Jordan Pearce - France Paris Mission

Celebrate Good Times!

2011-07-11T00:31:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July Family!!!

Seriously can't believe you got to see David Archuleta....again. AND for one of the best holidays of the year. Well, I guess I should just be happy that you are celebrating appropriately! Speaking of, we figured we only have the excuse to be super annoyingly patriotic Americans in Paris once a year, so despite the momentary regret of not having packed my fake blue eyelashes into my mission trunks (i know, total oversight), Soeur Smith and I managed to pull together quite the festive ensemble. Haha, we might be the only ones who actually think we are funny, but we sure think it's hilarious walking side-by-side looking like someone just puked red, white, and blue all over us!

After all, we are going to the Hagemann's for an All American fete (remember this is the may the fourth be with you-mary poppins lady). Though, when Sister Hagemann was giving me instructions we did have a pretty good laugh over the fact that out of the twelve of us missionaries here, only 4 are actually American. Which really just makes things even more fun, because we totally have another excuse to dress up on Bastille Day!! (I feel like Tara these days, but heck any excuse to dress up!)(and this is random and ironic, but we totally had la marseillaise stuck in our heads all morning in our apartment.....don't worry--we sang a rousing round of the Star-Spangled Banner for our opening song during comp study to make up for it.) Anyway, we also decided that it would be in keeping with the spirit of celebration to go to the Army Museum today and since we have some other things we have to do, this e-mail is gonna have to be brief (you may breathe your sigh of relief now).

So, this week's REASONS to CELEBRATE!!!

1. We can celebrate because Mikey, bless his heart, still looks after us. Just as he did months ago when I was serving in Paris Lilas (funny how things come full circle), one night as we were leaving the church this week, we said goodbye and he yells after us, "k be careful!!! You're too pretty to get raped."

2. We set a baptismal date with Zdroskov. Yeah, it has taken much practice muttering that name to finally get it down. Remember mine and Soeur Clark's bulgarian mamma friends from like way back last year? And do you remember the Bulgarian mamma introducing me to her son at church just a couple months ago and telling us to, and i quote, "make love and conversation?" Well, the son, Zdroskov, came to church again a while back and said his mom wanted to send me a hug and kiss (funny sister missionary moment), and we started talking to him about the church and his mom being a member and why he wasn't baptized, etc. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said no because he needed to change his name first (something to do with being from an old soviet country) or some other sort of ridiculous notion like that, so we gave him a book of mormon in bulgarian and that was that.

Well, he shows up to church a few weeks ago, pulls us aside saying he has something important to talk to us about (yeah....i'll be honest, i think we were both still expecting like marriage proposal 10 of the transfer to go down). And then continued by saying that after he left last time, he thought about it and that he wants to be baptized this month. So, long story short, we taught him with a member and he really does seem sincere. So, we are celebrating the beginning of what is sure to be quite the adventure trying to get Zdraskov ready to be baptized on July 24th. Let's just say we will be praying extra fervently for the gift of tongues, because holy cow this man speaks broken franglais like no other i have ever met. Case in point: "Je build my future famille à God." Good times baby!!

3. I am definitely celebrating the end of that concert! I mean, don't get me wrong--the concert was wonderful, there was a great spirit, and there were some really good new investigators found from it, but the stress leading up to it... let's just say I think my companion was just as relieved as I was to have it over. So, yes, I did end up doing as I was asked, stopped being difficult and sang a solo (I know that My Redeemer Lives) . It was cute, afterwards, Soeur Smith was congratulating one of the chinese twins on how well she did (she is like the best flutist i have ever heard) and the other one came over and was like, "hey! i helped too! My job is to calm her." And Soeur Smith was like, "yes that was my job too. So good job!!!" And seriously, Soeur Smith was and is an angel! And so that's exactly what I told President Poznanski when he asked me about my companion during interviews. Which, brings me to my last bullet....

4. Meeting the Poznanski's (still not sure how to spell that name....oops) was great! They are super nice, approachable, and it will be great having a French couple leading the mission. (He is the first French Mission President for this mission, and only the second French one ever.) They did everything in French, which was different. Though, of course, different doesn't mean bad, just different. And our interviews with President were brief, but he was very complimentary, and then said that a lot can be done in three weeks and that he really wants me to focus on teaching my companion all that I can so that she can teach the gospel as well as I can before I go (apparently he told her to be a vampire and suck out all of my knowledge, haha). So, I'll do my best, but really I learn more from Soeur Smith every day than I could possibly teach her. So, at least two things are certain--we will be learning a lot together in these next few weeks and we can celebrate having a wonderful new mission president!

Ok, well, sorry for the lame e-mail, but know that things are going great! We're celebrating the good times we're having in style and hope you're doing the same! I love you lots and lots!!!

Bisous, Jordan

p.S. as far as other celebratory news goes--Lou is also getting baptized the 23rd!! Bowchikawowow!!!

pss, so that means when making our travel plans, we need to be in paris on sat & sun for the baptisms

Colorful Adventures!

2011-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Dearest Family,

I was surprised to read this morning that everyone was currently at Lake Powell, but I'm excited for you because it sounds like adventures will certainly NOT be lacking this year. Starting off strong there aren't ya Dad?! hahahahah too good. I love that the only thing John was concerned about was the steak dinner he almost had. Classic Johnny Bravo!! Well, I hope you all have such a fun week with the red cliffs, blue skies and clear green water (now that i say that out loud, maybe having green water isn't super comforting...hmmm), because I can assure you we have had quite the colorful week over in these parts!

So, naturally, this email must begin with me wishing you all a happy end of gay pride week! With the location of our church (ie located in the heart of the gay quarter of paris, in case you weren't au courant. gives the name 'gay paris' some new meaning,doesn't it? and the fact that our apartment is right by the Bastille, it was quite the interesting, scarring, or maybe just colorfully questionable experience every time we left the apartment this week. I guess I should just be counting my blessings that we don't have to walk around wearing matching shirts and ties!

This week was also kind of colorful, because we started teaching someone new who is awesome and so sweet and like threw her arms around my neck when we gave her a book of mormon "in ENGLISH!!!!" And who also may, or may not be, a working girl....if you know what I mean. (I may or may not have started humming Lovely Ladies from Les MIs to my companion as we were walking home from that rendezvous.....) hey! even more need for the gospel right?! K, suddenly i feel like this missionary email is going to need some serious editing in order to be appropriate for all audiences.....go figure. haha.

As far as good, clean missionary color goes--I, am still deathly afraid of spiders. I guess some things just never change--remember the high knees incident that Rebecca imitates so well? Yeah, well, this time the spider dream I had somehow ended up with me like throwing my covers off and KOWA-BUNGA-ing (uh?????) off the top bunk in the middle of the night because there was a big red juicy spider coming down its web into my bed. Seriously, it's a miracle I didn't land on a desk or chair and die! That's a long ways down! And the following night, Soeur Didier was apparently really frustrated with someone in her dream and started getting a little colorful (clean,but hilarious) in her screaming sleep talking complaints. Somehow sleep talking is just that much more entertaining when it is in French.

And mommy dearest, you can rest assured that soeur smith is taking good care of me, despite my recent ridiculously frustrating illness (i get sick ONE other time my entire mission and then,of course,i have to get slammed my last transfer.....grr). Apparently, I'm not very good at eating "green stuff" (as i have taken to calling it as of late), so Soeur Smith and the others have ganged up on me to make sure my diet stays colorful enough. Last night, Soeur Smith turns to me and goes, "Okay now.....Sister Pearce. This is what we call a vegetable...." So don't worry, they are nursing me back to health and we're getting ready for some more colorful adventures this week.

The highlight of the week, though, was definitely zone conference. Of course, being me, I had been dreading giving a departing testimony for weeks, but I ended up being grateful for the opportunity to thank the Staheli's and all my comarades for the difference they have made in my mission, and of course to thank Heavenly Father for giving me this wonderful opportunity, despite my severe blonde tendencies!

And it was so nice to get to hear from President and Sister Staheli one more time. They really are just amazing! I had been holding all my emotions together about going home and saying goodbye to the Staheli's all pretty well, (all things considered) UNTIL we stood to sing the mission song. And then.....man, let's just say smeared make-up and puffy eyes aren't my best look. Maybe not quite Kelsie at My Dog Skip, but the tears were definitely streaming uncontrollably and I'm fairly certain the assistants were struggling to keep from laughing at me up on the stand.

It was just the whole atmosphere of it--the spirit, 5 zones all together with missionaries in suits, standing proudly and singing with all our hearts about being the army of the france paris mission, and just the realization that this is actually going to come to an end. I don't want to say that I have been living in denial, because I know that it is natural and good for missions to finish and I am so excited to come home, but I guess I have just been going about this transfer like any other because this is what I am right now. This is what I do and it it just "normal."

So the reality that this is actually my last transfer as a full-time missionary kind of came crashing down on me in the form of a lot of tears. All i can say is good thing we had three rendezvous that evening and didn't have any ice cream at home! haha. I apologize for all of this horrible rambling, I'm not very good about putting words to my feelings sometimes, but I guess what I am trying to express is gratitude.

I absolutely love being a missionary and am so grateful to be serving here and now. I think of the speech from Shakespeare's Henry V (that president shared at mission council a couple months ago) and really do think that "we few, we happy few,we band of brothers" are the luckiest kids in the world!! Not only is every day filled with one sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious, and at least, always colorful adventure after another, it is also an indescribable blessing to share the happiness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. To be able to testify of the reality of the Atonement and of the Plan of Salvation, to be able to feel the sweet spirit as someone prays to a Heavenly Father who loves them for the very first time, or to get to see with poignant clarity how the power of the book of mormon changes lives.....among countless others, these really are just indescribable blessings.

So I guess it is a little bittersweet. Somewhat bitter to know that this chapter is coming to a close (though, just like reading the final chapters of harry potter, I am holding on to my last three weeks with some tenacity i will have you know!) But very, very sweet to know that I can carry these memories forever and to know that they have hopefully become part of who I am, who I have become these last 18 months, and hopefully a part of the chapters to come.

I was grateful during personal study this week to have studied chapter 1 in Preach my gospel (that talks about Our Purpose) and to re-read the quote that talks about the most important work of the Lord that we will EVER do is within the walls of our own home. I thought it was really interesting that this quote was included in the first chapter of this guide book for full-time missionary service, and as I read it and thought about it, the sweet confirmation came that really my mission is only but beginning and now I get to move on to the adventure of applying all of these wonderful things I have learned. So, like I said, I am just grateful. I don't deserve to be so blessed, but I am sure grateful!

So thank you!!!! Thank you for being the most wonderful family in the world! You guys really are the best and I am looking forward to hearing all about the colorful adventures of Lake Powell next week! In the meantime, this horribly scattered and probably too sappy (sorry!) ramble session is going to have to end, because we have to run off to a mangez-vous! I love you and miss you!

Love, Jordan

XOXOXOXO

2011-06-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Hey dearest family!

How are ya?!!! I can't believe the kids are out of school already. Seriously, I don't know what happened to this last month. It has absolutely flown by. What are the first things on the summer docket?

This last week was awesome, and the highlight, of course, was Anne-Sophie's baptism! You know you have issues when you hear yourself say out loud, "I'm getting a little stressed because this baptism is just not stressful enough." But for real, preparing this baptism was like no other baptism I have ever planned.

The ward is awesome and Anne Sophie is like the most self-sustaining investigator ever (did I ever mention she already finished the whole book of mormon? or that she brought her laptop to one of our rendezvous this week to show us the baptismal program she started making on her own? yeah....i'm for real.), so everything went down without a single hitch.

The spirit was wonderful and Anne-Sophie pulled such a typical "Anne-Sophie" getting out of the font. I guess she had stepped on her dress when she went under the water, so it was kind of tricky coming back up, but she pulled herself up trying to remain all dignified about it and then just blurts, "c'est bon? ok," and turns around to walk out. Very much the matter-of-fact, get down to business, cut the small talk, Anne-Sophie we all love!

And even though she spent all sunday morning in the emergency room and just about fell over walking back to her seat, she got the Holy Ghost, was sustained as a member, and is now no longer only a "half member" as she called herself Saturday night, because her baptism was complete! Seriously, she is awesome. Not even ending up in the hospital kept her from getting to church to be confirmed! (take that satan.) And I know I've told you before how she is just SO French, but we had a very tender moment with her this week.

Last week in church President Gaston talked some about the importance of taking the people you love in your arms to tell them that you love them. And since Anne-Sophie is all about putting the gospel into practice, she told us about how she went home and did that with her roommates and how they were hilariously awkward about it and not used to it, but that she felt good after. And then asked if she could hug us and tell us that she loved us. K, my heart just about melted?! So simple, I know. But a HUG? From Anne-Sophie? It was huge!!!!!! Bit of a tender moment.

Speaking of tender/emotional moments. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with her the day before her baptism in the visitor's center, and one of the elders who was working the center came in to watch some of it with us, but then slipped out towards the end, and afterwards was like, "yeah.....it was getting a little too emotional in there...." Apparently, Soeur Smith and I practically in sobs and sniffling into tissues was a little too much "feeling" for him to handle! That, or he didn't know if he would be able to keep from laughing at our patheticness (is that a word?) very much longer, I don't know! Funny, nonetheless. I guess the little Bingham boy who came up to me in church last week and said, "Girl missionaries aren't missionaries, they are missionariettes" may have been on to something!

Okay, well I have more to tell you, but I think it may have to wait until next week. More important than all this rambling, anyway, is that you know how much I love you. I miss you, and if I could take you in my arms, I would, but just know i'm blowing big kisses for you to catch! You guys are the best and I hope Halle and Josh are having fun running outside on the street getting their Indian feet ready for summer adventures and boy scout challenges!

Love you,
Jordan
XOXOXO

Where to begin?

2011-05-29T12:13:00.001-07:00

Family Dearest,

Let's just set the record straight once and for all--despite my as-of-late horrible emailing habits, I really do love you! I think you are the best family in the world. That said, I just don't even know where to begin telling you about all the horrific, hysterical, spiritual, and just down right crazy adventures we've been having lately.

Especially when I am currently completely wiped out from a day out at the French Open. (For those who didn't hear, there were some people from BYU's presidents council (or something like that) that came to Paris, and my companion and I were able to spend the day with them at the French Open serving as their translators) Can I just say--so much fun!? Djokovic is great, but I just don't think anyone else compares to watching Federer play. He is just too good, and it's fun to actually be able to understand his french now, even if he does have the horrible Swiss accent thing going on! And the BYU people were so nice. So anyway, I feel like we have had some pretty dang sweet p-days lately.

Did I tell you about the Paris scavenger hunt we did last week with a bunch of the elders? Well if not, the most important detail I guess would be to assure you that, despite all the cockiness and trash talk that the elders were throwin down before the hourglass was turned, we totally handed them their behinds on a silver platter. Satisfying? oh yeah! The Scavenger hunt had different things you could get pictures of or do to get certain points. (one example film yourself singing the mission song in front of the Eiffel Tower)

the rules were as follows:
1. only one camera per team
2. must have at least two missionaries in each picture or video unless otherwise noted
3. will be docked one point for every minute late coming back for first ten mins and two for every minute after that
4. other than that all goes

so of course i added the no eye gouging rule!!!

And the work is going pretty dang SUH-WEETLY as well!! Our Elders had 4 baptisms last week that were so good--regular old dunking machine font going on! And then there are a few more in our ward scheduled for the beginning of June and, of course, we have Anne-Sophie's baptism this coming Saturday! We have a pretty crazy week already getting ready for that and all the other things going on, but I'm just lovin' it! Sometimes I laugh at how easy it has been to get Anne-Sophie ready to be baptized, because maybe it's just a lack of faith on my part, but somehow I always feel like it should be harder than this. She is just that golden! When we sit down and tell her what we're going to talk about that day, she practically teaches us the lesson and I just start laughing so hard (which I think she likes haha)! Anyway, we can hardly wait for Saturday, and I wish I could tell you how excited Anne-Sophie is, because you would love it! (Oh this is totally a random side note, but speaking of baptisms--Marie Laure fixed a date for June 25th! Apparently she is insistent that she get baptized before I leave the country, but she hasn't been able to get work off yet, so I'm praying that her step of faith will make things all work out. And don't worry--we have had the talk about not getting baptized for people....

Okay, well I'm just going to bullet point some of the highlights of the last while and hope they make some sort of sense!!! Good luck.

1. Soeur Smith telling a story that included the phrase, "when I had a child." Don't worry--we took care of it!

2. Making these little Muslim girls sing I am a child of God and read from the Book of Mormon.....stellar Sister Pearce signature move.

3. Followed (seriously, I was just on a roll this week) by an unforgettable english class that unraveled into quite the horrible and/or hilarious mess remarkably quick after the suggestion (supplied of course by yours truly) of starting out by sharing first kiss stories in an attempt to practice speaking and anecdote telling. Good intentions, maybe, but big time OOPS! Hey, gotta learn somehow, right?!

4. Teaching a member, at his request, how to properly use "to cut his head off" in a sentence.

5. Experiment gone bad that resulted in the stark conclusion that elder Gubbay is still taller than me when I am standing on a church chair. (he is 6 ft 7)

6. Being invited to a member mangez-vous that included us, a super precocious and informed young couple (that has not been living in the mission bubble for the last long while), and then a husband pediatric gastroenterologist and a wife MIT PhD grad, whose own father invented like some catalyst thingymajigger that was used to convert something into some sort of useable energy that, EVIDENTLY, revolutionized the automobile industry and ended him up in the Inventor's Hall of Fame (which, begs the question--who knew that existed?! and ps those are all the really technical terms for those thingies that i was using. just thought I should clarify.) As you can tell, Soeur Smith and I had a whole lot to contribute to that dinner time conversation! When we walked in the apartment and told the other sisters about it, Soeur Williams responds with a, "Were you afraid to say anything?" haha, so funny! But, really, it was such a nice evening at their home and we were grateful to have a little taste of America again. And to get to bask in the presence of such genius--even if it made me go home feeling like a royal idiot! (But, that kind of relates to one of my favorite quotes from this movie the Area Presidency had us watch this week at leadership training (called the Quest)--"It keeps a man humble to make him admit he's a complete dodo.")

7. And hilarious exchanges, of which, stories will have to wait until next week (parts of which you can stalk on my companion's blog...pretty good stuff, let me tell ya!)

Anyway, sorry for that rushed hodge-podge. is that a word? I don't know, but I do know that is a sign that I need to stop. Have a great week gang and know that I absolutely love being a missionary and I love you to eternity! Cheesin it up this week, I know.

Love, Jordan xoxo

P.S. Tell Stephanie congratulations! Even if I am totally bummed I can't be there, I'm excited for them.

pss to mother dearest--have you been stalking soeur smith's blog for updates?(courtneyerikasmith.blogspot.com)

pps J&M that is so awesome about state!!!! And I got such a kick out of those girls that john was johnny bravoing it up for.....too good!!

Wanna know what?

2011-05-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Gang!!

How are ya dearest family? Actually, after reading your emails, i think the better question would be, "are ya dead man?" Seriously! Your guys' craziness makes me feel like I'm out here on a vacation getting 8 hours of sleep every night. But, everything sounded totally SUH-WEET!

I can't believe johnny almost let his prom date fall down the stairs. ONE JOB dude!! (Kinda funny though, in a certain way hehe.) Mattmoos--what's new as far as your love life goes? I don't think I have had a good update lately about you???? Hullo, sister needing details here?! So cool that Joshy man was first pick for the draft! Way to represent studly brother! Happy Birthday halle baby!!! I'm still laughing about your smoochy smooch letter. Do you still do the diva dance? And when is your last gymnastics meet this season?

Oh and speaking of hilarious letters--i am still not over how hilarious grampa's letter and picture were. We all laughed our heads off! Too good and so classic grampa. (Still looks as tan as ever i might add) I'm glad your birthday trip out to Disneyland was fun Tara! I really do think it is one of the happiest places on earth (or whatever they claim it is...i forget), so I hope you made sure to get a good princess picture in!

(Okay, just slightly interrupted by the assistants calling and asking me to give the spiritual thought at mission council on friday. Ugh. I think I have had about enough calls from them lately. just kidding! kinda.... ha)

Anyway, I sure do love hearing from you guys and the happenings and craziness ensuing over there across the pond. So thanks for the good updates! You're the best. You really are! I know I've been a pretty big
slacker lately, and now I feel like there has been so much happening here that I don't even know where to begin or what you even care to hear. I'll just have to cross my fingers that I don't bore you to death and that there might be some recent happenings you actually wanna know. So, I'll just start rambling and hope something sensical (is that a word? This could be tough....) comes out.

WANNA KNOWS?
1. Wanna know my reaction when I got a call from the Assistants on Friday asking if I would be willing to train in Paris, as in St. Merri? I think saying that it took me a few minutes to pick my jaw back up off the ground would be an understatement. After interviews and just transfer logics, I figured training here in caen or being transferred to Paris were possibilities. But never once did it cross my mind that the combination of
whitewashing and training in paris would be an option. Let's just say, I am glad I know they are inspired, cuz otherwise I think I'd be freaking out that I was about to send the mission into shambles. It'll be one heck of an adventure, that is for sure. And I am really excited to be heading back to Paris! And this time I will be on the other side of the apartment-- the one with the good closets. hehe.

2. Wanna know some of the best knews of the week? Yosephe is getting baptized May 8th!!!!!! About time is right! She first met with missionaries in 1998. And I think she is actually leaning towards being
baptized in the font at the church instead of in the ocean. She is still as hilarious and quirky as ever, so I am kinda sad to be missing the baptism because I am sure she will do or say something outrageous. But, I am so excited for her and I am grateful for your prayers for her. I am sure they helped her be able to take that last step of faith.

3. Wanna know one of my new favorite French fetes? That would be the carnival étudiant. Actually I don't know if it is France-wide, or if it is just one of the perks of living in a university city. But, I think Tara's
recent woodstock party must have moved up here, because the best way I can describe it is Mardi Gras meets Halloween Soddom and Gomorrah style. My personal favorite sightings were a group of bearded men dressed up as ballerinas in little pink tutus and leotards, a barrel of beer, and plenty of speedos. It was refreshing to see some french people really get into the "holiday spirit" or what have you, and go all out, even if you had to be really careful where you looked all afternoon!

4. Wanna know one of the most recent DOOZIES? Like seriously, this one I still just can't help but laughing about. Mostly to keep from throwing my hands in the air and giving up. So setting the scene--sunday school class for the investigators and recent converts. The lesson is about scriptures, what they are, why we have them, etc. Basics. Goin' great. Then out of NOWHERE, the teacher (mind you this isn't the normal teacher) drops the urim and thummim bomb. Okay, manage to navigate that one okay--investigators
seemed to have already been pretty au courant with that one. Phewf, bullet dodged. But, of course, we couldn't just quit there. OH NO. We had to continue on, and don't ask me how in the world this tied in, to talk about the "super secret temple room where the prophet and apostles talk with Jesus." I didn't even dare look at the investigators again at that point. I was too focused trying NOT to make eye contact with any other missionaries because I knew I would burst out laughing, like "yeah. that really did just happen." Good vun (said in steve martin pink panther voice).

5. Wanna know how it went down wearing high heels again? (someone asked me about this a while ago, so feel free to skim if it wasn't you) Let's just say I was a bit out of practice, so it was probably a good thing that smartypants had forced me to practice by wearing them to the district meeting the day before we left to New york. I'm sure we looked absolutely ridiculous (heels=very not practical missionary attire), but at least it was good comic relief because I kept falling all over the place. I may or may not have almost taken Elder Rueckert down with me once....or twice. Bad.

6. Wanna know what i think i forgot to tell you forever ago? Zeinabe ( in versailles) got baptized and is doing great!!

7. Wanna know why we gave up our attempt to start running again? Because after jumping a fence, scaling what felt like a cliff (though really only like a 15 foot stone wall), two holes in the pants, and a battle wound
bruise, we ended up popping out of that random street by the Parc des Expositions.....meaning like the far end of La Prairie. Meaning a lot more than we bargained for. All in one morning. We decided we'd deal with those fun feeling-like-you're-going-to-die-panting-experiences once we get home.

8. Wanna know a tried and definitely true method to gain over a kilo in a single evening? Get invited to go eat Raclette at the Pintos. They are the portugese couple that marisela is living with and they are absolutely the nicest people in the world! They've come to church a couple times and we've seen them a couple times, but I don't know how interested they really are. Still, they have started to read the book of mormon and we had a great soirée with them. Good food. Good chatting. Not as good on the scale the next morning! But, totally worth it. (And I think we even scored some points by taking them a thank you note and flowers a couple days later!)

9. Wanna know one of the best things I have ever heard elder holcombe say? Well, he was telling me about this joseph smith class he is going to be taking summer semester and just joking that on the final, he'll just like bubble in the scan tron to spell out "I know that Joseph Smith lives." And, you know me. I can't help myself, so i was like, "oh yeah? Joseph Smith lives does he? Does he live in that super secret temple room too?" And he was like, "Dangit! I've been teaching the wrong things the last two years." Maybe you had to be there, but it was almost as good as cassidy's "primeape" comment. I had a good laugh at any rate!

10. Wanna know one of the most satisfying feelings in the world? picture this: samedi sports with the JA (young single adults). sun is blazing over the volleyball field. 4 missionaries (ie americans) vs. everyone else (ie the french...okay and africans). And we finished the day with three solid wins in a row! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And soeur smart and I chuckled together after about how funny it was to see holcombe and rueckert start covering more and more area on our side of the net when points got a little more tight there that last game! But, believe me--I was more of the shove-me-down-if-you-have-to-but-we-have-to-win opinion, so i had no problem with the keep-the-ball-away-from-the-girls-strategery whatsoever! I was just proud to have kept my liability status to a minimum and we had a lot of fun. (didn't hurt that we won either haha)

The JAs in the branch are seriously so great, especially now that they have set up an official JA center in Caen. I totally get why the area presidency has been focusing so much on JA support over here, because they are such a good strength to branches and wards. I mean here in Caen, the young mens president, half of the branch presidency, the primary presidency, young womens counselor, elders quorum counselors, dmp, seminary teachers, and plenty of other leadership callings that are currently evading me, are filled by young adults (albeit, a couple of them are married ones). Anyway....yeah, sorry for that digression.

11. Wanna know how great it was to finally beat Elder Holcombe in ping pong? So good. Words don't do it justice. Plus, added satisfaction of knowing in advance that we had reached at least one of our transfer goals! haha.

12. Wanna know why we might be thrust down? Because we stole toilet paper from the church. If I say, "desperate times..." does that sound too much like justification? ;)

13. Wanna know an important packing tip for future missionaries? Ear plugs. Last week on exchanges I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like I was sleeping between a hibernating bear (ie my dearest companion who will probably kill me for saying this, but she was sick, so its okay. plus she told our district about a really embarrassing dream i had, so i dont even feel that bad! side story about this--we were teasing her about snoring one day and she was like, "come on! among ALL my perfections, I have ONE flaw, etc" So dang funny! While she still insists she was joking, we all know the truth and haven't let her forget it! Classic soeur smart!! Oh man, I love her.) and a dragon (ie the water heater in the brussels
apartment that makes noises you wouldn't believe!). So, ear plugs are not only handy for exchanges and companions, but also neighbors who sometimes provide nighttime entertainment you don't want to hear.

Okay and just to even the playing field, i will admit that I am probably not the best sleeping companion either. Smartypants has informed me that I have giggling tendencies while I sleep, and that occasionally, right as I'm falling asleep, I snort once. Plenty of comp unifying moments when you share 24/7
together, right?!

14. On that subject....wanna know why I am in denial? Because Sister Smart is leaving. Seriously, I think I am going to be a wreck on Wednesday! Gonna have to employ the compartmentalizing techniques again, I guess. I mean, it really doesn't get better than serving with one of your best friends. You get to share wonderful spiritual experiences and you know you've always got each other's back when things aren't going quite so well. You know how the other one will teach and contact, and it's just easy. And so much fun! We probably laugh together too much, but seriously Plus, I think we make a pretty good team. People have told us that soeur smart is "super classe" and that i am "super pétillante." So, I figure she gets us credibility and respect from her classiness and we make people feel comfortable with my "pétillance" because they can rest assured that I am always on the verge of saying/doing something "stupider" than them.

(Speaking of, did I ever mention that during lunch after interviews the other day President was teasing me hard core about fulfilling my role of always being the one to say the wrong thing? Man, he was just on a roll
that day! So funny.) I have loved our last three transfers together and I have learned so much from her. (I think she has been really good for my stress tendencies, because she is so NOT a stresser.) Anyway, I really am excited for her to be going home and getting on with things, but I am going to miss her. Plus, I don't know what I am going to do losing half of my wardrobe all of a sudden!

15. Wanna know one of my favorite days of the transfer? Cleaning day. Yeah, sure the shower might be something I dread for days in advance, but waging war on the room-of-requirement-like missionary closets is always quite the gratifying feeling. So liberating! Nothing better than throwing out garbage bags of crap (scuze the french). Though, what's incredible is that as many transfers in a row that we throw out bag after bag after bag of, what seems to be, decades old junk, there still seems to be plenty left to go around for the next transfer. Chalk it up to Heavenly Father providing us with simple pleasures I guess.

16. Wanna know what a lot of the JAs here call me now? Walt Disney. Not my favorite, but, things could probably be worse. Ambroise is the one who started it, because he insists that when i sing disney songs I sound just like the disney princesses. But, I am reassurred knowing that Ambroise's nickname is meatball. Like i said....things could be worse!

17. Wanna know how great the new senior couple in Coutances is? So great (im sorry, i didn't know how to respond to that one....i think i needed to quit a few bullet points ago)! I think they are starting to get over their culture shock a little, but they are hilarious! And they are so nice. They took us to mont st. michel last week (which was great!) and then we get in the car and elder wilkins was like, "hey as long as we're out here, would you guys care if we went out to the american cemetary out here?" Of course we didn't mind and were excited. Well, like after a two hour search and many many circles, we finally finally pulled up in front of the place and I just started laughing when we saw the sign, "brittany american cemetary." Quite the p-day adventure that ended up with us out in Bretagne. oops!!

Totally didn't intentionally leave our zone, but hey! Now we can both say we've been to Bretagne. I really do love this couple. When they first got here, they were just kinda curious to see our aparment, so calling it an
unofficial inspection, they came back with us from district meeting to just see what it was like. And because we hadn't been planning on it, we just about almost died when elder wilkins went up and started reading some of the sticky notes on our quote wall! Not because they are bad or anything, but without context some of them would need a lot of explanation. Luckily, sister wilkins had some girl sense and was like, "kurt. stop it kurt. those are personal!" But, that was really close to a big OOPS moment. Definitely gonna have to remember to take down our inside joke quote wall before we move out.

18. Wanna know who I am really going to miss leaving Caen? Marie Laure. She is seriously the best investigator ever! She has such a big heart, loves church, loves meeting with us, wants to do what's right and change, and is progressing like you wouldn't believe. And I love her. I am dreading saying goodbye, but I know that's how it goes. I am very grateful for the experiences we've had reading the Book of Mormon with her and the sweet moment we had when she started praying for the first time. I will always remember how that spirit felt and how grateful I was for the my testimony and that I could share it and see the light come into her eyes and the excitement of it all in her voice. She just soaks it all up and was definitely prepared by Heavenly Father to accept the Gospel now. Amazing how he looks after each one of us. Anyway, I know i don't do her justice, but she will be baptized in the next couple transfers and she'll be a great relief society president or something!

19. Wanna know how much I love you?! I LOVE YOU TO INFINITY. And back. haha halle. can't beat that!) Seriously, you're the best. Thanks for being the best family ever! and I hope you have a great week.

Love, Jordan
ps tell diana thanks so much for the email this week!
pss ill have to tell you about the visiting americans who knew you, and the
middle aged member kissing my hand, and why sisters should never drive, and
our musical number for saladdin's baptism and my talk (tell joshy thanks so
much because i used his primary talk for part of the talk i gave at
saladdin's baptism) some other time when i haven't already bored myself to
death with my own babbling. goodness. i never did handle guilt trips very
well, so i think i may have over done it a bit this week. good luck
deciphering!

Tara, that cathedral I was telling you about is in amiens, they claim to have the head of john the baptist. pretty gross actually, but i don't know where they get off claiming that? why the heck would his head have ended up in these parts? i've also heard that there are a bunch of other places that claim to have his head too. Who knew a head could be such a hott comodity? (spelling is going really downhill these days) They might be a little distraught come the resurrection and the people who actually do have the head are suddenly headless. hmmmm.

Spring Fever!

2011-04-18T20:57:00.001-07:00

Hello Dearest Family!!

I just have to start out by rubbing something in a little. Classy. Tactful. I know. But, rumor has it (ie the utah family that was visiting our ward on sunday) that things are still pretty chilly in Utah these days. Windy and cold. At least that was the report from our inside source. And rightly so, I feel it is my duty to let you know that Caen is absolutely gorgeous right now!!!

Spring is in full bloom and well on its way to summer. I am currently choosing to live in denial that it won't stay, despite the numerous claims from les caennais that insist that "c'est la normandie, so it won't stay and the weather always changes, etc....." For now I am choosing to believe that ignorance is bliss. And I assure you, our last week has been absolute bliss!

The skies are blue, blossoms are out on the trees, the grass has never looked so green (which also means that we get quite the show every time we pass by the big grass hills in front of the chateau....whether from people just wanting to soak up the sun or those who apparently want everyone to be very much aware that love is also in the evidently potent spring air....lovely.), the mornings are sunshiny, the afternoons are warm, even hott i'd dare say, and the birds are spreading their chirping cheer. I know I sound absolutely ridiculous being all fairytales and butterflies, but I just want to make sure to do a good enough job rubbing it in how currently beautiful life is out here.

Sure, I will admit that first weekend when soeur smart and i got off the train the week before christmas, with what felt like a bajillion suitcases, in the middle of a huge blizzard that all but shut down the entire city, and were then led to our little hole of an apartment with mold covering the whole fridge, a stench that reaked to high heaven, a sink that shocked us when we turned on the water, sheets that were dank and dirty, and no functioning source of heat.....i may have had a moment, or okay two, of doubt. But, I have been put in my place. That is for sure!

Normandie seems to have given us a case of spring fever. But the good thing about that is that we can hardly stand to be inside the apartment, so more adventures seem to be happening every day. Okay, well we don't actually have much time to email today, because we have a lot of rdvs to see apartments, but I just wanted to say hey, to say that things are going well, that I love you, that I miss you, and that I hope the sun is coming your way!!! Profitez-en!!

love, jordan xoxo

ps. i do promise i will give some actual updates soon.

oops!

2011-04-04T13:25:00.001-07:00

Hey gang!!

How are ya?!! I'm glad to hear that there are still neverending, lively adventures on the homefront. Sure wish i could have been there for the TCU incident, but probably a better thing that me and my big mouth were plenty of thousands of miles away. Though, sounds like middle aged mamma bear didnt need back up anyway. Too good!! Seriously got a good chuckle out of that one. Also was pleased to hear that mom's traditional april fool's joke was still just about as successful as every other year. meaning she ended up walking around soaking wet all day instead of everyone else! hehe.

And I'm glad that the conference pj party went well and that people managed to eat the popcorn like human beings! dang, i miss you guys. I have pretty cool siblings, if i do say so myself. Every time i get letters from you, i make smartypants and the other elders listen to them, just cuz im so proud of you and think you're so great and funny. Okay, well recently it seems like there has just been so much going on that i dont even know where to begin nor how to pick and choose what to tell you.

So, we'll see how this week's blabbering session turns out. (It's probably a good thing i only have a few months left, cuz i don't know how many more of these emails you guys are going to be able to handle.) But, the other day i was thinking about mom and doing projects with her. Random, I know. And how I absolutely hate, but at the same time think it is super funny, how she will always say, "oh dangit," when she is thinking about how to do something, which of course sends me into a panic that we have just ruined this thing we have been working on for the last 72 hours straight.

I mean, we all know that when it comes to operating heavyduty machinery, building swingsets/bunkbeds, redoing electrical wiring, or anything of the sort, you are in good hands going to mom or lisa. (exhibit A: arizona swingset story 1996ish.) Things always turn out great in the end, so really there is no reason not to be completely confident, but that momentary "DANGIT" sometimes adds a little better "adventure"? to the project.

Well, I've decided, as of late, that that is very comparable to having your companion say, "oops." And you're like, oh great, "What does OOPS mean??!" Poor smartypants. She seems to be stuck with a companion that has more than the average share of OOPS moments. So, I figured I would share some of the most recent.

OOPS......
1. I don't think I ever told you this way back when, but jet lag does not do good things to my already spacy brain. One night a few days after we got back from New York, I didn't write in my journal. K, and I know that sounds dumb and would normally not be a big deal. I get that. BUT, that was my first night in almost 4.5 years of not writing in my journal. Totally ruined my streak and I was so not pleased!! Now i'm back to like 3 weeks in a row....grr/oops.

2. I got hiccups the other day while walking out of a rendezvous. But these were no normal hocquets. These were like frog chirps on steroids coming from my spasming diaphragm. I was echoing with like a 30m radius!! And when we walked to the bus stop by the house we were at, we saw that it was like a 15 minute wait, so we decided that we would just walk back home. So we started winding our way around the hippodrome and the people running laps kept laughing at me.

Then we get to centreville and people are like turning their heads to see where that atrocious noise is coming from, and then detecting the source, would smile and start laughing with us. Shared some nice moments with those people, though it felt like the longest hicuping walk of my life! Maybe not the best contacting method, but i will admit thinking it was pretty funny to see french people, who normally do a pretty good job ignoring us at all costs, like turning their heads to pay attention to us.

3. K, but the hiccups incident did come in handy later that day. We went to visit this older sister in the ward who can't walk. She is like 96 years old and after falling and having surgery a while ago, hasn't been able to really regain any mobility. She is adorable and like the spunkiest old lady you will ever meet--she always just goes on about how she keeps praying and hoping that the Lord will bless her to be able to walk again and everything.

K and she has this dog, named Tomy, that is about just as old and frail as she is, but has this horrible hacking cough. So, we're sitting there singing a hymn with this lady who has her favorites memorized cuz she can't really read anymore and takes her singing of hymns very seriously, and this dog comes over and is like hacking up a storm and making all these gagging noises right next to soeur smart's feet. K, you would not believe that these type of noises were coming out of this little dog! So, being the horrible person that I am, instead of focusing on the words and music we are singing, I all of a sudden have the image of this horrible hacking and gagging turning into a massive dog pukage onto soeur smart's coach shoes come into my mind. And I think you can commiserate with me that the image of soeur smart's reaction to that would be enough to send anyone into a fit of giggles.

