School is For More Than My Brains

I was being a good little student tonight and as I was reading for my Multicultural Education class, I stumbled upon this little nugget of wisdom that is incredibly relevant to my current situation as a single lady.  Made me laugh and have a light bulb go off at the same time.  Win-win-win!

This comes from a book called "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking," by Malcolm Gladwell.  Obviously, what I'm reading about is not for this aspect of my life, but oh, how it relates.  Anyway, he gives an example about what I've been reading about with speed dating...so, without further ado...

"Mary says that she wants a certain kind of person.  But then she is given a roomful of choices and she meets someone whom she really likes, and in that instant she completely changes her mind about what kind of person she wants.  But then a month passes, and she goes back to what she originally said she wanted.  So what does Mary really want in a man?

"The description that she starts with is her conscious idea: what she believes she wants when she sits down and thinks about it.  But what she cannot be as certain about are the criteria she uses to form her preferences in that first instant of meeting someone face-to-face.  That information is behind the locked door."

Boom.  Kind of made sense as to why I'm so weird about boys and how I don't seem to like the same type of guy twice.  This is not to suggest that there's someone in mind at the moment, because this girl's going to be a single lady for quite some time, I think, but man.  Totally nailed that one.  Now...what to do about it?  Please bless the next reading gives the answer.  Sigh.

First Full Week Back in Provo!

It's been my first week back in Provo and although I've updated a few of you, I figured I would do a little blurb of what's going on in the life of Jordie.  We'll see how it goes :)

Monday: I got to have a second interview with Dee in the morning, which resulted in a job offer!  We set up a schedule which works perfectly for me.  I'm grateful to only have 2 classes that are in the afternoon mostly, so I can work solid hours every day!  I was told that in order to go through the hiring process, I'd have to take my social security card to the employment office.  Well, since i'd worked on campus previously, I didn't feel the need to bring that with me, so I got to go to the social security office in order to get another one.  I waited for a while, but it was a relatively painless process.  I got to finally go grocery shopping, too, which was heavenly.  I've felt like such a bum being in the apartment with almost zero food and not wanting to steal everyone else's!  I was grateful that groceries are so much less expensive here than the last time I had to buy groceries (on my mission!).  I spent less than I thought I would, rebuilding the essentials, and it felt great!  Krystal was still working on moving out, so I headed to my first ASL class.  It's a small class and my teacher's last name is Lynn, but we're not related.  His relatives are from Ireland...like, he was born there!  He's hilarious and it's really fun to be back in a sign language class!  There's a lot of work attached to the class, like going to cultural activities and the lab, etc, but it will be doable!  I didn't end up going to my FHE because Krystal was gone when I got home, meaning that I could finally move stuff in.  I realized I didn't even have bedding, so I went to the storage unit and went through some things to bring back the essentials.  My roommate Rachel was salivating when she opened my DVD box.  She's got quite the collection, but it's fun to have other choices :)

Tuesday: I got to work in the morning.  "Work" was actually online training on Excel, with a few little moments talking to Dee more about what I'll be doing.  I'm still a little confused, to be honest, but I put my shoulder to the wheel and just did the training.  It's a lot easier than I thought it was, but then again, I'm on the basics, so I shouldn't talk too soon.  Needless to say, it was NOT the most exciting day at work!  I had my first Multicultural Education class early in the afternoon, which got me SO excited to be back in teaching things.  The teacher is going to be awesome.  It will be quite a bit of work, too, but totally doable for me, since I only have 2 classes!  Anyway, it was nice to be back!  I had my ASL class, or so I thought.  The teacher didn't end up showing up, and we didn't know why.  Most of us stayed at least a half hour, just to see if he would show, but he didn't, so I went home and got some stuff done!  It was excellent!

Wednesday: Nothing too exciting.  Work and class.  You know.  The usual.  But the funnest thing was that as I headed home, I got a phone call from Katie Wilde!  She left a message and said that she knew it was last minute, but if I didn't have anything planned, she'd love to have me over for dinner :)  I guess her husband was gone at meetings, and I still hadn't seen her, so I changed and freshened up, and then headed to Pleasant Grove amidst a ridiculous blizzard...it seems that every time I get on the road, it decides to snow!  It was fine though.  I got to meet my surrogate niece, Brooklynn, who is just so beautiful!  She's super petite...like, half of Sophie, and she was born only 2 months after Sophie was.  She's a hoot though.  She looked at me like I was a monster most of the time, but she warmed up to me.  We ate dirty risotto and just caught up with everything.  It really has been so nice to realize that people still want to be my friend, even though I've been gone for almost 2 years, and they're married with children, etc.  It was just like we were roommates again, besides the fact that she was the mom of a beautiful baby.  I appreciate that, though!  I think I went in feeling like most people will forget about me or they'll move on, but tis not so...for the most part!

Thursday: Work!  I didn't have my Multicultural Education class IN class, we did a technology day..where we had an assignment that took the length of the class to complete, so she just had us do it at home.  Which I did!  I had a huge break and I still did my homework!  Hooray!  I finally got to get fingerprinted, too!  That was one of the main reasons we came to visit Utah a few weeks ago, but the machine was down.  Not anymore!  I was glad to get that stress out of the way!  My ASL class was just peachy.  I've gotten ahead in the class, so it's not as stressful as I was afraid it would be!  I got to catch up on the phone with Dustin, who was in my ward before I left.  I also got to chat with April.  So fun to see how everyone's doing!!

