Okay, so clearly you all know where I am now. Im settled in and will be here in Goose Creek, SC for the next 12 weeks at least. Before I get to the "blog" part, we are still working out the kinks with that so this again will be my blog for the week. For those who are unfamiliar with LDS missions, we have what is called a P-day. This is the day that I can email and I am only allotted 1 hour. Because of time, I want to hear from you all but my responses with be short to allow me the time to write my "blog" email. Again, I want to keep the Spirit in my blog part. So my first part will be the silly stuff and then I will end with the serious comments. First, they have every kind of creature possible here, so Im like a little kid in a candy store. I havent caught anything yet but hey I still have 18 months. THE FROGS! Oh my gosh I fall asleep to the sounds of frogs every night and its amazing. And no one told me that it rains cats and dogs here.. .so on Friday it rained and all I have were my Toms. To say the least, I had to walk in wet/ muddy shoes for several hours. Cool. Im still cold as always. I mean COLD. And I brought what I thought were appropriate southern wear. Nope I still need warms things. Baha Another fun fact, Both Sundays in the MTC I was called Elder Jordan. Not sure what that is implying but it was good laugh. Also, everyone at home says Im too loud.. N.O. everyone here tells me I need to speak tall so they can hear. Ive been speaking fine all along :) OKAY ON TO THE MISSION.

BLOG STARTS HERE :)

Okay so for the sake of sharing things about my experience in the mission field, Ill keep the rest of my MTC experience short. The only thing you need to know is Heavenly Father knows each one of us perfectly and sent me tender mercies that I needed in order to start my mission in South Carolina with the right mindset. He is so good and the gospel is so true.

On the 20th of January I left the MTC to South Carolina Columbia. I traveled with my district in the MTC and said goodbye to them the next day. We went to our transfer meeting and there I met my new companion for the next 12 weeks, Sister Regen and we traveled to our area in Goose Creek. I cant explain how much I already love the people here. Their kindness and love remind of the people of home. Which on a side note, the lady who taught relief society looks exactly like Sarah Weckerly and it made me realize how grateful I am to have Sarah in my life as a dear friend.

My companion Sister Regen is amazing! she is from Utah and I am her first companion that isn't from Utah. I am her last companion and then she goes home. She has taught me so much about obedience and diligence. We get along great and she is just such an example to me of what I need to be like. I am thankful for her!

Now to the purpose of me being here. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I am to preach His gospel to everyone I meet. Learning how to do this when things get discouraging has been humbling. My companion and I felt the need to go see this lady so we followed the prompting. However, when we got there we both got a very clear impression that after we knocked on her door, we need to leave. We were very confused to as why but we did so. It turns out we left our area. Lesson learned that when you leave the area the Lord has assigned to you, you cannot teach. I mean we were one block from our area boundaries the change in how we felt was indescribable. Our lessons were spiritual this week. Again, the Lord sends so many tender mercies. He is so aware of each one of His children.

My favorite time is personal study. The hour we have to personally dig into the gospel is not enough time. There are not enough hours in the day it feels like. I learn so much and its crazy how everything we learn, we feel the desire to teach our investigators. The work is here, and if there is one thing Ive learned over the last three weeks, that Heavenly Father constantly reminds me of is that I am needed here. I love the people so much already and have the desire to bring people unto Christ, to teach unto them the things the we have been commanded to do.

I am so grateful for the gospel. I know my Father in Heaven lives. I know that through his Atonement and His commandments to be baptized and repent, to endure to the end, we will be with Him again. I pray that as you read this, you will come to a knowledge of Heavenly Fathers love for you. You will come to know that through this gospel and our faithfulness to Him, you will feel a greater love for those around you and a greater love for him. I challenge you all this week to be aware of those around you. Look for an opportunity to help another person. I love you all so much.

Ofa Atu
-- 

Pray always,

Sister Jordan