I swear, i could not help myself! It just would not stop. Try as I might, every time i started singing again, all that would come out was laughing. Eventually, i just stopped singing for a little bit and had to go with the "i'm so sorry! i got the hiccups in the middle of that song." So, yeah, basically I'm a really bad person now. Giggling fit during a hymn plus lying to a little old lady.....oops!

4. So, we had a rendezvous with Marie laure last thursday at the church, because a member, who has two little kids, was supposed to come teach with us. And when we do rendezvous at the church, Gabrielle is usually pretty good and will just play with the toys in the nursery and just walks around to take turns on people's laps and stuff. She's sometimes been a little fussy when it gets close to nap time, but we have never seen her throw a tantrum like she did this last week. (She has been teething, though, bless her heart.)

So, eventually, I gave her a cookie to see if that would at least keep her content to finish the lesson. K bad idea. major oops! She managed to get cookie everywhere and then in the cleaning it off her face and dress process, the crying turned to sobbing to complete hysterics. So then, smartypants and I are just making royal idiots of ourselves practically pulling out the tap shoes to burst out in a song, dance, and puppet show in order to get it to stop. K, i dumped out like all the buckets of toys. we tried everything, but gabrielle would not stop crying!!! So, we were finally like, ok quick prayer and let's get out of here.

Then Marie Laure was like, "maybe it's cuz she hasn't seen the Freres. Are they here?" I said I didn't know, but would go check. Turned out they were there working on their fiche for the DMB meeting we had after, and when they walked around the corner and smiled at Gabrielle, she was all of a sudden like all butterflies, squeals and giggles. I, on the other hand, was like, "you have got to be dang kidding me!!!" It was pretty funny though. And a good clear object lesson in why mom AND dad are necessary. And not just for logistical purposes. You need mom to do all the dirty diapers, feeding, dealing with the fevers and hysterics of the teething child, and then you need dad to come in for laughing and play time. Seriously.....ridiculous!

5. Oh, almost forgot to tell you how long hair can be a serious hazard on public transportation. One afternoon, it was kinda a tight squeeze, but we got on the tram and then i went to go validate my pass and realized with a swift and painful yank backwards, that i couldn't go validate my pass, because my hair was trapped in the tram door. I tried to pull it out, but there was to much of it and it felt like it was ripping, so i just handed my pass to soeur smart to validate and i waited, with my head tilted to the side and some of the girls around us laughing, to get it out at the next stop. Seriously didn't know that could happen!! Oops....Still, though, much better than the NYC-hand-in-the-elevator incident of 1993. At least this time the police didn't have to be called in for the extrication!

Okay, I'm so sorry, but time has just gotten away from me and I haven't even said anything! But, it looks like OOPS' 6-10 will have to continued next week, cuz we have to run. But, know that I miss you and that I love you so much!! You guys are wonderful. Don't know how i got so lucky.

Love, Jordan xoxo

New York! New York!

2011-03-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Family,

Sorry, this will be a quick letter, we are still trying to get adjusted to being back and have a lot to do today.

We went to the hudson theatre every day and listened to different panels discussing and debating women's issues from around the world. There were some really impressive women there with incredible stories. So even though it was a little heart wrenching and eye opening to things that really happen, even in our own country, it was also comforting to know there are people willing to get to work and fight to do something about these horrible situations. I was blown away by Melinda Gates. She is such a classy, intelligent, on-top-of-it woman! And I thought condoleeza Rice was amazing.

Bill Clinton is way taller than i thought and has major bear paw hands, but was surprisingly funny at the dinner interview. (k but not like big, just really uber long fingers.) And the DVF (Diane Von Furstenburg) awards where soeur smart was honored along with 4 other women) were held at a totally decorated United Nations building. It was kinda surreal actually seeing how a "hollywood" type dinner party goes down, so i don't think i would do it justice trying to describe it. (And unfortunately i didn't really get any pictures of that evening....ya know the whole "don't be the tacky tag along" dilemma. :) But Soeur smart's little 2 minute acceptance speech was great and the panel she did the next day was probably the most
effective 5 minutes of "proselyting" we've seen all transfer! Anyway, all in all it was a totally fun, brain-cramming week!

We came back exhausted, but now we are recuperated and dad was right that running does help get over jet-lag quicker. Though, it also pointed out very quickly and poignantly how horribly out of shape i have gotten since coming to caen. Goodness I've got some work to do!

The first couple days back were a little rough because we were just spent (i mean in new york we were always up til 1 or 2 am, then we were waking up at 430 or 5 am because of jet lag and then going going going pretty much all day), but, after a little R&R, things are seriously going really well.

Marie Laure is going to be baptized soon! I really think so now. We found out she doesn't actually live with her boyfriend, and i honestly don't think she really even loves him. She still hasn't gotten over her husband dying when she was 5 months pregnant (i don't know if dad told you the story or not). he was, i guess, like her soul mate and they were so in love and just made for each other. And then after doing all kinds of infertility treatments, marie laure finally got pregnant and they decided to move back to france so they could raise their child in a safe country where there was political stability and everything. And then he died in a car accident shortly after and she was devastated. She put on a good face for their baby, but she hasn't really been healed from the hole that left in her heart.

But, things are just finally all in place for her to be able to accept the gospel. She is probably the best investigator i have ever taught. (Did i ever tell you how we found her? if i didn't, tell me. Just goes to show that really we do so little. I guess the term instrument is very correct in describing missionaries, because we are definitely just the little pawns. And all i can say is that Heavenly Father has got some dang good moves!)

She loved church. The ward loved her and were all smitten by gabrielle (her 13 month old girl); the combination of a "ward family" feel, environment to talk and discuss and learn together, and the spirit testifying of the truthfulness of our message are what she has been waiting for in religion.

She came to the baptism on saturday too and she liked it, though she said she will have start practicing and training to go all the way under, because she is scared of water. (but, did you catch that spontaneous mention of her OWN baptism again???!!!) Needless to say, I'm just way excited!!!

It was great to hear from you and give all the kids a big hug from me!! i love you guys a lot and am so grateful for ya! The open house at the church starts this afternoon. (it is going to be a crazy week with the open house going on every day, but there has been a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and faith that have gone into this open house, so im definitely counting on some miracles!!) Well love you lots!!

XOXO Jordan

Goin' to America!

2011-03-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Family Dearest!!!!

It was so great hearing from you!!! I'm happy to know that things are going well! I sure love you guys lots. So, we just got our flight itineraries for new york, but it's still kinda hard to believe that we are "goin to america!!!!!!" Can you tell that I might be a little excited about this? Definitely never thought I'd be getting on another plane before I was heading non-stop to SLC. hehe.

Soeur Smart is seriously awesome for letting me tag along. She is going for the Women in the World Conference and will be receiving the Woman of Courage award from Diane Von Ferstenburg. The Award evening will be held at the United Nations on Friday night. Talk about the experience of a lifetime in the middle of an experience of a lifetime (ie serving a mission haha)!! Do I sound as spoiled as I feel? I think I'll just forward the conference agenda so you can look through it yourselves. But, needless to say, we are both pretty excited! Should be quite the adventure.

But, I think I am just as excited about the rendezvous we just had with Marie Laure (we had to fix a few rendezvous today because we are leaving for the rest of the week.....AND we have a p-day TO-DO list that seems, somehow, to be getting longer. So, I'm sorry, but you might need to be a little patient with my spacy and lame email today)!!

First off, we committed her to read quite a bit last week and when we asked her how it went, she had read it all AND more THREE TIMES to make sure that she understood. (k just fyi, i have never given anyone joseph smith history to read, but a recent convert member who taught with us said that she had had the same problem--not being able to understand the book of mormon-- but that it helped her to read the joseph smith history....go figure. Until college, I always thought it was so confusing, but again, very clear that i'm no scriptorian ha.

Anyway, so we felt good about it and the member printed off the joseph smith history for her, and marie laure LOVED it!! She would not stop talking about it and really believes that joseph smith was a prophet of God. She still has a ways to go (she was raised by parents who flat out told her they didn't love her and refused to teach her about God or Christ, and now she wants to have a relationship with God, but has a hard time believing that he could love her and that she is good enough), but she has totally been feeling the spirit and is starting to recognize it, and she is learning how to pray and committed to pray about being baptized this week. She is just such a sincerely good and humble person. Through and through. She's just incredible. And I am excited for her to come to understand how much Heavenly Father loves her. More than anything, I am excited for that. It will be incredible!!

Okay well, my mind is totally blanking on the other news i had to share. "The prophet" (remember the crazy chanting guy) has either a) gone off on a healing mission to save people's shakras in the name of christ b) gone to morocco to pick up the bride who has been promised to him since he was 5 or c) decided to go to a different church. So, church has been a little less "exciting" lately. Not many stories there. (But, did i ever mention that one day after church i turned around to see him with his hands on either side of this handicapped member's head chanting and humming? yeah.....that didn't go down so well!!!! still rather amusing though.) Well, I'm not sure why i wrote that....huh.

Okay, so obviously my brain is NOT functioning super well. So, before I start raconting n'importe quoi, I'm just gonna put a sock in it, spare you, and say that things are goin' great and that I love you!!!! You're wonderful and I don't know what I'd do without ya.

love,
jordo
xoxo

Happenings & Highlights!

2011-02-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Hey gang!!!

How's it goin?!! It was great to hear from you. Joshy man, that was totally cool about your missionary experience with the recruit from England!! Do you still want to serve your mission in Germany? Halle baby--those drawings from last week were SO IMPRESSIVE. And girlfriend, totally cool that you already qualified for the state meets! Johnny--bummer about the rotator cuff. Still out of commission? did i ever tell you how much i loved the long tennis letter you sent a couple weeks ago? I totally got a kick out of it. Though i do not understand how you remember minute details like that from all the bajillion matches you play. (i think boys must have an extra "sports lobe" in their brains that is programmed to log away non-important statistics and names or what not that you can then throw around in a group of girls to strut how cool and tough you are? somethin like that?! jk) Matthew--i'm assuming you already knew what my response would be to the question of what im getting you for your birthday....? Think Christmas Vacation. In other words, i give you permission to go "get yourself something real nice!" haha you are funny brother. Tara--i sent you a separate email, but im glad things are going well with your student teaching.

Things are goin well around these parts!! We had another good week. Plenty of "unique" and exciting experiences! The only problem is that whenever I have sat down to write you about them on Mondays lately, my mind is just a total blank. Un trou, if you will. This is a serious problem!! So, I'm gonna cheat and start a bulleted list of happenings and highlights and hope it'll give you somewhat of an idea of what is going down here.

Happenings & Highlights
1. This Branch is on fire with missionary work right now. The leadership really gets things going. We've been working with Muzeyi to plan a missionary activity for this saturday that has basically evolved into a mini MTC complete with "zone conferences" taught by the branch president and his assistants (councilors), gym time team relay races (with things like sewing on buttons, ironing shirts, shaving, packing suitcases, etc), and classroom instruction (taught by us and topics focused on how to work together effectively as a member/missionary team to see success).

The theme of the activity is M&Ms!!! (leave it to me to come up with something super cheesy hehe) "Membre et Missionnaire. Comment trouver la joie et l'esprit dans l'oeuvre missionnaire." Soeur Smart and I re-wrote a missionary call letter the other day in the form of an invitation to the activity and we handed them out at church yesterday, so hopefully people will show up, have a good time, and maybe possibly learn something! And even if things don't go exactly according to plan, there will be plenty of M&Ms, so how bad could it be, right?!

The Branch is also organizing a porte ouverte for March that is going to be focused around the articles of faith. They have designed and put up all these totally cool displays with modern language explanations of the articles of faith and what they mean to us, etc. They had a special joint RS/priesthood entirely dedicated to explaining the purpose and goal of the open house and they charged every member/ family to invite at least ten people to attend. The purpose isn't to invite their friends to meet with the missionaries or anything, but just to come and see what "the mormons" really believe. And the members are taking it really seriously, so i bet it will be a really good experience!

Okay, and I promise I'm trying (maybe not succeeding) not to ramble too much, but I have to tell you the Branch miracle from the other day. We're sitting in sacrament and the Branch President gets up and shares an experience that had happened the other day at work. President Bertrand is a volunteer fire-fighter (ya know, in the spare time that he doesn't have.....seriously i don't know how he does everything he does), and i guess he was on duty the other day and a co-worker approached him kinda awkwardly and was like, "so....yeah.....i heard.....well....someone said something a while ago that you are kinda like a ......well i don't know how to put it....but like a priest....like a curator in your church. And i was just wondering, ya know.....if it would be possible......to talk to you about.....i dont know.......having my son, who is 8, baptized?" So, President Bertrand said YES! of course and explained a little to him about the church and the missionnaries. And then added, from the pulpit, "so this week I am going to be seeing him with the sister missionnaires..." Needless to say, we were totally stoked!!! They had to cancel the rendezvous last week, but we're crossing our fingers for this week. So, say a prayer that it will go well!!!!!

2. The pigeon poop count is now at 4. Seriously. I was very much less than pleased. You see there is this bridge at the castle that we usually pass under, because it is a shortcut to the church. But, it is a little bit of a danger zone cuz there are always pigeons a plenty hanging out there. So, we have gotten into the habit of walking up to the border of the bridge, sprinting underneath it, and then walking afterwards. Like we do that EVERY time we pass under it. (Which probably looks really weird to passers-by, come to think of it.) So, naturally, the ONE time we don't sprint it, I get pooped on. Which means, I guess, that I only brought it upon myself. Still...not cool.

3. Our investigator, Marie Laure, is doing great! Or at least she was before she fell at work this week and ended up in the hospital for a few days. I feel like someone/something is really trying hard to keep her from meeting with us (a couple weeks ago it was her son who was in an accident and broke his leg), but she is too awesome and solid!! She has this adorable 11 month old baby girl named Gabrielle, who has probably the biggest, cutest eyes i have ever seen. Our lessons have all gone really well and she just seems to "get it."

The problem is that she can't come to church because she works on Sundays. (But there is one sunday in march that she has off, so she is planning on coming.) Last week, despite the momentary freak out sister smart and i had when the member we were teaching with started to go off about the temple and endowment or something, we had a great discussion about the book of mormon. And at the end Marie Laure didn't want to leave. It was a bit of an awkward like, "Okay....well.....been great ladies....but we have another rendezvous we have to get to!" She is already a natural relief society sister chatter! Definitely meant to be a member. :)

4. I learned a new term from the Cherbourg elders at district meeting last week: bromance. It was quite the entertaining and lively lunch time chat to say the least! I've said it before and I'll say it again--serving around elders always keeps life a little more funny! Like when it is your one year mark and you walk into the church and elder holcombe and elder rueckert pull out this mound of tin foil and are like, "We know you said no presents, but we couldn't help it." "Well gosh guys, thanks for the tin foil. I hardly know what to say!"

JK, once I got through like a joshy-wrapping job amount of tin foil, i found out that there was actually a mini ping pong paddle inside. Which apparently they decided was the perfect size for me. They figured they knew I would need my own personal paddle in order to accomplish one of my transfer goals--which is to beat elder holcombe in ping pong. K and it may be an unofficial goal, but i tell you what, that doesn't mean I'm any less dedicated to it! The trick is finding enough p-day time to get good practice in. I was, however, on an uphill. I was totally getting better! Until we had a minor set back last week. Well more like, i became a complete disgrace. Meaning, Elder Holcombe beat me playing left handed. So NOT good!!!!! I had to lick my wounds a little and finally got over it. However, besides keeping me plenty humble, the great thing about being back in the same area as elder holcombe (this is now transfer 6) is that putting together musical numbers is a piece of cake. And now that we're not in the Paris area, we have just started over from the beginning and no one is the wiser!

5. So, our Omaha Beach and the American cemetary expedition last week was awesome. The visitors center tour is all focused around the Competence, Courage, and Sacrifice of the soldiers and leaders who organized and fought in Normandy leading up to and after D-day. It is inspiring and evoking--pride, humility, and gratitude were definitely some of the emotions that overwhelmed me. But, I have a problem. Even if I'm not super outspoken about it, I am fiercely patriotic. But, it seems to be that my patriotism is located way too close to my tear ducts! Needless to say, it was a wonderful experience (even if my mascara didn't make it out quite as well) and I'm so glad we got to go out there again.

7. Well running out of time, so I'm just gonna summarize by saying that the spider episode at FHE was one for the books, James' baptism was a roaring success, and the team effort in getting Yosephe to set a baptismal date seems to be reaching the fourth quarter (She knows it's true, could probably teach the joseph smith story better than me, and she is more active than a lot of the members; she is just scared of making the wrong choice because there are so many churches. Totally understandable, but dangit she has such a good heart and i just want her to be happy, but she is currently just so frustrated with all these fears and questions. Things will work out, but a few extra prayers that she will receive and recognize the assurance she needs to take the plunge would be greatly appreciated!).

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. It seems I just can't help myself. Having to type fast does not help the problem in the least. So, i wish you luck in trying to understand some of that mumbo jumbo and if nothing else, just know that I am so very grateful to be a missionary. Sure, there are moments that are a little rough and very much less than glamorous, but at the end of the day, it is a wonderful learning experience and unforgettable adventure. So, I am grateful. I may not be perfect, but I know the message is true, and I have never been more certain of that in my life. So I'm grateful for the Lord's patience in giving me opportunities to share it with people here.

In other news, we'll be heading to Paris for two days this week for a leadership training conference (i guess starting in may or sometime, there is a new training in the MTC and they want every missionary to have it). Basically I'm scared out of my mind because there is no way we will make it through this thing without some horribly awkward practice teaching stories to talk about after, but I'm sure I'll be better off for it (that is if i do, in fact, survive :)) Anyway, love you and miss you guys lots and hope you have a great week!!

Love, Jordan

"Keepin' it Cool".....well at least mostly!

2011-01-26T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,

How ya doin'?! Sounds like these are going well and are as crazy as usual. Poor Joshy man--gosh he sounds really sick. That's so sad. I hope he's doin' better soon. (and seriously!!!! did noone get flu shots this fall????) But totally awesome about johnny!! wow those are some good wins. I'm excited to be able to see how well they are playing next summer. Good thing im already in my retirement....hehe. I definitely love hearing details about what's going on at the homefront and the recent stories. They are a nice boost! You guys are so great. I love you!!

Things here are rollin right along. Well, I will admit that throughout the course of the last few weeks, I've had to employ Dad's Grinch advice and just try to "keep my cool" a couple times. As of last week, I have now been pooped on by pigeons THREE times since i have been in France. the only single redeeming quality about the most recent experience is that it was slightly amusing seeing Sister Smart like in hysterics about it. Of course, she has never been pooped on by one of those lovely rats of the sky, so i have seriously never, ever, seen her laugh so hard!!! Eventually, she was able to pull it together enough to wipe the doodoo out of my hair, but yeah.....sure appreciated that comp support moment.

And I'm not trying to be a drag, but there are a couple other things that have been a little less than cool. Things are getting better, but, I think i would almost go as far as to say that i really disliked the transportation in this city for a bit there. It was impossible!! Mostly what i actually felt so disgruntled about is being late to places and feeling lost. But we just could not figure this place out. Not so much that we were lost, because we were usually found.....we just couldn't get anywhere. K like, Paris--i can do. Paris, I know like my pocket! Give me an address in Paris or the banlieu, and I will get you there one way or another. So you'd think, "oh small town caen charm--this'll be a walk in the park." K well, it started out more like a sprint around centreville being sent back and forth by different "supposedly helpful" people until you ended up on the right bus in the wrong direction and 45 minutes late to your rendezvous! haha, seriously this place felt like a foreign country!! :)

Probably didn't help that we didn't really have any helpful maps and when we got here there wasn't even a ward list in the apartment or area book, so we really were starting from scratch. But, so far, at least, we have always managed to find ourselves after losing ourselves, so I haven't totally lost my cool yet. Just been pretty dang close a few times! hehe. But, the good news, we are now becoming more efficient...or at least less deficient!

You know what else is really not super cool? A cell phone that has been changed to voice command.....in French. Let's just say nightmare!!! Somehow they don't compensate for the whole american accent thing too well and calling back the crazy who hears voices and we have been discouraged from contacting, is not usually on my top list of cool things to do! Or, if you prefer, going into a rendezvous as a normal smelling person (huh, that's a phrase i never anticipated using) and coming out reeking like you've been a chain smoker for like 20 years is not one of the cooler experiences I have ever had. Seriously that stuff is potent, i was impressed how many layers could be contaminated in under 45 minutes! But the good thing about the fact that Caen has it's fair share of funny people is that hilarious stories are never too far away! And there have also been a lot of TOTALLY cool things that have happened lately.

Starting with the Marie Noelle and Bernadette miracles. We have a rendezvous with this less active family somewhere on the outskirts of Caen, so knowing our track history, and hoping to avoid any "near losing our cool" moments :), we started in the direction of their place like an hour early. Just to be sure. Meaning, that of course, we were able to find their place in like 20 minutes!! So, we decided we would just start at the top and port (franglais for like knocking doors) the building. Got a few not interested, and then this woman opens the door and is kinda staying half way hidden and doesn't seem overly enthused to see us, but doesn't shut the door. So we just kept talking and asking her questions that she wasn't super excited to answer, but was answering quand meme. And then all of a sudden, she comes out into the hall and just starts crying. Turns out her Dad had died about three months ago and she was really hurting and didn't have the answers and said she was mostly just shocked that we would show up at her door right now, because they have never had anyone like us. She said she felt like her Dad had sent us to her. Oh, i just can't tell you how grateful i was at that moment for the knowledge the restored gospel gives us!! And how grateful I was that Heavenly Father helped us find their place in enough time to go knock a few extra doors. It was definitely one of those moments when you are grateful to have been where you were supposed to. And you realize; more tangibly I guess, how much heavenly father loves his children and how good he is at looking after them. Totally cool.

K so that was Marie Noelle. Bernadatte is someone who was taught years ago and we read her fiche tried to get in touch with way back at the beginning of the transfer. She answered the first time and asked us to call back later because she was at work. But then her phone never worked again. We tried for a long time, but never got anything. So then weeks go by and one afternoon we step onto a tram and this lady glanced at our plaques. So i went up and asked if she knew the church or the missionaries and she said, "yeah i think there were some sisters that called a while ago." And I have no idea where it came from, but the next thing out of my mouth was, "oh you're Bernadette." And she goes, "yeah!!! When can you come by?" So, anyway we exchanged info and set up a rendexvous. Then, of course, we show up for the rendezvous--keep in mind it was for the very next day--and call her and she's all, "oh! i completely forgot!" hahahahaha....yup.....African much?! So we re-fixed and were eventually able to see her and so far things are going well!

So, I can't decide if this is cool or not. But, it was certainly one for the books, so we'll see if i can do it justice. This last Saturday we had a good chunk of time in the afternoon after our rendezvous, and when we planned we felt good about going out porting in this place called Lion-sur-Mer, which is a pretty good distance outside of Caen. Well, it was a very charming oceanside area, except that "oceanside" is not the best place to be situated in a huge rainstorm without umbrellas. So we knock a ton of doors, don't really get much, and by the end of a couple hours it is pitch black and we are soaking wet and can no longer feel our toes. (Like i went home and blow dryed my hair--we were that wet!) So, we go and catch the last bus back to Caen and the driver, jean-jacques (mom will probably love that name haha), is like a total chit chatter. But, he apparently also likes music and keeps trying to get us to sing him a song. Eventually this gospel singer couple (what are the chances?!) gets on the bus and sits next to us and when jean jacques asked him, he goes, "okay. the one we're gonna do is called.....(some african name or soemthing)." So, then his lady friend starts layin down the beat and he starts singing and clapping and being very very expressive with his arms and face.

In case you haven't caught on--they were very into it! This is a very much white and French couple i might add! It was one of the greatest things i have ever seen on a public bus! So THEN, jean jacques decides that he won't let us get off until we sing a song for him. Not joking! And, of course, im totally having a brain cramp moment and cannot think of a single song that i know except "My Favorite Things" from Sound of music. So, guess what? Soeur Smart and I sang My Favorite Things for this bus driver and this gospel singer couple on a bus to Caen on Saturday night. Like I said--one for the books! Then the gospel singer woman, bethanie, gave us chocolate muffins, because apparently we were friends, and jean jacques let us talk to him about the book of mormon and took one home saying he would give it a try. I'm just not going to even try to give commentary on this one, because whenever i remember it, i am always at a loss!! So, i guess you can decide whether it was cool or not!

Okay, and i also mentioned that we did exchanges with Versailles last week. I worked with Sister Larsen, who is in her first transfer, and sister smart worked with sister gappmeier. I'll spare you all the details, but it turned out to be a totally cool exchange! Sister Larsen and I were able to give out 4 or 5 book of mormons, get invited to summer with a muslim family in morocco, and set a baptismal date on a first rendezvous! We went and visited this woman named Zeinabe, whose number they had found in the phone, but knew nothing about. And things were going okay, but ill be honest that i was actually kinda stressed during most of the first part of the rendezvous cuz i wasn't really feeling it and was just thinking, "oh dang, im already failing at this senior comp business" and was certainly a little disconcerted about being on the receiving end of the "what the heck do we say to that?" looks! I remember being the one giving those back in the day, but goodness it's a little different on the other side!

But then, once I forgot about me, got out of the way of the spirit and forgot the"first lesson routine"--that's when it worked. And the next words out of my mouth were, "Do you want to be baptized?" And she said, "Yes. yes i do." It was totally cool and there was a really sweet spirit! (Her dad is a member in the St. Ouen ward and she had been to church a few times with him a while ago. It's super weird how things fit together sometimes, but the random part is that her fiche is in the St Ouen area book and she was the very first phone call i ever made by myself as a blue in st. ouen! She didn't show up for that rendezvous way back in march or whatever, but now she is ready and it was time!)

But, probably the best and cutest part was walking out of the building in silence and then turning around to smile at Sister Larsen and seeing her with tears streaming down her face because she was so happy. It was absolutely adorable and a good lesson, or reminder, for me. Not that you forget why we're here or the importance of what we're doing. Those things I probably understand a lot better now than at the beginning. But things have a tendency to become "normal" (and i know that sounds horrible and isn't expressing it exactly right), so it was a good reminder of how NOT normal this is and how truly neat and unique and wonderful of an experience being a missionary is! So, like I said, all in all it turned out to be a cool exchange. The only slightly not cool aspect may have been the 1.5 hour dirt trail trek through the "park of wolves".....but let's be real--totally worth it!

Anyway, en fin de compte, the cool things totally beat out the not cool ones and things are rollin' right along here in Caen. I love you guys and miss you. I hope you have a great week and can't wait to hear from you!

love, jordo xoxo

ps i found out that Santalingam, the buddhist guy soeur clark and i started teaching in paris lilas, is progressing and doing really really well!!!

Totally crazy about michael!!!! talk about standing out....blonde haired white michael in romania!!! hehe that's awesome. so, is romanian a 9 week mtc stay or 12? Tell him I am soooo excited for him, but not super excited I won’t see him for 3 ½ years!

Tara--please throw those boots out!!! you're killin' me with all this talk about washing them over and over. Enough is really enough with boots that have been in manure!!!! seriously are you becoming dirty harriett or something??!!!! and side note, i thought the poem was awesome. i re-read it this week for a good little pep talk! and fyi, i opened your last later the other day on the tram, and there was this little girl around who had been staring at me for a while, so i gave her the snowflake and she was super excited! So thanks for helping with the contacting sister!! k and what is this centennial teaching business you are up to?

Johnny- are you going to valentines this year? i liked the recent tennis letter you sent me, but i dont remember exactly what it said, just that i thought it was funny.

Matthew-was glad to hear your undie supply is nice and stocked! and pretty good star wars meets RISK strategery. Very quick of you, if i do say so myself. although, you remember me--the rule nazi--(exhibit A:lord of the rings watching marathon 2009) all that business would probably not have flown in my book! Still, impressive.

Joshy--im sorry you're not super pleased about school these days dude. are there any cute girls in your class? valentines is coming up.....have you decided who you are going to ask to be your valentine?! im willing to bet your the cutest boy in your class!

Halle—I’m glad you loved the movie A Little Princess! i thought it was asome too!!!! who is your new church teacher? what are you studying in french class?
Siblings--love you lots and think you're pretty dang cool.

A Happy & Grateful New Year!

2011-01-03T11:03:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011 family dearest!!!!!!

Sounds like you all celebrated in style! I'm so glad it all turned out and you were able to take it easy. And tara--way to represent in the world domination scene!! But, i just have to clarify that i read correctly, Dad really used doilies to put out his party spread?! So, would it be safe to say that i should continue to direct questions regarding the power tools to Mom, but that any interior design or party planning accent questions should now be directed to Dad? Just checking! But, seriously, I can't believe it is 2011 already. (Though since it always takes me forever to get used to writing the new date, in my journal it will still be 2010 for another month or so, so i have a good slow transition ahead of me.)

Do you remember celebrating Y2K and the end of the world? It seems like yesterday!!! (Though, i think it was also a little more memorable of a new year's eve considering that may, or may not, have been the year we toilet papered our own house with nana and lisa......thanks for the clean up job though dad!) Crazy how time flies. Should you have asked me at the beginning of 2000 if i saw myself in france january 2011, i probably would have said, "heck no!" But, asking me now if i would rather be anyway else, i would still say,"heck no!!" I am so happy and grateful to be here and starting out a new year of work and miracles and, what im sure will be, memories for a lifetime! So, today i thought i would catch you up on some of the last couple weeks of current events, by way of a quick list of the some of the little things i am grateful for. We'll see how it turns out......

1. I am grateful for a kitchen sink that still zaps us when we do the dishes.....it keeps you on your toes.

2. I am grateful for new sheets and comforters......I try not to be spoiled, but sleeping in grime is just not something i am okay with.

3. I am grateful for mailmen who ride around town on their little bikes with a basket of mail in front...you just can't beat small town charm!

4. I am grateful for Caen's unique charm, of which a perfect example, was the light show they had set up at the Mairie (like town hall). The presentation consisted of loud music and a perfectly coordinated light projection show that told the story on the outside of the building (ie, the mairie, itself, was the screen). It started out simply enough and we settled in for a cute little bedtime story type thing, when all of a sudden the town is on fire, sirens and lights and flames everywhere. But, apparently no need for alarm, because enter this giant kid (you only see his legs because he is huge) comes storming into the city dragging a ginormous teddy bear and starts urinating on the town (im sorry, i really just don't know how to put that delicately in a way that gives you the right idea of how this scene actually went down in front of us), which heroically, saves the town from the fire, but then somehow turns into an underwater scene. Pleasant, I know. K, so that's when the eyebrows raise, but as this thing continues through acrobatic monkeys and who knows what else, the chin drop did not follow too shortly after. By the end, I glanced at sister smart and we both totally looked like shrek and donkey right after they see that little music box show in Duroc (or whatever the name is). Like, "What the heck did we just see?!" All I know, is I am grateful for that memorable one-of-a-kind welcome to Caen!

5. I am grateful for a companion who is very chill and reassuring. Ie, when I am stressed about how church is going to go down the first week and how thing will work out with the members, she hears me take a deep breath while walking to the chapel and responds with a loving arm pat, "Hey, don't worry....at least they can't stone us." Oh, gosh, yeah, that is reassuring!

6. I am grateful that Suzy and Valerie's baptism went well!!! Did I ever mention that? Well, actually i heard it was a little stressful, but hey! They were baptized!!!! AND, i guess the rendezvous the day before, they had invited a couple of their friends over to talk with the missionaries and get book of mormons and have the sisters explain how we weren't a cult (thats a pretty standard introductory course these days) and stuff. Anyway, they are pretty much amazing and have already set a goal to start saving money for their missions. My heart was so happy when i heard that!!! They are so great, aren't they?! (Side note--i also heard that marguerite is also doing really well.)

7. I am grateful for a city that is, maybe what you would call, a little slow at the moment. (Just so we're on the same page, when i say slow, i mean we came in with not a single investigator.) One, because, it ya know--kinda lessens the pressure, like at least I can't make things any worse! hehe. But also because it is really fulfilling and exciting to see and really appreciate all the little miracles. Even the little contacting ones are exciting! Plus, it provides many more opportunities for encounters with interesting and unique people that we may have missed otherwise.

For example, one of this week's highlights was the Russian Mafia couple. Long story short, we go back for our follow up rendezvous and the wife (the only one who speaks english....at least allegedly, of course :)) has prepared this little speach about why they decided they weren't interested in learning anymore. It went down something like this: "ve is Vussian!! Ve neverrr chenge. Ve belief Hesu and ve know novone who vill chenge.....etc,." I think I may also have heard a, "Ve put Ze vodka in ze coffee!" (haha classic pearce sacrament meeting that one.) I wish you could hear Sister Smart's impersonation of this conversation, because it is just too good!

8. I am also grateful for how far a couple of plates of snickerdoodles can get you with the elders at the first district meeting. I know, I know. totally cheap, totally dirty move that I have not resorted to thus far in my time out here, but desperate times, right? I mean we opened back up a ville to sisters under what would definitely not be considered the best circumstances, so i guess i might have been machavellian it a little--maybe the end does justify the means?!! No harm, no foul. And the Elders are very nice. We were sure grateful (and got a good chuckle) for the stocking of little odds and ends that they dropped off for Christmas. Not to worry --it did include some army men toys wrapped up in this decades-old box that looked like had once held a little nativity set!

9. I am grateful that even though we have now transitioned from a metro to a tram and city bus, some things about public transportation are still universal. Between us both having our behinds grabbed and being told we were playing right into satan's plot (I offered someone a Christmas DVD, but that was apparently the wrong move, because "that's exactly what Satan wants"), we are still makin' some new memorable transport moments.

10. I am grateful for people who are understanding of my blondeness, because my "needed an edit button moment of the week" was definitely going up to an elder and saying, "i love how you spin her umbrella to turn her on." I promise that it had contextual meaning!!! But, the elder's face quickly made me realize what had just actually come out of my mouth. But, I have to add to grampa, that we got a good laugh out of his blonde joke this week, especially in light of the fact that the branch has now, apparently, nicknamed us "the blondes." (for example, during choir practice, the director tells one of the little girls, "oh go stand by the blondes.")

11. I am grateful for cities with "nice to pedestrian people." People actually stop for you to cross the street at crosswalks. And this is a new experience, let me tell you! Especially cuz soemtimes they will stop for you just at other random corners or places if they see you standing there. It's true--kinda takes away the excitement of the "dash for your life and hope your companion makes it" element, but it is still very nice. (of course, i guess we could have exercised a little patience in paris and walked to and waited for lights to change, but let's be real--just because i came on a mission does not mean i all of a sudden sprouted a patience tree or something.)

12. I am grateful for the hilarious video you guys sent!! That was seriously so sweet and i love, love, loved it!!

13. I am grateful for a bathroom door that doesn't shut (or at least all the way).....it provides many more comp bonding activities. And companionship unity is very important after all. A fact we learned even more poignantly on New Year's Eve. We were invited, with the elders, to the Branch President's house. He and his wife are in their early thirties probably and have this super cute, young family. They had prepared an awesome meal, all these little fun table games, there was arm wrestling with the little kids, and then there was this "game" that apparently they like to "play" with all the new missionaries. Basically they asked us to take turns introducing our companions and then used what we did, or did not say or know about our companions, to illustrate the importance of companionship communication and listening in being able to work together as a team. Some kind of game, right?! It was pretty funny though, because at the end the wife was like, "and voila the difference between men and women communicating!"

14. I am grateful for the weird mannerism things you pick up in France that make you look and sound like an idiot when you're speaking English. (i dont really know why i am grateful for that, except that it provides entertainment.) Prime examples that i happened to notice from the last 24 hours: "you have reason" to tell someone they are right, "that tells me something" to tell someone that something sounds familiar, and certainly not to be forgotten--the horse lip puffing sigh thing (you'd know it if you saw it).

Seriously, I laughed hysterically watching nelson do his little french mannerisms segment of the video. I don't know if he remembers this, but he taught that to me in like 7th or 8th grade and said that in learning French that's all i would really need to know. I have remembered and practiced it ever since then, and he was so right! A few times I've been haing casual conversations with people about learning French and i have said "well ya know, really it's not all that hard, all you need to know is"..and then i would do the nelson thing (boh, bah, disant que, bof, tiens, chez pas moi, etc) and they have all thought it was hilarious! They are like, "yup you've got it all down!"

15. And I am grateful for the awesome trainings from president staheli and the assistants last week at interviews. (especially grateful since i wasn't one of the ones called up to practice hehe) But, it's always nice to get like a little extra boost to your spiritual battery and another arrow to add to your quiver. This time the practice teaching part was about learning how to get a solid return appointment fixed after the first street contact. Something I definitely have to work on! So, very grateful for direction from inspired leaders.

16. And last, but not least, I am grateful for you!!!! Thanks for being so wonderful. I sure love you guys!!!

Hope you have a great week and start out the new year with a bang!!
love, jordan xoxo

Updates & Inside Peeks

2010-12-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Family Dearest!!!!!

How are you?! K but first off, I have to thank everyone for all the fun goodies you have sent. I feel like I must be the most spoiled missionary in the world, and i think you guys must single-handedly be keeping the US postal service in business. Holy cow!!! I am so excited to start the 12 days of christmas, I absolutely loved the calendar (we all pored over it multiple times), the purse was awesome (the other sisters thought it was pretty chic), so grateful for the cd from the cusicks, the boots are super super cozy, and i loved the necklace!!! And the Paris sisters were so cute and surprised me with an ice cream cake (im sorry mom, i used the cake mix you sent me for elder jaquier's birthday!)!! It was definitely a memorable 22nd birthday in Paris, even if we were super super sick and even if I’m still in denial about my old age. haha. So thank you. I love you. You are wonderful.

Things here are going well. I guess the biggest update as far as news is concerned is that my days in Paris are numbered. As soon as my companion gets back (supposedly sometime this week), they are shipping us out to Caen (Normandy). I am so excited about that. Neither of us has ever served there so bring on the whole whitewashing and re-opening a ville the week before Christmas adventure!!!! I figure at least with the Book of Mormon christmas contacting challenge we got at mission conference (which was AWESOME!!!), at least we'll know where to start--ie giving out 22 book of mormons before christmas with follow up. haha, it'll be one heck of an adventure that is for sure. I think the luggage plus christmas packages plus christmas tree moving on a train will, alone, be quite the memorable experience. Mom, don't worry, I will for sure picturize it! I am super sad that I will miss Suzie and Valerie's baptisms next Sunday, but we'll make sure and get everything good and ready this week, so it can go down flawlessly. And on the memory card I sent there is video of the musical number me and Elder Holcombe did for the mission Christmas conference.

