Elder Jordan Stuart's LDS Mission: October 2013

Jordan seems to be having more success lately in Croatia! He was made district leader and was stressed about it and didn't think he would do a good job but we have received a few messages from different people telling us what a great missionary Jordan is and how well he is doing. He is just too hard on himself! In his e-mail on the 14th he was very happy to report that 21 people had signed up for their English class. He really likes these classes because not only does he get to teach people English and hopefully share the Gospel with them, but he can also practice his Croatian!

They got an investigator named Zahid who accepted a baptismal date for the 23rd, of November but he has to stop drinking by today (the 23rd of October) as of this past Monday the 21st, he hadn't stopped because his best friend was killed in a car accident so he had a drink. We are really excited to hear from Jordan next Monday to see if he was able to stop drinking! They had a really great lesson with him this past week about the Atonement and he got very emotional while they were watching a movie on the crucifixion. It sounds like he is really accepting the Gospel.

Jordan had an exchange with a missionary named Elder Mecham who is going home next month so he really helped Jordan out a lot and gave him some great advice. He told Jordan that is he just does his best, the Lord will make up for the rest. That really made Jordan think and helped him get through his week. Elder Mecham and Jordan got a referral from the sisters that they followed up on this past week. This man is in his 60's and his wife died last year. Elder Mecham knows the language very well so they were able to have a conversation with him about the plan of salvation. He said he would come to church on Sunday to see how it felt but he is also now a new investigator for them.

He did have one thing that discouraged him this week and it really upset me as well. They were at a members home and when it came time for the Elders to give a spiritual thought he struggled with the language to get his testimony out. The members weren't kind about it and kept telling him to try it in English and maybe they will understand it. He says the members there aren't super nice and they really aren't helpful with the language. This really made me mad! I wish they could understand that this young boy is thousands of miles from home trying to learn multiple foreign languages and is working very hard. It makes me mad but all I can do is pray for him and hope it gets better.

Jordan got to go to a national park and he took a lot of pictures so I will post them below! Please please please continue to pray for Jordan!! I know they are helping him and I know he would appreciate it.

Plitvica: Craotian National Park

Jordan is all settled in Croatia! He was immediately made district leader and is companions with Elder Bursell from Parker, Colorado. He is a little stressed out since he himself is so new and now he is with someone who is even newer than him! But he is excited to be in Croatia and get back to learning that language better.

Jordan told us a cool story about his first week in Croatia, here it is:

"We were looking through our area book this week and found a husband and a wife that were investigating in 2008. We decided to go and visit them. Once we finally found where he lived we asked this guy if he knew where Branko lived. He told us he was Branko and told us we could go in. He already had a book of mormon but ended up becoming a new investigator. Looking through the area book does work."

We are super excited for Jordan to be in Croatia and we are hoping he is also! Here are some pictures he took in Bosnia before he was transferred: