Letter to Aliese received December 24, 2010

Liesey,

Thanksgiving really to be honest was wonderful. A Tongan sister in the ward gave a "lunch" (we could have taken "lunch" and fed Croatia). Then we had "dinner" scheduled at 2 PM with a family who is known in the entire stake for being amazing cooks. So dinner was really built high up on a pedestal. Anyway, they totally delivered! It was amazing, SUPER fatty though we did not have a Kosher Thanksgiving in their home. Anyway, I did get a bit of weight from that, but my belly isn't much bigger, so I'm cool with it. :) Having a bike area helps burn the calories, and bring my leg muscles back. I'm proud to report that my legs are almost as big as they were in high school and for sure bigger than from before the knee surgery. I am slightly worried though 'cause like I said, I don't see my belly bigger, but nothing else is really bigger either...Yet now I weight 180 lbs. Maybe my "Freshman 15" just came late. :)

Thanksgiving at home sounds like it was loads of fun, the whole weekend sounded fun really, I wish I could have gone up and cut trees. I'm sorry the drive home was less than safe, that would have been quite the car ride. A 12 ft. tree, eh? Well with that only being $10, it sounds like you came out almost even with the broken windshield. Just for fun, Elder James and I looked at a Christmas tree lot. A 5 ft. tree cost $80, unless you wanted a crappy one; they were $60. Needless to say, we are using a 2 ft. fake tree. :)

Glad to hear you are super excited to graduate with you Master's, but even happier to hear that you will be putting the name to good use. Your decoration story sounds uber-funny. Your bunny has done quite a few interesting things it seems. I'm glad to hear you chose to rear your children in the gospel. :) We actually use the "Peanuts Christmas" thing for spiritual thought at dinners we read the scripture and then I say, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown," and we walk away.

Well, that's all for now...except the fact that I sang " O, Holy Night" in sacrament meeting yesterday. I made people cry...they wouldn't tell me why though. ;) I guess I sung it badly. I also got a baptismal date with an investigator last Saturday. He is scheduled for January 15, 2011, so I am excited for that.

Sorry that you don't get this 'til you go to Mom's house, I didn't know when you were going up there or coming back, so I just figured I'd send it early.

Love ya. Miss ya. Merry Christmas. 19 months.

Elder Jacob S. Chipman

Letter to Aliese--Received December 16, 2010

Aliese,

So...I got your package...took the hint...here is your letter. :) I did notice I've been lax on writing letters weekly to the sisters, so I'll work on that.

Not much has change here in San Jose. We have some investigators progressing nicely but no one has baptismal dates, people are LOADS nicer during the holidays though. I gained a bit of weight on Thanksgiving which is no beuno 'cause I know that the second I'm not in a biking area, I won't be able to work it off, HaHa! Oh well, I'll get fit again after the mission (so I can catch me a wife with my stellar swimmer's body)! :) Totally kidding, not going to even worry about that.

Well Christmas is coming, but so is the end of the transfer, so I may not get to stay here for the Christmas/New Year. But I won't find that out for another week. I hope Elder James and I get to stay here though; we are having loads of fun and getting lots of work done.

Thanks for all the snacks in the package. I ate one of the Mac & Cheeses already and went to town on the rest of the snacks. I'm also pretty excited to see what you, Darrin, Santa, and then the entire country of Belgium got me for Christmas. :)

Oddly enough, the Christmas Season has not made me feel trunky at all. Things are going well, to be honest, I thought I'd take it harder. I do miss watching Polar Express with the family and all the other Christmas movies too.

I bet as the season goes by, I'll start to miss all the traditions, I felt way bad when mom told me the hassle she went through for the three this year for her and grandma's. She had apparently really messed up her back, so that would have been nice to prevent.

So my companion and I have been asked to sing in sacrament the Sunday before Christmas...We were asked to sing "O Holy Night"...I'm a freaking bass; and I haven't sung for soooo long. I sound like garbage. Maybe I'll give one of our practices a recording for the family or something, I dunno.