Speaking of Suzie and Valerie, can i just say how much I love them?????!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously they are amazing. It is such a pleasure teaching them. They really want to understand and make sure they are doing everything right. K small example, but normally when you teach the 10 commandments, people are like "well yeah, duh," but they are like, "so what does that mean exactly?" And they have really been supported well by the Paris Young Adults. They went to a party a few weeks ago at the young adult center and met a ton of members, and more than once now we have showed up to teach them and they are hanging out with other member young adults and are so well integrated already! Anyway, I love them and I am so excited for them to be baptized, whether or not I am here. And did I ever mention that we set a baptismal date with Marguerite too? I don't know if i did.....oops, sorry about that. hehe. But she was supposed to be baptised the 19th as well, but her mom is still really not happy about her meeting with us, so even though she is 18, we are going to wait a few more weeks. But she is awesome. So, basically I am sad to leave our investigators, but I feel good about what we've seen happen in Paris Lilas and I am excited for a new adventure!

K, you know how i normally get sick like once a year around finals time? Well, it seems that whether or not I am actually taking finals, i am still cursed. Except that I have never been sick like this before. But, we learned very quickly that France doesn't mess around with their OTC meds. When you can buy lidocaine cough drops, you know you don't need to worry!!! (I have pretty much lost everything i once learned in pharmacology, but if i do recall correctly, lidocaine is like a sodium channel blocker used for local anesthesia. like when the dentist is going to drill into your mouth. haha.) Needless to say, it had a nice numbing effect for sore throats and coughing!! And the pharmacists here are hilarious. They like have such pride in fulfilling their pharmaceutical duties well and obviously enjoy doctoring people up. So, you walk in and tell them what's wrong and they are like, "ooohhh.....yeah, you need THIS. this will make it all better." So we get a good kick out of the pharmacists.

We also got a good kick out of the doctors as well, though for a different reason. Our first experience with French healthcare this morning was certainly one i won't forget for a while! First of all, the waiting room, i don't have time to detail, so let's just leave it at--SKETCHY. Then the doctor comes out and has us come back to her office/exam room. The whole place reeks of cigarette smoke, there are cigarettes on her desk, and like shoe boxes containing patient records. More sketchy. So, we chit chat for a bit and she asks us what is wrong with some details for a bit. She looks in our ears. And then asks us for our first and last names and our birthdays, gives us each a prescription for amoxicillin, and says that it will be 22 euros. Seriously, that was it. No questions about allergies (and HULLO!!! that's a penicillin antibiotic), no medical history, no documents, no insurance, no legality (certainly not complainign about that considering my current status (ya, I am still illegal) hehe), not even a single signature. It was like the most hilarious thing. I walked out of there like, "well huh.....that's how healthcare works in France, whaddayaknow." But hey--quick, cheap and got the job done, so we'll go with it!!! And honestly, as long as it helps me not feel this horrible than i am totally down with it!

So other updates--Faman (whose name is really Saman; a fact you will learn in the letter i am sending home today) has started praying out loud. and the right way!!!!! yay!!! seriously, you don't know what a feat that is!

And we also have a new contacting tactic, that seems to be working out pretty well. Basically the plan goes like this--talk to every Indian person you pass. I love Indian culture! Like when they say they will do something, they will do it. When they say they will be somewhere, they are there. Sometimes it's a bit surprising actually!!! Anyway, tactical plan is goin great!!!

okay, well ill get that other letter finsihed up and sent out today, but we gotta run. We did go to the Eiffel Tower today earlier and hiked up all the stairs!!!

Love you guys! Miss you. Hope you know how grateful i am for you!!!!!
love,
jordo

did I mention we played our turkey bowl on the fields in front of hotel des invalides? (ie napoleon's tomb place and also the place where we (dad, mom, me & tara) took a nap that one time) I didn't contribute a whole lot, except that I stuck my man well and freaked elder helvey out a little, and stayed out of elder holcombe's way enough that he basically single handedly won the game for us. hehe. but, we were all covered in mud from head to toe afterwards and the next day we were so sore!!

so, side note I have loved the Christmas cds and every time I get weird looks about the bugs bunny ones or whatev, I just say "artistic license!!!!" Thanks Tara!

tell the congers their Christmas card and school pictures were awesome!!!! of course ali has her Christmas cards sent out (even to the people in france) by like december 4th. oh and OMG those letters from grandpa were hilarious!!!!! and he made every single one like tie in somehow to that specific person----so funny! the sisters were impressed with how clever and quick he was, I laughed SO HARD.

did I mention enough times that I absolutely loved loved loved josh's primary talk?????!!! I cried, of course. and made all the sisters listen to it!! (bahaha--it took my dad a lot of courage to go and tell my mom what happened.....hahahaha) also, josh and Halle’s letters this week were even more hilarious than normal. so tender that he donated 1.00 to the "mishonary fund"

Matthew--I am getting too old, because I do not even remember the name of my biology teacher's name......oh wait....it's coming....W......Wh....whitaker?????? maybe. and since when did you have an ipod touch?

josh--thanks for donating, that's so nice!!! Can’t wait to hear about your birthday!

halle--of course you're still my favorite little 7-yr-old diva princess!!

Learnings, Laughings, Lovings

2010-12-05T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hey gang!!!

How are you doing?! Sounds like things are keepin on at the homefront! I got your package on Saturday and I can't believe how much stuff you sent. That was like the best package ever, but you need to stop! The whole TAco Soup for dummies (aka jordan) was pretty funny. And FYI, even though "Heavenly Father is watching," you are just lucky i am not a mischievous kid, because it was really tempting to peek and "try to figure out" what the gift was I wasn't supposed to open until Christmas Eve.....hmmm...... Speaking of Christmas Eve, whose room is everyone going to sleep in? Oh and FYI, I won't lie I think i much preferred Tara's response to Harry Potter than Dad's. Talk about Bahumbug (hmm never realized that was so hard to spell)!! Speaking of bahumbugs, it sounds like we're gonna have more of an All american thanksgiving in France (go figure) than you guys. So, I guess the bonus to being like the orphan missionary is that I have been kinda temporarily adopted into the paris zone and ward and we are doing a legit Turkey Bowl (an announcement of dividing the teams has already been sent out, but i think elder ellsworth should be fired from the naming of teams job cuz i'm pretty sure we are Tuna Fish and our colors are black and blue) and having dinner all together at an American member's house.

But, before then we have a whole lot to do because there are so many great, great things happening in our areas! And the adventures of these last couple weeks have been great, but I thought I would break up just a few of them into some of our recent learnings, laughings, and lovings. Oh man, I so wish I was better at writing, because bein' on a mission is just so great and I just don't do it justice!!! (Side note: we just had a p-day raclette party for elder jaquier's birthday and it was so fun! Super funny when President and Sister Staheli walked in and it was suddenly absolutely silent! haha. Of course all I can think about is, "ah no, I haven't written my president's letter yet...." President was like "how come I always feel like a wet blanket? Oh, they are just great.)

Learnings:
1. I have a new favorite French idiom--"entre chien et loup." Which directly translated would mean: between dog and wolf. But, idiomatically translated? hehe means: twilight. At first glance, it is totally another one of those really lame french things (like instead of knowing something like "the back of your hand," apparently, here we know things like "your pocket." enough said.), but is actually genius and sheds a whole new light on the term twilight and its use as the title of that book!

2. The typical stranger stopping you to say, "franchement, il faut que je vous dise que vous etes si belle," doesn't always have to end in a horribly awkward way. And this dude actually came to church and gave the elders his number. Definitely a new one for me!

3. So last night, we learned how incredibly awkward it can be to find ourselves in the living room of a Muslim family while you are fasting. To back up a little, I started talking to this man a week or so ago on the metro, turned out he was way nice, had 3 little boys and invited us to come over to his house and meet his wife and stuff. So, we set up to come over Sunday night. We walk in and see the adorable little kids running around and are like "suweet!!!!!", gonna baptize this whole family!!!......and then we see that he is wearing a booboo.

Suspicions begin. Wife is also wearing a booboo. Oh man, definitely from Senegal. THEN, we walk into the living room and there are like pictures of mosques and they tell us the oldest boy's name is mohammed. Well, certainly cleared up any clarification we may have needed. Needless to say, the father wasn't very keen on the idea of starting "the lesson" with a hymn about Jesus Christ. But, somehow the shut down to the gospel was much easier to take than the African guilt trip that came our way for not being able to eat their food because we were fasting.... Awkward. Love it!

4. Ok so this one has been haunting me all week. I learned that French people are very particular about very specific manners. Let me explain this by way of example. We are sitting on the metro one night heading home and I am a little slow at covering my mouth when I yawn, so I only got it covered like half way through. And the man sitting across from me like kicks my foot and freaks out about how I should not show my mouth so in public and was super huffy about it. My first reaction is, of course, to respond by sticking my tongue out at him, but i somehow mustered enough self-control to refrain. Not easy!!

So, now I am like freaked out and edgy every time that I yawn for fear that I will show too much mouth. Apparently they don't have a problem with things like public urination, but be on guard because inappropriate display of the mouth is definitely a faux-pas! Good to know.

When i told the paris sisters about it, Sister Thompson told me that she has also gotten in trouble for folding her arms on the metro because it made her look unladylike. hahahah. And then the MAN proceeded to demonstrate for her, placing his hands and feet in what were, evidently, more feminine positions. So basically you must make sure that all appendages and mucosal membranes are placed and covered and maneuvered appropriately and that you don't look unladylike and that you don't look defensive! And while, of course, it would completely not be appropriate missionary behavior to purposely invoke furor in the harmless passers-by, I do have to add the side note that it is pretty amusing to see them go all "French huffy." Just sayin.

5. Also learned that there is actually an elevator that goes up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, and that if you are really really nice to the young security guard and tell him that you just came down and forgot to buy the gifts you needed to, he will use his cool walkie talkie and inform the other super secret guard that you are coming over and move the metal gates for you and give you directions to the elevator entrance, and then you can stand comfortably in the 15 second elevator ride and feel all cool thinking about the other people who were currently hiking up the 284 steps on the other side! (granted, we had been those "other people" like an hour before....hehe.)

6. Also learned that you don't give the kids the armor of God visuals until AFTER the lesson. That is, if you intend to actually teach a lesson. Note to self!

7. Okay and I also had more of an eye-opener to how much missionaries really are blessed to learn the language. I told you I was getting a mini missionary right? And that I was praying she spoke French? Everyone is like "oh no, she'll for sure speak French. "Yeah, well, when we met her it turns out she is a 19 yr old American who has been staying in France for a couple months. And we're talking like Joey in our favorite friends episode, hehe! But it was great to have my own companion for the week!

OKAY Im sorry. My companions are done and we need to go, I will finish next week, Im sorry that I didn’t even have time to get to the laughing and lovings!!!!!!!! Love you guys so much!! have a good week!!!!

Love,
Jordan

Empty & Full

2010-11-17T13:51:00.002-08:00

Hey family!!!!!

Can I just say i love you?! Cuz I do. So much. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I'm definitely not complaining about having such great family and friends!

So, the Paris Lilas side of the apartment is totally empty, cuz it's just me. The other desk is bare, the closet looks so sad, and it's just weird crawling into bed and not having someone to say goodnight to on the bottom bunk. I mean sure, you'd think the whole 24/7 together thing would get a little old, but really it is surprisingly lonely without my companion here by my side at all times! So, since I am alone, I have been working with Sister Gifford and Sister Thompson and I love working with them, but our schedule is absolutely crazy full since we're working both areas. And Paris isn't exactly what you would call a small city! It has been one adventure after another this week. But President called last night and asked if I could take a mini missionary from Tuesday to Sunday, so I'll have somewhat of a companion until Sunday. Cross your fingers she speaks French! hehe.

Somehow we have been like surrounded by men lately. Good thing is that since we're in a threesome it's easy to teach them, but also leads to some interesting experiences. Like on sunday, this muslim guy, named Mody, (contacted him on the metro a few weeks ago and has come to church the last couple weeks)(and to clarify, he has muslim origins, but doesn't "participate" with them) came to church again. And afterwards i was talking with the other sisters and was like, "yeah, im pretty sure he winked at me; we are definitely passing him to the elders AGAIN." And they both said that he winked at them too, so voilà, easy decision. But then, later on, i realized he has an eye twitch. maybe the fact that he is coming to a christian, mormon on top of that, church on sundays and he might be found out and burned at the stake or whatever by his "people" is a little stressful, hence the eye twitch. Just throwin that out there!! (fyi i wouldn't actually joke about that if i thought it was an actual concern. we are very cautious about muslims.)

The chinese elders had a baptism yesterday and it was great and we had lots of investigators there!! kind of felt like we were herding cattle for most of it trying to run around making sure everyone is being taken care of, but it is such a blessing to have people see a baptism! the spirit is always strong, and then they can see that you know as much as we talk about baptism being like this big important thing, it really is very simple and very NOT scary. And can i just say how grateful i am for members who like "get it." k we'll ask people if they can help with some of our specific investigators or something and they'll be like, "yeah, of course, i'll come say hi at the end of church!" I mean that's nice, and it does help. It'll make them feel welcome. But at the same time it's like, no i meant like can you come take care of this person? like have them come sit with you and allow us to worry about the other thousand things that have to be done. For example, Fabienne (a young adult who got back from her mission like a year ago) came up after church yesterday and just took suzie and valerie into this meeting for the young adults (i think they were planning a party or something), which was so nice! We were then able to take care of the other investigators and didn't have to worry about keeping them entertained until the baptism started, and they felt like they were actually part of the ward, instead of just the tag-alongs of the missionaries.

So we taught the law of chastity to suzie and valerie this week, and the member who came with us, may or may not have kinda given the impression that we think you can never, ever, be alone with a boy. So, we might have to do some clarifying. haha. And after church on sunday, they came up to sister thompson and said, "so, wait, there is a living prophet today?" See!!! poignant example of why church is so important! Makes up for our mistakes and when we forget to mention like only one of the more important and unique aspects of our doctrine--like that we have a prophet! Big time stone. There is this story that sister staheli sometimes shares about a recent convert (like had been baptized for a few months or even more) who went to watch general conference and came out and the missionaries asked what she learned and she said, "well, i learned that God has a body and that we have a prophet today." hahaha. Oops. Slight oversight. There are interesting statistics that talk about how the average missionary, who was born and raised in the church, has accumulated over 6000 hours of gospel learning and instruction (or some very big number, but im pretty sure i just pulled that one out) by the time they are 19, but so many converts are baptized after like 12 hours! Kinda interesting perspective.

Seriously love you guys. I miss you lots (i actually got a little teary the other night lying in bed thinking of the next time i will get to hug my parents and how great that will be. probably like the best day of my life!), but I'm so very grateful to be here!

love, jordan xoxo

tell josh and halle good job on the primary program!!! and even though i wasn't there to cry during it, you can rest assured that ill probably get all teary reading his talk when i get it in the mail!!! so all is well!

and holy cow.....exploding fingers? What? i had no idea that could happen either! that's pretty gnarly. i hope you got good pics to log that away!!!

oh and guess what we heard? Elder collins was the new group of missionaries' teacher in the MTC. they said he was hilarious!

oh and tell tara i met elder hales! actually, we're becoming buds because im kinda like a guest member of their district these days.....and i am pretty impressed with his musical talent and french. and it's so funny because the first thing that all of her friends say is, "you are just like tara."

and yes, tell susan thank you for the letter and the handkerchief…… I was very grateful!!

did i also mention that we now have an exercise bike in our apartment? Elder Ellsworth bought like this 200 euro stationary bike a while ago, but it won't fit in his new apartment and he knows it'll get thrashed if it is in an elder apartment, so he had elder jensen and elder volpe deliver it to ours. and yes, they did come by way of metro, so the videos of elder jensen riding the bike while waiting on the metro quai or riding it while in the metro are seriously hilarious!! (they said this one lady was super annoyed with them, but it was funny to see how many people just didn't even bother paying attention. so french.

Baptismal dates & Toothbrushes!

2010-11-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

Hey gang,

How ya doin'?! Reading your emails today was so great. thank you so much!! I'm glad that Matthew Cunger's baptism was so good! Tell grandpa he should send me his talk! I'll admit that being out here gives me a little different perspective on baptisms of the kids in our family. It just seems so "easy!!" I mean sure it's like a lifetime of teaching and instructing, but just in comparison it's a whole different ballpark! So I have decided that the whole multiply and replenish the earth deal is really the best missionary tactic we could employ; we don't need more effective missionaries, we just need to be more effective reproducers!! Just sayin.

I don't really know where to start today, because so many things have happened. But I will start with transfer news (transfer is this Wednesday). Sister England is moving to Anderres, but we will still have 4 of us in the Paris Apartment. Sister Thompson & Sister Gifford will be companions and me & Sister Smart will be companions. But, just because I'm too excited about this, i am going to blurt out that our district now has 6 baptismal dates! Fasting and praying and working works I tell ya! haha. We have four and each set of elders has one (ok, so i guess not 6 in our district, but 6 in our area). So yeah, surprise!!! We set two more baptismal dates this week. December 11th was what we had planned, but we found out that that is stake conference weekend, so it looks like we'll have to do some juggling. Their names are Suzie and Valerie Roberts. They are 18 and 20 year old sisters from Madagascar. We were finally able to see them again this week and they are totally awesome! Their cousin is a member in the nogent ward, so that's how they were introduced to the church. And it's seriously interesting how the people who are elect and ready are so easy to teach and really we do nothing! I am way excited to keep working with them.

This experience, on the other hand, was rather less than amusing. I learned quickly that I don't really like talking to behavioral scientist/psychologist dudes. Long story short, this Algerian man and I are talking at a bus stop and he's telling me what he does and we are just casually conversing when all of a sudden, he interrupts me and says, "you see, by the way you are sitting, i can tell that you are open and willing to talk." and then he turns to my companion and goes, "and you aren't. You are very closed off." And then he sees a book in my bag and asks if i like to read. I say yes and pull out the book of mormon, and he asks if he can see it. I was more than happy to hand over a book of mormon to this muslim man! hehe. And then he asks me why i like the book, so i basically start bearing my testimony about it and answering, what i thought, was his question. But then he stops me abruptly again and says like, "no, no. That's the problem! In the world these days, people try to put themselves into it, and don't talk about what the book, itselt, actually talks about, etc, etc" and just goes on and on.

So, now I'm thinking, "wow i didn't realize my opinion could be wrong, combined with a wow, this dude is annoying." So I start trying to appease him by starting to relay the history of the book, and then he interrupts again and is like, "Now that's interesting. Look at your hands and how you are sitting now. Now you are getting defensive, where before you were very open." And that's about when i just wanted to yank that book back and give him a good thump with it. Defensive my butt!!! ha. I may have made some strides in the whole patience-is-a-virtue thing, but i was so done with the behavior dude!

Hiccups while making phone calls is not the best combination. Faman got a good kick out of this huge hiccup that came out of nowhere when i was talking to him this week. Initially I am like horrified, but then he's laughing, and Sister Gifford and Sister England won't stop laughing, so then I can't stop laughing, and it was a little hard to regain composure and the whole "dignity of my calling" deal during that call. But, we did manage to fix a rendezvous for the next day after english class. And that rendezvous was hilarious as well. He starts out by saying "k we're only going to talk a little, because I don't want a headache." okay, faman. And then we finish talking about God and prayer and he just blurts out, "okay. That's enough for tonight." Okay, faman! And really, it's refreshing to know exactly where he's at! No unnecessary guessing games with him, that is for sure.

So, sunday afternoon, Becky taught us how to make Thai food, and it was definitely an adventure. I am now practically a professional shrimp de-pooper. yup, that's right. I was definitely glad i didn't bother to ask what i was actually doing until i was almost done removing all the "poopings" (as she called them)! We also learned how to make and roll spring rolls and coconut rice. And we didn't burn anything down, so i figure it was a success! (just cuz it was too funny--when we told the paris soeurs about it, sister gifford was like, "man i bet that was a crappy job" and then just cuz she can't help herself, added a "I bet that stunk!" Felt slightly like kib had come for a visit! just saying.)

Ok, and yeah......this wednesday is November 10th. Do you realize what that means? That means that I get to open up my fourth missionary toothbrush!! (side note, i sure hope i am still up to date that the guideline is that you should change your toothbrush every 3 months.) Back when i was on my first toothbrush, I just never thought this day would come. I was talking to this neuroradiologist the other day and he explained what the term "telescoping" means. Basically the idea is that when you get into a new situation, your neurons start firing and creating new neuronal pathways with the new memories. But, then as things start getting more familiar, time starts appearing to speed up (or to seem less like molasses, whichever is more applicable), because you have already created those pathways. So that is why the longer you have been out on a mission, the quicker time seems to go. I thanked him for giving us a better term and sparing us from forever having to use the toilet paper analogy! After all, telescoping does much more sophisticated than toilet paper! But yeah, I am excited for my new pink toothbrush. (In case you didnt catch on, that was, in fact, my round about way of trying to acknowledge that yes, we have made it half way!)

Anyway, I love you guys lots and lots!!!! I'm glad things are going well and hope you know how wonderful I think you are.

Love,
Jordan

pS did i mention the blind couple brought us back rosaries from italy, so "that the virgin mary will protect us and guide our paths?" I think that nice little flare plays in well to your theory dad!

pSS I also did exchanges up in Valenciennes with Sister Pobst and it went really well (until our companions missed their train coming back up, of course, haha). That city is so charming (like mom you would be in heaven) and we talked to a lot of really cool people!

oh and BOYS!!! great job on your grades this semester!!! Im impressed! (and john--you must be completely devoid of any kind of human feeling or emotion if you didnt think the haunted forest was at least a little creepy! i mean really!)

Highlights, Happenings, and & Halloween

2010-11-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!!!!

How you doin?! (May or may not have just thought that with a joey tribbiani eyebrow raise.) I can't wait to get those cow pictures!!!! oh man, i think i would pay big money to see Dad, Kirk, John, Matthew and Keaton in cow costumes, and now I get to see it for free!! the simple pleasures. K, but you were a little remiss in that you didn't tell me what costumes Halle and Josh chose. Hullo!! important details here. I absolutely loved seeing some cute little kids out trick or treating last night, even though in general I think France hasn't quite caught on to the awesomeness of Halloween and commercial holidays. Granted, the Irish Pub across the street must have taken their Halloween Party pretty seriously, because they kept that thing going loud and strong the entire night! Somehow, though, adults dressed up as soddom and gomorrah invitees aren't quite as adorable as little neige blanches (snow whites). How did the Great Pumpkin go? And Dad did you survive last week? You sounded pretty spent. Ok this is totally a side note, but mom, please tell me you are planning on going to the Motab christmas concert with David Archuleta????!!!!!! I know, I know, one holiday at a time, but seriously, some things are just THAT important.

Ok, as far as happenings and highlights go, I'm gonna have to back up a little and tell you that Aurelie and Claude Marc set baptismal dates! We had an awesome rendezvous with her and claude marc (he is her 8 yr old son) two weeks ago and just asked her if she had a desire to be baptized. She said yes, set the date for Nov 28th, and when she prayed about it at the end of the rendezvous the spirit was wonderful! Well, actually at first Claude marc was like, "I think I'll wait a little while longer........I can't swim!" Oops that's an oversight--definitely remiss in our teaching if we had this poor kid thinking we were gonna drown him! But, we reassurred him that the water is only "this" high and you only go under for one second. He had us get up and show him exactly how high the water was, but then he was cool with it. So, it's a good thing we successfully fought against Satan right before. And when I say Satan, I am referring to the crabby babysitter who was watching Claude Marc before Aurelia got home. Man talk about enduring to the end!! She chewed us out for probably a good 10 or 15 minutes standing at the doorstep, and let me just say that one would have to applaud her knowledge and proficient use of a very vibrant vocabulary. But, we were victorious and later found out that she had a brain tumor, so I probably should get around to repenting for having called the poor little old lady satan in my mind! Live and learn right.

Ok, so another blind couple story. Helped her through the market last week and when we got back to unload everything, I asked what she was cooking on the stove (she loves giving us cooking tips), and she said something about 'langue.' Oh ok......then about two seconds later was like, "wwwhat? did she seriously just say what i think she said?" And then, of course, curious george got the best of me and I made the mistake of looking into the pot. Oh yup, there it is. She is definitely cooking an entire cow tongue. (Some nice large taste buds on those things i might add.) And so then, ever so generously, she invites us to come over and eat dinner with them later that night. I think that may have been a new record for speed in declining a dinner invitation with as many excuses as I could possibly muster. Oh how i love our blind couple.

So, we had a couple firsts. First time I was ever tempted to tell someone we were actually nunns and that's why we would not EVER be going to get coffee with them, "and that is also why my companion will NO, not marry you." Also experienced a first rendezvous where tax deductibles became part of the conversation and apparently a selling point for the restored gospel. (bless their hearts, can't do missionary work without members, they add everything, but sometimes it is kinda like an "okay, how do we bring this back" struggle! Especially when they start going off on comparisons between us and Islam.....give that one a go just for fun.....)

Also, had a first Brazilian model contacting experience. Didn't know that when we stopped him, but it also didn't take us very long AT ALL to figure out why that was his chosen profession.....enough said. But, the best part was the next day, these new H&M posters were put up and guess who the model is? That's right, our Brazilian friend. Also, did I mention my first haircut experience? The coiffeuse was just full of sage comments, my favorite being that the key to staying young is to "be zen." Well, I must have come a long ways, considering I didn't shed a single tear after I got one of the worst haircuts of my life (nothing quite compares to the Harlem Globetrotters incident 1999), but I'd venture to say that was pretty "zen" of me. So hey, at least me and my horrible hair will look young!

Ok, also was the first time I have ever actually seen an investigator run away from missionaries! Oh so funny. We were waiting at the church for elders Volpe and Jensen, because they had set up a rendezvous to teach this lady and pass her to us. So, she shows up, but won't come in because, long story short, the elders aren't there yet and she needs to go cook for her husband, etc..... I tell you, I used every bit of persuasion I possibly could, but that lady was not stepping inside the church, and then is like, "ok next week," and turns and like literally starts running down the street. K just so we all have the right image--this is a 60 year old lady running down the sidewalk in little heels with her dress billowing around her. So then I am standing there, looking after her and then back at sister england and then back at the runaway investigator, like well, I'm just not exactly sure what the precedent is in this situation!! So then we look up the street and see the elders mosying their way down, so I yell at them and point after her and then back at them, like "what the heck do we do?"

And then Elder Jensen just takes off running down the street after her. Well, of course, a little old-fashioned chase action would be the way to go. And I tell you what, that kid has got some wheels! So, he is like sprinting down the street, bag under arm, elder Volpe is trailing after him looking a little confused, and sister england and I are just laughing like "this is really happening." Luckily, the lady started laughing when they finally caught up, and apparently she's got somewhat of a running habit and it wasn't the first time she had turned and run away from them! (Don't worry, I already asked the "so how many times are you going to make this poor little old lady run away from you before you get the hint that she might not be interested?" question, hehe, but they assured me she was interested and just has this slight running tendency! haha) Also the first time the Bishop tried to fake me out by going into bisoux me. My thoughts: "aaahh, what do i do? what do i do? this is the Bishop!!!" He got a good chuckle out of the panic that was, apparently, evident on my face!

Ok, so I mentioned we had a mini missionary for a few days. Well, Sunday night, all the companionships who were taking a mini were gathered at St. Merri waiting for the meeting to start (where the mini missionaries would get their "calls" and a blessing, instead of a setting apart). We were waiting outside and probably made it incredibly awkward for these young men and young women to have to wind their way through us to come in with their parents. But, I guess embracing awkwardness is a great first missionary lesson! Anyway, so as the youth are coming in, the only thing I said was that I hoped we got the one who chose to wear high heeled boots for her mini mission. And low and behold!!! We got the one with the high heeled boots! She was awesome! 17 yr old from the Cergy ward. She speaks French and English perfectly (mom is swiss, dad is from new zealand; born in utah, moved to france when she was 5), AND she brought another pair of shoes, so we totally got lucky! (I had never heard of mini missions before I got to France, and they can really last any amount of time, but the Paris stake has decided they are going to do this mini mission activity with their youth every year. So basically anyone who wants to can sign up to work with the missionaries for 3 days. They stay with us, study with us, plan with us, and basically are just a third companion for those few days.) She said she had a good experience and bore a beautiful testimony at the "homecoming meeting," but I think she was a little surprised at some things. After the first time we went street contacting, I asked her what she thought and all she said was, "that was hard." haha. But bless her heart she was a trooper.

She was with us on our day to fast (i think i forgot to mention that our zone was doing a 7-day fast, one companionship each day) and we felt like we were starving the poor girl! (side note-we had forgotten how much teenagers can eat......cuz for sticks those two could put it down.) So, she might have gotten a little inside view of the reality of missionary work, but we also saw some awesome miracles! For instance, we had found an old envelope of uncontacted referrals tucked away in our area book and decided to pass by a couple of them one afternoon. Well, after we had successfully snuck into the building of the first one, (we're getting pretty good at the whole creeper business), we knocked on her door, told her we were looking for a Julie Gali. She said she was Julie, and then saw our nametags and goes, "oh! you're the LDS. I have been waiting for you for two years!" She ushered us in right away and I can honestly say I have never seen someone so excited to get a book of mormon! It was so cool and suh-weet rendezvous! After that, Soeur Pettitt (the mini missionary) was like "I don't want to leave! I want to find out what happens with her!" It's true that seeing people excited about learning about the gospel and experiences like that definitely diminish any "hardness" of contacting or other things--the people make it worth it! Julie is a film director and has a big deadline coming up, so unfortunately, she can't see us again until the middle of November, but we figure that will just give her enough time to have read the whole book of mormon! hehe.

You also asked about Sister Davillé. I know you're really not supposed to have favorites, but I'll be honest, I'm not to that level yet, so I'm free to say that I think she is my favorite member in this ward. I will mop her floor with dish soap any time she wants! I absolutely love this woman. You saw the pictures of her, so you can imagine some of the struggles that she has. But, she was baptized last year and has like the most stalwart testimony. Her husband is very against the church (it's sometimes amusing how flamboyant he can be in his distaste for us; especially when he is kicking us out of the house!), but he is nice enough to drive her to church every week. Which is a blessing, because she is so big, she really can't go anywhere unless he will take her. Anyway, so she gets dressed up every sunday and is horribly uncomfortable and has a hard time sitting for that long, but her smile just about lights up the whole chapel because she is so excited to be at church! And if you ever ask her a question about how to do something or whatever, she will answer like, "well, you go to church and pray and read the scriptures." And you can tell she truly believes those things will work! She has this sincerity and earnestness in the power of the "primary answers" that is remarkable. And ya know, I think she's got it right.

If I were pressed, one of the things that would be towards the top of the list of things I've learned on a mission, would probably be the power of the primary answers. I found it interesting how a good portion of the new simplified Preach My Gospel curriculum focuses on how to help people gain a testimony, and whaddayaknow--what are the things on there? Revelation through prayer, the Book of Mormon, and church attendance! et Voilà. I love the primary answers! Plus, let's be real, we all know that primary is much more my kind of level! (Side note--This week I was reading in 1 nephi and started singing the "murmur" song from scripture scouts and the other sisters got a good laugh in. I tried to tell them about the time dad dressed up as King Noah and sang the "i want want want what i want want want" song for one of your overachiever-refrigerator-box-time capsule sharing times, but just don't think i quite did it justice!)

Ok, well I had to type super fast to get this all down, so if any of it actually make sense, then we have all witnessed yet another modern day miracle! Sure love you guys. I miss you lots and pray for you lots. Thanks for being so absolutely wonderful!! Can't wait to hear about next week's adventures and mischief on the home front!

Love, Jordo

ps mom I seriously love, love, loved the family theme. And I had tears streaming down my face when I read the letter from you mommy dearest. All I can say is DITTO! i have no idea about boots still. im sorry! ill look around here a little and then get back to you. Oh and will you tell robbie that i was so grateful for his quick email. seriously meant a lot and i send my love!

Pss tell Allie & Justin CONGRATS for me!!!!! I loved the blog and they are so cute!

Halle—how was the cheer clinic?!! By the way, we loved the Arthur pictures. Me and sister Gifford were talking about how much we loved Arthur when we were your age too! (granted, I think I probably kept watching it after school up until I went to Timpview hehe.)

Johnny – laughed so hard when you were like, “I don’t know I wasn’t really paying attention” so funny!!!!!! Pretty cool about josh warner too, though I have not the faintest idea who z vanny is. OH wait…is that zach vanleeuwen? Man I suddenly feel like I should be carrying a cane cuz I am not keeping up with your slang very well these days, haha. Thanks for the update brother.

Josh –pretty sweet you’re becoming a master origamier. Have you engineered a better way to do the rain gutter curious George boats yet? and how was being water boy? And I miss you too!

Tara – I think dad and I watched that movie together the same weekend we watched big country. Doesn’t get much better!

Matthew – I’ll have to give some thought to your christmas present question, but im kind of thinking you’re gonna have to come up with that one on your own. that's kinda the thing about a 'hearts desire' is that it's gotta be YOURS. sorry!!! dont pick something lame though! and fyi i am going to expect a good harry potter review once you see it. i can't believe how tall you are now!! that is crazy. and holy cow, i just realized i think that means i am in the bottom half of the kids in height now. hey and cool about the messick sibling! i went to school with her brother and i was in the same district as elder messick in versailles!!

pps funniest metro moment this week was with this old man--me:hey so do you think it'll rain today? (yeah super original conversation starter, i know). Old man: Oh no! I brought my umbrella today. It never rains when I actually bring my umbrella. (I just think old men are such a hoot. The world is definitely a better place because of their special little old man flare!)

Adventures, Miracles, and Learnings

2010-10-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey fam!!

Thanks so much for the updates! I'm glad to hear things are going well and that some things haven't changed. (Just so you know, currently there are two men (yup) evidently learning a dance off the internet next to us and there are definitely some expressive arm movements going on. Really quite entertaining, though slightly distracting.) Mom--im so glad that cals and liz came up (haha remember the very first time they came up and you found us all crying together on the couch? classic.) i told liz to give you a hug for me, so hopefully she made good! (no pressure liz hehe)

Ok, i just feel like I have so much to tell you I dont even know where to begin. I'm gonna cut out as much as possible, but just know that we have had a week of miracles! However, I have to back up a little and tell you one story from last week. So, i told you about the 57-yr-old lady in the ward who has 8 birds, 7 cats, AND 3 yr old triplets, right? (Her husband left her when she was pregnant and refused to abort any of the babies). Well, she was scheduled to have hip surgery a couple weeks ago. She was all checked into the hospital, ready to go for the next morning, when they found a huge sore/infection on her arm, that turned out to be shingles (i think....again. french vocab kinda stretched on that one) caused by stress. (cant imagine what the poor thing would have to stress about....) Anyway, so, of course, they can't operate on her then and send her back to take care of the infection. So, the elders come with us one night to give her a blessing and it turned into quite the experience. First off, Elder Volpe is talking to her, getting the story, and his face was just about the most hilarious thing i have ever seen, as she starts unbuttoning her shirt (to show him the huge sore on her arm)! He mutters in english, "im scared. im really scared." I'm so mean, but i was definitely having a hard time keeping the chuckling contained. Plus, she had a shirt on underneath, so no worries!

K, so then we are ready to sing and pray before the blessing, and all of a sudden Sister England like yelp-screams from the other side of the table. Remember the 7 cats? Well, one of them had apparently crawled into her purse and cuddled up, so when she reached in to grab her hymn book she was a little surprised to have a big furry thing there instead. Then, of course, the lady starts freaking out, "did one of the triplets put that in there?!!!" HAHAHAHAHA. Kind of Herdmann esque, but the elders were good sports, the blessing was beautiful, and she was really grateful. K then, that same night, we go to our next rendezvous and their little apartment is infested with cockroaches. (Like you open a cupboard, and you brush them off the jar you want to get out.) They are at least the little ones, but when I am like bearing my testimony about something and the girl shoots out her hand to brush a cockroach away from my arm, I all of a sudden feel somewhat less secure about things. K there was a very good reason i was not sent to a mission in the jungle--I would not have survived. I had nightmares about cockroaches in my purse all night!

So, this is a side note, but another interesting phenomenon I've noticed and get a kick out of every time (that takes place way more frequently than you'd think because you just forget that the number of truly normal people in this world may be on a decline) is when random people feel compelled to give you their two cents in order to put you in you're place. (because of the nametag, of course). My two favorites this week would both be categorized as memorable metro moments. The first--we're waiting on the quai, the doors open, a guy is standing there about ready to get off, but pauses and glances at our nametags and then says, "Hell. Direct.," before steeping down and walking casually away. (i just smiled at sister england and was like well apparently we are going DIRECTLY to hell. not passing go or collecting 200 dollars.) The second was a different guy sitting a little ways off, who you could just tell was festering with something to say to us. So right before he gets off, he comes over and with a very severe finger waggle (always my favorite part hehe) tells us that God does not exist and that we need to stop believing in fairytales, etc. Of course these experiences make for good stories, but really you just feel so bad for these people. How much more happiness would be theirs, if they would just let it in?!

But, there are a lot of people who are ready to let it in!! Wednesday morning we passed by some old investigators and we found two of them home!! (well, one of them walked up as we were waiting on the doorstep.) BUT, they both let us in and we had great lessons and they fixed return rendezvous!! Mylene has still been reading the book of mormon and believes it is true. And Aurelie believes that Joseph Smith is a prophet and still has a desire to be baptized! I am super excited to get to work with them.) Saturday we placed 5 Book of Mormons. And Sunday, two new people came to church and it was a great fast and testimony meeting!!! People are ready and miracles are happening.

Those two people who came to church were Faman and Helene (this is a new Helene). I don't think i ever told you the story about Faman. When we were coming back from conference one night, this big group of teenage girls was on the metro and they were all laughing and giggling and trying to flirt with one of the elders and talking about how they were looking for his name on facebook. Anyway, it was all kind of amusing and when they got off I saw this guy laughing at them across the metro, so we made eye contact and exchanged smiles. Anyway, we get off the metro in a couple stops and start walking away, but I look back and see that guy looking at us still. So, thank goodness my comp was on the ball (total fumble on my part not having a card ready) cuz i asked her to hand me a card quick and i ran back and slipped it to him before the doors shut. Didn't think much about it until the next morning we get a call from someone saying, "yeah now i dont know what number this is exactly. Someone just gave me a card, but i'm having a hard time finding this address to go to church." For real! (K I can count on one hand the number of times people have actually called after giving them a card. Actually, im not even sure i'd need a whole hand, but it happened twice this week!) Turns out, Faman just moved here about a month ago from Sri Lanka and said he has been looking for a place to go to church. He said he went to our church when he was living in Romania too. (Granted im not quite as positive about that because he said they used wine for the sacrament and had never heard of the Book of Mormon.) But, he is way cool and chill about things. The Sunday School lesson was kinda confusing for someone's first exposure to the church, but he was just kinda like, "hey I'll get it. Little by little."

