Day Trip Back to HARTFORD!

We had a really awesome opportunity yesterday to take a trip with the Phillips family to Hartford to witness the baptism of Franky. If you don't remember Franky, he is one of the people I taught in Hartford.

Brother Clifford and Brian Sanchez (the kid I baptized) were also at the baptism. It was so awesome to see them and everyone else from the Hartford ward that I grew to love so much!

I'm so grateful for the chance I had to go back and see Franky get baptized and to catch up with old friends. I'm especially thankful to the Phillips' for taking us! Thanks to everyone who made yesterday special! And for all of you reading this at home, you can make my future days special by sending me some letters!

I LOVE to See the Temple

This week, we had a great oportunity to attend the Temple. A woman that Elder Flake baptized a year ago went through for her endowment and asked that he be there. Since the temple is in our mission now, we're allowed to attend semi-regularly.


We drove up with a member in our ward, Brother Floyd and had a fun drive. He's hilarious and I'm so grateful to him for helping us out.

The whole experience was wonderful. Except the part where I got really trunky because for the last 14 months I've been told that the only time I'd be able to attend the temple was right before I went home. Well, I went to the temple and I still won't be home for ten months. That's ok though.

Write me! Seriously.

It's Pick on Elder Jardine Week Again!

Jump on the band waggon before time runs out!

Technically, I suppose the clock has already expired since the afore mentioned week was last week. Also, this bandwaggon was only for police officers.

Here's how it went: 1 week. 1 poor missionary. 2 traffic tickets.

The first, the result of running a red light. A light that was run in order to avoid plowing in to the side of a mother and her baby who pulled out in front of me. Did the cop see that? Was he interested in that part of the story? NO! Of course not.

The second was on our way to transfer meeting. After having to PAY to get on a FREEWAY, I was pulled over and ticketed for going 75. Was the cop aware that all freeways should be at least 75? Did he realize I was going slower that my peers all around me? NO!

What'er. I digress. I just have a very sour taste in my mouth for the state of Massachusetts and police officers.

On a much lighter note, I got a new companion and we are doing great! Have a great week, y'all. Write me so I don't feel like such a loser! Thanks!!

Angry Turtle With A Death Wish

Happy Mothers' Day!

Yes. The apostrophe in the title WAS meant to come after the "s".

As Ross' son in "Friends" so appropriately put it, "I have lots of mommies".

My "first mom" is the original. She is the one who gave birth to me and has carried the vast majority of raising me on her shoulders. Through the years she has taught me by her incredible example of how to overcome adversity and find joy in the journey. She is the one who has taught me how to love and be loved.

My next mom is my grandma. Nowhere in the world could you find a woman who embodies such compassion and attributes of Christ as my grandma. She is the matriarch of all matriarchs. She can cook, she can clean, she can make peace among anyone and she never lets you leave the house without letting you know how much she loves you.

The third mom, "the other mother", is my best friend's mom, Joy. Since we first me, she has always taken me in and treated me as one of her own children, offering all the love, humor, and (at times) correction an adolescent boy could need. I'll always think of her as one of my mothers and she and her family will always hold a very special place in my heart.

My last mom is my Mission Mom, Sister Pehrson. Whenever I don't feel well, I'm homesick, or I have questions about laundry, I can always call her. She is an incredible woman and I am really going to be sad when she and President go home next month.

I think it is oddly appropriate that this past week in my Book of Mormon reading, I read the story of Helaman's army in Alma. Like the 2,000 stripling warriors, I stand in this fight with the knowledge that I can win because my mother(s) knew it. They knew I could be successful and they gave me the faith and courage to allow me to know it for myself.

I want to wish all my moms a Happy Mother's Day. You all mean the world to me and I love you more than you'll ever know! Thank you for EVERYTHING you have done and continually do for me.

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother(s)." -Abraham Lincoln

Vote for SUMMER!

So Summer is certainly in the air and that make a life of a missionary serving in a big city very interesting.

Let me set the scene for one of the worst days EVER. It's about 8 in the evening and starting to get dark. Elder Souza and I are walking down ghetto-trash, trailer-fabulous Park Street to an appointment. We're coming up on a group of men (the type that would be warming their hands by a trash can fire if it wasn't 80 DEGREES) and one of the starts shouting racial slurs about white people at us. As we walked past, giving him all the attention he deserved (which was none), HE THREW FOOD AT US. And not just any food. Cheap Chinese.

