It's Always Nice To Get Out Of The Shirt And Tie

April 29, 2013

So I have seen more squirrels in Clayton than I have seen in my entire life! They are everywhere! We looked out our window in to our backyard the other day, our yard is super tiny, and we saw 10 squirrels! Nothing so far has come out of the referrals but we haven’t contacted them all yet. So hopefully something good will. The ward is talking about moving us. Since we don’t have a car and everything is so far away from us they are looking for a new place for us to live. So that will be an interesting experience to have to move on my mission. Mostly we have been helping the couple that got baptized when we first got here. Unfortunately they are having problems with the house and are moving so we have been helping them get things out of the attic and the crawl space and doing yard work and helping them organize everything. It’s always nice to get out of the shirt and tie and do something different. We have been helping them pretty much every Tuesday since we got here. Oh boy! Glad I’m not in AZ.!(His comment to Kiley getting her driver’s license) I’m glad we got Harley back! Hopefully we still have her when I get home, she’s the only do we have ever had that has ever played with us! Nothing too exciting happened this week, no surprise talks any way. It’s just been a normal week. Things are going well with me and I’m really having a good time out here, I wouldn’t trade this for anything. Well love ya talk to ya next week. Send me the house phone number if you want me to call that one on mother’s day.

Jordan

One of My Biggest Fears on My Mission Came True Yesterday

April 22, 2013

Ya I’m not a fan of the bugs out here, they are a pain. I think the big majority of apartments in the mission have washer driers, so I’m hoping I get lucky my whole mission. I can’t believe I’m half-done either! (with training) It’s been going really well, it’s been a neat experience watching Elder Melander grow and learn, and I definitely felt like I’ve grown a lot. To go from junior companion to senior companion whitewashing and training kind of forces you to grow. But I’ve loved the experience so far, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I know I forgot to tell Kiley happy b-day... but Monday wasn’t her b-day so I didn’t remember. But I was sitting there planning for last Wednesday and realized it was April 17 and I felt bad I forgot to tell her. But I didn’t forget because I remembered on her b-day so she can’t be mad. It’s good to hear that you are doing good at your job, have you been enjoying being in charge? You have to have a big summer project, you do one every year! Well this week went pretty well. It’s been one of the busier ones we have had this transfer. Taught lots of lessons and did lots of service. Still no investigators really, but we’ve been teaching the less actives and recent converts and that’s been going really well. So one of my biggest fears on my mission came true yesterday. We were sitting in sacrament meeting waiting for it to start, and it was about a minute from starting when I notice the 2nd councilor in the bishopric get up and start walking towards Elder Melander and I. Then he looks at me and says that one of the speakers hasn’t shown up and the bishop would like me to fill in and talk on agency. So with 15 min during the sacrament to prepare I had to get up and speak for 15 min. on agency! I was so nervous and scared, I hate doing on the spot stuff like that, I always get nervous and ramble and make no sense. But the bishop said I did really well and I felt like I did good. Plus after, like 5 members came up and gave us referrals and talked about friends they are working with so I guess I did well enough to earn their trust. I can’t believe how much I’ve grown I would have never been able to have done that before! Well that’s my story for this week, love ya.

Jordan

I'm Not Some Picky Little Kid Any More

April 15, 2013

I hope this pic of me works for what you need. And these are pics of where we live. One is a view from the street, we live behind another house, members can never find it when they pick us up for things. The other is a pic of the front of our house we live in a split home, ours is the one on the right. On the left is a nice old lady named Ida. She calls herself the missionary grandma and will help us out in any way she can. She loves the elders. The other pictures are the inside, it’s really small. We have a front room/kitchen, and a bedroom/study. We also have a bathroom and a washer dryer. It was a lot of food! We had left overs for like 3 days. I might, I eat a lot more normal food than I used. I’m not some picky little kid any more. But don’t worry you still have 18 months to kick Ryan out and make room for me! Time is going by so fast, I can’t believe that in a few weeks I will have been out for 6 months! And that I’m already half way done with training! Time goes by too quick. It’s been a good week, I’m starting to enjoy biking, but it’ll be short lived because of the weather. It is starting to get hot and humid.... it’s only like 85 degrees but wearing a shirt tie and pants combined with the humidity it feels like a lot more than that. But I guess I’ll get used to it. This state is strange, for a few weeks every year all the trees and plants and everything start turning green and releasing pollen. So everything including cars and bikes has a thick coating of yellow pollen on it, it’s the strangest thing I have ever seen. It gets everywhere. Next week I’ll send you pics of how beautiful it looks out here! Everything is so green. And hanging form all the trees are a bunch of silk worms, so every time you walk under a tree it’s like walking thru a spider web, and then you have these little green caterpillar worm things all over you. It’s really strange. This week we had activity zone conference. Which is two zones got together and we had a normal zone conference with lessons and talks and such and then we all went to a park and played soccer and volley ball and ultimate Frisbee. It was really hot but a ton of fun. Well other than that it’s just been a normal week, knocking on doors, riding bikes, talking about the church. I guess I’ll talk to you next week, love ya.

