Week 2 - The Three Bugs of the Mexico MTC

The Three Bugs of the Mexico MTC


During my short stay here in the mexico mtc, i have learned of three bugs missionaries may catch. These include- the prison bug, the mosquito bug, and the mexico bug... let me explain. The prison bug is derrived from the 30 foot, barbed wire encased wallls that surround the mtc and the desire to get going on your mission already. The mosquito bug are simply mosquito bugs. i have aquired about 30 bites all over my hands and arms. The mexico bug comes from drinking the water by mistake and is the period in time in which substance other than the gospel starts to come out of your mouth.... puke. im taking about puke.

hello friends and family i want you all to know that i am very much alive and doing well. i love life here in the mtc and learn so much about god and spanish every day. the church is true and the book is blue!

This last week has definitely been one that has humbled me. I threw out my back last week, pinched a nerve in my butt, and contracted the mexican bug all withing a short 8 day period. I have definitely learned of the importance of humbling oneself before god and having a good attitude. I have actually been grateful for these things and have started to realize the importance of having trials in ones life. It gives you focus, gives you a greater desire to thank god for all the good in your life, and makes you put your head down and work harder. Its like dad and grandpa used to always say, you play your best games when you are sick and tired. Needless to say there has been no pussyfooting around grandpa.

I like to think the MTC is a small heaven on earth..... well maybe the terrestial version. I get to learn and teach the gospel in the morning and play ball all afternoon. An in n out on the campus would make it a celestial heaven.

This week i learned a very important life lesson. No matter how strong the spirit is during an investigator lesson, a misplaced fart will ruin everything. We learned that the hard way this week when one of our mexican companions let one loose on accident during a lesson. We like to blame it on the staff cuz of all the freakin beans they make us eat. I imagine dad will be able to relate to my story of well placed farts except in his version, his farts all have a question mark on the end of them.

So it was our annual mormon sex education class last week and our local mexican leaders were trying to coax the sin out of us new missionaries in there jack black garbled spanglish. they do their best but i often have to resist the urge to ask them if they are aware that i have had diarrhea since easters. Anyway, the guy that was lecturing us all of the sudden ran out of the room with a painful look on his face. His grouchy wife then took over the lecture. The brother who ran out of the room forgot to take off the microphone that was attached to his collar. We were then pleased to go on the magical ride of listening to this guy go to the bathroom. His wife had no idea what was happening and the rest of us listened to this guy grunt, sigh in relief, wring out the toliet paper, and then flush. At the sound of the flush, one of the elders couldnt hold it anymore and burst out laughing. the mans wife was disgusted that this elder could laugh and be so immature during our sexual immorality interogation. He was reppremanded. The poop guy (thats what we call him know) burst through the doors of the auditorum just as the closing prayer finished and said "did i miss anything?"

These past few weeks have been great. I have only cried twice. Once because i ate so many plates of refried beans that i began to loose control of my orifaces and the other when i read kates words on the letter mom sent. I am trying real hard to summon my eagle powers kate. i love you.

This week was yet another great spiritual experience. I had to give a talk in spanish in sacrament meeting this week which was a problem because i dont speak spanish but it was an awesome experience. Its amazing what you can do if you put your trust in god.

President pratt said something this week that really impressed me. He said the most important thing to remember on your mission is to be selfless. He said "if you go looking for yourself, you wont find it. If you loose yourself, youll find it"

Despite all the bad things that have happened the last i have found it easy to be grateful for both the trials that come in life and for all the amazing support and love i have from family and friends. I always revert back to what grandma and grandpa jake have told me since i was a little kid, attitude is everything. That single idea is vital to success as a missionary and i am so grateful for those that have set examples for me over the years. I love you all and am so grateful for all that you do. Adios.

Week 1 - MTC--Mexico City

Hello everyone! My first week in the MTC has been crazy. its actually called the CCM here in mexico (Say Say Emayy). I have met a lot of great people and have all learned a ton of stuff about the mission, the gospel, and spanish. They think i dont know a butt load of crap about the gospel but i dooo.

