Thursday, July 28, 2016
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
July 21, 2016 Sisar Jordan's Homecoming
Schyler (Sis Jordan) arrived home at 11pm at the St George Utah Airport!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
July 18, 2016 Aika Rientää
Kaikille:
The last one!! This is it. This really is it. I cannot believe I am saying this right now. As sad as it sounds and as much as I hate to admit, I remember just a little over a year ago crossing off each day on the calendar and thinking to myself, "It will never end." And now here I am just 4 days away from it all being over and I'm looking at that same calendar and thinking, "It can't end. No it just can't." I have come to love these people and this language and this culture and being a missionary more than anything in this world apart from my family. They are my family. My family on the other side of the world, up there in the north…..The family that will always be so dear and sacred to my heart. I have been blessed with one of the most amazing weeks of my mission this last week. I plan on telling you more about it in my talk this Sunday, so I'll save most of it for then. But just want to express to you my love and gratitude for my Heavenly Father. He has heard my prayers and been so aware of my desires and wishes. I know that He listens to our prayers and that He truly answers-- be it in His own way and time, according to His will-- but He does answer. This past week we were able to get three new investigators and set two new baptismal dates. It was awesome! I saw miracle after miracle.
There's much still to be done here and I have the rest of my life to tell you about everything that has happened over the past 19 months, so I'll keep this short.
I want you to know that I know that God lives. Jesus Christ is His Son, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. They love us--each one of us, no matter the struggles, the weakness, the temptations, or the mistakes we have made or experienced. They want us to return to them. They have created a plan, a Plan of Happiness to ensure our return. This plan is now and through it and by it we can experience the greatest happiness not only in the future, but right now. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ is central to this plan. Through him, our lives can be changed. I know that this is His restored church on the earth today. Joseph Smith was the worthy vessel through whom He restored His church and brought forth the Book of Mormon. I know that this is God's work. He is here and has been here each day helping us to bring His children back to Him. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. I love my mission. I am so grateful for all I have experienced the last 19 months and I know that God has had a hand in all. I am so grateful. I know these things are true and I say them in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I love you all so much! Thank you again! Have a great week!
Rakkaudellani,
Sisar Jordan
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| Picking fresh strawberries for the last time with Sisar Airaksinen! |
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| Some of my most favorite ladies in the entire world! |
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| OULU!! |
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
July 12, 2016 Make Every Little Bit Count
Kaikille:
One more week. One more precious, amazing, sacred, humbling, faith building, amazing week here in Finland. That's it. And. I can't believe it. I can't even fathom really the idea yet of going home. So. I'll just tell you a bit about what's been going on here. So the really amazing investigator that Sister Jacobsen and I found, who has a baptismal date... so we taught him about the Word of Wisdom this week. To be honest I was a bit worried that it wouldn't go so well. It definitely always smelled like smoke in his home and it was clear that he drank alcohol as well as coffee a lot by the way his house was decorated in packages of coffee and beer bottles. There are no judgements, it's just a different life style than I have. But I definitely knew it would be a problem when it came to living the Word of Wisdom, so long story short, I was worried a bit. But... we taught it. And he's ready to live it. This guy drinks 4 cups of coffee, smokes at least 10 times a day, and drinks whenever he feels lonely. So.. there's a lot to work on and right now we're in the works of a really awesome plan for him. But yesterday he told us that he's thought a lot about his baptism in 7 weeks and about the whole word of wisdom thing, and he knows it's a good thing and he really wants to be baptized, so he's going to do it. Ahhh.. this is the best. This is THEE very best-- seeing lives changes because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing beats it. Nothing in the world, not even winning a state basketball championship... and let me tell you-- that's exiliharating (not sure if that's how it's spelled anymore sorri). This man is amazing.