Friday: Just work!  I don't have classes Friday, so I just worked for 5 hours and learned more stuff that I'll be doing.  It's a little intense and pressure-filled, because it's stuff I can't mess up on, but it was nice to NOT be doing the online Excel training :)  After that, I did a bit of homework and cleaning before I headed up to Highland to visit Sister Stevens who is now known as Briana...Weird.  As I was about to leave, I got a call from my half-blood Navajo friend, who was headed to Utah, so we made plans to catch up on Saturday.  I had SUCH a fun time with Briana!  We went and got some Cafe Rio, which is the only thing I missed that I hadn't eaten yet.  It was fun to catch up and felt like we were back on our missions besides the fact that we mostly talked about boys and how weird it is to be back in the singles ward scene, etc.  I got to visit a bit with her mom and brothers.  Her mom had had her 5th chemo treatment that morning and was doing great!  She was up talking to all of us.  She's definitely bald and was tired, but she wasn't violently ill, which I was grateful for!  We headed upstairs and pretty much spent quite a bit of time watching all the funny youtube videos that we'd seen.  I showed her Marcel the Shell which we both DIED laughing, as well as Kid History, Tom Hanks' Toddlers and Tiaras, "You Sneaky Mom!", the Twilight before Christmas, Guinew Moon, and so many others.  She had some pretty funny ones too.  We both had headaches from laughing so hard.  We also watched She's the Man and laughed some more.  She laughs REALLY hard at everything, so it makes me laugh, and it was just nice to have that!  It's not as fun watching movies alone :)   We were up talking until really late.  Poor thing has a LOT going on and her family is struggling with some things, and it's just sad.  But nice to be able to talk like we did on our mission!

Saturday: After making some breakfast, I headed back to Provo and got ready.  I did some homework, and then Chris (the Half-Blood Prince) came over with his friend and we hung out for a long time.  Turns out, I'm still not a very exciting person.  So weird.  It was really fun to get to visit with them.  I forget that I have friends, you know?  Haha!  Anyway, they headed up to Salt Lake for the night, and I got to visit with Hermana Isaacson, who I lived with in Revere.  She had texted and she came over for about an hour and a half and we got to catch up!  I just love that girl!  After that, I finally got to cleaning.  The apartment wasn't too clean when I got here, and I don't know when the last time some things got cleaned was, so I did the bathroom and my room, and vacuumed the living room, etc.  My roommates have been gone all weekend (Bethany in Idaho, Rachel in Cali), so I decided it would be the perfect time to clean!

Ok, this is a huge epistle, sorry!  Anyway, I hope everyone's had a fantastic week!  I sure love you and I hope you have a great week this week!

Love, Love, Love,

Jordan

Back in Provo!

Had my first day in my new singles ward.  Topic for sacrament meeting?  Marriage.  Home.  Family.

Welcome back, Jordan.  Welcome back.

Gratitude

Good Afternoon, Dear Reader,

It's been about a month since I got home and since I've updated, so I figured it's probably a good idea at this point!  I have enjoyed my time SO much, being home!  My first week was spent with all the sisters and their families, which I LOVED!  Meeting Sophie and Sadie was a huge highlight, as was getting to enjoy time with Luke again.  I am one lucky Aunt Jordie!  We did lots of fun things together, including watching my first few movies home: Despicable Me, Tangled, (re-watching) The Princess and the Frog, The Help, and You Again.  I could NOT stop laughing at Despicable Me.  Oh, dolly.  Such a funny movie and so fun to get to enjoy it with my fam!  I was caught up on some of my favorite new-ish Youtube videos: Marcel the Shell, Kid History, Hide Yo Kids, Friday, and I could go on and on.   It's amazing how funny it is, but how much I really didn't miss it for the last 18 months.

Week 2 home was full of doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, and shopping.  LOTS of shopping :)  It's amazing how unattractive all of my sister missionary clothes are...weird.  Never fear, I am restocked with some fun clothes.  Fewf.  I know.  I spent time updating my resume and sending it to AAA, where my dad said there may be some temp positions open.  Not going to lie, I was a little nervous, since that has been quite the priority: getting back on track and all...I was grateful because a job was offered, but I would have had to start while I was in Utah, so it didn't work out.  I felt peaceful that something would come up, but still a little nervous, not knowing what it would be.

Week 3 was spent in Utah!  I want to tell you a little more about this miraculous week.  Mom and I had a fabulous time driving from California to Utah.  We stopped in Reno to stay away from snow.  We ended up laying Phase 10 on the 17th floor of a casino on Sunday night.  That's how classy we are :)  It was nice to be able to chat for pretty much all of those 11 hours!  We rocked out to lots of different music and I was just in heaven.  Throughout the week, we went between Aunt Daryl's house and Gramma and Grampa Orton's house.

I'd had a chance to visit with one of my old roommates, Krystal, the week before, who'd asked if I was going to be taking block classes.  I didn't too much of it, but Valentine's Night, an uncle also asked.  I figured I would just check when it started, to see if it WOULD be a possibility.  Turns out, it starts February 27th!  I thought I should just check to see if they had a class that I need to take.  While I was gone, they changed when the Special Ed majors take a certain required class.  I'd been in contact with a secretary who worked with me as I tried to take substitute class after substitute class during Spring.  Each time slot that was open conflicted with other classes I needed to take.  It was getting frustrating, hoping it would all work out, but not knowing how it would.  Well, upon finding out when classes start, I decided to just see if a substitute class was available.  AND IT WAS!  And there were quite a few spots open!

The next day, we headed to BYU to work on some student teaching application stuff.  We started at the admissions office, however, and later that day, got ok-ed to start school during the winter block!  Hooray!  I also got to go visit my old boss, Rachel, who I just love.  She expressed interest in having me work there in the Spring, but had nothing available now.  She said she'd talk with HER boss to see if there were any openings for me!  I didn't have the chance to do fingerprinting, which is one of the things I originally went there for, but that was alright!

The next morning, I had an email from Rachel, saying that her boss DID have a job opening and asked me to send my resume!  I had no idea what the job was for, but I sent my resume in and told them that I would be back on campus on Friday, if they needed an interview, etc.  Later that day, as we were shopping with Aunt Daryl, I got a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview!

Friday morning was spent on campus, turning in my student teaching application, and then having an interview!  I thought the interview went just fine (it's been a LONG time since I've had a job interview!)  Howevah, comma, I had to take a little test which required Excel skills AND Word.  It's been over a year and a half since I've had anything to do with either of those, and my Excel skills have always left something to be desired.  Neither test went too well, but I had a lot of peace knowing that if I was supposed to get the job, I would!

Today, I got a phone call asking me to come in Monday!  I should also mention that my aforementioned roommate Krystal mentioned that she was getting ready to move up to Salt Lake.  Which means that her contract is available now.  I got to meet my future roommates and see the adorable apartment!  I know a few people who live in the same place, so I'm excited to see how this block goes!

