August 28th email

Hello everyone! Hope everything is well with you all! 

So, this last week was pretty great overall! My missionary companion and I were looking over a map of the area that we cover, and we discovered something... there's a little town called Regina at the very bottom, literally on the border! We went and visited it a few days ago; it's an interesting mix of trailer homes and huge, fancy houses. We met some fun, interesting characters while we were down there. Some people talked to us, some didn't. But it was all good!

Then, just yesterday, we were walking back to our apartment, and we started talking to a man. He was interested in our message right away, we're planning on meeting with him here in a few days again!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! I'd love to hear from you!

-Elder Jacob Degiuli

 

In Boise, they were able to experience the full solar eclipse last week. Jacob doesn't have a great camera, but here are two of the pictures he took. Still pretty neat!

 

I also wanted to make Jacob a bookmark of his Priesthood Line of Authority because I think it's pretty neat to be able to look back at that line. I was able to get that done this last week so I can mail it to him.  I hope he likes it!

 

 

August 21st email

Hello everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I did in fact survive my flight to Boise! I've been here almost a week now, and it has been awesome. I'm on a bike moving around, which has actually been a huge blessing in many ways. One of the biggest though would have to be the bike itself- I was able to find one for free from another missionary in the area who was leaving, and it's actually in pretty great condition!

Every single night here we have a dinner appointment; the members are all awesome here. Yesterday my companion and I were at church, for 5 hours! ...We actually left an hour early... (shh)

And, lastly, my companion! His name is Elder Carlsen and he's been here in Idaho for about 10 months on his mission. He's quite knowledgeable and I'm grateful that he is the one to show me around.

I'll have some pictures for you all next week!

Hope to hear from you all! Have a wonderful day, and an even better week!

Love you guys,

Elder Jacob Degiuli

 

 

I received a text Saturday evening from a family who took the two out to dinner. It was so fun to receive that text. Here is the picture. Notice Jacob signing "I love you". Be still my heart.

 

 

 

August 16th: Arrival in Boise Idaho!

Today, I received an email from the Mission President and his wife. It was so nice to see some pictures of the young men and women who arrived. They got 29 new missionaries! Wow!

Dear Missionary Parents,

How thrilled Sister Bartlett and I were to greet your son and to welcome him as a full-time missionary in the Idaho Boise Mission.  What a blessing it will be to our mission to have him serving here to the assigned field of labor.

After arriving at the mission office and conducting a brief orientation of the mission, I had the opportunity of interviewing your son in an effort to become better acquainted with him and to feel of his spirit.  As a result of this interview, I felt impressed to assign your son, as a companion, to one of the most obedient, most skilled, and hardest working missionary in the mission.  You can be assured that this companion is one of our mission’s very best.  His trainer is Elder Carlson, and they are currently serving in Boise.

We are confident that your son will have a very positive experience while serving in the Idaho Boise Mission.  We know he will strengthen his skills, increase his knowledge and testimony of the gospel, and establish an increased measure of love for all of our Heavenly Father’s children he will assist in teaching.

We have attached  pictures of your missionary with Sister Bartlett and myself, also one with his trainer.

May the Lord’s choicest blessings be with you as you sustain your son and pray for his continued welfare.

Faithfully yours,

President Randall D. Bartlett

Idaho Boise Mission

So he'll be staying in Boise with Elder Carlsen. I was also able to find a few pictures from a Facebook post this afternoon. They are all smiles!

What a great way to end my day. 

 

 

August 15th email

Good morning everyone! The past few days have been kind of crazy. More than half of my group have left for their missions this morning. We were up until midnight helping them, and then up again at 3 am to see them off! Fortunately I won't be doing that when I leave for Boise. I leave the MTC tomorrow morning at 6:20, so not quite as bad!

