Package #9

Jordan made a couple of requests for this next package.  He wanted a racquet ball (he didn't know he was getting a purple rubber ball for Christmas) and some sparkling cider for the New Year.

I included some thank you cards and Burt's Bees Mango chapstick.  The wrapped package is from Uncle Gary Franchina's family, so I am not sure what is in it.

I remembered that his roommates loved Muddy Buddies and made extra, so each can have their very own bag.

Don't you think this is a great way to celebrate the New Year?

Email #8

Merry Christmas!

We received two of the best Christmas gifts we could have ever asked for:  having Zach and his family with us, and a email from Jordan!  Oliver celebrated his first birthday on the 19th and Zach proposed to Niki the same day, to which she said, "YES!" 

From Jordan:

So I got up to do my laundry, it's not really a p day for us, but we still need to do laundry. So I'll write you right now and maybe check my email tonight if I can. I hope you, Mom and Dad, Zakk, Nikki, and Oliver all have a merry Christmas and remember why we celebrate it. Without Christ's birth, we would not have his example, parables, scriptures, and most importantly, his infinite atonement. Without that, this life is pointless. Through him, we can live with our heavenly father again. He knows our pains, sorrows, sins, and griefs so that when we are at our lowest points, he knows just how to comfort us. He is never the one that moves. He's always there, waiting for us. Because of him, I have hope in this life. I have joy knowing that even though our loved ones pass on, that misfortune afflicts us, sorrows burden us down, that Jesus Christ, our brother, savior, and beloved redeemer is right with us, offering his love now and for eternity. Through Christ, we can return to our father and have the opportunity to become like him. What a blessing.

Kitty puzzle, Snowflake from Emma for Christmas

And thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a good day. Thank you all!

I loved getting a package from Lloyd and Lauriann, the snowflake is hanging on the tree, and both pictures are hanging up. They're both awesome pictures! Thank you so much, I appreciate your love and support you constantly give.

I also got a letter from the stake presidency. Thank you so much, it was so nice getting a letter from you all. Thank you for your love and support.

I got a package from the Rogers, but I'll write them letters back sometime soon. Thank you so much for all that you and our neighbors do, mom and dad. I am so grateful for all of the support. 

I blessed the sacrament on Sunday, that was interesting. It was intimidating, because we got native Koreans last week so I didn't want to mess up. The prayer was long, but I read it all of the way through and didn't have to repeat it. I hope I can improve on the language more though. There's still a lot to learn.

I don't know what else to ask for, I don't really want anything for Christmas or New Years, but what you have given me is GREATLY appreciated. Thank you so much! I just want to hear from Zakk, Nikki, and Oliver so if they have any letters or if Ollie draws any pictures I want them! I miss that little chubby guy. I can't believe how much he's already grown in the time that I've been gone.

I don't really know what else to say, I'm at a loss for words. I'm so grateful for all you do, know I miss you and love you, and I'll be home before you know it. Don't miss me too much :)

Love,

Jordan

Package #8

Jordan did make a request this time.

For a loaf of homemade bread!

Light Honey Whole Wheat bread is simply is favorite bread and I'm sure he was anxious for this package to arrive.

He told us that he was gifted a left over jar of Nutella and wanted some thin pretzel sticks to dip into the Nutella.  He loves thin pretzel sticks.  I think they remind him of his Grandma Franchina, who always had them on hand to nibble on while watching t.v.

I wanted to send him some butter, but wasn't sure how it would fare...sometimes he gets the package the same day it's delivered, sometimes he gets it the next morning.

Then I thought, "why not make honey butter?"  Surely the sweetness of honey will preserve the butter for at least a couple of days, right?

Thank goodness for those little plastic dessert bowls from Chick Fil A ~ I knew they would come in handy some day!

Email #7

The lights at the MTC

Christmas is just around the corner and I begin to wonder how it is celebrated in the MTC.  The above picture says it all.  Jordan gets to spend ALL of the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve, plus his 20th birthday while at the MTC.

The holidays have been a whirlwind.  Zach got some time off, and we hurried and got airline tickets for him, Niki and Oliver to come and spend an entire week during Christmas with us.  Jaren, Jordan's cousin, is getting his papers together for his mission.  He turns 19 in January.  The local missionaries in Draper have been searching for a place to live and we have offered our basement.

Here's part of his latest letter:

Tell him (Jaren, his cousin) how wonderful a mission is. I'm still only in the MTC and my testimony has been strengthened so much already. I'm so happy that you could get Zakk Nikki and Oliver up for the holidays. That'll be so much fun!! Take pictures! And that's awesome you have the missionaries moved in!  Thank you for the addresses! That will help a lot. 

