Friday May 31st

I have a lot to catch up on in this post!! But the main thing is that Elder Stuart is safe in Croatia! It was an extremely long and crazy journey but they finally made it there a day late! It all started on Monday morning while we were VERY anxiously sitting around waiting for Jordan to call us from the Salt Lake City airport. He had originally told us he would be calling around 8:30 or 9. 9:45 rolled around and we were all getting very nervous thinking that there was no way he had time to call us now. Luckily the phone rang and it was Jord and he was calling from a cell phone that belonged to someone in the baggage line! This person actually used to live in Croatia, small world! We only got to talk to him for a few minutes before he had to go to security. He called us one more time because of another very nice person who was also an airport employee who let him use his cell phone. He told us he would try and call us again in Seattle when he landed. We were a little disappointed at this point because we hardly got to talk to him at all and I had to get to work so I figured I was done talking to him until Christmas. I was very wrong! I had been at work for about a half hour when my Mom runs in saying Jordan is on the phone! I had someone watch the front desk for me and I went with my Mom into my bosses office to talk to Jord. We learned that his flight to Paris had been delayed about 7 hours so we had plenty of time to talk to him! I was so excited! The plane they were supposed to be on ended up not having enough seats for the missionaries. (I don't know how they possibly let that happen.) He spoke some Croatian for us and we got to have a nice conversation with him. We made arrangements for him to call my cell phone at 2 again so I could talk to him one more time before he left for Paris. About a half hour later my Mom comes to me again saying "Hurry and say bye to Jord, they got a different flight instead!" So I hurried and said bye to him and thought that was the end of it. Nope. We got another call about a half hour later saying that they missed the flight to Paris and would be staying the night in Seattle and would be flying to Frankfurt, Germany Tuesday morning instead!

So the airport set them up in a really nice hotel and gave them each $50 for food. We didn't talk to Jord again that night but we figured he would call us on Tuesday morning since his flight to Germany wouldn't be leaving until 10:45. I got up on Tuesday and went to work at 12 but I hadn't heard from Jordan so I thought he was off to Paris by now. Nope. My mom works with me at Golds Gym so when I got there she was on the phone with Jordan... still in Seattle! I talked to him for a sec and we made a plan for him to call me at 3 that afternoon. So 3 rolled around and my awesome boss watched the front for me so I could go talk to him. He had 16 minutes left on his calling card so I got to have a nice conversation with him! He told me that the flight to Germany was on some private plane and that they had different baggage requirements than Delta. The sister missionaries were over the limit so they hurried and packed some of their stuff into my brother and the other elder missionaries suitcases... then they missed that flight. SO, they would leaving for Paris from Seattle that night at 6:15 with Delta and Jordan was SURE they would be getting on that plane. Our conversation was so great! He was making me laugh the whole time, like usual! He even started mixing in his Croatian while speaking English on accident while he was telling me a story! He told me they tried to give a lady on a bus stop in Seattle a Book of Mormon but she was not interested AT ALL. At the end of our phone call I told him to call me one more time before he got  on the plane for Paris that evening and he said he would. At the end of my shift I got one more phone call from Jord and we talked for about 10 minutes and then said our goodbyes. I am SO THANKFUL that even though it was stressful and they got to Croatia late, I got to talk to my brother so much! I am so thankful for him and his example!

Now, onto the next story! Yesterday, I got a call from my Mom saying she got an e-mail from some guy from Northern Utah named Taylor Smith. In the e-mail he said he is travelling around Europe and that in every country they go to he likes to find churches, temples and missionaries. Him and his friends had gotten to Zagreb, Croatia the same day as Jordan and found him and the other missionaries! In the e-mail he sent to all the parents he said he served his mission in Paris, France and loved when people sent stuff to his parents so he wanted to do the same for these guys! He sent us a picture and let us know that Jordan is doing well! I put the picture on Facebook and one of my friends commented on the picture saying she knows the kid and that he goes to Utah State University which is where I go and where Jordan will be going when he gets home! It is SUCH a small world!! I am so thankful for people like Taylor Smith!

Jordan's p-day will be switched back to Monday now that he is in the field so I will post e-mails on Mondays now! Pray for Jordan that he can find people to teach in Croatia and that he will have an amazing experience. He is such a good kid and our whole family is so proud of him.

Jordan with the other missionaries in his area and the guys from Utah 

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!!