We spent the last few days here in a frantic, last minute rush to get a lot done. It all started on Friday, when we had an orientation that took place from 8 am until 5:30 pm... I'll spare you all the details of it. There wasn't anything major that happened next until Sunday evening, where M. Russell Ballard came an spoke during our Sunday devotional! (For those of you who don't know, he's a major church leader.)

I hope you all have a wonderful day, I look forward to hearing from you!

-Elder Jacob Degiuli

We are excited for him to be going to Idaho!
I received this great picture in my email from another missionary at the MTC. 

I love it! Cousins!!!

I am also part of a group that has helped me a lot with many things pertaining to Jacob going on a mission. He has participated in the choir there at the MTC and he loves it. He has a love for music which makes me so happy as you can imagine. The choir director there sent a message out last Sunday so I took pictures of it since I wanted Jacob to be able to read what he wrote later. It was too big to fit in one screen, so it's in two. Enjoy his message! We are so proud of the many missionaries who have chosen to serve the Lord!

 

August 8th email

Hi everyone! This past week has been absolutely crazy and nonstop. I wake up at 6:15 in the morning, eat, go to class, exercise, do some teaching, then more class- and even more than that.

On Sunday evenings we have a devotional where a speaker comes and talks to everyone. I don't really remember who it was who came this Sunday but they are a well known musician. After the devotionals we have a choice of movies to watch, so many play in so many different areas that you couldn't possibly see them all.

So one of them is a talk given by David A. Bednar, a leader in the church. It's called the Character of Christ and is nothing short of awesome. Everyone had to watch it, and after it was done, he came in person! He had about an hour session where he answered questions from the audience and talked.

I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you and thank you all for your support!

Have a wonderful day!

-Elder Jacob Degiuli

 

 

This is my district. Some of us are going to Boise, others to Tempe, and the Sisters are going to Seattle.
 

 Here he is with his friend Charley. They were in the Mission Prep classes together in our Stake.
And he sent me a picture of him wearing a shirt that he bought in the shop there. I love it!

August 1st email

Hello!

So, I've been here at the MTC (or Missionary Training Center) for just about a week now. I flew here from the Phoenix airport to the Salt Lake airport and it was quite the experience! I've flown twice before and I don't remember it. But everything went off without any problems and now here I am, letting you know that I'm still alive! 

I appreciate each and every one of you and am thankful for your support while I'm away.

Please do let me know if any of you have questions, I'm happy to answer them!

Love you all!

-Elder Jacob Degiuli

 

In an email just sent to me, he says this:

  I'm with the BEST district ever! They're absolutely awesome. I've also sewed a button back onto someone's suit jacket, we've done laundry, and my companion here in the MTC is our district leader. He's from Gilbert! Then one of the sisters in the district is from Phoenix (she went to GCC!) and another Elder is from Queen Creek! This has been one of the most spiritual experiences I've had and it's been fantastic. I'm loving it!

This is my companion. His name is Elder Thompson, and he's
from Gilbert! He was a part of the blue shirts during the Gilbert
Temple Cultural Celebration. He's our district leader and is
absolutely awesome. He and I work pretty well together during our
studies, and while teaching. I'm glad to call him my companion!

A few days later, my sister-in-law was touring the new MTC and her daughter saw Jacob sitting in the courtyard with a group of other missionaries, so she snapped a picture from afar and sent it to me. I loved getting that text! He is on the right side and if you look, you can see that he saw them and gave them a nice big grin.

Getting ready to go

Jacob decided to serve a mission for our church a few years ago. After high school graduation, he completed the first year of community college and worked. He felt that the time came and he submitted his papers in April. He got his package in the mail at the end of June and he was assigned to serve in the Idaho Boise Mission! Plans were made to go to the Temple, clothes and many other things were bought and the preparations were underway. He was reporting to the Missionary Training Center in 30 days!

July was a blur getting him ready to go and he left for the MTC on Wednesday, July 26th. 

He was greeted at the Salt Lake City airport by an uncle, aunts and cousins. He loved visiting with them and having some lunch before they dropped him off at the MTC.