Ok and then Helene's story is so cool! I'll fill you in how it unfolded for us. A bishopric member comes up shortly before Sacrament meeting is about to start and says "hey sisters, this is Helene. She just sonned at the door and It's her first time here." So, we greet her and ask how she is doing and she just starts crying. So, she sits down, pulls it together a little, but then we start singing and she starts crying all over again and hardly stops for the rest of the meeting. So, sister england turns around to me and says "i have no idea what is going on, but do you think we should ask her if she wants a blessing?" She asks her and she says yes, so we talked about who we could ask, decided on Guillaume , and I went and asked him. The blessing was wonderful and she said she felt "different." Just so grateful for the way the Holy Ghost can touch people's hearts! Anyway, we asked her if she would be interested in learning more about why she felt that way and about the church and she said yes. (So we're seeing her on tuesday!) But, fast forward to about an hour later, everyone is almost gone and Guillaume asks us if we knew the story with her. No. So cool--I guess he was out working with Elder Ostler like 6 months ago and they contacted her on a metro (she had been praying to God that she would find a church and then the elders and guillaume sat down right across from her!). She had a problem with her teeth that following Sunday, so she didn't come to church, and then admitted she just lacked the motivation after that. But, that morning there was just something that pushed her to come to church and she still had the address, so she came. We had no idea of any of that when we asked Guillaume to give her the blessing, but it was definitely a tender mercy that she already had a connection with him. Just another testimony that this is the Lord's work and it is so wonderful to be a part of it. We should never be "weary in well-doing," because we never know what will come out of a seemingly insignificant conversation that happened 6 months ago!

We also had interviews this week, and they were great as always. President Staheli walks out and goes, "Mountain West Conference coach of the year!" Really? haha. (Did you forget to mention that or did you tell me and i'm just a terrible daughter and didn't congratulate you on that?!) I also love talking with him and Sister Staheli! The topic of his training was the Book of Mormon and how combined with the spirit, it is our greatest tool in conversion. He talked about ways to use it better and more often, and then the assistants directed us in role-play practice of the first invitation to read the Book of Mormon. K, but not like split off into your own corners and practice, we're talking like a companionship comes up in front of the whole zone and practices and then everyone critiques them. I'll be honest, I wasn't super looking forward to our turn (probably an understatement hehe), but we survived and learned some good things, so I really was grateful for the "opportunity." haha. I am very grateful for the converting power of the Book of Mormon. It's a power you can't describe, but is very real and helps make up for some of my own weaknesses in teaching and speaking French.

Ok, that might be a new level of confusing rambling! Good luck getting anything out of that. But, unfortunately, I'm not quite done because I also learned a few new things this week pendant the latest episode of the adventures of holmes and watson.

LEARNINGS of the week:

1. Putting trick candles on Elder Volpe's birthday cake and watching him react to them is even better than watching 3-yr-olds. Maybe they don't have trick candles in Italy.....

2. "Is that a cheese?" is apparently not a good opener. Learned that one the hard way! hehe. Sat down next to this woman, who looked like she was maybe having a hard time of things lately, but decided to try to start a friendly chat. It looked like she was eating some cheese, so I figured hey, french cheeses are friendly and harmless enough...not so! There was definitely some throwing of things into bags and muttering and much arm gesturing that followed. Needless to say, I have abandoned that option.

3. I learned that should you ever comment on an older "ish" lady's collection of perfume, you will be doused from head to toe with it--doomed to leaving a lingering scent whereever you go for like three days! I am not joking that I could still smell that stuff after 2 showers. Rookie mistake.

4. I learned that should you accept directional help from a certain muslim man, you may or may not be put in the awkward position of having to decline his asking if he can come live with you after your mission.

5. I learned that if you start talking to the man on the bench, who is from Martinique, then you may be offered a tour of the neighborhood, which, according to our well-versed guide, "is really more like a village, because it's got a small town charm." (He actually turned out had been taught by missionaries in the past. He's got some way crazy ideas, but he was super nice and gave a great tour!)

6. I learned that should you happen to compliment a Senegalese (?) woman on her gorgeous African dress, she will stop and be practically giddy and give you huge smooches on each cheek!

7. I learned that Germans who are trying to escape you by saying that they don't speak French very well, will be very not happy to having admitted they speak English when you tell them that you, also, speak English much better! (That man was really not pleased and just groaned, shook his head and walked stubbornly away. It was pretty dang funny.)

7. We learned that apparently using the dryer, vacuum, two burners, the oven, as well as the lights and two refrigerators all at the same time is not a good option in France. But, we did eventually figure out how to turn the power back on, so we redeemed ourselves a little.

8. We also learned that candles provide more than just a great apartment atmosphere for companionship study, but also are very convenient starburst roasting tools! (We celebrated Sister England and Sister Thompson's one year mark!)

As far as the terrorist update goes--we received instruction that we are supposed to avoid public transportation during rush hours in the morning and in the evening. And thanks for the advice to follow the spirit w/o question. Actually, I don’t know if I ever told you, but once when I was with Sister Bellini, in the ghetto, I firmly believe we were protected by the Spirit. We were in a semi-sketchy area, but it was mid-day and there were people around. We were trying to find this address to go meet a potential new investigator, but were doing a little wandering. Anyway, we were about to cross a street and we both stopped dead in our tracks and sister Bellini turned to me & said, “I don’t feel good.” And I told her I didn’t either and we turned around and got out of there. Have no idea what would have/could have happened, but was grateful to be warned. Anyway, we had not heard a word about the Eiffel tower being evacuated or anything, that’s crazy!

Well gang, we definitely have to run--lunch at a street cafe by Notre Dame and maybe an excursion to Sainte Chapelle and some scarf shopping are on the agenda for today. Miss you, love you lots and think I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family! I'm glad you're keeping me updated on some of the inside jokes, because I think laughing with you guys is one of my favorite things in the world! (Dad, you are right--that was a classic Pearce and John moment!) I pray for you every day. Hope you have a good week!!!

love, jordo

Oh and just because this was adorable--My favorite metro moment of this week was talking to this five "AND a half" yr old boy (I was under strict instructions not to forget the half), who did fyi have an earring just like his dad. He was hilarious and after we had exchanged birthdays and stuff, he turns and asks me, "How would you grow without having birthdays?" I definitely copped out and told him that that would be a great question for his dad!

Tara--I met an Elder Reed, the day that the new missionaries came in, who said he knew you! (Steven maybe? but no, still have not met elder hales) The poor thing looked like he was about to fall over on the spot from jet lag, but he was hilarious and told me I was exactly like you. I took that as a compliment! Did I ask how the porcupines did? oh and i told all the sisters here about your Keats presentation and they were all as impressed as I was--seriously creative! love you sister. oh and i have a christmas favor--dont send me anything but this of course--but how would you feel about making me a good christmas CD or two? i didnt come very prepared. christmas is a little different i guess, because pretty much anything goes (k like maybe not rudolph the red nosed reindeer type stuff), but it doesnt have to be strictly motab.....would that be too much of a pain with all your hecticness going on?)

John--doesnt sound like you need my help. "star gazing?" Bahahaha. still getting a good chuckle out of that one. But thanks for the details about your life. sure love you johnny bravo!

Matthew--nope, i never had to do a bug thing, which is good cuz i probably would have failed! lizards i can handle, bugs--not so much. and as far as ecuador goes....i think you'll have to give me a little explanation on where in the world that one came from??? What's the last name of the girl in your seminary class? love you math! (hahaha "wathcloth" hahah)

Josh--dude, i could definitely tell that you are an old pro at New York because those drawings were very accurate. I was way impressed with the details. And you're right--i do miss two of halle's birthdays and only one of yours, but I love you both!! but we totally still have our cool people with december birthdays club, k? love you joshy man!!

Hals-I just got your leaf creation today and wow that was beautiful! did you find all those leaves yourself? and girlfriend, I hear you are kickin some booty in gymnastics and piano these days. I'm pretty excited to come to your meets next year. love you halle baby!

p.s. If you ever see Andrew, ask him if he ever taught Gwenelle when he was in Troyes (because she was just baptized this last weekend!), and tell him that Elder Holcombe is still sportin his pants proudly. haha. Also, I ran across one of his fiches for Fati Bounab the other day. She didn't seem super interested in seeing us, but she was really nice!

p.s.s how are Cal and Cameron doing? (TOTALLY cool about the ukraine temple.)

p.p.s tell the rashes thank you so so much!!! beckham is absolutely adorable!!!! give those cheeks a big kiss for me (i still am not very pleased that he will probably be like walking by the time i get home, nor will he have any clue who i am!!! we'll have to make up for it.....) And i loved the notes from the kids!

p.p.s.s. Tell Lisa thanks for the emails, I do get them but can’t respond directly!

PSS president told us to pass it along that if our parents are sending christmas packages to the mission home, they need to be there by December 1st.

Here's to the Weekly Adventures of Holmes and Watson

2010-10-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!!!!

It was so great to hear from you. Somehow this last week has been like impossibly long, so it felt like it had been forever. It warmed my heart to hear that there was at least the necessary grumbling about the canyon-conference-oohing-and-aahing-at-the-leaves-drive to make sure that the tradition stays alive!! Just wouldn't be the same without it. And I got a good chuckle out of Tara reminding me of mom's threats to pause conference if people don't stop talking. hahaha!!!!!! Home sweet home. Well, we will probably have some time this afternoon to write some letters, so i will respond to all the good stuff you said then.

So, Sister England and I walked out of our apartment one morning and were on the metro before either of us, apparently, looked down to notice what we were wearing: black shoes, tan nylons, black skirt, purple sweater, and long tan trenchcoat. Yup....both of us. Chalk it up to comp unity or whatev, but we totally looked like TJs and/or little kids dressing up as detectives (think mary kate and ashley--the younger years). All we were missing was the magnifying glass. It was ridiculous. And that is how the adventures of Holmes and Watson began!! Yeah, we are totally cheesy, but "What PoA would you suggest now Watson?" has definitely become one of my more favorite things to say! (side note--i can't believe i am actually publicly admitting how much we are still livin it up as little girls!hehe)

Adventures of Holmes and Watson:
1. Sister England (aka Watson) declared war on the fruit flies that had infiltrated our apartment. Her method of choice was very telling of her character. Instead of just talking and scheming about different ways to get rid of them, she just went and pulled out the vacuum and chased them all over the place sucking them up one by one! Seriously, her mentality of just getting up and getting things done is something I really admire about her.

2. K, it's probably a toss up between my two worst blonde moments of the week. First, we are walking down a sidewalk one day and i feel a large drop of some unidentified liquid land on my neck. I, of course, look up, searching for the culprit in some house wife watering her flowers on a balcony or something. Didn't see anything. Kept walking. Felt another splash on my face. Another on the top of my head. What the heck; that's so gross?! Still see nothing. So, then I start doing all these little quick movements trying to dodge the housewife's "gross" liquid. Until.....I realize it is raining. Dodging raindrops is certainly no easy task! (Sister England hasn't let me forget that one.) Second, I came to the very obvious realization that i probably should have taken a world religions class before coming out, because the out-loud train of thought that took place as I, (just THIS week mind you) put the Baptist church together with John the Baptist was definitely not one of my prouder moments. So, needless to say, the blonde in me may have won a couple rounds this week.

3. So I called Helene one night (fyi she has been super fruijy lately and has been saying she's too busy to set up a rendezvous, "but hasnt forgotten us") and before we hung up, she asked me if I was still praying for her. Actually, more like she cross examined me about what exactly I was praying for in her regard! So once I had sufficiently reassured her, she said "ok good. And don't worry I've been praying for you too. I remember how you told me you weren't married, so I've been praying for you to find a husband." BAHAHAHA. I burst out laughing on the phone about that one! But really, it was very african sweet of her, so I just thanked her and didn't even bother mentioning that that was probably the furthest thing from my mind!

4. Watson and I also made home-made cinnamon rolls for conference weekend! Rather, I assisted and fetched items as Watson made home-made cinnamon rolls for conference weekend. hehe So, sunday morning we had a pajama feast with the other sisters while listening to christmas music. I'm normally such a stickler about no christmas music til Thanksgiving night, but it's been in the air!!! Probably because the sweaters, scarves, and coats are starting to come out and we have started to run through piles of leaves in the morning! (mom--you asked for details about how we watch conference. For the Paris stakes they transmit it at the Versailles and Nogent chapels. So, we went to Nogent Saturday evening to watch the RS session and the Saturday am session. Then Sunday we went and watched the saturday afternoon session from 2-4 and the sunday morning session live from 6-8. So, we'll have to wait til the liahona/ensign comes out to read the sunday afternoon session. The main chapel is set up to watch it in french, but then they usually set up a little side classroom to watch it in english and spanish. Conference weekends are seriously the two best of the year!!!)

5. We accompanied Tina to conference in Nogent on Sunday night (fyi she was passed to the paris sisters because they found out she actually lives in that area), and probably the first thing out of her mouth when we met her at the train station had something to do with black magic!!! hehe. Oh, it was so good to see Tina again!

6. This wasn't technically our adventure, but still pretty funny. We ran into Sister Bellini on her last p-day and she said that Antoine had gotten a calling as a ward missionary. Which is perfect for him! (I think his 26 yr old son is going to start coming to church soon too...) But, he was there for the DMP meeting after church, of course, and the DMP kinda stoned by getting to the recent converts and saying "ok and what are we doing about Antoine?" Oops. Welcome to the inside workings of the church antoine!! Sister Bellini said she turned to him and was like, "So, Antoine, could we keep seeing you?" Yes. "Ok then, that's settled."

Oh dangit, i totally ran out of time and didn't even get to the good stories this week! Super sorry, but i guess I’ll have to fill you in on the cockroaches, cats, triplets, and metro miracles next week, or in my letters this afternoon.
love you lots and lots. sure grateful for ya!
love, pordo

oh and mom dont worry about the terrorist stuff! we'll be smart and they take care of us. stop fretting!

Spoiled Rotten!

2010-10-02T12:22:00.001-07:00

Family Dearest,

K seriously brings tears to my eyes thinking of Halle in a big kids bed. So not okay with that!!! But Hals, we love, love, loved the matching game! That was a pretty impressive little activity book you made for me. I'm getting pretty spoiled. Thanks so much! Ok, but seriously, on the subject of spoiling.....mother you have got to stop. I think you must be keeping the postal service in business single handedly. We went and got that package this morning and it was awesome!!! And the roomies loved the notecards, which fyi were adorable. And thanks for the blogs and pictures. And I'm not "arguing and bickering over who killed who" (still a stupid movie, but the quote was germane) about doing those pictures. I think it's a great idea. But really, thanks so much for doing that. Joshy man--you got to go to a yankees game?! That's pretty sweet dude. Did they win? Math--gotta say that all the sisters here were pretty impressed with the length of your last letter. How are those bugs coming along?! (ill be honest kinda sounds like one of those "i'd rather wake up with my tongue nailed to the floor, but you grin and bear it" type projects. good luck with that. And bummer that you guys choked that doubles match, but good job in singles! Speaking of choking......so Johnny bravo, how was your weekend?!!!! I don't think I need to say much else, but that was just too good! I'm glad that everyone is doing well. I don't know how you keep up with everything, but I think you guys are wonderful. I'm pretty spoiled to have such a great family.

And I'm pretty spoiled to get to be a missionary! Sheesh, where to even begin this week.......

Well, we'll start with the fluff:
1. Best public transportation siting of the week was probably seeing this old lady (we're talking white hair) whip out a sharpie and start graffitiing on the wall. Gotta love Paris.

2. There was another political manifestation on our street, and I actually saw some guy throw a big glass bottle at a police officer on a motorcycle. We opted for a momentary change of plans and got some of our transfer cleaning done that afternoon instead! haha.

3. I learned how to make gravy from scratch. K like butter, flour, bouillon, and milk. And for most people that's like a whatever, but mom you can rest assured that I managed to not even burn down the building--momentous occasion in my book! I might be able to graduate past bread duty when I get home! haha, well i guess i don't want to get too ahead of myself.....

4. Ya know how you always ask people if you can do anything for them before you leave? Well, this week someone was like, "yeah actually could you mop my floor? There's dish soap in the kitchen." So, I am not joking, we mopped her floor with DISH SOAP! I don't think elaboration is necessary on this one.

5. My new favorite "french person speaking english" quote is "bah, fanks!" (really 'thanks', but the whole 'th' thing is kinda a struggle for French mouths.) When we were volunteering at the Red Cross this week, we were practicing english with Eddie and I told him I liked something and he responded with the typical shoulder shrug and "bah merci", except the english version! Which, i didn't know existed, but is now one of the more frequently used expressions in our apartment.
We are currently teaching as many people as we can and working with a lot of less-actives, but the fact of the matter is simply that we need to keep finding more people to teach. So we're steppin things up. So, one thing that we started is a 40-day purification. We started by fasting for a day and then prayed about and wrote 10 things each that we could do better, and made a goal to completely eliminate, or add, those things for 40 days. If Paul talks about his weaknesses being like a thorn, all I can say is that I've got more like a big 'ole tree trunk sticking out of my side! But, we felt like this was a good way to make sure we would be spiritually prepared when we did find people to teach. And let's be real--I've got a long ways to go, but I've noticed some amazing things already. And one of those, interestingly enough, is confidence. You know how good Satan is at hammering me with doubt; I'm like easy prey! But, since I felt like I've been doing all I can to be exactly obedient and step up my game, I've felt more worthy of guidance from the Holy Ghost and of the Lord's confidence.

I was particularly grateful for that this week, because the night before our rendezvous with Michelle (the inactive YSA from England), we got a text from her saying that she had "come to a decision" and would tell us about it tomorrow. A groan and an "Ah man, this'll be fun" is right. So we were kinda hoping for the best (like crossing your fingers as tight as they will go), planning for the worst, and definitely in need of the confidence that we were worthy of the Lord's help going into that rendez-vous. And I was so not my typical self. I am like the world's best stresser (phd level achieved), but somehow I felt calm and confident going into the rendez-vous. She ended up telling us that she no longer wants to be a part of the church, that she doesn't believe it's true, that she believes it is run by man, that blah blah blah. (She has been looking at all sorts of garbage online, which i so eloquently referred to as "crap" during the lesson....oops!) Most of it I had heard before, but I'll be honest, I was a little shocked when she got to the prophet and apostles and said, "and who the heck do they think they are?" (Just so we're clear, she did not use the word heck....)

We didn't let her go on very long, because it was made clear that she was no longer willing to listen, to be taught, or to seek answers from the Spirit. (I'm not going to detail all the stuff that could be said about the ridiculousness of it all, but among other things, it was very ironic that she was using her belief that the church was run by "man" as a reason to turn away from it, when she was turning to and relying on "man" to make this very spiritually important decision for her.) It was not the time for pleading, but it was the time to be bold in talking about agency and its consequences and to bear testimony. I don't even remember most of what we said, and it's not important anyway, but I do remember feeling the spirit testifying of what we said, even though it was so NOT the outcome we wanted. Anyway, definitely some tears shed during the walk home, but I was also grateful for the reassurance that we had done our part. And there were only tears because it is so frustrating seeing these people you love make such STUPID decisions!!! So, my anger is kinda kindled against Satan. He might be working hard, but darnit I am going to work harder cuz I am bugged!! Let's not talk about whether or not that it is a righteous motivation or not, k?! hehe

Well, sorry, I feel like I didn't say much. But, what I lack in words, I hope is made up with a whole bunch of love! (yeah....i recognize that that is totally cheating, but, desperate times.....) I love you guys lots! Miss you lots too, but I really do love being a missionary. I might not be that great at it, but I'm sure grateful to be here. I loved the pictures this week and am going home to get those back in the mail to you today! Have a great week!!!

Love, Jordo xoxo

Have you ever?

2010-09-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

How ya doing gang? i loved the emails this week. whats funny is that i think you guys have like phd's in reading between the lines. I dont know how you do it, but i am most impressed. its great knowing that you actually "get" what im saying without me having to always come out and say it!

k, so my list of things to tell you is getting ridiculously long and so im just going to send you a super unorganized "handwritten" type email this week.

Did i mention that when elder spicer (the district leader for the st. ouen area) did antoine's baptismal interview, he apparently came out and later went over to the sisters and was like "thank you so so much. like thank you!! he is amazing!" sister bellini said he just went on and on and couldn't stop talking about how great antoine is. And a detail i forgot to mention about the baptism--Kiki (the member of the ward who called me Fifi, which is like a french pet name, and who taught us how to african dance) gave the talk about the holy ghost and definitely might have given him a very strongly worded warning to make sure to block out the devil voice that would try to talk to him!! Just summed up the perfect baptism for the St Ouen ward in my book!! Hehe I'll be honest--I sometimes feel homesick for the st ouen ward. It was fun to see a lot of the people again, especially cuz you would have thought i was like a queen coming to visit them or something with how warmly they welcomed me.

So, i dont think i told you last week, but there was a huge political manifestation and strike a couple weeks ago(like we found out the news had reported the day before that they expected two million people to be there), and of course, the Bastille (tearing down the prison during the revolution, etc) is the ideal location, which also happens to be like OUR STREET! it was out of control. people climbing up and sitting on the bastille itself, smoke, communist party protests, retirement protests, all traffic in the huge bastille roundabout and surrounding streets totally shut down, and their was a huge protesting parade with people yelling and chanting that went straight down our street. we had a great view from our window!!

oh we also ate horse. remember the blind couple? yeah, well when we took her to the butcher shop, she insisted on buying us some horse. so we've figured why not grill it up and give it a try? only live once right? not my fav, but pretty similar to beef. however, what is so amusing to me is I dont get this preoccupation that people have to feed missionaries. she's not even a member of the church and she insists! I swear i have never been force fed so many times in my entire life as i have been the last couple weeks alone. Like and if we cant stay for dinner, they insist on sending us home with a chicken or with pasta noodles and eggs (like for real--a bag of uncooked pasta). very sweet, very nice, we appreciate it.

speaking of the horse looking like beef....our stairwell has smelled suspiciously like cadaver lately. (somehow looking at meat patties still always reminds me of taking dad to the cadaver lab, so thats why that connection does actually make sense.) i havent wanted to investigate, but its a little sketchy! and hey, speaking of sketchy--we saw a dead homeless person in the metro the other day. That was super super sad.

But, one thing we did see on the metro that was pretty funny, even if not super politically correct, was this group of 9 yr old boys laughing together and pretending to be homeless. like one of them would stand up and start pretending to do "the speech" (ya know how like at least every five minutes or so, a homeless person gets on and asks for money because of the terrible situation they are in, blah blah blah......not to make you think that im becoming jaded to it at all....). he'd start, "bonjour messieurs et mesdames. je suis actuellement dans une situation tres grave....." I was laughing pretty hard. First of all, because i thought they were pretty witty, precocious, observative little boys. Second, i just think the cultural difference is amusing. Those are the kinds of things that parisien kids see every day and grow up with. just an interesting difference in childhood experiences. (sorry dont know if that makes sense at all)

Did I mention that in order to reach our mission goal of 300 baptisms by the end of the year (to remind you--last year total baptisms was 122 ish), we had to have most of the september baptisms go through (which would put us just over 200) and then president committed every companionship to baptize one person in the months of oct, nov, or dec. and then about 25 extra spread throughout the mission for good measure (we have 75 companionships right now). So, definitely still living the miracle of 2010, but we've gotta keep doin the things we know we need to do. President Staheli is working right along with us, and in a way he has kinda put himself on the line--he has come out and said, k I had this revelation and this is what will happen......and then we have all committed to work together. In the paris sisters' zone conference he actually said that he would weep for us if we didnt let the miracle happen. ("let it happen" meaning if we let disobedience and mischief keep us from it).

In our conference he asked us why we thought he wanted it for us so badly. people gave lots of good answers, which all played a part in it. But then he explained that he wants us in 40 years to be able to tell our grandchildren the story. He wants us to be able to tell them: "I was there in the france paris mission. I was there for the miracle of 2010. I was part of that." And he wants us to be able to see first hand how miracles are possible. He keeps saying how 300 baptisms for paris is absolutely unheard of.....and he has related it to the movie Miracle. "What was the difference between those young americans and the experienced russians? They believed!!!!" (and this is a side note, but we have to believe but of course, real belief leads us to action and working for it, not just a complacent belief and lack of obedience. I lately have been using "just do it" a lot. I mean cuz it’s so easy to sit down on a metro and not talk to people. It's awkward sometimes and you get shut down hard core sometimes, but we've just gotta do it! On that note, I have decided King Benjamin was a couple thousand years ahead of Nike, because I love the part when he is giving his great temple speech and says, (basically) "now that ye believe all these things, SEE THAT YE DO THEM!!" I think the Nike founder must have been a king benjamin fan! ok, i digress.....and im starting to sound like a total nerd now so im going to stop!)

Wow. That was some serious rambling.

We belted Les Miserables running down the champs elysees the other day. "do you hear the people sing????!!!!!" it was great fun, especially since there are so many different people in paris, we didn’t really even stand out! (it was also like 7 am, so we had the place to ourselves. Except, of course, the teenagers getting arrested for breaking into some construction site and sleeping over.)

Speaking of singing in Paris.....for some reason I am getting way excited for Christmas!! The lights and the caroling and the bundling up because its blustering cold!! (i also hear they turn the big square in front of hotel de ville--the place by st merri--into a big ice skating rink, so im hoping im still here!!! i mean how cool would that be?!

Tara--loved the email details. im gonna try to write you a letter though today. oh and i have no idea what commercial you are talking about.....i couldnt decipher the handwriting in that part of the letter, so youll have to fill me in on what you and john have been having a good laugh over.

halle--i hear you can play a song all by yourself on the piano already????? that is so cool!!! when i talk to you at christmas, youll have to play it for me k?!

josh--i cant believe youre at a 5th grade reading level. that is pretty dang impressive dude! and thanks for the postcards from new york! totally cool!!

johnny--thanks for the dets. shared it with all the roommies and they loved the boy attempt at girl details (did you come up with champagne colored dress all by yoourself?)

dad--flowers sent to the courts in vegas?! that was pretty slick!

oh and we finally got to watch those lake powell videos!!!! SO FUNNY!!!!! like seriously, i cant believe you guys just whipped those out?!!

K tell grandpa that he's lucky i can spell anything right these days!!! you should hear me speak.....serious franglais goin down. but also tell him thanks for the email. oh and he'll get a kick out of this. Was sitting next to this man the other day on the metro, and it was when we were headed to the arc de triomphe to run at 645 am, so we didnt even have nametags on or anything (so he had no idea we were missionaries), and we had hardly said "hey how you doin?" when he just went off about EVERYTHING. Mostly boring, but he's also had a hilarious theory that september 11th, and basically all the evil of the world for that matter, can actually be traced back to the jews. Ok, crucifying christ maybe, but definitely a first I'd heard september 11th being blamed on the jews!!

I can't believe no one bothered to tell me that the penny has changed!!!!! i mean wouldn't that have been e-mail worthy information?????? (sister england got a package from mike, this week and it happened to include pennies.....)

I learned a new trick this week!! i can now jump onto my bed successfully! (im on the top bunk) but for the first few attempts picture Tara. Mexico. Rope Swing. and you've pretty much got the idea (except direction reversed of course).

Least favorite French phrase--faire peepee. yup....to make peepee is how you fairly often hear people express the need to use the restroom. It just makes me cringe!

ok, well we have been here way too long and have got to go, but I love you guys!!!! Weird that the transfer e-mail comes out on Saturday already. I have no idea what will happen but I am fine with whatever.
Well, LOVE YOU GUYS LOTS AND LOTS!!!! i seriously have the coolest family ever!!

love, Jordo xoxoxo

Pictures!

2010-09-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

Jordan finally sent me her memory card, so some of these pictures are a bit old!

Sister Belllini & Jordan

At the Eiffel Tower with Sister Bellini & the office elders! Jordan said that the elders received quite a bit of attention wearing their African Boo-boos.

A Seine River Tour!

Jordan's with her newest companion Sister England @ Napolean's Tomb!

President & Sister Staheli with the "sister's"

Oh, the people you meet!

2010-09-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hey gang!

How ya doin?! It sounds like Homecoming and the latest tournaments were all a success! Thanks so much for the updates! We don't have much time today, but I feel like I have so much to tell you, so we'll see how this works out. So, one day this week I was just kinda chuckling to myself about some of the amusing conversations, confrontations, and interesting circumstances we've found ourselves in lately. Seriously, you never know what is going to happen next, where you'll find yourself next, or what your endearing investigators will say next. One thing I will say, however, is that you meet a whole lot of different kinds of people as a missionary--the good, the bad, and the ugly! But, mostly I think I've been lucky to meet just some really amazing people! So, today I think I just want you to get to know some of the people we've met.

Antoine. (he is the guy we first met on the bus in St. Ouen) Have to start with him, though I don't think words will adequately express how great his baptism was on Saturday! He was definitely one of the elect and so ready to accept and commit to the gospel. And one thing that makes me even happier is that he isn't the kind you have to worry about becoming inactive in a year or two--he is going to be a solid, contributing member of the church! Towards the end of the program, he got up and bore his own testimony and talked about how he loved being an investigator of the church, but how he is very excited to be a member of the only true church. He bore his testimony of the restoration and the priesthood, and can you just imagine what my mascara looked like by the time he was done?! The night before, Sister Bellini had called me and was kinda freaking out because they didn't know how everything was going to turn out, and I was like--"ok listen. All that really matters about tomorrow is that they manage to say the right words, and that he gets dunked all the way. The rest is just fluff." But, even the fluff of the day was perfect!

Zulfia. So, we're walking home after dark one night, and I say hi and smile at some lady, and she smiles back, but then I keep walking. I don't know what it was, but like 25 seconds later I find myself turning around and chasing after her down the sidewalk. Yes, I know I sound like a crazy stalker, and full well realized that at the time (definitely a few "what the heck are you doing’s went through my head). Surprisingly, when I caught up to her, she didn't even skip a beat in starting up a conversation. She's Russian, but has lived in Germany for the last 3 years as a student, and now is living in France for 5 months while she is doing some sort of internship. And she's been looking all over the place for French classes, but hasn't been able to find any good information. So, she asked if we happened to have a French class?! Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, she's probably the nicest person I have ever met. Add in the fact that she speaks english with a lot of incomprehensible russian words thrown in, and you just can't help but love her! We've only actually taught her once (and I'll be honest, I think we might have to do some serious reviewing, because there was a pretty intense game of charades going on for part of that lesson. haha. It certainly doesn't help that Russian looks like absolute jibberish to me!), but she has been coming to all of the english and french classes and she is coming to FHE tonight! I'm excited to see how things go!

Sebulba. Not joking--I met the person who had to have been the voice of Sebulba. The spitting voice! Turns out, he's Romanian and eats at the Red Cross on Fridays. He also asked me for a kiss ("no thanks, but here take your chocolate") and kept telling me how pretty I was, until his friend gave him a little smack, and told him to do more eating and less flirting.

Mikey. All I can say is that anyone who has ever served around Paris knows who Mikey is. He is a homeless guy who hangs out around the chatelet area and church all the time, and he is hilarious. The other day he wandered in and stayed for the entire second session of one of the zone conferences, and he's always asking about what classes are going on. Anyway, Sister England and I were waiting for someone at St. Merri a couple days ago and were able to have a nice chat with Mikey. I think the most memorable part was probably as we are walking away, he calls after us and says, "hey! watch out. Don't get raped. You're too pretty." hahaha, we had a nice chuckle over that little tidbit of advice. Bless his dear heart lookin out for the sister missionaries!

Jessie and Kylie. We went over to dinner at the Jones' this week. Br. Jones is American, Sister Jones is Peruvian, and the girls--Jessie and Kylie--are absolutely adorable and speak English, French, and Spanish fluently. After dinner, Sister Jones informed us that the girls had prepared a special "surprise" for us. I was thinkin like a drawing, but oh boy, had I underestimated them! They went and pulled out these little magic tricks (like guess which coin is under the cup) and then the finale was them dancing for us--leaping and turning and dramatic arms were definitely involved. So, so cute!!! (It totally reminded me of when Tara and I would do those little impromtu fireplace shows to broadway songs. Though i think tara's 'second hand rose' probably still takes the cake. bahaha.) Oh thank goodness for little girls!

Side note: You know how I told you that we have 27 sister right now (because we combined with Belgium)? Well, by the end of the year they will be getting us back down to 18. That’s like 4 cities closing. And that’s where they are going to keep us from now on. I was so glad when St. Ouen didn’t close last transfer(they closed Lille instead).

Aren't I so lucky to be here and to get to meet all these great people!!? There are so many more i wanted to tell you about, but we should probably run.

Hope you know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you! Can't wait to hear all about your latest adventures!

Love, Jordo

Tara--I am so excited for that blasted application to be done. It's been stressful enough for me having to think about you having to do all those ridiculous things! and I don't know what half of them even mean!! And so I hear you were a mean babysitter? Hahahaha. I was actually relieved to hear that some things haven’t changed—josh

Math--how are those 'babes' doin?! Relieved to hear you found my ihome. Haha. Hilarious that you got kicked off the go-karts.

Johnny--speaking of hairy chests.....what's the update?

Dad--food channel eh? 44 going on 80? haha jk, Im glad you thoroughly enjoyed the finest of new york's polish pastrami

Mother dearest--HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! are you 30 yet?! hehe

halle baby—Did you love the American Girl doll store?!!!! I want to hear all about your favorite parts! And you sent me practically an entire coloring book! Thanks so much. I think your coloring has gotten even better! And a monkey is us singe in French. Has that been coming up in a lot of conversations lately?! (I laughed so hard when she wrote “I miss you. See you in a long time. by.” Too cute!!!!)
Joshy man—I’m impressed with your drawing skills, but if mom and dad had been eaten by sharks, I would not be very pleased!

oh and next time you see them, tell Jackson I’m glad he’s on the ball and taking his calling as pearce Christmas caroling pianist seriously! Hehe, I thought that was hilarious!

And tell the Rash’s congratulations!!!!!! I’m dying to see pictures! So does this mean we think they will have another one trying for a girl?

Lisa--Thank you so so so much for the package!!! that was way too nice! I laughed at first when i saw the frogs, but i gotta admit--they provided much more lively sunday night entertainment for our apartment! things may or may not have become a little competitive! haha seriously, everything was perfect.

Rebs--thanks so much for the email and your address!! sure love ya!

Ramblings!

2010-09-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Gang!

How you doin?! Thanks for the e-mails!! I gotta admit, I don't blame josh and halle for thinkin you cramp their style! haha. That was hilarious!! (I also thought the way Halle spelled gmaka (Jamaica – in case you didn’t read it) was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen.) And thanks for the details sister! J&M i am so impressed with how well you're doing!! Seriously cool. But, John--you wanna know what's not so cool?? The fact that I have yet to receive a very long, very detailed letter describing every word that was said on your first date and how you asked to Homecoming???!! SERIOUSLY! what is up that dude? Sounds like good things are goin on and that school craziness (even if you didn't even make it through a whole week of attendance) has officially begun. Love it! Wouldn't so much love the first week assignment of reading Beowulf and writing a paper on it, but ya know.....maybe it'll put some hair on your chest or something!

Things are going really well here, and the first good news is that my eye twitch is starting to go away! That said, I am still at a complete loss where to even begin with the adventures, miracles, and just plain chaos of the week, so you're just gonna have to bare with me through a total cop-out bulleted list of happenings! I promise I do love you, even if I am a super lame writer!

Happenings:

1. We taught a lesson in an Irish pub. And ya know, I think that's probably enough said.

2. I gained a new appreciation for the skill of garbage men in Paris. Watching the garbage truck go down the street, causing a complete halt to all traffic I might add, is a surprisingly fascinating experience! Those guys are good at what they do! Skill and precision like the marines I tell you. (It's also interesting to note the kind of things you will stoop to when your companion is sick. I mean there are only so many scriptures you can read, carpets to vacuum, dishes to wash, and closets to organize! Thank goodness we live in a world with seriously entertaining people outside every window! Some of my favorite ones lately have been the ridiculously drunk people swaying down the street, laughing at like 645 am!)

3. One evening we had a rendezvous set up to teach with a member, but we got fruijed (stood up), so we did a consecrated hour of contacting with the member instead. I will admit that I didn't quite know how to respond when she offered a little bit of advice--that being that I shouldn't bear testimony to people because it was like I was imposing beliefs. huh. Some head scratching definitely went on with that little nugget of wisdom!!

4. I also realized that I am a terrible person! And you will only protest that until you hear what I did. This blind couple (ya, like husband and wife both totally blind) called us to help them do their grocery shopping with them. We were happy to do it because we didn't have any appointments scheduled for that morning. Long story short--the blind leading the blind really isn't the best way to go after all. Sister England starts walking down the hall leading Jacqueline, so I am getting the caddy and trying to grab Roger's arm to lead him, but somehow in the shuffle he managed to run into the wall. And not just a little foot bump or something, we're talking full on forehead smack with an echo, followed by some choice words! After I stifled back the quick giggle because of the fact that I just let this poor blind man run into a wall, I felt terrible! I kept thinking about that Parent Trap scene when Meredith goes, "sure you'll help me....right over a cliff you'll help me." So much for my attempt to be all selfless by helping the lame and afflicted or whatever!

5. I think I told you already that the current state of our work allows for many contacting opportunities! hehe. Which is great, except that a peculiar phenomenon has started to manifest itself. It seems that the number of consecrated hours/wk is directly related to the number of times you will be bisoux'd by old men on the street. And ya know what--for older men with canes, they maneuver the bise pretty dang swiftly!! I'm usually pretty good at sliding the handshake in there, but it happened TWICE this week!

6. Our ward has a new baby! We have been working with this less active sister who had her baby, Sariah, this week! She was in the NICU because whe was born a little early, but everything seems to be fine, she just needed to gain some weight. She is absolutely precious, and it was a lot of fun to be back in a hospital! (Though between you and me, she was a pretty dang white lookin' baby to have come from two African parents....just sayin!)

7. So we had been teaching Dibson, this Buddhist man we met contacting, but after he told us to pack our bags because we were going to Cameroon together for Christmas, we opted to give the elders a shot with him! It was definitely a new experience explaining that we do, in fact, have to stay in the country for the holidays! ,

8. We've had our fair share of blonde moments this week, including, but not limited to, getting lost running in the morning on three different days. Well not "lost" so much as "just not exactly found," because we did eventually make it home. They just turned into slightly more extensive workouts than we had anticipated! But the great thing about being lost in Paris is that you turn the corner and you're like, "oh look, there's another huge gothic cathedral," or "oh, huh, wonder what centuries-old national monument that is!?" (Did I mention that Sister England has permission to run for an hour every morning because of a knee problem? So we're seein some cool stuff with the extra time we have!)