The Christmas tree we mailed to Jordan

Grandma and Grandpa Shell: I bought a Hymn book and the Children's songbook in Korean, and they are so beautiful. We sing a hymn twice a day to start our classes. It's wonderful. It brings such a wonderful spirit to hear sacred hymns and other songs. I don't think I'll be able to write next Tuesday, it'll be Christmas, so I'll say MERRY CHRISTMAS now!! I love you both so much, and I'll miss you this year and next. I can't wait until two years from now, when I come over on Christmas, and share some touching stories from my mission and listen to your testimonies and share about Christ and feel his spirit at this time of year. 

Grandpa Franchina: Thank you so much for your letters, and especially that scarf. You'll notice I'm wearing it in most pictures outside, it's quite a warm scarf, and it reminds me of you. Thank you so much. I'll miss you this Christmas and next, coming over on Christmas Eve and opening a present and picking out an ornament, but in two years, I'll be there and we'll have plenty of time to catch up. I know we'll both have great stories to share, and it'll be nice to feel of the spirit of Christmas. 

Jordan, Taylor Longmore, & Josh Powell...all three from the same ward!

Korean is an incredibly beautiful language, they express feelings so deeply and eloquently. Anyway, I love you all so much. I miss you all, but I don't want to come home just yet! I can't wait to get to Korea. It's a bit scary, but nothing that is of value is easy. Conversion isn't easy because salvation isn't cheap. Thank you for sending your insights and thoughts about the Book of Mormon, your love, and your testimonies as well.

Just a note about our progressing investigators: One is getting baptized on Saturday, he's really receptive to our message (the teachers act just like their investigators did in Korea, and one teacher is being one of his 'golden investigators'). The other one is having some other problems, but we set his baptismal date yesterday. He's planning on the 31. He had a few problems with the word of wisdom - cop-ee, nohk cha, and hohng cha (coffee, green, and black tea are essential to a Korean). But he agreed to try. My companion is wonderful, he's so sweet and has a wonderful testimony. The spirit is always there in our lessons. I love this work! 

Love,

Jordan

Email #6

It has been so nice to receive a weekly letter from Jordan.  It is truly the highlight of our week!

He writes:

Dad, thank you for your letter and insight on that place Ishmael was buried. That's just another testimony builder that it's true. One of the branch presidency members of our Korean branch gave a talk the other week on things such as this. He listed facts like, there are 500 and something mentions of Jesus Christ, written in 80 days without any revision, first copy, by someone with an elementary school education, and adding over 100 pronouns to the english language, and Shakespeare only added 40ish. There are so many facts, and if you can find a list and send it to me, that would be great. I didn't take notes, and he won't give it to us, because he says our testimonies shouldn't just be built on factual evidence. Mine isn't, but the facts just solidify my testimony. We also talked about the 17 points to the true church, where Einstein gave a lecture and admitted that there has to be a supreme being, and 5 students in that lecture studied the bible and came up with 17 criterion that the true church has to have, and after the war, 4 of the five ended up joing the church separately. They didn't know each other joined the church until they met up at a church meeting once. The 5th was dead from the war, but no doubt he accepted the gospel in the next life. I have a little business card size piece of paper with these scriptures and facts printed out and I carry it with me in case someone asks about one of these facts on my mission. If my Korean fails, then my testimony will come through. That's why they first teach you how to pray, then how to bear your testimony. Those are the first two things they teach you here, after how to read. Those are the two most important things you can do on your mission, pray and bear testimony. 

In an previous email, I shared with Jordan my testimony.  I also recalled the day when we had a family home evening lesson and Brad challenged both of our boys to pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  The next day, Jordan came into the kitchen, just beaming... a smile from ear to ear, and gave me a big hug.  When I asked him what was going on, he just said that he was happy.  Very happy.  Then I remembered what we did the night before and put two and two together, guessing that Jordan had indeed, received an answer to his prayer. Jordan was probably nine years old at the time.

Mom, I remember that day clearly. Except one part, wasn't it in our old house? I just remember being so happy. It's wonderful how an omnipotent being will answer even a small child's prayer.

Jordan & neighnorhood friend, Taylor Longmore, who is going to the NY mission

Our halfway point was this week. It seems to go by so slow but also so fast. The days seem like weeks but the weeks seem like days. Once we get the new Korean district tomorrow and 5 Korean missionaries next week it'll fly by. Yeah, one missionary in the other district is going to LA. I don't know much about what it's like in Seoul, but I'll tell you in a month!! Thank you for your story about your mission, I really like hearing stories from your mission and your testimony. Yeah, Mosiah 12:1 makes me laugh too, I highlighted that a few weeks ago when I read that. Also, I have come to the conclusion that Harry Potter was inspired. It could also be real. Think of it. The infinite monkey theory: Place a monkey in front of a typewriter for an eternity, eventually he'll type a novel. If God's worlds are infinite, eventually one world has characters such as Harry Potter and his two friends. And after an eternity of worlds, one has to be the perfect storm. In Helaman 10 it says the spirit carried Nephi from place to place - APPARITION. It's real. He apparated, so did Harry Potter. Anywho... Thank you so much for the packages I've received! I love carrying a package through the MTC bragging about how awesome my parents are. I'm excited to start opening the presents starting on the 13th. 

