New Companion :) New Opportunities

It was a surprise to get this email today, since it's not Monday, nevertheless it's always great to hear from our missionary.  He doesn't say it in his letter, but it sounds like he is the A.P. now.  For those of you who don't know a lot about missionaries, A.P. means he is the Assistant to the President of the Mission.  So, he and his new companion, along with the Mission President, will be in charge of their whole mission.  He sounds excited about his new assignment.  Thanks for all your love and support to our missionaries! ~Elder Remington's Mother

Family and Friends,

Elder Remington and Elder Magill

My new companion is Elder Magill :) We've been good buds for a long time and we always talked about how sweet it would be to some day be companions... that day has come. For those of you who have been paying attention, you know what that means. He is truly a great friend and a wonderful example of Christlike love, obedience, happiness, diligence in the Lord´s work, and he has a positive attitude that's contagious. We're very similar in our way of doing things and we work really well together. I'm excited to learn a lot from him and work hard together. Most of all it is truly a privilege to be able to work so closely with President Amaya and get to know him super well. We've had some long car rides with him while going to visit some of the zones and the conversations are super intense :) I've always known that he was a very wise and inspired man of God but I never knew how much he really loves us all. Now that I get to work with him regularly and I see all that he does for us I have a much deeper appreciation for him and I'm grateful to the Lord for blessing us with such a wonderful mission president. He truly is inspired of God and I know that I have a ton to learn from him. I'm excited for the opportunity to learn and grow even more. 

One of my favorite things about my new assignment is that we have the chance to visit all the zones and work directly with the missionaries and help them out in their sectors working with them and teaching with them. Also when we travel with President Amaya we get to have little meetings with all of them and review their area book and daily planners to give some feedback and encouragement. Since the first review we did together, Elder Magill and I are always on the same page and really feed off each other in helping them improve and motivating them at the same time. It's amazing how the Spirit directs this work. On Monday our first day together I had an impression that we need to go visit zone Duran South and Elder Magill felt that we needed to go to Duran North. Before we had the chance to plan with President where we had thought of visiting he called us and said that he wanted us to join him to visit Duran North... and then the next day he said we should go to Duran South :) we were all on the same page. While we were we saw several situations of missionaries who really needed our help and we were able to make a difference. 

At BYU with over 30,000 students, Elder Magill and I just so happened to have two classes together and got to be great friends. With over 400 missions in the entire world that we could've been called to, we just so happened to be called to the exact same mission. Of all the dates that we could've been assigned to for entering the mtc, we just so happened to be assigned to enter the MTC on the exact same day. And in a mission with a little less than 200 missionaries, we just so happened to be called to be companions. I really doubt that all of that is coincidence and I'm quite sure that the Lord had His hand in it all and that he and I have a great work to do here in Ecuador Guayquil North Mission. He told me that while they were making transfers with President Amaya he had a neat experience. Right as President moved my name next to Elder Magill to be companions he felt a calm assurance and joy that it was the right thing. I too have felt confirmations of the Spirit that this is inspired of God and I'm not sure what the Lord has planned for us to accomplish but I'm excited to get to work and find out. 

Love, 

Elder Remington

Jacoby's 3rd letter

Hello family and friends :) Hope you're all doing great!

First of all I want to say thank you very much to everyone that has sent me letters and packages I've really appreciated hearing from all of you and I loved all the food that I received. Haha, my district especially loved the cinnamon rolls! I'm sorry that I haven't written anyone back yet we don't have very much spare time here but I will be sure to write you all back asap! A LOT has happened this week both good and bad but of course mostly good :)

I'll start off with the bad and finish with the good. Lots of missionaries here do not belong here. Plain and simple. It's sad but true. The other day I went to get a drink of water with my companion during study time and I was alarmed to see that a lot of the other "servants of the Lord" who are set apart as missionaries were just goofing off and not working at all. I saw some playing hangman, just laughing and being disruptive, elders and sisters flirting and being stupid, and many other pathetic things! It's absolutely unbelievable! For all the future missionaries reading this, study time is the Lord's time, it is sacred. When you waste that sacred study time that the Lord has blessed you with to better prepare to serve God's children you are robbing your Heavenly Father because you are wasting HIS time. DO NOT. I repeat, DO NOT be like any of these disgraceful elders or sisters. Be a valiant and honorable servant of the Lord. Work hard. When you study as hard as you can and give your best effort learning as much as you possibly can then the Lord will bless you with guidance, strength, and most importantly with the Holy Ghost when you'll need it in teaching situations. Work hard and the Lord will protect you. Slack off and you have no promise. It's that simple.

