So I am now serving in….. Indianola Iowa, just a few miles south of Des Moines. I am with a sweet companion. He is Elder Austin from Macon Georgia. It took a while but I have really grown over the last few days to enjoy this guy. He is really loving and a really good missionary. He has been out for 13 months. I have heard that Indianola is a really hard place but I have really been enjoying it. It is strange being out of the city. I am back in a small town and for years the work has been dead here but it is starting to pick up again. We have a lot of investigators. The branch is smaller but not like the German branches Eric is in. We have about 15 active families making about 40-45 active people. Elder Austin is loving and caring and a really good guy and a good teacher. He is a hard worker and I am excited to be working with him. The area is great. There are a lot of really good people here and I am looking forward to the 6+ months that I will be here. It is a town of about 1500 people and then we have the surrounding towns that we work in as well.                 Other than that all I have to stay is Iowa is cold. Usually under 20, and often in the single digits with humidity that cuts through you. It is going to be warming up to about 35-36 next week and I am excited for that. We have had a little bit of snow over the past few days but nothing major.  I am excited to be working here and to be serving my God. I know this church is true and I know that I am here for a reason. I love and thank all of you. -- Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Miones mission

Hello everyone, this is going to be a short letter. I will be talking to my family on Wednesday so I won’t have much to add. I am going to be transferred. I will be staying as a district leader but moving to a different place. I will find out where when I get there next week. I am emailing today because the libraries will be closed Monday. This week has been a short one. We had a really big snow storm. 14 inces it is sweet. I love the snow. My companion has never seen this much snow he does not get why it is that I like it. The good part is that because of the storm more people where home the bad party is that because of the snow we could not ride bikes or drive so even though more people where home we had no way to contact them. But that ok. We have spent most of our week working with a man who will be baptized next Saturday. His family still needs some time to progress so we will wait a few weeks and if all goes well he will be able to baptize them. Other than that there are a few people that we are still working with that are just not willing to do what we ask them so we will have to move one soon. We have been meeting some really cool people lately though who we are hoping to be able to start teaching. I know that as they receive this gospel they will be greatly blessed. Not much else has changed. We are surviving the storm and enjoying the chances to help serve people as we shovel their drive ways and clean off their cars. I love you all and I will be writing more when I get to my new area next week.

Merry Christmas..... Almost

This week went by really quickly. It was a good week. We now have a few people working towards baptism. Its strange, I went from teaching mostly people from Burma to teaching mostly people from Africa. The ones from Africa speak a lot better English though. I am enjoying working with them. They are humble and unlike many of the people we talk to, they don’t assume they already know everything there is to know about Mormons. I am enjoying teaching the people here in Iowa and I am excited to continue to meet new people. It is hard to tell that the Christmas season is approaching. Usually you cant see the ground out here because there is too much snow, but this year is extremely mild. I hope we get some moister soon because the farmers really need it. Because next Monday is Christmas eve I don’t yet know if I will get the opportunity to email. I am looking forward to talking to my family next Tuesday. Also know that there is a 99.999999999999999% chance of me being transferred. If you are going to send something directly to my apartment instead of the 8515 address I may not get it if it is sent after Tuesday of this week(that is the 18th). If you send it to the 8515 address it will be forwarded to me. Transfer calls are this Saturday and I will let you know the verdict in my next email. Elder Deering is doing well. He is a good missionary. They call me the trainer but I am learning much more from him then I have ever taught him. I love all of you. I thank you for your Christmas wishes and although I am too poor to send anything to most of you, know that I wish you well and that I care for all of you. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that this church is Gods kingdom once again established on the earth. I hope all of you have an amazing week and a merry Christmas.

my letters will be more intresting starting next week. i will find a way to make that happen. This week as been a really up and down week. A guy who was baptized while I was here is no longer willing to talk to anyone from the church. People who we have been teaching have again disappeared. It has been cold and wet and we have been on bikes. But we have also had many miracles. We have been given more people to teach and more to do. We have had opportunities to serve more people and the spirit has been directing the work for us. I am so glad that I have this precious time to be a missionary. I love it. Although times have been hard the lord has been blessing us. I have been growing to love the people we teach more and more. Although I will not be here to see much of the end results for the work I am doing now I will hear about it and I am excited for what is to come. On that note I am 100% sure that I will be transferred 2 days after Christmas. The post office is closed on Christmas and Christmas Eve. If you want to send me something do it this week or send it to my mission office. 8515 Douglas Ave 50322. So like I said earlier the lord is blessing us here. We have a lot of appointments this week and we are looking forward to setting up a few more. People think that just because they have disappeared they can hide but we have ways to find them. J The Christmas season is a great time to share the restored gospel with all those you meet. It is an exciting time of year. There is free music on Mormon.org/Christmas it is good, get it and share it. We have been using a lot of our time trying to talk to people who for one reason or another have not been to church in a while. I will say there are some angry people out there but the lord has been blessing us in our trials. I love this work so much. It is hard and frustrating and annoying and people mock you and hate you, but it is the most rewarding thing anyone could ever do. I love all of you. This work moves forward, become a part of it in any way you can. I know that this church is true. The Holy Ghost has spoken to me and told me this. I love you all and I thank you all for all of your faith and for your prayers.

This week was great. We were finally able to contact a lady who had just disappeared for a few weeks and she is doing well. We also set a few baptismal dates and we are looking forward to a family being baptized at the end of this month. They are from Liberia. They have family members and friends that are members of the church in Africa and her in Des Moines and all over the rest of the world. We are excited for them and it is amazing to see the changes in their lives. In many ways the work is still slow but it is doing much better. We are working hard and trying every method available to us. There are always disappointments. Some of the people I have worked with have fallen are are starting to fall away. It hurts to see them leave when you know they have had those spiritual witnesses but I also know that I have done all with in my power and within reason to try to help them. Surprisingly it is not that cold here. We are having a really mild winter. I was kind of hoping for an awful winter just so that I could have cool stories to tell but I guess we will just wait and see what happens. If we have a warm winter and a dry summer again it will impact a lot of the people out here. We have had a little bit of frost but no snow yet which is extremely unusual for Iowa. I am still not losing hope that a huge storm will hit us. Other than that things are going well. We are doing our best to work hard and to bring people to Christ. I want you all to know that I know This church is true I know the book of Mormon to be true. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he really did appear to the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that keeping the commandments brings blessings and that if you follow rules you will be rewarded greatly. I love all of you. If you feel inclined to send me a Christmas present send it usps so it will be forwarded. It is hard for me to get it otherwise (not that I am suggesting that I need presents but ties are always a nice things to have) again I love you all. Have a great week.

