July 29,2019 The Fire Within

This week was fun. So a few crazy things that happened before the more spiritual... On Tuesday night we stayed over at the Cannon Creek Elders Apartment. We got there later and stayed the night so we didn't have to wake up early and we also were in the area so it would save us on miles. The Elders had a ghost pepper that they dared me to eat a small piece of. I ate a super tiny piece and it wasn't even hot. I said it wasn't hot and they chopped off a little bigger piece about the size of a peanut. I ate it and it wasn't bad so I decided to eat the whole thing! It was hot for about 15 minutes but I didn't even need milk or anything. I thought the pain was over but I was so wrong! I went to sleep around midnight because we were talking and woke up about an hour later with a super bad burning pain in my chest. For a second I thought it was the spirit really burning in my bosoms but remembered the pepper. It was so painful! I probably got 1 hour of sleep over the next 4 hours until around 5 when it finally stopped burning. When I woke up the next day, my stomach was upset for most of the day and I knew I needed to excrete the fire within. Throughout the next day which was transfers, I would get burning pain in my stomach and head off to suffer in the  lavatory. It was a experience I will never forget and never repeat.

Elder Miller is my new companion and he is pretty awesome. He is very kind and funny. He is allergic to most foods but he isn't picky and doesn't make a big problem of it. We also are enjoying the work a lot. There is a lot of people due to lack of planning we didn't meet with much last transfer. We have been having a lot more success this transfer. 

Sunday a family spoke because their son Wyatt is leaving on his mission. He gave a really good talk and will make a great missionary. He is leaving next Monday and will be serving on Idaho Falls. They also had really good food after. It was a great week. I also started my plan which is for missionaries going home. It seems so unreal they I have 5 weeks. Love you all and hope your weeks are great. 

Dinner

Ghost Pepper

Elder Elgaaen Driving

Last Supper Elder Birch and the Lawrences

Protein Powder

Pig

July 22, 2019 Transfers

This past week flew by again. We had our transfer call this week. Usually we would get on a mission wide conference call and announce where everyone is going. Now the Mission President and his assistants call the Zone Leaders and they call up the members of the zone and tell them each where they are going. I will be staying in Branford for my last transfer and Elder Birch is going to Alma Georgia. My new companion will be Elder Miller. I am excited!

On another note, the teaching highlight of the week was for sure Pam. Pam is a mother of a bishop and said she wanted to meet with us so her son (the bishop of another ward) referred her to us. She seemed pretty interested when we called her and set up an appointment for this last week. We went by and had a super good lesson. Pam told us she isn't finding true joy in her church and sees that joy in her family members. She called her sister and mom right before we came and found out that they were both members too. She is super elect and loved everything we shared with her. She also had a bunch of veggies and fruit that she grew that she gave us. She is super awesome!

There was also a Regional Family History Day they had at our stake building. We went to help people set up accounts for familysearch.org as well as recover passwords... It was super fun. One lady came in and she didn't think she had an account. We started making one and put in her Member Record Number and it said she already had one. We tried everything and it took a long time to finally make it work. We had to figure out her church account. She was super appreciative and it was fun getting to know her. There was another lady and her grandaughter who both wanted to sign up. The older lady couldn't figure anything out and the 9 year old was done in seconds. The older lady made her account and forgot the password before she could log in again. Haha it was a mess but it was super fun. 

We also had interviews this last week and the new mission president is so awesome! He demonstrates such Christ like love for everyone! It's so crazy how I will be starting my last transfer in 2 days! It doesn't seem real. When I had my interview with the mission president, I did a temple recomend interview and probably for the first time ever really understood the interview questions. I am so greatful for my growth and testimony. I know it comes through living the gospel outwardly as well as on a inward personal level. Love you all and hope your weeks great! 

Elder Birch & Elgaaen driving to fish fry

Elder Birch Burning Something

Fish Fry

Elder Elgaaen & Birch at Five Guys Restaurant 

Justin's Car

Salmon Ladder we built

July 15, 2019 Weekly

This week was a pretty exciting week. On Monday I went on the trade off with elder Crandall and it was pretty fun. We found somebody named Tyler who's super awesome and willing to listen to are message. He had a lot of super deep questions about the plan of salvation and about where we go after we die. We were able to share the plan of salvation with him very briefly and give him a pamphlet to read. On Wednesday we went to district Council to trade back and I had another trade off with the zone leaders. I went to white Springs with elder Brimhall. One of the members took us to a small town about a half hour outside of town & told us that somebody would pick us up at 9 p.m.. They said they do this every week because it's saves in miles. When we got there about 10 minutes after we were walking around is started to rain super hard. We continue to walk around in the rain. We were walking to one of our appointments and walks past 3 police officers. They asked us where we were going and we told them down the street to meet with somebody. They told us that the further we went down that Street the more dangerous it gets. We told them we had been down there before and met with some people. After we walked around the corner and had a 30 minute lesson we were walking to our next appointment and the police officers had arrested a bunch of people. Haha later that day we met with somebody who had given the elders a ride the week before and said he would like to meet with missionaries. We met him at Hardee's and had a super good lesson with him and taught him about the restoration and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. He was super excited to read he started reading right then and there. We also had dinner with a family who had a English bulldog puppy who was super cute. The next day we traded back and Grandpa Girard met us for lunch. The rest of the week consisted of finding in the hot some with little success but lots of good moments to share testimony. In church on Sunday we talked about a conference talk by Elder Ballard. We talked about how happiness is a choice that we make each day. We also talked about how the gospel can bring that happiness as we live it each day through loving God and loving our neighbors. That about sums up my week. I realize that each day we get to make the choice to be happy and to grow are testimonies of Jesus Christ. I know as we search and ponder and pray everyday for those experiences that'll help us grow, we will be able to become our best selves. 