Anyway, enough of that! This entire week was very uplifting in many ways :) I really learned and grew a lot! I'm very blessed to have a companion that likes to work hard and study hard like me so we've been kicking some serious butt here! One of the spiritual experiences that stood out to me most was when we were teaching the 3rd lesson the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we both bore testimony of the power of repentance and the cleansing power of baptism. The spirit was so thick we could've cut it with a knife it was incredible. We all felt a deep peace and we couldn't stop smiling. The Holy Ghost really confirmed to me the truthfulness of this message. Our teacher then gave us some great advice. He said to remember how we feel right now and never forget that as long as we bring the Spirit into the lessons and as long as we feel the Spirit then we're doing our duty and regardless of how the investigators respond (they have their agency) we can know that God is pleased with us and we're doing the right thing. I know that as I keep that in mind, I will be able to get through rough times in my mission as I just continue to do my part.

I'd like to share with you all my testimony of the Restoration. When we taught this week about the First Vision I felt the Holy Ghost bear witness to all of us with absolute certainty that Joseph Smith did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Through the prophet Joseph Smith, the fulness of Christ's true gospel was restored to the earth and we are so blessed to have that knowledge in our lives. If there are any of you who have your doubts or who aren't as certain about Joseph Smith. I promise you all that if you will read the Joseph Smith History, ponder, and pray with a sincere heart and with real intent (meaning you will act on whatever answer you receive) you will know for yourself that Joseph Smith was God's true prophet and he did translate the Book of Mormon by the power of God and he did restore the true church of Jesus Christ. I bear you my witness of these things.

Also I want everyone to read Helaman 5:12 and think about how we can all make Jesus Christ the foundation of our lives. If we put Jesus Christ at the center of our lives then our testimonies will always be unshakable. I love you all and I'm excited to be going to Ecuador this Monday! This is God's true church and it blesses lives so lets all look for more ways that we can share it :)

Love,
Elder Remington

Jacoby's 2nd email

Hello everyone!

So there's been quite a few changes here for me. On Monday we were studying Spanish in my intermediate level class and then one of the Spanish mtc workers came in to see if any of us needed any help. I started just chatting with him in Spanish about how his day was and what not and then after a few minutes of talking he just gave me a funny look and said "Elder we need to get you out of this class you already know all this stuff!" I was a little surprised but said ok sounds good to me so then he took me to the head language department and they gave me a little test there to see if I was ready to be in the advanced class (where native speakers go for only three weeks) after chatting for a few minutes they all agreed that I should go to an advanced class. So thank you thank you again to my Spanish teachers and above all thanks to the Lord :) cause now I've been in the advanced class all this week and I'll get to be out in the mission field in Ecuador in less than a week! My flight is next Monday May the 21st and I'll be in Ecuador Guayaquil preaching the gospel for real! I'm thrilled!

Elder Remington & Elder Jarquin

I really liked my other district and zone and companion so at first when I was switching it was kind of a bitter sweet moment but I said a little prayer in my heart when they asked me if I wanted to move up to the advanced class or not and I definitely feel that this is what's right for me and it's what the Lord needs me to do. My learning rate has greatly accelerated in the advanced class and I've been able to fit right in. I love every member of our district, especially my companion. His name is Elder Jarquin and he is hilarious! He is also very good about helping me with any Spanish words that I don't know. He is very patient and he´s fluent in Spanish but doesn't quite know the lessons or the gospel material as well so we complement each other and make a great team because he helps me with Spanish and I can help him with how to teach gospel concepts and what not. It's great! Then there's Elder Zamudio and Elder Zepeda, they are in my district as well and they're both super funny and very passionate about the gospel. The other members of the district are Elder Clark, Elder Meriles, Hermana Garcia, and Hermana Johnson The great thing about our district is that everyone knows how to have a good time and we all get along well and more importantly we all have strong testimonies and we all work hard :) it's awesome!

In conclusion, there have been lots of changes but all good changes and although it's been rather tough at times to keep up with all these native speakers I've been putting my trust in the Lord and working my hardest and the Lord has truly blessed me. I'm able to understand about 90% of everything they say and I can almost always communicate whatever I want to say. That's in large part because I've learned how to get around not knowing words. For example, if I don't know how to say the word bridge then I'll just say the clothes you sleep in (ropa de dormir). Stuff like that has helped me out a ton and what's great is then they'll tell me what the actual word is after I explain it so I learn more while still getting across the point. I don't know if that made sense to everyone but I'm guessing those who have learned another language know what I mean. lol. like I'm sure Uncle Ron knows exactly what I'm talking about. Anyway if you are learning a language its a technique I would recommend using and also just remember that usually you know a lot more than you think you do so just don't be scared to try and be brave about it!