This week was a really slow week. Like I said in my last letter elder Clarke was here on Monday. It was a really amazing meeting and there were a lot of things there that we all needed to hear. Because it is a holiday week there was a lot that we usually do that was not able to get done. Elder Deering and I have been trying to work our hardest but with little success this week. We lost a lot of investigators when we did the recent ward split and so we are building from scratch. But God wants his children to be able to return to him and I know there there are people who have been prepared we just have to find them. The work continues to be really slow and there have been a few of the people that we were teaching that have seemed to just disappear. One lady seems to just have abandoned her house she left her outside lights on but they eventually just burned out. And then there are a few others that have not been home. But I know there is light around the corner we just have to keep looking for it. The lord will bless us for our diligence. There is a lot of stuff that we have planned this week that will get things going once again here in this ward. Christmas is around the corner and if you have not visited Mormon.org recently I would advise it. It is a great place to send people to learn more about Christmas and about the church. We hope to be setting a few baptismal dates here soon. I know the lord is willing and ready to bless us. We just have to do our part to be in the right place at the right time. We can do that if we listen to the spirit. I love all of you. I am so grateful for all that you do for me and for all of your love. I thank you for your letters and for your encouragement. I pray for you. Thank you. I know that this church is true. I am able to see the lord had in the work that is done. I know the book of Mormon to be true and I know that the lord is willing and ready to bless all of us we would just obey. Again I love you all.

Like usual. I do not have a lot of time to talk. Not much has changed externally over the last week. A few weeks ago I believe I talked about an awesome lesson that we had. Well. That lady has now disappeared. We have stopped by her house many times and it appears that no one has entered or left the house since our last visit with her. Other than that we have had a few other sweet lessons but so far there is no one who is making the commitments to be baptized. But the work is hastening on. And many blessing are in store for us here. Yesterday Elder Clark of the 70 came to our mission to talk to us. It was an amazing meeting. Our mission president and a few others took up about half the time so about 4 hours while elder Clark took up the other 4 hours. Although he did talk for a really long time it really did not seem like it was that long of a time. It’s amazing that many of the brethren can tell you about the 100s of things that you are doing wrong and the 1000’s of ways that you can improve, and yet you still feel better after. Usually when people point out your faults you automatically get defensive but they do it with the spirit so you know that they are right and you can’t really deny it so all you feel is love and you feel like what they expect of you is really not that hard. If I can learn that as a missionary I will have great success for the rest of my life. But it takes time and practice and much prayer. I loved that meeting that we had yesterday. I learned so much and the spirit was so strong. Although there was not much happening here we have many plans that where inspired and sanctioned by the Almighty and I know that as we apply what we have learned the work will again boom here. There was much taught to us yesterday and I am excited to apply what I learned. The work is moving forward. We will soon be seeing an increase in the number of missionaries. I am excited for this. We need them. Encourage all to go on a mission both young and old. We need more couple missionaries the ones we have are far too few. Many of those who could serve don’t and they need to. WE NEED THEM ASAP. I love all of you. This week is going to be a great week. Thank all of you for your faith and for your prayers.

So we had another relatively short week again this week. We did have some awesome spirit filled lessons early in the week but most of our other appointments fell through. Again we spent most of the week finding new people to teach but we were able to set up some solid appointments for this upcoming week and I am excited to see the results. This week is going to be a quick week. It is a full week. Transfers are Thursday (we are both staying here) Saturday we are going to Ames Iowa to help out with the Iowa Games (kind of like a mid-west Olympics thing) then on Monday we are having our mission tour (that’s where a general authority comes and talks to us it will be Elder and Sister Don R. Clarke of the Seventy). Because of that happening on Monday I won’t be emailing until Tuesday next week. But until that time Elder Deering and I will be staying busy. He has been sick for a couple days (he may have the flu, don’t worry mom I got my shot but then again so did he) so it has limited what we have been able to accomplish but we are going to hit the ground running this week. We have a lot of cool appointments lined up and I am excited to see this area back to where it was. We have received some solid referrals from the ward and we are hoping and praying to find success with those. I thank all of you for your prayers. I heard a quote from Joseph smith this week in which he says he is not afraid because the children are praying for him. It made me reflect on all those who are praying for me and for all the other missionaries out here and I thank all of you for that. I know a large part of the success of the mission I am in is because of the prayers of the faithful. I love this gospel. I know this letter is really short but because of it being transfer week we have less time to email. Not much of note happened this week. But like I said I am excited for the upcoming week. Please keep praying for me. It always helps. I love all of you. I will have more to say next week after all that is planned.

So this week is what I guess you would call a slow week. We had most of our appointments fall through which is typical of missionary life. We spent a lot of time trying to contact people who were not home. We also spent a lot of time trying to find new people to teach. But we were able to set up a few appointments and we are hoping to see the fruits of that work this week. There was a big stake meeting here last night and they announced that the ward boundaries are going to be changing. Starting next week we have lost half of our area. That means that all the Burmese that I have been teaching will be going to another ward. I will admit that I am a little, well more than a little bummed about that. I have really grown to love those kids and that culture. But I also know that it is the lord’s work and that there is a reason for this. Maybe I will get to serve in that new ward and get to be over there again. We were in what was called the Des Moines 3rd ward but now it is the Beaver Creek Ward. There really is not much to talk about this week. We spent a lot and I mean a lot of time just trying to find people but I am excited for this week and the progress I foresee. We did have a baptism on Saturday. This couple moved into the ward we taught them for a few weeks now with the changes they are being moved back to the ward they used to be in. they are an awesome couple and I am excited to watch their progress over this week. The guy lost his job Wednesday and he told us that he knew that was the work of the devil trying to get him to not be baptized. Other than that we have a week ahead of us full of more finding and also working on the transition for switching the ward boundaries. I want to take the chance here to wish my Mom a happy birthday. J if you get the chance you should email or call her and wish her a happy birthday this week. I love all of you and I thank you for your faith and prayers. My address has not changed you can still write me but some times it may take me a bit before I write you back. J talk to you next week.

