September 25th email

So, this last week we were at dinner with an Iranian family... my companion, Elder Carlsen, was so excited and he asked before we even sat down, "So what're we having tonight?" The man looked him in the eyes with a straight face and said "camel steaks." Elder Carlsen flipped out, then the wife put a rotisserie chicken down on the table. He had us convinced!
It rained quite a bit this week, and the temperature dropped from the 80's to mid 50's and the like. It's supposed to warm up this week so fingers crossed for that!
We spent a great amount of time walking this week as well, all over. Around a sports field, and 4 miles or so down a road to a neighborhood out in the middle of nowhere! There are a few members out there who we visited (and thankfully got a ride back with).
Yesterday we spent just over 7 and a half hours at church! We cover two wards (or congregations), and both had meetings we needed to attend that morning, beginning at 7:30am... we left just after 2:40 or so I believe... or something like that!
Lastly, this week is transfer week! We get calls tomorrow night detailing what's going on. So, we might stay where we're at, one of us might go, or both of us! You never know. Thursday is when the actual transfers happen.
I hope that you've all had a great week, I'd love to hear from you!
Love you all!
-Elder Jacob Degiuli

In his email to me, he says this:

So I didn't have a rain jacket or windbreaker... a Sister in the ward (who has a connection with Elder Holland!) gave me one! She is an awesome lady. I can't stop thanking her!

I am so thankful that members are so generous and taking care of our Elder. He didn't have a rain jacket on the list of things to get, so all he took were sweaters and a big coat. Anyway, I asked him if it's been raining a lot to which he replied:

It did this last week. And we had to bike to district meeting in the rain! It was cold but awesome.

I have always loved Jacob's positive attitude toward everything. We sure love him and miss him.     

September 18th email

Hello everyone! 
So we do our emailing at the library... and for checkout to use they have laptops, and they have iPads. Well, the laptops were all out today, so I'm using an iPad! Now normally on my email, I type a group name into the recipients bar, and it selects everyone in my email list. Well, an iPad cannot do that apparently! So if you're receiving this, it means that your name stuck out above everyone else and I was able to insert you into it! ...my how lazy we are, hm?

So this week was pretty darn good! We had a zone conference, in which we received training from several other missionaries, and the mission president, and his wife. It was awesome! We learned a lot, with a great focus on teaching members, and getting them to actually talk to us!

It has cooled down a lot this week too; it's been in the mid 60's, I believe. I think it's awesome, but my companion (who is from Mesa) is really cold! He actually got out a sweater and put it on over his white shirt!

So we did some service this week as well, we went to two different homes. We helped one man, Johann, move into his part of a duplex, and then we helped an older single sister with her yard; and helped her setup a hammock!

Then, Saturday, our stake held an event... the Great Green Jello festival! It was a day of service, and then in the evening at the stake center was food and games. It was awesome, most of the stake was there! And let me tell you... that's a lot of people! Elder Carlsen and I were able to bring an investigator and his fiancé, they have lots of great questions! We were able to teach them a lesson beforehand.

Then, that same evening...something ridiculous happened. We, uh, crashed a wedding! On accident. Really! Elder Carlsen left some of his shoes in the church building, and when we went in to get them there were some ladies in the foyer who said hello to us. Then they asked us if they could give us some food. At their insistence, we went into the gym and got a plate of food, then took it home. We thanked them, but I'll be honest- I feel bad! If we had known, we would've waited and got them later! ...oh well.

Anyways, I hope that you all have a great week!

Love you all!

-Elder Jacob Degiuli 

Here are a few pictures from his Zone Conference this past Wednesday. I found out that he's in the Idaho East Zone right now. They had classes, played "Preach My Gospel Jeopardy" and had some lunch. It looks from the pictures that they had a great day!

 

September 11th email

Hello everyone!
So it was brought to my attention last week that my emails haven't been too detailed...oops! Sorry! I'll try and work on that today, and in the future!
So this week was pretty darn great! We had a lady, while we were biking on the side of the road, pull up next to us in her SUV and stop. She rolled down the window... "I'm not Mormon, but I believe!" Then she took off! The people are...interesting here; that's what I'll say about that!
I got a flat tire! It so seems that its harder to bike when you have one of those. We were riding and it was suddenly WAY harder to pedal; then we stopped to look at my bike and lo and behold my back tire was completely flat! The rim was all the way to the ground!
So while we've been here the people overall have been really nice to us. In fact, the church members here really spoil us; we've been over at their homes every single night for dinner! They're awesome. So my companion, his name is Elder Carlsen. He isn't a big eater, and last night we were at someones home. We had finished dinner, and they brought out ice cream (something similar happens almost every night... dessert isn't sounding too good any more!); 5 different tubs! They let us have our pick. Well, Elder Carlsen had eaten a lot of dinner (for him) and so he asked the woman who was scooping his ice cream "Just one scoop, please." She apparently didn't hear him... she filled his bowl! Something like 4, 5, or 6 scoops! She handed it to him, he thanked her, and then when all eyes turned to something happening away from the table he turned to me and gave me this pained look. I whispered, "You can do this!" He rolled his eyes at me, and proceeded to down the whole bowl! 3 cheers for him!
Hope you're all having a wonderful week! I'd love to hear from all of you!
Until next time!
-Elder Jacob Degiuli

I asked him if they were having a lot of smoke from the many fires in the region and this was his response:
There was a lot of smoke here just a few days ago. We didn't see the sky for about a week. And the mountains off in the distance were completely covered! Even just looking down the street was kind of hazy! But it's totally clear now, so it's all good now! The moon and sun were actually red here for a few days.

Saturday, I received a text from a member there that had them over for dinner. Here is the message and picture sent: 

Hello Sister Degiuli this is a picture of your son...we had him over for dinner today!!! 

September 5th email

Hello everyone! 

I apologize, I forgot to tell you all last week that preparation day (when I get to email you all) was moved to Tuesday this week, due to the holiday yesterday! You can expect that in the future, if any major holidays end up on a Monday.

So, this last week was great! Many different things happened- we helped park a trailer (after a lot of back and forth), weeded a yard, trimmed some plants, biked in the rain, and taught a few lessons! Its all going pretty great! I appreciate your support and would love to hear from all of you!

- Elder Jacob Degiuli

I received another text a few days ago from Brother Nielsen, the same man who sent me the text with the picture of dinner in a restaurant. The text said, 

"Hi Sister Degiuli, Here is a picture of your son in his new mission car." 

It made me laugh, but I also love seeing him sign "I love you" to me.

Jacob said they were at a potential investigators home and he loves showing off his Corvette. So Jacob got to sit in it with some cool sunglasses on. 

Looking good!