Week 1 with Elder Jarman

Week 82

THis week went really well. Elder Jarman is cool, I dont have anything to complain about, it is really nice that he likes to clean, because now our house is really clean.  Sister Sullivan would give us 2 cinimon rolls if she saw it.

Sadly not many people answered the phone this week so I dont have much to update for investigators.

Elder Bates and I took a trip to Poltava the other day and it was good. THe Elders there are having a good time and they are workin hard.  They even got on tv a couple weeks ago. Love you all!

Hey bud,

I can't believe you got a new comp already!  That is your shortest companionship besides your training with Bunker!  I hope you are doing ok with the change, and I really hope you are getting along with your new comp!!!!

My week has been full of helping Josh get ready for Prom!  Also he is running for SBO at Riverton and we have had to do a TON of things to get him ready for it.  The worst part about it is if he isn't in the top 10 after the primary vote tomorrow, he won't be able to use any of it!!!  Tomorrow is the booth day and the kids vote on the top ten.  I think there are about 30 running...so ugh.  Hopefully he will get through the first round.  For his booth we made over 350 mini cupcakes and I did a big cake and giant cupcake for display.  We have made 3 posters for it including a poster that says, Celebrate my birthday with me.  Enjoy a cupcake.  Remember to vote Josh Jorgensen.  I am pretty exhausted and have been spending several hours a day helping him.  I'll be super glad after the election is over.  I'm also glad it's his birthday week, because I am counting this cake as his birthday cake.

The kids are all doing well.  Jacob started basketball games again and his team won their first game yesterday.  Kaestli is doing well in school, dance and gymnastics.  She is growing so much and very smart.  She is reading like crazy and loves to learn.  Cam has had a good week but has been sick again yesterday and today.  He has some stomach bug.  Jordy is doing well in school and is excited to get his braces off in a month.  He and all his friends went to the new Power Ranger movie the other day.  He is back to being friends with Tom and Max so that is great!  We spent the weekend cleaning and organizing the kids rooms and closets, my least favorite thing to do, but I am so glad it is done now!

Penny our puppy had to have surgery the other day.  They spayed her...but she also needed a surgery to remove extra skin around her lady parts that was causing bladder infections.  She is in rough shape and it's really sad.  She should be better in 2 weeks...but it will be a long 2 weeks I'm sure.

The Tboys came this weekend.  They seem to be doing well.  Ethan hasn't started his mission papers yet, but he still claims that he is planning on it.  Send him some prayers to get that going.  Curtis and I are reading the BofM with all the kids.  We are doing the 25 pages each time, and will do it only when the Tboys are here.  That is the main focus.  Cam and Jordy listened in today too.  Hopefully we can get it finished before Ethan leaves for a mission.  

Say some prayers for Josh this week for the election.  I pray that he will be elected, and also that he will be ok if he isn't.

I am starting to gather things for our trip to fiji in less than 2 weeks now!!! I can't wait to go!  The kids are all very excited.

Everything else is going good.

I miss and love you very much!  Thanks for serving a mission!!!

So discussions-

1-New comp?  How is it going, do you guys get along?  Is he willing to work out with you?  Tell me all about your first week together.

2-Package, obviously when Elder Larsen gets his package with protein powder he won't be able to share with you.  I will get a package out this week.  This is your chance to request anything at all.  I already have vanilla protein powder, the protein bars you like, more proactive, some extra black socks.  Anything else you want to request?

3-Are you still happy and positive?

4-Any new thoughts about college?  You should probably start logging in to your other email account occasionally to see what BYU is sending you.  They will assign a first year mentor for you.  Bailey Gibbons works in that department so I will call her and see what you need to do before coming home.  

5-If you want I can go into your old email account and get it cleaned up for you...I'm sure 2 years of unread messages are there.  Just let me know if you want me to do that.

6-Start looking around for unique ukrainian gifts that you can send or bring home.  You are running out of time fast!

7-Recordings

8-pics

9-special message for me

Don't forget to email a Happy Birthday to Josh!

