May 10th and May 17th

I am behind a week! I was in San Diego last week taking a nice little trip after finals and didn't have time to update the blog! Jordan is doing really well! While my boyfriend Kyle and I were in California, my grandma Dorothy told us Jordan had mentioned in a letter that he wanted some new brighter ties so she gave us some cash and we went to the mall to pick some out! I was a little worried because I didn't know exactly what he meant by brighter, but he said he loves them! Jord says he really feels like the language is coming along also. He said he can say most words and understand what people are saying when they are speaking Croatian. He said he just needs to work on forming sentences but he thinks that will come when he is actually in Croatia and can hear the natives speaking.

He was cracking me up because in both e-mails he mentioned how much he wanted to see Iron Man 3. He said a few new Elders came into the MTC and were talking about it and he was so jealous! I told him I will make a list of all the new awesome movies coming out and we can have a marathon when he gets home! He also needed an NBA playoffs update so when I sent him one his response was "I heard that OKC got shut out by the Grizzlies I wasn't expecting that but hopefully some team can beat the stupid heat! My thoughts exactly.

On a more exciting note... Jord got his travel plans for Croatia!! He is so excited! He will be flying out of Salt Lake on May 27th at 11 and he will fly to Seattle first, then to Paris, then to Zagreb Croatia! I am SO EXCITED to talk to him on the phone that morning!!!!! He is really excited to actually get out there and start teaching people. He said that the MTC is great and all but he has been in there way long and needs to leave! Keep him in your prayers for his last 10 days in the MTC and pray that he has a safe trip to Croatia!!

Monday April 29th

This week was a little bit tougher for Jordan than the others have been! One of his companions that he was very close with went home for stress! That was hard for Jordan but luckily he had a 3-way companionship so he still has one of his good friends with him! His-email was very short today because they changed his p-day to Friday so he could only get on for a bit today to tell us all that. He did send quite a few pictures though so we were really excited to get that. He found one of his best friends in the MTC who just entered a few weeks ago so he was really excited about that! Pray for Jord and I will have more from his e-mail on Friday!

One of his best friends Hunter Casey going to the San Diego Mission

The Croatian Flag 

The Provo Temple 

Pictures April 25th

Typical Week!

Jordan described this week as a "typical week in the MTC". When he e-mailed us he had just gotten back from doing a session at the Provo temple and he said it was awesome! Richard G. Scott came and talked to them for their Tuesday night devotional and Jordan said he is a really great speaker.

He said "he also gave us a blessing but the crazy part is when he was done talking we sang a closing hymn, but while the sister who was saying the closing prayer made her way to the pulpit Elder Scott stopped her and then continued to talk for like two more minutes. You know that if an Apostle of the Lord stands up to say something he forgot it must be pretty important! haha."

 He also said Elder Scott gave them all a blessing. We had a lot going on in the family last week, some good and some bad, so he was mostly responding to all that! He was super excited that our little sister got a job at the place he used to work (Stadium 8 movie theater). Also, our little brother is following in Jordan's footsteps and started Lacrosse this year and he has already scored a few goals so Jord was super excited about that also. On a bit of a scarier note, our step-dad had an emergency and was in the hospital for a few days with a super infected appendix. But he is better now and Jordan said he was praying for him to recover quickly.

Jord said he is really starting to progress with his Croatian! He said he can actually understand what his teachers are saying when they are speaking Croatian. I had to break the bad news to him that the Jazz didn't make the playoffs but the Lakers did (yuck). He was pretty sad but he also said he was glad because if they finally made it far when he was gone he was going to be really mad! Jordan hits his 4 week mark on Wednesday which means he is half way done with the MTC! Pray for him as he continues to learn Croatian and learns to teach the gospel!

Jordan has more than enough treats!!

Provo Temple

Always representing the Jazz!! 

Starjesina Stuart! 

E-mail Monday April 8th

We got some more e-mails e-mails from Jord yesterday and he is still doing great! I was super excited to read this week that he saw two of my best friends in the MTC! Sister Madeline Macey in the cafeteria and Sister Hannah Bezdigan because they are in the same building and on the same floor for class. Madeline left for Chile yesterday and Hannah is going to Armenia. He also said he has seen some of his friends from back home in the MTC but he never has his camera on him so he hasn't gotten any pictures with them. Jordan said he likes that he is always in a set schedule every week with classes and going to bed and such but he still isn't quite used to it because he is used to "going with the flow" at home. He was really excited about the Jazz doing well and said he wanted to watch a game so bad! His birthday was this past week so my mom went and bought him one of those birthday cards that sings to you when he opens it. We had all the employees who work with me at Golds Gym sign it because that is where he worked right up until he left. He said he LOVED the card because it was the closest he has come to listening to "real music". Jordan said the Croatian is coming along great and that he is learning more and more everyday! He said it was really exciting that he is already able to say so much in such a tough language. He did say he was having problems conjugating verbs. (After a week and a half I would say that is still pretty dang good!) He said his companions are really cool and that they "weren't too strict or anything". The acapella group Vocal Point came and performed for them and he liked it a lot. He also said he really enjoyed conference and he felt like everything coming out of the speakers mouths was about missionary work. Overall Jordan sounds like he is doing really well and we can't wait to hear from him again!

First P-day and E-mails!

We got our first e-mails from Jord today! Yay!! His p-day is Monday and he has 1 hour to e-mail every Monday but he can write letters all day if he wants to. In his e-mail to me he said that the MTC is great! He also said he loved all the Dear Elders he was getting which is great because between my sister and I he has been getting a ton! Also in his e-mail to me he asked about the Utah Jazz (of course) because we are both fanatics! He is going to be mad because before he left they were playing terribly and since he's been gone they are on a 4 game winning streak and have been playing awesome! He will be super happy to know that the Jazz passed the Lakers and are now in the playoffs again. (We are completely anti-Lakers) In his e-mail to my Mom he said things were going great! Jordan has 2 companions names Elder Fausnaught from Alabama and Elder Kodra from Lehi, Utah and he said they are "way cool". He forgot his SD card and his camera cord so he hasn't been able to send pictures yet but he will as soon as my Mom sends them to him! He said they take walks around the temple on Sunday nights and he loves it. He can also pray and bear his testimony in Croatian! It's so amazing how the lord helps these young boys pick up on the languages they have to learn so quickly, it has only been 5 days!! These were his exact words: 

"How is everyone I miss you guys a lot and pray for you guys in pretty much every prayer. I have learned to bear my testimony and say a prayer in Croatian which is really cool! It's crazy that if you put all your trust and faith in the lord you can do anything!" 

I am so proud of my little brother! I can already see a huge transformation just through his e-mails. He is going to be a great missionary in Croatia! He said the food is good and the lines aren't that long so he has only had to wait for about 5 minutes to eat. He turns 19 on Thursday the 4th so he will be getting lots of goodies from various family members... he is going to be loving life! Pray for him as he continues to learn Croatian and learn how to be a great missionary!