I am just so thrilled and grateful that everything is working out so well.  I know this is a direct result from my missionary service.  I know the Lord is perfectly aware of my desires and He knows what's best for me.  I feel so much peace about how this is all working out.  I feel so much gratitude!  I almost feel unworthy of all these blessings!!!  I'll take them, but wow!  I am excited for the adventures that lie ahead!  Thank you, everyone, for your prayers!  I sure love you and am so grateful to each of you!

Love,
Me

The Time Has Come

Dear Family and Friends Who Have Also Endured Reading My Letters Until The End,

Oh. My.  I'm sorry, but wow.  I'll tell you what, wow!  It is my last email home as a missionary!  I can't exactly comprehend that fact, actually.  I have loved my time as a missionary.  LOVED it!  Every moment hasn't been perfect.  Everyday, there are challenges and ups and downs.  But as I've reflected a lot over this last transfer, I can definitely see that the ups have WAY outweighed the downs.  I know that I needed this mission.  I know I've needed each companion, each investigator, each less active, each recent convert, each member of the church.  I've needed each missionary who I've served around.  I've grown a lot over these last (almost) 19 months.  I still have a long way to go, of course, but it's been a necessary part of MY progression and life.  Sigh.  It's incredibly bittersweet at this point, but anyways...Let me tell you about my last week and a half, shall I?  Enough of this sappy stuff...

Tuesday, after we emailed, we had dinner with Kathy and Don in our ward.  They're two single adults in the ward who come to Book of Mormon night every week.  They live right by our referral, Tony and we were tickled when we walked in and Kathy told us that she'd invited Tony to come to dinner!  We had some appetizers and then some sloppy joes.  We got to answer a lot of his questions about what the Book of Mormon is, etc.  He had called us earlier in the day, almost sounding like he was backing out of meeting with us.  As Kathy and Don interacted with Tony, he was put at ease and showed some real interest in what we were talking about.  They invited him to Book of Mormon night and then the single adult fireside, too!  He seemed a little overwhelmed, but happy to be invited!  We shared a few scriptures from the Book of Mormon, and it was a lovely night!  

Wednesday, we visited with Brenda and Ashley.  Sister T pronounces Brenda like "Blender" so I'm a little jealous.  She naturally has a PART of the New England accent down!  I'm still working on it.  Being so far from Boston, the accent isn't as strong and I fear that my testimony in my native mission language won't be as cool :)  When we left Blender's, we had a couple messages, one from a number we didn't recognize.  We got my first really scathing voicemail from a less active who definitely doesn't want to be contacted anymore.  It was either his wife or the new owners of the home.  She threatened to call the police if we came back, because we'd left a note addressed to Bro. Davis and apparently it was offensive...We had to listen to some Hymns pretty quickly to bring the Spirit back into our car after that!  Sister T just wanted to listen to it over and over again and wanted to go over there and apologize.  I spoke up and we didn't call back (at her request) and we didn't head back there...Bullet: dodged!  We spent some time visiting less actives, including Mary.  She was tickled that we stopped by and we had a lovely discussion about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel.  Sister T likes her a lot and they click together, so I think that she can help her get back to church!  I hope so!  We did mormon.org and had dinner before we headed to the church for what we thought was a church tour for Tony.  When Brother Bacik showed up, Tony wasn't there, so we were a little bummed.  Apparently he wasn't feeling too well.  Still have hopes for him.  It might just be a bad week OR he may just not be ready at this point.  At least he knows a few members who can and will reach out to him without us asking!  

Thursday, we had district meeting, which consisted of a "District Blitz!"  That meant that we took a little time talking about what we've learned in our district meetings and Preach My Gospel about finding people, and then we actually did a "real" play (instead of a ROLE play), and we headed to different parts of Manchester to find some people.  It was a little bit hilarious, because we picked places close to the church so some could be street contacting and some could be knocking.  We were knocking first and in true New England fashion, we knocked about 20 doors and out of those, only 3 answered.  We got one who was a die hard Catholic, we got one who was holding back a giant dog and said no thanks, and we got one who was "all set," but who told us to stay warm on a frigid day.  Bless their hearts :)  Who knows.  We left a lot of cards on doors and hope that that somehow plants seeds!  I think most of the elders had similar experiences, so that was a bummer and not quite as successful as was planned, but that's ok.  It was a fun experience, nonetheless!  The zone leaders had to leave early, so it was just the 6 of us, and for my last district meeting, we went to Catsup and Mustard for lunch.  It was delightful, but apparently made E. Gardner sick the next day.  Whoops!  Anyway, there was quite a bit of snow predicted that evening, so our dinner appointment with the Allens was pretty much right after District lunch...I obviously should NOT have eaten there, but oh well...We had a fun time visiting with them and I got some advice from Sister Allen to get married ASAP after I get home...probably not going to happen, honey, but thank you anyway!  They have this incredible wood burning stove to heat their house, so we spent quite a bit of time in the room crowded around there!!!  There was snow, but we got home ok!

Friday, we had a visit with Carolyn where we talked a lot about what she'd been reading in the Conference Ensign.  She'd read the talk I'm using for my homecoming talk, so I could point out the parts that really stuck out to me, and we ended up talking about missionary work with her!  She's working hard on her next door neighbor, Nikki, to get her to come to church and hopefully take the lessons.  She's allowed Carolyn to take baby Ava (who is exactly a month older than Sophie) to church for several Sundays in a row, and Sister Gilmore has been SO awesome to fellowship them both.  I hope we can catch her :)  We had a lovely appointment with Valerie right after that.  She'd made us a giant breakfast for my last visit, so we talked all about the scriptures over scrambled eggs and bacon!  It's REALLY weird that I haven't lost weight for a while...Hmmm.  Mysterious.  She is LOVING the Book of Mormon, though!  She's been going with her husband to the Gospel Doctrine class, so they've talked a lot about it there and it's really come alive to her.  Their ward is doing a 40 Day Feast, which I'm planning on doing when I get home, and her testimony of the Book of Mormon is growing a TON.  She's made definitely plans for baptism at the end of March and was excited to learn more what the protocol is for that, because she wasn't too sure.  Hopefully Sister T gets to be here to see it!!!  We had lunch and then did service for my last time.  Yes, we DID stop to get my last Candy Cane Blizzard...for old times sake.  We've found something Sister T likes, so it's all for her...I'm serious.  We had a new referral that day given to us, and we'd gotten in contact with him, to bring him a Finding Faith in Christ DVD.  He ended up being a little creepy and we found out that he just collects Jesus movies and watches them as a "part time hobby."  Hmmm.  He goes to "The Prayer Tower," aka the Rameumptum, and is very happy there, he just wanted a free movie.  Rude.  We visited with the La Marques, and that was exciting!  Tina had sent their friend Dennis over to check out the place for the referral (who lives right by them) so that we weren't going somewhere dangerous.  I love this place.

