Another Couple Months....

HEY...HOW DID THIS STORE END UP HERE

STREET ART  - WE DO THIS OFTEN 

Party  (July 6, 2011)

Hello there everyone, hope you all had a good week and had a good fourt of july. Well this week was pretty fun, well there were some fun times to it. So on monday it is this one girls birthday in the ward i am in now and she was having a party and she invited all of us missionaries to go, so what did i say? OF COURSE!! well my comp wasnt all that into the idea. So he tried as hard as he could to find something else to do during that time, luckly no one was able to meet that day so we got to go to the party. it was way fun! we went out into the forest and set everything up. i made rootbeer and brought it for her because some russians here love rootbeet. they were all way excited for it. But in the forest we made a fire and roasted hot dogs and had smores! it was way fun. We also played ultimate and football and alot of games. As soon as we got into the woods and started a fire my comp was like hey we are going to leave soon. so i said why? we dont have anything planned. he walked away. then it comes around 7 pm and he is like hey we should leave in a half hour and i say ok what for? do you have something to do? because if you do lets go, if nots its dumb to go. because it would take an hour to get home, 30 to get ready and then what its time for us to be home. so then he thought and walked away. wasnt to happy. but i had fun with everyone. i love being around everyone and other people. to bad i still dont really know russian. today for p-day we went to this huge mall in moscow and went ice-skating. it was way fun! i think that was pretty much it for the week we did alot of service and alot of people go out of town this time of the season so its tough to do work but we still do it. hope eveyone is having fun at home. i love you all

Love Jordan

Yet Another week  (June 29, 2011)

Hello there family another week has gone by and it has been really hot!! The thing is that the heat isnt the problem it is the hummidity that kills us. we are in shirts and ties and we are walking the streets and we just get sweaty. its not all that fun being sweaty all the time. and for some reasons, russians dont really believe in AC. we only have a small fan in our appartment and that doenst do much for us. at night we usualy dont even have to sleep with a blanket or anything because its hot and stuffy. We went chalk drawing a few times this week and one time this guy that we meet with was very drunk and we were trying to get a picture but he wanted to be in it so he is in the picture holding his beer then out of no where he kissed my comp on the cheek. so we were talking to him later and trying to get him to throw his beer away and he wouldnt he was like guys i am drunk i have drinken alot and i said yeah i can see that, then he looks at me smiles and head butts me! it wasnt that hard but i thought it was funny. We then went to that one guy i found while chalk drawing we went to his house and he is so excited to pray, when i called him he was like yeah come over and we can eat and say some prayers and do this and pray and what not it was way funny. he is an awesome guy but we just need to start teaching him. He talks alot and we have to tell him like hold on we want to say something is there is anything we want to say. and he loves to take pictures, he always tells me to bring my camera so we can make pictures and he has to be in everyone of them. i wanted a picture of something of just me in it but no he comes right in and is like make the picture and what not. kinda funny. We had the end of a transfer last week and i am staying with my comp. Well that is about everything that happened here and i hope all of you have a great week. i love you all

Love Jordan 

This looks like our cat at home - Nimba!!??

Dance  (22 June 2011)

Hello there family and friends, another week down and it was pretty fun. So to start it off i went on a split with the other elders in my city and they have a way nice apartment. I am way jealous of their apartment because ours is way small and stuffy and yeah just not the best apartment. So while i was with him we went over to this members house. this memeber is amazing. He used to be in the mafia and has been in jail i guess. He is a big guy and way funny, and he loves sports! doesnt matter what sport he loves it. like when we were over there on his huge tv we watched bull riding and some water polo. So while we were over there he asked me what sports i did and i told him swimming and he was like "oh mark spitz" and i was like yeah i know who he is and he was like are you the next mark spitz and i was like i wish then he was like ok mark spitz pray for us. then he fed us some borsh, the cabbage and beat soup. Which is really good i really like it. then after a big bowl of that i was full then he says ok dish 2. and he gave me this dish it was cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and hot dogs in some mixture and i was looking at it like i dont want to eat this it looks gross. and he gave me a full bowl full. so i was like ok i can do this. so i started eating it and it wasnt that bad. but once it got cold because i was eating slow and i didnt want to eat anymore because i was so full was when it wasnt so good. so he told me, " when you come to me you dont need to eat the breakfast and dinner the day before". he isnt lying either. then When had a culture night last night and we went to a national russia dance. It was awesome. they did the typical russian style dancing were they bend down and then jump up into a star shape and then crouch down again and what not it was way awesome.