Elder Deering and I had a great week this week. We did not get to teach as many people as we would have liked but we had the chance to go to the temple and it was amazing. I loved it. I was so glad that we got that chance. Now that did mean that we lost a day of work but it was a much needed trip. We had won a friendly competition and that was our reward. There are a lot of good things going on here in Des Moines. We have a baptism coming up this weekend and I am super excited for that. A couple that we have been teaching for a few weeks. They are excited for this weekend and I am glad that I had this chance to teach them. They are an awesome couple. We still spend a lot of time teaching people who are Burmese refugees. Most of them are not willing to make the steps they need to yet, but we are continuing to work with them. I have really grown to love the Karen culture and I have really grown to love many of the people that live in those apartments where we teach. There is a chance the boundaries for our ward will be changing next week and they are in a prime spot to be moved to a different ward. I will miss them if that is what happens but I know it will be the will of the lord. We are still working with many of the people who went to the Gladys Knight Fireside we had a few weeks ago and it helped break many of the berries that people have had about the church. We still get asked over and over by many people if we are voting for Romney. But that should be dying down here over the next few weeks as the election comes to a close. Other than that there is not much to add for this week. We have been working hard and we have a few appointments this week that we are really excited for. I am so glad that I have this chance to be a missionary. The work of the lord presses forward. We need more workers though so if there is anyone here who is wondering if they should serve a mission the answer is yes we need you. The lord needs you. Speaking of the need for new laborers here is a snippet from the church news but even these numbers are not enough. We need more: “As Church leaders had anticipated when the change was announced, the number of individuals who have begun the missionary application process has increased significantly. Typically approximately 700 new applications are started each week. The last two weeks that number has increased to approximately 4,000 per week. Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland predicted that lowering the age limits for young Mormon missionaries would trigger a "dramatic" uptick in their numbers. Turns out, dramatic was an understatement. Try a 471 percent jump in applications — so far! "Slightly more than half of the applicants are women," LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter said Monday in a news release. That represents a massive shift. Typically, women make up fewer than a fifth of the LDS missionary force, which currently stands at more than 58,000 worldwide. At a news conference after the historic change, Elder Holland said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was gearing up immediately to accommodate a larger missionary force — reducing by a third the time missionaries spend in training centers and hiring additional staff to manage the budding proselytizers’ language skills "The Lord is hastening this work," Elder Holland said, "and he needs more and more willing missionaries." I love all of you. Thank you for your prayers and for your faith.

This will probably be a short letter because there really is not much to talk about. We had a good week. As usual there was a lot of little things that made it hard at times to just do the work, but we were diligent and we were able to get much done. We spent a lot of our time walking around trying to contact people who have investigated the church in the past but for whatever reason they stopped. We are trying to see if any of them are interested again. We have had some success with that. There are still many people that we are teaching who went to the Gladys knight presentation a couple weeks ago. It really gave many people a different prospective on the church. I am excited for the work that we have to do before us. It has been a wet week. It would have been nice to have this rain during the summer but I guess better late than never. We have a baptismal date set for November 3. The only thing that will get in the way of that happening is if this guy decides to smoke again. But we are working with him and he is doing great and staying strong. For a while there we thought he would relapse but he has been strong and I am sure that he will make it and that he and his wife can be baptized next month. Other than that couple, we have a few people who we are hoping to be setting dates with here soon and for many of them it will make our break them. There are a lot of people who are only interested in talking but never committing to really learn. But the great thing is people here in Iowa are usually very cordial and rarely do we meet people who are angry or severely unkind to us. Though I will admit it does happen from time to time. We continue to push forward and to work hard. There is still much work to do here and there are many people who are waiting to hear the message of the redeeming power of our savior. I am so glad I have this chance to proclaim the gospel to the world and to represent my savior. I love all of you and I thank you for all that you have done for me. This church is true. J

I don’t even know how to describe this week. So for those who did not know, a lady named Gladys Knight came to Des Moines on Thursday. She used to be a famous singer. Any way her kids joined the church then later she did too then her husband followed. She was talking to President Hinckley one day and he found out that she wished there was more beat in our church music. He told her to do something about it so she did. She got a choir together and now tours the country with an all-volunteer choir. Going to LDS churches and doing presentations of Song and testimony. I have never heard a base guitar in the chapel and people where clapping after testimonies and prayers were given. But the spirit was extremely strong. We had about 2000 people show up for the 2 showings and many of them where people that had never set foot in a Mormon church. We were able to show them a little about what we believe and how we feel about everything. I really enjoyed it. The music was amazing and the testimonies where great. Best of all the spirit was strong. We spent a lot of time last week trying to get people to come to the presentation. After the presentation people could sign a card to say that they wanted a free sampler CD from Saints United Voices (directed by Gladys Knight) and a copy of the book of Mormon. We spent the next few days contacting and teaching many of those who requested these items. we had some amazing lesson and the spirit was so strong. I will admit I have never ridden a bike for so long in my life, hours and hours a day riding from one side of town to the other. But it was all worth it. The spirit led us to people who needed to hear the message that we had to share. It was an amazing experience and I really enjoyed this week. One of the best parts about a mission is that you learn so much about yourself and about the gospel. I have learned so much this week and my testimony has been strengthened. Elder Deering is finally getting settled in. it is a lot to deal with going on a mission. A lot if suddenly expected of you and you have to learn a lot in a short period of time. He is an awesome teacher and I am grateful for this chance that I have to be working with him. I thank all of your for your faith and for your prayers. I love being a missionary and I love this work. I know that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living god. I know this church is true and I leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the crazy picture I'm on the back. I'm one of the people holding the kid up on the wall. my comp is the one under the blanket acting like the holy ghost. On the real picture you can see me my comp is the one standing to the left of Pres. Talbots head.

