She's in Japan - pictures added

We got to talk to her yesterday when she was in the airport.  I sent her a cheap mobile phone so that she could call us (it was allowed) while she was in the airport so we got to speak with her for about 40 minutes or so after she got through security.  It was so great to hear her voice and the excitement she has to move into the next phase of her mission.

She began by telling us all about her experience of trying to follow the score of the Utah-BYU football game.  She said that the wifi shuts off at 9:00 at the MTC and the game had about three minutes left and Utah was up 17-13.  She knows from experience how much can happen in a football game, especially the rivalry game, in three minutes so she was agonizing about who won the game until she got the news on Sunday morning.  We knew about the bet she made with her branch president and he sang the Utah fight song (Utah Man) on the walk to the Temple but she told us that she had made a couple of other bets with some Elders that upon return from the mission, the loser would have to wear the opposing teams attire at the next rivalry game and cheer for the opponent.  We'll see of those guys honor that bet - I'm sure Jordan will hold them to it.  FYI - in case you don't know the end of the game, Utah kicked a field goal shortly after the wife was turned off with about 2:47 remaining in the game to go up 20-13.  BYU then drove down the field and scored a touchdown with about :18 remaining in the game.  They decided to go for the 2-point conversion and we (Utah) stopped them to win the game 20-19.

My son, Jantzen, asked Jordan to share her testimony in Japanese (I was going to ask her to do that but he pre-empted me - good for him).  She went on for quite a while and sounded great to my untrained ear.  She said that she's feeling much more comfortable with the language but is much better at understanding it than speaking it which is fairly common from what I hear.

Jordan said that she's really developed some close relationships, even with people that have only been at the MTC for about three weeks.  She talked about how excited she is to get to Japan and meet new people and eat non-MTC food but how she was sad because of how much she will miss her friends.  She said that one Elder put together a small men's chorus there recently and did a really great rendition of Nearer My God to Thee and she said it was similar to this:

Jordan told us a story about a conversation with an Elder that I won't go into detail at this point but she shared this scripture in relation to that story.  It's D & C (Doctrine and Covenants) 31:5-7 - 5 Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.  Wherefore, your family shall live.  6 Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them.  7 Yea, I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you.  And I will establish a church by your hand...  This has special significance to us as she shared it and it meant a lot.  She is growing so much and, as I've mentioned in about every previous blog post, I'm very proud of her.  I know that she will do great.

Finally, this morning we received an email from the mission home in Tokyo confirming that the plane landed as scheduled at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon Tokyo time (12:30 a.m. our time).  The mission president was there to pick them up (all 30 of them) and take them back to the mission home where they would all spend their first night (it is about a 2.5 hour drive from the airport because of how crowded it is).   When they got to the home they were fed and then went off to bed.  When they wake up, they will go through an orientation and then meet their first companion who will train them and then be off to do the work (after they get moved in to wherever they are living).  We were promised some pictures in a couple of days which I will probably share in next week's blog post.  That's all for now.  As always, thanks for your support you show via emails, hand-written notes / letters and packages to Jordan (I'll share her address when we have it - it may just be the mission home but I'm not sure).  I appreciate it and she appreciates it more than you know.  Feel free to comment or ask questions.  Here are a couple of pictures of her in Japan with her new companion / trainer and her mission president and his wife.