Happy New Year!

Happy New Years!!

First off, it was GREAT to be able to speak with you all on the phone. I loved hearing about everything from how many presents Sam gave justin to the color of madisons room. In five months I will talk to you all again!

My Companion and I have been a little afraid that I would be moved, because when an area is having a lot of success, they often change the companionship so that others can come in and experience it, and so that those companions can teach others or help other areas out.
Well, this week it was confirmed.
President Chan was talking to me about how wonderful things have been going and the APs and him have been telling me how proud they are of me.
Later that night we got a call from President Chan. He told us that I would be leaving the area and that my companion would be training because the area is doing so well, and there are a lot of new missionaries coming in.
I was not too happy about this, but its okay because I know that wherever I go I will love it and have the opportunity to meet more people and teach them about the gospel.
Monday we helped with International. It was sooo much fun. My companion for it (Elder Carey) is hilarious and mixing that with the Phillipinas who just love to laugh and have fun made it quite the day. We were able to find 4 new investigators, bring them back to the church, teach them, and have them go to church. It was so much fun.

Yesterday I went Sports finding for the first time in a while. We played basketball with some kid for a little bit and then sat him down and taught him. But then we found a group of 6 boys playing soccer and asked if we could play with them. We played for a while without saying much, but then when I felt like the time was right I told them who we are and asked if we could all go sit down on some bleachers while I share our message. It wound up being one of the most interesting lessons I have ever taught. I stood up in front of them and tried to get all of them involved. It wasnt hard because they were all asking really good questions. We were able to give them all Book of Mormons and reschedule them again.
After the lesson, it just amazed me how we were able to take 6 teenage boys off of a soccer field to sit down for 45 minutes and listen to our message. We have not been telling many other people in the mission about these experiences because we are already being put in the spotlight enough from President Chan and the APs using us as an example. But when we go out finding, we have faith that we are going to have success. We pray for it everyday, and our families often pray for it as well. So there is no reason why we shouldnt be ablet to. We went from bringing 1 or 2 books of mormon out with us when we went out for the day to stuffing our bags as full as possible with them.

This experience being a missionary is changing my life in so many ways. I feel like I have been blessed so much while being here, and the blessings just keep coming. I have learned to trust and have faith. If you do everything you can, and pray hard for God to help you out, he will make up for what you fell short on. This can apply to every part of life, not just missionary work.

With the New Year coming up (even though chinese new year will be a lot more fun here), I want you all to think of some specific things you can do daily to change yourself for the better.
I have a paper hanging above my desk with all of my personal goals for this move, and the things I would do daily to achieve them. I am happy to say I have achieved them, and so in a couple weeks in my next area I can do the same thing and figure out what else I want to change. We can never be perfect, but we can always be improving ourselves and progressing. that is the purpose of this life after all.

Well, I love you all and hope you have a great New Years!!

Love, Jordan