Saturday we had massive snow!  We were red dotted if the roads weren't clear, and they definitely were NOT clear!  It was snowing solid for all of the morning and then into the afternoon.  The Saldivars were close enough to walk, so we did.  We had a lovely time celebrating Sister Saldivar's "22nd" birthday.  Again, they used Zhei Zhei's candles for her cake.  We had an interesting conversation about how someone thought that Brother Saldivar (in his early 30s) was actually 47, and that Sister Saldivar (a year younger than Bro. Saldivar) was mistaken for 25.  It was hilarious to hear Brother Saldivar call himself a "cradle robber," because apparently he was 47 and she was 25.  We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them to review what Khristinn had learned about faith and about the Atonement.  We took lots of pictures, too!  Brother Saldivar always has his camera out and ready to capture any kind of moment.  Another semi-awkward moment came when he said that they'd found my facebook profile to add me as a friend and that apparently it's public?  He found out my secret of making funny faces and we all had quite a bit of fun trying to pull different faces :)  We walked him and it was more and more slippery, so we thought it best to stay in until it stopped snowing.  We had gotten puzzles from the Wade family for Christmas, so we may or may not have put together some nice puzzles.  By the time our dinner appointment was coming up, it had stopped snowing and plows were going through to clear everything up, so we got to drive to the Lythgoes for some homemade soup and bread.  It was perfect for a pretty miserable and cold day!  They had some sick kids, so we didn't stay too long, but we had a fun time visiting with them.  They're just such a cool family.  I can't even describe it...But anyways.  We got home just fine, although the roads weren't as clear as we hoped, and were happy to be home for good!

Sunday, we had ward council in the morning.  I got to experience a little bit of contention for my last one, which is only fair :)  We spent a lot of time again talking about missionary work and getting the ward mission plan going.  We don't have full support for all our goals, etc, but that's alright!  We'll be fine...Church was wonderful!  Carolyn AND Nikki came!  We kind of have our row now.  We have the Gilmores, then Carolyn and Ava and Nikki, then us, then the Palmbergs.  Behind us are the Saldivars and Brother Beaudoin.  Dream team right in the center of the chapel.  Whoop whoop!  I was asked to give my testimony for my last Sunday, so I did actually bear my testimony.  I wanted to not be emotional and I wanted to show Carolyn that a testimony isn't about stories or experiences necessarily, it's what we believe and know to be true.  I didn't shed a tear for which I was grateful :)  We had some wonderful talks by the Websters, using the 2 different President Uchtdorf talks.  As always, those are a huge hit at Conference time!  I was also asked to give my testimony in Relief Society.  Rather than saying the same thing I'd said during Sacrament meeting, I did want to be a little more personal and share my gratitude for the women in this ward who have taken such good care of us.  This meant that there may have been a few tears shed and that was obnoxious.  I STILL can't cry and talk at the same time, so the ladies were patiently waiting for me for a few awkward moments.  But, that's ok.  It had just really hit me that it's the end, that I won't be back next Sunday, and that I have loved this ward more than I ever thought I would.  It had been such a struggle when I first got here, but my love has grown for each person that I've met, and it was just a sad moment for me.  We came home and had lunch and ferociously tried to get some things in order for a meeting with the Bishop.  He wanted to meet with us to talk about less actives we'd tried stopping by, and he ended up spending a few hours going through the ward list with us, sharing information about people we didn't know and what their circumstances are.  Brother Smith hasn't been here long enough to know those things, so it was a tender mercy that he wanted our information and he ended up sharing some vital information about people.  We then headed to the Gilmores for what we thought was a small dinner.  Well, it was a "Pre-Wake" for Sister Lynn's dying this week...They'd invited the Beaudoin's, the Smiths, the Saldivars, the Sloans, and then Carolyn and Sister Gilmore had been in charge of the food.  It was the sweetest thing and completely unexpected!  It was so fun to spend time with some of my favorite people in the ward.  Brother Saldivar was of course taking pictures of everything, and I'm excited to see those pictures when I get back on facebook :)  Sister Gilmore's sister and mom were also there, so we got to visit with some non-members.  The food was incredibly delicious!  We had Jamaican jerk chicken, we had Filipino curry chicken, we had all kinds of authentic food, complete with Sister Gilmore specials for dessert.  It was SO fabulous and my mouth was so happy.  My hips may not be, but that's another story...I am so grateful for this ward!  

Monday, we had lunch with Blender, Ashley, and Sister Allen.  Brenda has given Andover shirts to all the departing missionaries that she's known, but she gave them to Sister Stevens and I for Christmas, so I wasn't expecting anything.  Well, apparently a few weeks ago, I blabbed my name, because as I sat down, there was a box with a card taped to the front that said JORDAN.  Oh my.  Another weird moment where I thought about how soon I'll have to start responding to that name again.  At this point, when members or investigators say it, it sounds like a swear word.  That may take some getting used to.  I hope it's not as weird as I think it's going to be!  It was a UConn Huskies winter hat that is adorable.  Ashley picked it out :)  We had a really fun visit and it makes me sad that I won't be visiting with Brenda weekly anymore!  We stopped by Sister Bain afterward, who lives really close, and I said my last goodbye to her!  She made us eat too...it's amazing how much more that happens when you're headed home..Not cool.  We've had some tire problems lately, and got the go ahead to get them checked out.  We were at Pep Boys for a little while and ended up walking around the store next to it for a little while.  We then got to drive through some wicked crazy fog.  Man oh man.  New England is CRAZY!  It was SUPER thick in some places and not at all in others.  We were running late, so I was driving probably faster than I should have, especially with the fact that I couldn't see too far ahead of me, but we got there safe and sound.  The idea was that it would be a quick picture and then we'd head to our dinner appointment.  Well, Aiden had made popcorn and juice and brownies for another video.  We found Our Heavenly Father's Plan in the backseat, so we brought that in and ate and laughed and talked about it.  We did take some pictures and then I raced through the fog again because we were late getting to our DINNER with the Palmbergs!  It was a delicious meal and we had a fun time visiting with the family and oohing over the newest edition, Owen.  He's adorable and has really fluffy hair.  He was born about 3 weeks ago, so he still sleeps most of the time, but he was adorable.  Brother Stafford brought out his ukulele, which apparently Sister T plays, and they had a fun time jamming.  I loved listening to Sister T sing and play in Kiribati language.  SO cool!  We got home safe and sound, despite the crazy fog, and were glad to be back just fine.

