One Change Done!!

Crazy! One change is done here in Mexico! A change is
every 6 weeks! Ill be in Mante for another 6 weeks with
Elder Rubilar still, so nochanges for me!

Our zone here in Mante

This week was great! We had 2 baptsims! The spirit is so
strong at baptisms, its so great to see the joy on the faces
of those being baptized and their families! The baptismal
service was great as well! I played the Piano, which was a
fun way to add to it!  I cant wait to help more people make
this step in their lives!
I have a couple crazy stories from the past week as well!

Lupita and Angel right before their baptism!

First, we were talking with a investigator and he asked
where we were from, I told him im from michigan, and he
responded by saying Kalamazoo, I was pretty shocked and
told him yeah thats the city I'm from, he knows kalamazoo
because his ex girlfriend used to live there!
Crazy, what a small world!!
 
Our snacks here are whatever we pick off the trees!

Second crazy story, Last week I gave a talk in church! And
thats not the crazy part...the crazy part is that they told me
I was giving a talk during the sacrament hymn, so I had
about 10 minutes to worry and prepare it in spanish! It
wasnt very long but I think it was good! People could
understand me! So thats a big step for my spanish!
Overall a pretty good week, it actually got cold the past
few days, which isnt bad, but we dont have hot water, so
that part is pretty bad...
But oh well! Life is good here!
Hope you all have a great week!
With Love,
Elder Ford

Mante Week

This week was pretty crazy busy! We went to Tampico
for a couple days to have a training meeting with
President Ramierez, so that was good, we learned more
about the importance of obedience in the mission! We
also got subway and Little Ceasars....American food!
So that was a fun trip! This past week was pretty normal
for teaching, nothing too different. This week we have 2
baptisms Friday so that is really exciting! Its been great to
see the change in the lives of these 2 as they have prepared
for baptism! The gospel really does bring great joy into the
lives of any who apply it in their lives! And I challenge all
to do that! Please let me know if you have any questions
about this or want to learn more about the church!

More about the week! On saturday for lunch the member
fed us a big Chile with Cheese inside, i thought that was
unique, it was pretty good!
 
I had my first haircut in Mexico!

The weather here is getting a little cooler for winter!
Everyone is freezing here but it is great for me!
Mexico is great! And things are going great here!!

 

The Chile

Now a story to celebrate me being here for almost a whole
change (6 weeks)
No one at home knows about this, so here we go (sorry
mom) If you remember, right before I left the MTC I was
reassigned to California because I hadnt recieved my visa,
but then a couple days later I got my visa and came straight
to Mexico! The problem was the Missionary department
forgot to tell anyone that I was heading to Mexico....only me
and the airline knew this.....as a result, I got the the Airport
in Tampico and was alone, because nobody knew I was
coming to this mission....So i got to hangout at the Tampico
Airport for a couple hours, I was finally able to borrow a
phone and get a hold of the mission and they came and
rescued me! It was a interesting first day! But it was all
good! And all is great now!
I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Ford

me with Angel after his baptismal interview, he is deaf so 
the Elder who gave the interview had to write it all on the 
board! Angel´s baptism is friday!

Week 3!!!

Another week, gone! this week was good, nothing too crazy happened. Teaching lessons is getting better because my spanish is getting better! We taught alot about Joseph Smith this week and my testimony of him as a prophet and of the church keeps growing! Please everyone read his story and you can know that he was a prophet and that the church is true!
Everyday is great and pretty similar, we wake up at 630, workout and get ready and study at 8. at about 12 we start teaching, and contacting people in the street! I love it! We do thing until 9 when we head home and then go to sleep at 1030, crazy but amazing days! 

Selfie with a sheep

This week was my birthday so that was fun! we celebrated monday with cake and hamburgers! then wednesday the zone (group of Missionaries in Mante, we have 12 elders so thats fun!) got me cake which was fun! And then that night me and my comp got pizza! So a pretty great Birthday! 

my birthday!

All is great here! The gospel of Jesus Christ is true! I promise that it will add blessings to the life of all! Have a great week! I look forward to hearing from you guys each week!
thanks for all!
Elder Ford

Week 2!!

Well this week flew by! Crazy how fast it went! The food is still pretty great! This week a member made Hamburgers which was a great blessing! I also discovered the donuts here are really good..so that is not good...and they are normally 3x10 pesos (which is about 75 cents)..Luckily we work out every morning! This week was pretty great otherwise as well! We have a lot of great investigators and one has her baptism in 2 weeks! So that is exciting! Hopefully it works out great! The language is coming along, not perfectly but I feel like I
am learning more and more each day which is good! The members help out alot and are patient with me when I speak! This week a big thing that helped me with the language was remembering that a smile and laughter is universal! Everyone can understand it! Remember that this week, that no matter who anyone is, everyone understands a smile!
A couple days ago we were going to teach a new investigator, we knew she lived a long way from the rest of the city but we were not sure how far, so we started the trek down the dirt road, it ended up being maybe just over a half mile, so it shouldnt have been too bad, but we have had alot of rain, so it was pretty muddy..it made for a adventure, but when we found the investigator we were able to teach her and her children and they loved the lesson and are excited to learn more! The Lord will bless us if we persist! 