I don’t even know how to begin to describe this week. Elder knight Is now home. I am now with Elder Deering. He is from Salem Oregon. He has been on a mission for just under a month. 3 weeks of that was in the MTC. I will admit it has been weird training. I am now expected to know all the answers and to know what to do. But I will admit I am enjoying it. He is an awesome guy I am excited for this chance that I will have to be serving with him. We had an interesting week. It was supper busy but not with the normal missionary things. But that will be changing next week. There is a lady coming here on Thursday. Some may have herd of her. Her name is Gladys Knight. I guess she is famous or something, something about the pips. Anyway, she is a member of the church and travels around doing presentations with a choir she directs called saints united voices. She is doing a presentation at our church this week. We have been busy getting things up for that. They expect us to be really busy all this week because of this and hopeful after it too. I am excited for this. I really don’t have much to talk about from this week. We found a few more people that we hope to begin teaching but other than that there is not much that happened that is worth reporting. We have had a lot of people dropped over the last few weeks so we have spent a lot of time building our pool back up. I did want to take a moment and like my Brother Eric talk about conference. If you did not get a chance to watch it please do. It was amazing. Regarding president Monson’s announcement in the first session, I am supper excited. I think this will have a much needed impact on the missionary force that is out here. We need more missionaries. There is a lot of work to be done and not enough people to do it. I have to say here that if there is anyone reading this who is or has considered going on a mission please please please do. I promise it will be the best thing that you have ever done in your life. I have never made as good a decision as this one. I love every second of it. So if you have thought about it or considered it, please go. Ask God about it and then follow the prompting to go. I love serving a mission and I know that if you do your part you will too. And that goes for all who are reading this both young and old. J If you have no clue what I am talking about, go to lds.org and watch the Saturday morning session of conference it is wonderful. I really enjoyed conference and advise all to read and reread the talks from it. I am excited for this coming week. Big things are going to start happening her in the Iowa Des Moines mission. There is a spiritual fire starting to spread and we are seizing this opportunity to bring souls unto Christ. I love all of you. Thank you for all you continue to do for me. It is weird to think that I only have 10 months left. I have not been out that long and I plan to make every second count. I love all of you. I know thins church is true. I know Jesus is the Christ, In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

This was an interesting week. I have really be humbled. I have learned a lot and I have grown a lot in just a short period of time. Elder Knight will be going home Friday morning. I was expecting to be training next transfer because my mission president kept saying that I needed to be ready to train by October but I was also made district leader which I did not expect. I will admit President caught me off guard when he asked me for that but I will do my best. Because I am training I am almost guaranteed to be here until the end of December but all of that can change at a moment’s notice. The work here has really slowed down. Most of those we were teaching where either baptized or dropped. We did have some people from another ward move in to our area and they have a baptismal date set for later this month. We will start working with them here in a few days. We are still teaching a lot of Karen people. They gave us some original Karen shirts that look sweeeeeeeet!!!!! There are a lot of others that we are teaching but most people are not currently progressing. There is a lot going on this week and next and I am hoping to soon be just as busy as we have been for the last 3 months. I will admit I will miss elder knight I have learned a lot from him. He is ready to go home though. We have worked hard in this area and he deserves a small break. The lord will quickly call him to his next mission it just won’t be in a white shirt and name tag. 4 months is a long time to be with someone. I have not enjoyed every moment of it I will admit, but when I learned to humble myself I began to learn and grow. I have learned so much in the 4 months we have been together. I guess I will tell you more about my new companion when he gets here on Thursday. As for me I am excited for the learning opportunities that the lord has for me. I have learned and grown so much in such a short time but I know there is much more for me to learn and many ways that I can still improve. I wish I had more to talk about this week but not much happened. Because of how busy we have been a lot of our time was used catching up on paper work and many other little things that take you away from the really missionary work. But hopefully now we can stay up to date on all of this so that we don’t have to spend so much time in the future catching up. I love all of you. i am so grateful for this chance that I have to be here and to be a missionary. I love this gospel and I love my savior. I know that this church Is true. The lord has in his mercy made that known to me. i pray for all of you. Thank you for your prayers.

The work is defiantly slowing down right now. We had a baptism this week. One of those baptized was a girl from the ward who was recently reactivated and she was going to go to the temple this weekend with the youth but her records where lost. In 2 days we taught her all the lessons then she was baptized, right after the baptism she was confirmed and then she had a temple interview and went to the temple the next day. I will admit it was the weirdest baptism I have ever been to. The other 2 who were baptized are a mom and her son who are from Sudan. She speaks decent English but we have an Arabic translator for her even though her native language is neither of those. She was excited to take this step. She has been looking into the church for a few years and finally made the next step in her life. We were afraid for a bit that she was not going to make it to sacrament meeting the next day to be confirmed but she was able to make it just in time. She was excited for this chance am I am grateful I had the opportunity to teach her. Over the last 3 months we have been super busy and it has been really nice. We had to stop teaching a lot of people because they were unwilling to progress. We are now trying to build our teaching pool back up and we are diligently looking for those who are willing and ready for the message that we have to share. There is still a lot of people that we are hoping will begin to progress soon and we are hoping and praying for the success to continue. This is my last full week with Elder Knight. I will get a new companion starting next week on the 4th and Elder Knight will be going back to Arizona the next day. We will have been together for a week short of 4 months by the time he leaves. I have learned much from him in the time that we have been together. He is an awesome guy. I will find out on Saturday more about who my new companion will be. I am grateful to all of you for sending birthday cards and greetings. And even those of you who did not, I thank you for thinking of me. I love you all. I am so grateful for your faith and prayers on my behalf. Thank you all for all that you do for me.

I have never been this busy. I keep saying that every week but we keep getting more and more busy. We had a baptism this week and it went really well he was supper excited to be baptized. He is an amazing guy and I am grateful that I have had this chance to have an impact on his life. Sisters knocked into him 3 years ago when he was first found and he has met with us off and on from then. He has progressed a lot in the last month and a half that we have been teaching him and I was excited to see him be able to take this step in his life. We still have a lot of people that we are teaching but because we can’t speak to half of them it makes things a little hard. We also have some strong suspicions that there are some preachers going around telling people not to listen to us. We were teaching a lot more people then suddenly in one day a bunch of them just stopped being interested in what we have to share. But we continue to work hard. It is amazing how much is getting done here in Des Moines. The Lord is pouring his blessing out upon us. I love being a missionary and I love this chance that I have to serve and help others. We have a baptism scheduled for this week and next. It is amazing that in my first 9 months I saw little success and never had any one that was really progressing. And now in 3 months we can’t seem to find the4 time to teach all that want to learn more. I keep wondering how much more can happen in such a short period of time but them more just happens. I am excited for this chance that I have to be here and to have a part in blessing the life’s of others here. In less than 3 weeks Elder knight will return home and I will get a new companion. We will have been together for about 4 months. I will admit that is a long time to be with someone. I have learned much from him and I am excited to keep learning. I have learned so much already from my mission. I love being a missionary and I love serving others and helping people come closer to Christ. Thank you to those that have written me. I always appreciate letters. I don’t have much else to add here. It was a super busy week but it was a lot of the same stuff all week. We are anticipating even more work to come in the following weeks and I am excited to have the chance to be a part of all that is happening here. I love you all. Thank you for your faith and prayers. J