One of the old investigators we have here in this area when we went over to his house he got mad at us because we didnt bring the sisters but he is crazy. so we started talking to him and he said he had a vision, that joseph smith came to him and said that he is going to be the nixt prophet. And i about started laughing. because why would joseph smith come ti him. he isnt the one that calls the prophets. And we were like you need to be a member to be a prophet and he was like i know but i dont want to be the next prophet. and it was way funny. he also want us to go swimming with him and i really wanted to go but i know we cant do that.

So yeah that was my week hope all of you are having a good week and that you have a good week. love you all

Love Jordan

Quack (June 15, 2011)

ello everyone, another week here is russia. not to much happened this week but i will say a little bit. so we went over to one of our investigators. the one investigator that feeds us way weird food. so we walk in and we were fasting so i was going to use that as an excuse so i wouldnt have to eat what he was giving us. but turns out that day was a holiday so he prepared something really big. so he had a duck in the oven. I thought is was a huge fish at first but i didnt really see it all the way. But he stuffed the duck with apples and potatoes. so it was looking a little weird at first and i was thinking there is no way i can say no to this. so he loads up the plates and there it is some duck on my plate. surprising, it was actually really good. duck isnt bad. So things are kinda crazy here in the town i am in because for some reason people look at me and pretty much have the death glare and want to fight me. 3 people in one day have gave me that look and its not just the look like what are you doing here. its the look like i want to tear your head off. and they only look at me, my comp is just behind me and is like that guy wanted to kill you and i say i know. My comp almost had a stick thrown at him because this guy was freaking out at us and i was just watching them a little ways away. and my comp turned and walked away and the guy had a stick and raised his had to throw it but didnt then raised his hand again to throw it but seemed as if he couldnt. so we were being watched out for. That is about it for this week hope everyone is doing good.

Love Jordan

Again  (June 8, 2011)

Hello everyone i hope you all had a great week i know i did with some crazy things happening. So first off we now have a stake in moscow. it is the first stake in russia and it was great to have Elder Russle M. Nelson come and organize it. One interesting thing is that his son was one of the first missionaries in russia and some people remember being taught by him and so he spake and spoke in russian so that was pretty sweet. Also Elder Nelson bore is testimony in russian and that was pretty awesome to hear an apostle speak in Russian. Then on Monday they had a meeting for just the missionaries and Elder Nelson so it was a way good meeting. So remember that one guy who me and my comp had to throw our food out the window. well we went over there again and we were like we cant eat. well his is drunk and says no you are eating. so he gives us borsh, but this borsh was way gross, i told my comp there is no way i am getting this down so again the investigators leaves and out the window it goes, but my comp thought it was pretty good so then he is like talking about other russian foods and talks about the meat jello again. well he insisted that i try some so he pulls some out of the fridge and gives me some. and my companion to make it worse is like oh he loves it he told me he loves it so i am telling my comp i am going to punch you right in the face. so then my comp is like lets get it on video and i was like oh my so we got me on video taking a bite of this meat jello and spitting it right back out. and gagging alot. it is so gross. and then my comp is like the our investigator i dont understand he said he loves it. and i said i am sorry this is gross. so yeah we he gave us half the pan to take with us and it is now sitting in our fridge and will not be eaten. had a sweet experience were we were chalk drawing and a guy comes up to me in english and what tdo we got here missionaries or something so i give him and english club flyer trying to get him on his way but he wanted to talk to me. so i talked to him for an hour and he loves me and was like i want you to come down to my house and meet my family and my neices and i have a way loud sound system and we can listen to this music. so afater that i was talking to my comp and he was like you know you were the one he needed to meet because no one else would have been able to relate with him so we will see how things work out with him but to bad he lives in my last area i was in. so yeah. well that is everything for the week hope all of you have a good week.

Love Jordan

Split (June 1, 2011)

Hello everyone,

It was pretty eventfull this week and i think you guys will like this letter. so to start it off we went over to this one guys house who says i can pray to god why do i need to go to church. blah blah blah whatever so he decided he was going to feed us when we came over so he had prepare a meal for us. oh man haha so he took and soggy hard boiled egg cut it in half and put it in a bowl. then he added some kind of broth to it. maybe the broth he cooked the eggs into or something i dont know. so he gives it to us. i take a bite (we just ate right before this so we are stuffed) and this stuff is just gross. i am trying not to laugh because we are so stuffed and this is so gross so we are talking to him and not really eating. so he was like ok i will go talk with my wife and let you eat. when he leaves we are like there is no way this is going down. so we see a window next to us. so we are thinking we are going to throw it out. so we have to move the table a little bit so we can get to the window. my comp opens it. sits back down and he comes in and is like how is it? we are like ah its so good. he is like yeah my friends tell me i am a good cook. so he leaves again. we are like we have to do it. so he gets up and dumps his out and sits back down, i am like dude throw mine out. he is like ok hold on. I am done you have to figure out yours. i am like no get op and open the window. so he stands up and opens the window we thought we heard him coming so he is trying to shut the window and sit back down at the same time but ends up the window just is slamming open and close hard too. i am laughing so hard because i cant believe we are doing this. so we sit down and he doesnt come so i tell him stand up and i will hand him my bowl so we did and out it went from the 15th floor of the building. and he comes back and our bowls are spotless. we couldnt have done it by ourselves so i just start wiping it with bread to make it look realistic. so yeah there is one story.