Yesterday, we had our last appointment with Carolyn.  We spent most of the time visiting.  I know this is going to be really hard for her, because I've been part of her whole conversion and progression process, and now it's going to be totally different than it has been for the past 7 months.  Baby Ava was there, so we oohed and ahh-ed at her too.  She's a beautiful baby and Carolyn LOVES her adopted grandbaby :)  We also got to go visit Becky, who's health is still not good.  We watched a few shorter little videos with her and ate some popcorn and had some juice with her...We then rushed to meet Sister Hinckley at the UConn Dairy Bar.  We won her service coupon for babysitting at the RS activity a few weeks ago, and she said that she'd like to take us there instead of babysitting for us :)  It was delicious!  Not as great as the BYU creamery, but still delicious!  She is just so amazing!  I want to be like her.  She gives and gives, despite working, having a special needs child, and all kinds of other stresses and worries.  She never thinks twice when a generous thought comes to mind.  Awesome!  We visited with Sarah, and as we were leaving Sarah, Sister T said that she had a headache and that her stomach wasn't feeling too great.  Well, we had dinner with Denise, who made meatloaf, rice, veggies, macaroni salad, and then cheesecake.  Poor Sister T was pretty green about halfway through dinner, but Denise was really dragging things out.  We finally got out of there and just made it home before she got pretty sick.  She was vomitting a lot for the first few hours, and she's like me and likes to be left alone when she's sick, so I did laundry downstairs and packed and everything.  I got a lot done and hoped that that meant that tonight I don't have to be up all night getting things packed!  Please bless :)  Poor little brownie cookie...she was a champ and kept apologizing after throwing up that she couldn't help me.  Oh my.  Crazy person :)  She is gratefully feeling better today, so we can run all the last minute errands that I need to before heading home.  

Today, we'll have Book of Mormon night and hopefully stop by a few more people and then tomorrow is transfer meeting!  Sister T is training a greenie!  She's nervous, but I know she'll do fabulously!  I'll be going to the temple after the meeting and then having dinner with the departing missionaries and president, staying with some people in Brighton, and then Friday morning, I'll be at the airport!  CRAZY!  I love you so much!  Thank you for all the support you've given me over the last 18.5 months!  I feel so blessed to have so many people behind me!  I can't wait to hug and squeeze and kiss each of you profusely for at least a few days :)  Please, someone bring a camera!  I've been asked for documention of my coming home, and I'd love to have some pictures of that...not quite like my going to the MTC ;)  JK.  LOL.  

I love you a lot!  And I'll see you soon!!!

Love, Love, Love,

Sister Jordan Lynn

WOW!

Dear Family,

Sorry that you had to wait a day longer for this!  It's amazing how much I do NOT love Monday holidays as a missionary!  I'm sure they'll be a welcome relief when I'm home and when I'm a teacher, but fewf.  The simple pleasures of emailing on Mondays when you're supposed to! 

I'm not saying this in a trunky way, but can you believe that this is my second to last email home as a missionary?  I honestly cannot.  People keep asking when I go home and how I'm feeling and it is just the most bizarre thing.  Totally indescribable!  I've watched 3 companions go through it and thinking, "Why don't you just suck it up!  It can't be THAT weird!"  Well, it is.  I have to start answering "next week" and it's weirding me out BIG TIME!  I am so excited to see everyone, but the reality of the change is REALLY starting to set in.  I am to the point where most days either I or my companion will say, "Wow!  By this time in 2 weeks or next week, I will be seeing my family," or something like that.  I don't know if that makes sense.  Again, it's not in a trunky way, just in a disbelief kind of way.  It's sinking in that this is going to be over and it is actually a real thing.  BLEH! 

Anyway, let me go ahead and tell you about my week!  Sound good?  Ok gruh-ate!

Monday, we had a really fun p-day with the elders.  We actually went to Bloomfield, since we knew they weren't going to spend hours playing basketball :)  The zone leaders found out that we'd come if they played something we wouldn't feel like a burden playing, so they figured it out so that we could play volleyball!  Most people were gracious and didn't make us feel bad for playing something different, for which I was grateful!  We had some really fun teams and we wailed on them twice.  What is up!?  We had dinner with that Kalaghers that night.  They're wanting us to teach Gavin to get him ready for his baptism, so we had a fun dinner and had some bonding time with each member of the family, and then we followed it by the water bottle apostasy lesson.  Gavin made us some cupcakes that he got for CHristmas.  It was to make faces on the cupcakes, so they were REALLY realistic...I looked incredibly evil and spooky.  Real cute, Gav.  REAL. Cute.

Tuesday, we spend a lot of time stopping by less actives.  We'd gotten a referral for a Bible on Monday, so we stopped by him and we met him!  His name is Tony and he lives in teh same area as a few of our members, so we're excited for the prospect of a new investigator in that way!  He'd ordered a Bible, so we gave him one and then gave him a Book of Mormon, and made an appointment with him.  He seems pretty neat!  He's in his early 50s I would say and before we left, he played a Christian song on his guitar and a short little number on his keyboard.  I can tell it will be fun if we get to teach him :)  We were out walking, trying to contact and see less actives, when Shirly called us!  Shirly is the one who has CP and we'd followed her home :)  She said she needed help with something and invited us over.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous that she saw us as people who just helped, etc, but we went over there and she made a proposition for us.  She said that she'd found a printer on sale and couldn't get there by herself, so we decided we'd go with her, since we couldn't take the money and buy it FOR her, which is what she'd suggested...We set up a time for the next day, and she asked us to explain more about being a Mormon.  She told us that a long time ago, when she was young and "stupid," she'd met with elders who'd pushed her way too far way too fast.  It sounds like they didn't get very far, because she didn't remember anything about Joseph Smith or the restoration, etc.  That was fine though!  We were happy to answer her questions!  We had dinner with the Beaudoin family.  They asked what I wanted as my going away dinner, so I told them that I'd been craving Mexican food, and Sister Beaudoin DEFINITELY delivered!  We had enchiladas and rice and beans and for some reason, it tasted absolutely HEAVENLY!  I just haven't had too much of it on my mission and I've really missed it!  Not that it was super authentic or anything, but it was great :)  We visited with Tina after that.  She was sick and laying on the couch, so we didn't stay too long! 