Well, that's all that's new for now, hope you enjoyed this randomly scrambled together letter. Hope to hear from you soon. Love you, miss you. Don't worry, be happy. Don't eat yellow snow.

Merry Christmas,

Elder Jacob S. Chipman

Build a man a fire, keep him warm for a day...Light a man on fire, chances are he'll stay warm for the remainder of his life...GERMAN PROVERB...okay, not really. That was mean.

Letter to Aliese--Received December 9, 2010

Liesey

Hey sister how are you? I realize that it has been quite awhile since I've written. That is because of two things: 1) Not much has really gone on since I've last written and 2) I've been doing the equivalent of "busy-work" for missionary work i.e. tracting...AKA pretty useless. :) anyway, I don't know if you had heard, but I'm in a new area now and serving with an Elder I was in the MTC with. Things have gone really well so far, in fact, we are about the only area in my zone that had been consistently hitting our level of expectations so that's pretty awesome considering he and I have only been out four months.

Sounds like you have been quite busy as well. I hope things aren't too stressful for you. Making candy canes and watching Christmas movies is probably a way good stress release.

Sorry my letters seem like kind of a bummer now and then, things really are going well on the mission so far, it's just as I write. It's like my own stress release where I can just purge everything that's been on my mind, so sometimes I'll ramble on and on about the negative. But just like everything else in life, the Lord blesses us immensely more for the work we put into it. So no worries, all is well.

Once again though, there is not much to report on. We are teaching some great people and the people of the area are much nicer to us around the holidays, so that's been a plus lately.

Well, hope all is well, and that your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Happy Holidays! Have fun with it, make sure people aren't bummed on Christmas or missing me. :)

Love you lots, miss you too.

Love,

Elder Jacob S. Chipman

My Last Day At The MTC

My District at the Provo Temple

The MTC Sign Is Missing!

Sorry about the long blogging haitus. The Kays (my husband and I) were sick for a long while. Here is a sneak peak into what is to come...many more pictures from the MTC and the early weeks in California!

Letter to Aliese--Received November 5, 2010

Liesey

Hey Sister, it's good to hear form you, it indeed has been quite a while since an exchange of letters, but we both have been rather busy.

Europe sounds like it was flat out awesome!!! Very cool experience, it sounds like diamond dealers don't mess around. The food sounds great, Fritz sound like the most fatty, wonderful food there is. I have recently found the glory that is Nutella as well. I have them with Nilla wafers though. I can't believe you met all these crazy rich people and had all that awesome-tasting food, that's crazy that dinners are a two-hour minimum too. I'm also excited to see the pictures of giant diamonds too cool for museums.

Idar-Oberstein sounds super weird though...no Internet,, and living in a hotel from "The Shining" and skeleton keys, etc. That would have freaked me out; I would have not been able to sleep the whole time...of course I would not have stayed there in the first place. The old school cut and polish factory sounds cool though. Congrats on being the best by the way. Mommy probably won't be too happy you attended Oktoberfest though. :)

Anyway, the trip as a whole sounds like it was a lot of fun, and quite the adventure. And then the next four days after it, you got to go play in New Mexico...clearly you've been a busy little bee.

Good luck with the new calling in church by the way, you'll get to see each other more often, just with lots of crying babies. Well, I guess be careful what you wish for, eh? The baptisms did finally go well and I have some pictures of that I'll send on. I actually hope to have them with an explanation, as well as a vision of what I did on Halloween, and the baptism is pretty much all I have by way of news, because I'm sure you heard I'm still in the San Lorenzo Valley, just with a new comp. So I'm leading my area, interesting, but fun.

Anywho, glad to hear from you. Love you, miss you, hope all is well.

Elder Jacob S. Chipman

Letter to Aliese--Received October 17, 2010

Liesey

Hey Sister, it's been awhile since I've written; my apologies. Things have just been rather hectic since the transfer ended. I have a new companion now. His name is Elder Byington. He is from Moses Lake, Washington. He has been here two weeks on Monday (the 11th), and I'm still getting used to him and vice versa (I, too, can be very stubborn). Anyway, we are probably the most "green" of all the companionships in the mission. I now have just barely been out over two months, where he has only been out five months. So between the two of us, we don't even have a year's worth of experience.