I miss you like crazy, but I am so glad you went on a mission!  I can't wait for you to come home, but I hope you enjoy every last minute you have out there!  Keep being awesome!  I love you so much.  Have a great week and keep us in your prayers:)

Love you!!! 

Mom

Yes I am getting a long with him, and he is willing to workout.  He is really cool. There isnt much to tell, he is really green and he said he didnt get alot of chances to work with his last companion.  He likes me.

2 Nope, I am content, thanks so much!

3Yes I am happy and positive

4 Not really, I feel more and more confident about the AFROTC, so I think I will do it.

5I will log in and check.

6I have quite a few to send now and some big ones could come in the next package after this one.

I love you so much you really are the best.  I am so happy that you are my mom and I am proud of you.  I love my mission so much and I am so glad you helped me make it happen. I could do it without you!

Sorry Everybody!

Week 81

Yeah, my companion Elder Larsen got transferred to Kharkiv yesterday, so I was on a bus for a long time...  But hey! Now I am back in Kremenchuk, with Elder Jarman! He is a way cool Elder and he is gonna have a great time here.

Liza, Mashas little sister, came to church again this week! Later that night we met with Masha, Liza, and Vladlena, and had a lesson.  We had some fun since it was Elder Larsens last night, and we taught about the Book of Mormon, and why it is so important to us, and then we gave Liza one.  Masha and Liza promised that they would read together, so hopefully Liza will feel the spirit!  We are meeting with Masha and Liza again tomorrow!  

Everything is going good here so far, I am sad to see Elder Larsen leave, we got along so well, but I am also happy for a new opportunity to serve with Elder Jarman.  

The Funny: My name is Ali Baba!

While we were waiting for our bus, a homeless man walked up and asked us for money.  I explained we could not give him money becaues we needed to pay for the bus ride. He said, okay, and then asked what language I was speaking(I thought either I cant speak well or he is crazy) So I said we were foreigners and I dug through my pockets to find some change.  While I dug, he said "My name is Ali Baba! I have the most well known name in the world." "Cool, nice to meet you Ali Baba, my name is Jorgensen"  I found a coin and gave it to him, "Whats this?" "It is 5 kopek(cents)" "Oh thank you so much! let me find you a gift!"  He dug through his pockets and found a different 5 kopek, and gave it to me.  "Thank you"I said, and then he gave me a fist bump and hobbled away... I will let you judge whether or not I spoke well.  But at least he was nice :) I will save that coin forever haha.

Hey Elder,

How are things going?  I got your recording....I like how you so conveniently told me about the fire after you moved away.  The joke is on you though, because Elder Jeffery told his mom about it when it happened and she told me.  He made you sound like some super hero putting the fire out and fixing the electrical problems, haha!  I am glad you finally told me though!  I am even more glad no one was hurt!!!

It makes me wonder how many other stories you aren't telling me about though...

We are all doing well.  We had quite a week.  I had a scare at the Nephrology appt. with Cam, (kidney dr).  They took labs a couple weeks ago and I noticed that 2 of the tests were higher than they were supposed to be.  His BUN was 30 instead of 8-20 and his creatinine was 1 instead of .5.  I have no reference for these tests so I didn't know if that was fine or terrible.  Well at the appointment the Dr. helped me understand.  The BUN wasn't of much concern, but the creatinine was another story.  It is a huge jump from .5 to 1 and took his kidney function rating from 85% to 50%.  He was very concerned.  They redid the blood work and said if it came back normal we would meet in 6 months again and if it was still high we would have a lot of tests in our future.  I was so concerned.  They redid the blood work and called a couple hours later that the tests were back to normal so we could rest easy.  It was a pretty scary 2 hours and has taken the weekend to try and get all the negative emotion to leave my body.  

Cam and Kaestli are doing swimming lessons right now.  Jacob's basketball is starting games up again this week.  They are in 2 leagues this season so that will be 2 games a week.  

Jordy had a choir ensemble this week at South Jordan Middle School.  I had to go with them for the school to allow Jordy to go too.  I was glad though, it was really fun to see him interacting with the other kids.  It was clear he has a lot of friends and the kids look out for him.  

