Friend in Moscow

Jordan and Judd Player met up in Moscow. They both swam for the West Jordan High School swim team and earned the 5A State Championship a couple years back. For just a few minutes at the Moscow Airport they were able to meet up and chat. Judd's twin Brother is also serving in one of Russia's missions.  What are the chances...

Elder Judd Player and Elder Jordan Spoerri at the Moscow Airport

- 30 degree...Jordan's first week in the mission field

Alright so i got here a week ago and it was so sweet to hear evenone speaking russian except i realized i dont know russian. so lets start this off with step by step from the time i left the MTC, so we left at 5 in the morning tuesday morning and hoped on a bus to the airport then we get there and got situated and called home then boreded the plane i sat next to wininger on the first plane ride and a guy named herb, i talked to herb for like 2 hours but right off the bat he told me he didnt want anything so i just got to know him forever, that was my first shut down of the mission but it wastn to bad. and on that flight i had both of my carry ons by my feet so there was no leg room at all! i was so uncomfortable. then the next flight was alot better. we almost missed the flight but we made it in time and i went and found my seat and there was a lady sitting there and so i just sat next to her, i didnt care, and then she was like "oh this isnt my seat i am not sitting here" but she was speaking all in russian and i understood her and so i replied back" oh this isnt your seat?" and she was like no no no so i got up and she left but she forgot her computer case and so i had to go give it back to her so i went up to her and was like excuse me, this is yours, yeah? and she understood me and said thank you. i thought i was a champ because i spoke russian to someone outside of the MTC. but then here it comes. we get to russia. I DONT UNDERSTAND!! i dont understand like anyone. church members come up and talk to me and ask me where i am from but i dont know  but i dont understand it. but that was the first few days and i was way frustrated and was like what am i doing here i am never going to learn this language. but eh it takes time. so some stories, the grandmas here love me! i dont know why but they do! in church they all like came up and grabbed my hands and always ask me questions, but yeah i dont know what they say so they grab someone to translate for me and they just smile and grab my hands its funny. i dont know what i did to make them like me, all i do is smile :) so my companion. . . well lets just say since i was a terrible missionary in the MTC and had a hard time following all the rules, i got put with probably the most obeidiant person in the whole mission, there is a joke for the mission that he is John the Beloved. He is perfect in like everyway. but its going well i an\m learning alot from him. and he cooks for me so i cant complain. alright so here is a cool story. . . so my actual first real investigator. . . so he use to have a baptismal date a long time ago but then he started smoking again. so we met with him and had a way long meeting but he asked some good questions like why doesnt god help those people with cancer. and then my favorite at the end of the meeting he was like, you mormons think nothing is impossible and i was like your right nothing is impossible and busted out the scripture that with god everything is possible. alright so we were trying to get him to stop smoking and i was like ok how w\about we replace that habbit with a different one so i pull out my mints i have in my back pack and said, ok everytime you want to smoke take a mint and so he was trying them out and was like oh these mints are beautiful haha way funny and he was like ok i will try and i was like no you tell me you will or you wont. so i got him to say yes. and then so we all go outside after the meeting and first thing he does was pull out a ciggarete and lights it up. . . i was like what are you doing!! and he just laughs and smiles i was like NO! stop!! so we got him to throw it out and was way suprised. but i think he has been doing pretty good. so we went shopping today and i got this pretty sweet jacket its like one of those nicer dressier ones but it has some fur in it!! i love fur!! and its pretty sweet i love barganing with them too. OH! the ties are way cheap too! i am starting off my 1 tie a week for the rest of my mission. so i bought 3 today :) drunk people are everywhere here so its funny. like i was walking home a few days ago and so a guy just rolling on the ground because he was way drunk he was going crazy. oh and my favorite thing here is that when you step outside and take a breath through your nose. . . your nose hairs freeze :) probbably because its -30c here. well i think that is everything so far i hope everything is going great for all of you. i love you all! here is my address

Jordan Lee Spoerri

Moscow

glavpochtampt   a/ai 257

101000

Russia

Love Jordan

Finally in Russia...

Jordan finally made it safe to Russia. We received the following letter and pictures from his mission President.

Dear Brother and Sister Spoerri,

 

We wanted to let you know that your great son arrived safe and sound in Moscow earlier today, had his first day of contacting at Red Square near the Kremlin, and is now resting safe and sound before meeting his trainer tomorrow and heading for his assiugned area in Kakhovski, an area in Moscow. 

 

Thank you for preparing and sending such a wonderful son into the mission field.  He'll make a tremendous contribution, at an important time in the Church's development here. 

 

We've attached a couple of photos showing Elder Spoerri and the other missionaries who arrived with him today, in front of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square.

 

The Lord bless you for your sacrifice.  We will love working with Elder Spoerri.  Please contact us if you ever have any questions or concerns.

 

Warmest regards,

 

President Stephen J. Sorenson

Sister Corinne C. Sorenson

Russia Moscow Mission

Last Week...we hope

Last Week in the MTC . . .  well i hope! 

As i said last week that i went and had another ingrown toenail taken out, so did one of my roommates, Goddard. But he went in a day before me and both of us two days after we had our taken out both of our toes got infected! it sucks! we think it is because the doctor doesnt really clean his tools. he just comes and takes the tools out of his tool box and when he is done just throws them right back in! but we arent sure i have to go back one last time this friday unless it is infected really bad both me and goddard wont be able to leave on time! Which i wouldnt be happy with. So we got our flight plans too! That is probably the highlight of the week! So the morning of the 15th we have to be in the front of the MTC ready to go by 4:45 and we leave right around 5 A.M. so then we drive to the airport and should get there just after 6 we are all thinking. Then we leave SLC at 835 A.M. and fly to NY and only have about an hour to find our next plane and board so hopefully we dont miss that flight or get delayed in SLC. Then it is a straight flight to Moscow after that. We are suppose to get there at 10:10 A.M. so i might just get thrown right into the work once i get there, but we will see what happens. Another cool experience that happened this week was one of the sisters in my district had to go get surgury so last week she asked wininger to give her a blessing before she was going in to see if she needed to get surgury. So she had to get surgury and she asked me to give her a blessing. It was my 2nd blessing that i have given ever and both of the blessing that i have given have been in the MTC so that was pretty fun. Its weird because after the blessing i dont really remember much of what i just said. I guess the spirit is just working right trough me and i didnt need to remember, but after both the ones i gave they said they felt really good that night so i guess the blessings helped. I love having my toe hurt, just because i get to wear my slippers around and dont have to wear church shoes. I know mom you hated it when i would do that to church and those were even black slippers. These ones are brown and i look good in them haha. No they are just alot more comfortable. Anyways you probably wont hear from me again until i am in moscow and who knows when my P-day is so it might be 2 weeks from now when you hear from me. but i am excited to get there and get out of the MTC. I love you all and thank you for everything.

 

Love Jordan