Next story, i was walking down the street handing out english club flyers and i come up to these group of guys and i was like dang. ok whatever i will give them one. so i give them one and they are like oh you are mormon i say yes. they hand in back and this one guy who was drunk, he had a black eye and looked terrible starts swearing at me and yelling at me and then spits on me and walks away. whats even more funny is when we were chalk drawing he came up and looked at it and was interested haha. that is about it for this last week. this next week elder Nelson is coming to form the stake and he will have a conference with just the missionaries. OH another funny thing i did. we had a meeting and he was saying apostles are fake and there cant be apostles and what not. so i challenged this guy to come to the meeting with elder nelson and go up to him and tell him that he is fake. Who challenges someone to tell an Apostle that they are fake. Well obviously i do haha and i decided to tell him that his church is fake and what he believes in is фигня (crap) i guess i have become very blundt. ok well i hope all of you are doing good and hope you have a good week. love you all

Love Jordan

On our trip to the Ukrainian Temple...had to go there to renew our Visa.

Crazy Week (May 18, 2011)

Alright well it has been a crazy week. first i went to kiev ukraine for my visa trip so i had to renew my visa. that was way fun. ukraine is way pretty and it smells like fresh air. moscow smells just dirty and my boogers are like black from all the polution. but we made it to the temple and did a session. but the session was in romanian and they were all out of headsets so we had to listen to the session all in romanian and try to know what was going on. then after we were working our way down to the center of ukrain to eat and find a ride back to the airport. well we had to find a taxi or like a bus. well they thought they could rip us off becasue we are americans well i showed them whats up and i made a few people mad at us haha. they kept trying to get us to pay way to much then i start speaking with them and tell them no we dont have that much money we are volunteers and we dont have much money we dont work or anything. so then they would lower it but i already had a price that we were not going to go over. so they would try and i would just laugh at them an say like i said 100 greaven ( which like 15 maybe 20 dollars) for all of us. and they were like no how about 200 and i say yeah we will do 100. they were like NO i said 200 and i would say i said 100 its not worth 200. and then one guy was like but this is a nice car and you are going 40km, i said thats cool so do you want our 100 or no. then we start walking away and he was like ok i will do 200 and then again i say ok yeah 100 then he starts walking away yelling like you stupid americans and what not. so i say yeah we are americans and we arent stupid. then this other guy was like i will do 150 and we were like eh whatever lets just get to the airport. then we open up the car and it smells like weed (mariuana) and we were like eh thanks but no thanks. he got mad at that. then one guy came up and was like i will do 100 so yeah needless to say i got what we wanted. everyone else was just like 150 lets do that. because alot were saying that price but i was like no just wait we will have some one say 100.

    So i got a new comp and i am in a new area. My comps name is elder Jenkins, he is from provo but is not one of those kind of guys he loves the U so right away me and him get along. he is a goofball. we are in an outer city of moscow about an hour outside. and its so much nicer than moscow. we live right next to a forest and it smells so fresh. and all the people are way nice here. i have talked to a few people for awhile in russian and it makes me feel good that he russian is actually coming along. the branch here is amazing they are way nice and love talking with us even if we arent that good at russian so i hope i stay here for a few transfers so that my russian will get better.

   Last week i dont know if i said but i went and bought dvds. i spent about 20$ and got about 90 dvds. most of them are in russian and english. some are just russian. so that was a way good deal.

    some other random things. i have seen 2 dead people, both in the metro and everyone acts like its no big deal. i made spetleis on sunday because we were out of food and we only had flour and rice and we didnt want rice and they turned out really good. we dont have the metro in this city and we have tou use the buses. well its kinda hard when you dont know the bus routes and where anything is because we are both brand new to this area, so needless to say we have gotten lost very many times and have had to run to other bus stops to try to get where we want ontime.