The first day of travel was kinda rough. A lot of boring plane rides with no entertainment. I slept all all 4 and a half ours while on both flights, i guess it runs in the family. i met up with some of the guys going to the ccm in pheonix. i have actually only met one guy that is going to nicaragua. i met up with the rest of the missionaries going to the mtc in mexico city. The bus ride from the airport to the mtc was probably the craziest thing that i have seen since being here in mexico. imagine a 6 lane freeway with no lines and hundreds of people lined up along ether side of it. every drive basically just makes his own lane and there are no traffic laws. i will have to record it on the way back to the airport.

my companion, elder boren, is from the middle of nowhere in new mexico and is serving in the east salt lake spanish speaking mission. he went to byu hawaii for a year and is a pretty cool guy. we get a long pretty well . i am having a good attitude grandma!

my district and zone are sweet. all of the elders in my district are all great guys and are all weird in there own little ways but i love it. we all get along great and have a good time. my zone leaders are also pretty cool one is basically jordan price (short stalky wrestler who likes to yell) and the other plays basketball so we get a long pretty good.

i have worked my butt off in the week that i have been here. my branch presidents are awesome. one is an american who works at the embassy here in mexico city and the other is a straight mexican who likes to tell jokes that aren't funny. its great! on sunday i did the sacrament prayers in spanish which was way cool. our american branch president (president linton) gives a weekly update from babylon every sunday. he tells us about all the important sports news so basically just basketball. i know okc and spurs, heat and pacers. go pacers and okc! actually since I've been here i haven't cared about using a phone or about sports which is good. i am getting caught up in the work! i have missed surfing tho haha

The food here is pretty good but nothing to write home about....wait i just did. beans and rice is served 24 7 and they actually make some good stuff here on occasion. i have had a bowl of cereal, ether pops or fruit loops, with every meal. they made french toast yesterday morning and i had 6. it was awesome. the chocolate milk is not cannon center quality but they have little milk cartons and they are pretty good. every saturday and tuesday they order costco pizza. mexican costco and american costco are not the same haha.

the facilities here are actually pretty sweet. they have a huge gym and a bunch of pretty nice indoor basketball courts. i actually sprained my back pretty bad playin ball on monday and have been out for the last couple days but its all good. they have a nice weight room by mexican standards haha.

grandpa would like the president of the mtc president pratt. he is a grouchy old man that takes no crap from nobody and likes to fall asleep during important meetings haha. ironically, there are stories that when he sees an elder sleeping during a meeting he will stop the meeting, go stand by him until he wakes up, and then yell into the microphone "try harder"! Needless to say i have not fallen asleep during a meeting yet.

whoever said a mission is a nice break from school is a liar and an idiot. being a missionary is hard work and especially hard when you cant speak the language. my first couple of days in the mtc were difficult and very long. we had church meetings all day for like 3 days. now im in the swing of things and it has gotten easier. trial by fire is also an understatement. on my second day in the mtc i had to teach an investigator in spanish even tho i dont know spanish so you can imagine how that went. we having been teaching in only spanish since we got here and i am getting better and better everyday. i am not having too much trouble with the language but it is definitely frustrating sometimes when i cant communicate during lessons to investigators.

after being in the mtc for only a week i have quickly learned how important it is to rely on god for help in all things. the first three days were tough and i definitely thought about how nice it would be to just go home but i am no panzy. and even if i wanted to the entire mtc is surrounded by ten foot stone walls with ten feet of metal fence above that with two layers of barbed wire on top of that. i think its too keep missionaries in, rather than locals out. life has been hard but i am ready for the challenge. i cant put my scriptures down. i have such a strong desire to become a great missionary and to read all of the great things the scriptures have to offer. i have come so much closer to god in just a week and i love the good feelings i have every day. i know this is where im supposed to be.

i am sorry i could not address all of you separately but i only have an hour to write and read on p day. i want you all to know that i love you and that two years will go by quickly. i cant wait to get to nicaragua and get a nice rash! a rash from studying my scriptures so much of course.

love
elder jacobsen

Dylans Farewell---he had lots of support from family, friends and ward members