- 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