Arrived in Ukraine, safe and sound!

Week-9

  

Hello Julie,

Jaxon arrived safe and sound this afternoon. He's already had some amazing experiences. He told me he had some 'things' for me. I will be getting them tomorrow when they were more accessible. Thank-you so much for sending them.

I don't have your husbands email. If he would like to be included on all correspondence please send me his email address.

Much thanks,

Karen

28 October, 2015

Dear Jorgensen-Toone Family,

We are thrilled to welcome your son to the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Mission! He arrived safely today and we are so happy to have him join us here in the mission field. It is very apparent to us that Elder Jorgensen has prepared very well for this calling in the Lord's service. Your son has come to the mission field with such enthusiasm and love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His upbringing and additional training in the MTC have provided him with many wonderful tools to help him be an effective missionary. Now he joins us ready and willing to exercise his faith, testify of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and love the people of Ukraine. Elder Jorgensen has been assigned a wonderful companion, Elder Bunker, who has been called by revelation to assist and guide your son as he begins his service here. They will be serving together in the Dnepropetrovsk, ‘Left Bank’ area.

We encourage all missionaries to write or e-mail home weekly. We trust you will write Elder Jorgensen on a weekly basis also. Please send positive messages that will keep him focused on his work. We hope you will share faith promoting experiences and convey your love for each other and describe the blessings you are receiving. Missionaries like to know that your testimonies are growing and that you are strengthening your faith in Jesus Christ. In order to be successful as a missionary, great focus on the work is required. The more he can "lose himself" in the work, the better prepared he will be to teach and testify.

Thank you for raising up a wonderful son of God who now goes forth to work in this beautiful portion of the Lord's vineyard. We love Elder Jorgensen and his love for life and look forward to many wonderful experiences together. He was out placing several copies of the Book of Mormon just hours after he arrived! His Russian skills are very impressive!

 If you have any concerns during the time of your son's service here, please contact the mission president directly at 

May you feel the blessings of your son’s efforts here in Ukraine.

With kind regards,

President and Sister Sullivan

Last Week Here is on its Way!!!!

Week-8

This is the last email I will send for a couple weeks becasue I wont get a P day until the Monday after we get to Dnepro.  So Ill start with something that will make all you BYU fans die of Jealousy.  Our sunday Devotional this last week was by Chad Lewis, and then Chad lewis had Taysom hill come up and talk about his mission, and ours.  It was so special and a great end to a good day.  All that Sunday we talked about repentence, and it was one of those discussions on repentence that makes you feel really good, and helps you know that you are worthy to be here becaue of the Atonement of Christ.  The Language is going really well.  Russian concept for the week: They tell time like we tell centuries, so the 5th hour is 4 oclock.  It is really complicated with the casing because you have to say it just right or its not understandable.  We are all so excited to leave the MTC it has been great.  Dont ever let anyone tell you the MTC sucks, or that it is so pointless, because it is honestly one of the Greatest experiences of my life.  Funny story for this week:  So sister Warnick has a real bad case of the giggles.  Anything will make her laugh.  Half the time I am not even cracking a joke and it killls her.  So yesterday, we are sitting in class trying to Focus becasue you know 6 days until airplanes.  She is laughing so hard about something or other.  Final everyone quiets down, and she is crying from laughing, and so naturally she asks for a tissue box.  Elder riddoch who is acroos the room has it.  I am close to him, for some reason he throws it to me instead of her.  I am sitting there focusing on memorizing my case chart and then I glance up and see the tissue box floating towards me.  I had soooo much time to grab it before it hit me, but I decided if i did that then Id have to put my marker down, and it just was not worth the effort.  SO it nails me on the head.  And then Sister warnick of coarse dies of laughing again and claims that she will have a six pack by the end of the MTC is she sits in the same room as elder riddoch and I.  She is definitely really good at making you feel funny.  I will send a picture separately that is hillarious if you get the reference.  Think famous christian art.  Here at the MTC I have not felt my Dads presence a whole ton, only when I really need it.  And then I figured out its becasue I dont always need hime here in the MTC, I have a ton of Brothers back home he needs to watch over, I think Ill feel him help me more often in the Ukraine.  So flying: We leave the MTC next tueday at 3:35 Am, and fly out of SLC at 8:30.  We land in chicago, and then catch a flight to Austria.  We then go from Austria to Dnepropetrovsk and will arrive in the Field on Thursday.  I am so excited to be there and I know I am prepared.  I love you all and will miss you!

