Find the One

Dawn Patrol Matagalpa.

Matagalpa is still sweet. Elder Ferrin is still dope too. We are having a great time out here.

I am not sick anymore. I realized that the water in matagalpa is not the same as the purified water that i drank in the office. (after reading that mom, dad and grandpa jake all say something like "well ya you idiot/dope head/ pull your head out of your...butt" all in their respective order haha.) Yes i am no longer drinking the water and only drinking coca cola and water when i can find it and i feel 100 times better. This week i have been going to the hospital to poop in a cup to see if a little bug decided to stick around in my stomach. Probly not tho. Maybe. Probly not tho.

Today is La Purisima. All the catholics put up their Marys today and everyone is gonna to sing to them to get some candy. Everytime you sing your little song and dance to Mary they give you a little candy. Basically halloween but better.

Elder Ferrin and I had a couple more people take a swim in the tank this week. Arelys and Grandma Paula. Both mothers of our recent converts. Great ladies. We got some sweet men coming up this week too so dont get your panties in a bunch that only ladies are going in the tank here in matagalpa.

I love all of you guys so much. I am so happy here. Cant say that enough. Cant explain the feeling. Cant say how good it feels to make other people happy. I hope you all find someone to make happy this month. Salvation and happiness is not a personal endevour. Wherever i go after this life i want all of you to be there with me. Go find someone. Forget yourself. 

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

 7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Go find that one thats waiting for you. 

love you guys stay sleezy.

PS - thanksgiving was chill out here in la jungla. 

I had my special beans that i like on thanksgiving and lots of coke. it was scrumpshus and 100 percent hand shucked. so freakin good. dylbag was content haha.

Half Leg, Whole Attitude

Dawn Patrol Matagalpa. 

I wont bore you with more adventures about the things that came out of me this week. My bowels are still a mess. I would say it keeps me on my feet and keeps the day exciting but i really spend more time, off my feet, sitting down. Ferrincito (Elder Ferrin) gets a kick out of it. I love nicaragua. 

Matagalpa is so freakin dope. It is getting chilly here at night and my fluffy walmart batman blanket has finally emerged from the darkness once again. We are getting really close to getting a stake here. We send in our proposal in January and we are barely qualifying right now. Ferrin and are are working our butts off. 

Elder Ferrin and i baptized our man Axel this week. He is a young kid with a good family and is really poor. He didnt have any shoes to wear to school so we did what i did with sam kramer many years ago and got him some sweet new ones the day of his baptism. 

This week Ferrin and I took a little trip down to Managua. Hermana Collado called and invited (forced) us to be a part of a some pictures and graphics for the mission. We sat around all day at their house and had some good food. I got to see some old buddies there which was cool. We finished at around 5 and in Managua, much like home, traffic doesnt move from 5-7pm. It took us two hours to go about 10 miles to the bus stop. Four 20 year old dudes sitting on each others laps in the back of a small taxi with windows that didn't go down made for some sweaty thighs. You get to the point here where you really dont know whose sweat it is anymore you just know that you are wet. 

Anyway, we missed the bus and had to stay in Managua. As we walked from the bus stop to a buddies house to spend the night, i got nipped by a good sized puppy. I dropped my pants right there in the street and sat there and bled for a little while. I remember thinking after working in the ER for all those months and being the son of the man who does this for a living i should probably know what to do. I didnt though. We went into some random ladies house and she helped clean my bloody butt off and i think we got the hole in me pretty sterile. We wrapped that puppy up with some toliet paper and duck tape and i was as good as new.  

Hope you guys all have great thanksgiving. I am so thankful for so many things in my life. Fam-jakes-cass-sleezy-surfing´-california burritos- my mission- and above everything the gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ. My attitude about what i have and about what is important has changed 100 percent over the last 18 months. This attitude of being thankful and always looking for the good in all experiences-people-things has made me so much happier. God has given me everything. I thank him everyday for all of you and everything that i have. The next time your leg is bleeding in dirty dark alleyway just think of how blessed you are to have two legs- and for all the other things that God has given you. 

love you guys stay sleezy. 

Elder Jake

Faith in Dire Times

Dawn Patrol Matagalpa.

What is up everybody. Elder Jake has been slackin on the letters recently but is freakin loving it out here in the jungle. Always in the tube. I hope all of you are doing well and are gonna get extra sleezy for haloween 2015.

We baptized another sweet lady this week named Margerys. The zone here in matagalpa is doing sweet. Everyone is excited and focused. We ended the month breakin the baptism record for the zone. So dope. It has been humbling and so freakin fun to be out in the field agian. 

