt and I to "Spice of India" It is a nice restaurant here and we ate some nice Indian food. SO good!

Yesterday, We just happened to meet a couple of tourist from the cruise ship that attended church. One of them was a recent mission president in India, Pakastan, and Bangladesh. Super cool to meet him! It is awesome. We meet so many people from all over the world.

I love and miss you all.

Enjoy the week!

-Elder Jacobson 

18 Months!- March 19th

I hit that 18 Month mark, and I feel pretty good. time goes faster yet trials can get tougher.

I counted a total of seven new bed bug bites on my arm and shoulder. We spent time spying our place with insecticide. When we went to bed that night, and E. Schmidt had an asthma attack, but we didnt know until 4 days later. It was triggered bu the spray.

We went to a medical clinic Saturday to get his cough fixed and we spent 5 hours there! But while in the waiting room, there was a tv playing some movies. I was studying my scriptures when I noticed a new movie came on... I saw : "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..." OH NO! STAR WARS episode 8 started to play!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!  I haven't seen it yet! I immediately left the room! My comp stayed and waited until they called him into the office. So he watched some of it and begged to tell me what he saw! I threatened him not to!!! I must wait for my family!

So, I followed him into the back room to stay with him during his treatment. He had to breathe through a mask for a long time to clear up his lungs, and while waiting...I felt a sting on my belly... I opened up my shirt to find a GIANT CENTIPEDE crawling on me!!! The doctors and nurses there were freaking out! I threw it out and smashed it to oblivion! The doctor kindly brought out some creme for the bite and I am ok. That gave me the creeps. Hopefully I wont die.

We had to go to the hospital to continue his treatment, and my comp stayed the night! I got permission to go back home to get some sleep at the Ciceron elders apartment. It was a crazy day.

We picked E. Schmidt up the next morning and he is ok now.

This week  we got super rejected but are teaching some awesome families.

Our struggle is getting people to go to church still.

We are teaching a family that lives four houses down from where we live and they are amazed from the answers we have. All thanks to the BoM.

We also were told to shop for a new car. We are most likely getting a Hyundia i20 (2018). I want the color white. Cause white cars look nice. ;)

We also drove to Vieux Fort to open a new apartment for a new senior couple. 

I am grateful for this week. I have learned a lot.

I love and miss EVERYONE!

Take care, and stay safe,

-Grant (Elder Jacobson)