Wednesday, we met with Carolyn in the morning.  She'd had something come up and couldn't meet Tuesday.  We didn't talk about what we'd planned, because she was surprised by the Bishop calling her Sunday and asking her to bear her testimony at ward conference!  She was thrilled but a little scared out of her mind!  She'd only been to a few testimony meetings, so she seemed really confused about what a testimony was, and although we tried to explain, it didn't work out so well :)  She wanted to know what the intro and conclusion should be.  She told us she wanted to do a little bio, and then move into the body :)  She's so adorable.  We helped her at least get an outline ready, but left it up to her what she'd want to say.  We then visited with Brenda and her granddaughter Ashley.  We had a fun visit with them about all kinds of things.  They're getting a dog, so she was happy to tell us all about it!  She then explained all about what she'd read in the Book of Mormon and we had a lovely discussion with her about that!  After that, we headed straight to Shirly's for our big adventure.  We were taking the bus with her, and I've never had to take the bus really anywhere, so I was very unfamiliar.  Carolyn had walked us through it, though, so I knew generally where we would need to go.  As we sat in her living room while her sister/aide got her ready to go out in the cold, she smoked 3 cigarettes and then we talked while we waited until the bus was about to come.  She had more questions, and I got to explain more about the Book of Mormon and the restoration.  It was frustrating for her and Sister T because they don't understand each other very well.  Shirly has a very difficult time speaking because of the cerebral palsy, and with Sister T's accent, Shirly can't understand her very well.  So I was kind of the middleman...We went out there, near her house, and waited for the bus on the wrong side of the road.  At the beginning, she was sure, but as I talked to her, I knew for sure we needed to be on the other side, and she let us go, still calling her aide to check that it was where we needed to be.  It was THE most frustrating thing, though.  I feel like for the most part, people trust us.  Even if they don't know us, people can see a difference in us, or they just feel at ease.  Well, Shirly was not.  She's gone through a lot of difficult things in her life that make it so that she doesn't really trust people.  It was hard to be patient and understanding as she continued to say she was nervous to be with us, that she doesn't want to be out with us, etc.  She needed out help, which meant that she sucked it up, but she wasn't happy about it and told us.  We tried to keep smiling and doing all we could to help her see that we could be trusted and that she was in good hands.  The ride there went without a hitch and we got to the store, she had a very helpful helper who understood her just great, and we found a bus stop to take us home.  The ride home was much more sticky for her.  The bus was very full, and people kept getting really close to her.  She did NOT like that!  I kind of took over command of being close to her and helping her feel comfortable, but it was tough.  I was SO emotionally and physically exhausted after all of that!  We went home for our lunch break very late!  It took a really long time and it was just draining to give all I could to help her trust me, and she never really showed that she was comfortable with me or us, etc.  I don't know if that makes sense, but it was rough!  We had Book of Mormon night and I got to talk about the last chapter in Helaman.  Everything went well and there were a lot of happy faces there, so can't complain :)

Thursday, we had a district meeting where we focused all on the Christlike attributes found in chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel.  It was really nice to talk about our experiences with different attributes.  I chose obedience, because as I mentioned last week, we focused on being exactly obedient to the daily schedule every day last week.  It was incredible to see the blessings that came with Tony and Shirly and other potential.  My testimony grew and I was so grateful for the opportunity to see blessings immediately following my changing my ways to be more obedient!  I loved i :)  We had district lunch and then headed to visit with Sarah.  We had a good talk with her and then watched a few more general conference talks.  We watched The Privilege of Prayer and The Songs They Could Not Sing or whatever the title is!  She really enjoyed it and we had good discussions about both of them.  She's doing pretty good with the changes that are happening in her life, with her dad at the "home."  It's tough for her, but she's a trooper :)  We had our Relief Society activity that night and it was so fun to see Carolyn mingling around with lots of different sisters in the ward.  We did a few different service projects and then an "auction" or service swap.  Loved it!  We got one for babysitting from Sister Hinckley, but we will be using that instead to go to the UConn creamery with her next week :)  She felt bad about her babysitting one!  It worked out great though!  We got to help Sister Gilmore, who'd been planning the activity, and so it was fun to get to know the ladies in the ward better. 

Friday, we had an appointment with Valerie.  Sister Bazyk from her ward came, and we had a good discussion about the Word of Wisdom.  Once she'd heard about it from her husband, she got "off" of coffee.  It was painful and she had a lot of challenges getting rid of the effects of that, but she did great and she's been living the Word of Wisdom by herself for about 5 months!  It was awesome!  She was having a dinner party with Sister Bazyk that night, and had said earlier that she wanted to talk about baptism with Sister Bazyk, so hopefully that happens.  She still hasn't chosen a date, but is definitely working toward it.  We'll hopefully extend a date at our next visit to see if she'll take the leap and just work toward it!  We visited with Becky right after that, who's been struggling a lot.  There's been a lot of drama at home and she's been ill, so we got to talk to her and help her feel more peace.  We watched Mountain of the Lord with her, and she really enjoyed that!  We also did mormon.org that day and visited with Carolyn before heading to the Saldivar's home.  It was Brother Saldivar's birthday, and he'd decided last minute to invite Gordon and Carolyn and us and the Bishop during our normal meeting time.  It was lovely and a fun way for all of them to get to know each otehr better.  There was delicious food, we got to look at pictures Brother Saldivar had taken of each of us, and then we had cake and a little lesson with Khristinn.  We taught them all the 10 commandments with the fingers, etc.  It was pretty funny because Khrizzei and Khristinn both had their birthdays recently, so they had a 2 candle and a 9 candle, so we were all a little shocked when we saw that he was turning 29...apparently it was just an anniversary so they could use what they have already :)  It was so much fun and Carolyn was especially happy to have been invited!