This week was my very last zone meeting. I had to bear my testimony since I'm aparently a "departing missionary".... so I was already pretty emotional when we sat down to sing the closing him, which was "I'll go where you want me to go." Sitting in the chapel with all those amazing and powerful ministers of Jesus Christ, I was taken back to the night I decided to really serve my mission. I was reminded of the choice that I was faced with at that point in time and how badly my heart hurt with either decision that I made. But I remembered that that night the words to that same song rang through in my mind and that's when I decided that I would serve my mission-- that I would go where God needed me to go. And I did. And it has been the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. Thee. very. best. Doing the will of God isn't and hasn't always been easy. I'll be the first to admit that my mission and i'm sure no one else's is ever what I would consider "easy". But is it worth it. YES. YES. and Yes. It is worth every single hardship and trial, success and failure, happiness and despair you will ever and I have ever faced. It is worth it all, but didn't Christ promise us all that-- "that it wouldn't be easy, but that it would be worth it?" And it is. And He and our Heavenly Father are here with us every. single. step. of the way. Every one, whether we choose to notice that or not. I know it. I have felt their love and guidance influence more times than I could ever count. I love them. I know that they are real-- God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is His son. They love you. They love us all. This is their gospel their plan for each of us to return and live with them. OOOooohhh.. It's glorious. It's beautiful. It's miraculous. It is... pure love. I want you all to know how much I love you! I am so appreciative of all that you've done and all you've helped me to accomplish through your uplifting emails and letters as well as all the prayers on my behalf. Thank you all so much! I'll be seeing you all too soon! Have a great week!
Rakkaudellani,
Sisar Jordan
One more week. One more precious, amazing, sacred, humbling, faith building, amazing week here in Finland. That's it. And. I can't believe it. I can't even fathom really the idea yet of going home. So. I'll just tell you a bit about what's been going on here. So the really amazing investigator that Sister Jacobsen and I found, who has a baptismal date... so we taught him about the Word of Wisdom this week. To be honest I was a bit worried that it wouldn't go so well. It definitely always smelled like smoke in his home and it was clear that he drank alcohol as well as coffee a lot by the way his house was decorated in packages of coffee and beer bottles. There are no judgements, it's just a different life style than I have. But I definitely knew it would be a problem when it came to living the Word of Wisdom, so long story short, I was worried a bit. But... we taught it. And he's ready to live it. This guy drinks 4 cups of coffee, smokes at least 10 times a day, and drinks whenever he feels lonely. So.. there's a lot to work on and right now we're in the works of a really awesome plan for him. But yesterday he told us that he's thought a lot about his baptism in 7 weeks and about the whole word of wisdom thing, and he knows it's a good thing and he really wants to be baptized, so he's going to do it. Ahhh.. this is the best. This is THEE very best-- seeing lives changes because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing beats it. Nothing in the world, not even winning a state basketball championship... and let me tell you-- that's exiliharating (not sure if that's how it's spelled anymore sorri). This man is amazing.
This week was my very last zone meeting. I had to bear my testimony since I'm aparently a "departing missionary".... so I was already pretty emotional when we sat down to sing the closing him, which was "I'll go where you want me to go." Sitting in the chapel with all those amazing and powerful ministers of Jesus Christ, I was taken back to the night I decided to really serve my mission. I was reminded of the choice that I was faced with at that point in time and how badly my heart hurt with either decision that I made. But I remembered that that night the words to that same song rang through in my mind and that's when I decided that I would serve my mission-- that I would go where God needed me to go. And I did. And it has been the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. Thee. very. best. Doing the will of God isn't and hasn't always been easy. I'll be the first to admit that my mission and i'm sure no one else's is ever what I would consider "easy". But is it worth it. YES. YES. and Yes. It is worth every single hardship and trial, success and failure, happiness and despair you will ever and I have ever faced. It is worth it all, but didn't Christ promise us all that-- "that it wouldn't be easy, but that it would be worth it?" And it is. And He and our Heavenly Father are here with us every. single. step. of the way. Every one, whether we choose to notice that or not. I know it. I have felt their love and guidance influence more times than I could ever count. I love them. I know that they are real-- God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is His son. They love you. They love us all. This is their gospel their plan for each of us to return and live with them. OOOooohhh.. It's glorious. It's beautiful. It's miraculous. It is... pure love. I want you all to know how much I love you! I am so appreciative of all that you've done and all you've helped me to accomplish through your uplifting emails and letters as well as all the prayers on my behalf. Thank you all so much! I'll be seeing you all too soon! Have a great week!
