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