 I made some killer french toast this week

the long muddy road!

I hope you all have a great week! Mante is great!
Con amor,

Elder Ford

Week one in Mante!!

What a week! I cant believe I am here in Mexico! Its pretty crazy! Quick overview of the city, there are some main roads with somebusinesses, mainly small food businesses, then most of the community
is dirt roads with homes, there are a good amount of real homes, but also some smaller wood shacks, the weather is hot hot hot, with rain a
couple times a week so it is very muddy! The people are super nice
here! and the food is good! I havent eaten anything crazy yet, mainly
meat and some type of pasta or rice!

 this is most of Mante, lots of dirt roads, I love it!

The work here is going well, people are very receptive to the gospel,

but most miss church for various reasons! One of our great

investigators is Lupita, she has a baptismal date for November 7th!

Everytime we teach her she always cries during the closing pray

because she feels the spirit so strong! Isnt it wonderful that we can

all have the Holy Ghost comforting us in our lives!

 Picture 1: took a quick picture on one of the city roads, not a great pic sorry

        Here in Mexico the big meal of the day is lunch at 2 oclock, which has been weird to get used to, but it is a nice break in the middle of the

day!

I have learned this week that I really took for granted hot water

while showering, but I like cold showers now so thats good!

Everything Is good here! I hope all is well with all of you! I look

forward from hearing from you all next week!

Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Ford

I'm in Mexico!

Oct 14, 2013

Well Crazy few days but I am in my first area in Mexico! It is a city called Mante about 3 hours from Tampico! It seems like it will be a good place, ive been here about 2 hours and I like it so far! It is very hot here, but thats okay! My apartment is nice, we have ac which is a blessing! And I think we are on the same road as a golf course, so thats even better! 

MTC branch president and his wife with our district

My Companions name is Elder Rugillar, he is from Chile, so that will help me with my spanish a  ton! I am excited to learn more! My first 2 days in Mexico have been great! 

My trainer in an internet cafe 

Early Monday morning I flew from Salt lake to Mexico City, I had a layover in Mexico city, where I ordered subway completly in spanish,then I flew to tampico! I got to tampico at about 830 and got to the mission office at about 9! From there I went to the house where me and the other new missionaries were staying and we had little ceasers pizza and then went to bed pretty quick! The next morning we got up and had some training meeting with the mission president ( president Ramierez) which was good! Then we went to his house for lunch, which is the big meal of the day, we had some great, authentic mexican tacos, which was great! It was superspicy, but I liked it!! after that we got our companions, hung out till the night then went back to the house, and got more little ceasers pizza (I bet you are all seeing a theme, tampico missionaries love little ceasers)! then we went to bed, this morning me and my comp left on our 3 hour bus ride to Mante! the bus was nice so i just slept the trip! and now I am here! I am pretty excited to start the work and to work on my spanish! Monday will be my email day in the future weeks just to let you all know!

I am grateful to be here in Mexico to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ!

I hope you all have a great week!

With Love,

Elder Ford

Hola to all!!

Oct 7, 2015

Hope everyone has had a great week! It has been pretty good here! A little crazy, but good!

First of all travel plans have been crazy! My visa hadnt come through, so last week I found out I would be visa waiting in California! But then 2 days later I found out my visa came so Mexico here I come!! I leave on monday and fly to Mexico City then to TAMPICO!!!!!! I couldn't be more excited/nervous! But I know it will be good! I hope you all had the oppritunity to watch confrence, if not you should search it! It is powerful! The blessing of having real prophets

on the earth is amazing! And the night after confrence VocalPoint came to perform here! Look them up too! Its a acapella group from BYU!

 me and my companions with Marco! We taught him while we were
here! Love him!

I dont have much time, but I want to share one uplifting thought! Build others up! Dont knock down! It can takes years to build someone up and only seconds to knock them down! So that is a great message for all!

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Elder Ford!

Hello All!!

Sept. 30 2015

Well less than 2 weeks till i am out of the MTC, that is exciting, but pretty nerve racking as well, the MTC is great and I learn a lot, but at the same time It is a little bit repetitive so it will be great to get out to the mission field! 

Christmas Selfie

We have to find ways to stay entertained in here and this past week, because it was the 25th we celebrated Christmas, we has stockings, we made snowflakes we had a white elephant exchange and sang Christmas hymns! Pretty fun, was like a kindergarten party for a bunch of 20 year olds, but we are all kids on the inside right?? Ill send some pictures of it! 