Being the level-headed and Christlike Elders we are, we still ignored him and kept on our way. About a block and a half further, we saw a police officer. We told him what happened and he said he'd go look for the guy. We went to our appointment and thus ended Tuesday.

Wednesday was much better. One of the best days EVER, in fact. Thanks to a State Representative in our ward, we got to go to the Capital Building and meet the UCONN basketball teams.

We met and got autographs from:

Jeremy Lamb

Alex Oriakhi

and Maya Moore.

Plus others including Coach Calhoun and Kemba Walker. Thanks Sister Kirkley-Bey!!


But what made this one of the best days EVER? A text message I received in the afternoon from the Spanish Elders which read, "Hey some cop just pulled up to us and asked us if we knew you. When we said yes he told us to tell you that he took that guy to jail last night. What's he talking about?" Justice. Served.

I guess in missionary work, just as in life, you win some and you lose some but those are the experiences that make things memorable. Have a great week, everyone. Much love!

This week was...

uneventful. Thing in CT are pretty much the same as they have always been. It is finally starting to warm up and I am reminded of the knock-you-over humidity of New England Summer. When we came out of church yesterday, it was 75 degrees and the humidity made it hard to breathe at first. Not sure if I'm quite ready for that but I think it definitely beats the cold.
The work rolls forth. We (might) have a baptism this Saturday if everything pans out. Please pray it will. If not, we will just move it back a week or so.
I think that is all. For more information, you can write to the address on this page. I love you all. Peace. and. Blessin's.

The Sanchez's Baptism

On Saturday, we had a baptism!


Meet the Sanchez family. Mom (Michelle), Brian (18), Stephanie (13), and Jennifer (11). We met this family because Jennifer found a pass-along card on the ground and decided to call the number. We went over at the end of March and started teaching them. They were instantly receptive. They had LOTS of questions but were able to find answers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It has been such a neat experience to teach them and help prepare them for baptism while watching them grow in the Gospel. It was an absolutely incredible experience for me to baptize Brian and Stephanie.

I love this family so much and I know that they are going to make GREAT members of the Church!

A Balmy Week in New England

Did you all enjoy conference? I sure did. It was an uplifting and inspiring experience and this time around, it was also a lot of fun. We watched at the Stake Center and there were about 10 or 12 other missionaries there. Each of the different sessions was also attended by 5 to 10 members. It was so great to hear the council given. I especially enjoyed Elder Holland's talk in which he spoke about the inspiration of the topics spoken of at Conference and where he described those speaking and "mortal messengers delivering angelic messages". That is truly how I felt about this Conference; like I was receiving angelic messages from (extraordinary) mortal messengers. Last Monday we had a cool once-in-a-lifetime experience. We got to tour ESPN. It was so cool! We got to see a few of their recording studios and behind-the-scenes type stuff. My camera wasn't working but Elder Souza got some good pictures I'll upload later. The last piece of news I have is that I'm not getting transferred. Everyone say, "YAY!" 6 more weeks in Hartford! That's all for now folks! Peace and blessin's... Y'all.

Happy CoDyPaLoOzA!!!

What a great week for birthday celebrating! A special thanks to all who sent cards and gift and made this birthweek special.

Ready for a sad thought? It is raining slush outside. And cold. Ready to cry more? One year ago today I was in Mexico. :( Over it.

This week was good. Most of it was spent unwrapping toy weapons and shiny things and stuffing our faces with birthday dinners and Red Velvet cakes galore. However, we were able to squeeze in some real missionary work.

Most of that took place on Sunday, when CoDyPaLoOzA officially ended. We went to church and our meetings after. Then we went to a family in the ward who's niece is living with them and asked if she's like to take the lessons. She responded in the affirmative.

Later, we stopped by a referral. An 11 year old girl found one of our cards on the sidewalk right outside her door and decided to call the number because she had been seeing things in their house (Sixth Sense style). We went over and taught the Restoration. It went really well and we have a return appointment with the whole family.

Bored yet? I hope so because that's all you get for today. I love you all! Write me!!

Happy CoDyPaLoOzA!!!

MY FIRST BAPTISM

So the baptism wasn't the ONLY thing that happened this week, but it was certainly the most exciting and made everything else a complete blur. For those reasons, that is really the only thing I'm going to talk about.

