Praying for a Tsunami

dawn patrol matagalpa. 

Things are freakin awesome here. Hobbs is dope. We are retaking the shark tank and baptizing a ton of people its awesome! 

We baptized 2 awesome people this week. Dennis is a 20 year old who loves the Lakers and is the branch president's best friend, so dope, and Sandra who is 40 and awesome lady who didnt care at all when her entire family came over on the day of her baptism and told her not to get baptized. She got in the shark tank anyways! We also brought 17 investigators to church this week. We are praying for a little tsunami this weekend. 

Elder Jake and Elder Sirrine

Hearing about Sirrine's dad was very hard. I asked president if i could call him later that day. I have never really cried hard on my mission before but that was an emotional phone call. Elder Sirrine is a man. I have more respect for him than any other missionary in this mission. (On President’s day Elder Parker Sirrine’s father Robert Sirrine passed away in Mesa, AZ.  Dylan and Parker were companions in Managua while they served in the office.) 

I am aware of how much time I have left. It doesnt effect me. It only gives me more of a desire to do more than I have ever done. I have made some promises with God recently. I have made some important changes so that all this time away from home and with this people means something and lasts after I am no longer here. 

Love you guys, Stay Sleezyyyy 

Sometimes you just have to take it like a man!

One Love

Dawn Patrol Matagalpa

First week here on the swell search with Elder Hobbs. Shark tank is back. We are shredding it out here. We are gonna have a dope time together. Elder Ferrin headed off to Esteli and is doing well. Gonna miss that guy. 

This week Derling Aguilar took a little swim. We hooked it up for Sunday and he and is 2 recent convert member buddies all showed up with some new white shirts and ties and took the Freddie Clemons seat right in the splash zone. The are all so sweet. 

I am really feelin the pressure with this stake buisness here in Matagalpa. I feel like i am back in the office again a little bit with all the office-paper work stuff we have to do as we try to re organize branches and re distribute the members so that we meet qualifications. On top of that we got some serious goals baptism and assistance wise. All that has gotta be lookin good for the end of March. 

I know i say this every week but i love Nicaragua. This place has changed me. And i love this change. 

I have learned more about my Savior and his love in this short time than i had throughout the course of my entire life. As i have learned to take a step back and genuinely try to understand and appreciate his role in life, i have been able to see so many changes in my life and in the lives of others. I think about myself less. And try to recognize Him more. His love is singular. There is nothing matched or similar. There is one love. It heals all wounds. It is the source of true happiness.   

Making an effort to recognize it has made all the difference. I see it right now as i watch our teenage recent convert try to provide for his family of 8, hauling bags of sand for 9 hours a day. I feel it every Sunday when we go out to the jungle and take the sacrament under a tin roof and on a dirt floor and hear the rats and chickens run around under our seats. I felt it purely as we tried to teach a young teenage girl who is carrying a child resulting from abuse, how this love can heal everything. 

My father is an example of this love. I see in him more attributes of my Savior Jesus Christ than in any other person. He has learned to forget himself and bring that love into the lives of so many others. I remember being a sophomore in high school and thinking how much i hated that my father was always gone because of his calling and service in church and that other people took time away from his own family. I had to travel thousands of miles to understand all of that. 

One man's words here in Matagalpa changed my life. "I am poor. I dont have many things. I have my family. And I have the love of Christ in my heart and that is all that matters."

Another man said it like this: 

One love

One blood

One life

You got to do what you should

One life

With each other

Sisters

Brothers

One life

But we're not the same

We get to 

Carry each other

Carry each other

One...life

One

28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this gracewherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

His love is everything. It has changed my life. It will change yours. One love. 

Love you guys. stay sleezy. 

Messi's Streak Comes to an End

sup everybody. dawn patrol matagalpa. elder ferrin and i are sweet. 

i have been very healthy for the most part. just blisters on the bottom of my feet from playing so much freakin soccer will all my boys out here. kate you better watch out girl cuz Dylan has some moves now... well not really but its the only thing i got right now haha. never thought i would get hyped up over a soccer game but now i am like gpa jake running all over and yelling at all those little brown dudes. 

this week the streek ended. had someone in the tank every week since i left the office but we had a last second little mess up with this 15 year old kid named christian we have been visiting. he is a cool kid. hell be going in soon. 

2016. it is incredible how fast the time has passed. I love my life here in the mission an i know it will only be better in the future. 

I had a great interview with president this last week. we have become really good friends over these last two years. I asked him a few questions and we talked about going home in a few months. 