Rakkaudellani,
Sisar Jordan
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
July 5, 2016 "Now When We Were About To Turn Back...."
kaikille:
The honest explanation of this week really is gratitude. Simply put, Sister Jacobsen and I have really been struggling to make things happen here in the last two weeks. We feel like we've been doing everything we can to be obedient and to work hard, but it seemed like every lesson fell through, every member we could think of was out of town for vacation, and no one on the street wanted to take the time to listenl. Then at MLC this past week I felt the urgency of finding and I just felt pretty stressed inside that we were to add to the statistics that had dropped so much in finding recently. I was really starting to get frustrated. What were we doing wrong. AND... I started to feel the hopelessness again and the "something must be wrong with me and I just am not capable of doing this." That dark feeling of wanting to give up, to give in and just quit crept in, and I was panicking. But then... Heavenly Father in His loving goodness heard my prayers and knew how desperate I was. Yesterday was SUCH a good day. It just seemed that everything seemed to fit into place and people listened and we set up appointments with people and our investigators were progressing and returning from trips and members were coming back and it all just seemed to go right into place. I can't begin to explain the enormous amount of gratitude I had for Heavenly Father at the end of yesterday. He is so good. He is so aware of our circumstances, of our desires, and our righteous pleas. I know that He is with us each day and He truly wants us to succeed. I love being a missionary. I love Finland.
Time is winding down quickly. Just want you all to know how much I love you and how much I love my mission! I am forever grateful for the lessons that i have learned here and the people I have met. I love my Heavenly Father and for the many blesses that I am granted each day. Keep trying and keep working hard, whatever it may be that you are striving for or working on. I promise God hears your prayers and in His time and according to His will, He will be there. He will answer. Hope you have a great week! Love you lots!
Rakkaudellani,
Sisar Jordan
P.S. For anyone who might be reading this... My homecoming talk is on the 24th of July 9am 1350 E 200 N at the Stake Center in Beaver and you are welcome to come! I would love to see you there!
The honest explanation of this week really is gratitude. Simply put, Sister Jacobsen and I have really been struggling to make things happen here in the last two weeks. We feel like we've been doing everything we can to be obedient and to work hard, but it seemed like every lesson fell through, every member we could think of was out of town for vacation, and no one on the street wanted to take the time to listenl. Then at MLC this past week I felt the urgency of finding and I just felt pretty stressed inside that we were to add to the statistics that had dropped so much in finding recently. I was really starting to get frustrated. What were we doing wrong. AND... I started to feel the hopelessness again and the "something must be wrong with me and I just am not capable of doing this." That dark feeling of wanting to give up, to give in and just quit crept in, and I was panicking. But then... Heavenly Father in His loving goodness heard my prayers and knew how desperate I was. Yesterday was SUCH a good day. It just seemed that everything seemed to fit into place and people listened and we set up appointments with people and our investigators were progressing and returning from trips and members were coming back and it all just seemed to go right into place. I can't begin to explain the enormous amount of gratitude I had for Heavenly Father at the end of yesterday. He is so good. He is so aware of our circumstances, of our desires, and our righteous pleas. I know that He is with us each day and He truly wants us to succeed. I love being a missionary. I love Finland.
Time is winding down quickly. Just want you all to know how much I love you and how much I love my mission! I am forever grateful for the lessons that i have learned here and the people I have met. I love my Heavenly Father and for the many blesses that I am granted each day. Keep trying and keep working hard, whatever it may be that you are striving for or working on. I promise God hears your prayers and in His time and according to His will, He will be there. He will answer. Hope you have a great week! Love you lots!
Rakkaudellani,
Sisar Jordan
P.S. For anyone who might be reading this... My homecoming talk is on the 24th of July 9am 1350 E 200 N at the Stake Center in Beaver and you are welcome to come! I would love to see you there!
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