Missionary Movers and Multipliers

So this week has been pretty normal for the most part. We visited a lot of families and investigators. We didn't ride bikes because my companion broke his and we are waiting for his new bike to arrive. Don’t worry my bike is doing fine. We bought a lot of food today so we should be good for 2 weeks haha. Last Sunday me and my companion had to do a role play in front of the whole ward and teach them how to invite friends to church activities. I was really nervous but we did really good and the members enjoyed it.

This Thursday I had my 1st zone conference and it was really cool, I got to meet my old MTC friend Elder Grange and we hung out and learned a lot of stuff. One thing our Mission President said that I thought was important was that all great leaders are Multipliers...which means that they lift others around them and help them reach there full potential. At the end the conference they asked me to bear my testimony so I did a quick one. My companion liked it a lot because I only said things that "I know" to be true and he said that’s all a testimony should be and not to talk about things your grateful for. It’s ok to do that but that’s not the point of it. So that’s something interesting I learned.

I forgot to bring my camera to upload pictures but I promise that I will bring it next Monday. I hope everyone is doing good and I always say a pray for you guys every night. Before I forget…. as me and my companion were out biking we saw some people who needed some help moving their furniture into a truck so we stopped and gave them a hand. The family wanted to give us money but we declined and said we just serve people for free because we love them. So I want to thank you for bringing me every Saturday morning to help members in the church move. Even though I didn't want to most of the time, I'm glad you did and thank you again for showing me the importance of doing service for your fellow man (when you are in the service of your fellow men you are in the service of your god) I know don't say this a lot but I love you dad and I'm so thankful for everything you have taught me and I can't wait to talk to you again.
Love,
Elder Jacob DeMarco

Life Saver

This week has been pretty sweet...we are doing this program called "ATM" which stands for Awake The Members. Basically we go to members houses and invite to pray to heavenly father and ask him if there is anyone he as prepared for you to invite to come unto christ. We talked to 11 families so far and we have alot more to go. We finally got some rain this friday and i was riding in it for about 2 hours...that was fun. By the way the following is my new mission address so if anbody wants to send me mail you have to use this one.(it's the one posted on the right)

Our mission president gave us a challenge on thrusday, he gave us a "life saver" piece of candy and told us to put it in our mouth before we said our personal prayer at night and to only pray for things you are grateful for and you can stop until the life saver dissolves. Also you can't chew it, so we did it and it took me about 11 mins to say my gratitude pray and it made me think of the things I am truly grateful in life and have greater appreciation. often when we say our prayers we generalize it by saying " I thank thee for this day" or "I thank thee for the blessings I've recieved" so its good to be speicific for the things you are truly grateful for.

Other than that this week was normal. We visited alot of investigators, we are getting the members here excited to do missionary work and we are always fed everynight by members which is awesome. My companion Elder F. (we aren't supposed to put Elders or new converts name in our blog post so just gave first initial) said he wants an "I love new york" t-shirt and a "new york yankees" hat so im going to find out what size he is and tell you later but if you, grandma or mom could get that and send it here i would be very grateful for that. Grandma said you were sick so i hope you feel better soon. I got to go play some basketball but tell everyone that love them. Also tell Kelly and Nicole that Elder Gagne and Elder Blanchard can email me but i can't email them back so i will have to write letters to them.

Love,
Elder Jacob DeMarco,

Jacob finishes his first week in Fresno

Im going to tell you a little about my Mission President and my new companion Elder FisiHoi.
President Gelwix:
he said the fresno california is the highest baptism mission in north america, last year they had around 900 baptisms and he said that this year our goal is 1,200. so that means each companion has to baptise at least 1 person per month.
he use to be a famous Rugby coach and there was a movie written about him called "Forever Strong" you should watch it if you can and then send it to me so i can watch it.
our motto is " no regrets" and our theme is "we baptize"
Elder FisiHio
he is from New Zealand
he played Rugby in highschool and so he is a pretty big guy
he has 8 other siblings
he likes to play guitar and has the voice of an angel
we got along very very very well
so the church as just started this 12 week program that makes a greenie into a trainer in 12 weeks. so im in the program and by the end of it im probably going to start to train a brand new missionary that just came out of the MTC.

My first day I had to start knocking on doors and talk to random people about the gospel. The first couple minutes werI hard and then i got use to it. I live in a house with just me and my companion...we have our own, washer/dryer, dishwasher, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and a good sized study area. Everyday im learning something new and the members here treat missionaries like kings, I am in the Peachwood ward and everynight a family has us over for dinner and the members are always asking if we need help with anything. There are about 400 members in the Peachwood ward. I got my bike the day I came out here and it works perfectly fine and I use it everyday. Don't worry I will write to Daniel.