Nicaragua has changed my life. i dont ever want to lose the things that i have learned here. My life has been so much more meaningful as i have made an effort to understand what role my savior jesus christ plays in my life. And he is everything.

love you guys. stay sleezy.

                                                         THE MANY FACES OF A MESSI WANNA BE

The BIG BLUE Gospel

Dawn Patrol Report Matagalpa. We had a stellar week this week. Always so much love for my Nicas. 

Elder Ferrin and I have been all around northern Nicaragua this last week. Reminded me of the office again. We found two mini missionaries here in Matagalpa and convinced President to put a couple more pesos on the card so that we could have two companionships. One has been staying here in Matagalpa and the other travels for 3 days to go help some of the guys and branches that are not putting up steph curry numbers. This week i went to Jinotega with a kid getting ready to go on a mission named Axel for several days. It is the coldest area in the mission and I froze my little white cheeks off there. Had some Provo nightmares again. We bought some 1 dollar hammocks and threw them up so we didn’t have to sleep on the ground like I would do most of the time in the office while I was traveling around. We had a good time up there. We are fighting for a stake. We are almost there. 

We baptized Juana this week. She is an amazing lady and is another mom of one of our recent converts. Her son named Fran got baptized a month ago but was sent to the mountains, like almost all men and boys from november to feburary, to cut coffee in terrible conditions and send the little pay they get back home. She has 5 kids 2 older boys and 3 little girls. Her husband is an alcoholic that left her several years ago. She walks around and sells tamales in the city from 7am to 8pm every day. We teach her every night at 9 in her little tin shack that has no light and no water. She always saves a few tamales for us and gives us dinner after every visit. The first time she went to church 4 weeks ago she was so happy and knelt down and said a little prayer next to the bench after sacrament meeting was over. She then went and put the few coins she had into a donation slip and handed it to the branch president, knowing, that there are a few little girls at home with no food. I teared up a little bit that day. She is an amazing woman. She understands what it means to truly live the gospel. 

What is the BIG BLUE Gospel?

Every year all of our friends and family from Arizona and Utah come out to visit those beautiful California beaches. And every year everyone is stoked to get out in the water and catch some waves. 

Big blue is the giant foam costco board that we have. All the kids and adults who are going out for the first time (and the only time during the year) use big blue. Everyone goes out on blue with hopes of having a slater like day and shredding for several hours with a few good pictures to take home. What usually ends up happening is a 20 minute freeze my butt off, sand in my crack, get stuck paddling in the white wash and walk in with a chafed groin and sore nipples. And every year they come back and do it again haha. 

I have a love for the ocean and surfing. My father and brothers share the love too. If there is one thing that I truly miss about home it is sitting on the board past the break under a purple and orange California sunset talking with Collin and dad. 

Surfing and the gospel are so similar. 

Surfing is not easy. One who comes out one time a year and tries cannot truly enjoy it. Its cold. You get stuck inside and never get out past the break. Sand is everywhere. Forget about standing up and riding a wave. You are already walking in with big blue to go ask mom for your sandwich and take a nap. Someone who lives big blue surfing will never get to see how beautiful surfing really is. 

All the Jacobsen boys riding the same wave at Trestles Beach

I am not an amazing surfer. I love surfing though. And after all the years of being in the water for countless hours i can tell you, and those who have experienced it as well. that there is no better feeling in the world than jumping in the water in your wet suit, duckdiving your way out past the break , warming up your wetsuit the way surfers do, and the best part, taking a perfect glassy wave halfway down the beach. That is an amazing feeling. 

The gospel is the same way. 

When one tries to live the gospel like those who surf big blue they will never see the beauty of it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not something that is lived occasionally, once a year, or when times start to get a little tough and we remember God. It is lived always. Daily. It becomes a part of us. Rather than be a thing that we do, it is who we are. Those who make the gospel a part of their lives occasionally, will only find it to be difficult and will quickly loose their desire, get caught in the crashing waves of trials, and will give up. They will never see the beauty and blessings that come from living the gospel always. 

I have seen the beauty of the gospel in my life. I am not perfect, It is hard sometimes. But I have seen how beautiful the gospel is as I try to make it who I am. 

Don’t live big blue gospel. Make God a permanent part of your life and i promise that you will be happier and see how beautiful it really is. 

I love all of you so much. Have a great Christmas.  

Elder Dylan Jacobsen

ps. love all you guys from Arizona and Utah.  Don’t stop coming out to cali every year haha!

EVERYONE STARTS ON BIG BLUE