Things are going okay though. I don't think I was fully prepared to lead my area, but I am coping with it. In fact, I committed two people to be baptized on October 23, so that was way cool...but we are going to have to change the date because one of the men asked to perform one of the baptisms will be out of town. We are working with that and I think it will be on Thursday, October 21. Anyway, I've very excited/nervous to have my first baptism.

Not much else is new around here. We are still kinda just working with people and I'm introducing the new guy into the area. :) But we have still been splitting A LOT of wood, it's a way good workout and I'm getting quite large because of it.

Anywho, I finally am sending you some pictures [to be scrapbooked and posted later]. Well, that's all for now. Hope all is well. Love you lots!

Elder Jacob S. Chipman

Letter to Aliese--Received September 28, 2010

Liesey

Thanks for the DearElder information and sorry about your kitchen; that is quite a big fix needed for a little problem--MAJOR BUMMER--I'm glad to hear you like your vinyl tile though. That Master's Thesis classes sound stressful and hard, but I know you can do it, it seems rather redundant having to write 30 pages about you finding that research. It maybe just me but I find it rather...well...dumb. I hope it doesn't stress you out too much though because you'll need to be able to actually enjoy the free trip to Belgium you're taking! That really sounds like it will be way fun, and this might be because I am an underachiever now, but when it comes to school, I would totally trade a 4.0 for a free trip to Europe! But again, that's just me.

Anywho, onto mission news! I am working with three new investigators...[more information in written letter]...The members feed me practically every night...[more personal information about members]...

At the moment, I can't really think of anything I "need," however, if any good music comes out you deem "mission worthy," send it along, and if it isn't mission worthy, make a list of them and of good movies so I can see them when I come home. Well, that's all for this letter. I hope all is well at home. Love you and miss you.

Love,

Elder Jacob S. Chipman

P.S. That is crazy Fletch got a Mercedez...Maybe you can drop some subtle hints to mom and dad, yes? :)

P.P.S. Oh, by the way, I was given a baby grand piano and I'm shipping that home...Hope someone has room for it 'til I come back! HaHaHa.

Elder Thug-life

My room at the MTC

Baby Lorenzo

Provo Temple

I (Jennifer) am a big fan of that top picture. What a lovely backdrop. And it turns out Adam's cousin, Elder Kay (as mentioned in the picture description), was in Jacob's district at the MTC (although they didn't go to the same California mission).

Push ups with Elder Kautai

These pictures are from July 30th. Jacob is the one in the bottom right...plaid pajama bottoms.

A Baby Grand Piano

{Letter sent to the parents - Friday, Septebmer 17, 2010}

Dear Mom & Dad ... & Jen probably

This is a short letter, but of great importance; so I hope you get it fast.

Well, I'll just cut to the chase. I made great friends witha member family out here. We had dinner with them tonight, and I actually just got back and am writing you now because I am so excited. Anyway, during dinner I really connected with the husband. We talked a lot about the Joseph Smith Papers and history of the Church, and I told him that I bought a volume of the Joseph Smith Papers for Mom. We also connected about sports. He went to the Uof U and ran track for them. He even went to the Olympic trialsin 1984 for the 800 m., but anyway we are great friends now. We helped them move tonight; and after we did all we could that night, they fed us. Since we have limited miles, they drove us back and forth, and when they were taking us back home, they said this -

"Do you know of anyone who has an interest in a free piano?" Elder Shae said "well Elder Chipman does, he plays amazingly." Sister Lastnameleftoutforprivacyreasons said, "Oh yes, that's right. You played all those cool songs for mutual last week." (I played the opening hymn for the beginning exercises; and after they asked me to play more, so I played John Schmidt.)