9. Ok I also learned that I don't handle African heat very well. We had dinner with this family from Ghana and they made some awesome food!! But then there was this peper (im not sure how to spell it) sauce that you could put on the side, and i swear steam had to be issuing from my ears after a few drops!! They, of course, thought it was hilarious. I was just bugged I was such a wimp about it--I certainly wouldn't have held my own in the "spicy boys club," but Dad, you would have loved it!

10. The best Public Transportation moment of the week had to have been seeing a woman sit down on the metro, rummage in her purse a little, and whip out a piece of corn on the cob to start eating. Talk about being boy scout prepared!

11. We also saw many little miracles. We went to teach Pamela (a less active young adult) and had in mind to commit her to praying for the courage to ask her boss for Sundays off, so she can come to church. Well, when we got there she told us how a couple weeks earlier she had been praying for help finding someone to replace her at work, and she was able to find someone! We were like, hey you took the words right out of our mouths!

Another one was when we taught Fabiola (an investigator). We asked how things were going with the Book of Mormon. She explained that she had a hard time understanding what she was reading, but then added, "But what's strange and hard to describe is that I still feel really good when I read it." Hullo!! It was awesome talking about what that meant great to be able to talk about the spirit and why she can feel that way! She's asking all the right questions and has committed to be baptized when she feels it's true, so she's got a good start. Now she just needs to start putting her faith into action. She said she would come to church next week, so I'm excited to see how things go!

12. And then.... there was church. K, "three ring circus" doesn't even begin to describe the mayhem and havoc that was this week's 7 hour church adventure!! I'm not going to even try to describe it, but we walked out of the building afterwards and I just burst out laughing. Honestly there was nothing else to do (except maybe go home and eat some nutella hehe)! I love that as a missionary as much as you might like to think you have things figured out, you really never know what is going to happen next!

13. We also had zone conference and a sisters exchange this week. I don't have much time to tell about them, but they were AWESOME!! We have 27 sisters right now and Sister Staheli wanted us to get to know each other and feel a strength in numbers, so she and president organized a day at the mission home for all of us to get together. They spoke to us, we had a question and answer session (better believe someone asked about President Staheli proposing to Sister Staheli), and we finished up at consecration hill. (I will admit to feeling slightly like a walking advertisement for a cult with like 28 women traveling through the city with 3 men, but it was still great!) And Zone Conference is always such a nice boost. I don't know how the Staheli's do it, but they somehow manage to inspire you while basically hammering obedience!

Among other things, President talked about the children of Israel and how it was "mischief" that kept them from being allowed to enter the promised land. And then he talked about how we can't let mischief get in the way of realizing the miracle of 2010. It is so close and it would be so sad if we didn't take advantage of this incredible experience the Lord has offered us. And then he shared a quote from President Lee that said something like, "A testimony is as illusive as a moonbeam and it's as fragile as an orchid. You have to recapture it every single morning of your life. If you don't do something about it, that which is yours today won't be yours tomorrow." He talked about how we can't get distracted, but need to be searching steadfastly and obedient in order to recapture our testimonies every day, because we really do have moonbeams to share!

Anyway, a whole bunch of rambling!!! All in all, life is great. I feel so lucky to be here, but right now, we gotta run. Sure love you guys! I'm prayin for ya!

Love you lots and lots,
Jordan

What more could you ask for?

2010-08-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hello dearest family!!

So, am i gathering correctly that Jamaica might be another "slice of heaven?" (not to exceed the heavenness of the convent of course....) How's the rest of the gang doin?! Is Halle the only one ready for school to start? (who is your French teacher going to be this year hals?) and OMG Matthew!!! I just realized this morning that you are going to be a freshman!!!!! oh my gosh!!!! did you have mom help you pick out your first day outfit? Joshy man, who is your teacher going to be? Johnny bravo--what classes are you taking? and nice job with that dubs win! Tara dear--I don't know how you have survived the summer; you are seriously a trooper. side note--i finished your letter and im putting it in the mail TODAY. Ok, also, I'm dying to know what the new family theme is, so someone needs to get on that STAT!

Anyway, this last week has been a crazy blur! Monday night we had FHE at Soeur Nikiema's house again, and remember how I told you I cleaned out the front closet? Well, while sifting through the "stuff," I found this photo album that looked like something she would like (she loves pictures and has pack rat tendencies--especially when it comes to missionary relics), so i thought "hey, why not?! she'll love it." So, we get to her house and I give it to her and she's all excited, and then adds, "Hmmm. That's so bizarre. I gave a book exactly like this one to one of the sisters a few years ago." Oops. Live and learn right?!

Tuesday we set a baptismal date with Antoine. He is seriously one of the most humble people I have ever met and is going to be such a solid member! We went into the rendez-vous with a date in mind, which he accepted wholeheartedly, but then was like, "or even sooner if you want!" I am way excited for him!!

And we got a text from Malala inviting us to come over and talk to her and her family about what we do as missionaries. I forgot to tell you this story, but way back at the fete des voisins, I was talking to one of our neighbors and found out they liked singing and music. So, I told her I played the piano and she was like, "you two should come over and play the piano and sing with the family." I said that would be great, but we didn't make definite plans that night. Then we ran into her a couple weeks ago on the street and I brought it up and she was super excited and we set a night. So, she and her family are from Madagascar and they are awesome--an adorable family! And it turns out that lots of the well-known hymns in madagascar are ones that are also in our hymnbook. So, we played and sang hymns for a while, and had a good time. But that night, we couldn't really figure out how to tactfully bring up the small detail that we wanted to teach and baptize them. So the next day we took a treat and a thank you card over and said that we had a short message and movie that we wanted to share with them about why we are here as missionaries for our church, so to let us know if we could come over some time to watch it with them. And Tuesday we got a text from the Mom asking what night we could come over?!!! Interesting how many different ways you can do "finding." And who knows how it'll turn out, but I'm excited to see, rather hear!

And then Wednesday, at 7:10 a.m., I moved to Paris Lilas!! You would seriously die if you saw where our apartment is. We are right down the street from the Bastille and live on this super chic upper-middle-class-hang-out type street. We ran around Victor Hugo's house the other morning. But, my two favorite runs so far have been down to Nation and to Notre Dame. Of course these runs are kickin my behind, but not gonna lie--it's pretty sweet running along the Seine down to Notre Dame! It might take a couple weeks to work up to the Champs-Elysees run, but I'm definitely lookin forward to it. AND, as if the location wasn't good enough, the shower head actually squirts in a uniform direction. (I had almost forgotten that those existed.) And my companion, Sister England, is awesome! Seriously--what more could you ask for?!

I'll be honest, neither one of us is very clear about what our area boundaries actually are, but essentially we cover half of Paris and a little more of the northeastish border. (yeah, that is sounding a little vague...maybe we should ask around about that. haha.) At the moment we don't really have any investigators, but it's gonna be a good transfer. We're going to work hard, smart and just going to expect miracles! And they are already happening! Yesterday a member showed up to church with a friend, Helene Beatrice, who she introduced to us by saying, "This is my friend. She wants to be taught and baptized." Well.....pleased to meet you Helene!! And, there are other good things happening. I've been saying I wanted to step up my contacting skills anyway, so heck--pretty good time to practice!

Oh, and I had my first kiss in a while. His name is Olivier. He's four. We were over teaching the family (they are less-active at the moment), and at the end I guess he was leaning over to give me a bisous on the cheek, but I wasn't paying attention and turned my head and he got me right on the lips. It was absolutely hilarious because he sat there rubbing his lips off for like two minutes afterwards! Needless to say, I've been warmly welcomed into the ward! It is kind of weird getting to know a new ward, but Sister England knows the ins-and-outs (this is her fourth transfer here), so I've got it easy.

Anyway, life is great. Sure love being a missionary and am sure grateful for such an awesome family. (Side note Dad: i'll be honest--I have no idea what the word 'tome' means. Germane you have hammered in enough times, but this must be a new favorite word. Mind enlightening me? Still eating cereal at 930 pm sharp every night?!) Sorry, I don't have time to write more, but it's Paris P-day, so sisters are coming in to meet us at Les Invalides for a picnic and to see the Army (WWII) Museum. Love you!!! Miss you!!!! Hope you have a great week!

Love you lots and lots,
Jordan

That Just Happened!

2010-08-24T12:08:00.001-07:00

What up gang?!!!!

How are you all doin?!! I'm gonna go out on a limb and venture that the Jamaican sun isn't treatin ya too badly! I hope you are profiting (as they say here--"profitez du soleil"), because if anyone deserved a vacation it was you two!!! goodness. Well, the verdict is in--I'm heading to Paris Lilas to serve with Sister England!! It's kinda the north-east paris area, I believe. I am excited to get to work there. But, for now I am still way excited about what is goin down in St. Ouen!

I was going to tell this one at the end, but it's just too great to wait. So, last week we got onto a bus and this man asked if we were Mormon, so we started talking. (I'll be honest, the salutation 'are you mormon' does not always end as well as this one did. haha) Turned out, he knew the church really well, because his brother is a big church leader in the Congo and he, Antoine, had been in contact with missionaries (im assuming missionaries, but i'm not quite sure to be honest) in Nogent and Mantes-la-Jolie years ago. Anyway, we exchanged information, but he just said he'd come to church and didn't want to fix a rdv. He said he didn't know if he could come that Sunday, but would come by. So he didn't come that first Sunday, but then we ran into him on the bus again (he lives just a few stops away from us), and he was like k i'm coming for sure this week, and of course, I'm like "ok great!," while really thinking, "yeah.....if i had a nickel for every time i've heard that....." k i totally fit the 'oh ye of little faith' category--so should have been struck down!

Fast forward a few days and we're doing an hour of spiritual finding in Neuilly and we contact this guy named Etienne. He seemed interested, but was very insistent on 'petit a petit,' so he wasn't keen on giving us his number. But, we invited him to pray about the things we talked about, invited him to church, and left him with a card with our number and the address to the church. Well, yeah, you can imagine how humbled I felt when both Antoine and Etienne came walking into church at 9 am Sunday morning!!!! They stayed for all three hours, received a warm welcome from the members, and really had a good experience. (And the fact that there was more than one mention of baptisms for the dead didn't seem to bother either of them!!)

After church we had a short rdv with antoine and he was like, "I'll be honest I have had worldly success (he's a cardiologist)--money, houses, cars, etc.....but none of that brought me happiness. I felt like I built my house on the sand and then the winds came and everything just fell to pieces." (I guess his wife kind of took advantage of him, so he has recently gone through a divorce.) He said that he is now taking some time to get some perspective, sort out his priorities, and he is grateful to get to try again. This time he is going to build on the rock, putting God first. And he wants to see things all the way through with the church this time, because he knows it's good. So, he's praying about it, and we're going to set a baptismal date with him on Tuesday!

Another lady randomly showed up to check out our church, because she was mad at her pastor (uh......), but long story short, I don't think we'll be seeing her again. But, the Miracle of 2010 is alive and well in St. Ouen! The elders have two baptismal dates (one of them is moving to paris lilas' area though soon) and we have two more as well. Certainly it has nothing to do with us, but it is definitely rewarding to just get to be part of the team. After church and our meetings, Sister Bellini and I walked out of the building and were like, "That Just Happened!!!" (John i totally thought of you when i said it.) Seriously, it was awesome!

In other news, Tina is doing well, but she'll be en vacances for the next couple weeks. We saw her the night before she left and the lesson went great. I said a quick good-bye, but it still kinda felt like one of those dagger-to-the-heart, with a quarter turn, experiences. But, hey gotta know the pain to know the joy right?!

Oh, a funny contact this week--I ran up and stopped this guy, introduced ourselves, and then he just took off and started in like we had been in the middle of a conversation. He is an inventor, and totally of the "absent minded professor" type. He was spouting off about divine numbers and number combinations (mostly 3s and 9s--ie dieu, jesus christ, saint esprit), and also about how he was working on a gas fuel source so we would no longer have to use petroleum....? Anyway, the conversation ended shortly after he was like, "ya know, I think I'm gonna start my own church." And I'm totally not exaggerating when i say that there was hardly a breath between the sentence discussing petroleum and the one discussing recruiting members for his new church. And then he went off mumbling about something else. Oh, just too good!!

Best Public Transportation moment of the week had to have been on the metro. I saw this guy start doing the high-priest-falling-asleep-in-church nod, and then all of a sudden he had a particularly violent nod and cracked his head on the window. He gave it a pretty good thump too. I couldn't help but smile at him a little. But, let's be real, whenever I do embarrassing things like that I'm always at least somewhat glad that someone else got to enjoy it with me! haha.

Well, sorry, kinda boring, but this week has just been a whirlwind and I can't remember many details. Oh--we did do our big transfer cleaning this week, and I took the camping motto (leave it better than you found it) to heart when it came to the front closet and the bookshelf. 6 garbage bags, 2 loads to the dumpster, and about 5 loads of laundry later, we have nicely organized sheets in the front closet, without any unnecessary-been-sitting-in-there-for-years-and-years stuff!! So, if nothing else, at least I left that legacy in St.Ouen!! hehe. Anyway, I sure love you and miss you!!!! Hope you're adventurin up the last few couple weeks of summer vacation and hope you remember that I'm always prayin for you!!

Love you lots and lots,
Jordan

pss i can't really send you my talk. haha 1. i don't exactly have handy access to a little pink netbook that i can pull out of my purse, so it's hand-written, and 2. im not sure that it would do you much good anyway, being that it is in French. sorry!!
pps also, im not doin so great without stephanie these days. somehow i think my stuff is expanding!!
ppss---if you ever see Andrew, tell him I met the elder he trained!! he's doin great; he's the new greffier (one of the bureau elders)
ps4 i sent home two big envelopes with some of my letters. just keep them safe, please!
ps5 tell paige congrats!!!!! seriously so exciting! (and mike too. I guess he did play an important role after all....)
ps6 liz--thanks so much for the e-mail. laughed so hard. oh, the classic memories of the cafe rio tin and the spider nightmare!!!!
ps7--rebs--i still need your address!!!!
also, matthew--how exactly did you kill this super venomous rattlesnake before you skinned it? how is your knee? love you.
john--how did kalamazoo turn out? I hope you're bein smart. have you been eatin much ice cream lately?! love you. (and i think it's cheating to send the same letter more than once!!! hehe. you and joshy!!!)
side note, you probably know this already and may have already finished the book of mormon. But, just fyi, the first interview with your branch president in the MTC, he asks if you have read the book of mormon all the way through and if you have a testimony of it. so you have been warned!!

halle and josh love you guys
tara, i promise i started a letter to you today!! but who the heck is will scarlet??????!!!!!!!!

Just Like Laundry!

2010-08-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

hello hello gang!!!

How are ya doin?!!! I can't believe how many different places you have been this summer. The amount of packing and unpacking and laundry and re-packing alone sounds kind of exhausting! But that is absolutely HILARIOUS about zack and keaton in michigan!!!!!! laughed out loud for like 5 straight minutes, not joking. I'm SOOO glad Dad capitalized on that opportunity. And yup next week is transfer week, so you probably shouldn't send anything else here. Unless something totally surprising happens, I should be the one transferred.) I love hearing what's going on at home!!

Anyway, the other day Sister Bellini and I were walking somewhere and I saw a super cute family or something and I said, "oh it's just like laundry!" That was, apparently, the first thing that came into my head that adequately illustrated how seeing that adorable family made me happy. Sister Bellini just laughed, because she was already well acquainted with my love, or weakness i guess, for the smell of laundry. I know that whenever we pass roses or a restaurant cooking chicken, she has to pause for 5 seconds to take savor the moment. And she knows that whenever we pass a laundromat, I have to take advantage of the moment! (We are seriously a well-oiled machine these days. Like I said, four and a half months together will do that to you!) She insists that I'll be one of those pregnant people who craves detergent or something, but I don't care--I am a firm believer that "dryer sheet" is the best scent in the world! (closely followed by a newly bleach-cleaned bathroom, of course) So, for me, passing a laundromat is just like one of those simple pleasures that make life so GREAT!! With that said, I thought I would catch you up on some of the things that have happened the last couple weeks that have been "Just Like Laundry."

1. Tina asking if we could serve non-alcoholic beer at her baptism. I'm not gonna lie, I usually try to maintain some semblance of the whole "dignity of your calling" thing, but when she said that, I just about ended up on the floor laughing!

2. One evening, Sister Bellini and I are looking up addresses for the next day in our banlieu, and she goes, "Hey how close do we live to Avenue Georges Clemenceau?" To which I tried to respond with a straight face, "Well....we live on Avenue Georges Clemenceau...so....pretty close." Considering we have lived on Avenue Georges Clemenceau for about the last 3 months, it's probably a good thing I'm usually the one who navigates!! Can't help but love her

3. Having an investigator with three children, whose names are (and i am not joking) as follows: Precious, Happiness, and Blessing. Precious is the boy, in case you were wondering.

4. another laundry moment was having a woman contact US on a bus because she is our fellow "sister in christ" and wanted to exchange cards (which means that she did in fact have a card). Gotta love african evangelists! But hey, this one said she'd be interested in hearing our message at least, so you never know!

5. Managing to hold my own in District Around-the-World-Ping-Pong. J&M are you proud?! Nyloned-feet add an extra slippage element to running around the table, let me tell ya, but hey, just makes it more fun!

6. Seeing the primary answers work a miracle in someone's life is definitely like laundry. We had been working with Yrina (young adult less-active) for a while, but can I just say how great it feels not to be needed anymore?! From that first rendezvous, she almost seems like a completely different person. She has let go of a lot of hate and heavy stuff and let the Atonement work on her, and she just seems so much lighter and happier. It was a testimony to me that the we learn the "primary answers" for a reason! Scriptures, prayer, coming to church, and studying the simple doctrines are powerful tools that we have!

This last week we had kind of an enduring to the end lesson and then talked about Moroni's Title of Liberty and the things in our own lives that are worth fighting for. One of the things she said she wanted to fight for was the right to be married in the temple. She says she knows it'll take time and work and preparation, but now she knows that she doesn't want to settle for anything less. My heart was absolutely full!!! I am so happy for her and so impressed with how hard she has worked and how far she has come. (I just feel so spoiled to get to know such great people!)

7. Having Tina show up to church not scantily clad!! (k, i had a chat with her about it before, but still with her you just NEVER know!!) And on top of that, fast and testimony meeting was amazing! The spirit was so strong and it was one of those moments when you sit back and are just so proud to be a member of the Church and surrounded by such stalwart saints! That was like a double dryer sheet day.

8. Going up to greet the 100-yr-old Sister in our ward as she walked into church and having her say, "Well, I forgot my glasses and my hearing aids. So, I can't see you or hear you, but darn it I'm here," just made me grin. (K and I'm not exaggerating about the one hundred thing, this darling stubborn old lady was born in 1910!!)

9. Doing exchanges in Belgium again this week was great! Soeur Bagwell and I had a lot of fun porting this adorable street out in the suburbs of liege. Mom--you would have died!!

10. Going up to ask a blind man if he needs help and having him be like, "yeah, do you have any cigarettes?" I'll be honest--so annoying! But the irony of it was certainly deserving of a laundry moment. We had our hands full, including lugging a suitcase up a huge staircase in Saint Lazare, but we saw this blind man walking around bumping into people, so I was like, well he looks like he could use some help. So, we walk back to where he was and ask if he needs help finding a train and turns out he was going around bumping into people, on purpose, in order to ask for cigarettes. so lame!!!

11. Another laundry moment had to have been the overwhelming relief that came when i was walking to sit back down after giving my first Sacrament talk in French. You know how I feel about talks in general, so I'm sure you can imagine how pleased I was when the "little service" I readily accepted from the bishopric member was to give a talk on Sunday. ugh, so glad that is done!! But, hey I'm counting my blessings because Elder Perez was asked to do one in a couple weeks on "les Reserves"..... ie Food Storage. haha, so he may be francophone, but still!!!

12. Ok and the last laundry moment of the week was definitely showing up to Tina's apartment and having her present us with gifts from the Angel boutique that included angel incense, a copy of the page in her book describing each of our guardian angels, and an illustration of the angel talisman of power!! I promise we have been sticking to the simple lessons and she knows the first 3 lessons and the big commandments inside and out, but somehow she has still had this obsession with angels lately. She then proceeded to tell us that we could burn the incense while we prayed to invoke the power of our guardian angels.

We said thank you and that our next lesson would be a review of the doctrine of prayer (to include a clarification on who exactly it is that we pray to)!! It's just Tina. You just love her and are so frustrated by her all at the same time! Only frustrated because you get all ready to give her a "talking to" and then she pulls out a super sincere and profound testimony of Joseph Smith or something and instead you're like, "hey can i hug you?!" She is doing great though, and we are so proud of the changes she is making in her life. Honestly there are just too many laundry moments with her to even begin to illustrate how awesome she is. I am very blessed to have been able to get to know her and see her progress towards baptism!! so so lucky!

Anyway, family, life is great and full of lots of laundry!! I don't know a whole lot, but I do know that I am so lucky to get to share my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ every day, because it is truly the way to be happy. I'm sure grateful for you guys!! I don't know how you're keeping up with everything going on over there, but I love hearing about it. Hope you have a great week!!

Love you lots and lots,

Jordan

p.s. you know what's ironic--as much as I love the smell of laundry, it is still definitely not my favorite chore

pss to MOM: cant believe you got shingles. what the heck? are you still in pain?!! that sounded terrible. no more stressing!!!! hilarious about kirk. And poor kate!

and side note: mom,what you said at the end of your e-mail letter last week made me think of the grey's anatomy when christina tells meredith that she is "her person" (because she had put her number as the emergency contact when she was going to the hospital). As funny as the context is, the scence is actually super cute cuz it's the first time christina ever says anything like sentimental or even close to disclosing feelings. But, I have decided that you are "my person!" So you can either be flattered that should the need for me to be in the hospital ever arise, you'd be the first on the emergency contact list, OR you can just know that I love you lots and am grateful to have the relationship that we do. Take it either way!! but, miss you mommy dearest. try not to swallow a bee in san antonio.

ps3 last week for pday we went to sacre coeur and then followed that up with a nice pop up at the moulin rouge. the irony of their close proximity is just too good.

Great Things!

2010-07-26T19:02:00.001-07:00

What's up gang?!!!! Actually I think you are all probably sleeping at Lake Powell as I write this.....so I sure hope you have some good boy scout adventures planned for the week!!

So, I'll just be straight up about it--the numbers were not doing so great last week.... BUT, some great things happened and next week is looking great!!! So, all in all, life is just great. (And now I promise I'm done with that word...)

A couple GREAT things of the week:

1. Tina set a baptismal date!!! September 14th. yeah, we found out that it's a Tuesday, so not exactly the ideal--don't worry about it. haha. (It's kinda a long story why that date is important.) Was not something we expected to do with her that night, because she had canceled on us a couple times, but you don't say shhhhh to the spirit! First of all, we show up to her apartment and walk in and I swear it was a completely different place from the last time. Like before, you kinda had to clamber around piles of "stuff" (really the word "crap" is much more descriptive, but much less becoming), could hardly find a place to sit, and I don't know the last time she had thrown out anything. She had apparently spent the last 4 days cleaning and organizing and the place looked awesome!! So, it might not be a key indicator that we report, but in my opinion, the scriptures don't say that a "house of order is a house of God" for no reason!!

And this was an indicator to me that she is ready and willing to make changes in her life--that she is ready to get things in order. So, hopefully now that her apartment is much more conducive to the spirit, she can start making some good spiritual changes as well. Anyway, so I think I explained how Tina has a very unique personality--she is one of a kind and you can't help but love her. She is very, very bright, makes connections very quickly (like right after we talked about the First Vision, she was like, "so they gave Joseph the priesthood and called him to be a prophet?".....haha yup. my heart just about burst with pride!), she asks questions if she doesn't understand, is super blunt and honest, does this hilarious lip biting thing, and is tough, but also very sweet, and the most adorably quirky person ever. Example that kinda illustrates Tina--we followed up on her Book of Mormon reading and praying, and asked her what she thought and felt, and she goes "I think it's another Testament of Jesus Christ. Like it says." The end. Super matter of fact. That's just how it is. We kinda chuckled and were like well, yup!!! You're right! So, enough rambling. Gist of the story is that we love Tina and are excited for her to progress!! (We will also be tackling the Word of Wisdom this week with promised blessings, a trash bag, and the stop-smoking program essentials (juice, vitamin C, etc) in hand. Should be fun!!) (side note: she came to a baptism with us the other day (8 year-old in ward) @ church wearing these pink booty shorts & a white tube top! Haha)

2. Public buses are very well-equipped with super heavy-duty windshield wipers. It really is a great thing; I for one certainly feel safer knowing that our safety on transport will not be compromised because of congregated water on the bus windshield. However, it is also a different kind of a great experience when it is like practically a monsoon outside, so you are skillfully maneuvering and timing your movement from the cover of the bus stop to the bus, but meanwhile forget that the bus is equipped with these heavy-duty-safety-promoting windshield wipers that have like a 5 ft splash (and an ability to fling off an incredible amount of water at a time). I'm sure you already put it together, that yes, I did make the mistake of standing in direct shot of this 5 ft splash. It is one, though, I plan on never making again, as I'm fairly certain I looked like I had tripped and fallen INTO a fountain afterwards. So yup.....that was great.

3. So for our last rendezvous with that family from Haiti, we wanted to help them really get into the Book of Mormon. So, we took turns reading verses from a chapter, and when 8-yr-old Andrew started reading, the spirit just filled the room. He was so proud to get to take his turn and was trying so hard to say everything just right (he really does read very well, but it's still super cute to hear like the french version of hooked on phonics). It was adorable and such a good way to start the lesson!! Of course, shortly later a little mayhem and havoc followed in spurts (giggling girls and little boys pretending to be preachers.....). But hey, you roll with it, and I thought it was great!

4. I was also greatly humbled this week. I need to take back my complaining attitude about France in last week's e-mail (that said I didn't always like living here), because let me just paint a quick pic of our P-day. (because of some circumstances we had to do most of it last Saturday, and are just doing e-mails today.) K, well started with groceries, and that's somewhat less than exciting (but always somewhat amusing that despite the fact that we go to the same place every week, they still struggle at first with our foreign credit cards). But, then we went to the musee Marmottan Monet. Saw some water lilies, impression: sunrise, and then randomly a temp exhibit with modern art and lots of Jackson Pollock--always cool. So, we saw some good stuff. And then we sat down on a bench in this park just outside the museum to finish letters for a few minutes. So, we are sitting on a bench in the shade of a tree. There are greek goddess marble statues placed around the park, little boys playing soccer a little ways off, little girls playing with sand toys, people taking naps in the sun on the grass, pony rides going on on the other side, a carousel with little kids squealing nearby, and a marionette stage a little ways down the path that winds through the park. I exaggerate not. So yeah.....I have no right to complain. Paris is awesome!! hehe.

5. We saw our favorite line L dancing fiddler again. Yeah, I really wish I had time to give a detailed account of his public transportation performances, because they are priceless. Really, more than just a great experience!! French people usually do the whole stoic think pretty well, but I love looking around about 3/4 of the way through this dude's "thing", because there are so many hilarious expressions and people attempting to stifle laughter. And least it’s a great bonding experience for us fellow passengers to share together.

Well, I had some other stories I was going to share, but we gotta run. Sorry I'm such a rambler!! Being a missionary is awesome. I love you guys!! I want to hear all about Lake Powell! catch a lizard for me! sure hope you didnt forget the boat registrations, granted that would be breaking tradition! hehe

love, jordo

ps by the way, I was fine last week when you left. I was glad that we went straight to a rendezvous right after we said goodbye, so I didn’t have any time to let things get emotional. It might not be the healthiest way to deal with things, but I realized I have like boxes (or bubbles if that computes better for you). I have my “mission-life box” and my “home & real life box.” And normally they don’t really cross. Anyway, point is when I turned and walked away from you guys, I took a deep breath, brushed back the welling tears, shoved you guys all back into the other box & headed to the rendezvous; so I think I handled it fine. Maybe not super healthy, but hey – whatever gets the job done! So, no – I haven’t been distracted or anything over the visit!

Pss good news, apparently French is sinking in along the way, because I guess when I hear Sister Bellini up puttering around in the middle of the night, I speak to her in French. Mind you, I am not conscious of any of these conversations even taking place.

Halle – I loved the fireworks you drew!
Joshy man – That was a pretty impressive Ferris wheel you drew! Hope you have your lizard scampering feet ready for Powell.
Matthew – I thought your tennis sock tan line was pretty impressive, even if mom didn’t think it was important enough to talk about in person, haha
John – Promise you’ll follow the don’t do stupid things rule! They talk about that rule a lot in the MTC (I’m serious ha), but I think it really applies to life in general…a good moral code
Tara – yeah, kinda stinks you weren’t here last week! But hang in there with your life of servitude.

Miracles!

2010-07-16T08:42:00.001-07:00

Well, hello family dearest!!!!

I know it's only been a week, but I miss you already! I'm glad everyone made it home safely, even if it's just to be welcomed back to tennis camp craziness. But, how was Italy? Did the guys and boys love it? Speaking of.....can I just say that I loved, loved, loved the package?! I am so spoiled!!! I don't know how you and Nana thought of everything, but it was perfect. Thank you so much!!!!

So.....I'm a missionary....in France. How in the world did that happen?! Seriously, I know it's been like 5 months, but sometimes I still wake up and am shocked to look out the kitchen window and see very French looking apartment buildings all smooshed together. (Another quick reminder is when men get on their scooters and chase after us down the sidewalk yelling in French--those situations tend to jog my memory a bit! but hey--at least we don't get chased by dogs down the street!) And then I think man, it's a miracle I havent been the demise of the mission one area at a time!! Seriously, like who am I to be entrusted with such an important job? But, then I remember that it's not such a miracle, because it's not us who do much at all. The Lord gets it all done. And that is a testimony to be that it must all be true--if the Lord can use kids from Provo to get the work done, then man, there's just no doubt in my mind! hehe. These last couple weeks have been full of some tears and heartbreak, but so many, many more miracles.

Our first miracle was with Parfaite. She's been taught very slowly for a few months now, and was always good at keeping commitments (mostly I think because her cousin was just baptized into our church and she was curious), but just wasn't really what you would call progressing, because she wasn't willing to come to church (it conflicted with her church meetings) and stuff. For some reason, we felt like it was a good idea to watch Finding Faith in Christ with her this week. Which we did, and then testified that the Atonement is real, that Christ is our Savior, and that he has again established HIS church on earth, etc, etc.... The Spirit present in that little family room was overwhelming. And when we knelt together to pray at the end, it was the first time she actually asked Heavenly Father about the things we had taught. (So.... it might have, sort of, kinda still been in a round-about-evangelical way, but she did ask!!!! haha.)

And it was the first time she committed to be baptized when she knew these things were true!!! K. I realize that might not seem like a whole lot, but hey, I was there the first time she was invited to be baptized (months ago) and I tell you what--that isn't an experience I'll forget anytime soon!! (in case that left some question--her answer was a very, very rock solid, unquestionable NO.) The spirit can wear anyone down! hehe. jk, but really, I am so grateful for the Spirit that testifies of truth so much stronger than I ever could. Ya know, I might not always love living in France, and I might not really like French men, and I might mostly hate public transportation (man that sounds like debby downer), but I will NEVER, ever, ever get sick of bearing my testimony of Jesus Christ. And bearing testimony brings the spirit, and the spirit brings miracles!!!! And seriously--who doesn't love miracles?!!!

Then came some heartbreak. Opposition in all things right? Well, I know I've told you about Virginie before. She was one of the first investigators I met and she is great. I absolutely love this woman. She prays, reads the scriptures, tries to do what's right, tries to help people around her, wants to be a mom and have a family, so much faith--just a really genuinely good person. Which, makes the whole heartache thing sting even more. ugh. Long story short--this week, the last part of our RDV consisted of Sister Bellini explaining sweetly, but firmly that Virginie does not in fact have the GIFT of the Holy Ghost, nor is she a prophetess. She wasn't very pleased. And then, after I exchanged a glance with Sister Bellini and I knew we were both feeling the same thing, I was left the honors of giving "the talk." Which in missionary speak translates to telling her that we love her, that she's always welcome at church, that we'll be there to answer questions and teach her again WHEN she is ready to progress. At the end of that lesson, it was just made clear that she isn't really searching for answers or even asking questions. She's just not ready right now, and if we continued to see her, we'd be straying from our purpose. oh man--dagger to the heart!!! It was still a good lesson, but as soon as the door closed behind her, I just burst into tears. haha. I know, I'm such a girl, but I just couldn't help it! But, I can still hope that she'll get it (or at the very least, someone will smack her over the head with it :)) eventually.

But, of course, miracles are never far away! The next afternoon we got a call from the elders out in Angers (I dont even know where that is) saying that someone named Tina called them and wanted to see missionaries and they thought she lived in our area. So we give her a call and are like "so, are you interested in seeing missionaries?" yup. "When are you available?" 1900. "oh!!! you mean like tonight? haha. ok." Needless to say, that doesn't happen very often. So we go meet her and probably within the first 30 seconds of sitting in her apartment, she says that she thinks she has a problem--that she thinks she is possessed. "well....okay....so exactly what makes you say that?" (just a sidenote--when she said that i suddenly felt like 2 years old trying to fix a very, very big problem) Anyway, don't worry--she's not really possessed, nor is she crazy. Turns out that she has a hard time sleeping because she has been having bad nightmares and can't get these terrible images out of her mind (she saw some kinda traumatizing things when she was little).

She had been taught by missionaries like 8 years ago, and somehow had the idea to call them to get help. She definitely turned to the right place if she needs spiritual healing--gospel of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, and the priesthood are powerful. And she is so earnest and sincere in her desire to learn, despite being kind of an interesting character. it was funny, the first time we asked her to pray about the Book of Mormon, she was like, "No".....long pause where missionaries are like well, awesome, that's one we haven't heard......followed by, "I trust you." so adorable!!! we explained how she needed to pray and know for herself, but it was seriously so cute!! And she received a blessing from one of the members in the ward and it was funny because she was so worried about getting her name right, "well, is it a problem if I have two last names? because I changed one of them at the prefecture.....well which one should I use? I only have one first name though, is that okay?" Oh, you just can't help but love this one. Miracles are everywhere I tell ya!!!

And just cuz it's too awesome of a story not to share--we had testimony meeting yesterday (it didnt get done the week before because of the bishopric being re-organized) for Sacrament, and this one lady gets up and starts talking about how there are false friends in church who lead you to perdition. yup. oh she said it. And then continues (oh yes, it gets even better) by saying that as members of the church we get the Holy Ghost that gives us the right to judge people "like God." Just to set the mood better, she also has kinda shadowy eyes, opens them super wide at very precise moments, has a crackly old voice, and was slightly swaying behind the pulpit. I was just waiting for the moroccas to break out to start the "tribal ritual dance welcoming the devils among us to perdition" to start. Was a little disappointed, actually, when it didn't happen...but yeah, never a dull moment!! (and ever so grateful I wasn't the bishop who got to get up at the end and be like, "So just to clarify....we get the Holy Ghost...." He handled it tactfully, but still funny.)

Best public transportation experience of the week: some dude asked me for a drink of my water. I'm fairly certain the first words out of my mouth were, "wait, seriously?" Once I ascertained that he was, in deed, quite serious about the request, I just opted to give the water bottle to him.

Best English class quote of the week: Elder Cutler likes to start out the class by having everyone introduce themselves and answer a random question. The question this week was, "if you opened a restaurant, what would it be called?" I think by far the best answer was this one guy, in all seriousness, saying that his restaurant would be "heavenly Father's Italian McDonalds Restaurant." I think everyone could find something to their taste there, wouldnt you agree?!

Well, I'm gonna try to find time to write you later, because it is Sister Powers' birthday and I think the sisters are having lunch in paris together and then we have an early RDV scheduled. But Ill try!!!! Love you guys lots and lots!!!! Miss you!!! Can't wait to get the pics! Hope you have a good week!

love, jordo

nana--i seriously loved the package!!! i have already used some of the CTR rings!!! and I love your e-mails!! i print them and read them all week. thank you so much. love you so much!!!

Just Keepin' On

2010-07-12T13:17:00.001-07:00

Hello Dearest Family!!!

How are you doing?! I guess I hadn’t quite put it together that you were starting in London because of Wimbledon. der. But that is cool that you might meet Tsonga and Gasquet AND Monfils!! Did you eat with Nadal again?! (seriously that is still one of the most hilarious experiences of my life--turning around and seeing Rafael Nadal standing in the line to get food behind me.)

It is so crazy to me that half of you are just like an hour away and that I will see you in a week. You can be in person witnesses to how my social skills in English are on a steep decline. And yeah....world cup is crazy!! It's a great contacting tool cuz you can just play dumb and be like 'hey how did that game turn out?' and everyone is more than happy to elaborate, and then it's like you're already fast friends. Except a bit scary when the U.S. played Algeria. We got warning calls to make sure and speak French all day and be smart about where we went after the game. Super great that our church is in the ghetto and we live in like little africa. but, hey whatev!!! at least the US won!

So, I have a lot of random stories to share about the adventures of the past couple weeks that don't really relate to each other in any way, shape, or form. (Meaning, you'll have to be patient with the lack of organization and grammar.)

Like I said, last week I did exchanges in Lille, but I forgot to share the highlight. (Surprisingly it wasn't getting stood up by a new investigator and traipsing all over the city doing pass-bys with an older lady member along for the fun.) We had English class that night and this little old Asian lady is the only student that night. She speaks English pretty well, but I think she comes mostly because she is lonely and the missionaries are her "friends." Anyway, she was just full of hilarious comments, but I think my favorite was her explaining that she wanted to take us shopping for clothes because "I want to help you, because you have no taste." Ok, that I can take (let's be real--sister missionary call packet pictures--enough said). But, the situation warranted at least a stifled giggle because this comment was preceeded by her giving Sister Curran this one-of-a-kind floral print cotton nightgown (we're talkin worse than Aunt Kirstin at Lake Powell...hehe-sorry Kir!). Evidently this was "tasteful" sleepwear. Needless to say, I was very grateful for her styling tips and definitely took note!

Somehow we found ourselves in the middle of a whole lot of racial contention this week. For example, we had a rendez-vous with a new investigator who explained how she hates French people mostly because they are super racist. Following which, she told us that she doesn't like St. Ouen (where our church is) because there are too many Arabs and "blacks." Huh.....that's interesting. (But she is like BFF with sarkozy's first two wives, so she's still pretty cool.)