Oh and last thing I wanted to share was a cool experience with one of our practice investigators. She told us how she was struggling with a bunch of little things in her life and we shared Alma 37:6-7 and you could tell she was really touched by it she said that was exactly what she needed to hear at that point. And I just want to testify to all of you reading this that you should read that scripture and apply it to your life because it truly is the little things like prayer, scripture reading, and acts of service that make a huge difference in our lives!

God bless you all!

Love,
Elder Remington

Jacoby's first letter

Hello family and friends :)

Elder Remington pointing to Ecuador

WOW!! The mtc is amazing! I absolutely love it here! It was such a surreal experience coming in on the first day and getting a name tag that said Elder Remington. I had a HUGE grin on my face and could not stop smiling the entire day and I've been super happy this entire week. This truly has been the best and happiest week of my life :) I love learning the doctrine of Jesus Christ and I love learning Spanish so its the perfect place to be for me. And dad you are totally right that there is no feeling like knowing that I'm at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. It is such a peaceful and assuring feeling that I love. On the first day we sang "We'll bring the World His Truth" (the Army of Helaman one) and they changed the lyrics to say "and we are NOW the Lord's missionaries." I loved singing that and of course after that we sang "Called to serve" and we sang it like 10 times faster than we did in Sacrament meeting it was awesome! For all you future missionaries out there reading this, don't believe anyone if they tell you that the mtc is boring. The mtc is what you make of it. I've heard elders say that this place is awful and the worst place they've ever been stuck in and there are other elders who just love it and are having an incredible experience. YOU get to decide what you want the mtc to be for YOU. If you work hard, pray hard, and trust in the Lord you will love it :)

I'm so so grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with wonderful spanish teachers in high school. Mom and dad thank you for encouraging me to do IB and supporting me while in it. Although it was very challenging it was totally worth it because I'm kicking some serious butt here with the spanish and with studying hard because I'm used to it. I can understand everything my teacher says aside from one or two words here and there and then I just figure it out based on the context or politely ask "Que significa esa palabra?" and she tells me so its awesome. I feel bad for the other elders here because a lot of them are really struggling so I'm doing my best to help them out :) Jessica please do me a favor and go tell Senora Hallack and Lacasta that I said muchas gracias for being such great teachers. Tell them both that they did a fantastic job preparing me and that I'm far ahead of all the other elders here in the intermediate class in large part thanks to them but above all thanks to the Lord for blessing me. I just want to reemphasize what I said in my talk that whenever you work your hardest, obey the rules, and trust in the Lord you will be blessed and you can't go wrong :)

Elder Remington & Elder Jacobsen

Okay so my companion is Elder Jacobsen. He is a wonderful missionary and a great friend. He's really easy going, funny, works hard, likes basketball, and we have a great relationship. When he was praying today he thanked the Lord for our companionship that we could each emulate one another strengths and help each other with our weaknesses. He truly is a great missionary and I'm blessed to have him as a companion. I know that companionships are inspired of God because we really work well together. He isn't very good at spanish... at all frankly. The poor elder just struggles with it and he barely understands anything that teacher says so he's constantly asking me whats going on. But you know what, I'm okay with that :) I'm happy to help him out and he's definitely come a long way these past couple days becasue he works really hard and he has great faith that the Lord will help him. I'd much rather have a companion that can't speak spanish but works hard than one who knows spanish but is arrogant or lazy. So I'm grateful to the Lord for putting him in my life. The other two elders in our room are Elder Baker and Elder Jarvis. Those two are complete opposites. Elder Jarvis is buff, loves sports, loves to joke, and is a really chill guy but he doesn't know spanish well either. Elder Baker loves to sing, plays every instrument known to man, and he knows spanish really well. However, the wonderful thing about those two is that despite their differences, they get along great because they both work hard and they're both committed to serving the Lord. Their companionship has taught me that as long as you have that in common (you both love the Lord and have a strong desire to serve) then you can get along great with any companion :) Last member of our district is Hermana Harbison. She is super nice, very spiritual, works hard, has a good sense of humor, so its easy to be just friends and work well with her :) Well I gotta go but I sure love you all and mom I really appreciated your letter and email :) They meant a lot to me!

Love,
Elder Remington