10/17/14

I made it!! I'm on the other side of the world. I made it!! longest plane ride ever, and the time difference is killing me. They eat rice with everything. I didn't go to bed till 3am so like 12 your time. Over 24 hours of no sleep. Love you guys. I'll write more on pday, just wanted to let you know I made it.

10/10/14

 

So this week was full of ups and downs. As most of you know I was able to sing in general conference this past weekend. It was the best experience of my life. From the time I found out what songs we were singing to the time that we actually sang was a roller coaster in of itself. I developed a sinus infection last Wednesday and I thought I was going to die, but lucky for me the Lord was watching out for me and kept me well enough to sing through Saturday night. I went to the doctor Friday and told him my symptoms. He said it was a cold and that it would be fine. NOT. Worst weekend to be sick. So when Saturday came around I was coughing like crazy and it was hard to breath and I couldn’t hear at all. We loaded the buses and went to the conference center during the middle of the two sessions and we practiced through the second session. It was super neat that the conference center has another conference area. It’s pretty big. Not nearly as big as the real one but it is huge. So after we practiced we went into the conference center. IT IS MASSIVE!!! Looking at the audience the whole time is really cool. I was right behind the organ the whole time. So I didn’t get very many shots like some of the kids. So after we sang I got to see my Uncle Vince as we were getting on the buses. It was the best thing ever to see him. We took a picture and talked for a while and talked about how special I am. Lol. So a lot of people said I looked a lot thinner, well since I’ve been here I had gained 10 pounds in the first few weeks then with me being sick I lost like 15 so my suit feels big on me now. I’m starting to even out again but I’m still losing a pound a day.

SO that was the conference experience. The rest of the week was as bad as the first day of me being sick. Monday I went to the doctor for my sinus infection again and he looked at me and said you are worse than you were before. LUCKY ME. Well that didn’t matter too much. I looked in the mirror in the doctor’s office and noticed some yellow dots on my face. Same dots that usually appear when I have staph. Well lucky for me it was staph. So now I have staph infection so all my pictures of me are going to have me with staph infection. GREAT way to start the week. So Tuesday came around and one of the Elders had been in meetings all day long. He as been having a hard time. So after the devotional that night we came back to the class room and talked about what was going on. I’ll make it short. he isn’t going home. He switched districts so now we have Elder Wayne in the district. He is so cool. He is from the Navajo reservation. He is Lamanite descent. It is cool to hear all the similarities between his tribe and the Book of Mormon. Wednesday came around and I felt like I was golden. The cough and everything was gone. My ears weren't hurting at all and I slept the whole night. Yay me!! Well that was an eventful day. Wednesday I went with my companion to the dentist. He had a root canal. We were there for 3 hrs. I was bored out of my mind so I wrote letters. Then I had him fix my tooth that I chipped so he shaped it for me. Everyone there was Mormon. They were all talking about their missions and how fast they went. Made me really excited for mine. I only have 6 days left!!! Thursday we had infield orientation. They showed us all the things that missionaries struggle with and how to help each of us overcome them. It was really neat. That night we got to talk to talk to someone from the Philippines. I am scared out of my mind. I didn’t know anything she was saying. I picked up on 3 words.  I’ll get it eventually.  And today is P-Day so I’m writing my letter and trying to think of anything else that everyone wants to know but I don’t know. I went to the temple this morning. Last time for 2 years. Sad moment. But I learned so much this time. It was a really cool experience and I got some really good pictures. The leaves are starting to change colors. The mountains look like they are on fire. The moon the other night was so cool. The clouds were amazing and the moon shining through made it really cool. I got some pictures so I’ll send them.

Some cool facts:
I’ve gotten
6 packages
60-70 letters (too lazy to count exact ones)

Gave away 2 pairs of shoes

Received a lava lava and a new pair of shoes

I’m in class for 6 hrs a day

I’ll be on a place for like 22 hrs total. Crazy

Well I love you all and hope all is well. Next time I talk to you all will be sometime that I know not. love ya

9/26/14

So this week has been a really fun week.

Monday was just a normal day until Elder Lile went to the doctor about his shoulder.  Then he and his companion didn’t show up, so when they showed up I was asking questions and found out he hurt his shoulder playing volleyball. Tuesday we went to the doctor again and he was told to go and get an MRI so I went with him to that and man my shoulder looked so good compared to his. He had a torn labrym and a chunk of his bone that had been torn so his shoulder keeps falling out of socket. OUCH! He’s having surgery on Monday for that.

Tuesday we had Elder Ballard come and talk to us and tell us about the importance of serving a mission and what he knew at his age. It was really neat. I didn’t eat dinner that night because of the lines to get into choir.

Wednesday was so amazing we got to go the doctor again and I met the coolest doctor. Elder Lile thinks he is high every time he takes his medicine, so we have had a little fun messing with him about that. The language is really hard to understand and to speak but I am slowly making improvements.

Today is p-day and since I’m singing in conference I had choir practice from 7:30-9:00 and then we practiced a lot afterward. Kind of a long day but the songs we are doing are so cool. It will be the first year anybody has done a medley in conference so yeah me!!!! There is an elder that is with us and it is his first time singing for something big. It is really hard to sing because he is kind of tone deaf so he misses notes and I sing too quietly so I’m working to sing louder. On a normal p-day we go to the temple at 7:40, then we have laundry at 2:15 so we do email then. Crazy. Then we have class at 6, so that’s my day and all the time that is in between is free time.

So while I’ve been here I’ve spent $20. I lost a book and I bought face wash and a hymn book. Someone stole my language book so after I spent all the time looking for it I just went and bought another one. That book has been so helpful to me.