Another example--we were contacting one night and we started talking to this man. He put an abrupt end to the contact, however, by saying, "I will believe when Sarkozy is dead," and then walked away. I just didn't know where to go with that. No follow-up questions were coming to mind! Or, a souci that I have never heard before (I guess that's what happens when you grow up in Provo)--a very drunk man came up to us (when we were outside the church with the elders and some members doing a porte ouverte type thing) with a cigarette, can of beer, and another bottle of some clear alcoholic substance in hand, and had all these very boisterous concerns about how he was the son of a slave and how Jesus was white and had blue eyes. So ya....contacting is always an adventure, no matter how many hours you do a day! But you know what? I don't know where people get off saying WE are the weirdos! If they only heard some of the things they say! Priceless.

So besides being educated in racial prejudice, we are also being introduced to many different world religions. We were contacted by a TJ missionary this week in a metro station, trying to get us to come to some scripture study thing. I mean I'd venture to say we probably aren't the most effective contacts, but it was really quite endearing, because she was like our age and her hand was shaking as she handed us the flier because she was way nervous!

We also set up a Rendez-vous with an old investigator, but all the fiche indicated was that she had muslim origins or something. Well, it didn't take us very long to find out that she is very much a fully practicing Muslim. She welcomed us in and then said she was about to pray, so we said okay. She pulls out her special carpet and beads and began to pray. I know I will probably be like struck down for saying this, but I'm fairly certain i saw like a half-downward-dog pose in there somewhere. (She's probably in really good shape.) Anyway, it was a really interesting way to start our lesson. And at the end we asked if we could kneel and pray with her, and she was like, "yeah...do you want to use my carpet?" Very generous of her if you ask me.

In other news, it is now officially summer and it is SUPER hot! We spent like 4 hours traipsing around St. Denis (had to go during the day too cuz it's kinda a sketch area of the 'neuf-trois' and definitely involved people bathing naked in the canal with dish soap...just FYI) the other day doing pass-bys for old investigators, and let me just tell ya--I have the beginnings of some super awesome tan lines. And yeah....we didn't make contact with a single one of the people.... so that was a fun afternoon! haha.

Sister Smart and I went and volunteered at the Red Cross a few days ago, while our companions were at the secret combinations mission council, and it was a really great experience. Kinda sad to see and full of some interesting smells, but also a great place to spread a little cheer. I had strict instructions of how I was supposed to serve the food and what they were allowed to touch and stuff, but my favorite part was just smiling at the people I served meals to. It felt like they weren't the kind of people who got smiled at very often, so I was really grateful for the opportunity!

So we've been teaching this Haitian family (parents, 3 kids, and two of their kids' friends) and this week we found out that one sure way to get people to church is to show up at their doorstep half an hour before church starts to see if they need any help! And, after a lot of little kids running around in towels and a big one running around without a shirt (uhhh....), we all piled into the car and went to the sauna-of-a-church together. I'm really glad the kids enjoyed primary, because after the priesthood and sunday school lessons on repentance and how we are all sinners, and the sacrament meeting with, what had to have been, the hand picked crazy people in the ward speaking about Joseph Smith, I was maybe starting to stress a little... Good thing the church is true! hehe. But, this family is great. The 8-yr old son, Andrew, loves helping in lessons by reading scriptures in the Book of Mormon, and the 11-yr old daughter, Woodlyne, is a pretty precocious chica and asks all the right questions--like "where did we come from" and "why isn't there just one BIG church?" I know...it sounds scripted! The biggest problem is that the Dad is very involved in his evangelical church and the mom feels like she has to follow the dad, because unity is important. But, we'll just take it a step at a time and see how it goes.

So the most awkward "Elder moment" of the week is too good not to share. I was talking to an elder at expo and asked him how his area is and how things are goin, etc....and he responds that things are great and that he has decided he "wants to marry someone like Sister Wilson.....or you." HAHA. Well thank you, you sweet, dear and incredibly innocently awkward elder. I was all about diffusing the situation and helping him not feel stupid, but Sister Bellini was all about embracing the awkwardness, so all-in-all, it was just a good moment.

Most disgusting public transportation siting of the week: someone using Q tips and then examining the contents that were procured from his ear canal (which, was way too much by the way).

Okay, and on a different note (haha im so sorry that this e-mail is such a hodge-podge of nothings), I love zone conferences. We have this new system where we rotate zone conference, interviews, and leadership trainings every month (ie we have one of them every month. so, for example, we have interviews every 3rd month), which is kinda sad, because they are so great. But, also necessary because our mission is really big now (we will be getting smaller over the next few months, but right now we have the biggest mission in europe (after combining us with Belgium) by like 45 missionaries).

Anyway, one of the things Sister Staheli talked about this past conference was how we are a team and we're doin it together. How our individual obedience and efforts are all part of the team effort. She said, "so when someone asks you how many people you have baptized, you say 'well last year I think we baptized about 122 or something.'" It reminded me a lot of the scene from Miracle when the coach says that the name on the front of the jersey is a heck of a lot more important than the name on the back of the jersey. Anyway, I loved that idea. And President Staheli shared a really neat experience where he received the revelation that he had to pass on--"Tell the missionaries to not be discouraged. What they are doing is very much appreciated. They are not wasting their time." I am very grateful that we have such a wonderful and inspired mission president. And I am grateful to be a little part of such a great work! Things are just keepin' on over in these parts!!!

I hope you are having great summer adventures! I can't believe I am going to see you in less than a week. I miss you and love you lots and lots and lots, but I gotta run!!!!

Love, Jordan

p.s. matthew--you will for sure beat brian folley next time. and you'll have to let me know how Nana handles the "firepower" (think night at the museum) demo at lake powell!!

pss liz and cals--your letter made my week!!! and i want pics of (dang i forgot their names already.......).....the fish. and you're probably right--they will probably live longer without me overfeeding them! They just always looked so hungry the poor things......

psss. dad i am starting to understand what you mean by the "acquirement of a taste." I don’t mind dijon mustard so much anymore. actually, sandwiches don’t really seem right without it now. Perrier, however, will never be an acquired taste!

psssss. if you brought it, you should wear your new blue pin-striped suit to the fireside! hehe.

and tara, sister dearest whom i love so much, how would you feel about calling rebecca and asking her for her address?

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

2010-06-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

What is up Gang?!

Nice work at the sectional J&M!! Mom--your week just sounded too exhaustingly productive if you ask me (granted anything that involves the word "caulking" would warrant that opinion from me)! Dad-- alright already i get the point about your missionary work rant! hehe. and please tell me that that was you and josh who decided to stop and get those wyoming fireworks. oh and happy Father's Day next week! "why dont you get yourself something real nice" and then ill have a real gift for you here. ha. Tara--i started a letter to you today and was so excited to get another one in the mail. Joshy--i want to hear how you like the feel of your new racquet? thats pretty sweet! halle--girlfriend!!! i absolutely loved loved loved the picture you sent me of you on the podium with your medal! so cool!

Well, the work goes well. We set out this week determined to teach 20 lessons. And yeah....it didnt happen. BUT, we taught over twice as many as the first two weeks of the transfer and we set a baptismal date! That's what I'm talkin' about!! (If I may borrow Dad's new favorite phrase.) Her name is Nadia Lopez and she is from Cape Verde. We were mining the area books a while back, and it was kinda a mystery why the missionaries said she didnt seem interested and stopped teaching her, so we decided to investigate and find out what the story was. She was way excited to meet with us. She doesn't have much religious background, but she says she just feels good when she comes to church and when she has the missionaries over. So, it is so fun being able to teach her why she can feel that difference. In a lot of ways she's like teaching a child (like she had never heard of moses or abraham or read any of the Bible), and it is so refreshing! I know that for the honest and earnest seeker, all big concerns about our church and being baptized can and will be resolved (hullo truth on your side gives you a little edge up), but sometimes people get these crazy ideas (example--being re-baptized, even with authority, would mean that they didnt believe in Christ before or something) that really limit their progression. But Nadia is totally open and willing to do the work and make the changes necessary to be a member of the Church! And there are some other people in our ward who are from Cape Verde as well and they have already been great about welcoming her, teaching with us, and are getting excited about coming to her baptism on July 3rd. Hey, our zone is "Dreaming of White" and miracles happen every day.

I haven’t actually ever heard it from President myself, but I guess his “miracle of 2010” came about because one night he woke up & just felt the spirit really strong. So he went to his office & prayed, & I don’t know how he described it, but something like somehow he felt like he “felt” the keys he was given, for his calling as president of this mission, turn. And that he kind of had a revelation of where things could go. You know how I said that there have been > 100 baptism already this year? That might not sound like a whole lot, but when you compare it to the fact that, that’s more than ALL of last year, it’s sayin’ something! Anyway, I don’t know the details, but good things are happening in the mission.

Last week we had FHE with a two sisters (marie and kiki is what they have us call them) in the ward, and one of their non-member sons, and it was awesome. It probably helped that she didn't force feed us, but mostly it was cuz after the lesson and dinner, we were talking and Sister Nikiema said something about dancing in Africa. And so I asked her to show us and teach us. (Hey gotta profit from bein in a very African area!!) And I think she loved it cuz she got up and turned on some nice chill african style music and man she went to town. I was really glad her son had left, because we had an awesome girls dance party! (keep in mind these sisters are like 50 years old, but dang they still got it. they got some moves!!)

Another good night this week was when we were teaching English class to a bunch of men (mostly African) and I know I sounded super dumb when I asked if they knew the ABCs. haha. But, no, they didn't and they didn't know how to say the alphabet in English. And you know--that's kinda a good foundation to have! So we practiced and then we sang the song a couple times. And they loved it! They asked to sing it again next week even. I can only imagine how hilarious that would have been to pass by a bunch of old African men singing the ABCs with these little American missionaries. The things we do as missionaries. gotta love it.

Speaking of old men. There is this super cute, TINY old man in our ward named Frere Micale. We're talking he might be a few inches taller than me...maybe. He drove Nadia and us to church in Versailles on Sunday (it was Stake Conference), and when he came to meet us at the gare, the cute thing still had the huge sticker showing the size of his pants on the bag of his leg. He lives all alone, had obviously bought new pants, and didn't have anyone to tell him that he needed to take the tag off before going out in public! I know it probably wasn't super dignified, but I couldn't help but just being endeared to him and squatting down to give him a hand. You know how I have a weakness when it comes to cute old men!!

Two best public transportation sitings of the week:
1. little boy using the wall inside the train station as a urinal while mother stands by waiting for him to finish. for real.
2. little girl getting bored while standing and waiting for her mom to finish talking on the phone. So she sees a little crumb of food on the ground and picks it up and puts it in her mouth. oh how i wanted to cry!!!

Well, sorry I dont have very funny stories for the week. I love hearing about your adventures from home and am glad things are going well! I dont remember her name, but one of the church leaders who spoke at the conference yesterday (transmitted from Salt Lake), talked about 3 ways to be virtuous and strong or something (dang i need to pay attention better), and they were reading your scriptures every day, praying every day, and smiling!!!

Mom I loved that you talked about laughing in your e-mail, because it's so true--laughing and smiling give us power and make life so much better! I know I sure have a lot to smile and laugh about. I'm grateful for you guys and I miss you, but I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary. I am sure blessed.

Love you lots and lots,
Jordan

ps ive been waking up with these new huge bug bites every morning and it is so not a comforting thought!!! hello im in Paris, France, not Guatemala....I am so NOT okay with it!

ps mom your little dialogue on being funny made me giggle. i am not concerned about you, but after this e-mail maybe i should be concerned for myself.

pss LOVE YOU!!!!

"Dreaming of White"

2010-06-17T03:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Dearest Family!!!!

Ok first things first--Dad how did you manage to get attacked by another man-o-war?! Like seriously, how does that happen? No wonder why mom used to text me changes to your will before every trip you guys take together! Evidently you're just askin for it these days.

And heck yes "Soeur Pearce will have an investigator at that fireside" on the 4th of July!! What's funny is nothing stays a secret. I happened to randomly call Elder Stover for a question about institute and he was like "so I hear your dad is coming to town." haha. And he mentioned that President was talking to you guys about doing a fireside. And President kinda tested the waters (it felt like it at least) during our interview again this week. I told him we weren't planning on seeing each other (this was before I found out about the fireside), but that I didn’t think it would bother me. I was just more worried about my mom....but now I figure you can be tough!! hehe. Loving daughter I am. And Sister Bellini says she'd be fine because she only has a couple more months after that anyway. What is the fireside going to be on anyway? Is it the whole team doing it? (and dad so help me if you offer me to translate. I refuse. just sayin!)

Anyway, we had another great week. Started out by going to the Rodin museum for P-day and having these super American tourists ask to take a picture OF us. No they were not members of the church, and no they weren't in the picture with us. They actually just took a picture of us. So random! And that day we actually looked relatively normal (ok let's be real sister missionary attire doesn't usually make blending in super easy....). Today, on the other hand, we went into Paris to do a boat tour on the Seine with our district. And guess what all six of the Elders showed up in? Boo-boos. Yes, that's right African boo-boos. (I will have to send you a pic sometime.) We turned a lot of heads today that is for sure!! And all the Africans selling those little Eiffel tower keychains at Trocadero were going crazy. I felt like the elders were getting hit on by African men! It was kinda refreshing to be honest, but also SO entertaining!

Then we had interviews. The Zone leaders did a great training and had us "go back to the MTC" (we even had to hand over our plaques and everything) and then learned about finding, teaching, and baptizing, and even had gym time (aka ping pong and 3-legged-companionship-unity-building races) and role-played. Then they finished with us all sitting in front of the baptismal font for the big finale. They said they had been jealous of normandie having their "get on the wagon" thing, so they came up with one for us and gave a little talk to introduce it....bum buh da bum...."Dreaming of White." They talked about how this is not the time for planting seeds. This is the time for baptizing!!! Maybe slightly “Remember the Titans” pep talkish, but hey it worked!

It was powerful and we now have a zone goal that every equipe will have a baptismal date by June 21st. And then the next morning we woke up to a great voice mail from them singing "I’m dreaming of a white mission" (to the tune of White christmas of course), and it was hilarious! And then as soon as their training was over, Sister Bellini and I had to stand up and walk into the other room to role-play with President and Sister Staheli. Can you say pressure?! haha. jk it went great and wasn't too stressful. They wanted to make sure that their missionaries knew how to teach people to pray, because I guess when Elder Hinckley was here he said that nothing happens until you get people on their knees. So, we better be able to teach people to pray!! And I definitely learned something from the training president Staheli gave after about teaching prayer.

So side note: ya know how the Versailles zone had kinda been falling behind? Well, Bretagne is up to like >80% of the new standards of excellence! Like Bretagne was the area that had the biggest reputation for being totally dead & impossible to baptize in. So I guess President Staheli (he shared this @ mission council – so I heard it second hand) asked Elder Collins what they did to change it so drastically, and I guess E. Collins said something like, “President, we just believed.” Elder Collins is also the person, as I understand it, who started the phrase, “get on the wagon” – which is now like the mission wide slogan for the miracle of 2010.

This next week we have rendez-vous set up with like 8 potential new investigators. So things are picking up!! And you'll never guess who one of those appointments is with.....this was like one of the hardest things I've had to do I might add.....but Madame Dard. Yes, as in the Madame that I lived with when I was on my study abroad (the one who cleaned the bathtub with the kitchen sponge!!hehe). Her name kept coming up in my head, but I kept pushing it out saying that I didn't think she was even in our area and that would just be weird and awkward. But then when Sister Bellini was sick and I had the opportunity to do like 5 hours of area book studying and calls one day, I found other fiches that were by her metro stop....so why not right? We kinda had to be creepers cuz her building is really secure, but someone let us in and then we buzzed her apartment and she was like yeah, come on up. We talked for a little and she asked why I was back and everything. But, she and her sister were on their way out to a museum exhibit VIP opening, so she gave me her number and said to call. I didn't notice it, but apparently half way through our conversation she switched from tu-toying me to vous-voying me and I have no idea what that means!! I know I'm probably just being a girl and reading too much into it, but I don't know if it's that I'm older now and speak French better, or if she's trying to establish that now that I'm a missionary, we aren't as familiar.....aaaah. I just don't know. I fully intend on being bold about why we're here and why it's so important, but we'll see how it goes with her this week I guess! (Remember she is a very devout catholic) Her apartment still smells the same as I remember it.

Which reminds me to tell you our theme for the transfer, and I know you will laugh, because it totally reminds me of an Herbal Essences commercial. But it actually came about because I was singing that song from Hairspray where she says, “big, blonde, and beautiful”—so to that same tune, our theme is “Be bold and beautiful.” Haha. Great? Oh yeah. The beautiful is referencing the scripture that says like how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who proclaim the Gospel. So, we are determined to paint our toe-nails sometime this week as well, to help with the beautiful gospel preachin’ feet thing. And we are really “believin” in a baptism this transfer, so we are gonna be working really hard on those feet to find someone prepared! And the BOLD is because we know that there are people who are ready! So, we are gonna be BOLD & BEAUTIFUL this transfer! Haha laugh all you want, but we like it! (And, yes, sometimes I do wave my hair when we sing it; just for fun and dramatic effect!)

So I got called and asked to speak for a few minutes about the teaching process that led to Gloria’s baptism for part of the training @ interviews tomorrow and then also to do ANOTHER musical number at the Zone conference.

So can I share one of the things I love about my companion?! She takes the phrase "Stop and smell the roses" quite literally. Like I have learned that if we ever pass flower bushes (especially roses), I will have to slow down, because if I look behind me, her little behind will be sticking out as she leans over to stick her nose in the flowers. It is probably the most precious thing ever!

Ok and I have a request of you. Get up and go find a hymn book (right now!). Turn open to "In Our Lovely Deseret." Read the words. Then tell me how badly you would be squirming as you are singing that in a sacrament meeting with like 5 investigators!! And then try explaining that we're not a bunch of weirdos. Not an easy task I tell ya.

Well family, missionary life is great. I love you guys. I love hearing from you and I'm glad that things are going well at home. I'm so proud to have such awesome brothers and sisters, and I am sure grateful for ya!!

Love you more!!!!

Jordo

p.S. mom I’m starting to feel selfish now, so you can give matthew permission to use my ihome--on the condition that he gives it back when I get home......eesh....matthew just does have a way doesnt he?

pss tara – thanks so much for your last few letters, I’m sorry I haven’t had time to respond adequately. Love you sister!

Psss Johnny bravo – thanks for your letter this week! Your letters are so hilarious! Love you.

Pssss Matthew, totally left me hangin w/suspense at the end of your letter! You better plan on finishing it! Oh & nice work on the grades. And yeah…even when you’re in high school—always a safer bet asking a girl to forge your mom’s signature! That was pretty hilarious though! Love you

Psssss Joshy man – that was a pretty cool line thing that you learned how to do on the computer. I don’t know how to do that! Oh & I like my name the first way better. And, even though you totally cheated, thanks for the really long note! Love you

Halle baby! So cool that you have gymnastics 3x/wk now! Those were beautiful flowers you drew, I really like the leaves. And the rainbow was sooooooo good!!

liz and callie--peace. love. temple marriage. miss you.

Pictures!

2010-06-11T21:47:00.001-07:00

GLORIA DIAZ's BAPTISM!! May 1, 2010

Me, Sister Bellini, Gloria & Sister Giff

Yes...my jacket should have been done up...oops!

Me & Sister Bellini on the Seine.

This was one of my first days in Versailles. We got stuck out in some city & apparently none of the buses ran after 7 pm, so we got to walk a LONG way! You can't tell in the pic, but it was also raining, so it was one of those "pituresque" tromping through the rain missionary moments!

Mining the area book!

Sister Bellini secretly took this pic while Sister Gifford & I were sprawled out getting to work one evening!

I decided this could be titled either "Nasa nerds @ work," or Battle Preparations." haha

District meetings are awesome either way! I snuck this picture in while we were deciding where to do our finding activity -- it was too kodak of a moment to pass up!

Paris P-day!

Ice cream in front of the fountains by the Eiffel Tower....does it get much better?!

For your viewing pleasure...Welcome to St. Ouen!! This is the graffitti wall I told you about on our building. Home, sweet home!

Me & Sister Bellini headed to a rendez-vous one Sunday night!

No Surprises!

2010-06-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

HELLO FAMILY!!!!

How are you doing this week? I can’t believe the crazy summer you have planned; sounds like a party though!! I'm pretty jealous that everyone is going to be at Lake Powell this year! Not gonna lie--you all sound pretty spoiled. mexico, jamaica, lake powell, europe, and new york (maybe?), plus the tennis trips all in one summer?! (denver, however, might erase some of the lucky points. I think I’m still scarred from that one year!) Granted, I'm currently living in France, so I guess we're all just pretty lucky! I love hearing your stories and love hearing about what's going down on the home front.

The past couple weeks have been great. I have to tell you about one couple we started teaching before we left Versailles. Their names are Clodine and Hadi. So, one evening we were passing by some old investigators in Rueil-Malmaison, but none of them were home. So, we asked some of their neighbors sitting on a bench if they had seen them lately, they said they were en vacances, so we just left a note in their box and thanked the people for helping us. Then we headed back to the gare.

As background--it's like a fifteen minute walk to the gare from this place. So, when we were a couple minutes away, you can imagine our enthusiasm when at the same time Sister Gifford and I both stopped mid-step and turned. She said, "oh man." And I ever so eloquently responded, "Dangit, I know." We had missed a great opportunity to talk to the neighbors sitting on the bench! So, after a short exchange, we turned and booked it BACK down the street and went and mosied on BACK up to the people on the bench, who had now been joined by another neighbor, and said, "ya know, we got all the way to the train station when we realized we didn't ask you if you would be interested in hearing about our message, blah, blah, blah..." And the two neighbors who had been sitting there before, deftly side-stepped it and slyly got out of there (I gotta hand it to them though, they did it very sneekily), leaving us talking to this new lady.

To all of our surprise, she was like, well if it's a good message, let's go to my house and you can meet my husband and talk to us." HAHA. For real! That was a testimony to me that the Lord can do His work, DESPITE us! I will admit that Clodine and Hadi are probably people we would have overlooked (I know that sounds terrible, but it's true). He has tattoos all over and has done time (it was kinda funny actually, because you could tell he was trying to shock us when he said he had gone to prison and had done a lot of drugs....so what?! We all have weaknesses, that's why we need Jesus Christ!), and Clodine is just very quiet, but the sweetest thing ever! They are a way down to earth and honest couple and said they've always had questions, just didn't really know where to find answers. HULLO! Ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ?!! Heck yes! And last I heard they are doing great!

Anyway, then we got transferred to St. Ouen. On Saturday Sophia was baptized (she’s that one with the super cute daughter who came to church with us). I’m not entirely sure why people can’t figure out the underclothing thing. I thought it was fairly common knowledge that when white gets wet it is pretty see through? Evidently not! This time, she didn’t bother to wear anything underneath! Haha. Too good.

There are three things that I did not miss about this apartment. And they all three live in the tree just outside our window and are all very jubilant, in their own unique way, about welcoming in the new day. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about waking up to birds chirping cheerily outside your window in the summer! I'm just not quite as enthused about it at 5 o'clock every morning! (nor, do I really qualify a crow's cawing as a 'cheery chirp')(dad, do you think you could get your bb gun through security for when you come to Paris??? just saying.) But, really after we waged war on the fridge with a very concentrated bleach solution, the place is habitable again! And we discovered that our neighbors are great! We had our "fete des voisins" this week, and we decided that would be a good opportunity to show them that we aren't 'those great religious fanatics next door' (or, maybe to confirm their suspicions of it, I don't know!). So, we went and took cake, and it was great! One of the older men, named Sam, was like "come sit down and tell me what exactly it is that you do all day." We were kinda celebrities since we're like 'the young Americans.' And even though the French might pretend to be stand-offish towards us, lots of people are at least somewhat curious, especially about the plaques and the church 'we work for.' So, it was a lot of fun and it's way more exciting meeting people in the stairwells these days. And apparently the man next door likes to hear us singing in the morning. (we sing a hymn to start comp study)! hehe.

Anyway, I'm getting used to the idea of being back in St. Ouen again. I know it was only closed for one transfer, but it really is like starting over and "opening" it back up, so I am so grateful to have Sister Bellini! The phrase she says more often than any other is "why not? Why the heck not?!" There really isn't anything that seems too hard or too big for her. And we feel like it's gonna be a good transfer. We want to "get on the wagon" and just really believe that there is good work to be done in this area!! President keeps talking about his revelation about the Miracle of 2010, so good things are gonna be happening. I mean, it's the end of May and the mission already has over 100 baptisms. St. Ouen is going to be contributing more from now on dangit!

And, of course, no matter where you are, not a week goes by without adventures of some sort!!! One of the most exciting, unfortunately, was getting separated from each other. So, we're walking through Chatelet (a huge metro, RER stop), and then I turn around and Sister Bellini is nowhere in sight. Ah dang; not good! If you had to make a list of worst places to get separated, Chatelet would be very close to the top. So, quite a while later, when I still don’t have a companion, and I have grown up with a mother who insists that there is a kidnapper on every corner, I had managed to come up with every possible worst situation and was pretty sure that Sister Bellini was in a trunk somewhere headed out of the country!

But, long story short, eventually Sister Bellini called in the Elders, who we had been working with, as backup (since she said the police were useless--haha she was sorta frantic at this point too), and they found me. I make sure to keep a better eye on sister Bellini in Chatelet now.

So, Friday was mission council. Sister Bellini is a coordinating sister, so Sister Smart and I did a mini-exchange for the day while our companions went to their boring meetings (haha jk. I'm dying to know what goes down in those secret-combination-conclave meetings!!hehe)! And apparently they've just had to drop a whole lot of investigators, so pretty much we had 5 hours of contacting on our schedule, but by no means was it boring!!!

Ok, well the first 4 hours were rather uneventful, but then we had an expo shift to do. (Expo is like a little open house/show-room set up with displays about Christ and the Restoration and Book of Mormon, etc where people can just stop in and ask questions or look around, etc.) So, we pulled out the harp and she started playing, because we've found that a lot more people poke their heads in, or at least glance in our direction, when there is music going on. Well, we had some great heads poke in!!

The first was this crazy Russian lady with bright red hair. Evidently she is a contralto and loved the music. So, she comes in, plops down at the piano and just starts playing and belting out some opera song!!! It turned quite a few heads and Sister Smart and I had to carefully avoid making eye contact in order not to lose it! The next was this man who looked like he was like backpacking through Europe or something. I asked if he had any questions, and he proceeded to ask if we were the Mormons. Yes...and then he follows that with a "so is it true that mormons can have multiple wives?" I said no, and he cuts me off and says, "well that doesn't interest me then." I had never quite had that response about polygamy before. But, I kept talking and shared our beliefs about family and the sanctity of marriage, etc, etc. And somehow (and I still have no idea HOW), he gets on this rant about energy fields and giving back to the Earth. Man, it was good stuff. But, the icing on the cake was when at the end, he puts his hands together and bows to me and thanks me for recharging his soul with my presence. Then he left. "Well, you're sure welcome!!! Anytime." Never a dull moment I tell you!

And THEN the third person, at this point, I think I'm ready for anything....EXCEPT, apparently, a man coming in and saying, "I want to be baptized." I'm fairly certain I responded with a "wait, really?" haha, dang I’m a good missionary! But, turns out, he is from Algeria and because of the muslim presence, he couldn't be Christian, but he believes in Christ and has wanted to be baptized into a Christian church for a long time. "Well, you came to the right place!!! I decided I should just learn to NOT be surprised by anything. People are ready for the gospel and it's such a privilege to be a missionary.

BUT, let's be real, despite all the lessons I've learned, I'm still surprised on a daily basis. Like when the member leading the music at a baptism on Saturday (again, a different elder equipe called the day before and asked me to come play the piano for their baptism....I was more than happy to, of course, and it was for the baptisms of this couple!!! 4 beautiful children! So great.) whips out a tuning fork and makes everyone like hum the first note before starting and then proceeds to lead the music with the tuning fork. Or when there is mention of speaking with the gift of tongues after you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, I just really shouldn't be surprised. I also shouldn't be surprised when we get sandwiched in a metro between this scooter gang of ten little 10-yr old boys with 10 scooters and the whole cheering section for a rugby team (I dont even know what team it was, but there was a whole lot of yellow and blue face paint involved)(apparently, there was a final match at the Stade de France--which just so happens to be on the same metro line as our church building!), and then somehow mace is sprayed and the metro doors get blocked. I also should not be surprised when I'm sitting next to a child on a couch during a rendez-vous, and the next thing I know there's a whole lot of wetness on my leg and a big unidentified area of moisture on the child's clothes (lovely!).

Anyway, I'm sorry I just ramble on so much with no real point! But, I love you guys and I promise I'm not consciously TRYING to bore you to death via these e-mails. However, I do sincerely apologize if it comes off that way. I am so grateful for your support and hope you remember that I pray for you every day!! We gotta run, but I will write you by hand later.

Love you more!!
Jordo

p.s. One thing that has been thoroughly entertaining to see lately is the amount of contention that comes from stillettos on public transportation! Particularly buses. I can imagine that it wouldn't be a very pleasant feeling to have your foot stabbed with a stilletto heel as a person is flung into you, but you should see the "looks of death" that people exchange, while, of course, saying "c'est pas grave" through gritted teeth! hehe, simple pleasures.

ps2 thought i would share the lamest french thing I learned this week--"storm clouds" = les nuages qui annonçent une tempete. for real. like talk about not keeping things simple!

Ps3 tell ali & matthew c. thanks for the letters (& to matthew cunger that yes, the Eiffel tower is big!) and lisa thanks for the email.

Ps4I talked to Elder perdue a couple of weeks ago. Yes, like tim—the “epic adventure” one, dad chased away!! It was just on the phone, but it was still kind of weird. Like it’s so much easier being “normal” as a missionary when it’s not people that you knew before. I don’t think I gave Andrew enough credit when I ran into him! haha

Ps5 so one weekend we didn’t make it to the store in time & it worked out that none of us had any toothpaste left. Sister Gifford & I scrimped & squeezed but Sister bellini choose to use a combination of baking soda & mouthwash. That’s about as close to roughin’ it in Nicaragua as we get here!

Ps6 if It’s not too much trouble ask Allie to write down some notes about the best thing to study for the NCLEX. & tell Tyler & Sonya, I loved their announcements and I was so touched that they thought of me!

Halle--I am totle totle grate too!!!!

2010-05-22T03:23:00.000-07:00

My dearest family!!!

It's hard to believe it has only been a week since I talked to you. Time warp for sure out here! I was glad to hear that some things have not changed and it was great imagining you all cuddled up in the family room (with josh being stubborn in the other room of course)!! I figured that Halle said it right in her letter to me last week--life is totle totle grate-- and talking to you just kept me smilin all week! Unfortunately since I didn't get to e-mail you last weekend, I don't even know where to start with the adventures over here on this side of the Atlantic. So to simplify, I am bulleting this baby and titling it 'happenings.' Cheating? maybe....but there are just too many great things to share!!!

HAPPENINGS:

1. One day I left my planner at an investigators house. you can only imagine! (reference: bridesmaid dress January 2010)

2. Mohammed the carrefour jumper, has earned a special place in my heart. We pass him almost every day and he always walks out and shakes our hands and says to each of us individually, "oh there you are!! the most beautiful!!!" His name doesn't leave much to ask, but he is hilarious and he takes good care of the carrefour (in his black suit and with all 6'5" of his towering form!).

3. I have seen my fair share of gross things in clinicals, but I gotta tell ya, even I squirmed a little bit when an investigator was holding his newborn baby and she spit up. Evidently there was some leftover in either her mouth or nose and he was not okay with it, so he proceeded to suck it out of her nose. Not joking. It was not a pleasant experience.

4. I extended my first baptismal commitment! He said yes!!! phewf. But, we passed him to the elders cuz his wife isn't showing as much interest anymore.

5. I realized that our companionship works really well together because we all bring something different to the table. Sister Bellini snorts every time she laughs really hard. Sister Gifford makes happy noises whenever we see something cute or when she's on the phone (like only a girl can). And I have taken up the habit of tripping on a very regular basis. Like it's a hazard! (I have since been banish-ED to the inside of the sidewalk and the inside of the train quais.) We are quite the force to be reckoned with I tell you what!! But really, even when we get frugi'd four out of five rendez-vous in one day, it's still fun working together! (side note: the term frugi means that the investigator doesn't show up, and it evidently comes from this African drink that looks and smells great, but tastes terrible.) We're hoping that Heavenly Father is patient with us, because occasionally prayers in our apartment end up with lots of giggling. Or like I imagine it would be fairly amusing hearing us trying to sing a hymn that has sections that are only for the men!! (somewhere along the lines of Dad singing next to Bishop Schow!)

6. Best phone call of the week: "I am praying. Call me back later." click. Okay....will do!

7. Best movie quote of the week: we are out running one morning and it's a super foggy/hazy sunrise, so the sun just looks like this big orange ball, and Sister Gifford goes "A red sun rises, blood has been spilt this night." so great!!! (family, so help me if you can't name the person. I kept strict rules during that marathon so I hope you got your head in the game!)

8. Worst French mistake of the week: (ok, let's be real. There are probably way too many of these to adequately account for them) This Haitian man comes up and asks me for my number, but he tu-toyed me and somehow I thought he had asked me if I knew someone named Stipley (instead of him saying s'il te plait). So he asked me for my number and I responded, "oh i'm sorry I dont know him, but have a good day!" My companions got a nice chuckle out of it.

9. Worst blonde moment of the week: we are at the mission home to have cake and ice cream for President Staheli's birthday. It's also mother's day, so we're all sitting around talking and I asked how Sister Staheli's mother's day was going, and she says that it's been great, and President Staheli says, "Well tell them what you got." So she says that she got a MacPro. I wanted to be excited for her, so was all like "ooooh! so cool!" pause, pause, pause. wait, I have no idea what that is, and then out loud I say, "Wait. Like the make-up?" Again, one of those moments I should have just kept my mouth shut! First asking President how old he was (I tell you, it just slipped out), and then pulling out a serious Elle Woods. I was on a roll.

10. Most nerdy moment of the week: We are talking as a district and Elder Mckay is telling us about a phone call that had bad connection or something and he says, "it sounded like C3PO." And before I could stop myself, I respond with a, "Actually, that would be R2D2." The other elders were like "oooh. shut down by Sister Pearce. bah dum bum sh." It was almost along the same lines as, "did you just say prime-ape?" (reference Cassidy, 2007)

11. Most frustrating thing of the week: Teaching people that feel like they already had great baptisms. "So, you know that the Book of Mormon is true?" bah oui! "And you know that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration?" Bien sur. "So, you want to be baptized into the church of Jesus Christ by the power and authority of God?! "well, I was already baptized, remember?” aaargh. And so then you try to lovingly drop them by saying "you know as missionaries we are here to invite people to Christ by helping them prepare for baptism, etc, so we will be here whenever you are ready, etc" and then they stand up and say "okay same time next week?" I mean what do you do???!!! haha. I know Alma says to be bold, but not overbearing, but like really!!! I think overbearing might get through a little better sometimes! k jk (mostly).

12. So, I mentioned on the phone how I love our district. I am always thoroughly entertained. But, I'm not such a fan of role-playing in front of all of them! Elder Bednar, our district leader, prepared this awesome lesson on using the Articles of Faith more often to respond to concerns (adding another arrow to your quiver, as he put it), and it was awesome!!!.....until I had to respond to "Gladys." Apparently, she's an investigator people have been teaching for ages, who thinks that the Holy Ghost just descended on her and that she doesn't need to be baptized. John 3:5 does nothing for her, Jesus' own baptism, among many other things, is apparently not quite proof either. So I babbled something about the 4th article of faith and sat down as quick as possible! Enough of this quiver stuff!

13. I had my first nursing nightmare this week. It was like Grey's Anatomy meets the circus. Not fun. But, I have decided that nursing is helpful on a mission as well, because when your companion says, "so, what is a uterus?" I can be like, okay, we need to chat and I'm gonna draw some pictures... Unfortunately, that experience also made me realize how much I'm forgetting.....guess I’m gonna have to keep the faith for those blessings!

14. Worst wall of shame moment of the week: Ward ping-pong tournament. I lost second round. I think you would have kicked me out on the street if you had seen how I played! But, there was a heckling French mother involved, and I just did not hold up well under the pressure!!!

15. Lamest excuse of the week: So, what happened on Sunday? Why couldn't you come to church? "Oh, well it rained." That was another, 'puh-lease' moment!! Like where are we? Brazil?? But, we follow Preach My Gospel and we are devastated that they didn't keep their commitment and we love them and try again!

16. Saddest thing we saw this week: One day. Two different locations. Two different old ladies. Eat it to the ground. Like we are talking no reflexes left in these dear old things, so they hit their chins on the sidewalk. flat as a crepe, if you will. So sad!!! But, after people converged and they walked away just fine, I will admit we may have chuckled a couple times. Twice in one day, I mean come on!!!!

17. Most touching thing of the week: (or rather, one of them) We are teaching an investigator about prophets and we show her a picture of President Monson and she says something like, "oh c'est lui?" But then she was like worried that she had said something wrong because she referred to the prophet as "him." She was like "I don't know the protocol," and wanted to make sure that she was showing the right respect to the Prophet of God. It was really neat and such a testimony builder to me of really what a blessing it is to have a prophet on the earth!!! (I left out the fact that my brother had gone to the jazz game with him the other day, hehe)
Anyway, that was a whole lot of rambling about random happenings. You can try to make some sense out of it! haha sorry!!! And I realized just now that I probably didn’t talk about our investigators and stuff enough, but I promise along with all the fun we're having, we are managing to get some missionary work done! Life is totle, totle grate. I love missionary work and I am so, so happy to be a missionary. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the scriptures that teach us what we have to do to gain access to the Atonement. And I am grateful for a prophet and apostles who testify of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We read the talk "Meaning of the Atonement" by cleon scousen last night (thank you tara!) together and wow, we truly have a Heavenly Father and Savior who love us! We are so lucky and blessed to know it. I love you family and I am grateful for you too! I have some more stories to tell you, and responses to your letters, but I’ll have to put them in my hand-written letter later Have a great week!!! LOVE YOU TO ETERNITY!!!
Sister Pearce

p.S. i am going to try to attach a pic of our p-day adventure today. we went to the chateau at St Germain en laye with our district and played ultimate frisbee and got gelato!! And I won't lie--we need to step up our morning workouts cuz that was some serious ultimate frisbee! But, don't worry--my team won!! (granted, I’m fairly certain it didn’t have a whole lot to do with me hehe)
ps2 I never got nanas package and still haven’t gotten yours. I think it’s best to send things to the mission home, because it’s a pain to try to track them down at the post office or at the landlord's cuz it's not like we just have a porch that they leave things on and we just have little tiny drop boxes. But, we're gonna go try to find where the landlord lives this week and see if your package is there. tell nana thanks though!!!
Ps3 sorry I think you had more questions, but I’ll have to answer later!!!!! we have two lessons to get to tonight! love you!!!! sure grateful for you!
Ps4 To Cassidy, did you try my sheets-out-the-window method this time? I did you give you quite a few methods to work with after the “Hawaii incident” ’09?!
Ps5 I haven’t gone to the chateau grounds yet since I’ve been here, but I pass by it almost every day. Like either walking, or we’ll be on a bus & I’ll turn my head & be like “oh look, there’s the chateau de Versailles.” Haha, sometimes I forget I am in France! We’re going to have a picnic in the chateau gardens one of these p-days.