 In part, here is some of what Jordan shared in an email to his Grandpa & Grandma Shell:

Grandma and Grandpa Shell: You're right, I'm so busy I don't even have time to think it's December. We are singing Christmas songs in Korean, and now we are having devotionals with topics about Christ's birth, so Christmas is coming, but it's hard to imagine that Thanksgiving, black friday, and most everyone's birthdays in our family have already passed, and Christmas is almost here. I'm still impressed at how many languages you know, Grandpa. But I'm even more impressed at how much you value the scriptures. I have not truly appreciated them until recently. They are a wonderful blessing in our lives and we can all benefit from them if we utilize them. YES!! I get your dear elders, and I LOVE receiving DearElders from you. It's so nice to hear from you and know how you two are doing. Know you are all in my prayers, and I love you very much.


Love,


Jordan

Package #7

Christmas is only thirteen days away and we had a great time shopping for little gifts to wrap up for Jordan's tree.

We found several crisp dollar bills for him to fold in origami shapes, to put on his tree and/or give to his companions as gifts.

We know he loves York Peppermint patties and Toblerone.  We found a couple of chocolate covered Santa marshmallows and even found one that was a snowflake shape.

Jordan requested pictures to add to his photo album.  We made sure he got one of his nephew, Oliver.

Jordan loves any kind of ball ~ and we found a purple rubber bouncy ball at the Dollar store for him to play with.

A dry erase board to practice Korean, a sticky tumbler toy, Christmas cards, candy canes, and a kitty puzzle that we found at the dollar store. Oh, of course, he needs a lint roller, although he is not around kitties that much....

We even found him a purple survival bracelet, which I'm sure he'll find a use for...

No Christmas package is complete unless there are some Soft Sugar Cookies to decorate!

I made a kit of round sugar cookies, a tub of butter cream frosting, sprinkles, plates, napkins and a few knives for a cookie decorating party.

Nothing like sending a little Christmas to brighten up Jordan's day!

Email #5

Oliver and Grandpa Brad

Here is Jordan's letter.  We mailed him some pictures of family and of his nephew, Oliver, who is growing every day.  Jordan doesn't want to miss a single moment of his growing up.  Pictured above, is Oliver dressed in a snow outfit that we purchased for Zach when he was the same age.

Hey!
Thanks for sending pictures my way, I'm SO EXCITED! I need to see proof he's walking. You're also more than welcome to email me pictures, but I won't be able to print them off, I can just look at them on my email.

As for Christmas......bad news. Since there's over 2000 missionaries here, no phone calls home. The phone lines would be tied up. But I will call you early in the morning on the 14th or 15th when I ship out. Some people are wondering when I will ship out, like my grandparents, so let them know that it'll be around the 14th, or whatever that Monday is. 

Food is a CURSE here at the MTC. You eat at the cafeteria, then you get food in the mail, but you're not that hungry so you have food piling up in your rooms. People go door to door looking to give the food away, but no one is usually hungry. But everyone seems to love your food, so they usually take it :)  

The older districts left yesterday (40 missionaries) so it's pretty empty on our floor. I got a LOT of food/candy, glow in the dark stars for our ceiling, and some detergent. We'll get new Korean districts next Wednesday, the 12th or something. I'm excited! Korean is amazing. It's nice to see Elder Powell and Elder Longmore every once in a while, there's a kid from my choir going to Calgary, Canada, and he got here last Wednesday so it's nice to see him around.

Elisse & Spencer

I'm SO MAD I'll miss little Noah being born! Make sure Spencer and Elisse send me pictures! I know they'll have an ADORABLE baby.

Grandpa Shell -
I hope you both are doing well, I'm praying for you both. I love you both and I'm so grateful for all you have taught me and for the great example you have been for me. And happy birthday Grandpa! Sorry it's a little late, but I was thinking about you on your birthday, along with every other day I'm here. I love you and I am excited to come back and share all of my wonderful experiences with you all.