 We had a really busy busy week this week. Wehave been working a lot more with the Keren people and have had many chances toteach them. It has been a very interesting experience. We went to contact a referralfrom California and it was another Burmese family but they spoke kerenie notkeren which I guess is a different dialect. But they are close enough and the familyspeaks enough English that we were able to get the main points that we wantedto talk about across. We have so much work that needs to be done and it feelslike not enough time to do it in.
                We havea baptism set for every weekend this month. The ward is ecstatic about the successwe have been having. The ward has not seen this in years. I know that Is notonly our doing but the work of many hands has made this possible at this time. Iam so grateful for the chance I have to be a part of this. A man will be baptizedthis weekend. He is finally ready. He has been working to his point for manyyears and he is excited that we move his date up a few weeks. I am excited atthe chance I had to teach him. He is an amazing individual and I am so pleasedwith his progress over the past month.
                Next weeka lady from Sudan and her son will be baptized. They are excited for thischance that they have been given and they are excited to be able to continue tolearn and grow. Her son just turned 8 and he will be baptized with his mom. Theyboth love church and love learning.
                The weatheris cooling down rapidly. Many fear that we will have an early winter. I hope soI need more stories about the brutal Iowa winters. Apparently last year there wasbarely any snow and it was the mildest winter Iowa had had in a long time. I hopethat does not happen this year. It is much more fun when you have cool storiesto tell.
                ElderKnight only has 3 and a half weeks left until he goes home. Although it iscoming close he is working hard and we are staying busy. We have seen so manyblessings here and I keep thinking that they will end but they just don’t stopand we just keep working and trying to do our best. Exact obedience is an extremelyimportant thing. I love the chance that I have to be here and to be experiencingthis. There really is nothing better than this. I love being able to serve amission.
                I hopeall of you have a great week. I thank you for your faith and for your prayers. Ilove you all 

We have had a busy busy week. So much has happened. We picked up a lot of new investigators. All of them either don’t speak English, speak very little of it, or are only 8 years old. But, they all are excited to learn more.  I have really grown to love the Karen people. They are humble and willing to learn and excited to learn more. Not all of those that we are teaching are progressing. Many of them hold to the Buddhist traditions of their parents but there are many that want to learn more about Christ and the can feel the difference in their lives as they begin to follow his teachings. I am excited to continue to help these people better their lives and watch as they find the true joy that only comes from living the gospel.

We helped a guy give up a lifelong addiction of chewing Tabaco. He finally came to church as well and he is ready to be baptized. He has grown a lot in the month that we have been teaching him and he is excited to make this commitment in his life. He was going to be baptized in October but we decided to move it up because he truly is ready. The lord has been preparing him. Often it was through his trials but it was all part of the plan to get him to this point and I am excited to see him take this step.

I am really growing to love Iowa. It is finally raining again here so things are starting to turn green again. It was getting cooler but the heat has come back and so has the humidity. But we are pushing through it. Elder knight and I are having great success. we are striving out best to live as Christ taught us to live. I don’t really have much more to add today. The libraries where closed yesterday so we had to find time to email today and we have appointments to get to so I love you all and I hope you have a great week. I know that this church is true and I love my savior. Thank you all so much for your faith and prayers.

This week was an interesting week. It was supper busy. Probably the busiest I have had. We spent a lot of time meeting with the Burmese’s Family that was to be baptized this weekend. There was a lot to go over to make sure they were ready and a lot of logistics to get figured out. On Thursday they had their baptismal interview with our district leader. He was unsure if they were ready. It is hard to tell because of the things that are lost in translation. We decided to go talk to our president and ask him what he thought. He decided to interview them himself the next day. So again on Friday we went to the church to have them interviewed. It was an amazingly spiritual experience many things happened but to make a long story short our president knew without a doubt that they were ready. We had the baptism the next day and it went really well. We had one of the young women play her harp for as prelude music and everyone loved it. President also came to the baptism which does not happen that often. He was asked to speak and gave an awesome talk about what had happened the night before and how he knew they were ready for this step. The guy that we had translate, was able to do better than he usually did and I know that was the hand of the lord. We did all 5 conformations the next day in sacrament meeting. It took up a good chunk of the time. I was asked to confirm 2 of the girls. What I said was not translated and I am unsure of how much they understood but the spirit was strong.
                We have a few more baptismal dates coming up soon. This area is growing so fast. We have so many people to teach and many who are progressing and who want to be baptized. There is a spiritual fire burning here in the Midwest. I never saw anything close to this when I was out here before but the Lord is pouring his spirit out here in Iowa. I am so grateful that I have this chance to be a tool in the hands of the lord. He has been blessing us more than I ever thought he would and I am so grateful for that.
                I am excited to see what blessing he has ahead for me. I am doing my best to live worthy of those blessings. I thank all of you for your prayers, and for your faith. I love all of you. Thank you for all you do for me.

It has been a busy busy week for us. We spent most of our time going from one appointment to the next. I anticipated a slowdown in the work as the summer came to a close but it is actually picking up. Many of the people we are going to be teaching soon are from Burma/Myanmar.There are a lot of them that want to learn more. The problem we run into with many of them is that many are interested in learning and will do most things weask them to but they are doing it only because we ask and not because they feelit is the right thing to do. Because of that we have to spend a lot of time trying to see if they are sincere in what they are saying to us, or if they are just saying it because they think it is what we want to hear. Either way, there continues to be more and more of them, and we continue to teach. We also have a couple solid people that we are teaching who both have baptismal dates, one for next month the other for October. They are progressing well and I am excited to see the growth in them as we teach and as they begin to accept the light of Christ and let it lead their lives.
                We have a baptism coming up this weekend, a family of 4 Burmese people and the daughter of a Burmese family who are members. Because this will go online where anyone can see it I am not going to give their names but you will have to ask me about them some time. I am excited to see them make this covenant with God and this next step in their lives. We feel they are finally understanding what we are teaching them, and they are progressing as we hoped they would.
                Transfer calls where Saturday and …….. Elder knight and I are staying here in Des MoinesThird together for one more transfer. After that he is going home and my mission president says he wants me to train a new missionary, so if that happens I will be here until the last week of December. I am excited to here for longer. This is a great area and I love it here. The lord is really blessing us and many people in this area. I love being a missionary. I feel few things could compare to this. I love being away from the world. I don’t have toworry about all the stupid things that are going on in the world.
                Last Monday we went to the Iowa State Fair. We saw a giant moose made out of chocolate, a giant cow made from butter, I ate 2 deep-fried Snickers a bacon wrapped corndog and a giant turkey leg. We had to where our white shirts and ties and it was alittle hot. I enjoyed it though. I got to see Paul Ryan and barely missed seeing President Obama. There were about 30 or so missionaries there so every where you went you saw white shirts and ties. It was fun to see people’sreactions.
                Other then all of that the work is moving along. I am glad to be here and to be working for the lord. I love this gospel. I know that this church is true and I am so glad to have the chance to proclaim that to the people here. Many are not interested but rarely are they offended that we try to share the joy that we find. I love you all. Thank you for all you do for me.



