Havre in March

Well, it looks pretty much the same as November, December, January and February, here. Snow off and on, cold, sometimes windy. But it is warming up. We sometimes hit 50 and the sky is clear and sunny a lot of the time. I find myself looking forward to Spring, with leaves on the trees, huge expanses of green fields of grain, and birds and flowers!
The Gospel is being spread here in Havre! We had one Baptism last month and will have three more this weekend. Also several investigators in Havre and Chinook. Dad and I taught a couple lessons to a woman in Chinook. I guess I should admit to not saying much, so I guess technically Dad did the teaching. But it went well and she is still interested!

We've contacted many more people on the ward list, the less-actives that is. Some are in Big Sandy which is about 35 miles toward Great Falls. We met one of the Montana senators, who is a less-active member. He lives about 5 miles out of town in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road, fields surrounding his house and barn. He is a farmer as well as a senator. We'd heard that he was not that cordial but he was nice enough to us, although he said he couldn't meet with us since he was eating dinner. 

We visited a working ranch a week or so ago. The wife is a member and her husband is not but he is really nice and enjoyed showing us around. We went in the barn where he had a newly born calf who had almost died and they were having to feed him with a tube down his throat.  We found out later that he made it. 

Then we went out to the pasture where there was straw all over so the cows could give birth to their babies. Lots of newborns and mommas.

They told me to grab his tail so he would stop but he bawled for his momma and she started toward us. So I let go!

 

This is Momma and her baby.

 He had to give shots and tag the ears of the newest ones, usher some to another pasture and roll out some hay (off of one of those huge cylindrical bales).

This guy has about 450 cows!

On the way to Chinook we saw a Bald Eagle!

 

  A grain elevator in Gilford.

 March snow.

"The Blue Olds"! 

 (For those of you who don't know, The Blue Olds is the car Dad drove on our first date. This is obviously not the Real Blue Olds.

MISSIONARIES AT WORK

 

 Drinking their protein shakes.

Brenda's baptism

Brother Crossley's fish that he made for his brother. Very nice!

 Elders making creampuffs. These were the best things I've ever eaten.

Gary's baptism

 Train in Harlem 

 

We love our mission. We pray every day for our family whom we miss so much. But we love being here and love the people of Montana. 

February Adventures

 

Still pretty cold here but according to all the locals "you ain't seen nothin'". We did had some pretty good snowfall and of course it's so cold it doesn't melt... and when it does it freezes at night and is kind of akin to a skating rink. I'm trying my hardest not to fall and break one of my osteoporosic bones. I'm a little old lady taking tiny little flat footed steps everywhere I go. Dad slipped once and went down on a knee (and once in the livingroom on a lightcord and went all the way down but we can't blame that on the ice, can we?).

Barb, in Chinook, got baptized a couple of weeks ago!! She is a great lady and we're so happy for her! AND about a week and a half ago we actually presented a first discussion, just me and Dad, to Shelley! It went really well, Dad doing almost all the talking (when I would interject I would sound like an idiot so I kept quiet) and he didn't go on and on, like he can sometimes. It was great and she agreed to a second discussion so that's.... well, it doesn't get much better than that. The Elders did the second one and she is really interested. There is also a Native American lady who wants to get baptized that has been attending Church for months. She is on her third lesson. Sometime I'll tell you about her husband, Glenn, a Gros Ventre Indian. So that's Chinook! Moving right along....

In Havre we have several investigators. Well, the Elders do. But we referred two of them. We are still meeting new people and really enjoying it. We love the detective work. Sometimes there are almost no clues but things just seem to appear out of nowhere. We call people in the phonebook, we ask at post offices (at the smaller towns) and we knock on neighbors' doors and collect information. We haven't used Facebook yet but we will.

We went to the Cardston Temple in Cardston, Alberta, Canada a couple weeks ago. The Temple is beautiful, built in... well, the building was started in 1917. Remodeled in the 90's but they kept everything just like it was originally with furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The weather was really nice, relatively warm... in the mid to high 30s.

 It was really a memory-maker! We had Grandmommie's parents sealed together, Grandma and Grandpa sealed, Grandmommie and Grandaddy sealed and then we were each sealed to our parents. We will never forget that day! 

Then we went back through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, along the Eastern border of the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park in Alberta and in the US along the Eastern border of Glacier National Park. Wow! Beautiful! Will be going to the park in the summer or maybe spring. 

The Milk River:  The first one you can see the river in the foreground.

 

The sunsets here are beautiful. I don't know why unless it's because they are so big? Big Sky Country. But they are almost always colorful. 

This is a drive we took along the Milk River, on River Road, hoping to visit a woman who lives at the end. She wasn't home but the drive was neato!

A ball of barbed wire. This is in the little town of Kremlin.

We sure miss all of you!! Thanks for the calls, texts, emails, Instagrams, etc. that you send. Our mission is almost 1/3 over. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Love, Mom and Dad/ Elder and Sister Jacobsen/ Becky and Dennie!