The adventures of the week!!!

2010-05-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS UP DEAREST FAMILY??!!! ok im just gonna tell it to ya straight--this e-mail will probably be super lame, because I am exhausted and i think it'll take much more than a miracle to string an entirely coherent sentence together.

But, its a good exhausted, because Gloria got baptized this afternoon!!! It started late, and one of the talks didn't show up, and she was wearing a black bra (oops) under a wet white dress, but it was awesome!!! Once the service itself started the Spirit was strong and, of course, we are sisters after all, so the tears were flowin freely when we saw Gloria all dressed in white and sopping wet! Gloria cried the whole way through and looked so beautiful in the dress we got her. When she was changing she said, "i just feel so new." She also forgot to take her cell phone out of her pocket, but she was so happy, she was just like, "oh well, the phone got baptized too!" It really was such a great day and I was just grateful to get to be a part of it! (side note--elder bednar just tricked me into biting into a wesabe peanut. dont ever do that.)(we are at the bureau writing our e-mails because it's a holiday and everything is closed...gotta love france and their holidays...lets just say its a good thing it's fast sunday, because we have no food and obviously cant go grocery shopping! haha.)

First things first, so I was putting some stuff down in the chapel during the zone conference lunch break (meaning not many people were in there) the other day & Pres Staheli came up & asked me how our family knew the Hinckley’s. I told him I didn’t think we did & he told me that when they were looking @ the transfer board last week, Elder Hinckley pointed to my picture & asked who I was. Pres said, “that’s Sister Pearce, she’s from Provo. Her dad is the tennis coach & BYU.” And E. Hinckley said, “oh, Brad Pearce?” so… 1. I don’t know why he pointed at my picture. 2. Do you know the Hinckley’s? I guess this Hinckley’s (Richard) wife was a big time tennis player & her brother played too, so maybe you know her from that?

So, I'm thinkin' I'll just bullet a few of the things I realized this week, because the neurons are just not firing properly at the moment!!!

THINGS I REALIZED THIS WEEK hehe:

It is a little awkward calling someone, while you're on public transportation, to remind them to bring extra underwear to the baptism.
I, somehow, am always the person to ask the awkward questions!! Like, "so....why exactly is it that you don't you come to church?" or "so wait, you haven't actually been baptized, you just come to church every week and go on splits with the missionaries for fun and you're just waiting for the 'right moment' to get baptized; do i understand correctly?" I mean, they are always questions that have to be asked to understand where the person's at, but I must just be awkward enough (or maybe blonde enough) to get away with it. However, one of them turned out super great this week. We were at a member's house (she has health problems and has a hard time coming to church), and her daughter's friend was over. Long story short, I ask the friend if she is a member of the church, and the member responds by saying, "no she's not baptized. But, she and her twin brothers want to be baptized." Well....... we are definitely okay with that! So, we'll see what happens! (we want to teach them as a family, but the kids are at school during the day and the dad works night shifts, so that's complicated. Otherwise we need permission to teach the kids....etc) That rendez-vous was fun though. I really think i fit in with kids better. The girls were braiding my hair by the time we left and the mom and girls told us they'd teach us an African dance next time! haha, that will certainly be an adventure!
You know how we say "flat as a pancake?" well, they really do say, "flat as a crepe!" laughed so hard when i heard a kid say that when he was worried about his nintendo mario getting squished by some bad guy.
Whenever I start feeling more comfortable with French, the Lord puts me back in my rightful place by sending a Haitian my way. I tell you what, sometimes I feel like they could be speaking German for all I understand!
It's always comforting when young adult investigators tell you "ya know you're not ugly, nor do you appear to be crazy." And then it's always fun when they find out that we do, in fact, use electricity. Crazy mormon myths! gotta love it!
I started thinking that I would get away with not having to eat anything gross as a missionary. Naive. Oh...but so naive! I won't go into details, because I have spent way too much time trying to forget the details, but suffice it to say meat and gelatinous substances should not go together. But, the sweet old lady, Jeanne, was just too cute to say no to. We grinned and bore it. Rather gracefully if I do say so myself. (ie we waited until we had left her home to throw up all of the meat and gelatinous substance.)
We realized this week that it must be a very different experience living in an Elder apartment. From the sounds of it duct tape, super glue, and water balloons are used much more frequently! haha. I feel like we're missin out! At our apartment, it's like a game to see who can do the dishes before the other notices. Actually, during one of our planning sessions we had to set a goal to stop being so nice and "allow others the opportunity to serve you", because the "nice-war" was getting out of control! Ridiculous, I know.
Some things have not changed. I would be the only one dumb enough to "go check in front of the car because they're might be a 'thing.'" Which, of course, led to Elder Prunin honking as I was bending over to check for the “thing,” me jumping and screaming bloody murder, and then everyone else laughing.
Contacting is still always exciting. This week's most amusing experiences included one dude try to bisoux us, and another offering to move closer to where I live. ("Thanks, but no thanks, and ill give your number to the frere missionaries! have a good one!")
And last---you just never know what is going to happen next! Remember the lady Evelyne, who we miraculously found last week?! Well, we go back to visit her again and turns out, her friend had asked to come over for our visit with her. (oh background....we had had a rendez-vous scheduled with her earlier in the week, which she ended up not being able to come to, but while we were waiting for her, we played with all the neighbor kids on the floor of the building. They were hilarious! and before we left we sang "I am a child of God" to them, and for a SUPER rowdy bunch, we were shocked how quiet they got and how intently they listened. I'm not gonna lie, it was precious!) Anyway, so we're teaching Evelyne and her friend and one by one, all the neighborhood kids show up! Apparently, they're like all one big happy family in their building and noone believes in knocking or anything, so the more the merrier! One of the 10-yr old girls was telling us how she has been asking her mom if she can pray before they go to bed, and they were all pretty excited about Jesus being resurrected (though, the re-enactment of it by David (he's 9 i think) might not have been on quite as high of a spiritual note....ok, so closer to blasphemy, but ya know, we do the best we can)! haha. AND, they're all coming to church tomorrow with Evelyne!! Primary is going to be one big party that is for sure! I so took primary and young women's for granted growing up. There are kids in this ward who are begging to come to church (because their parents are less active) and begging to be baptized (that's another battle with a mom who feels like her child needs to be prepared before he makes that decision), and it just reminds me how spoiled I was and am! I have so many blessings!!! And I want these precious children to have them too! I want them to know that they are children of a Heavenly Father who loves them, that He listens to their prayers, and that He just wants them to be happy. We really are blessed aren't we?!

Well, those are some of my thoughts about the adventures of this week! I love being a missionary, even if some days seem like an eternity! I hope things are going well at home! I love you. And I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family. You really are the best. Hopefully I'll have time to write you at least a short letter later today. Have a great week!

love, Jordan xoxo

Tara – Finals are over!!! I can’t believe, still can’t believe it took me so long to remember “scott.” If you “happened” across the talk “the meaning of the atonement” by Cleon Skousen on the internet something & it showed up in one of your letters, that wouldn’t be the worst thing! Hehe Love you sister!

J&M – Thanks for your letters! And no, Matthew you cannot have my iHome. Nice try though!

Josh & Halle – I miss you two lots!

p.s. Did I tell you I met the Bishop & his wife when I came to this ward during my study abroad? They were like a cute younger couple, so we sat with them. Obviously he wasn’t the bishop then.
p.s.s. We totally have fiches in our area book that have Andrew’s name on them!

Heavenly Father is in the details!!

2010-04-27T10:11:00.001-07:00

Hello dearest family!!!How are you????!!! I'm starting to feel the stress of the Utah match that will be goin down later on tonight!!! I dont know how you're handling it!
I feel like I just wrote you, but still so much has happened since then. First of all we had a huge zone conference and Elder Teixeira came. It was awesome! And President Staheli gave us new standards of excellence (aka weekly and transfer goals)! They are like double what they were before and include one baptism per companionship per month! He likened these standards of excellence to the Liahona, and said they shouldn’t be a burden anymore than the Liahona was a burden for Lehi and his family. Depending on your area and different circumstances, it might take people longer or shorter to get there, but the standards are just to give us a direction to be working. I'm excited and I know that, since these were prayerfully discussed and submitted under the direction of our priesthood leadership, they are definitely attainable! Eventually....hehe. But, our Versailles elders are startin it out strong!

We went to the baptism of one of their investigators, Joshua, this morning! It was so great! Elder Draut said that Joshua was like shaking when he got into the font because he was so nervous, but afterwards he was just so happy and glowing (i know that sounds way girly, and joshua is definitely a man's man, but you get the idea). Oh and apparently, third time really is the charm! (now i understand why mom was so particular about having our hair pulled back so tight to keep from floating up) The investigator is from Kenya. The elders ported his apartment a few weeks ago and he was definitely someone prepared! And even though his siblings aren't members of the church, when he called them and told them he was getting baptized, they all insisted on coming! (His sister flew from Kenya i think, and one of his brothers is a diplomat here in France or something.) The whole thing was wonderful, except the fact that we had to do ANOTHER musical number.

K you know how I stress about these kind of things, and how I really don’t like singing in public at all. Piano, whatever, that I can handle. But when it comes to singing, I get all nervous! Plus, the Elders called us late on Thursday night to do it, then Sister Bellini was too sick to leave the apartment all Friday, and then the baptism was Saturday morning! So pretty much we figured out what we were going to do an hour before the baptism started (Sister Gifford played and Sister bellini and I sang I’m trying to be like Jesus and A childs prayer.) I thought it was terrible! So you can imagine my enthusiasm when one of the bishopric members came up afterwards and said it was so great he wants me to sing in Sacrament meeting in two weeks. Lovely. just lovely.

But, going to that baptism made me even more excited for Gloria's baptism next weekend! (ps the elders have another investigator who is getting baptized the next weekend, so it’s just an exciting time!) And we found out Gloria for sure can be baptized! We were talking one night and decided we needed further clarification about what it meant to "have an address." Turns out, that while she should still keep looking for her own place, we can use the address of the shelter where she stays at night and gets mail! So, we had her try on her baptismal clothes today and we're going to figure out her program tomorrow. But, she still needs her own place, because wherever she is staying, she can’t stay there every night and she doesn’t sleep very well, because people steal stuff from you while you're sleeping. I don't know how she handles it. She is looking for places, but it's hard because she doesn’t speak French, like at all. I think I left out that detail last time! Our lessons are hilarious!! She speaks spanish, a tiny bit of English, and pretty much zero french. So when we don’t have a member with us that speaks spanish, it's like we need the gift of tongues! She usually does okay speaking in English, but when she gets excited about something, she starts speaking super fast all in spanish, and then when she says, "comprendas?" (or whatever it is), I'm pretty sure our confused looks say it all! When we have a member it is easier, but just so you get a feel for how that goes down: we teach in English (because that’s her second best language), Gloria speaks in Spanish, and the member translates into French for us! So great. The church is true in every language! So, one thing I am grateful for this week is personal study time. the Preach My Gospel sentence that says that even though people may question your message intellectually, it's hard to argue with a sincere testimony (or something to that effect). We started reading in the Book of Mormon with one investigator this week, and we hadn't gotten two lines into the passage, and she stops and goes off about why it doesn’t make sense that we have another book of scripture and how it can't be legit since none of the people in the book of mormon are talked about in the bible, etc, etc; etc. She wasn't really listening to any of the answers we gave, and it sounded like she had just kinda made a decision in her mind before she even asked her questions. Well, that morning I had spent some time in Chapter 11 of PMG and read that sentence (above). So, I thought about that and decided to just bear my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, how I came to know it was true and how it has helped me. Nothing spectacular happened or anything, but the atmosphere changed and we were able to have a great lesson. I am just grateful that our job is to bear simple testimony, because let's be real--I am no scriptorian! I should know much more about our church and our teachings than I do, considering I was blessed enough to be born into the Church, but I am grateful to know that I just need to teach the best I can, answer the questions I can, bear testimony of the simple truths I do know, and let the Spirit do the rest! So....miracle of the week! (sorry this is so scattered.) In an attempt to mine our area book(s), we sorted and organized and re-sorted and re-organized about a billion difference fiches (umm....in english I think they are called like investigator progress records or something). We found one that had a name and the number of the non-member friend who had referred her to us. So we called the friend and asked if she had a number for the lady, who's name is Evelyn. She didn't. We asked if she had an address. She didn't. But, she said she lives next to the gare in Saint-Cyr and gave us the name of the street she thought she lived on. So, we look in all our books and on our maps and the street name doesn't appear to exist. But, we felt good about this person and wanted to find her. So.....pretty much we knew her name is Evelyn. And we knew she lived somewhere around the gare, on a street that may or may not exist. I can just picture Heavenly Father kinda chuckling at our stubborn determination, because we had NOTHING! But, He must have been amused and decided to help us out a bit....k....a lot.

We get there and this street doesn't exist on any of the city maps either, so we stop a young man and ask him if he knows of it. He doesn't, but says that we should ask the lady that takes the tickets in the station. So, we go ask her and she says, "oh yeah, it's a house just up the way" and gives us directions. So, we follow her directions to a social house (it wasn’t a street name, but the name of the social house), where the gate like opens as we walk up (I think there were people in the driveway who saw us, but still it was funny). The lobby is empty, but eventually a lady walks out and tells us that no one named Evelyn lives there, but there is another social house just up the street where we could check. So we go there and run into this Arab man who doesn't know her, but goes and asks all his Arab friends and then comes back and says that they think there are three black women that live in the building "over there." Ok....so I think you get the gist. Long story short--Evelyn was the first person we found in the building "over there" and she let us in and we taught her! Heavenly Father is definitely in the details of our lives! (ps she was in Haiti for the earthquake and it sounded crazy!!!!!!) Anyway, she is great and I am excited to see how things work out cuz the gospel would so bless her life!

So, I never got to tell you about the Borderie family (the members we had FHE with last week)! She is like a famous artist & her dad has a painting in the Vatican, so he’s like a super famous artist. And they live in the tallest building in Europe, that people actually live in. They are on the 46th floor and have a panoramic view & you can see like ALL of Paris! We were up there @ night & were there to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling! Anyway, great, super nice family. And brother Borderie was like all over hearing about Dad playing in the French Open & stuff & was asking so many questions…he was like, “you need to tell that to the French because they’ll think it’s great.” So, I need some details! Haha Just so I have more talking material. Maybe not your whole resume, but some good French open highlights (if you have time).

So, we just went to the St. Ouen apartment, cuz it’s close to Leiney’s, to check the mailbox (I’m glad we went, I had 3 letters) & steal some stuff (like the scale haha). Well, there was a stench, I investigated a bit & determined it was coming from the freezer. I had a bad feeling before I opened the door, but not even all my nursing experience could prepare me for what we found! Apparently the Elders turned off the electricity. So, there was like an inch puddle of rotting bloody beef & rotting banana mush coating the bottom of the freezer. I so wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen it, but we are tough sister missionaries, so we pulled out gloves, like 6 garbage bags, bleach & a roll of paper towels, starting breathing through our mouths & went to it. Man, we took one for the team! hahaWell, I miss you. Somehow it came up and my companions made me sing our family night song to them during companionship study the other day and I won't lie--I was pretty close to a tear or two! hehe, but they would have been happy tears. Our super cheesy family night song is just too AWESOME! I hope things are going well! I can't believe finals are over and that school is almost over! Is it warm there now, cuz it is beautiful here?! Well, I gotta go, but I love you all so much!!! Love, JordanXOXOXOXOXOp.s; i will write my snippets to you in my letter tonight! and there are other things i just have to tell you! love you

A little slice of Heaven!

2010-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

HELLO DEAREST FAMILY!!!

So, not to take away from our REAL 'slice of heaven' in Rome (no, not the convent one with the shoes hanging out the window and the storage room for all the dead cardinals), but I think that Versailles is getting pretty close!!! I absolutely love it here! First of all, my companions are great (yes, i have two again. I think someone is trying to keep an eye on me or something!). Sister Bellini is from Washington and has been out about a year. And Sister Gifford is from Highland and has been out about 8 months. SO, I have TWO people to learn from!!! Talk about spoiled?! And things are just easy with them. We work hard, but we work as a team and i just loving falling into bed exhausted at night cuz i feel like im doing what im supposed to be. Our apartment is in the middle of like this retirement community area, meaning we have a carrefour and a bank and a pharmacy and everything RIGHT there! There are hardly any cars, so its super family friendly and kids play out in the streets all the time! Add the birds chirping and the sunshine this week, and im sure you couldnt blame me for calling it a slice of heaven! Plus, you know how i love old people! And even when they are drunk and telling us about the 'good old days,' you just cant help but love them. I did manage to break the closet my first night here....i guess that whole 49 shirts deal wasnt such a great idea...oops! (the whole bar collapsed hehe, so we had to move all our clothes to the front entry closet, but its all good.)

So, we have a baptismal date! May 1. Her name is Gloria and she is a political refugee from El Salvadore. She has NOTHING, like she carries pretty much all her earthly possessions around with her. I guess conference weekend she was out in the street and just broke down crying because she was just overwhelmed with all the hard things she has had to deal with lately. She prayed and just told God to send her an angel cuz she didnt know what in the world to do....and so im sure you know what happened next! God did her one better and sent her TWO! Two of our dear elders walked up and asked if there was something they could do to help her... this truly is the Lord's work! She is ready to be baptized and wants to so badly, but the problem is she has to have an address before. It doesnt have to be a permanent one, but she has to have one, and the whole financial situation and social security and apartment searching is an absolute nightmare. Its not our job to figure it out, but man I never really appreciated wards back home that actually functioned well and had people with callings like 'ward employment specialist' before. There is just so much red tape. BUT, Heavenly Father is a God of Miracles, and we are going forward with May 1st and as far as we're concerned--its gonna happen on may 1st!! Gloria is already talking about these people she has met in the train stations that she wants to go teach the Gospel to. You just cant help but love her!

Its a little hard trying to organize rendez-vous in two different areas, especially when you travel like 2 hours and have someone not show up, but we're working on making it more efficient, and in the meantime, we've gotten lots of transport contacting practice! Elder Hinckley came and spoke to us this week (and just fyi--the way he articulates some words, I could have sworn it was President Hinckley speaking to us!) and he committed us two a few different things and promised us, because of our specific mission statistics, that if we doubled our finding efforts, we would double our baptisms. Well, we figure that stats backed up by General Authority promise is a pretty good course of action to follow!! So, we are going to start 'mining' our area books (thats what he called it), and that is why its so great that we have TWO area books to mine! We also had to/got to do the musical number for the mini conference with Elder Hinckley and found out like the day before....I tell ya--never a dull moment!

Well, I love your e-mails and it sounds like you guys are having just as many adventures as me! I miss you, but am so grateful and feel so lucky to be sharing the gospel right now. Teaching and testifying of Jesus Christ, the restoration, and eternal families every day?!!! I dont know that it gets much better!!!! haha, sorry to rub it in! But I love you and hope you know that I pray for you every day!

Love,

Jordan

Best thing I saw in passing this week: two baguettes left on top of a boites des lettres! i figured it was like the french equivalent of a soda being left on top of someones car!

and p.s. dogs really do chase after missionaries. its not just a cliche. i am ever so grateful for fences! though, i will admit that it doesnt usually prevent me from the initial scream and fall off the curb (at least my companions are nice and dont laugh TOO much)

p.Ss going porting and having people answer their 'door' by sticking their heads out the window is still so funny to me!

p.S. Church is such a different experience as a missionary. Like when the sunday school teacher for the amis class doesnt show up, and then the fire alarm goes off in the middle of church, its not as much a "sweet, no sunday school today", as a "Is this for real? We are doing a fire drill during this person's first day of church!????!!!!"

Tara--seriously stay away from him! good luck with the rest of finals, maybe let mom get in one 'I told you so!!' hehe.

J&M-- i want the articles of my super star brothers!!! i am not allowed to open up the link dad sent me so i need something tangible--its killing me!!! like a play by play in your next monthly letter would be great (hehe, hint hint). That is seriously sweet. Whenever anyone hints they have any interest in tennis, I always start bragging about you two. hehe. maybe not becoming of a missionary, but whatev!

Joshy man-- i didnt know you are playing soccer now too? tell me about it! oh and how was your dude week with dad? sounded pretty dang sweet to me!

And on to the MOST IMPORTANT THING -----HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALLE BABY!!!!!!!!! (in a few days) i cant believe you are 7 years old!!!!! did you do a party or are you going to wait and do a swimming one when the pool opens?! i want pictures and i want to hear about ALL the presents you get!!!!

OTHER TIDBITS to add:

dad--ummm...i will definitely be praying about Utahs match on Saturday and dying to know how it goes down! but seriously cool how well youre doing already! and i think the holy ghost likened unto the secret ingredient is suh-weet!!!!!)
Our p-days kinda change around here. Normally it should be on Saturday, but if not, it will be Monday
speaking of letters, you are always safe to send letters to the mission home, because our burea elders are great and they forward them on to us at our current addresses (so if thats easier for you thats fine)
our address now is
Les Missionaires
Sister Pearce
7, Promenade Venezia
78000 Versailles
FRANCE

and mother, you should be so proud! who knew that tortillas could be made from scratch?!!! hehe well, apparently they can, and i now know how. not that i will ever do it again when i come home and can buy them for not a ridiculous price, but still! (oh the things i used to take for granted....)

hey love you mom!

What a week of Firsts!

2010-04-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hello Dearest Family!!!

How are you? So cool the boys are doing well in the Easter Bowl. And WHOA about TCU. Im excited to hear how this weekend goes down! 4.0s all around????? nice work....though somewhat disappointing that the 'wall of shame' didnt come back out! AND OMG happy birthday to Tara tomorrow! (ps cant believe youre finishing your freshman year of COLLEGE)

Oh, did news of the two elders getting shot in Switzerland make it there? Sister Howell’s brother is in that mission (which covers part of France), so if it did, I could only imagine that her mom was freaking out! The missionaries are fine, but we heard it was a group of muslims & kinda laughed because we live in a super muslim area. That’s what happens when you are assigned to the ghetto baby! Our church is in the 93 (“neuf-trois”)! And people around here KNOW what the “neuf-trois” means! But the sisters apartment is in a little less sketchy of an area as the Elders’ & we don’t go anywhere near Sarcelles. We’ve passed by on trains & man, I thought you only saw stuff like that in Haiti, Jamaica, or pictures from National Geographic. There are some REAL ghettos. Makes you super grateful, that’s for sure!

So, you'd think that since I have now been wearing this nametag for two months (weird time warp out here for sure), i'd have some semblance of an idea what im doing. While that is somewhat true, not a single day goes by that something doesnt happen for a 'first time.' So, this week I am grateful (again) for FIRSTS.

For the first time, I realized how truly great the scripture reference 'nimrod' is

I got to experience my first transfer e-mail! and whoa. I had not previously understood the excitement surrounding this event. We got back in town Saturday morning and had hardly put our stuff down when we started getting these calls, asking 'so whats going on???' Sister Howell starts shouting at people on the phone not to tell her anything, shouts at me to get my dang nylons on (great moment, like really), and we sprinted (literally), skirts, nylons, and all, down to the e-mail place. Turns out, not only is Sister Howell leaving (shes going to Melun), but Im leaving too and St. Ouen is closing for the next transfer. SURPRISE!! haha. Im going to Versailles to be with Sister Gifford and Sister Bellini!!! I wont lie--it was not fun saying goodbye to friends in the ward (and I had only known them a few weeks), but I am way excited to go to Versailles! I’ve heard wonderful things about the sisters there! Plus, it’s close enough that we can still kind of help keep the St.Ouen investigators goin and stuff. I’ll be in the same district as the bureau elders, and Elder Messick (who went to Timpview) will be transferring to the bureau, so it will be fun to see a familiar face!

First time we got locked out of our apartment. Actually, we figured out that the drawback of having a super sweet-romantic- 'secret garden'-type-ancient key, is that when you dont use it for a few days, it gets super rusty and is nearly impossible to open. Lovely. But, I tell you what--I would have shimmied up the dang tree in our backyard before I called any elders to tell them we were locked out WITH our keys!!! We eventually walked a couple miles to the members who have our spare key and got it to work.

First time I contacted a lady on a bus and she pulled out her husband's lab values (he was in the hospital) for me to look at!! she was asking questions about what we were doing and what happens after we go home, etc, so she found out I was in nursing school. Then, all of a sudden she goes 'oh!! well in that case..." and whips out this stack of papers!!! so funny! dont worry, I did not advise her on anything. I pretty much just smiled and nodded 'oh yeah, that does look a little low...gosh thats hard that he's not feeling very well...." There is still such a special place in my heart for old people!

It was the first time I carried a box of over 20 Book of Mormons home from Versailles. I gotta say, that was probably the hardest thing I have done on a mission so far!!! haha

It was the first time I realized how I am so NOT okay with men giving other men bisoux.

It was the first time I realized how exciting it is to pray during lessons with investigators from very Evangelical backgrounds. You just feel so sweet and empowered when they are like humming, "amen-ing", and 'halleluiah-ing" after everything you say in your prayer! Example--Me: thank you for all of our blessings. Virginie:hmmm....amen!

It was the first time I realized that I truly belong in Primary. One of the elders' investigators (Sophia) has a 4-yr old daughter, Marie, who we took to primary (which she absolutely loved after she got comfortable). I felt like I fit in so much better there on the little chairs! Plus!!! I swear they dont primary-ify lessons as much as we do in the states! However, what's more likely is just that my French is at about a primary level! I felt right at home! Marie and I loved it! (by the way--she is the cutest thing ever! When we met Sophia and Marie at the train station, we hadn’t even gotten all the way to the metro before she had let go of her mom's hand and come and grabbed on to mine to walk with me! We shared shimmery chapstick and talked about our dresses and tights and our favorite colors. I was in heaven! And when I went to pick her up from primary, she runs to me and like shouts all proudly, "look at my pictures! I did them all by myself!" Adorable.)

I was accused, for the first time, of idolatry. Yup. That was a new tracting experience. We were all excited at first, because I tell her that we are missionaries for our church, and she is like "oh come in! come in! I have had a personal crisis and my friend just keeps telling me I need to go to church!" You can imagine how thrilled we were?! k well, maybe not so much at the personal crisis part, but we'll take it...hehe! Anyway, long, long story short--she freaks out that we have a picture of Jesus Christ and tells us what a serious sin it is to worship idols like that and that we should really go home and reflect on the seriousness of our sins! After I got over the shock, I got a good chuckle out of it.

It was the first time I had zone leaders (elders harper and jenson) rip off their shirts, buttons and ties flying everywhere, as part of a visual effect for their part of training! talk about a dramatic 'rent-ing of their clothing!' I dont think Moroni had much on them! hehe. It was pretty much the sweetest thing ever. They then ripped up the shirts and had each companionship write their own "Title of Liberty" of hopes, dreams, and goals of how we are going to avoid mediocrity, etc... After all was said and done, I asked Elder Jenson how his mother would feel about his rent clothes, and he said he used someone elses shirt! hahahaha! so great.

I was able to experience the excitement of interviews for the first time! ok, lets be real--I hardly slept the night before on account of the stress that was eating me up inside--but they were great! Sister Staheli is so sweet and President is awesome. His training afterwards was short, but so great. He used the scripture in D&C 31 that talks about rejoicing and how we should be happy, and NOT stressed (timely advice), and that this should be the most carefree time of our lives. We dont have worry about jobs or money or school or kids and should just be happy and know that when we accepted our call to come on a mission, we succeeded. It was great and I, honestly, felt so much less burdened and less stressed afterwards. I am very grateful for inspired leaders!

ok...I got to go to Belgium for the first time!!!!! (I will admit, I just about had a heart attack on the spot when I heard the price of the tickets (306 euros). I backed away slowly and let Elder Gould and Sister Howell deal with it cuz I just couldnt handle it!) I was totally a skeptic, but their waffles really are better. I dont know what it is....they must have a secret ingredient (I can just imagine dad and tara laughing so hard watching that movie this week haha) And the sisters, who we did the exchanges with, absolutely blew us away! Double booking is no joke, but they had us booked the entire day. Sister Shannon (who is from Ireland, is hilarious, and has the greatest accent ever) and I went to a funeral (their coffins are totally vampire creepy), taught Raymonde, Vicky, committed Emilie to baptism, and helped Mme Humblet pick out her church outfit (most hilarious thing of my life--details to come in letter....)! I am so spoiled! It was so fun and I learned so much!

K well, I had a longer list, but I am out of time!!! I love you all so much!!!! Thanks for your prayers and support! I pray for you every day and am so grateful for you! Being a missionary is such a blessing and such an adventure! Ill write more later...
love, jordan

p.s. More about the coffins, you know how ours are like just nice big rectangles? Well, theirs are like they shoved the corpses shoulders in between two boards & then tried to use as little wood as possible!!! So they have that vampiry shape! Granted, anything that involves incense & a priest chanting in not really my thing.
p.s..s have I told you our landlady calls me “Martine,” because Jordan is too hard for her to say? So funny. I’m gonna miss her.
p.s.s.s. that made me laugh that you included boiling egg instructions. You know me too well!!

(oh and before i forget----the picture of me that goes out in the ward newsletter has got to be done away with!!! i might be a sister missionary, but my vanity is still intact enough that that is SO NOT okay!! thank you in advance hehe.)

My heart is full!

2010-04-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

hello hello hello dear family!!!

I just have to start out by saying that I love you. I have the greatest family in the world and I know it! How was Easter and Conference?????!!! It is my personal opinion that we should have conference weekend every weekend. And we got to watch it in English! My heart was definitely filled. I just wished that our investigators were there...grr, but it was kinda far (1½ hours)...still, the prophet spoke! First of all how cute was President Monson about his wife at the beginning?! And second, every time he spoke, I was just like "wow. I am sitting here, listening to the prophet of God! How lucky are we?" The whole room of missionaries laughed when Elder Holland prefaced his talk by saying that he was going to be bold...Elder Holland? be bold? And it was really interesting how many of the talks focused on the home and families. Loved it, loved every second of it. (And I’m excited to read the talks we didn’t get to see!) It wasn’t quite the same not being cuddled up on the couches and love sacs in pajamas hehe, but this weekend was great! The Easter Bunny even made it to our apartment!!! hehehe, Sister Howell laughed at me, but hey! gotta celebrate the season! (though I think we might be finding those jelly bean eggs for a few weeks...)

We have some wonderful investigators and we're really working on finding the elect. One rendez-vous that was great this week was with Isabelle. She is African and in her late 20s. She works so hard just to make ends meet and her 13 yr old niece, Hermella, lives with her. The spirit is always great during her lessons, but she hasn’t been really great at keeping commitments. However, this week Sister Howell and I left just beaming from ear to ear, because at the end she asked us to pray for her. Which is typical (lets be real), but this is the great part--She said she wants us to pray for her faith in God, because right now it’s really small, but she WANTS it to be really big!!!! That’s a righteous desire I daresay! So, of course, that led into a brief talk about faith and a great topic for our next lesson. It was refreshing, because lately it's felt like we've been practically force-feeding our investigators the gospel and church, which is not how it should be. So, while it may have been a tiny thing, it was great to hear someone actually express a sincere desire to change and to be better and to learn more!

I have learned that you just never know what to expect when you meet with less active members. Oh the things you hear! I have had many an impure thought of just wanting to LOVINGLY wring their necks and say, "hello! this is your eternal salvation we're talking about here, of course temple ordinances are important!" But, life is hard and everyone has different challenges. Thank goodness for repentance. One of them was actually French, so I got to teach a lesson for the first time to a French person (even if she was a super intimidating, beautiful French woman)! I'll be honest--African French is different than French French, and I had forgotten how pretty French French is. Granted, the trade off is that it is a whole heck of a lot faster! (But, it was okay because at the end she randomly told me 'I reminded her of one of those American TV stars....like Friends.' haha.....I laughed pretty hard and thought back to some great memories.)

OH....funny story. So we went porting (door to door) the other day and talked to a 15 yr old girl and set up an appointment to come teach her family later that week. Anyway, so we show up and sit down with the mom and she starts by explaining, "yeah when Nicole set it up with you, I was like, okay fine, as long as you're sure they're catholic." Side-long glance. Umm... well, here's the thing....hahaha. Needless to say, considering they gave us back the Book of Mormon we gave her, they are not on our new ami(investigator) list!

I was alone on a street in Paris this week. It was a weird feeling, that’s for sure. Sister Howell said to get off the bus, so I GOT. Unfortunately, she wasn’t quite as quick! So, I just waited like a little child, until she came back and found me. hehe. oops.

I think people might be confused, I live in Nanterre, but my proselyting area is “St. Ouen.” So I am in “St. Ouen.” And I love it, but it’s not like a charming countryside or quaint downtown paris apartment (Diana asked). It’s like a very muslim populated, run-down place. We have a very strict list of place the sisters cannot go. But it’s home & it’s great! You never know what you will hear in our apartment that’s for sure. Like two nights ago someone was blasting like Irish Lord-of-the-dance music, last night there was a very raucous & drunken party going on outside our building @ 2am & this morning as we left some dude was belting an opera song out an open window! I felt like I was being serenaded on the way to the bus stop!

I told you about Leiney, she’s awesome, we are also teaching Virginie & Isabelle and they are also praying about baptism which would be great! Christian (the guy who read that Adam & Eve got kicked out of the garden for something other than eating fruit) & Claudia are an interesting couple. Christian pretty much told us that he often resorts to illegal things to earn $ for his family, because “you have to survive.” It’s really hard sitting there as a 21-year-old from Provo, Utah listening to real-life hardships & trials. I mean what do you say? Well, I did my best & basically said that it boils down to faith. And then we talked a little bit about that.

There are also a lot of inactive people we are trying to work with. The ward is struggling a bit here. There’s no leadership & probably less than ¼ of the ward is actually active. The ward mission leader (who talks exactly like, and slightly resembles Rafiki) is starting to step it up a little more though in helping coordinate between us & the auxiliaries.

Anyway, things are great here!!! Our apartment is clean, the birds are chirping outside. Our numbers last week were almost double the first two weeks combined, so things are picking up! I’m expecting miracles!! Haha.

This week we have interviews in Paris, AND we're doing exchanges up in Liege!!! And we have good appointments set up. I am so spoiled. I hope everything is going well there. I loved the conference weekend and easter details! Tell ali and linds and brit and nana thanks SO much for their letters! And tell nana that no, pictures wouldnt make me sad, i would love them! Johnny, i laughed really loud at your letter! thanks. Halle--did the Easter bunny come to the house? hows french class? i had a dream about you this week and missed you so much, but i love your letters! Tara--i have so many great things to tell you, but in order to do it, it must be in letter form, so that will go down this afternoon. I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers!

Love, Jordan

k mother--- to cut down on carpal tunnel this afternoon, here are some of my questions/items of business:
p.s.OH FIRST OF ALL---THE SPONGES??????? that was like the most hilarious thing of my life. I wished I had someone to laugh with me who truly appreciated it, but I was like crying laughing so hard! I miss being around funny people like you.

p.s. 2 tell evan and sarah congrats

p.s. 3 mom – even if people groan, @ least you know it couldn’t be worse than the “david Dinkins” episode!

p.s. 4 ****k this is actually important. ask Sister Cusick how long Andrew would talk to them on mothers day and christmas. Because, apparently the general mission guideline is just 'white handbook' about it, but the handbook says 30 or 40 minutes. S howell says some people talk longer, some dont, so i dont know!!! let me know if you find out.

p.s. 5 LOVE YOU!!!!

p.s. 6 i loved yours ands dads e-mails. i look forward to mondays every week, because they like refill my tank!!!! i print them too, so i can refer often

p.s. 7 tell kib & justin thanks for their letters and the quote from Kib, I used it in companionship study

p.s. 8 tell grandpa his letters are so funny. It’s kinda hard to believe my grandpa is writing them! send him and nana my love!

p.s. 9 tell Diana no need to stress – “douche” is shower. That was hilarious though. And I think her French is great & her vocab very well rounded

p.s. 10 that’s so great about san diego, of course it would be the year that I leave that you’re on fire! Nice coaching, tell the guys, especially Cassidy I say hi.
p.s. 11 mom, I’m sorry the boys don’t want to sit around and chat with you all day! I so would! Or watch a movie with you, or go to the gym with you. Really I just miss you. But, I’m starting to tear up now, so I’m moving on. Love you!

p.s. 12 tell sister Sudweeks thanks so much for the newsletter! I read every word & thoroughly enjoyed the news from home ward life.

so...how's the humidity treatin' ya?

2010-04-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hello my dearest family!!!! You hanging in there with that humid utah air??? Matthew, I just love you and am kinda sad that I missed another classic John or Matthew talk. I would have loved to hear you say it’s important to have humidity instead of humility. bahaha! (I decided we need to note that one down right under 'wathcloff'. hehe.) Happy birthday too Matthew, I hear you scored an Ipod…"nice." Oh & I so wish I had been there when you told mom you had a 100 pt. assignment for Am. Studies due the next day – so classic! (And even though I’m not condoning that behavior, I am chuckling over it!)

President & Sister Staheli are awesome. I wish I had time to write the things he said & taught @ zone conference. They were pretty cool. But one thing that kinda shows the kind of ship he runs is this phrase that he uses: “In essentials, unity; In non-essentials, liberty; In all things, charity.” So we follow the important rules, but we’re creative & we use the brains God gave us.

The work here is really slow, I looked @ the papers & I don’t even know when the last baptism was in this area. I am so excited to be here and I don’t want to waste any of the Lord’s time, but I realize I need to learn how things work here. Sister Howell is really shy and doesn’t like to “contact” people, so I am doing my best…with my French!

Well, it’s been raining (or sprinkling) a lot here. Which means, of course, that I have found myself humming 'My Favorite Things' from Sound of Music quite frequently, because its just the greatest rain song! And it's fitting for life as a new missionary, because I have found a lot of new favorite things, or things that just warm my heart and make me smile. I have realized that you just have to laugh off the annoying stuff and savor the simple, funny things that happen every day (even when they are annoying as well haha).