 Elder Knight and I running in the flowers.



A cool picture of me jumping

American Gothic house
 where the original picture of that farmer and his daughter
 (Ya, I guess that was to be his daughter not his wife) was taken.

This week in Iowa

This will probbably be a short letter I don't have too much that I want to say. This week has been a great week. We set 2 more baptismal dates and although there is much that both people have to do to reach that point we are praying for them and we have high hopes. Both of them are progressing quickly and I look forward to this chance that I have to help them find the joy and peace that comes from this gospel.
                We still have a Burmese’s Family of four plus the daughter of a Burmese family what will be baptized on the 25th. We are looking forward to that date. They were progressing a lot slower than we had hoped but we feel things have become easier for them to understand and they are moving much faster now. Our regular translator has been sick or out of town so we have had to use someone else. He is not as fluent in English so it has made things a little harder for him but he says he has felt the lord help him as he has been helping us teach. I know that with the lord’s help they will be able to reach this date.
                We have many more people that we are beginning to work with and I am looking forward to seeing them make commitments that will bring them closer to God. The work is continuing to escalate here. We are seeing a lot of success and I am grateful the lord is letting me be a part of it. I love being a missionary.
                There is not much more to report on this week. Transfer calls are this Saturday but it is almost guaranteed that elder knight and I will stay together for another month and a half until he goes home in October. I will probably be here until the end of December. The work is growing and people are finding the peace and happiness that comes from living as Christ taught. I thank all of you for your faith and prayers. I love all of you and thank you for all that you do for me.

 Please write or email me. Elder Jacob Gibson



This week was an interesting week. It was not a busy as the last few weeks have been or as hot. I say it was not busy because there was not a lot of appointments that we were running too or from but there was still a lot that we had to get done. We have been riding from one side of town to the next and back a few times a day. I have been getting in some good work outs. You realize that Iowa is not as flat as it looks when you are on a bike. We finally have been getting a little rain, though not enough to save the farmers crops. Most of them out here are suffering badly from the drought. Expect almost everything to be more expensive next year. It is amazing how much corn we use.
                So highlights from the week, we were leaving the library on our bikes, as we were riding we saw some signs blocking off part of the side walk. Elder knight thought that it was because of the mounds of dirt piled on the side so he just passed the signs and as he did so his front tire sunk into the concrete leaving a nice gouge in the brand new sidewalk. Of course he wanted to do the right thing so he said “oh man, ok let’s go quick” and turned around and quickly began riding in the other direction. Unfortunately that part of the side walk happened to be in front of the police department and it just so happened that a cop saw and quickly stopped us from fleeing the scene of the crime. Luckily there was a guy on site who worked concrete and he was quickly able to repair it and it was no harm no foul. J (What I learned form that) if you are going to run, run faster than the cops.
                We found a few more people to teach. There are a lot of people in this area that are willing to listen to the message and God has been trusting us with them. We have high hopes for the upcoming weeks. We still have 5 people who have baptism dates. Again they are a family from Burma and they speak Karen. It is hard at times to tell how much they are grasping because of the language barrier but we feel they are progressing and look forward to their baptism on the 25th.
                We have many more people that we are working with and we are hoping to see even greater success. At one point we where leading the mission this week may have changed that but I am very grateful for how much the lord has been blessing us and with all the success we have been seeing. I am trying my best to do my best. I am trying to be a consecrated missionary and give everything I have to the lord. I feel myself changing and growing closer to him as I do my best to serve him.
                I love you all. As always thank you for your faith and prayers.
Please Email and write me.

                We had a really good week this week. The lord continues to bless us here and I am excited that I have the chance to be a part of this great work. 3 kids that we have been teaching where baptized and confirmed. It was nice to watch them take that next step in their lives. We had a lot of people at the baptism and it went really well. This area is still flourishing. We have a lot of people to teach and many that we hope to start teaching soon. I am excited for the chance I have to watch them progress in the gospel and come closer to Christ as they begin to put their lives in closer harmony with his teachings.
                We had to stop teaching a few people because they were not progressing. One of them was an African American lady who is convinced the bible was stolen from old African stories and Europeanized. She also believed a lot of stuff she read online that I will not get into but I will say that it was …. Ya, it just was not good. We will still check up on her from time to time but we will just have to see what happens.
                So one day there was a set of missionaries that where at the church and they realized that they left something home. So they drove home to get it but when they got there it came to their attention that they left their keys back at the church, unfortunately they needed to save their miles so one missionary told the other that the door to the second floor balcony was probably unlocked and that he might be able to climb up it and get in. the second skinnier missionary thought that this was a brilliant idea so when they got to their apartment complex he began to climb. As he was climbing he saw that the land lord was on his way down. Not wanting to make a bad impression he quickly tried to climb faster. This missionary was able to make it to the top and over the railing before the land lord saw, mainly because he had practiced back home in Colorado, though he did knock a wasp nest in the process.  After grabbing the forgotten items he realized that the door could only be locked form outside so he would have to climb back down. Somehow he managed to do all of this without breaking his neck and they made it back to the church in safety.
As you can tell not much happened this week. J I love all of you. Thank you for your prayers and faith. This area is continuing to be blessed greatly from god. The work is still difficult at times but the lord comforts us and carries us at those points that we cant. Just to all of you know it is ok to email me if you don’t want to write. I will not be able to email back but I will write you back and mail it. My email is jrgibson@myldsmail.net . I love all of you and I expect to hear from you soon.

Also just a side note. I went to the Navoo pagent on saturday. It was jsut as amazing as it was a couple years ago. If you get the chance to go you Definatly should.