We don't eat very healthy but thats ok.

Besides that the rest of the week was pretty normal, the other good part was on sunday our devotional was the managing director of the missionary department and

he was pretty funny, he made fun of a lot of people and it was funny, but it was also spiritual! he shared a bunch of Mormon commercials from the 90's called the home front campaign and they all had great tag lines at the end, ill share my favorite couple!

"When everything says you cant believe in the part of you that says you can!"

"Whatever you do in life, just do your best!"

Those were my two favorite! I know that they are applicabale to all of our lives! love you all! I look forward to hearing from you all!

have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ford

Week 3

Week three was pretty great! It flew by again! 

some of the highlights were, on Sunday Lloyd 

Newell, the guy who does music and the spoken 

word with the Mormon tabernacle choir (google it) 

and did a MTC and the spoken word where 

we sung and he talked about the songs we sung! 

It was a pretty cool devotional! The choir is a 

lot of fun to be in! Sadly I don't think we are 

singing in general conference but oh well!

A couple pics of my room just so you can all see 

a little bit of what its like here in the MTC!

The language is coming along well! Its crazy how 

much I have learned in the 3 weeks and I can't wait 

to learn more! 

We got tired of studying inside so we went outside to study
Then we got tired of studying at all

I'll be sending a second email 

with pictures and more telling about what 

they are! I look forward to hearing from you all!

With love,

Elder Ford

MTC Week 2

Well this week flew by! Quick summary: we are working to learn the

spanish and it come along pretty fast! we teach 3 different lessons a

week and we have 2 visits with members. The food in the MTC is the

same as BYU so it is just like a college campus cafeteria. During our

gym time we play spike ball, hard to explain, so google it if you dont

know, its alot of fun though!

Our tuesday devotional was pretty cool this week! we had the General

President of the primary come, sister Wixom, her talk was pretty

great! she said a bunch of cool things but one thing in particular was

she said that the mission is a dress rehersal for our purpose in life!

Too me that meant that we are learning how to teach our future

families and that was cool to me!

This is what happens when we miss a vocal question (wall sits)

One more cool story! In one of our member lessons the member decided

instead of us teaching him in spanish he was going to tell us a story

in english here is how it went:

"When my grandma was about 40 she didnt know how to read, but she had

always wanted to learn more and she wanted her sons to learn to read

as well, so she kept a bookcase full of books, one of those books was

a Book of Mormon she had gotten from a couple missionaries in the

past, she hadnt been able to read it so she didnt pursue the church

much more, but she wanted to find a religion so she kept that in her

mind. A couple years later her family had a house fire and because of

their hunting ammo going off in the house they were unable to stop the

fire from burning down the entire home. Later they were able to walk

through the ruins of the house and by where the bookshelf had been was

a book underneath a charred piece of wood, she walked over too it and

picked it up and it was the Book of Mormon, she clutched it close to

her and said -this book went through fire for me, and I will go

through fire for it.- And was converted to the gospel

here are me and my comps

We may not all have crazy stories about the book of mormon or the

gospel and we may not get them, but i know that it can have the same

impact on everyones life. and I challenge everyone to try reading the

book of mormon because I can promise it will have a impact on your

life as it has had on mine! ( if you dont have one and want to try let

me know and Ill make sure you get one)

its hard to learn the language but it really is great here and I am

learning so much about the language and the gospel! I love to hear

from you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ford

Made it through week one!!

Hey everyone! 

I know I forgot to put a lot of peoples emails on this list so hopefully more can be added (mom let me know) and second: a fair warning my typing will be full of lots of errors so lo siestas.

(My district at the temple.)

But now my week! It has felt like I have been here for a long time, but at the same time I feel like I just got here! Its been crazy. We have learned so much spanish in just a single week, we taught our first lesson the second full day here and have taught 3 more since, in just spanish! The spirit really helps out with the language! We have also had great devotionals! We listened to the MTC Presidency talk which was good, but the better one was tuesday night when Bishop Causse of the Presiding Bishopbric came, his talk was good, but the best part was at the end of his talk he played  the most amazing arrangement of come come ye saints that I have ever heard! It was so great! I also sang in the Choir for that devo. which was pretty cool, even though the choir is basically all of the missionaries! 

(we made paper people because we get bored easy(mine is far right) )

Once I figure out my schedule more I will be able to write longer emails, so sorry this one is short! 

I would love to hear from each of you individually if you want to email me! 

 and If you really want to make me happy i wouldnt be mad with a letter or a package ;) 

My address here is 

Elder Jacob Myron Ford 

OCT12 MEX-TAMP 

2011 N 900 E Unit 208

Provo UT 84602

I love you all! 

Take care! 

Elder Ford