On Saturday morning, a family in our ward came and picked us up from our ultra-posh, 19th floor apartment and took us out to brunch. After that, they ran us over to the stake center so we could start filling the font and get everything ready. We filled the font extra slow to make sure hot water was coming out. Luckily the water was warm. We set up the chairs, the podeum, the piano and everything else we needed. Having extra time and realizing how bland the room looked, we stole some pictures from other rooms and fresh(ish) flowers from the chappel to class the place up a bit. We coppied off the programs and finally everything as ready to go.

People started showing up about half an hour before it was supposed to start, but there was still no Alyjah. We called and they were stuck in traffic. They got there right when it was supposed to be starting so she hurried and changed and then we snapped a couple pictures so we could start.

The service was great. We had great talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost and finally the big moment arrived. Alyjah and I stepped into the font and I baptized her. It was such an honor and privilage to do that for her. It made it even better that I onle had to do it once!

On Sunday, Alyjah was confirmed and it so awesome to stand in that circle. The Spirit of the Lord was definitely present.

There you have it. My first baptism. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed living it. Have a good week, friends and loved ones!

Guess Who Got to Meet an Apostle?

This is going to be short. Think of it more as a bullet-point list rather than a letter.

This week was really good. Elder Souza and I are getting along great and absolutely loving Hartford. We weren’t able to contact Raynor or Malicia this week despite lots of phone calls and stop-by’s, but things are still good.

Alyjah is getting baptized this Saturday and I will be the one performing the baptism. I am really excited about that and honored to do it for her. So far, everything is coming together nicely for the service and I can’t wait to tell you how it goes!

Frankie and Chrissy had some bad news this week. Just to remind you, Chrissy is a member and Frankie is her fiancé who is investigating. They found out that when they get married, they’ll love their state assistance and won’t be able to get by financially. They are currently living together and know that’s wrong. Chrissy told us, “either we can do what we know is right and our family will suffer or we can keep living the way we are until we can make it work financially which isn’t a good situation either”. Luckily, they have the bishop working with them to see how he can help them out. Also, I think they may have gotten an “answer” during church yesterday.

We were so blessed yesterday to have a special conference for the Hartford stake at which Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostle presided and spoke. It was such a wonderful experience to hear his words and get to shake his hand afterward. At the end of his talk, he blessed the congregation that, among other things, if they live righteously, they will have enough food for their families; even a surplus. I hope Chrissy and Frankie got out of that what I did. I hope they’ll be able to take the leap of faith and do what the Lord wants them to.

That’s all for now. I love you all! Have a great week!!

The Latest and GREATEST!

Why can't all weeks be this good? I'm not sure how to say everything that happened so I'm just going to jump into it.

Last week, the Spanish Elders told us that they had run into Malicia. Our investigator of old. For those of you that don't remember, we lost contact with her when we called to confirm an appointment and her dad told us she would be unavailable for a couple weeks. Anyway, the other Elders saw her and they talked for a minute and she said she wanted to get back in contact with us. We went over to her house the next day and had a visit with her. She told us that she is going through lots of drama with her family and all her loved ones have turned their backs on her. It was way said. We set up a time to come back next week. On Saturday, she called and said, "Elder Jardine, I know it is short notice but could you try to find me a ride to church?" and I was like, "Um....YES!" So it turned out Malicia was able to come to church for my first time here and i think she might be ready to make a change in her life.

That was part of what made Sunday such a great day. We also had Alyjah (our 11 year old investigator) at church and she really liked it. She is right on track to get baptized March 5th!! Sunday was just such an amazing day. It was so cool to have our investigators at church and to actually have to worry about if they were getting all the attention and information they needed.

The crowning event that made this week as wonderful as it was was transfer calls. The assistants called and told me I'd be staying in Hartford and I'd be getting Elder Souza as my companion. I had to ask the Elder that called if he was serious. I served around Elder Souza when I was in Trumbull and he became one of my best friends. I'm VERY excited about this upcoming transfer!

This picture should be all the evidence you need to know we get along great...

This was a great week and I think the next 6 will be also. I hope you all are doing well! Much love!!