I've been working on getting the yard cleaned up and ready for spring.  It has been really warm all week.  It feels so good to have nice weather and have it staying light until 8:00.  It makes me so happy to be out of winter!

Josh has prom this week.  He is really excited about it.  He is also running for Student Body Officer at the school.  There are a ton of kids running.  They narrow it down to 10 people from the first vote and then hold panels and a few other things before the final vote from 10 down to 5.  I don't know what his chances are, but I do know it would sure help him get into BYU if he can win.  He did make madrigals again and will do that.  

I hope you are doing well.  I am excited to hear about transfers!  I hope you got to stay unchanged.  Give me all the details you have about transfers around you.  

Discussions

1-transfers...full details for you and your district or any big mission changes.

2-Any update or official word on your release date?

3-How are you doing?  Still happy and positive?

4-We are doing a parent lunch...ask your comp if he thinks his mom would want to come, its in a couple weeks.  If she would give me her email address and I can invite her.

5-We hear that Elder Holland is heading to Ukraine to Zap...maybe.  Have you heard anything about that?  Do you think they will let all the elders travel to hear him?

6-How are your investigators coming?  I'm so glad you got some to church last week!

7-Tell me more about your apartment and kremenchuk.

8-Would you want to go back to Ukraine after you get home?

9-Will you miss the people of Ukraine?

10-What is your favorite thing about Elder Larsen?  How long has he been out?  Is he going to BYU?

11-I am ready for a letter again.  You don't need to write to everyone or all the kids.  Just a letter to me would be great.  It really brightens my week when I get them.

12-I am glad the proactive is helping!!  Will you need one more shipment of it before you come home?

13-recordings

14-pics

15-message to me:)

I miss you and love you.  I hope you are happy and doing well.  I am so proud of you!  It's crazy still for me to think you are living in Ukraine speaking russian!  That is seriously so cool.  You are awesome.  Thanks for being such a great son and brother.  WE all miss you so much!  I pray for you constantly!

I love you so much.  Have a great week!!!

Love

Mom

1 So I am here still with Elder Jarman

2 It will still be the 29, president said if I feel I need to I could change it to the 15.

3I am happy and positive

4 sljarman@comcast.net

5 If he is going to zap, then that would be crazy, and no we would probably not all get to go.  It is possible, but not too likely. 

6They are doing well, we just didnt get to see one of them last week.

7 My apartment is nice, we got it cleaned up, it was pretty cruddy when I got there. WE live in a really far away part of the city, if we walk it takes 2 hours to get to branch.

8 Not immediately, it will be nice to be in America again, But maybe a while after I get back.

9Yes

10Elder Larsen is just really funny and he is really good at telling stories. He is going to the UofU

11 I have one I need to send

12 I am glad too! Yes, I am almost out, it doesnt last too long when you use it twice a aday.

Mom you are so great! I love you so much, and I am so grateful for everything you do and have done for me. You are still one of the most important people in my life and I will really miss you.  I think cams test changing is a blessing from Me, Gramma, Grampa and Dakkon all serving a mission, and I am so happy you prepared me to get here! Love you!

Respect

Week 80

The title of the email is because we are finally getting respect in the gym and making some friends.  The first few times we went there was this huge guy that commented while we were lifting "If you keep doing that you will break your back."  He then asked me to hop off the machine and showed me how its done, I could see what he was talking about, so I humbled myself and strove to learn 100% correct form for the majority of the exercises, and I said hi to him every morning, but for the first time, today he came and said hi to me.  I was so happy, that means we are friends and he feels comfortable talking to me. One day I will show my large friend the correct form of Baptism.(Hopefully.)

Everything is going well here, Elder Larsen and I have been studying the spirit, because it is really hard to do the will of the Lord, when you have no clue what that is! 

Elder Larsen is just a little bit crazy, and he likes waking up at 5 in the morning, we get a lot done. But it is funny, Sunday is our "Day of rest" So we wake up at the normal 6:30.  Sunday has never been a better day.