Anyway, I felt like I was imposing far too much for this, so I said no thanks - since I thought they were joking anyway. But then Sister Sameskippedlastnameasbefore said, "No, seriously, we want you to have it Elder. We have 2 as you can see; and neither of them gets played very much, and we don't have the room. If youdon't take it, we were just going to throw it out. At least this way, we knowit will get played."

So basically I am getting a piano and need to arrange to ship it ot Utah. That part is easy,but I wanted to know what to do with it there. I know you (Mom & Dad) don't have room for anything to store at the moment, which reminds me, oh yes the piano they are giving me is a baby grand. But then I remembered Jennifer still wants a piano. So Ithought she could have it until I came home. And if needs be, I'll pay for it to be stored in a garage; but they really truly want for me to have this piano, and I thought that there is no way I can pass up this opportunity.

...

{That's the gist of it...SO COOL that he is getting a baby grand for merely the cost of shipping! And so cool that I get to babysit it for a spell!}

September 13, 2010-Letter to Aliese

Liesey,

Alright, first off, my apologies on writing real letters. It's just that snail mail (aka U.S. postal service) is just ridiculous out here. It takes about two or three days to get the letter to the mission home, then when they send it out to my actual address, it takes another two days. But even though it's tedious, I love mail all the same...

I was very excited to hear about all the things going on in St. George as well as Mom and Pops. It sounds like you have all been having fun. I must say I am quite jealous that Krave carries the Dole Whip. That is quite the amazing little treat and I miss it in my belly. The rainbow pearl necklace sounds way cool in theory and on paper, but if Darrin says it looks like MardiGras, or something more gay than Clay Aiken smooching Freddy Mercury...I'm a little reluctant about it. :) I may need to see this necklace to offer a fair judgement on it though.

The Belgium trip sounds like it will be way cool and it's awesome that you can go too, although it does sound like it will be a chore getting all that work off. Good luck with that one. But it's like you said, you would have to be flat out stupid to pass up an opportunity like that, especially when it's FREE!

Val's shower sounded like it was fun. Congrats on getting the ABC Quiet Book done in time...Although admittingly, I don't know what that is. Dinner with Jen, Adam, and Lyv sounded absolutely hilarious! That would have been super cute to see Lyv order for Adam and why in the world did she only order croutons? Did you tell her she'd be tossed in the brick oven if she chose anything over $5? :) That's really really funny though. That crazy kid. The IKEA story was pretty cute too, but I must say I think Johnny Carino's trumps it hands down. But it would be fun to see the look on her dad's face when she said she stole a pencil from Hawaii.

Well it sounds like you are keeping very busy, as am I, I realize I haven't really told you straight forward stuff about my mission, so I have a plan for us I hear works quite well. In your next letter to me, add a separate questionnaire (with the extra space between each question for me to answer in) and then with my letter back home, I'll send the filled out questionnaire. I know it kinda sounds lame, but this way I know I won't leave anything out of your letters. :)

Well, still paddling the old k-new. Sorry about no updates this time. I mostly just do service, so I'm super busy a lot. I mostly just chop wood lots (literally, like I should have been called as a lumberjack in the California San Jose Mission. :) I love it, so it's all good).

Love you lots. Miss you.

Elder Chipman

San Jose Newbies

San Lorenzo Valley

(paraphrased snipets from an email sent to Jennifer August 24th)

Hey all! I am currently in the San Lorenzo Valley...specifically Boulder Creek. My companion is good and does a lot of good work but seems leanient on some of the rules... i don't really know being brand new and all. The weather so far has been quite nice cooler than utah...except for today which is supposed to be a record breaking day of 104, but i'm surrounded by redwoods so there should be plenty of shade.

. . .

P-day was yesterday but we spent all day with an investigator...today is not a p-day but i am e-mailing, again i'm not sure about rules of priorities of my companion yet. The only thing i do know is that e-mail is probably best to keep in touch with you and family because the letters you send, they say, have to be sent tot the mission home in San Jose and then they send it out to us from there so as to avoid confusion and lost mail when transfers happen.

. . .