Saturday was pretty slow.  We did service and a lot of planning!  We did have dinner with Denise.  She signed up twice before I leave, so this time wasn't the special one.  We had homemade macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and then her brownies.  We watched a video with her and it was exciting!  She said she loves making us healthy food :)  I just love her.  She's a character and does all she can for us. 

Sunday was great!  We had ward conference and Carolyn did bear her testimony!  She's spent all day Saturday with Sister Gilmore doing all kinds of fun stuff and had apparently been freaking out about giving her testimony all day long.  She's prepared all kinds of things to say, so when the sacrament was done and Bishop announced that she's be giving her testimony, Sister Gilmore leaned over to me and said, "Now, why am I nervous?!"  I felt the same way, but she did a pretty good job!  I'm not sure how much testimony was in there, but it was all from the heart and the Spirit was there as she told of some of the difficult experiences she's been through lately, but how grateful she is to have found the church to give her more direction.  There was a few points where I was pretty nervous with the way she was heading, but it's all good.  She got lots of compliments and everything, so she felt pretty good about it!  Each of the meetings was wonderful and it was a lovely Sunday!  We spent a lot of time trying to track down less actives and more headquarter referrals we'd received, and then we had dinner with the Erekson family.  They are moving the week after I leave, so we had fun chatting with them.  We did hear all kinds of mission stories from Brother Erekson that sounded very elder-ish.  Oh man.  I did fail to mention that as we drove to church, it was 8 degrees with plenty of wind.  It didn't warm up too much in the building, so it was a little bit chilly.  In fact, I was afraid we were going to be frozen solid, but somehow we kept it together and are fine now :) 

Yesterday, we had a nice p-day as well!  I got my hair done and it's in the beginning stages of being ready to go back to blonde, which I'm glad about!  We went to Hartford with some of our district to celebrate Sister Takanoi's 99 days left, which is a tradition here, I found out recently.  One of the days last week, she asked how many weeks she had left and how many days I had left, and we were both at our 14 month mark!  I can now say that I have less days than she has weeks left ;)  But it's not that cool...it's just weird!  We did a little shopping and then had dinner with Sister Bain who'd prepared a special "last supper" for me.  That's going to be happening a LOT in my remaining time in Manchester!  A blessing and a weird curse!  We had a lovely time and we are always grateful for Sister Bain's generosity toward us!  One fun fact: it snowed for the first time since the giant storm in October.  We were told by 2 different people yesterday that it was supposed to snow and we were in disbelief...well, at 10:30 as we were laying in bed talking, Sister T looked out the window and gasped big time.  It had apparently been snowing for a while and the grown was definitely "dusted."  We were hoping and praying for no red-dot and our prayers were answered!

Today, we had an appointment with Carolyn and then Becky!  It's been great so far and it's going to be so sad when I'm no longer visiting them every Tuesday!  I really don't know what I'll do with myself...We have a great week planned and hope that we do not have a bunch of snow this weekend like Becky predicted...please no!!!

I love you so much!  I promise I'm not as trunky as I may sound, I"m just trying to express the thoughts that are kind of swirling around in brain during slower moments.  We find out Saturday what's going to happen to Sister T this next transfer, and the next time I write will be next Wednesday and I'll see you after that!  Thank you so much for the fun updates this week!  I sure love you and hope you have a lovely week and a half until I talk to you again!

Love, Love, Love,
Sister Jordan Lynn

Hola!

Dear Everyone That Loves Me Enough to Read This :)

It's been a pretty exciting week with a few days that I thought I would die it was so cold and windy, and days that I wasn't even wearing a light jacket because it was 60 degrees.  My body is NOT loving all the temperature changes, but when it gets closer to those 60 degree days, my heart is happy, so it all balances out, I guess!  I am continuing to feel the craziness of the fact that I'm on week 4 of my last transfer, and hoping that I can get everything worked out so that I'm not going crazy at the end of the transfer and so that I'm staying focused!  Definitely working on it!  I'll update you on our week, though! 

Tuesday, after we emailed, we were able to try a few people to stop by.  One of those women was the lady that we followed home a few weeks ago :)  Her name is Shirly.  She has cerebral palsy and we'd helped her in the store and followed her to make sure she got home ok and to not miss the chance.  She was a little shocked to see us again, I think!  We'd tried a few different times to see her at her apartment building, trying to buzz in, but no answer, etc.  We finally hit gold when we just went straight to her door.  She let us in and thanked us again for helping her.  We pretty much just spent time getting to know her.  I was sad to hear that she had the problems she did because of an ex-husband's abuse.  She has a lot of bitterness about it, and hopefully as we keep coming back and getting to know her, building trust, that we'll be able to help her let go of that, because it has to be really hard to deal with that every day!  We did our studies and had dinner in the evening, so not too exciting of a day!

Wednesday was one of those days where all of your appointments end up canceling.  It was a really full day, so it was especially depressing!  We DID get to visit with Brenda, so that was a good thing.  Her granddaughter Ashley is now living there permanently.  We'd met her around Thanksgiving, so she stayed and chatted with us at the beginning.  It was really fun to talk about the holidays and to get an update on how Brenda's husband is doing.  The poor man has health problem upon health problem.  He won't accept a priesthood blessing (had never been supportive of her and the church), and he was going to have to head to the hospital the next day for observation or something.  Not good!  Poor Brenda is so tired and worn down, and of course her husband is, as well!  But we had fun visiting with Brenda and Ashley, eating yummy treats and getting to know them better.  When we started following up on Brenda's scripture reading, Ashley cleared the dishes and did not come back...weird :)  We had a great discussion about the chapters she'd read and invited her to church.  I really hope that some day she'll actually come back!  We had lunch and did mormon.org, and then we headed to stop by several less actives.  We selected names on the ward list that I'd never tried and that there weren't any notes by, so it was perfect!  No luck meeting anyone, and we froze a wee bit as we got out of the car and back in, but that's fine!  We did get to visit with Mary and that was a blessing.  She really likes Sister Takanoi and I, so she was opening up a lot and ended up leading in perfectly with what we hoped to discuss with her.  She mentioned experience after experience where she followed the promptings of the Spirit and was blessed for it.  We talked all about faith and told her what a good example of it she is to us.  She doesn't come to church now, with no immediate plans to change that, but it was such a blessing to see how much faith she's shown throughout the years and she hasn't ever really recognized it.  I'd read all about listening in Preach My Gospel that morning, and it was the most amazing thing to see how my listening period has changed throughout my mission.  I've tried really hard since the beginning to actually listen and not to think about what I'm going to say next.  I saw through that appointment that my skills at listening are improving.  I wasn't thinking of ways to jab in a principle here or there.  She was talking and I had the thought and feeling to bring it up at one point and it ended up being perfect timing.  She is such a sweet woman who doesn't think much of herself, and it was beautiful to show her how well she's done during her life and that it's something we should all be working on still!  We had Book of Mormon night after that, with a good crowd again :)  Sister Takanoi and Elder Yim both taught, so it was nice to relax a little :)  Good day!