Elder Jorgensen

Okay, flight plans: we leave next tuesday at 3:35 Am, then our flight leaves at 8:30.  We fly into Chicago and have 2 or so hours, then we fly into Vienna Austria!  And then From there to Dnepro.  We will be traveling for 2 full days.  We will get there on Thrusday.  I dont know if I can call from Vienna because of how far away that is, but I will try.  Transfer Like 200 More dollars to my chcking acount so that If I get fined for anything I can pay it, and then I can also buy my coat when we get there.  Send me a straight Red tie, it is one of the colors I really need.  I cant remember Exactly where, but I thought I gave them to you or dad, or left them in dads office.  I am sending a rubber band ball for Kaes and cam, and then all the kids that can read will get a specially picked book mark.  Tell Josh thanks for the Math, i have already forgotten so much.  I am so happy that Gramma and Grampa are serving a mission.  I am so proud of them.  I promise youll get a special Letter just from me, but I am gonna wait and see if I can send it on a different day(We are supposed to be able to send mail all week)  I will definitely get it to you. 

I am packing today and will try and send the package of stuff I dont need home.  I love you Mom happy birthday! Goodbye!

Week 7

So I am gonna start out with the funniest thing that happened this week and then the most spiritual! Okay so ever since about the 3rd week the sisters bought a can of Glade to make the room smell "good".  Well unfortunately for everyone the elders often pass gas, causing the sisters to grab the can of glade and hose them down(I have yet to be hosed down here).  The resulting scent is the mixture of Lavender Vanilla glade, and fart, it makes it worse when they spray the glade because it spreads it faster.  I think the sisters ignore this aspect becasue they love spraying us with glade. Anyway, amidst all the gladings, i predicted that one day in the near future, a sister would fart and she would then taste her own medicine.  Well I can happily say that as of Monday that prophecy was fulfilled.  Here is the story: Elder Knorpp and I were out side teaching Elder Tucker in a Role play lesson, across the sidewalk Sisters Blank and Blank were teaching Elder David.  The lesson goes normal we pray and then stick around waiting for the sisters to finish their lesson.  Then She who must not be named leans forward and Lets out what elder tucker described as "A thunderous toot".  Knorpp and I look over thinkning Elder David must have ripped one right in front of the sisters, but then we see him Dying of laughter while pointing to the Sister and her companion is looking at us like, "The food here does that to you" The sister was so embarrassed at first, so they barely get through the lesson without dying of laughter.  After we are walking up the stairs, and she who must not be named is just still dying of laughter, I was half tempted to grab the glade but decided she had suffered enough!  She swore the whole district to secrecy but said we could right home about it if we didnt use her name.  It was the funniest thing to happen here yet.  

   Alright now for the spiritual thing:  We had a lesson yesterday on the parable of the sower.  And then last night the devotional was about how we cant imagine how important our work is and how big the chruch is going to grow in our life times.  And then while thinking about the two I thought about how we as missionaries and members are often referred to as Instruments or tools in the hands of the lord.  Well since the sower is the lord, the seeds are faith and the ground is peoples, no where in the parable does it talk about tools used for sowing or preparing ground.  They have a quote here "Whatere thou art, act well thy part"  Well if we integrate the idea of tools into the parable of the sower, then we see what our part is.  Some times it is our job to prepare the ground for the planting of the seed, like a hoe, and we cant even imagine how important what we just did was to the work.  Or sometimes its our job to help sow the seeds and help them grow, only getting to see the potential and not being able to know if the plants will survive.  And sometimes, its our Job to reap the harvest.  In D and C 4 it says the field is all white and ready to harvest.  As missionaries I suspect we will get put to all 3 uses because every person is like an individual plot of soil.  And each requires a different tool, message, or preparation.  It is important to remember as members to try and act well our parts, do your home teaching, help the missionaries find people, you have no idea how much having a member referral helps the missionaries.  Or how much home teaching helps the family you home teach.  It such an important part of the church, and it shows your neighbors that you care about them, I regret not being a better home teacher when I was a teacher and a priest.

That is about it for this week, Flight plans come on Friday!!!! 

To be continued...

(next wednesday)

I can't believe it's 2 weeks away!!  Are you getting so excited???

Questions

1.  Did you get your passport and visa yet?

2.  When do you get flight plans?

3.  Do you need anything else sent before you go???  This could be your last chance.

4.  Anything I need to do for you??

5. Last chance for treat requests to be sent???

6. Are you nervous or home sick? Anything I need to worry about?

7. Did I send you your ctr ring. I thought do but can't remember?

I'm so proud and so excited for you!  Love you so much!!!!

Can't wait to get letters. I want pics of cupcakes. Write letters this week again too.

Love you

Mom

I havent seen my ctr ring so I guess not, No We dont get the Passport/visas until we leave the MTC.  We get flight plans on Friday, Ill be sending a package home soon, and Ill try to get a present for each of the boys and Kaestli.  Ill probably include anything that doesnt fit while im packing.  Im starting packing today because Im not going to wear any short sleave shirts for the next 6 months!  The last thing I want is to get a package of cookies next Friday Night!  I am really nervous, and I do miss home, but I am perfectly fine.  Ill send pics in a while and for sure with cupcakes!