I have gotten away from my bowel movement stories and i apoligze. I know that's what everyone really wants to here. Here are a few recent experiences where the title of this little letter comes into play.

Two weeks ago Elder Ferrin and i were walking around out in the middle of no where trying to find some members and some families that we had been teaching. As we were walking along i all of the sudden got the feeling that i was going to crap myself in about 3 seconds. You know the feeling....maybe? I ran around looking for somewhere to go to the bathroom and i finally found someone who would allow my to use there facilities. I sat my butt down in this humid, tin shack that barely had a door on it. I was relieved in all of about 2 seconds. All of the little children thought it was just hilarious to watch the little white boy go to the bathroom through the cracks in the shack. After getting all of that business out, i looked around and there was no toilet paper . I helplessly yelled out to ferrin to go find me some toilet paper. He came back 5 minutes later and slid a single half sheet of lined paper through the crack in the door. (dire times) He said that the lady didn't have any and there were no stores around to go buy some. I got the best out of that half sheet of thin lined paper but even my wiping skills were not enough after that little incident. Elder Jake left that house with no socks...but clean.

Last pday some of the elders in the zone and i hiked up to a giant cross in the city. We decided that lunch up at the top would be way doper than walking back down so we bought some dogs, buns, ketchup and soda made our way up to the top. The plan was to use all of our scout camp aquired knowledge to find wood and make a fire to cook our dogs.  As i have done many times in my life, I realized that i am an idiot.  We quickly figured out that in nicaragua, where it rains every day, nothing lights on fire. We read the hot dog package and it said they were pre cooked so we did what real scouts would do and just ate those delicious dogs out in the jungle uncooked. I got to the computer to write all of you beautiful people and it came all of the sudden like most things do here. No email that week. We got in a taxi and headed off. I prayed in that taxi so hard that i would not puke over the fat lady that was sitting next to me. (dire times). As soon as i got out of that taxi i had not walked 40 steps and found my self in front of a giant catholic church puking out all things holy in front of our beloved mother mary. All of the church goers did not seem very pleased but a nice drunk dude came up and offered me a swig to rinse my mouth out. I told him, "next time." 

I love the mission. I have learned so many things in this crazy place. Things will never be the same and my perspective on life is 100 percent different than it was 18 months ago. I still love all of you the same. 

God is always with us. Faith in Him and in Jesus Christ is the foundation of a life of hapiness. In dire times, faith and prayer are often only things we have. Faith is essential and is what allows us to recieve answers, overcome and become better.

One man talks about faith like this. Faith is hope and vision. 

God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future  He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe.
(Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

Another man says it like this

I heard once that in dire times when you need a sign thats when they appear

Jesus Christ teaches us this. 

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say untoyou, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only dothis which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say untothis mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into thesea; it shall be done.

22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,believing, ye shall receive.

How i feel....

But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And nowI would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. Andnow ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.

Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye seethat God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed 

Faith is everything. It is something that has become part of me. Its what allows me to be happy, have vision, and live better. Its something that i will never loose.

In dire times, keep the faith. Put your trust in God. Make him a part of our life and you will 
find happiness that you have never had before.

I love you guys. all this morning we were building a house for a member lady and her daughter. i made all the elders come with me. they werent super stoked to do manual labor all morning but i freakin loved it. the lady and her daughter are such sweet people too. I love nicaragua

I love you all. stay sleezy. 

Suzy Q

A note from Suzy Q - I didn't want to post this letter for obvious reasons, but it is Dylan's blog and this was his sweet, post LDS General Conference letter.  Dylan likes me a lot more now that he lives 1000s of miles away (3,124.1 to be exact).  I think, like moms having babies, he has forgotten many rough moments, but his words inspire me to "try a little harder, to be a little better."  I like how he looks back on our last meeting at the airport with fondness now.  At the time I know I was the annoying mom who he found lurking around each turn because I just couldn't bring myself to go back to the airport curb without him.  Ironically, I thought I was hiding really well but my kids have mom radar.  It is that balancing act between too much and too little that often I get wrong.  Truth be told Dylan can be a real pain in the neck, a humorous and intelligent pestering pain ;)  Just ask his little brother!  He liked to keep us on our toes.  We have loved to see his growth, his assimilation into a life of simplicity, obedience and service.  His true spirit has really shined and I believe this love for others has allowed him to understand more fully the love his Heavenly Father and his parents have for him and that we lurk because we love!  

Dawn Patrol Matagalpa. 

I love you mam and hope you had a great birthday. You would love matagalpa. Cool breeze that comes out of the jungle somewhere. Coffee shops. Libraries. Limited children. Good ice cream. We'll have to come out one day.