My current area doesn't cover it, but San Jose mission does so I have seen it already being out here but not serving near it quite yet... and from the sounds of it i won't be anytime soon.i may be in this area with my current companion until he goes home in december/january.

. . .

There's not much going on by way of news. I'm still just meeting people in the ward and people investigating. There are 3 people who are supposed to be baptized Saturday though, we'll see how that goes [he says a lot about them individually but his mission president asked him not to make public displays of their investigators...so I'll leave it at that for now...write him and ask specifics if you'd like them].

~The letter is a little choppy because I left a bunch out...sorry guys...but feel free to write him yourself if you are curious to know all the juicy details! Or if you are related to me, I'd be happy to forward the emails~ ~Jennifer

Aug. 11, 2010 Letter to Aliese

Liesey :)

First off, if handwriting gets worse than usual, I am sorry. I was playing volleyball and hurt my thumb, so I am writing with a misshapen claw with the tip of the pen between my ring and middle fingers and the end of the pen between my middle and first fingers.

I'm glad Florida was fun. The beach must have been awful though since your burn from California had probably just barely healed, lots of blisters for Liesey. :( The water being as hot as it was kinda sounds gross when mixed with the humidity and heat; it must have been like, "Oh, just got out of the ocean...wait...didn't I?" Must have been fun no less. :)

Universal Studios sounds pretty much amazing. Harry Potter World must have been so cool. That ride you described sounds fantastic...But it's a little, shall we say, unsettling for me to think that Universal Studios has my fingerprint on file just to ride their rides, (sounds like a wonderful way to catch criminals though, 'cause even murderers and thieves like Harry Potter). Someday, I will have to give it a visit.

Well, on the subject of summer, in your letter, I feel bad for you in that the day I write this, you are already teaching young-uns. Oh, which reminds me, Elder Nuckles is in my zone; his room is two doors down from me and he is heading to Santa Rosa, CA. But anyway, I hope that teaching science doesn't go terribly, I also never really enjoyed the class. Of course in all my years taking it, I never had a great teacher. I had a senile, old woman who, as I hear-despite some students' best efforts (sad/scary, I know)-refuses to retire/die. Then a giant Asian man who sat in his Lay-Z-Boy while we did book work all year. Then 9th grade I finally got an interesting teacher who would breathe fire during class and read us children's books, but that is all I retained from that class. My 10th grade Biology teacher rocked though to be honest. That class was loads of fun, but I didn't remember much from that class either though. Then I didn't take science my junior year. Senior year, I had an absolutely crazy midget for a teacher who didn't teach a dang thing all day everyday, just yelled at football players, then punished the whole class for stuff they did.

Hopefully all is well and I hope Darrin gets to go on his trip, which reminds me again, I had a sub. in my class here one day. His name is Bro. Harward. Oh my, I swear Aliese, if Darrin would spike his hair up in front and dye it brown, he WOULD BE this guy! They look very mush alike, his voice sounds just like Darrin's, and they have the same personality traits (especially when excited about something). It's hilarious; I'll have to try and get a picture with him before I leave. Well, that's all for this letter. Hope you are having fun; love you and miss you.

~Elder Jacob S. Chipman

Spiritual Thought: Liken the parable of the good Samaritan to the Atonement where:

High Priest=Any Priesthood holder those days

Levite=Quorum of the Twelve (because at their time, those two groups were the only ones allowed the Priesthood and had "religious power")

The "Fallen Man" (think of Adam and Eve when you read it)=All of us here today

Good Samaritan=Christ

Since that one is easy, riddle me this: consider the man Christ taught this to. Why, in this story, would Christ relate himself to the people who hated him? And consider what was the man Christ taught supposed to get out of this lesson?