What ring size are you?  Is there one you can buy there??  Can you even where them?  I'm at the dr with cam if I don't email back right away. 

Love you

Mom

I already bought one here so were good, its not russian though, its cool!

Im gonna send you the pictures rn. Love you !

Jax

Week 6: CONFERENCE!!

As you can tell from my subject line, I loved conference.  I learned so much from it.  What scares me is that Ive had the opprotunity to watch tons conferences just like it in my life time, and yet I havent.  Wathcing conference as a missionary is a totally different deal. Its like they condition you with hour long devotionals to where time during a talk is no longer noticable.  We always get way hyped whenever a General Authourity comes here to speak, and so conference was like Christmas because we got to hear from so many of them.  It was so cool to sit there and literally listent to my questions get anwered. I recieved an answer to every question I had, and even some I did not know I had, which just goes to show that God knows us better than we know us.  It is so great to be surrounded by the spirit here.  

  One of the Elders in my district, Elder Allred, shared a really neat experience with us on Saturday night.  His Dads best friend, and his best friends Father, is having a really rough go of it.  His name is kip.  None of his sons were baptized, but he was when he was a kid.  He has fallen away from the church and has had a really tough life.  He is currently battling severe cancer and is going to have to go out of country to get special kemo for it because they dont do that kind here(Legally).  Elder ALlred has been pretty focused on finding scriptures the last 6 weeks, and he is kind of behind in the Language.  He finally opened up after conference, and told us all about Kip and how he is going through the BoM looking for scriptures that might help Kip come back to the Gospel.  He said he didnt think Kip had much time left and so thats why he had to pick good scriptures, and wrote his testimony in the back of the book.  He told us he didnt think Kip had long to live, and he said Kip had told his dad to"Take care of my boys".  After he said that I started crying, because my Grandpa recieved that exact same message from my Dad after he died.  It made me start thinking about how as missionaries, God has told us to "Take care of his boys" (and girls), and how universal and powerful a good fathers Love is.  After thinking this I realized how prepared I was to do so because of my Grandfather's example to me.  He has shown me how to have sincere love for others and I am so grateful for that.  Now I get to pay it forward and be a missionary that helps the people of the Ukraine, regardless of whether or not they accept the gospel.  I am so excited to be able to love people that deeply.  Kip is in Mexico right now and we are all praying for him, I hope that he will be able to re-accept the gospel before he dies, and that maybe in so doing, his new found faith in christ could help heal him.

  Russian concept for the week: Pronunciation and stress- The phrase for He loves is :(Он любит) and the word for "he beats" is(Он бьет), if you stress the second part of the word for HE loves which would sound like looBEET, all they will here is BEET, and will think you said he beats, which can be a very confusing roadblock when you are trying to explain that "God is our heavenly father, and he loves you."  Needless to say, pronunciation is key, the stress should be on the first part of the word so it would sound like "LOObeet".  

  Elder knorpp is better now, and back to playing 4 square. Im still playing basket ball for gym time.  The food here is sketch sometimes, but i know what days I need to tap into my pop tart rations. We should get our flight plans next Friday so I will let you all know whats going to happen with that!  The temple is alway great and we eat breakfest there on PDay.  They make these amazing omelettes, and the Russian word for temple is "Krom" so we call them Kromlettes.  Thank you so much for all the support and letters, I love you all.   

Elder Jorgensen

On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 12:28 AM,

Hey buddy

How are you doing?  I hope everyone is better. Here are my questions...

Do you like when I send you things I've written? Do you want more?

Do you need any medicine replenished after being sick?  That's the biggest thing for you to take.

How's the language and companionship?

I'm trying to ensure mail is coming everyday...is it? At least mostly??

Do you need anything else?

Are you happy?  Are they teaching you about the Ukraine culture?

Love you so much!!!!
Make time for letters too this week please.
Mom

1.  I am not sick anymore, and most of the rest of us are back up to full strength.  2. I love it when I get those things from you, they help me alot sometimes and I appreciate reading them.  3. No I didnt really use up any medicine while I was sick, so Im good.  4.  The companionship is alot better everyweek, we only argue a little, and  he is no longer so critical of me. The language is coming really good, the gift of tounges is a real thing. 5. I am getting mail almost everyday, in fact in my District they used to say that I had a mail streak because I got mail everyday.  6. I know I needed something but I cant remember what it was. 7. I am really happy here and conference was great.  Dad is gonna be really Jealous because our sunday night devo after conference was Vocal Point came and sang and shared missionary stories with us.  He would have loved it! No they are not teaching us nearly anything about the culture, but one of the teachers here is from Ukraine, so weve learned a bit from her.  I will definately get letters through this week.  Ill also try to send some pictures later.  By Love you, Im off to do my laundry.