This week was an interesting week.it was hot again. Iowa has never been this brown. Nothing is getting rain and it is not good for the farmers out here. It is not good for the missionaries either epically when they have to ride bikes. But I am finding ways to enjoy it. We committed a couple more people to be baptized. The brother of a member in the Ward who has investigated in the past and a 9 year old girl from Burma whose parents are members but she was never baptized but wants to be now.
                Thing sare booming in this area. I have never done such little tracting but that is  because I have never had so many people to teach. It is amazing how the lord is blessing this place. There are a lot of people that he has prepared and we have the opportunity to find and teach them. Missions are amazing.
                Next week is going to be extremely hot. At least that is what we keep hearing. Luckily we have the car so we will not have to worry about it much, though tracting init is never fun. Well I can’t say never, you do tend to get some cool reactionsfrom people.
                Anyway, we have a baptism this Saturday, a part member family who are finally baptizing their kids. We have been teaching them over the last month and they are doing well. They have a bunch of people coming into town for the baptism. It is going to be nice and then we will start preparing for our next baptism in august. When I was out here before it was rare to even have one baptism a transfer but the lord is blessing the Midwest and the church is growing.  Feel for Eric as he strives to find people who are willing to commit but I know that the lords hands are in the work and that he will bless both of us as we strive to work hard and be diligent.
                I continue to pray for all of you. Thank you for your faith and prayers for me. I love you and hope you are staying cool this hot summer.  Pray for me, every little bit helps. 
---------------------------
Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Miones mission

               This week was amazing. That is probably the best way to describe it. We got so much accomplished. We were finally introduced to a Burmese family who has been attending church and we set a baptismal date with the mom and her 3 daughters. We are still going to work with the rest of the family and we are praying that they will be willing to make this commitment as well. There is still going to be a baptism on the 28th for 3 kids that we have been teaching. I don’t remember what I have said about them in the past, their parents are members but they wanted to wait till their kids where older to have them baptized. They are still progressing well and I don’t see much if anything getting in their way. Other than those 2 families we have many other investigators but no one that is yet willing to take that next step though there are many who are close and I hope and pray to see them make this blessed commitment soon.                This week was relative cool compared to what it has been. Lucky for us we got the car on the cool week and will be on bikes again for the hot one they say we will have this week. For the most part it was a normal week. The fun part came on Saturday when we had to get up early and drive for a little over an hour to Ames Iowa and help out at the Iowa Games. They are like an Olympic Games type things for people of all ages and almost every sport you can think of is covered. I spent 12 hours in a hot gym keeping score for basketball games. I think I left my seat twice in those 12 hours. I honestly don’t think I ever want to see a basketball again. Most of the teams where good and where good sports. There was this one point though when I thought we were going to have a fight. Both teams at this point where very close to being kicked out of the games. But all in all it was not too bad.
                We got permission to let a member take us to the Nauvoo pageant Saturday night. I am excited for this. I assumed that because I went when I was here last I would not be able to go this time around but my mission president game me permission. It will be a late night for us that night but I am excited to see Nauvoo again.
                Elder knight is still doing well. He has been sick and that has made things difficult but we are continuing to work hard and the lord is blessing us for that. I am looking forward to another amazing week this week and I know that as I work hard the lord will bless us for our diligence. Thank you all for your faith and prayers. Thank you for all you do and please continue to write me. Letters are an important part of missionary work.

Elder Gibson
Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Miones mission

So I was not expecting to write today because p day was moved to Wednesday but even when p day is moved they still want us to write letters on Monday. It was not like that when I was out here before.
                So last week was a hot hot hot week. The heat index was at about 113 degrees most of the week. We did not have the car so again we spent a lot of time on bikes and I have to say I have never sweat that much. That is probably nasty to hear but it happened. I also don’t think I have ever been on a bike that long, a few hours every day and more miles than I can count. I have been enjoying it though. Well as much enjoyment as you can get out of doing high exertion physical exercise in brutal heat. The part that makes it hard is that the shade is just as hot as the sun. So unless you are inside there is no escaping it.
I am learning a lot from Elder Knight. He is really skilled at talking to people and at finding ways to keep people talking with us. He has learned to be able to start conversations that quickly break down the barriers that people often put up when they see us and he is able to ask questions that they actually enjoy answering. He is really good at teaching the gospel simply and in a way that is clear to those he is teaching. I still have much to learn from him and I look forward to this chance to continue to learn and grow.
The kids that we are teaching still have a baptism date set for the 28th of this month. The family has already invited family into town for it and they are doing well. Everything is still on schedule and we will continue to help them prepare for this blessed date. We have an appointment with them later today but the way things have been in the past there is little that will stop these kids from being baptized. They are excited for this day and can’t wait for it.
Most of our time is spent currently trying to contact people that have been referred to us or that we have lost contact with. Many hours are spent riding from one end of Urbandale to the other (Urbandale is part of Des Moines). It is a lot of work but we find ways to make it enjoyable. Other than that we try to avoid tracting as that many hours in the brutal heat is not good for you, but sometimes it cannot be helped.
I am learning and growing a lot. I am so grateful for this chance I have to be here. It is amazing the changes I have seen in myself and in others.
I thank all of you for all that you do for me…. Thought my mail box is continually empty. I have received 2 letters one from my dad and one from a friend. Please send more. (I am hoping for more in the mail today but we will see if it is empty again.) please write me. and thank you those that have emiled.

I love you

This week was a good week. We got a lot accomplished and I felt the spirit so strong. We spent a lot of time this week doing service that took the form of helping people move. Let me tell you I got really tired of seeing boxes. On Monday we had dinner with a family that stopped us on our way out of taco bell and invited us over for dinner. They were strong members of a church that is really big out here. We were afraid that they were going to try to give us a bunch of anti-Mormon stuff when we were at dinner but all went well and we had a really nice conversation and a good dinner. They were a really nice family and they gave us some numbers for some people who we could do service for. Because of that we now have the opportunity to help out at the Urbandale Iowa 4^th of July parade.

               We still have a baptism set for the 28^th and that seems to be going well and they even have family coming in for it. We are looking forward to it.

               Other than that there is not much to say. I could write a little more about my week but I am really pressed for time this week even more then last week. We got put with another missionary last minute so that has taken a lot of our time today. He is returning home early so he is just with us for today until his flight leaves tomorrow.

