July 27th Letter

hey melissa

everything here is going good. im still kind of homesick. my companion is gay and i cant really communicate like i want to bc it hurts my head to think in spanish. it is so hard. lol but im understanding about 50 or 60 percent of what the say. but its very hard bc i cant establish a relationship with anyone so it makes me homesick. but im hanging in there. we have a baptism this week which is really good and hopefully another one next week. so landen burnt his hand. you need to be looking out for him and likes to get into everything.lol so how are you doing. alll this gossip i hear of aunt gretta getting married and bradley and everyone is getting married. did bradley get married in the temple or what. and tell tyler he better be caughting and shootin all he can bc when i come back ill be doing it all. so im giving him a year and 8 months for now. lol but anwyas i hope all is well things are trying to shape up here. if i could only get rid of my accent. but anyways i love yall be safe.

July 20th Letter

Well things here are busy. this week has been rough, i don't really like my companion he is weird. and i've been way homesick. i've been way homesick lately. i think its bc everything is really hard right now. but i hope i'll make through it. the language is coming. its just taking time. other than being hott nothing much has happened. well tell everyone i said hey and i love them. i have to go.

Elder Gentry

More pics from Mexico!

Jordan's Baptisms

Jordan's first baptism, Marie Guadalope Serrano Cano

I baptized the little girl. Her name is Veronica Elizabeth Colunga Gonzales. And both are in the Morelos area in Monterrey. And my companion Elder Flores. who is the native and Elder Anderson( white) helped us baptize.

Finally in Mexico!

In his first letter from Mexico, Jordan sounded kind of down. The language is really hard to understand and he had a native companion and they couldn't communicate really well. He lost his camera at the airport and he said that he just felt alone. He had a baptism his first day there which was "cool." He even had a girl ask him to marry her.

The next week, Jordan sounded better. He just said that he can't believe how lonely he feels, because he can't communicate with anyone. He had more baptisms. And a little girl he baptized reminded him of Emily Kern. He also got bite by a dog but it just bruised him a little. He also had a guy who wanted to fight him because he was white. But he says, "don't worry he was an old man and I was on a bike." He says, "the people here are crazy. they drive crazy and they love to honk their horns alot."

In his next letter on July 6th, Jordan describes Monterrey a little bit. He says that it is really big with a lot of traffic. None of the houses have air condition and its so hot! "I'm really tan. I stay busy all the time and I hate to break it to ya (he's talking to Mom), but I have another mom and tell Aunt Donna I have another person that spoils me big time. Both are converts. The woman I baptized the first day claims me as here son." "This place is starting to feel like home but it is still hard. This week a gay guy hit on me and we baptized yesterday." He also tells me in my letter that he almost got hit the other day, but not to tell Mom!

In his letter on July 13th, Jordan got a new companion, so Jordan will be the senior companion, since this companion doesn't know the area. And they also had another baptism that week.

I know this is hard to follow, but I am just trying to catch up. I will post his actual letters weekly.

Quick Update!

Jordan's stay in the MTC was postponed a little bit. At first they had problems with their Visas and had to wait and then they had a Swine Flu outbreak and no one was allowed to come in or leave the MTC. Jordan had a roommate who caught the type of influenza that can lead to Swine Flu, so they were all in confinement for awhile. Jordan also hurt his knee while he was there and his branch president who is a surgeon thought that he would need surgery, but he had an MRI and it was just a bad tear. So after about three months of being in the MTC, Jordan was finally able to leave!

MTC pictures

Me and the District

Elder Pratt, Elder Fackler, and Elder Glade

Me and the District

Playing the stick pull game

Me and Elder Parke. Left my 1st week. He lives in Idaho.

The District: (L to R)- Elder Hansen, Elder Durrett, Me, Elder Ellis (my comp), Elder Bowthorpe, and Elder Rice. Bottom (L to R)- Elder Berry and Elder Lopez
(Elder Ellis mom sent ties for all of us)

Elder Pratt and Elder Glade

My Zone Leaders: Elder Fackler and Elder Glade

Elder Anderson, me, my comp, and Elder Durrett before Elder Anderson left for home

Me and Elder Guenthar. Left my first week.

Me and Elder Taylor. Left my first week.

Me and Elder Stokes. Elder Stokes was in Napolean Dynamite.

Elder Bowthorpe after surgery

Me and one of my teachers. That was his last day working here. We finally got a new one almost 2 weeks later.

Day my teacher left. He is the same age as Johnny

My Zone Leaders: Elder Fackler and Elder Glade

Me and Elder Rice. He was in the district but went to Peru MTC

Me and Elder Reynolds before he left

Me and Elder Wetherall before he left for Texas

We had a little party for our halfway point but the person taking the picture didn't get all the food we had.

Me and Elder Bowthorpe before he left for Peru

Elder Bowthorpe and Elder Berry

Me and my comp

Elder Pratt and Elder Ellis

Studying

Two of my buddies in younger district. They are our zone leaders now since we were delayed

That's the car we drive going to class

Us crying because Elder Pratt was leaving. He was in older district above us