Bye Bye MTC

Ni hao!

Well, the time has come! I am finally leaving for England tomorrow to serve the Mandarin Chinese in Manchester England! I am nervous but excited as well.

This weekend was quite the roller coaster. My companion, as you all know, was called to serve in Australia but her VISA never came and she was getting re-assigned. She got her re-assignment on Friday to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and it said she was going to be leaving last night at like 10pm. However, she noticed a problem with her left eye and we went to the health clinic here at the MTC to get it checked out on Friday as well. She had noticed a part of her vision was blank in her left eye and that eye already has a history of having an issue back when she was six and she had to get surgery on it then. So the doctor her at the MTC said that there was something unusual going on and scheduled an eye appointment later with an optimologist. We go to the optimologist later in the afternoon and after an hour of eye tests and examination, he says that it looks like her eye was so inflamed that fluid had built up in her eye causing her retina to detach from the wall of the eye. He could not tell if there was just fluid causing it to detach, which would have been easily to treat, or if there was a hole in her retina as well, which would need surgery. He set up an appointment with a retina specialist that was in Provo to give the better diagnosis. Off we went to the next appointment right around 4:30pm. After getting in to see this specialist, within 5 minutes of looking at her eye he knew that this retinal detachment needed to be repaired by surgery and the sooner the better.  To make a long story short, she went in for surgery that night around 9pm and she is doing great. They put a gas bubble in her eye to lay down her retina and she cannot fly for two weeks and they want her to stay her for three weeks to observe her recovery. So much for Pittsburgh! But this may work out for her benefit because her VISA will most likely come in the extra three weeks she is here. Other wise, she would have had to stay in her re-assigned area for a full transfer.

The Provo temple is closed for 6 or so weeks for maintenance and the missionaries get to help clean on their P-days if they are assigned. My district went last Monday and it was an experience I will never forget. The Sisters helped clean the chandeliers/ the crystal of the light fixtures and it took us the full 3 hours we were there to clean them and they were the smaller ones of the temple. It was cool because they had the curtains down and we got to see the temple lit up inside from outside light. Despite the construction going on inside, it was so peaceful to be there. After we were all done cleaning, they let us all go back into the bridal room. It is so beautiful! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for  the Elders since they only get a locker and a mirror for their wedding day. The lady that was supervising us and giving us the tour said that the bridal room let's us know how much our Heavenly Father loves his daughters. I could definitely feel that love as I stood in that room.

We had in-field orientation on Thursday where they have all of the departing missionaries in like the same room for basically the whole day. I was afraid it was going to be boring and put me to sleep but I actually ended up loving it. It got me really excited for the field. This may not sound like it makes sense to you but any fellow future or past missionaries reading this blog should understand: one of the Elders from the series "The District 2", Elder Christensen (don't know how to spell it), now works at the MTC and he helps to run the in-field orientation. He is a funny guy.

Once again, I am excited for the field. 9 weeks at the MTC has been great but I am ready to teach those who have been prepared to hear the gospel. I know that this gospel is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Time to serve my Heavenly Father and represent Christ in England.
Wo ai ni men!

Sister Jordan