Never thought i would be homesick again in my life. Those same feelings that i had when i went to utah for school and when i was out in esteli for the first week of my mission have returned. I miss all those people so much. I found a little letter from one of the little girls that got baptized with her entire family last week. She said she was gonna miss me, gave me her adress so i could send her letters (which literally is ___ streets here and ___ streets there from the mango tree), and ended the letter in the name of jesus christ amen. She said that if i did forget about them, then she hoped that i would help other families liked elder hirschi and i helped hers. I have a love for all those people that is in describable. 

Elder Jake and Elder Ferrin

Elder Ferrin is so dope. He is from Salt Lake and played waterpolo. We are gonna have a freakin great time here in matagalpa.

Conference was sick. Mom should have started law school a little sooner because I know dad is probably a little upset because he did not throw a trade mark on perusal before ponderize came out. Also big wave surfing came to conference finally. Respectttttt the barrierrrrrrrrr duuuuuudddeeeeeeee. That 70 totally could have done a better job on the voices. 

There were a lot of talks that really got to me. Hollands really hit home for me though. 

Behold Thy Mother - Jeffrey R. HollandJeffrey R. Holland pays tribute to the strength, dedication, influence, and love of mothers.lds.org
(General Conference is where the leaders of our church, including the Prophet and Apostles speak and give counsel to the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as all people throughout the world.  All talks can be watched or read at lds.org)

The only thing that gets close to the love that Christ has for us is the love that my mother has for me. Its something undescribable. I love suzy so much. It would be cliche to say that that my mom is better that yours, but my mom does love me more. So grateful for all the little acts of love that she has shown me. Hot breakfast at 5 am every day for 4 years. 4 am nights in college frantically looking for all of those classes as a freshman. Countless screw ups in high school but she was always there to help me figure out who i wanted to become. Unforgetable experience in the airport as i was leaving for the mission and i thought she had left but there she was just watching me stand in the security line haha. I am so happy that that beautiful face was the last one i saw. That love comes from out of this world. My mother is so much like our Savior Jesus Christ and has been an example of patience, love and faith her entire life. Love you mom. 

stay sleezy everyone. 

Always Remembering Him

In the jungle the mighty jungle

Dawn Patrol Matagalpa. Mowgli has finally gotten back out into the jungle. I currently live and write you from a jungly little mountainside. Matagalpa is the so cal here in nicaragua. It gets a little toasty during the day but there is always a little cool breeze. At night it gets a little chilly. So dope. Just like t town. The transition will be a little smoother in a few months. My new companion is elder ferrin. Utah and water polo. Collin i will need a little help cuz all this water nonsense is going right over my head. He is way dope though and we will have a great time here. I have been having a lot of meetings with President Collado and the leadership here in Matagalpa. President told me today before i left that I will not be leaving until Matagalpa district becomes Matagalpa stake. 

I love elder hirschi. I am gonna miss that little dude. We have had so many awesome experiences together. Even though he doesnt know who lebron james is and has never seen the superbowl (which the jakes will change this coming year) he has become one of my closest friends and has been a great example to me. 

We ended our time together celebrating his 20 birthday and going out to Leon on monday. We threw a frisbee around in front of the big catholic church there. I may or may not have pulled an adam sandler from the movie big daddy after holding my pee in for way too long. nobody saw... well maybe a few drunks. (It's like the time little Bryce was hopping around in downtown SanDiego while we were feeding the homeless and with no bathrooms close by the homeless man pointed to a tree behind the library and said, "Hey man, when you gotta go, you gotta go!)  I later purchased a sweet surf nicaragua shirt right off a drunk dude in the street on the way to eat some shwarma with hirschi. We head stopped by this sweeeeeeeeet beach before we went home. It was by far the most beautiful thing i have seen here in nicaragua. 30 minute drive on a dirt road through the jungle to get to this baby. Las peñitas. Only barrels and not a single person in sight. 

Leaving my old ward this week was very hard. I love so many people there. I was able to speak on sunday before i left and it was on of the more special experiences that i have had on my mission. Its a love that i had never really felt before Nicaragua. Its something that i will never be able to forget. 

Elder hirschi and i had a pool party this week. Osmar, Jenny, Cindi, Britney, and Patricia all got baptized on thursday and friday this week. Patricia was a evangelical pastor 3 years ago and now is a freakin Mormon baby. The other guys are a mom dad and the two little girls. It was an amazing experience. Seeing how God can turn people's lives around is incredible. 

I am so grateful for the life that i have been given. I have said it so many times but this life is so much more meaningful and can be so much happier when we let God change us and be a part of it. He is always with us. His son died for us and is willing to take upon him our pains and trials when we humble ourselves and always remember him. 