Deer in the yard

Shirt designed by the District

Elder Brimhall & Grandpa Girard

Old Hospital equipment at the Jail 

Old Jail

Old Jail Sign

Tiny Kitten

July 8, 2019 Week 1 of July

Jacob Allen Elgaaen	6:01 AM (15 hours ago)
to me

Happy late 4th of July to everyone! This week was a really good one and also another busy (chicken with head cut off) week. On Wednesday we had a lot of lessons scheduled. We went to the area Bell and spend most of the day there running to appointments. All of our lessons had fallen through and we needed to use the restroom and get some dinner so we stopped by a gas station with a chicken restaurant. We ordered some food and the lady who got it for us was a member who hasn't been in years. We invited her to come join us and she said she would think about it. When we went to pay, she bought our food for us. It really made the 99 degree temperature (with humidity said to feel 110) worth it. Haha After we went by Elias who is a young 12 year old who wants to be baptized but needs to come to church. We talked to him and his dad (who is a member) and made a plan to get them in church within the next 2 weeks and set a baptismal date with him! When we were heading home, we were going to take a little shortcut on a sand road. When we got there, there was a stuck van. The guy had dug himself in so his car was sitting on the sand and his tires were spinning. We tried to help pull him out from the front but he wasn't budging. Another guy pulled up in a jeep and pulled him out backwards. 

Thursday was a crazy one too! We went to a family we're teachings house for lunch. They had over 10 different meats and more food than a normal Thanksgiving. We had a good time there and then rushed off to zone conference. Our new mission president, President Wood is super awesome! He is short but loves to teach for understanding and focus on the pure Doctrine. We talked about the combining of the missions and how each rule should come from a principle and each principle should come from Doctrine. Joseph Smith said concerning the saints being hard working and prosperous something along the lines of, "Teach them correct principles and they will govern themselves." President wood said that when we go home, we will loose the rule aspect and need to rely on the principles we learn so we avoid becoming like the pharisies. After zone conference, I went with Elder Rasmusen back to my area to do a tradeoff. We went to the church to do parkinglot security and keep people from smoking and drinking in the parkinglot because people would come to watch fireworks. There was a huge storm right before the fireworks and some awesome lightning that added to the show.

Friday, we went to Lake city at 6am to play Frisbee and do service. After we traded back and Elder Birch and I did some weekly planning. We had a referral we stopped by close to lake city and we were able to share a brief message with her and her family who seem super awesome and were excited to go back next week and teach them. After we had a correlation meeting with our ward mission leader and talked about what we want to do to help the ward. We discussed reaching out to less active families and help strengthen their testimonies. It was a good meeting and hopefully we can implament what we discussed!

I finished the Book of Mormon on Saturday from the 2 week challenge and what stuck out to me most was the spirit that I felt as I read. It helped strengthen my testimony of the powerful influence the Book of Mormon can and does have on our lives. It also really strengthened my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is so much larger and a bigger part then we sometimes think it to be in our lives. The people in the Book of Mormon understood the importance of the gospel by devoting their whole lives to putting God first. It has really helped me see how great a blessing the gospel can be to us as we make it a priority and focus in our daily lives. I love the gospel and love learning through the influence of the Spirit.

Sunday was a great fast and testimony meeting. There was a focus on the love and blessings that come into our lives as we live the gospel. We also studied from the Book of Acts and read about how we can be changed through the gospel and the Holy Ghost. Super powerful stuff! 

That about sums up my week. I am greatful for the gospel and  the Saviors love for us. I hope we can feel the saviors love in our lives each day. If you don't get on your knees and pray and I promise you will feel that love. Have a great one! Love to all! 

Correlation Planning Meeting

Jacob at Correlation Meeting

Elder Rasmussen

Fireworks

Lightening After Fireworks Storm

July 1, 2019 The Falling Tree

This week flew by. A few highlights were we had a awesome church attendance (the bad part was I was speaking), we didn't die (a huge tree branch broke off a tree and smashed a house we were about to knock on), and we found 2 awesome people. It actually was a crazy week full of excitement. So, at the start of last week, I went on a tradeoff with Elder Welsh. He came out with me and was part of my mtc district so it was good to spend a day with him. All of the crazy things happened this week too. We got another assistant to the mission president, got a new mission president who I will meet on Wednesday, and our mission is finally combined with the Georgia Macon mission and Tallahassee mission.