So one of my favorite things this week was exchanges!!! I got to go up to Lille and spend the day working with Sister Carson. Well, technically I went to Villeneuve d'ascq, so maybe nelson served there too, idk. But, it is awesome! They are on fire and it was so neat to get to learn other teaching and contacting methods and get a feel for how 'the North' (what used to be the belgium brussels mission) does things. Sister Carson is like a master contacter!! We taught some lessons, did some contacting, and went to their district and DMP meetings. And the next morning, on our way to the train station, she made sure we stopped at "the Renard"--which is apparently like 'the place' for good patisseries. Anyway, I absolutely loved it! (side note that is kinda funny about the missions merging. Last night Elder Snee (hilarious Scottish lad--just imagine it) asked me if I was a pureblood or a mudblood! dont worry--I quickly reassured him that I was indeed a pureblood (ie my mission call was always paris)!

Another one of my favorite things this week, that I dont think I have ever fully appreciated, is the alien gore graffiti wall that welcomes us home every night. Like seriously whoever put that masterpiece up on the public property outside our apartment...I applaud them for their artistic ability. It is gloriously gross and like one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever laid eyes on!!! But, it's home. So, I love it. and am very proud that our home has character!!

Another favorite thing---the classic 'ah bah oui' response!!! Have nelson demonstrate it for you sometime, because it really is one-of-a-kind, and usually I have to stifle a smile whenever I hear it used for real!

Another favorite thing--cold weather. This one actually surprised me. But, when its cold we can wear tights!! and tights are so much more cozy and less scratchy than nylons!!! (like I said, savoring the simple things here!)

oh I also love ghetto hymnbooks. Because it creates a great opportunity to laugh when the bisophric hurriedly asks you to come play the piano for sacrament meeting because they dont have anyone, so you rush up to play, start playing, get to the end of the first page of the hymn, and realize that half the dang hymnbook is missing! for real. But I figured it just gave the congregation an opportunity to practice their a cappella singing as I got up and walked to the front row to get another hymnbook, that did indeed contain the music for the second half of Praise to the Man!

oh another favorite--watching people trickle in an hour late to church after daylight savings!!hehe.

ok another favorite thing (though this is more one of the have to laugh it off, super ANNOYING things)--young Morrocan men following you from the quai, down three cars of the train (hoping that they’d get the hint you were going 'away'), and then sitting with you on the train and wanting to chat, where there is no escape! Oh, but it gets better! The one who asked me why I didn’t have a boyfriend, is smoking and blows the cigarette in my direction (mind you he's like two feet away), waiving his hand to blow it into my face, and says, 'here this is for you because you’re so beautiful.' UGH. 1. missionary nametag...hello! 2. I really dont think that is the way to any womans heart. I was slightly, ok super, bugged. So I promptly pretended to put on a cough fest, waved the smoke away, and told him I didn’t smoke. he responds, "oh I think thats beautiful." So, even though we knew they were muslim, we quickly brought up the fact that we could give them information about the english class that the BROTHER missionaries taught. That is a super convenient line sometimes and almost always works--hence, the reason it is also one of my favorite things!

Another favorite thing--African culture. I am learning many things about it that I did not know before. One, is that if an African calls you and then hangs up after one ring, it is 'an african call' and means that they want YOU to call them back, but their phone doesn’t have enough money on it to call you. Two, is that their idea of appointments doesn’t really translate to what americans think of as 'appointments.' The only people they really make actually obligatory 'apppointments' with is doctors, other than that, its like 'yeah 6 o clock at my place sounds great!' And then, if they happen to be home around 6, awesome, if not, then whatever!! haha, so great.

ok another favorite things of the week is Charming parks. Even though we later found out that it was like Muslim Central, this park we found close to our apartment was totally outfitted! We're talking ducks, pond, awesome running path, merry-go-round, playground, children giggling and chasing after balls, etc, etc... But we spent a great consecrated contacting hour there and talked to some great people. Ya know those cheesy stories that always end in 'it was the very last person, or the very last door on the street'...well I have a firm testimony that they are all true! After the white muslim, the lady who said 'it wasn’t worth the pain' (haha), and the old couple who handed us back the pamphlet we gave them, among others, we said okay this is the last one, and we found a baptist man sitting alone on a bench who was awesome! We talked about Joseph Smith and the First Vision, and he was like 'k wait, sit down, I want to hear more!' It was a great opportunity to bear testimony and teach about the Restored Gospel! I love consecrated contacting hours! (thats what the north calls them. apparently, down here its 'pure finding', but I prefer the former and since we’re all one big, happy mission now, its all good!)

I have a lot of favorite things, because life as a missionary is so great! I have A LOT of things to get better at, but I’m learning petit à petit. I am so grateful for your prayers and your support. Mom and Dad I love you and absolutely loved your emails this week (tears--thankful ones only-- and out loud chortles)! I’ll respond to them in my letter to you. halle--girlfriend! you are like a backhandspring diva!! joshy man--hows school going? let me guess... 'terrible'? hehe, is that still your typical response? have you been workin out with the team lately? J&M--good job in los vagice! love you! Tara--this is great, I have been so excited to write this to you all week....bahaha...so ya know 'L'Academie Francaise,' or the group that is kinda in charge of keeping the French language pure (or that is my interpretation of it)? Well, I read in my dictionary (I promise I was looking something up and have not taken to reading the dictionary), that the people in the group are elected for life and they are called 'les immortels.' For real!!! so much good material with that one! Well, I love you dearly family and am glad things are going well, even though they are CRAZY! I really am thoroughly convinced that I have the best family in the world!

love, Jordo

How blessed are we?!

2010-03-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

hello dearest family!!!

Sounds like things are as crazy as ever! I’m sorry that I havent been responding to everyone as promptly as I should. honestly its super stressful because there is NO time. But, I will try to do better because I love hearing from you all.

So, I’m not entirely sure how this will work out, but I decided to write this week about the TOP 10 things that happened this week that just would ONLY ever happen in France....hehe.

1. I saw a super old lady (I swear she had to be 90) carrying a scooter--yes we are talking razor scooter--on the metro. I was thinking a cane fit the picture better, but whatev

2. I accidentally told someone I was a nun. (in my defense, who would have thought that 'religieuse' meant anything other than a tasty pattisserie or a religious person?)

3. I realized I have no idea how to teach a language. yeah...english class was a bit rough.

4. I have found it hilarious that I get asked out on like more dates as a missionary than I did in real-life! haha. this weeks top offers were salsa dancing, coffee, and indian food. The salsa dancing one was the best, because he like walked past us and then came back and started talking to us and I was like, sweet--someone saw our nametags and is interested in what we're doing!!!! not so much. He was super hard to understand because he’s Haitian, but as he was trying to explain what he wanted, his friend actually did see our nametags and was like 'oh look, they’re with Jesus. And then the friend like patted him on the head, turned him around to walk away and was like 'oh you silly boy.' So funny. France is also the only place I know where people actually stop you on the streets to tell you 'vous etes belle'. Entertaining for sure, but mostly creepy and awkward to respond to!

5. I have discovered that there are many more misconceptions about the Fall of adam and eve than I ever realized. For example, one lesson we taught, the husband was like, "oh really? cuz I read a story that said there wasnt really fruit or anything, but that they 'ont fait l'amour' and thats why they were kicked out.'" This was from the same dude that said he read an article from some eastern european country that did a scientific study digging towards earth's core, put a camera down and said they had found hell because they heard terrible screaming. We expressed that that was certainly interesting! Oh, but the best Adam and Eve this week was the fight that ensued during Relief Society. hehe. If you aren’t aware--sunday school and relief society/priesthood are much more entertaining in france than in the states....I’ve seen many a heated 'discussion.' What started it all was that a sister said, yeah but even if they hadn’t partaken of the fruit, God would have just figured out a different way to send us to earth." Oh, can I express how grateful I was to sit on the back row and watch the wave of squirming that rolled through the room and the hands that flew into the air?! so great.

6. I love that you just never know what to expect. We were meeting Chanchan to go contacting with her, and she was telling us how she had lost all this weight and I said something like, "yeah, I need to be careful because the food here is so good and I don’t want to gain weight", and she goes, "well how much do you weigh?". I didnt know in kilos, so (this is the best) she turns around, goes into her bathroom, and emerges with a scale in hand. She then told me to take off my coat and get on it. Of course, I obeyed, but I was just laughing so hard. French woman taking things into her own hands!

7. I came to realize that the kids in our ward are out of control! I’m not really bothered by it, because its more 'homey', but it is certainly interesting to see a child running around the pulpit in the middle of someones talk and everyones just okay with it. I was a little relieved to note, that when said child proceeded over to the piano and started banging on it--again, were talking middle of sacrament meeting--that someone promptly returned the child to its parent!

8. I spotted Spock's twin sister. not joking. Had to be related.

9. I went running, in paris, in the spring, IN THE RAIN!!! Does it get much better? Well, my companion could probably list a whole host of things that would have been much better, but I thought it was awesome. We were smelling the roses along the way!

10. But, this is the real miracle of the week!!!! We are so excited about Leiney. She had been super flaky and canceled at the last minute a few times, but it was a lesson to us that sometimes you have to be patient, because we are absolutely amazed with her. She is a Rwandan survivor. Her husband had apparently passed away before, but the rest of her family--we're talking parents, siblings, and THREE sons were all killed during the genocide. Yeah, I had tears streaming down my face before we even said the prayer, as we listened to her story! Talk about someone who needed to hear about the plan of salvation and eternal families! She loved the lesson because she said it answered the questions that her other churches never had. She said she wanted us to teach her the other lessons because she wants to be baptized and go to the temple, and is praying to know a baptismal date this week!!! I am so excited for her and am so grateful to know that Heavenly Fathers plan really provides happiness and hope in this life, and such joy in the life to come! How blessed are we?!

Well, my time is short, but I love you all and am grateful for your support and prayers. They are more appreciated than you know. This week has definitely been more rough, but things are good and I’m grateful for the small, every day, tender mercies of our Heavenly Father.

Tara--i needed you here when we had pesto spaghetti ;) and hope school is going well. johnny—I’m still waiting to see these hairy tough dude pics. hehe matthew-- i still can’t believe you are 14!!!crazy! joshy man--thanks so so so much for the card! I put it in my journal cuz it was so perfect! thank so much dude. halle baby-- your play-dough star and paintings were SOOOOO good. I absolutely loved them! thank you so so much! I can’t wait to get pics of your gymnastics meet!

I love you all and miss you!
love, jordan

Oh how i had forgotten my long lost loves!!!!

2010-03-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Bonjour ma chere famille! (keep in mind as you are reading the serious struggle i have typing on these impossible keyboards; i promise i am not TOTALLY losing my mind, though will admit, maybe a little)

how are you all doing???? I miss you so much, but im not gonna lie--i absolutely love, love, love being in france and being a missionary. Seriously i am so blessed.

Thank you for all the e-mails and letters (diana-ill keep you posted about london and thank you for your sweet pensees, kim--i love baby details and am so impressed you took a cake class with the girls--not gonna lie i think i would have been kicked out, so even grandma looking cakes sound like you have superb talent to me); people kinda look at me like im un peu psycho when im like chortling out loud, but i can’t help it—you’re so great!! and I’m so grateful to hear that things are going well at home. And Lisa, ali, kirstin, & nana & grandpa, thanks so much for all your support, you guys are amazing, so far, I have hardly gone a day without a letter from at least one of you.

So, I think I had either forgotten (more likely blocked from my memory) some of my long lost french loves. Like milk that supposedly lasts months, or everyone remember THE SPONGE episode may 2008??!! yeah well, the first thing I saw when I walked into the kitchen in our little apartment was a nasty, rank sponge that looked like it had been gathering bacteria for who knows how many millennia!!!! needless to say, i thought it was a very fitting welcome--i felt right at home again in france (and promptly disposed of it and put sponges on the top of our shopping list)!

My next favorite thing--public transportation baby! We live out in a city called Nanterre, which is like an hour away from our church and stuff, so we get our fair share of planes trains and automobiles (more like buses, trains, RER and metro, but whatev), so ive decided nursing is a blessing and a curse. When I step onto the bus I have such an internal struggle over whether i should succumb to the pole and all the array of infectious diseases that are most likely blossoming on its fomitish surface, or whether i should just risk flying into the person standing next to me, which then usually gives you a very valid (albeit awkward) excuse to talk to them! Public transport contacting is great and always good for a laugh. like yesterday on the RER a woman, glowing with pregnancy, and a man who got on the RER and sat across from us. I started asking about when the baby was due and if they had names or anything, etc... turned out he had been to utah and loved Bryce Canyon! Long story short--they were both wearing rings on their left fingers, she was pregnant and they were excited about it, and they were holding hands--apparently STILL NEVER a good idea to ask someone how long they’ve been married. DER. oh....well, lesson learned!

Ok and my third long lost love would definitely have to be French men (more so such parisian men). For the sake of little eyes who might be perusing, i won’t detail. But, great welcome to France!!!

So since we came in at a non-transfer week, our schedule was a little weird. President Staheli picked us up at the airport and then we went to the mission home and had lunch, took a nap, went to consecration hill, had interviews, met our trainers, dinner, testimony meeting (in french--that was fun ha), and then the elders dropped us off at our apartments (Sister howell and I are the only 2 in our apartment, which i said already is in nanterre; but technically our proselyting area is the St. Ouen area). The Stahelis are absolutely wonderful!!! Sister Staheli is probably one of the nicest people ive ever met (if you ever see sister cusick, you can tell her to tell andrew that i made sure to give her a big hug just for him), and president staheli--wow. I am just impressed and feel so blessed to have him leading us. He’s down to earth and way funny, but also just powerful.

It’s a mission wide thing now that everyone is shooting for 20 lessons a week. I don’t know how it is in other places, but just what ive seen these last few days, that is going to work us really hard!!! However, I am excited for the challenge and just wish i knew so much more of how everything works out here. I sometimes feel like a little puppy that Sister howell has to reign in on a leash when we go out in public. Its such a powerful feeling knowing that there are people ready to have their lives changed by the gospel, but I really need to be patient and learn how things work. Needless to say, we know why patience has been given as counsel in like every blessing ive ever received; sheesh--think someone might know me pretty well?

I have to admit I felt pretty grown up when i walked in and saw a board with peoples names on it and realized that WE HAVE AMIS (aka investigators--there are weird mission culture things here...like some of them are REALLY weird, and im not super pleased that they are becoming normal. ask Andrew about the being BORN, DYING, and mom/dad stuff)!!! i still havent met very many of them, because we had a lot of people cancel at the last minute this week. awesome feeling? yup. But i can tell you with certainty that i will never forget my first lesson. Her name is Renate and she has been investigating the church for a while. She is super believing in God, but I swear she must have friends in like every cult possible, and it seems like she just believes everything people tell her. AND she speaks like a thousand miles an hour!!! So you know i wont lie and tell you that i understood everything she was saying, but afterwards i was like "wait, was she really just telling us about a devil worshipping something, with people tied up or something, and something else that i dont even want to write down something??" cuz yeah...im pretty sure that just happened! We managed to teach a little--I was just trying to figure out where she's at, but certainly an unforgettable experience. She's so nice, has hard things going on, and doesnt really get the whole necessity of baptism thing (problem), but MIRACLE--i squealed and jumped out of my chair when i saw her walk into sunday school!! she came to church!!! My heart was bursting!

long, long story, i will try to make it brief. Sister Howell was having a really hard time the other day. Another person canceled on us and we were running late, and we couldnt get a hold of the member who was supposed to teach with us to tell her that the ami canceled. So, the member eventually calls and i dont know what happened, but Sister Howell ends up in tears. And because shes so upset, she must not have heard right, or was just flustered, so she took us to the wrong place and the member called again and was like "where are you?" So we finally find the member and as we are walking up to her, Sister Howell starts crying again, and like cant speak. So fun for me--I get to deal with this Chantalle woman who just made my companion cry, is shaking her finger at us like only a french woman can, and is saying something about being penibles (annoying)!!! Chantalle asks Soeur Howell what is wrong; sister howell cant speak. So ...i was like "oh. ....its been a hard day and she doesnt feel well. But, everything worked out great--she invited us to her house and we worked out times to go contacting with her and then she came to teach a recent convert with us. By the end, she was insisting we call her "chanchan" and was telling us stories about her family and really offering sincere help finding new investigators and working with the ward and stuff. I think we made a dear friend in Chanchan, and that she will really be able to help the work in St. Ouen!!!

Anyway, my time is up, but i hope you all know how much i love you!!! what a great blessing is knowing that we can have eternal families if we accept Christ as our Savior and follow him?!!!! because i just dont know what i would do without you!!!

mom--i promise i will write you later with more details. the office got my coat today. and were gonna try to go get it sometime soon. its been pretty dang cold, but I’ve been trying to bundle up; and today is actually kinda sunny! Which reminds me--i found one of my favorite Sister Wang quotes in my notebook--she said this in a prayer she gave in class: "Thank you for a shiny day, although its a little cold. But, were grateful for the sunshine." I feel like i have so much sunshine here every day, because this work is truly such a blessing!!!

JE VOUS AIME!!!

Jordo

Arrival in France

2010-03-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

Jordan left the MTC on Monday, March 8th. Here she is with President & Sister Staheli at the mission home in Paris!

Dear Brother and Sister Pearce,

Sister Staheli and I were delighted to welcome your daughter, Sister Jordan Pearce, into the France Paris Mission on Tuesday, March 9th 2010. She and her MTC companion were enthusiastic and arrived in good health. She spent her first day eating some home cooked food, napping, visiting with me, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris, and sharing testimonies in our home. We enjoyed her spirit.

The next morning, after a mission orientation, Sister Pearce left for her first assignment to work in the Area with Sister Howell, who will be her trainer. Their apartment address is:
Soeur Pearce
296, av. Clémenceau
92000 Nanterre
FRANCE

We feel very privileged to work with your daughter. We also realize the responsibility we share with you to help her continue to grow spiritually as she faithfully performs her duties. May the Lord inspire us all to sustain her in this challenging and exciting assignment. We hope you will join Sister Staheli and me in praying each day for your daughter, her companion, investigators, and all of us serving in the France Paris Mission.

A positive, supportive letter from home every week does wonders to sustain a missionary’s morale. Proverbs 25:25 states: As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. If you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way, please contact us at our office (001-331-3480-0483) or home (001-331-3976-8402).

Sincerely,
Don H. Staheli
President, France Paris Mission

FW: Ok...for real....The Church is just so true!!!

2010-03-10T06:44:00.001-08:00

HI FAMILY!!!!!

How are you all doing?! To start off I just have to say that I have been so lucky. I know that I have the best friends and family in the whole world! You have all been so great and supportive, even if i feel like you're secretly trying to make me fat and frumpy! hehe. So I apologize if I haven't written you back--I promise i am trying! i have just been too spoiled by you all!!

The MTC has been wonderful, but after this last week I feel ready and excited to get to France! I can't believe it. Butterflies for sure. But for now, i don't think I have fully explained how cool our branch is. I am in the International Branch--meaning people from all over the place--like melting pot central. I am one of only four Americans in the entire branch (also means i'm one of only four white people in our branch)!! We have only about 40 or so missionaries and we have over 20 countries represented!! It's crazy! We have elders and sisters from Taiwan, Korea, China, Samoa, Tonga, Romania, Armenia, Burma (the first sister missionary from there ever. and there have only ever been 6 elders before her...amazing), India, Ukraine, France, the Marshall islands, Brazil, mexico, Canada, Kiribati, the Phillippines, etc, etc... Since I have that leadership assignment, I get to attend the meeting with the Branch President ever Thursday night where they share a little about their backgrounds and a brief testimony...and WOW. every week I am so touched! So many of them are the only members in their family and no matter how far they've come, what experiences got them here, or what language they speak, their testimonies bring us all together because they are all centered on jesus Christ, his Atonement, His plan, and the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It seriously is so cool--the Church is so true!! I've gotten better at employing my charade skills (thanks to halle's advice), because sometimes it's a wee bit of a challenge helping someone figure out their schedule and all the culture and rules of the MTC when you speak not a word of their language (I never really expected that learning Armenian would have come in handy), and they speak like two words of yours. For example, one of my personal favorites--when i ask, "So do you have any questions?' and they all nod and smile. hehe. I certainly love my dear sweet sisters. They are an inspiration to me every day.

There are other funny things that happen at the MTC that make you stop and ask "did that really just happen?" Like when an elder the other day stopped and asked if he could bear his testimony to us on the sidewalk (uh...sure....), or when a little old sister missionary comes and sits down at our table during lunch and says that she had a homework assignment to teach someone the first lesson and was wondering if she could teach us because I am not the most intimidating looking person...dumb blonde (check), short in stature (check, check))! it was pretty cute too because her hands were actually shaking because she was so nervous!! At least we could reassure her she wasn't alone!

Umm...dad being ranked 23 is so NOT trivial!! i actually squealed out loud when i read that (illiciting a few weird looks) because that's so awesome! you and your flowy hair (when you run across the court) must be doing a pretty dang good job! p.s. i would have paid big money to see the monopoly man realize he was going down to you!!!! hehe.

Sister Wang left this week, which was bittersweet, but after she left i had to write down her rules so i wouldn't forget them. After she did her morning check list with us (nametag, smile, blue card, etc...) she would always remind us of her 5 rules, which really apply to anyone, not just missionaries. (Granted, i have a much longer way to go improving on them than most of you). 1. love your companion 2. pray for your companion 3. no judge 4. no complain 5. no compare (said, of course, with her cute accent). I really appreciated having her keep me focused!

It was so great to talk to you mom – even if I did catch you way off guard! They just want you to call if your visa’s are delayed or travel changes from what it was supposed to be. So I was there with all the people who were originally called to Mongolia, but they all just got permanent new assignments cuz they can’t get visas there now at all . (wouldn’t you be a slight bit bummed if you had been called to Mongolia & they were like…jk – Denver north now! Maybe the 6 weeks you spent learning Mongolian will come in handy some other time!)

So I decided that once the season is over you should go as a family to volunteer at the TRC. If they do it Monday nights you could just do it as a FHE. Because most of the “investigators” who volunteer are either like young college students or old people. But I saw a cute family with like 3 younger kids there the other night & thought that was so cool for those missionaries, because we’re really encouraged to focus on families, in the field, but teaching a family with kids would be so different than teaching a little sweet old lady who practically cries when you smile & bear your testimony!

I’ve gotten more used to the TRC, but the first time I was scared out of my mind! And then the first time we taught in French, I was sick to my stomach! But I can already tell that I’ve grown. For example, this past Friday a teacher a couple of rooms came over & was like “hey could you go teach with Sister Henry (she is from France) in 5 minutes, because she’s never taught in French before & she doesn’t want to teach alone.” And we did it just fine without any preparation, & we had to teach the same investigator the next hour, so we just went with it & kept him going as a progressing investigator! They are suppose to be “golden investigators,” but it was still fun because we got to practice committing someone to baptism! Plus teaching in French always makes it a little more adventurous. Hahaha. Sister Henry afterward told us that we have “cute” accents & then she said that she was kind of laughing when sister woyak asked, “Quest-ce que vous faites avec votre femme, comme activite?” She was meaning to ask like “so what do you do in your spare time or for fun? But it translates more to “what do you do with your wife, as activity? HAHA. Thank goodness the investigator was just nice & went with what he figured she meant. I look forward to having these moments regularly starting next week. Haha

Speaking of language barriers…funny story. Ya know how we have to prepare sacrament talks every week? Well, the topic last week was “charity & love.” But, one of the Brazilian elders told one of the other Brazilian elders (Elder Lima) that it was “chastity & love.” I, of course, couldn’t set him straight because I thought it was too funny an opportunity to ruin. Elder Lima is like the most innocent, little boy looking Elder here, so picture him worrying about writing & being called up to give a sacrament talk in front of everyone on “chastity and love.”

Ok, cool story from last week, I didn’t have time to write. We had to teach a district lesson last week & the topic was Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ & the Atonement. Anyway, we started planning & I was just not feelin’ it! So I closed my eyes for little bit & thought about it & then came up with the idea of doing a “musical lesson.” I figured that music brings the spirit much faster than anything else does, & that the spirit is a much better teacher than I ever could be. So we prayerfully chose hymns that testified of the principles & doctrines related to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ & the Holy Ghost. And then basically shared our testimonies of the principles in between hymns & asked the same question after each –“How would having a testimony of the principles taught in this hymn help an investigator progress toward baptism?” It was a super simple lesson (and we didn’t even have a table cloth!), but wow… I felt the spirit! There were tears all around & one of the sisters afterwards said, “it was like Angels were there!” How grateful I am to the Holy Ghost & the ways that it can touch our hearts & inspire us!

K, well I had so many more things to tell you, but we just had an impromptu departure party on the floor. The foreign sisters just came and sang “God be with you,” to us. Absolutely beautiful.

Your letters have helped so much as well! I hope everything is going great and that everyone is staying out of too much mischief (unlikely). I love you all so much and I will write you next week from the most beautiful city in the world!!!! Give everyone hugs for me!
Love, jordan

I only have 18 minutes!

2010-03-04T05:52:00.000-08:00

so...i have 18 minutes to tell you about what feels like a century's worth of stuff!

We went to San Francisco on Thursday… the French Embassy didn’t approve us to leave this Monday (the 1st)… so our flight plans are leaving from SLC NON-STOP (yeah baby) on March 8th. I can't believe it's that soon!

Thursday was great, hopefully I'll have time to write the funny parts--like having a 19-yr old elder be the travel leader and hearing him try to call for a shuttle by starting out with a "yeah...ummm...we're the missionaries....from Christ's church.umm....we need a shuttle...." I didn't even try to stifle the giggle! It kinda reminded me of matthew the other day on the phone actually...just to give you an idea! so great. The highlight of the day was probably that they forgot to pick us up at the airport, so we were stuck there until 10:30 P.M.

So, we do 75 minutes of "service" every week, which translates to us cleaning the bathrooms here. We are super lucky ducks and got the showers the last two weeks...Which, is awesome and terrible. Awesome cuz you get to use these huge industrial power sprayer things and have to wear goggles cuz the chemicals you use might blind you or something (slight exaggeration--but you do have to wear goggles...pics will be sent forthwith). Terrible because when you have like 60 girls living on one floor, that translates to a whole lot of hair in the shower drains.

Another funny moment was in the RC (referral center) this week. You get like a nifty head set and make phone calls following up on things that non-members have ordered (book of mormons, bibles, free videos, etc...) and then bear testimony and basically try to talk them into letting the missionaries come over.. anyway, because you're calling all over the country, you end up on the phone with some pretty dang interesting characters..or more often, you get hung up on by some very interesting characters. usually it's no problem figuring out what to say, but one of them left me speechless...like ZERO words. I started talking to her and told her who I was and she goes, "Actually, my mom just got murdered and I need to get off the phone." ummm......."okay good luck with that?' I mean what do you say to that really?! The MTC is full of surprises every day!

I am learning patience and how important it is to have the spirit with you. I have come to have a much greater understanding of how seriously awesome the Book of Mormon is.

Oh and yeah--crazy about the Belgium mission!!! We heard about that this week too....so who knows--maybe I'll end up in lots of the same places as Nelson!

I don’t have much time because sweet sister Wang has need of us to re-pack all her bags cuz it was like Joshy man had packed them & because I am emotionally worn out. I haven’t really cried until tonight & sister Wang keeps saying “I shouldn’t waste my diamonds (tears), but man…1. Sister Wang is leaving early tomorrow 2. We had to say goodbye to our elders 3. They made us sing “God be with you till we meet again” @ the departure fireside (just plain mean if you ask me)! I feel like I’m saying goodbye to my MTC Family. We spend so much time together, have shared testimonies, experiences & have grown together & now they’re all leaving to go into the real world!

I’m worried about leaving. I am really scared. The MTC is safe & I can handle it. But I was called to France for a reason & purpose & I am excited to go & seek out those who God has prepared for me to teach. I have faith that they are there – ready & waiting!

It sounds like your lives are absolutely CRAZY! I don’t know how you are keeping up – then again I always did suspect you two had some hidden “energizer bunny” plug-in somewhere in your bodies!

Mom, I missed your admiring all the charming houses w/porches in San Francisco. It just wasn’t the same without you imagining your small-town hick life there!

I love you all to infinity and back and am so grateful for all your support and love!

love, jordo
p.s. I'll send Sister Wang's info in a letter later--tell the Teng's thank you so much!! She gets so excited even when we get mail, and you should have seen her when she got your package of gummi bears!!!???? i will admit that there was some welling of tears. thank you for doing that mom. i really appreciate it. and she thought the note about your boyfriend from taiwan was hilarious.
p.p.s. THAT IS RIDICULOUS!!! who do they think they are trying to split your precious ward…i think you need to march on up and take it up with Salt Lake!!! Then again...i really liked the music and the spoken word idea too, so maybe i'm a little torn hehe.
p.p.s.s. Tell Rash’s thanks so much for the package! The pics made me so happy (especially krew’s hee hee).
p.p.p.s.s. my new email is Jordan.pearce@myldsmail.net (dot instead of _)
p.p.p.s.s.s. This week will be crazy cuz we have 20 new missionaries from all over the world, and some of them know like zero English (which makes explaining rules & schedules interesting)
love you love you love you, I wish I had time to tell you more cuz being a missionary is so full of adventures!

MTC!

2010-02-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

Jordan & her companions pointing to their spots on the map!

Jordan & Sister Wang!

Some "Sisters"

A poster the Congers sent Jordan for Valentines!

Jordan trying to make her bed. She is too short to stand on the ground and do it!

Studying.

Jordan & Sister Woyak

Jordan's companion's, Sister Woyak & Sister Wang!

Wow! How great is life really!

2010-02-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

Dearest family!!!

I just sat here with a huge grin on my face reading your e-mails and laughing out loud! (I'm trying to keep my chortles to a minimum though because i don't want everyone else to be jealous that my family is way funnier than theirs.)

I don't even know where to begin telling you about this last week because WOW!!! I just absolutely love, love, love being a missionary. I have never felt more uncomfortable at times or pushed out of my comfort zone so far, but I have also never had such great faith in our Savior. In class time with our teachers we don't really spend a whole lot of time just listening to them, because they say you learn how to teach by teaching. So we study on our own time (which is way too minimal), and then we role-play with each other. (at least our elders are becoming like family, so it's okay to sound like a complete fool sometimes). Can you say AWKWARD MOMENTS!!!?? You just have to laugh at yourself sometimes. They are also all about focusing on the needs of the INVESTIGATOR, so we watch these videos on the internet from the "6 billion people" project and talk about what doctrines would be important and mean something to them, and then how understanding those things would help them progress towards baptism. The videos are really cool--you should check them out.

I've found out that obedience is a blessing and a curse. (mostly kidding.) We really have so much more energy and feel better when we go to sleep at 10:30, but they also say to be fifteen minutes early to sacrament meeting, and I can't quite decide if that is the best option....I got cornered! They called me to be the coordinating sister for our branch. Meaning, I work with the zone leaders to orient all the new people we get every week to the MTC. haha. I laughed my butt off at first cuz HULLO, I am certainly no MTC expert!! But I guess I haven't epically failed...yet....last night I had to introduce them to missionary planning during the meeting with the branch presidency. And I guess after someone overheard President Price say that even if i hadn't said anything, the diagram (a daily planner page all planned out) I drew on the board was the best they had ever seen. Sigh of relief. I thought I was going to be fired for sure!! But, my companions have been great helping out too because right now, I'm the only coordinating sister and next week we have 16 new missionaries!!!! (not gonna lie--I felt pretty sweet walking around wednesday without a dork dot..hehe)

Can I say again how much I love my companions?! I wish I could elaborate but time is so short.

Anyway, I am so lucky and so blessed to have this opportunity. I love hearing from you all and can't adequately express how much I love you. But, I won't really say that I miss you TOO much, because I realize more and more every day what a sacred trust I've been given. We watched a "district" video (real-life missionary stories) and I just sat there sobbing (at least I'm still a bawl baby) watching the person being led into the font. I was thinking how great it would be to see someone you had taught come unto Christ and enter the waters of baptism! Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he gave his son to provide a way for us to return to Him and inherit all that He has! I can't wait to be able to help others understand that the Savior has restored His Church and His Gospel and that we can know how to return to Him!! What a blessing, i mean really. I love you!!!!!

I love you so much and I do miss, but am just trying to push those thoughts away.
Love, Jordo

P.s. I love, love, love my clothes! I sometimes feel a little spoiled, but I will admit that it’s nice to not feel like you have to look totally frumpy.

There are also some things I never knew would have guessed about the mtc. Like there aren’t that many people who play the piano. In my branch there’s me & one sister who can play a few hymns. Oh, and I like relief society so much here, since there’s not very many sister missionaries (one dorm building), we have it all together and show up & there are guest speakers. Like today was… Janice Kapp Perry!!!! FOR REAL!!!! Obviously we sang as part of her talk & she sang for us. Many, many tears & tissues used in that estrogen-filled environment.

Singing “Called to serve” on Sundays @ the firesides is pretty sweet, I’m not gonna lie! It’s fun looking around the huge auditorium & seeing everyone singing proudly while sporting their black nametags.

One thing that warmed my heart yesterday was that I got Elder Garcia to say “he’s great.” Elder Garcia is in my class, (he is serving in montreal & speaks French, english & Spanish fluently already) & kinda one of those sorta not super friendly & a little stubborn, but really sweet elders. Whenever I asked him how he was doing, he said either “fine” or “all right” without fail. So, I told him I was determined that one of these days I was going to get him to say, “great.” And he finally broke yesterday!! We were partners for role-playing, teaching the word of wisdom & after I finished, he told me he felt “GREAT!!” My heart was warmed for sure!

So, I showed my companions the pics of our family in that album today. Sister Wang couldn’t get over how pretty my mom was! I wholeheartedly agreed.

One of our teachers referenced the “Jedi missionary” this week in a large group meeting. And used the appropriate hand gesture & said “you will be baptized.” Great Moment!! It’s those times that I miss you guys the most though cuz I look around to share a secret laugh & inside joke & you’re not there. But it’s ok, in the health clinic there’s a sign that says, “Missionary (misch-un-a-ree): a person who leaves their family for 18 months, so that others can be with theirs for eternity. I know that’s super cheesy, but really that’s what it’s about & I know I couldn’t be doing anything better.

Jordan's first email home!

2010-02-13T12:19:00.000-08:00

Bonjour family!!! things are absolutely crazy on the other side. I pretty much have no idea what is going on, but the great thing about that is that I am learning a lot! So there is definitely never a dull moment. I gave mom a lot of details in a written letter since i spent all morning waiting in the health center (my poor companions aren't doing so well. I wanna say suck it up, but that might not be in keeping with the whole "love your neighbor" bit!)

I guess they have restructured the MTC stuff in the last while, and it is awesome. I am coming to better understand my purpose as a missionary and how I can better pick out the needs of the individual investigators that are waiting for us. it's some serious pressure knowing that you are a representative of the Lord and that you are called to be a steward of souls basically! We are learning that we don't teach lessons, we teach PEOPLE. and when i say we....i'm not sure who i am talking about, because i know that's the idea, but i'll be honest that i have no idea where to begin teaching a lesson!

My companions are great! And yes, I did just say companionS. the whole advanced language/international branch is arranged differently because there aren't very many of us. Sister Woyak is going to Paris too and is definitely helping me step up my French. Since we aren't learning French at all in our classes (i think i might try to sit in on some of the normal french classes during MDT "missionary directed time"), we are trying to quiz each other on "church vocab" as we walk places. I'll be honest though---it's mostly her teaching me!! Sister Wang is adorable. she is from Taiwan and learning English to serve in California Santa Rosa. We get along really well, which is good since you can pretty much never leave each other's side! When someone has to go to the bathroom, the rest of us wait outside and read from the handbook or practice vocab, because we really can't waste time! The food is good (except the pastrami sandwich--which i should have surmised from the name), and our beds are actually pretty comfy. I forgot to set my alarm last night, but the great thing about two companions, is that you have two more alarm clocks!

The spirit is incredible! I have a lot to learn, but I feel like the spirit is helping me learn "at an incredible rate." The spirit is a much better teacher than i could ever hope to be, so i'm just praying that i work hard enough to be worthy of its companionship. I'm beginning to realize that missionary work involves an earnestness that i have never imagined before. Sure, in nursing i could "kill people", but like i said before, these are souls we're dealing with! heavenly Father's children. who he loves and wants to bless just as much as he loves us. I still can't believe how lucky and blessed I am to have had a knowledge of the gospel my whole life. But really, it wasn't because i did anything great, but because i have a great family and especially great parents who taught me right. so thank you so so so much.

They don't really give us much time to be homesick. So i miss you, but I haven't cried over it yet, because 1. it probably hasn't really hit me yet and 2. i have many more things to be focused on. I am grateful to be here and am hangin' in the first week! I love you all dearly.
love, jordan
p.s. tell the congers and tara thank you for their letters. i'll try to write them back today, but just in case i can't until next week. oh and tell the conger girls i can't e-mail them personally
p.s.s. halle, joshy, johnny, matthew--love you guys and i'm waiting for those lousy letters you promised!!! hope st. george was great!

Au Revoir et Salut Soeur Pearce!

2010-02-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Jordan went into the MTC, Wednesday, Feb 10th! She had a lot of friends and family come say good bye. Here are a few pictures of her send off!Nelson, Kirstin, Michael, Katie, Caroline & David!

Thomas & Cassidy!

Jordan is 4'11" tall and Michael is 5'11" tall. Here he is saying his good-byes on "her level." Jordan really loves Michael and was pretty sad that he will probably be gone on his mission before she gets home, so she won't see him for 3 1/2 years!

Dave, Ali, Lindsey, Brittney & Matthew!

Leslie, Kaden & Christian!

Nate, Diana, Jackson, Kate & Gwen!

Callie & Lizzie!

Love the awkward boy picture!

Jordan had already been set apart so here she is saying good-bye to Andrew and Stephen. Note: We have a similar awkward picture of Jordan & Andrew from when they ran into each other on the street in Paris, while Andrew was serving a mission in Paris and Jordan was on a study abroad!

Kaitlyn, Kelsie & Callie!

Kib, Lisa, Steph, Jacob & Justin!

The family in front of the MTC sign!

Our family and grandparents went to see Jordan off at the MTC. They won't let you in there anymore so we parked across the street and walked over to take pictures! Then got back in the car and did the drive through drop!

You have to look close but you can see Jordan being escorted inside by 2 Elders! They were really sweet and trying to keep her chit chatting so we didn't all have a total break down on the curb!

Jordan's Farewell!

2010-02-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Jordan's farewell went really well! She gave such a sweet talk and then we had family and some close friends for dinner after church! It was a great day! Here is Jordan with the Abbott cousins!