Jordan

Elder Romney

View from the street, apartment in back.

Elder Romney's apartment

Living room/kitchen

bedroom/study

We Watched Conference at a Member's Home

April 8, 2013

We watched conference at a member’s home, our ward mission leader on Saturday, and then the stake President came over, then on Sunday just some members of the ward. It’s weird to have to sit and watch conference in a tie instead of comfy clothes, it made it a lot easier to stay awake. It’s good to hear that Shelli is doing a little better. Preparation days are a little boring in Clayton. In Goldsboro there were three sets of elders so we’d do our shopping and then play basketball at the church. Here in Clayton there is only Elder Melander and I and the church isn’t in our area. Plus since we don’t have a car, shopping takes a little longer. So most of our day is spent walking or riding to a store, and then we clean our apartment and just relax. We found a neat little bike trail that’s paved and goes thru the woods and stuff, so we might go riding around. But other than that there isn’t too much to do. I’ll get a good pic of me this week for you and send it next week, I have super bad helmet hair right now. Oh ya I forgot  I was going to take pictures of the apartment this week, I’ll send them next week as well. Ya our house is hard to find in real life as well, it is behind another house. It didn’t rain that much at all, just the normal NC rain. Not too much happened this week, we have been spending a lot of time with ward members and recent converts, and we had a trainers meeting that took up all of Thursday. And then this week we have an activity zone conference on Thursday. But it’s been nice to be an all bike area, I feel like we pass by so much in a car, so it’s nice to slow down and talk with everyone and take everything in. We had a North Carolina feast this week for dinner. A member brought us fried chicken, baked beans, hush puppies, potato salad, East Carolina BBQ, lemonade, and pecan pie. It was delicious! Well love ya, talk to you next week.

Jordan

North Carolina Feast

Eastern North Carolina BBQ

After My Mission I Will Never Eat Them Again

April 1, 2013

I did enjoy the package, thank you! Easter dinner was good, we had ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and blue berry cobbler. I swear that every meal I have eaten out hear has green beans, and I’ve gotten used to eaten everything else but I can’t stomach green beans, it’s so hard to eat them. Don’t worry, I still eat them, but I promise that after my mission I will never eat them again. Our sacrament meeting went well too. We don’t have a choir I don’t think but all the talks went really well. Saturday night we taught a fireside on the atonement to all the recent converts. It went really well. I surprise myself with some of the things I say sometimes. My biggest fear coming out here was not being able to teach well and not being able to know what to say, but it’s gotten so easy for me to just talk and I feel so inspired with all the questions I ask and all the things I say. It’s truly a miracle and a humbling experience that I can teach as well as I do, because I know for a fact it’s not me,  it is all the Lord. Oh sorry, the temple trip went well, it was nice to do a session. It is an extremely small temple. You have to call and make reservations or they won’t let you in. I think it as big as Gila Valley. Ya ya I know I don’t take enough pictures with me in them, I’m sorry. I’m pretty much used to rain every other day now. It’s impossible to bike in the rain, cause it’s just not safe so  we will make a lot of phone calls, and try and set up appointments and rides to places so we can be as productive as we can with no car.  The finding has been pretty slow, people are willing to listen to us but no one cares enough to invite us back or change anything, it gets frustrating but people have their agency and all we can do is keep pressing on being happy. It’s sad to see how close people are to the truth but how missing one point like priesthood authority can make them so lost and so far from the truth. I can’t believe that it’s already April and I’ve already been out for 5 months, time flies! Well I love ya and I’ll talk to ya next week.

Jordan