Mom and Dad - Thank you SO much for the packages, I love the Rubik's cube   I love the flag, we'll proudly display it in our class! Thanks for the muddy buddies!! My roommates and I love them! That's one thing they would like for Christmas (my roommates became zone leaders, by the way. They won't tell me what they want from you but I know they like muddy buddies.)
I don't know what to ask for Christmas. Food is kind of a burden, but snacks are welcome. Mainly, letters from you are wanted. I want to hear your testimonies, cool stories from your mission, awesome stories, stuff like that. and PICTURES! I love pictures. and your support. I don't really know what else to ask for.

My oven overheated during a cleaning cycle the day after Thanksgiving and I had to get it repaired.  Also, we dropped Jordan's cell phone number on our cell phone plan, then changed our family plan.  According to T-Mobile, the new plan went into effect before the Jordan's cell phone was dropped and we were charged a $200 fee for dropping his phone "while still in contract."  After a couple of hours on the phone and talking to a supervisor, we got it worked out.

I'm sad to hear about your oven and the ordeal with the phone, but at least you're not struggling to make my monthly payments and still trying to pay off the house and not having enough food on the table. There's so many blessings we have that I haven't even thought of until being here.

As for your birthday/christmas gift, it isn't a big thing that needs a package, so don't expect anything in the mail, but I do have something in mind. It won't come until late after christmas, but you'll get it eventually!:)  Speaking of gifts, THANK you for the tree! We can't plug it in, the outlet is too far away, but that doesn't matter, we won't have it turned on at night anyway. You don't need to send an extension chord. Thank you so much, it's nice to have it in my room!  (We sent him an extension cord in his next package!)

Tell the Bishopric THANK YOU for their letter!! When they have Camp Alma, I'm willing to send a letter home, so let me know about a month before and I'll write one.
I can't believe it's been 4 years exactly since we landed, (in Korea, on the way to China) that's crazy. That was so much fun!


I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Jordan has pretty much given me all of his passwords to his email, Facebook, Paypal and access to his bank.  It feels weird having access to what is his "private stuff."

Here's a good post for Facebook: TRC's (Training Resource Center) are amazing! Once a week we teach a volunteer (who's sometimes a real investigator) about a certain topic. This last week my companion and I taught 2 high school aged Korean girls, and it was so great! They understood everything we said, and the lesson went great. They are getting ready to turn in their papers soon, so that's exciting. The TRCs are a great way to experience part of the mission field even before you leave the MTC. The spirit always accompanies lessons, and the volunteers love to practice their Korean! I love Korea and the people of Korea. Their culture is incredible, and their people are wonderful. I love Korean :)

Love,

Jordan

Package #6

Jordan didn't make any requests for specific items to be mailed, so it was up to us to figure out what to send him.

I wanted to bring a little bit of Christmas to his dorm room and thought that a Christmas tree would be a great idea.  I found a lot of small table top trees, but they were quite expensive.  At Shopko, near the Post Mart in Orem, I found a three foot pre-lit tree for only $12.  All Christmas ornaments were 40% off.  I knew then and there, that would be the perfect tree for Jordan.

Purple is Jordan's color.  I found a glittery purple star and tried to find some unbreakable ornaments that would complement the tree.  Instead, I found some jingle bells which worked perfectly!  The tree "skirt" is actually a day pack with a Samsonite logo that I got through a swag bag at a blogger event.

My plan is to purchase several small items for Jordan to open one per day for his "12 days of Christmas." I hope he enjoys it!

I was so excited to put this package together!  We included a hand written letter and some left over birthday cake to eat.

I know he won't be able to take this tree with him (thank goodness for free MTC delivery to Post Mart!) and I won't be able to ship it to Korea for next Christmas.  But we'll put it in a special place in our home next year, that's for sure!

Package #5

There were a couple of requests from Jordan for this package.  First, he wanted his 5x5 Rubik's cube and some instructions on how to solve the last step or "parity errors" as he called it. 

Next, he wanted his Plan of Salvation kit, and he knew exactly where it was in his room.  It was so easy to find!

He then asked for a Korean flag.  We have a small desk top flag that we used at his farewell, but he wanted a larger one to display.  I believe this is a 3'x5' flag, much larger than he wanted, but it was the only size available.

Funny story, looking for the flag at Colonial Flag in Sandy....  I found the section of international flags near the back of the store, all neatly alphabetized.  Found the "K" section and began searching...

Kazakhastan, Kenya, Kirabati, Kuwait, Kygrhyzstan... but no Korean flag.

I enlisted the help of a store clerk, who also looked in the "K" section with no luck, and went to the back room to find the flag.

I called Brad and asked him what to do.

"Did you look under "S?"

Duh.

South Korea.

Got it!

I found the poor clerk rumaging through the back of the store, insisting that she could not find it.  When I told her it was under "S" for South Korea, she had the same "Duh" moment!

For Jordan's treat of the week, I included some Muddy Buddies, a family favorite that I was sure he'd enjoy.