First Week

Hey family,

First things first: I only have a half hour a week on this thing and it literally kicks me off after that. Next order of business: Since I have no time on this thing, if you want me to write you...send me stamps please 'cause as far as things are going now, I bet that is going to eat my wallet out of house and home. Well my first week has honestly been pretty great--and Jen, you can put as much or as little of this letter (and ones I mail to you) on the blog as you want, its completely your discretion. Anyway, MTC is actually pretty good. The food isn't that bad, the teachers here are awesome, and we have so many opportunities to learn from leaders of The Church. We have firesides every Sunday night, devotionals every Tuesday, and various random meetings with our branch leaders throughout the week.

My companions...yes I have two rather than one, are first: Elder Holtz--he's from Denver and kinda an interesting kid, but clearly called of God, and my other comp. is Elder Kautai (cow-tie) and he has led an amazing life so far, and left a lot behind. He's from Texas and most of his friends are Catholic, but he has such a great love for this church and a very good heart. I already have a great love and respect for him. They are both my roommates which kinda rocks 'cause we have a room for four people and only 3 in it. To be honest, I have learned quite a bit this week and don't type fast, so in the interest of time I'm going to give you my favorite moment first and try to fill in more after. Last night, we were taught by a member of the Seventy and then by our 1st Counselor in our branch and the spirit was literally the strongest I've ever felt it in my life after those meetings. Anyway, after the meeting, most left with tears in their eyes (for more details on the meeting ask and wait for a letter :) ) Anyway after, we were walking back to our residence halls and some Elders heading to Chile next week stopped us and asked to share their testimony with us (in Spanish). Granted, I did kinda have an understanding before, but as you know I only took up to Spanish 2 and it was quite some time ago. The amazing thing was not that I understood what they said to us, but what came after. I recognized that they asked us to bear our testimony after (and keep in mind that these are people studying the language for 12 weeks), but I gave my testimony and went on my way. As we were getting ready for lights out that night, my comps asked, "Chip, where did you learn Spanish?" I said, "What in the world are you taking about?" Apparently I gave my whole testimony and the conversation after all in Spanish (gift of tongues or what?), so now I have issued myself a challenge to constantly live my life to feel that strong of the spirit because that was one of the most amazing experiences of my life so far. I am still in awe over it.

Well anyway, besides that experience, the fav. of highlight can be summed up in a quote from Seventy member L. Lionel Kendrick's talk to us: "PRAY as though EVERYTHING depends on the LORD, but ACT as if EVERYTHING depends on YOU," "BE obedient," "Don't miss a minute it goes by too quickly," "Faith always precedes a miracle" (that isn't just a commandment, it's a promise), "Don't ask 'well what are we going to do today?' ask 'How in the world are we going to get it all done today?'," "No area/companion is hard. Everything is only as hard as you make it," "I can do hard things," "You are NOT 'serving time,' you are serving the Lord," "Don't be a Laman and Lemuel missionary."

Scriptures: D&C 10:47, D&C 8:10, Matt 19:26, Matt 10:34-35, D&C 18:18, Matt 7:21-23, D&C 130:20-21

Love you all. I am doing well, I hope you are too :)

Elder Chipman

P.S. Don't mail anything to the MTC via post office after Saturday, Aug 14th, or I probably wont get it. Send it to the Mission Office in San Jose instead. Please spread the word on that Jen; thanks. Love you all :)

A little out of order

My mom sent me her pictures so I thought I'd add them. They're a little out of order...try to ignore that.

Jacob is officially at the MTC and he is anxiously awaiting a big pile of letters. If you obtain a DearElder.com account, (thanks, Aliese!) you can mail letters to the MTC for free. So really there's not reason not to...get crackin'.

Just Call Me Elder

Farewell

Jacob's "farewell" will be Sunday, July 25th at 11:00 am. The address is 1465 West Bristol Ridge Rd. (about 8420 South). Come one, come all!

Mission Call

Jacob received his mission call on June 2, 2010. He will be serving in the San Jose, California English speaking mission. He will report to the MTC on July 28, 2010, just 9 days after his 19th birthday! We are all so excited for him and proud of him for making the decision to serve a mission. He is such a strong, smart, and faithful guy and will make an amazing missionary. The people of San Jose are very lucky to have him. Congratulations Elder Chipman!