The more spiritual side of my week consisted of reading through a huge chunk of the Book of Mormon because of a challenge to read the whole thing by the 7th of July. As I have been reading through it, I have really noticed how the things that stick out to me are pertaining to things that have been on my mind. This week the gospel of Jesus christ has been on my mind. First I gave a talk on it and second a lot people seem to be pointing fingers and make excuses in this area. It really made me think of how simple the gospel path is and how if we follow it, we will become a solution rather than a problem. Lots of times we forget the basics and try to complicate things but the best thing we can do is follow the gospel of Jesus Christ by exercising faith, repenting, focusing on our covanents, seeking the spirit and press forward relying on Christ.

Not much else happened this week! Maybe next week will be more exciting. Haha Hope everyone has a great week! Love ya

Card Ball

Card Ball

Elder Birch Driving

Huge Tree that almost fell on Jacob and his companion.

Airborne Gummies sent from home that arrived melted good old Florida heat!

June 24,2019 President Lee's Last Zone Conference

This week was good. Not much went on but we did have a zone conference as a whole mission. President and Sister Lee go home in 3 days from today and it was their last one. They themed the zone Conference as Remember, Remember and talked about what they feel are the most important things we need to remember. I also was asked to talk and picked the topic of The gospel of Jesus christ which was talked about in our zone conference and how that is the most important part of our lives. I was prepared and showed up to have it moved to next week because the high council was there. On pday we went disc golfing and fishing which was awesome. Time continues to fly by and as it does it reminds me of the importance of living the gospel each day. I love you all and hope you have great weeks full of living the gospel. 

Elder Birch and Elgaaen

Huge Spider

Jacob with Fish he Caught

Snake Jacob almost stepped on while disc golfing

Zane (recent convert) and Jacob

June 17, 2019 Branford

This week has been a one full of excitement. So on Monday, we actually got rained out of fishing and fished for 30 minutes and didn't catch anything. We plan to go fishing again though and catch some good fish. Haha On Tuesday, we had service as a district at the food pantry. We unloaded a van filled with food and sorted it. It's always great to serve there! The people are so kind and is awesome to help out those who really need help. We then came back to the apaprmtnet and I spent most of the day packing all of my stuff! I have been trying to get rid of some stuff and narrow down what I have and only take the essentials. The suitcases I have are both small and so Elder Babcock spent the whole time laughing at me as I tried to fit a lot of stuff into 2 tiny bags. I ended up going to Walmart and buying a $30 duffle bag which made everything work out. I finished packing about 11:30pm which made for a long Transfer day. We had a good transfer day besides the fact that it rained super hard all day. The guy who picked us up had a small truck so I had to put some of my luggage in the back and it got rained on. Haha. Everything was fine though. We went to our dinner and ate with the Petersons who were great. We got back to our house and it's pretty big. There also is around 10 acres of property where our house is. On Thursday we took a little time to explore and had a great time. We also were able to do our weekly planning and get most of it done. There are lots of awesome people in Branford who are super elect and so close to baptism that we are excited to help! One of the people is Greenly. She is a youth and her parents are members. She is waiting for her brother to come into town and besides that she is ready for baptism. We also are teaching a few families. One family, we had dinner with on Friday and they are super elect. They have a few setbacks but going to get baptized. Their kid that is 9 got baptized about a month ago and he is super cool. Branford is a lot like Live Oak. There is a lot going on and our area we cover is huge but there are so many elect awesome people. 

In my studes and over the last few weeks, the importance of personal revelation seems to keep coming up. I am so greatful for our ability to receive personal revelation to our questions, struggles, in our callings, and to guide us in our lives. In Preach my Gospel, it talks about how prayer and scripture study are a key to receiving personal revelation. Something I also have learned is that we receive revelation line upon line, here a little and there a little. It is something we need to constantly seek for to receive. I know that as we each seek revelation and guidence each day through earnist study and prayer, we will be filled with guidance and support from our loving Heavenly Father. 

Elder Gary E. Stevenson said, 

“To help you become all that the Lord wants you to become, kneel each morning and night in prayer to your Father in Heaven. … Study the scriptures each day and apply what you read to your life. … Strive each day to be obedient. … In all circumstances, follow the teachings of the prophets. … Be humble and willing to listen to the Holy Ghost. As you do these things, the Lord will make much more out of your life than you can by yourself. He will increase your opportunities, expand your vision, and strengthen you. He will give you the help you need to meet your trials and challenges. You will gain a stronger testimony and find true joy as you come to know your Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, and feel Their love for you.”

I'm greatful for the gospel and for all of you! Hope you have a blessed week! 

P.S. New Address: 25636 89th Road O'Brien, FL 32071