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
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Pictures!
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!
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!
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!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Ramblings!
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
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
Saturday, August 28, 2010
What more could you ask for?
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
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
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
That Just Happened!
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??????!!!!!!!!
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??????!!!!!!!!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Just Like Laundry!
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.
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.
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