Today it snowed all day. It started at 7am and it's still snowing. Probably about 6 or 8 inches so far. Not a great lot but for here it's a pretty good amount. It's also getting cold. Suppose to be about -10 tomorrow night and with wind chill, more like -20. The wind really cuts you like a knife! Really!

We have been quite the detectives lately, finding the hiding, the obscure, the illusive. No one gets by us! Even got a door slammed in our face the other day, although it was not a really forceful slam. Have not gotten lice or been dog-bit yet. Guess we've been lucky!

Here are some beautiful pictures from some of our drives to visit people:

We love the people, the town, the weather even. People are so nice here, all over. The thrift store (which we frequent often, finding decorating supplies and "new" clothes for me), the Walmart employees (of which we know about six, from our ward), and even the clergy from the other churches that we've come in contact with. (Elder White was asked to sing at two other churches and we went in his support, of course). Just love it here. Just love the work we're doing here. Love our mission!!

So happy for the Warners, turning in their papers for a mission! They sound really excited. Sounds like they are going to be doing about the same thing we are; member and leadership support. They will be so good. I wonder who else will be going. Keep me informed, Amy, of who is going from our ward or the other wards in Ramona. I'm sure some of those young people will be going since the age has been lowered. We hear Annalyse Franco is going to Brazil! A couple in our ward here just got called to New York. 

I'm sending a few pictures from some of our p-day jaunts. I'll label them so you'll know where they were taken. This last week was a little... boring I guess. Lots and lots of miles and miles of fields of grain, or stubble actually, with a little "old" snow. But we saw a HUGE flock, or flocks, of geese, Canadian geese. And a really unusual variety of duck. I'll send pics. We went to a river, Marias River and Tiber Lake above it. The lakes around here, and most of the rivers, are all frozen and white with snow. 

Elder White is playing the piano right in back of me, belting love songs he's written (probably against the missionary rules!), and for breaking up with girlfriends, etc. He's expecting me to listen.... Can't concentrate anymore.

Okay, I'll write again next week. Going to try and write once a week. We love you all! Miss you too. Happy Birthday Howard and me and Adrian!

Love, Mom (and Dad)

I took these pictures especially for Howard. Isn't this a creative use of hubcaps? Only in Havre!

 

Bohemian Waxwings! Right outside our window.

. Driving through Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

Missouri River

 

Near the Missouri River 

Fresno Lake, near Havre, with ice fishermen.

The Milk River, on the other side of the dam.

Canadian geese

Marias River

Tiber Reservoir, above the Marias River of previous picture




Ducks on the river.

 
Common Goldeneye

I love snowflakes!!

Havre in November

We are working hard. It's fun but hard at the same time. We are still visiting the less-actives, visiting the Indians on the reservation, helping people where ever we can and driving the young Elders around (they have a truck but very limited mileage). We were in Great Falls last weekend. Took six Elders with us to a Mission meeting.

Last Monday (P-Day) we went to Chief Joseph's Battlefield Memorial.

It's just south of Chinook which is about 20 miles from here. 

 He's famous for his quote:

 "I will fight no more forever".

It was sad walking around the battlefield and thinking about what happened there. Very disturbing story of the white man taking from the Indians. 

This is the battlefield.

An old barn south of Chanook.

Here are some pictures of Havre in November:

An old church on the way to Canada that we've stopped at a couple of times to take pictures.

 

I like this cute house. It's not ours.



We wondered why they named it the Milk River... until we saw it like this.

The weather is unpredictable. This is what I wrote in my journal about a week ago:

"All day yesterday it didn't get any higher than 27 degrees. Then last night it started to get warmer and by 10:30 pm it was 36. This morning at 6:30 it was 41! About 10:30 this morning it started to sleet and now in the afternoon it's 34 and snowing on and off. Such weird weather here. But it's interesting and actually kind of fun. Granddaddy would have loved it, always checking temps and measuring rain or in this case snow. He even had fun doing that in Southern California where there is no weather!"

We are still looking forward to the really cold weather, they say in January. We just pile on the clothes and go on out. 

Don't have any idea what the -20 or -30 will feel like!

 

 

Thanksgiving at Sister Wood's house. She cooks just like Grandmommy. We went with the young Elders who can be pretty entertaining sometimes. They insist we are their mom and dad. So you have two new siblings. Elder While knows all the kids' and grandkids' names.
 He says he's been "stalking" my calendar that has all the b-days on it. 

This is a quilt made by the Jacobsen Family back in 1978. The kids (Erin, Amy, Ivy, Adam and Cammy) drew Thanksgiving pictures and Mom pieced it all together. 34 years later Amy found it in the attic and Ivy finished off the border, backing and quilting. They sent it to us for a Thanksgiving reminder that they love and miss us. It was our first ever Thanksgiving without family around! 

So...that's the latest from Havre, Montana. 
Love, 
Elder and Sister Jacobsen
Mom and Dad
Gram and Granddad.