Real Intent
This week was just wonderful as usual! Had so many great lessons, had our mission "Olympic tryouts" (I qualified in the ladder sprints), an amazing missionary meeting full of the Spirit (at which we gave a training about the importance of real intent), and ended our week with a concert by the BYU Idaho Symphony! It was the best!!!! This week though, I want to tell you about one of our investigators who is a perfect example of someone with the "real intent" we read about in Moroni 10:5. He is a young boy, about 15 years old, right now he is in a youth correctional facility, so we go there to visit and teach him. A little bit of background, he has had an extremely rough upbringing and there fore learned some not so great habits, a couple of which landed him here in the facility. Though he is 15 his understanding is of someone who is about 10, but he honestly has a heart of gold, and a hunger to learn about God and to do what is right. We have been teaching him for about three months now, an the growth he has made is tremendous!!! He prays everyday, especially when he get angry at his group members, he has been reading from the Book of Mormon, and greatest of all, he says he is beginning to feel God's love for him. Funny story, this week, we were teaching the Ten Commandments and also that we need to love our neighbors. In his child like  innocence, he thought we meant he had to be "in love" with everyone including his mom haha He was like, "that's kinda weird..." So we explained that is was a family love and not in a romantic way. When I first met him, I just wanted to take him home to Mama so she could love him and teach him right. Though sometimes I still have the desire to rescue him from the situation that he is in, I realize I am helping him on such a deeper level. By teaching him the gospel and showing him how to live a better life, our Heavenly Father is embracing him and supporting him, giving him the love and guidance he needs to become a better person, not just now but forever. This gospel is wonderful, life changing and so simple a child can understand it. Seeing the beauty of the gospel at work in this young man's life changing him and shaping him is too wonderful to adequately express in words. This is why I am a missionary! Not just now, but forever, because all need to know of the power and support that is in our Savior Jesus Christ and the love that God has for each and every one of us. 

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY - APRIL 1, 2016

SILLY FACES!

UNITY (one year anniversary, April 1, 2016 - WOW!!)

Oh man, this weekend was General Conference weekend!!!!!! I  seriously felt like a kid on Christmas, haha, I was sooo sad when it was over:/   I LOVED soo many of the talks, and how most talked, a lot, about our divine nature, and the potential we have for greatness, but that greatness can only be grown through the opposition of trials. My favorite was, as always, President Utchdorf. He spoke on the importance of obedience, and how it is a symbol of our faith, and love for the Savior. I also like the Father talk by Elder Christoferson, even though I'm not a father, or a mother, haha.  Still, I feel like the principles apply, because I am still trying to come closer to Heavenly Father, and this talk perfectly outlines more things I can do:) 

 Another interesting theme, I recognized this conference was that of unity. Uniting us all through prayers of faith for the speakers and choir. Unity in the fact that we all have trials and afflictions. Unity in all being beloved children of a most high God. Unity through the equal opportunity we all have to be strengthened, and cleansed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Unity with God through the blessing of the temple, and the power that comes from a united, Christ centered family. There is great power in unity, as we learn in Mosiah 18:21, that the people should "look forward with one eye, having one faith, and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity, and in love, one towards another." Having our hearts knitted together in love, focusing on our Savior, is the only safety in this crazy and confused world. 

I pray that we may all remember the things taught to us this conference.  We know that Christ has ordained these men to be prophets seers and revelators, that through them we can receive inspiration and guidance for ourselves and our families, thus to keep us safe and bring us peace. May we reverence their words, and study them as if the Lord himself had spoken them. May we also remember the words to the hymn"I Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet", "When dark clouds of trouble hang o'er us and threaten our peace to destroy, there is hope smiling brightly before us!" I know that hope come from the words of our living prophets and apostles today and we will not be led astray.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

Nearer My God to Thee

This past week has been so very busy as usual. Time surely does fly when you are having fun;) Except for this past Thursday and Friday, I have never been soo sick in my life, but I'm all better now:D! This week before Easter, we have been sharing a wonderful Easter video called #Hallelujah. It is a short, but powerful video clip, with various people quoting scripture and then testifying of how we will all be able to be reunited with our families again one day. It ends with each of the people exclaiming Hallelujah, which is Hebrew for "Praise ye the Lord". I have been pondering on the significance of this doctrine... that because of our Savior, we have all been provided with a way to be reunited not only with our mortal families but with our Heavenly Father again. All he asks is that we Follow Him.

 As I have had the opportunity to follow Christ and His example so fully on my mission, I have been filled with indescribable joy! I will share a most tender experience that just happened to me yesterday. We went to the hospital to visit a sick member, but when we got to her room, she was fast asleep. Knowing we had some time before our dinner appointment, I had this idea to ask the nurses if anyone else was in need of a visit. To our surprise, they directed us to this old lady named Maggie. We sang to her "Nearer My God to Thee", and as we got to the chorus, she began to sing! And in that moment, I felt so very near to Heavenly Father. Just that small simple act of service, not only uplifted Maggie, but filled us soo fully with Heavenly Father's love, and I realized again, this is what it means to follow Christ... To try our very best to do what he would do, serve at every opportunity, love fully, and guide others to Him. Though this world seems dark and dreary most times, "in Christ the Lord, our hope is found!" 

I invite each of you to visit this website, check out the Hallelujah video and the rest of the resources provided. Take the time this week to reflect of the vastness of God's love personified through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

Birthday Week - 

     What another wonderful week!!! It started out with my birthday, and ended with a super inspiring ward conference! But what I want to focus, this blog, on, is something that happened in the middle of the week. This week, on Thursday, we had a special conference just for the sister missionaries. We were all speculating, all week, about what it would be about, from getting ipads to just having a fun get together. However, it was greater than we even expected.  President and Sister Gardner encouraged and uplifted us, counseled and showed their love for us, and gave us directions on how not just to be a better more effective missionary, but better more effective people. There were so many prayers answered. We stared by singing "As Sisters In Zion", and the spirit immediately filled the room.