So I love getting dear elders from everyone. The Mayer’s have sent me ones and Kjersti. It’s so neat to see that people are actually caring about stuff like how are the beds and how’s the food. To answer those questions. Being a light sleeper is not the best thing. If someone turns I wake up because the bed shakes and if someone leaves the room the light goes directly on my face, but other than that I have loved being on the top bunk. I get my own shelf to myself for everything. So you know how dad said we get to power wash the bathrooms well we don’t anymore. Some kid ruined it and we don’t get to, but scrubbing toilets and drains are super fun. I have choir practice every day till conference. Tell Vince he should go to the priesthood session and look for me. I’ll be toward the front because I’m short. Our choir director is the one from the April conference. Awesome!!!! Well I have to go I have stuff to do so I’ll write you later. Did my checks from works come in? I’m trying to get everything taken care of now before I leave in 3 weeks. Crazy that I’ve been here that long. My comp said I have the most power in teaching lessons he’s ever seen. Crazy to think that. Anyway love you guys a lot. I know the church is true and I know Christ has suffered for me.

Love,

Jordan

9/19/14

Here is the letter for this week. 

So much to tell you. The food here is so fatty and I don’t eat a lot. My shoes ripped even more so most of my foot will slide out. I got the package Monday and the other one I just got today. I am running a lot. I smell so bad, but with the new clothes you sent it will be better. So I’ll just do a rundown of each day. So Saturday was the boring classes. jk They are pretty fun. Sunday we had a devotional with Tad Callister. I was in the second row for the devotional. We got moved from the back. It was awesome! He talked about the plan of salvation. Afterwards I went up to him and asked if he knew Vince and he was like yeah how do you know him? I told him I was his nephew and if he saw him to tell him I said hi. My companion was like you seem to have way to know everyone. Then we had meeting after meeting talking about all the people in our districts. BYU dinning keeps as few people working as possible on Sundays so the lines are really long. Monday we had a normal day then we had brother Judd come and visit us in our dorms. He just returned from his mission in Africa so I took a shot in the dark and asked if he knew Jordan Smeltzer. He got a big smile and was like he was one of the best elders we had. It’s neat that we both get him!! I’ve been waiting to see Nick and Amanda at the temple but I haven’t yet. They must be busy. The temple is really pretty in the mornings, with the clouds and stuff. Tuesday we had Elder Scott come talk to us about communicating with Heavenly Father. It was so powerful and super neat that we got to see him. He’s getting old. The picture I sent is the group of us that are going down to the Philippines. Most of them left yesterday but a few of us are going in 4 weeks. They were so cool. It was sad to see them leave. We got along really well. I got so much left over stuff from them it’s kind of sad.

So Elder Vaovasa my companion and I are getting along really well. I got really stressed the other day. One of the Elders in my group didn’t want to follow the rules so he got mad at me and tried to man handle me a little.  I was like what do I do???? So I talked to the branch president and the next morning he came down to talk to him about leaving his companion and the violence with me. After that day my companion stuck up for me with everything. And sticks with me everywhere we go. He is so loving. I have learned to just laugh with them at their stupid mistakes and have fun with them. They all call me carrrton cause the L sound is hard. I have a handshake that I do with them every time I see them and they love it. They are so sloppy though, they love to eat food at night as they lay in bed so our room took so long to clean. They love gym so while they played I cleaned. It looks so good now. My comp loves sleeping on the floor. Strange but he says the bed is too soft. Thank you for the ear plugs you sent. They help so much at night. I only woke up once last night because of the rain. 

So they have so many pretty flowers here and then one morning I was walking to get the mail and I noticed that they were all gone so I asked the guy that was planting new ones what happened and he said that the church spends so much on flowers that they pull everything out and replant every year. Crazy!!!!

So I love doing laundry. All whites and a few socks here and there. Mistake I made don’t stick my pants in the dryer, too many wrinkles and the irons we have don’t work. Thanks for the tape. I didn’t know you were going to send that much so I bought some yesterday and then tape galore.

So I learned I can’t listen to music in my room but it will be nice while I run. Thanks for the EFY music, smart move. 

The language is a struggle. I got special help for it so now I can finally say a sentence. Only a week behind everyone. Oh well. I went to the temple today and did initiatories they were so awesome!! The Provo Temple is so efficient to handle all the missionaries. The food is so good here. But I’m getting fat. All the Tongans are like you are fat boy. Then I say so are you and they get quiet then we bust up laughing at it.  

We have been teaching people and we taught them about the book of Mormon and faith and prayer. It is so hard to teach when you don’t know any words. My studying consists of Chapter 3 in Preach My Gospel every day. That book is going to be so worn. 

All the islanders play rugby so they all know the hauka so I will have to send the video some time. It’s awesome. They are all pretty built guys. 

My companion is from Melbourne right next to the airport. He loves to spend money.

So I am having a competion between an elder in my district to see how many letters we can get. He’s at 45 and I’m at 27 so everyone needs to write me!! Only letters and dear elder count. 

Well I know this gospel is true and gain a greater testimony each day.  Love you all

Love Jordan

Trip to the MTC

First stop was the Kansas City Temple.

A hike in the mountains with aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Kansas City Temple

Uncle Brian

My great-grandma...almost 99 years old and still going strong!

Salt Lake City Temple

The open house of the completely renovated Ogden, UT temple

Jackson and Elder Carlton...walking home from church

Beautiful reflection of the Salt Lake Temple

It was a beautiful day in the mountains.