 Alma 33:11

And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son.. 

love you guys. stay sleezy.

The Sand Crab Eats Bad Sting Ray

Went back to corinto this week. there was a solid swell in the morning. not too big but these perfect set waves would roll in and barrel up so beautifully. it was a crime that no one was out. i could sit there all day and just watch. i asked elder martinez if we could go out a litttle early before studies so that i could study the swells a little bid. and since i cant go in the water i rolled around in the sand a bit. I had that great sticky,salty feeling that i share a love for with dad for the rest of the day. so sick. i will include some pictures. some guy in corinto gave us some fried sting ray for lunch. that was a mistake haha. got pretty sick but i am all good now! 

Chocolate Milk Nicaraguan Style

elder hirschi is sweet. love that kid. we are having a great time. this morning i got attacked by a pitbull on the way to church. no bites tho. we brought some sweet people to church today. its cool to see the way the gospel can help people with their addictions. very humbling experience to see people so poor give everything and let god change them. its also cool to look back and see how god has changed me. 

love you guys. stay sleezy out there.

Get on the Love Train

Hello TTown. The best town. and to all the other towns. Elder Jake is checkin with this weeks dawn patrol.  Nicaragua is firing. Cant say enough how much i love it  here. 

Hirschi Squirts and I went up north this week. We hit Esteli on wednesday and Matagalpa on Friday and worked with the ZLs there. The drive up was dope. We were running late and had to take chicken/hay/vegetable/naked breast feeding ladies bus on the way up to Matagalpa. 3 and a half hours of that shananigans. Despite all of that, i still remain to be a jacobsen and took a little 2 hour nap in the back of the bus with my face against the steamy window. 

Esteli is sweet. I miss it there. The weather reminds me of California. Hot during the day, cools off at night. I hate that now though. Sleeping is like getting ready for those beautiful friday night basketball lights in highschool- i can't play well unless i have broken a serious sweat before the game starts. If its not 90 degrees when i go to bed its gonna be a long night.

I was able to talk to my boy Eddie (elder sherle and i started teaching him in august of last year and he finally got baptized a couple of weeks ago). He was stoked to tell me that he was in charge of the sacrament on sundays and that the 10 foot deep poop hole (latrine) that elder Sherle and I dug for him was fully functioning. He is gonna become an elder at stake conference in a couple of months. I gave him a hard time about waiting so long to get in the water. He said as soon as the good looking latino sister missionaries showed up a month ago everything changed! ...Idiot haha. He is a fester just like the other eddie i know. 

This weekend was stake conference here in the Bello Horizonte stake. We had a solid turnout. Even tho elder Hirschi and I only worked in our area here in managua for a couple days we managed to get 11 investigators on the love train. The love train aka the small little yellow school bus that we rented to take everyone across town. We managed to squeez just under 100 people on that pup and the wheels on the bus went round and round baby. I really became really close with some of my fat lady friends in the ward in that little yellow short bus. As i was taught my whole life, me and the ward and all of our investigators set up camp in the back of the building right on and around the stage. Elder Jake has matured a lot over the last year but meetings have not. We started to loose everybody about halfway through the meeting and before i knew it we were all making fortune tellers, playing tic tac toe, and we had a contest to see who could draw the best shark. I was missing grandma jakes little bag of those little special folders and activities crap. It was a good time. President Collado ended the conference and hit a 400 yd dinger and woke everybody up. 

Elder Hirschi and I are teaching some awesome people. A lot of big families. We are praying for a pool party this next month.   We have a hard time keeping up when we come back to  managua. Two of our recent converts were ordained elders on sunday. We have 3 more that are getting ready for next year. Almost all of them are getting ready to go on a little trip to the honduras temple in december. 

Elder Nelson was stellar. Also has great hands. I bet he uses dove for men because he had some amazingly smooth hands. I only know because i had the privaledge of handing him his microphone when the meeting started. 

President Russell M. Nelson and President Collado and Family

He taught some amazing things. He was powerful. He is a master teacher. The spirit that he taught with brought about a feeling in me that i have only had a couple of times in my life. Its the desire to become great. The desire to throw away every bad thing in your life and replace with what you know will truly bless your life. Its the surety that Jesus Christ is our savior and that our living God in heaven has a purpose and plan for everyone of us.     Its the knowlegde that God will always be with us if we do what is right. Its the knowledge that obedience frees us and allows us to achieve true joy and happiness. Its allowing God to change us so that we become the people he wants us to be. 

Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come

And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

Love all you knuckleheads. Stay Sleezy.