               Elder knight is doing well. We are trying to stay out of the heat but much of our work has been in it. It is usually about 98 which would not be bad if it was not for the humidity and the fact that we were collared shirts and ties all day. Also riding a bike for hours in the heat and the humidity is not fun but we are finding ways to enjoy it.

               Thank you all for your faith and prayers. I love all of you.

So this is the end of week two. It was a very unproductive week (relative to the amount of what you would call average missionary work). Many things went wrong and caused us to have to use our time to take care of a bunch of administrative things, but overall it was not toobad. We only have a car to use every other week so I spent this week riding abike. The mission gave away my bike while I was gone but they had an extra that they gave me so I have been using that. There were a bunch of repairs that had to be done on it but all went well and I have a working bike now.
 I don’t remember if I said this in my lastletter but at interviews my mission president confirmed that he plans to keep me here in Des Moines 3rd until Elder Knight goes home. That will happen the 5th of October and at that point I will probably be herefor 3 more months so I will probably be here for the next 6 months at least. Now that is always subject to change at the last minute, but it is very likely that is how it will work.
                So it was a hot week, and because we did not have the car or many appointments either we spent a lot of it out riding bikes in the heat. Summer just started this week so the heat is just going to get worse but strangely I kind of enjoy it.We also used a lot of miles last week so even though we have the car this week we will be on bikes for a lot of it again.
                Elder Knight is doing well. We get along and although we don’t have much in common we are learning a lot from each other. He will be 22 months old on the 29th(aka he has been out for 22 months on the 29th). I don’t know how old I technically am because I have yet to hear when my return date will be. I am waiting for my ministerial certificate from salt lake to arrive so that I will know. Anyway we are doing well and work well together. He is a hard worker and I am learning a lot.
                The area is doing well. Because of our off week we were not able to follow up a bunch like we had planned but that will happen this week. We have a lot of people to teach and a couple baptisms set for next month. They are children whose parents have been members for a long time but wanted to wait to baptize their kid suntil they were older so that they could chose for themselves. Of course I don’t agree with that. You should baptize them so that they can enjoy the blessing of the Holy Ghost earlier and if they choose to reject it when they get older that is their choice then. But either way because they are older we have the opportunityto teach them and set up their baptism so we are looking forward to that.
                We have many other potentials but no one that is really progressing. We have had a few people drop us and we are working hard to find more people to teach and to help the community in any way we can. The members here are awesome and I am well fed. This week should be a good week and I will do all I can to make it the best week. I thank all of you for your prayers and faith in my behalf. I pray for those of you back home who are close to the fires that are sprouting up.
So not much else to add here. sometimes it is blazing hot and then with in 20 min clouds come in and we have monsoon rains. i rode my bike in both. not much else of note happened.
                Please continue to pray for me I need all the help I can get. I love all of you thank you for everything.

Jacob's first letter home.

Dear family and friends.
                I am doing amazingly. I am so excited to be back out on a mission. It has not been easy but I love it. I don’t know where to begin. When I got here I got sent to the mission office to receive a little training then I had an interview with my mission president then had dinner with him and a few others then I went to bed. The next day was zone conference so I got to meet a bunch of other elders and enjoy a very spiritual first day.
                At zone conference I was assigned to serve in the Des Moines 3rd ward. So far I have been enjoying it. I have not had too much of a chance to do a lot of what you would call regular missionary work I went on exchanges and worked in a different area for my first day here then I spent the next couple days devoting a lot of my day to doing service work at the Iowa Senior Olympics. I enjoyed both the exchanges and the Olympics. At the Olympics I spent most of my day outside in the hot humid Iowa weather. It was blazing hot and humid during the day then both days ended with a flash monsoon. It was nice to be able to spend that time working with the community and with the other missionaries in my zone. I was able to get to know many of the members of the community and we had an amazing impact on those that attended. At one point I was helping at an event where people where throwing soft balls (not so soft I came to find out) and they were trying to make it into board with a hole in it. I was behind the board to retrieve those that missed and flew away. One of the event coordinators came up to me and told me that I needed to watch this next guy because he threw really hard and I should stand back. So I turned around, walked back a bit then turned to face the front again, just in time to notice a ball coming straight for me and slam into my shoulder. It hurt but I am fine. I just have a bruise that will go away eventually.
                I guess I should mention that I baptized someone on Saturday. There are a lot of Burmese refugees here in Des Moines. There was one family who fled to Salt Lake and joined the church there. They then moved here and about a month ago they gave the missionaries a referral for another set of refugees here in Des Moines. The Elders have been teaching them for about a month and 2 of the girls were baptized on Saturday. They have really cool and unique names but we are asked not to use them in our letters so I will just say they are defiantly Asian names. Elder Knight (my Companion I will talk about him later) baptized and confirmed the older 16 year old and I baptized and confirmed the younger 13 year old. They are amazing girls who really want to do what is right. Their English is surprisingly good, however there is a lot they still don’t know. Before I got here the church put out a request for a translator to help teach them and their family, and it just so happened that there was one living here in Des Moines and even better he was a member who had stopped coming to church but wanted to start coming again. It’s amazing the little miracles the lord gives us. These girls are growing fast in the gospel and are really excited to attend girl’s camp this year.
                So I am serving with Elder Knight from Mesa Arizona. He has been out for about 22 months. I don’t know how much to say about him other than he is a good missionary and he works hard. Although I have technically been with him for a week, we have been busy and because of some of the events that we have been doing I have spent a lot of time with other elders in my district and not a ton of time with Elder Knight so I am still getting to know him. He likes cars and loves working on them. He loves dirt bikes. We get along well and I am enjoying working with him.
                I LOVE being back out on a mission. This really is the lord’s work. I feel the spirit so strong. I love it so so so so so much. Watching people change their life’s and come closer to God. There is nothing better than this. Thank you, all of you, for your prayers and faith on my behalf. I love all of you. Please continue to pray for me. It is going to be a hot week this week and I am going to be on a bike. I am excited for this chance to finish my mission and I look forward to the many experiences and challenges I have ahead of me. Please write me.

We just got word from Jacob's new Mission President! He arrived safely and is excited to get to work. What a great way to end the day.

Jacob left today at 6:00 am for Iowa. He met another missionary bound for the same mission in Denver and the two of them flew in to desMoines. They were to arrive at 12:30. No word yet, we'll let you know when we hear anything. 

Jacob at the Durango Airport 5:30 am 6/11/12