Thursday, we had a good district meeting!  Sister Takanoi and Elder Mars gave trainings that went well!  It's nice to go back to the basics, because I feel like when we have an "older" district, we talk about different types of things and sometimes forget about those basic principles in Preach My Gospel.  Sometimes I feel like I've heard this training before or we've done this role play before, but it becomes a great reminder to me to not forget those basics!  I was appreciative of that!  I was having one of those moments, though, that I hated hearing other people complain about, but I REALLY missed the district we had last transfer.  I missed the "culture" of our district and how well we all blended.  For some reason this transfer, I don't feel that we are as unified as last transfer, so it's a bummer, but that's kind of how I was feeling throughout district meeting and then at district lunch.  Sigh.  We had an appointment with Sarah after that.  We got to show her some of our favorite General Conference talks.  We showed "It's Better to Look Up," "You Matter to Him," and "Dare to Stand Alone."  I really wish that the DVDs we have had the RS broadcast, but alas, they do not.  We had good discussions after each talk and she was talking about what's going on in her life and how this talk or that talk applies to her.  Sadly, as we were getting ready to go, she got a phone call from the place her dad is and she was incredibly angry.  She called her sister and just ranted to us.  We were glad to be there to try to calm her down and reassure her, but it was a LONG visit because of that.  Listening to the extreme, eh? 

Friday, we had Carolyn in the morning, and had a great lesson about obedience specifically and how that's a blessing for us.  I shared one of my favorite stories from last October's General Conference about the cows and the pasture from "What Have You Done With My Name?"  It was perfect because Carolyn is reading a lot from all the manuals she has.  She was prepared for the Sunday lesson from the new George Albert Smith manual.  As I begin sharing the basis of the talk, she recognized the story because it's from the manual and so it really stuck with her.  She is just doing so well and getting into learning HOW to be a member of the church, if that makes sense.  It's so fun to get to watch this for my last 6 weeks and try to help that transition go smoothly.  We then headed to Valerie and had a good lesson about the 10 Commandments and Law of Chastity.  She's talked about all of this before with her husband and actually has a strong testimony about each of those principles and commandments.  It's so fun to teach her when she's bearing her testimony and talking about how living each law has blessed her life.  She already recognizes those blessings :)  We had lunch with Sister Bain, which was lovely.  She let us do some service for her and we had a good chat with her.  We did some studies and planning and then had a fun lesson with the Saldivars.  Zhei Zhei, the youngest daughter loved us right away, so it was fun because she was happy the whole time, not running to her mom because we were scaring her :)  We had more delicious food that apparently Daniel has definitely had.  Again, I forgot what it's called, but it's cool.  It was noodles that are apparently from mung bean something?  I have no idea...We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and of course, Khristinn got it all and retaught us.  We had an appointment scheduled for next week that falls on Brother Saldivar's birthday.  He asked if he could invite friends and we do a family home evening with them!  Um, yes.  That would be nice :)  Love this family! 

Saturday, we did service and then spent time again trying to contact a referral and less actives.  We had an appointment with the Nobles.  Sister Noble's health continues to decline, and we're pretty worried about her.  She has donors who are willing to give her a kidney, so hopefully that means that she can get some help, so her health improves.  We watched Mountain of the Lord with them, and challenged Aiden and Kim to prepare to do baptisms.  Aiden turns 12 soon, so it should be exciting to have the two of them there!  We had dinner with Jane and Sister Gilmore.  It was delicious as always, and we had a great chat with two of the most amazing women in this ward.  There are a lot of amazing women, but these two just give all they have to fulfill their callings above and beyond what you'd think they needed to do.  Sister Gilmore is always coming up with new ways to help the recent convert to stay active, no matter what it takes.  For example, she was even considering donating her kidney to Sister Noble.  She thought that may be a bit excessive, since she hardly knows her, but that's just the kind of woman she is.  I am amazed and want to somehow become like them.  So awesome!

Sunday was lovely.  We had a great and productive ward council.  We just took about a minute at the end to follow up what we needed for our recent converts/less actives, and it was perfect!  We had Carolyn at church, Kim and Aiden got there, Patrick and Taryn were there!  It was awesome!  Another awesome thing: because again one of us is leaving and it's for sure, people signed up for pretty much every day of the week.  SO COOL!  It will be fun to say some last goodbyes for the next few weeks!  I have loved being in this ward and I'm grateful to have such supportive and kind and gracious members!  It's the greatest!  Not too much excitement besides dinner with the Hinckleys.  They are such a good family and they had a whole other family there for dinner on top of us so it was incredibly stressful to her, I'm sure, but it was kind of them to have us anyway.  The other family is actually related to Elder Gardner, my district leader, so it was kind of hilarious to rub that in.  I think the dad is his cousin or something?  Not totally sure.  It was a good day, though.  We got to finish some planning and set some new goals for this coming week.  We are going to work on perfect obedience to the daily schedule.  We both feel that if we do that, we will be blessed in every aspect of missionary work, so hopefully as we make more of an effort, it will show and we'll find more people to teach! 

Sorry this letter probably hasn't been too exciting!  It's been a great week and I am so glad to be here!  I'm looking forward to an exciting week (hopefully)!  I hope everyone has a lovely week and please know that I love you and am so grateful for you! 

Love, Love, Love,
Sister Lynn