We love Fridays even more now that we get to hear from Jordan!
Today we got to video chat with Jordan while we drove to the high school to meet up with Tyson and Ashley so they could video chat with him too! For some reason I missed him more this week, and so I was really looking forward to this. It was so good to see him and hear his voice! And I love hearing all about what he's doing. It makes my heart so happy :)
Of course I took some screen shots of our video chat!
Oh how I love seeing his happy smiling face <3
His schedule at the MTC is very structured and pretty intense. But he is loving it, and says the time goes by quickly. Every day they get an hour for exercise. There's a workout room, but Jordan and his district have spent that time outside playing different sports. They've played basketball, soccer, and even beach volleyball! There's an outdoor sand volleyball pit! He said they take their shoes off to play and the sand feels so good on his bare feet. He definitely gets that from me :) Today they were getting ready to go play Spike Ball. I hadn't heard of it, but apparently it's really big there. I'm so glad that between the rigorous hours and hours of classes, they have a chance every day to get outside and have some fun. That's so important in so many ways.
Jordan also said that his whole district joined the MTC Choir! I was so hoping that he would! He said that he sang at the devotional on Tuesday :) I'm so glad he is sharing that talent. He sings so beautifully, and it sure does bring the Spirit.
This weeks email included lots of pictures!!! Yay! I was so excited!! I just LOVE getting pictures! I'm SO happy he is thinking to take some :)
Here's his email!:
Nous sommes enfants de Dieu
(I looked this up on Google Translate. It says "We are children of God" in French)
Bonjour! This has been a great week! My French is really coming along, but there have been some incredibly humbling experiences. Doing practice lessons in French is extremely difficult, and it really shows me how much I don't know and how much I have to rely on the Spirit, because if I'm trying to think of how to say things in french during the lesson, it goes terribly, but if I forget about French and forget about myself and focus on the person I'm teaching and my love for them, the French just comes out and it's much more meaningful for the person being taught. If we work extremely hard beforehand, when it comes time to teach, the Spirit will speak through us. It truly is the Gift of Tongues. After working on this and making a conscious effort to think about the person instead of french, the improvement has been massive. We did practice lessons in french as a companionship with our teacher, Sœur Bennett, and the first time was really rough and extremely humbling, but a few days later we did it again and she said our French was at the level of someone at 6 weeks leaving the MTC.
My district is the best, we get along so well and it's so amazing to see how we were all paired up for a reason. Our teachers are so inspired, it really is a nonstop spiritual journey every day. 6 hours of sitting in French class per day seems to go so fast and I never get bored--that is also the Gift of Tongues.
We also had TRC this week where we teach an actual investigator who comes to the MTC because they're curious and want to know more about the Church. We taught a girl named Carter on Tuesday and Thursday, and I was unbelievably nervous, but it was such a cool experience. Tuesday didn't go so great, we just didn't feel like we did a good job teaching and bringing the Spirit, so we prepared and prayed so much for Thursday and it went SO well! It was so cool, the Spirit was so strong and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about the truthfulness of it and of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I invite each of you--yes, YOU--to read 2 Nephi 33 today. Take 5-10 minutes to read it and think about it. (It's short, don't worry ;) ) I promise that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that all who read it can know (CAN know--if you really put in the effort and have a real, heartfelt desire) that what I have said is true. And your life will never be the same.
Thanks for all of your love and support.
À bientôt!
Elder King
For those of you who don't have access to a Book of Mormon (you can go to mormon.org and request a free one!), the scripture Jordan refers to of 2 Nephi 33 can be read by clicking this link:
Here are his pictures!!
1. MTC
2.Tahiti Flag at MTC
3.Mural of Moses and the Exodus at the MTC
4.Mountain view from MTC in the morning
5. Jordan's Missionary name tags! One set in French, one set in Tahitian. The SYL sticker means "Speak Your Language" and when he's wearing that one he tries to only speak French!
6. Breakfast in the cafeteria with his district
7. His companion Elder Bichon with a random cat - haha! He gave no explanation for that pic
8. & 9. The Bible written in Tahitian! Jordan has to carry this, and he says it's so big and heavy! He likes how the sides of the pages are red. Check out the text inside - he will be learning how to read and speak that!
10. Walking to the Provo Temple across the street. He gets to go there every Friday :)
11. I told Jordan I want fun Missionary tag pics, so I guess this is the first one! I love that we can see a peek into his room from the mirror too. Because he only has 4 Elders in his room (most have 6) he and his companion get a whole bunk to themselves and put their stuff on the top bunk. Lucky!
I am so grateful for the experiences Jordan is having already. The opportunity he is having to go outside of his comfort zone and feel humble and to rely on the Spirit, to listen and love people more than worrying about himself and how to respond, these are priceless gifts. After only 10 days he is jumping right in - and loving it! My heart is full <3
No comments:
Post a Comment