Week 8- June 19, 2012

Hey everybody,

A few days ago, I got my travel plans for next week. So that’s was exciting. We leave next Tuesday, June 26th. Funny because we fly to Portland first. Then we go on to Japan and then to Taiwan. I’ve learned tons since being here and it’s been good. But I can’t wait to get out and go to work. It’s going to be crazy when I get there and can only speak in mandarin. It is going to be a good experience.

On Sunday, one of my favorite speakers came and spoke, Sheri Dew. She gave a great talk about keeping the eternal perspective (the next life) in our minds. She said that one of the devil’s biggest weapons is for us to focus on this life and forget who we are and the possibility of living in God's presence in the next life. A good quote she stated is, "I’m much more interested in the long hereafter than the brief present."

This is another funny story. So the MTC president sat by us at dinner on Sunday.  We never know who is going to speak to us on Sunday nights, so I asked him who was speaking. The MTC president said, “It is a woman and you guys will like her.”  Well my favorite woman speaker is Sheri Dew. So I was like, “Is it Sheri Dew?” (hahaha) He thought I was like telepathic because that’s exactly who it was. He was like, “How do you know Sheri Dew?” I told him that my mom liked her from Women’s Conference and that I liked her talks.  He was like, “Yeah that is who it is.”

Well, Sunday night, I lucked out and sat on the 2nd row for Sheri Dew’s talk. Then the MTC president, who was sitting next to her, was like, “Yeah that is Jeff Chatman’s son.”  So after her talk, she talks to missionaries for a bit. She shook my hand and was like, “So you are Jeff Chatman’s son? I was just like, “Yeah, how do you know him?” She was like, “I was a big BYU fan back when he played.” Then she asked where I was going. She talked about keeping an eternal perspective and seeking spiritual gifts. She's awesome!

Anyways, have good week everyone.

Love - Jordan Chatman

                                    Elders in Jordan's MTC zone - Elder Beck and Elder Bian

                                       Jordan's MTC companion's Elder Relyea and Elder Norris

This is Jordan with Elder Wright,  He was from Australia and went out with his group to Taipei also.

                                

This is Jordan's MTC zone

                                     

Week 7- June 12, 2012

June 12, 2012

Hey everyone,

This week went great.

The language is progressing well and I’m learning tons about the gospel.

I don’t really know what to talk about because not much has changed or happened that I didn’t talk about in the previous weeks. So I guess I’ll just tell you a tiny bit about a filmed talk by Jeffrey R. Holland that I watched. He talked about how we should go out into the mission field and astonish somebody’s life. This church and gospel is sooo vital and will without a doubt change someone’s life for eternity. So we need to be sure to teach with that kind of conviction and power. The gospel is so important to us missionaries, so we need to be sure to convey that in our teaching. It was an incredible talk!  It is my favorite one that I have watched here.

So on Sunday, the MTC president was sitting by me and companion at dinner. He just sits in random places at dinner. So anyways, he was talking to me and was like “what’s your name?” I said “Elder Chatman.”  He was like, “Oh, there used to be a really great basketball player from BYU named Chatman.” I was like, “Yeah, that’s my dad.”  He was astonished and keeping saying how good dad was at basketball. So then today, I get a call to come to his office with my companions. We go there and he tells me that he wanted to hook me up because I was a son of a BYU basketball player. So anyways, in 2 Sundays (the one before I leave), the apostles orientate the new mission presidents and they have a sacrament meeting with just the new mission presidents and the apostles. So because it is sacrament meeting, there needs to be the passing of the sacrament. So 36 elders got chosen to pass and then stay for the sacrament meeting. So me and my companions get to do that.  So we are part of the 36 elders that get to go to the apostle led sacrament meeting! Pretty cool, huh?!

Anyways, hope everyone is doing well.

-Jordan Chatman

Week 6- June 5, 2012

Hey everyone!

Hope ya'll are doing well! I had another good week this week. I am really looking forward to getting out to Taiwan though! 3 weeks from today and I should be on the plane. I can’t wait! If I were to teach someone today in Mandarin I feel like I could give a pretty good first lesson (which is mainly about God, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and prayer)! I probably wouldn’t be able to understand a lot of what they would say back though. LOL But like we were taught this week from President Uchtdorf (in a film), language doesn’t matter a whole lot. What matters is that you are teaching with the Spirit, that you have the light of Christ in you, and that they can feel your love for them!

Last Tuesday, Elder Zwick from the quorum of the seventy came and spoke to us. He gave a really powerful testimony about the Book of Mormon and how people can know this church is true or not by reading the Book of Mormon all the way through and sincerely praying about it. He gave a cool story about his mission. He said he went on his mission somewhere in South America (I forget where exactly.) But he said that while there he was hospitalized for a few days. When he left the hospital he said he left 20 Book of Mormons at the front desk. 20 years later, he had no idea what happened to the Book of Mormons he left at the hospital. But 20 years later, he went back down to his mission area. While there he was meeting with the local ward and the bishop came up to him and pulled out a Book of Mormon. It was one of the Book of Mormons that Elder Zwick had left in the hospital 20 years ago! The bishop said that 20 years ago he wasn’t Mormon and that he was in the hospital. He decided to pick up a Book of Mormon that he saw there. He took it home and never read it. He was about to throw it away one day but his little son was like no don’t throw away a nice book. So he kept it and ended up reading the whole thing and praying about it. After doing that he knew it was true and ended up joining the Mormon church. Crazy!

So I guess I’ll give you a rundown of a typical day...

I get up a 6:30, eat breakfast in the cafeteria at 7:20. Then at 8am, we teach a 30 minute lesson to a mock-investigator. At 9am, we have an hour of learning Chinese in the classroom, and then at 10am, an hour of learning how to teach better. At 11am, it is an hour of personal study where I study the Book of Mormon and other things. At noon is lunch and then 12:45 until 1:45 is an hour of personal Chinese language study. Then at 2pm, I and my companions prepare our next lesson. Then 3-5 is more classroom time. At 5pm is dinner, and then 5:45-6:45 is an hour a learning Chinese on the computers using a program called TALL. Then 7-8pm is gym and then 8:30 to 9:30 is another hour of study. Then after that we get ready for bed and go to bed by 10:30. So that’s the excitement here.

I hope everyone is doing good!

-Jordan