Today I went to walmart and printed out 40 pictures from my camera and I'm going to mail them to you. On top of the debit card you gave me the church gave me another debit card and it gets $130.00 each month for food,hygiene and clothes. Any money that i dont use on that month gets transferd to the next month.

love,
Elder Jacob DeMarco

Jacob Arrives in Fesno

I just wanted to let you know i'm in Fresno California right now and i met my Mission President at the aiport. the 1st thing we did was start to walk door to door and talk about the gospel. it was hard at first but im getting the hang of it. i got to go but i wanted to say i love you and i will email you again on monday.
Love
Elder Jacob DeMarco

I've Finally met someone from NEW YORK!

So I'm going to the medical office today and I'm going to talk to them about my shots and the dates you just gave me. I've finally met someone who is from New York his name is Elder Rowley and he is from Oswego and he is a pretty chill guy and likes the same type of music as me. I guess he knows Mike Ahern and his family from before they left Rochester and moved to Saratoga. His father received Mikes older brother Nicks wedding invitation. Anyways...yesterday our Branch President Palmer gave us an amazing departure talk and expressed the importance of working hard and enjoying life, he said a lot of great things but I don't have enough room to write it all haha. Other than that nothing new happened. Don't worry I'm writing down my friends email address and the phone number so I can talk to them after the mission. My best friend here is elder Grange he is from Utah and he is going with me to Fresno, we have a lot in common and we want to hangout more after the mission is over. I want to go to school in Utah after my mission and go to UVU (Utah Valley University) he said he is going there too and he said if I can't find a place to stay or a job that I could live with him and his dad could help me find a job which I thought was pretty cool but I'm not going to worry about that right now.
I got a little rip in my pants pocket so when I go to Fresno I'm going to try and get it fixed but I might just try sewing it because it isn't that bad. so I'm going to call you, mom, and grandma this coming Wednesday when I get to the airport. I only get 20 minutes so its going to be a quick call. I'm going to write a letter soon to the Gagnes and Blanchard's but I need there address. Tell Kelly and Nicole that when I meet my Mission President on Wednesday I'm going to ask him if I can email Brian and Aaron. Tell grandma thank you so much for letters and I got a letter from Mike,Dan, and mikes brother nick so it made my day.also tell grandma I'm sorry for not writing to her as much, its because I'm usually busy but I sent a letter for her so she should get it soon. tell josh,Joey,James,Tyler,ralphie,grandma, Bruce, aunt Joan and mom that I miss them and love them and of coarse I love you very much too dad.
Love,
Elder Jacob DeMarco

Jacob and his own Mr.Miyagi

So far the MTC has been pretty sweet, when i'm not studying crazy hard I'm hanging out with Elder Grange and Elder Wilson playing basketball and other games. A couple days ago we had to teach a Japanese guy named Junichi at first my companion was trying to teach him the gospel but i knew that all he wanted was to just talk so thats what i did. My companion was frustrated because he wanted to teach him except the guy didn't want to learn about the church yet and just wanted to get to know each other. After the lesson i told my companion that you should first get to know the person you are teaching and get to know there needs and concerns about life instead just making him listen to us. yesterday we had to try and teach Junichi again and this time he was willing to listen to what we had to say and he seems little bit interested in the church (by the way Junichi is just a pretend investigator to help us practice). I called Junichi my Mr.Miyagi because just like in the movie "the karate kid" the boy wanted to learn karate and dive right into but his karate master Mr.Miyagi told him to do "the wax on wax off" technique and the boy was frustrated because he wasn't learning karate but in acutality he was teaching the boy the basics and the boy just didn't know it yet. thats what i thought when me and my companion were trying to teach him, he taught us that its important get to know your investigator and become great friends with them and that will help when you try to teach them because they will be more willing to listen to you. other than that my days have been normal, I have gym everyday for an hour and me and my district play alot of basketball.

when I woke up today I had a stuffy nose and I started to cough so i took some medicine and now im doing fine, hopefully this will go away soon. tonight me and Elder Grange are going to pull a prank on the new Elders and make there alarm clock go off at 3 am haha, i will tell you how that turns out. I leave around 9am from salt lake to fresno and I should be getting there around 11am and so I will try and call you and mom when I get to the aiport. I got to go my time is almost up. tell everyone that I love them very much and miss them. 

Love,
Elder Jacob DeMarco