First Letter in the Field

Hey! So, ya my p day is on mondays now so it has been a while since i have talked to you all, but i am doing great. There is so much to write that i hope i can remember it all i dont have a time limit besides that I am supposed  try to keep it about an hour so i have more time than I used to. It was nice hearing from all of you. Tell grandma and grandpa that i got their email and that i sent them a letter but I'm not sure when it will get there.

I am in my first area called La Romana it is a smaller city in the east. We have a nice area. It is a more wealthy area, but dont let that fool you in thinking that it is a rich area. We have a pretty big area, not all of Romana but a good chunk of it. We live right next to a huge baseball stadium of the Toros. They are a semi pro team that i think is owned by the mets or something. Yesterday they won the national championship and the streets were crazy. We were visiting a less active member and after they won he turned on the tv and every one was storming the field. They are a really good team. We had to kind of run through the streets to get home. The streets were filled with people banging pots and pans and yelling. It was so fun to see. Then people were driving motorcycles and scooters around everywhere. And they were dragging pots and pans and sheet metal behind them going way fast. There were cars going everywhere with people hanging off just going crazy.We didnt have much luck contacting during the game because everyone was watching it and getting into it.  We went onto our roof and took some pictures after we were home.
(Here is the picture of the celebrations!)

 I wont be able to download all my pictures but my comp has a walmart acount set up and he just uploads them to there and then his parents have acces to it too if you want to do that.

<I have a great comp elder Allen from Layton. He has been out for 16 months and is a great elder. He is such a great teacher and speaks spanish really well. He knows his scriptures well also and uses them a lot in his teaching. We get along great and have a lot of fun. He went to Utah State for a year before the mission. I think everyone went to school for a year besides a few people.

<I am glad that i am out in the field finally and get to move around. We walk all the time and a long ways. The weather hasn't beeen too bad and this is a cooler part of the country too.  The ocean isn't in our area but we can see it from our roof so it is never very far away. We hardly ever take cars unless Elder Allen needs to do interviews. He is the district leader so we do those a lot. I see our zone leaders a lot and I really like them. It is weird not seeing a whole bunch of missionaries at once. I did see some today. We went to San Pedro to play football for pday. Then after that< I have a sin to confess, we went to mc donalds and I ate a big mac and somewhat enjoyed it. Kind of makes me want to throw up now thinking about it, but it doesnt taste like or smell like one from the states.

<I eat really well, elder allen is a good cook and we always have something planned to eat so all is well. We also eat at some of the shops around and they are really good too. I have yet to get sick and I am hoping that I keep that up. We eat spaghetti and sandwhiches and rice and beans and just some normal stuff. We always stop by a comado before stopping at our house so we have enough food always.

Our apartment is kind of dirty and definetely 3rd world but not too bad. We dont have a shower head and never have hot water and the bathroom is kind of gross but nothing too horrible. It has been a missionary home for like 15 years so you cant expect much from it.

Right before I came into the area elder allen kind of wiped his investigator list clean so we are in the proccess of getting new ones. We have a few good ones that seem really interested and are really enjoying the lessons and feeling the spirit. We also see some of the recent converts and less active. Elder Allen baptized two hatians right before I came and they are both really cool, they are about 20 and friends. I really enjoy going over there because they can speak english. My spanish is coming along and going good. I can understand a lot and speak a little, but it is hard for me to contribute to the lessons cause they are too fast. So I usually just bare my testimony of things and say prayers. I pray almost every lesson we have. We had quite a few investigators go to church which is good but it sucks when they say they will come and you know that they have felt the spirit but dont come. I just dont understand them. It could be just because they are late all the time.

We dont set up appointments reallly. We just say that we will be stopping by around this time and then show up. They dont have a sense of schedule or time. As long as you are within 2 hours then you are good. It is weird so when i get home dont expect me to be on time anywhere.

So how is everything in salmon going. I love hearing about Joey and Sarah's games and how they are doing so keep me updated. I would say to just email me from now on and dont worry about mail. I have an address where you can send stuff too but i forgot it in our house so I will tell you next week.

Thats all for today

con amor

elder Jacob Holmes

First email from MTC 11-25-2010

I had to send a (letter last week) because we dont get p day for the first week. ya i am rooming with him (chase richins) its not bad at all. we all have fun. I am in zone 35. we have an awesom zone. and our district is way cool too. we are pretty much a family already. There are 4 of us going to the DR. Elder Moore and I are going to the East. and Elder Richins and Elder Wright are going to Santiago. we all got our travel plans which was great news but it doesnt mean that we have our visa's. we are supposed to leave the 9th and fly to Dallas then to Santo damingo. Thats great sarah had 20 points in her game. tell her great job and that i love her. Has joey started playing basketball yet? games at least? and how is Bekah's job working out? you will have to keep me posted. but dont send me emails if you want to talk just go through dear elder. thanks for getting the shorts for me. could you send me a zip up black sweat shirt big enough to go over my suit jacket? it is freezing here. I am learning spanish and i cant believe how much i know already. the gift of tounges is real and i am receiving that blessing as i work hard. we just got back from eating thanksgiving dinner already. it was really good. but before that we were at a fireside where Elder Holland was speaking. Wow what an amazing guy he is. he speaks from the heart and loves our savior so much. the spirit was so strong. he talked about what we should be thankfull for and his last point was about the atonement. He has a great testimony of the atonement. he shared that we are out doing the lords work so that our savior will not be alone while walking through the grape vineyard. meaning that we are out here bringing people to our lord and showing them how to use the atonement so that the Jesus Christ didnt suffer in vain. elder Holland was so powerfull in his testimony. you could literaly feel the spirit lighten up after he exited the room. He brought his whole family and said that they were our family for the thanksgiving holiday. his grandchildren sang a song. they were all so cute. He also talked about the reason we should never let one day pass by without working our hardest. and the reason is so that we will not let down our families or his grandchildren who look up to us so much. I tried out choir this week so that i could get really good seats for the devotionals every tuesday. It is fun. the conductor gave us the challenge to pray one time within the next two days and give nothing but thanks in that prayer. I challenge all you to do the same. i am writing a letter also so i can put more detail. i dont have much time with the computer. only 30 minutes so just send emails through dear elder unless it is on thursday. Did you guys drive through that big storm? It just missed the MTC but there was talk that it was supposed to be one of the biggest in a long time. there isn't much time to think in the MTC. we are never doing nothing. There is a spiritual high everywhere you are at. it is so amazing. we teach lessons and Elder Moore and I are becoming pretty good at teaching. with help from the spirit of course. if not all from the spirit. well if you get this soon you can respond and i will try to save some time and get on a bit later. Love you all so very much. tell everyone at Annies hi for me. and that i love them. remember what thanksgiving is all about and give thanks to god. dont worry about me at all because there is no other place i would want to be then here serving the Lord. I get to bring people unto god. How great is that.

Love you all so much!

Love Elder Jacob Holmes