Week 50: Jordan reply

Hello! Congrats on getting snow! The trees still have a few leaves on them so I think we may yet have a few weeks before the snow comes. That's not a bad thing. If it gets much colder in the evenings the Koreans may never leave their houses. ;)

This week had been an interesting one. We found a former investigator who had our number blocked. We talked and decided to meet later. As it turns out His girlfriend blocked our number, and he still wants to meet, so it worked our pretty well! He had a baptismal date before he disappeared for 3 weeks and he wants to still get baptized. The only real problem is his girlfriends utter loathing of other churches. The irony is that her religion is even crazier sounding than ours. :) It'll work out in the end. 

I got a new coat this week and there has already been an improvement in conversations on the street. I guess not wearing a trench coat can be a plus. ;) The weather has been cold at night, warm during the day, and very cold in the evening. It has been a bit of a stress to Elder Ahn, but he's pushing through. :) It's a sad day when he leaves, but it will happen sooner or later. We'll see what happens with the next companion. 

I've been reading the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants in personal study, and it has been a great experience to see the two separate books paint the same big picture so well. I hope all you got to read the other standard works in addition to the Book of Mormon. There are many reasons that we use all of them. :) I have especially loved seeing the interaction between the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. There is a power that comes from talking about the living Christ. I forgot who said it, but some general authority said that whenever the name of the Savior is spoken, there is a spirit that comes. That's definitely been true here. People think we're just more missionaries, but there is always a power that comes when we tell them that we come from Christ's restored church. It is the Lord's work we do, and He is more than happy to help it move along. 

Thank you for everything you are doing. I love you all and hope you stay safe in the snow. Don't drive more than is needful! Elder Klebingat would probably recommend walking anyway. ;) There is apparently a meme with his picture that says, "Thou Shalt Work Out." Our district leader printed it out for a district meeting a while back. This last conference was quite something. We got the Liahona this past week... Very helpful. 

Have a great week!

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.

Best wishes,

Elder Jones

Week 50 - 1 Nephi 17:50 And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done.

Dear Jordan,

 

 We have snow on the ground now. Not too much but it is still staying. The temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s for most of the week. We hope you are doing well. Any snow on the ground for you yet? Mom was surprised when she found out that you have been writing to other people (friends, etc). She was a little sad that you hadn't written to her last week. 

 

 As you can see by the week number, you are coming up on a year. To me it has been going by very fast. I hope you have enjoyed it. Now that you are no longer a teenager, do you feel any different? I didn't think so. Did you have a great birthday?

 

 On Monday we had Family Home Evening and Mom taught the lesson. It was on our bodies as temples and keeping them clean. On Tuesday the girls had Young Women in Excellence. Mom attended. The Young Men had their court of honor so I was busy with that. After I was done I was to the YW program. You may not have heard but Rachel finished her requirements and earned her Young Women's medallion. Hannah is still working on it and Bekah is just beginning. On Wednesday Hannah and Rachel had their interviews to receive their patriarchal blessings. On Thursday I ran some errands. On Friday I had the day off to prepare for the scout camp out. We went to Ken Wood's cabin. Everything worked out very well. It was a little cold but we didn't have to drive through any snow to get there. We ate dinner and then had a scouter's minute. The boys and most leaders them played games for a while. On Saturday we ate breakfast, packed our gear, and cleaned the cabin. We then spent some time planning for next year. Just as we finished, the snow started falling so it worked out very well. We came home and dropped off everyone. Rachel then went to How the Grinch stole Christmas with Robert. I went shopping for food. 

 

Will Stamps then came to our house. He will be staying until next Sunday. He let us know that Reilly Stamps decided to come home from his mission in Chile. We don't have much more information because he arrived back in NC a couple of hours after Will had left to fly out here to Utah. On Sunday Will went to church with us. After church we went to Robert's house for dinner.

 

 I finished reading The Book of Mormon again as part of my daily reading. I love the book and I am so grateful to have it in my life. I know it is true and I am grateful to have the teachings of it available in my life. I am grateful that you are able to tell the people of Korea about it so that they can know that God loves them and wants them to have the blessings of the gospel in their lives.

 

 We are grateful to have you as our son. You are great. We appreciate the choices you have made in you life to become the person you are. We love you.

 

 Please keep up the wonderful work you are doing. We continue to pray for you and your safety and success for what Heavenly Father wants you to do. I will now let you get to all of those other emails you have. Love you again.

 

Love,

dad, Mom, Sarah, Hannah, Rachel, Bekah

Happy birthday 11/21/94!

Dear Jordan,

♪♫ Happy Birthday to You! ♪♫

♪♫ Happy Birthday to You! ♪♫

♪♫ Happy Birthday Dear Jordan! ♪♫

♪♫ Happy Birthday to You! ♪♫

Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

 

Love,

Your Family

Korean War plane

The Korean Children's Grand Park... free admittance

Visit to the zoo

Jordan's week 49 response

Sorry to hear about the challenges with plumbing. That reminds me of the time in Imun that the bathroom sink rusted out. I had to form a make-shift pipe out of yogurt bottles and a 2-liter. I guess there are a couple ways to do house repairs. ;)

Great to hear about a fun stake conference! I look forward to understanding it fully again. Maybe next year. ;) It's really great to hear that Benn is going to do a mission. I can't wait to see what happens with him! 

Also, I'm willing to bet the Pilot is going to be quite the blessing. ;) 

This week has been the coldest yet. This last Saturday was apparently -5 degrees Celsius. That was quite an experience. Still no snow, though. The humidity is mostly gone now. It is still much more humid than Utah, but it is not even close to the levels we saw in the summer. That has been quite helpful since extra layers don't exactly help with wet air. ;) We have been able to do a lot more street contacting this week, doubling our goal of 140 people given gospel material. I guess it helps speed things up when people really want to get out of the cold. I have no idea what dad did in the heat all year round. I think it's nice to have a bit of cold to split up the heat. Any fun stories there? 

Things are going well. The people are still as nice as they have ever been and the weather is letting my trench coat get the most usage it's had in nearly a year. The suits are doing well. The sock and shoes are holding on. I realized the other day that I can sew the socks back together if I really need to... so I've done that for a while. I will survive until the whole socks come to replace the "holey" socks. I am very grateful for your help on that front. :) I will be buying a jacket for something lighter than a trench coat and a hat for my ears, so if you could transfer maybe $100 that should do it. Thank you so much. :)

It is really great out here. I wish you could come visit! I would recommend early summer or autumn, but it's great all year-round. :) I hear it is even better down south. It's at about the same longitude as St. George down there, so I think that's a safe bet. 

Not really anything out of the ordinary to report this week. The language is still coming. There are fewer and fewer misunderstandings between Elder Ahn and I, and he is having daily revelations about English grammar. It's good. ;)

I will try to send some pictures right now. :) Love you all! Thank you!

Press forward with steadfast faith in Christ.

Best wishes,

Elder Jones