No news on investigators, do to a lack of investigators to have news on.  

​But we did find one kid this week who we hope to work with.​

Hey buddy,

I hope I get longer letters this week!  I do love that you always have someone email to let me know you won't email or that it will be later...I think it is awesome, thanks.  Your comp said that he "loves you to death" and that you're awesome!  It is so nice for me to have you with a good comp again and someone you get along with it.  It really makes me happy.  

We are all doing pretty good.  Josh took the ACT this week.  He took a calculator with him and they said he couldn't use it.  Then it turns out he should have been able to use it so they offered to let him take the entire test again, but they wouldn't score the first test at all.  So we opted to get the score from this test and see where he is at.  He felt like he did well though.

Mikey and Keely had the baby blessing today.  It was really nice, but a small showing from our family.  Curtis and the TBoys are gone, so was Allie, Traci worked, Skame was at the cabin and Adam and Char are in Hawaii so it was basically just me and Lynds.  But we had a lot of the martineaus and Keely's people.  

I ended up getting a cold yesterday, so I'm feeling pretty miserable.  Hopefully no one else will get it.  

It looks like your apartment for school is filling up.  Your roommate is on there as Garrison Nickel.  He says he likes to go to bed early and is VERY tidy.  So hopefully you guys will get along well:).  There is still one open bed in your apartment.

It sounds like there were a lot of strange transfers last week.  Elder Jensen going home, and McCleary taking his place.  And then I guess Elder Olsen got transferred too...but his mom didn't know why or what was going on.  Do you know anything about any of that?

So questions for this week,

1-How is everything going?  Are you happy and positive?

2-What do you think of Kremenchuk now that you have been there?  Tell me about the branch size, youth, primary size etc.  Also the city, is it pretty or more like Dneper?

3-Tell me about your companion? 

4-Do you know anything about those early transfers?

5-Tell me a funny story.

6-How have you been feeling?  Have you stayed healthy?

7-How is your Russian?  Would you say you are fully fluent?  

8-What do you guys do on Pday's?

9-pics

10- recording

11-How are any investigators doing?

12-How often do you go to the gym, what do you do there?

13-What are your thoughts on the ROTC?

14-message for me:)

I love you and really miss you. I am so grateful you are serving a mission, but I will be so glad to have you home too!  I am very proud of you for working so hard.  You continue to impress me and amaze me.  You'll always be my best friend.  Thank you for everything you have done for me and our family.  You're the best!!!

Love you!!

Mom

Yeah I am still happy and positive, it is goin really well here and we are having fun.  I love it, it is like the same in Sumy but just not quite as good of a city.  There were a lot more good places to eat in Sumy. We have 3 Young single adults, and 1 youth.  The primary has like 4-5 children.  Yeah the city is more like Dnepr than sumy. Elder Larsen is great, he is like Elder Biesinger in a lot of ways, so we get along well.  Yeah, with Elder Olson, I am not 100% sure, but I know there was a girl in Kharkov that liked him, alot,  and sooo... Emergency transfers happen, you probably should not spread that though.  Elder Jensen got a sinus infection that they need to send him to America to operate on.  Well today Elder Owen put his flash drive and camera into the wrong USB ports on the computer in the branch and has a ton of viruses now, it was hilarious for us, but really sad for him.  Elder Larsen had put tape over them so that people wouldnt use them, but Elder Owen used them anyway.  I feel good, and I am very healthy, I am determined to not get sick/snotty this spring, and so I am pounding Vitamin C, and using those nasal sprays you sent to me.  Yes I would say I am fluent.  We dont have a whole lot of do so we usually just hang out with the other Elders.  WE are struggling to find and the new investigator we found dogged his appointment.  We go 4 days a week, and are going to start going 5, we are getting "stacked"  I run for 10 minutes and then lift for 30 or so.  

I think it is a legitimately good idea, but I feel good towards not doing it, and I also feel good towards doing it.  I think the Lord wants me to make a choice and go with it.

I love you so much you are the best, I cannot believe we are already 75% through. I cant wait to see you again!