     First, we talked about the power of our words.   Next, we talked about how we should love our weaknesses and trials, because they refine and strengthen us.  Then, we talked about the importance of recognizing our true identity and our potential as daughters of God.  Lastly, we talked about how we can better defend ourselves against Satan's lies, which led to a discussion on how much power we have when we recognize the Lord is ALWAYS on our side. Lastly, we acknowledged that as sister missionaries, we do NOT HAVE to be here, but we choose to be here, because we love God!!!  Sorry for the long, run on sentences, but there was just sooo much good stuff. Prior to our special meeting, as a leader/sister missionary trainer, my soul had been weighed down as I learned about the internal conflicts and struggles of our sisters.  Afterwards, I felt such relief, as this conference addressed all the things I had no idea how to help with. 

     It was wonderful to feel the difference from all of the sisters after the meeting. They were recharged and even more devoted and valiant. I am proud to say that they are my sisters, though we don't share the same flesh or blood, we wear the same name on our chests, that of our Savior Jesus Christ. We have come together in an unbreakable bond, we watch out for one another, build each other up, stand by one another, laugh together, and sometimes even cry together. It is such a privilege to be surrounded by so many courageous and inspirational women. Satan better watch out, us sisters cannot be stopped!!! As it says in 2 Kings 6:16 " Fear not: for they that be with us are  more than they that be with them!"

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

Growing Together

This week was full of training and spiritual nourishment! Monday, we traveled all the way up to Omaha (about a three hour drive) for our leadership training called MLC. Funny story, on the way we stopped for dinner and I decided that I would speak in a southern accent in the drive thru. The cashier guy kept smiling at us and I told Sister Petersen that Im sure he was laughing because he could tell I was faking it. However by the time we left, he told me he liked my voice, so perhaps I really did have him fooled hahaha.

     Ok, back to our Omaha meeting...to try and summarize all I learned MLC would seriously take up about 70 emails, so overall my faith and testimony was strengthened through the principles of how this wonderful gospel is centered on families, the strengthening and enabling power that comes from repentance, the fact that  through Christ we can find new life, and that we are given weaknesses not only to make us humble, but so that we will be able to turn them into strengths. I felt so encouraged and uplifted with a renewed desire to not only share what I learned with our investigators but with our missionaries as well. And we did! Sister Petersen and I had the opportunity to train on repentance to the other missionaries. We first defined repentance and discussed what motivates us to repent and how we can help those who we teach to experience, as Alma says in Alma 36, "joy and marvelous light" of repentance. Another topic that has been on my mind this past week is the statement of the Sabbath being a delight and what that means to me.

    So I came up with this little free verse poem as we sat in the park doing our studies this Sunday: 

I am sitting in the grass of Harvey park on a bright orange blanket. The grass is a mixture of brown and green because it is not yet spring, though it feels like it. Basking in the warmth of the sun and feasting on the words of prophets both ancient and modern. I learn more of my Savior and the importance of the Book of Mormon, right here, right now! The words to a hymn just sung in sacrament play in my head, " All creatures of our God and King, lift up your  voices and with us sing Alleluia, alleluia!" I feel the joy of those words. I hear the laughs of children on the play ground, of moms, dads and grandparents speaking in baby voices to their precious ones. Sword fights, tag, and a couple tears...small seemingly insignificant moments, but lovely when done together.  This gospel centers on families, its exactly why we are all here, learning laughing and growing together, this is what it means to make the Sabbath a Delight!

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847

POWER

So my companion Sister Petersen goes home pretty soon, so what she has started to do is dedicate weeks of her mission to someone. This idea comes from one of the trainings  we received at one of our missionary meetings. Our mission presidents  wife told us a story of when her and her daughter ran a marathon. Apparently her daughter did not train very well and so just after a couple miles, she began to be extremely tired. So, in order to finish this race, she began dedicating each mile to a child who she worked with. As she ran that mile, she would tell her mother all about that child and as she did that, she was distracted from her exhaustion and was able to complete the marathon! Using this same idea, we have decided t pick a scripture hero each week to dedicate our missions to and try and emulate. This week we studied Nephi! What I decided to do was to choose the top three characteristics that Nephi exemplifies and then to find scriptures to support them. I chose faith, diligence, and obedience.  I found sooo many scriptures that shows Nephi's exceeding faith, like, 1 Nephi 4:1 and verse 3 when he tells his brothers they must go back into the city, even if they have no idea how they will obtain the plates. Then later in that same chapter in verses 6 and 7 as Nephi explains that though he did not know what he was doing, he was "led by the Spirit and went forth!" And then my favorite in 1 Nephi 7:12 and 17 that because of Nephi's exceeding faith, he was able to burst the bands with which he was bound. And all of this was just in the first seven chapters of the first book of Nephi! So far this week, I have come to realize that power comes from obedience, that it is exercised through faith and that when power and faith combine, miracles are produced. Such a reassuring principle taught so plainly in the scriptures. Pondering more about Nephi and his wonderfully great attitude no matter the circumstances, I realized something. I realized that in order for us all to maintain our purpose and desire (not just as missionaries, but as followers of Jesus Christ), we must keep an eternal perspective, a positive attitude, and unwavering faith, just like Nephi. As we remember our purpose here and make a daily commitment to do good and be better daily, we will be able to face all of life's challenges with optimism and and joy!:))

~ With Bunches of Love,

 Sister Jordan

Mailing Address: 1109 E 66th Street

Kearney, NE 68847