  We went and did service for this family on monday, with our zone. this families house burnt down so we went to help them clean up and throw stuff away. like their whole house was in ashes so we went and did what we could. it was actually pretty fun i had to carry huge peices of wood around and they werent light. but these people are amazing. its just a grandma and grandpa. they are in their 80s and they are helping us dig through stuff and carry stuff and what not they are some troopers. i found a peice to an old 100 ruble bill to tape into my journal. so after this service we are all way dirty and we get home and we go to take a shower to get clean, well some thing russia does is turns off the hot water at times to clean the pipes. well thats what happened to us so we had to clean ourselves in cold water. its been off for a few days now and we boil water on the stove and then mix cold water with it to make it a good temp, then grab a cup and pour it over us and then shampoo and then rinse with the cups. its very time consuming but its alot better than a cold shower.

   I was getting off the bus one time and i felt my backpack get zipped up so i hurry and look back and there is a guy standing there and i look in his hands and he has a beer and nothing else so i was like he couldnt have taken anything. so we get off the bus and so does this guy. we are looking at the map trying to find where to go and this guy walks away and stops and stares at us. then walks at me and then pulls out of his pocket one of my pens. so i say what else did you take. he said nothing. i wanted to punch him in the face for stealing but i didnt. we started talkign to him and he said he is a good guy he could have stolen everything and ran away but he has a consience and is a good person. if he was a good guy, usually good guys dont do that. but yeah i got everything back and i was lucky because i had my ipod in that pockt too. well i hope all of you have a good week i love you all

Love Jordan

Split/Stake (May 11, 2011)

Hello everyone, i hope all of you had a good week i know i did. it was good to talk to the family on sunday for mothers day and see all your faces. i am glad all of you are doing good. well as for i have been on almost a whole week split with elder larsen, he is in my district right now and me and him get along way well. so we have been on splits for almost this whole week probably 5 days out of 7 we have gone on a split and they have been way fun. So we have tranfers tomorrow and i will be getting tranfered to a city outside of moscow and my companion i heard is a goof. so i am really excited for it, i need to start packing though. on sunday president called an emergency missionary meeting and he told us that in june when elder nelson comes he is going to establish a stake. so we will have the first stake in russia and that is exciting. but that also means our mission boundries will be changed so we might get kazakstanor something or they might split up the city of moscow half moscow mission and half moscow west mission, so who knows these past 2 tranfers might be the last 2 tranfers i serve in moscow but who knows we will find out more during this transfer when elder nelson comes. so that will be exciting. otherwise not much else is new i will have alot to talk about next week, i have a crazy week planned ahead of me. i hope all of you are doing good and that you have a good week. love you all

Love Jordan

Yup  (April 27, 2011)

Hello there family and friends. another week has gone by and not much happened. we had a total of 3 meetings last week. me and my comp. but one crazy thing i went on alot of splits with people. and when i was on one split me and this kid were recieving miricle one after another. we had 7 meetings in one day got maybe 10 new contacts and 3 new investigators. but to bad it wasnt in my area. but it was amazing the people we met. we met on guy in the bathroom and wanted to talk to we went to a resteraunt and talked and he was way nice. we met some bums but they were amazing bums. they stopped drinking and cursing and are trying to stop smoking. so we went and bought them some bread and bananas. not much else happened though it was just alot of splits because my comp had to go on his visa trip. today for a little birthday thing for me we went and got on a train for 2 hours and went to like a way orthadox town and in a temple. i couldnt help but laugh and smile when i was in there. i dont know why. no one else was smiling or anything. and none of the missionaries were either. people probably thought i was on drugs but whatever. well i think that is about it for this week i hope all of you have a good week i love you all. 

Love Jordan

Another Week  (April 20, 2011)

Another week down and not to much happened. we had a meeting with a very famous and rich guy here in moscow or overall in russia. He has writen 2 books, been in 19 movies, has weekly meetings with the russian president, works in the kremlin, and works for the secret services and yeah very acomplished man. but he wants to help the lds church be on good terms in russia. i dont know if he just wants money or what but yeah hopefully he is some help. and the other guy that we met with is way rich i guess he has a $11000 euro fur coat. yeah i wish i had that much money to spend. but that rich guy wants me to teach him how i tie my tie knot. because i learned a pretty sweet way in the MTC and it blows peoples minds. Then yesterday i was handing out english club flyers and this guy comes up and and wants to talk about the new testiment of his church. well his faith is something i have never heard of it is called the gideonnites. one elders who was with us said they are very rare and it was like finding a holographic charizard pokemon card. and he gave me and all the other elders one of the new testiments to his church in russian and english. so yeah pretty weird. that is about everything for this week nothing to interesting or fun. but the language is still way hard i still dont understand that much. well i hope everyone has a great week i love you all.

Love Jordan