Emailing with the Parents

*Editors note*

Sometimes when Jordan is online emailing us, we are on at the the same time so can shoot emails back and forth (I call it a tender mercy).  Here is our conversation from this last week.  Hope you enjoy it! :)

~Andrea

Jordan:  Madre!! Hey, I got 2 of your packages, the first one last week (which I'm sad to say I have already emptied, with the help of the Elders in my apartment) and the 2nd one today. Thank you sooo much for them, they are perfect!!

Mom:  Did you get the birthday package with the Halloween stuff?

Jordan:  Yes!! And the other Elders in my apartment were pleasantly surprised

for their goodies as well (although Elder Kirumira left right before the package arrived, so I'm saving his goodies until we see him at the Christmas devotional on the 13th of Dec.) I also got the package with the hot chocolate and other stuff in it today. I only opened a little part, so I can't see all of it, but it looks good haha.

Mom:  I’m glad you liked it all! What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Jordan:  About thanksgiving, the Ivie's are bringing us potatoes and coleslaw, while the other Elders in the apartment want to go for some cat....they originally wanted dog, but Elder Lee and I are set against that haha. And for Christmas...skypeing depends on whether or not we can use a members laptop. So, that's basically a no for our area haha, but I'll find out for sure.

Mom:  Are you really having cat?

Let me know about calling on Christmas!  I am so excited to talk to you!!

How are things going with your investigators?  How are the Elders in your

apartment?  How are you feeling?

Jordan:  As for the cat situation...I think I'll probably try in all honesty, I've heard from a lot of Elders that cat is pretty good (apparently dog is the best meat there is though...still not having that).

We actually dropped a lot of investigators because they weren't progressing\keeping their commitments etc. But that's ok, because now

we have time to focus on those who are serious, and the seed has been

planted in the ones we dropped, someone else will just harvest them.

Florence hasn't come to church for a month now, even after we went and

resolved concerns TWICE...so Elder Lee and I are looking at the

unhappy prospect of dropping her as well. On the other hand, we have a

candidate named John Yeboah who is SWEET!!! He is set for this Saturday and is soooo committed!! He has a 14 yr. old daughter named Sarah who we're planning on baptizing on the 14th, with her dad being the baptizer.

My stomach is pain free now, which I think means I've become accustomed to Ghana haha.

Mom:  What do you think of the headlamp I sent you?

Jordan:  Hahaha I got the headlamp, which the other Elders teased me about it a little just because of the idea of me proselyting in it, but the power goes out in our apartment so much that I can use it around our apartment, outside of our apartment though...probably not haha, but just because it might take away from the missionary appearance.

Oh, and tell dad that we have a mission goal of 5 gospel conversations a day, and I now can do them pretty much all in Fante (very basic Fante, but Fante all the same haha)

Dad:  Oh yeah well Jordan this is Dad,  Will you be speaking Fante in other parts of your mission as well?

Jordan:  Oh, hey dad haha. Fante is dominant in the Cape Coast mission, but

they speak a lot of chi as well, which is similar to fante, so yes, I'll be using Fante a lot.  Can you tell me about your mission? Who you trained, your experiences? That's all for today, gotta go, love ya bye!!!!

Another week in Odoben

Odoben continues to get sweeter and sweeter the longer I'm here. Fante is coming slowly to me, but I'm still learning, and I'm at the point where I can have a small conversation with people, and bear my testimony cra cra cra cra (small small). Elder Lee and I are really starting to grow close as a companionship. The key has been communication. We've been really good about addressing our problems and talking to each other, and we always come out stronger than before after talking. Every day we go out and proselyte for 9 hours, and it amazes me that, everyday, I never get tired or run low on energy. I always manage to do everything we planned to do, get home, close and plan for the next day, and then almost immediately afterward, my eyelids get really heavy. This is just evidence to me that the Spirit is with us very strongly while we are out and in need of it and is constantly keeping us up and serving.

  Elder Lee and I had a funny experience this week that nearly had me crying. So, we had just gotten back from proselyting and walked into our room in our apartment, when Elder Lee finds this HUGE spider right behind our door. The pictures we took don't do it real justice. You could see it's eye from a few feet back, if that helps you understand the size of this thing. Anyways, after taking some pictures, Elder Lee (having a dislike of spiders) hands me a flip flop and tells me to "finish him". Well, let's just say the beast was faster than I gave him credit for, and escaped my swat. So we spent a few minutes trying to get it out from behind Elder Lee's bed, but to no avail. Finally, Elder Lee leaves, returns with a bottle of insect repellant, and exclaims, "Either you or I die this instant" then starts bombarding it with the spray. After 10 min. of this, and as it's life drew to a close, I played the song, God Be With You Till We Meet Again, while Elder Lee kept repeating the words "Die die die"....It was a memorable experience haha!!

  Before I close, I learned this week, that missionaries don't bcome good at teaching because they study a lot or have a good memory. It's because as they learn and teach, they become more and more sure for themselves that what they teach ios true, so they no longer teach just a "good message" but an eterrnal truth that brings not only enlightenment, but happiness as well. The future is bright, and there is work to be done, so let us all just keep on, keepinl on!

Elder Collins