Jordan's December 14, 2009 letter

December 14, 2009

Dear Mom, Dad, Carson, and the Cats (and Grandma Nuttall!),

Hey there! I´m in the sweet internet place we went to last week - this place rocks! There is air conditioning, lots of computers, it´s way nicer and actually cheaper than the other place, and I never have to worry about it logging me off like the other place did a lot. It´s further away, but man it´s worth the walk! Yay good internet place!

Thanks for all the updates with Grandma, the Christmas tree, with everything Carson and my cats are up to, and with Dad´s work. I´m glad to hear your work is going well Dad! That´s good to hear, especially around the Christmas season. It´s hard when work is bad around the holidays, because it´s harder to enjoy them when you have lots of stress. Hopefully it´ll stay that way! I keep praying for you all during the whole day every day, so I´m glad that my prayers are being heard!

That´s great news about Grandma Nuttall - I am very thankful that she is doing better. I did a lot this last week to ask Heavenly Father to bless her and help her out and comfort her, and obviously my prayers (and all of yours) were answered! What a great knowledge we have, that we have a loving Heavenly Father who really does answer our prayers and blesses us in our times of need. I know He really does live and love us, and that He wants us to be happy and feeling better. I´m glad to hear you´re doing better Grandma! And I bet you´re happy that you can start eating something other than ice soon! :)

Speaking of feeling better, I got sick this past week! :( It´s not fun. Elder Sureda was puking, and luckily all that I got was basically a bad head cold. I still feel pretty bad right now, but I bought a load of Halls to suck on during the day and I try to go to bed right on time or a little early every night to get my strength back up. I´m doing alright though :) I just hope I get feeling better soon!

It is starting to get HOT!! The summer here begins officially the 21st of December...I thought the weather here was summer already, but apparently it´s going to get worse. Dang it! That´s okay. These next few days are going to stink though because I only have long-sleeved shirts right now (the short-sleeved ones are being cleaned). Double dang it! But that´s okay, all is well! Holy cow!! Home is so much different than here! Right now it´s really sunny and really hot, with lots of humidity and mosquitoes.

There´s Christmas trees here and lights - maybe I´ll buy some lights before we head back to our apartment. Christmas stuff is the same here (more or less) as it is there, except not nearly as many people decorate here. I miss playing my Christmas bells! I hope you´re enjoying the bells music over there!

A bunch of people have been saying that I´m losing weight - yay! Double yay! I´m trying to eat better (healthier and less food), and obviously it´s been paying off. Also the summer should help me to shed some pounds too, because I want to look good and also feel better. It´s hard to walk around all day with more weight than I need. And Mom, I´m eating vegetables- yay! Usually just a couple or three times a week, but I´m doing it. I have a question for that - does creamed corn count as a vegetable? I have mostly corn right now and I hope it counts.

Other details...this place is pretty different than the United States, that´s for sure! Definitely a lot less money and such here. There are definitely rich people here, with nice big houses, but I saw lots more in the US than I do here. Most people live moderately or poorly.

The streets here are different too - there´s more pavement in the more money-money part of our area, but down below it´s all dirt roads. There´s lots of rocks and trash everywhere, and there´s "gutters" that have really nasty water that´s swimming with trash. And there´s dogs everywhere - I stepped in a pile-of-fun from a dog yesterday, and I vowed that I will never own a dog; only kitties…at least for now. I hate that, having to clean my shoes and all. There are millions of dogs it seems, and luckily I haven´t had any bad encounters for a while. That´s really good.

The apartment is like any other apartment - the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen is basically all we have. We don´t have a microwave, so if we have to heat something up we use the oven. And everything is gas-lit, so we use matches a lot to cook stuff. Not as nice as ours at home, where all you have to do is turn the dial. But it works!

I´ve been eating crepes, pasta, apples, food that the members give us, soda, and stuff like that. I haven´t eaten anything horrible yet. The worst thing I´ve had was what appeared to be a sausage, but apparently wasn´t. That was pretty gross. Other than that, everything is really yummy here! They don´t have loads of chocolate here (like plain chocolate bars), but they have candies and such that you can eat. It´s pretty yummy. It´d be easy to pack on pounds with that stuff, because it tastes good and is generally cheap. Oh and I started eating tuna and I still have the Nutella I bought a while back (I´m going to buy another one tomorrow probably). I think that´s about it with what we eat.

I really dislike the youngsters here - there´s lots who try to talk to me and make fun of me because I´m the "Yankee". Usually the only phrases I hear are "hello", "how are you", and "are you gay." I just think, wow, you really learned some useful vocabulary. The first two might seem harmless, but I can tell the way they say it they´re just trying to bug me. Sometimes they´ll just call me names in Spanish too, but I try to ignore them. I don´t want to get upset or anything.

I bought a towel today as another Christmas gift - yay! I know I have two, but it usually ends up that I use one for a whole week and use the other while the used one gets washed, so now that I have another I´ll be able to use it too. But I´m going to put it under the Christmas tree so I can have something to open on Christmas.

With my Christmas tree, only like five of the lights work - is there a way to fix them?

My piano playing is getting better - I´m almost to the point where I don´t have to use the simplified version! Woohoo! I played pretty good yesterday, so I was happy. The piano rocks - I want to continue to learn when I get home from my mission.

Our three star investigators are doing fantastic! They are progressing really well (Maria, Carla, and Silvio). They all went to church yesterday and they are all firm in their date to be baptized the 26th of December. Woohoo! They are the first people of my mission that I consider "star investigators" - the rest of our investigators are "too busy", or are never home, or don´t want to talk, etc. I´m really grateful for them, and man, the Atonement is real. I can see it working them over and helping them become better people. When we first met them, everything was pretty chaotic, but now they are all very calm and peaceful, and continue being this way! It´s a testimony to me that this gospel really is true and that the Atonement really can help us out with whatever problem we might have.

A recent convert had her baby this past week, but the baby is really small and she has to stay in the hospital while her mom is at home. The mom is called Cyntia, and she is really sad because she can´t be with her baby :(. We´re praying for her that her baby can be okay and that she can be reunited with her girl soon.

We´re going to be doing a special musical number this upcoming week on Sunday where I have to play the piano - I´ll do my best! It´s some arrangement, so hopefully it´s not too difficult. I´m learning to simplify music on the fly really well out here on the mission, so if I have to do that to make it sound good, I will.

That rocks that you both are going to have glasses! That´ll be tight to see Dad with glasses - you rock Dad! And Mom! I´ve wished at times that I could have glasses (kind of a weird wish, but oh well :), but nope, not yet! I´ll be excited to hear about and see you two both with glasses when I get home!

Elder Sureda´s full name is Elder Cristian Sureda (for the package) - he says thanks a million for doing this for him!

Umm...thinking...missionary work rocks! I´m starting to get into it more and be sad less. The language is coming along - tell Braden thanks for the advice and that I´m definitely looking forward to the moment when I can understand and speak without difficulty. I´m doing loads better - I don´t have to think too much, but there´s still phrases and things people say that at times confuse me, but I´m studying and praying hard that I can overcome that all soon.

I love you all very much! And I love you Grandma Nuttall! And I hope you get feeling better soon, because I want you to be happy! I hope you all have a great week and I´m sure excited to talk to you on Christmas Day! Have a great week family!

Love,
Elder Nuttall