Crazy Weather and Great Numbers

What a week! Despite being snowed-in for a couple of days, we were still able to get a lot of work done and reach the highest numbers of my mission so far! We had a couple really good days and turned three of those potential investigators from last week into real investigators! Our new investigators are: (1) Franky. He is engaged to a member and wants to convert. He likes the church a lot and believes much of the doctrine, he's just having issues believing he can receive true forgiveness without having to suffer for his wrongs. We are really excited about him though. (2) Millie. She was an old investigator that we called up to see if she wanted to meet again and she said sure. We went over and met her and had a short lesson on the restoration and I really think she's got potential. (3) Lillian. She was a referral from the missionaries at the Kirtland Visitor's Center. She found their number and called them up to ask for a Bible. We took one to her along with a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said, "Do you want to come back next week so we can talk about these together?" And we were like, "um....YES!"

So all in all I'd say things are going well in Hartford. We've expanded our teaching pool and the time passes much faster when we're busy. We've also been doing lots of service this week as far as snow/ice removal for people and that has been hard but really rewarding. We chopped down a five-foot iceburg in the freezing rain for the Donat's (the people we raked leaves for when we first got here) that was blocking their driveway. Understand that when I say 'freezing rain' I don't mean rain that is cold. It falls like rain then turns to ice the instant it touches anything. It is the wierdest thing and really dangerous on the roads but after it falls and everything is crystalized, it looks really cool.

I know this was boring and I'm sorry. I do better thinking with a pen and paper so if anyone wants more details, go ahead and send me a letter and my response will be better. I promise. I love you all and hope you are doing well. Have a great week!

I Think I'll Go To BOSTON

Boys and girls, the announcement has dropped. The Connecticut Hartford Mission is being dissolved and swallowed up by the Massachusetts Boston Mission. This is exciting news and I'm excited for the change that will take place when the Pehrson's go home in July.

Not a whole lot has happened this week. For those of you who know my leg situation, I'm doing much better. As far as numbers go, we had a pretty successful week, especially considering I was out of commission for a couple days due to the leg. On Saturday, we gave away a few copies of the Book of Mormon and got some return appointments for Sunday afternoon. Of course they all canceled or boached us. Figures. What'er.

We were able to FINALLY contact our old investigator Raynor and are meeting with him on Tuesday so I'm excited about that. We also have Zone Conferences this week so that should be good.

I'm really sorry about how short this is, especially since it's the first one for a few weeks, but really not a lot has happened. I'm doing well, just missing all of you like crazy! I hope all is well on the homefront! I love you all so much and pray for you always! Much love from CT!

Highs and Lows in Hartford

Great news, everybody! I'm staying in Hartford! Can you believe I've already been here 6 weeks? Me either! I'm really excited especially since we've got our new pad. It's been kind of stressful trying to get settled in the new place but we've pretty much been there for a week now and it's starting to feel like home. I'm glad I'm not moving even though we really don't have anything going on.
When we met with Malicia this week, she basically used the scripture that talks about lusting being adulterous to say that she is no more in the wrong than we are because it's impossible to not have those thoughts. She is just trying to justify her actions and doesn't understand what God wants and expects of her. We pretty much just bible-bashed for an hour and a half and afterward I just felt awful. Something that really helped me was this:
In Sacrament Meeting, someone shared the story of Alma. When he was rejected and depressed and ready to turn back (like I had felt) an angel came and comforted him. Alma 8:14-15 says, "And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, it came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying: Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you.”
This really helped me because even though Alma wasn’t being received, he was doing what he was supposed to and for that, the Lord said he had great cause to rejoice. Hopefully I, too, can find great cause to rejoice.
I know this one is short and I’m sorry but this is the extent of what has happened in my life. I love you all! Write me, please!

Navidad en el Bario and The Big Move

That's right. We have officially said "goodbye" to the slums of 288 Park Street and moved to what i like to refer to as "an island oasis of prosperity in a sea of poverty. I will be doing another video tour of the new apartment as soon as we get all of our furniture but until then, if you would like a sneak peak at the amenities, you can visit, www.parkplacect.com. We split up the foursome so Elder Prusse and I are together on the 19th floor with great views of the city and Elder Dowdy and Elder Russell are on the 12th floor with great views of trees and power lines. My new address is:

Elder Cody Jardine

2 Park Place Apt 19J

Hartford, CT 06106

Please use it often. Our first day here, the lady in the lobby was telling us that missionaries lived here years ago and got lots of letters and packages from home. Don't disappoint me :)

The move itself was pretty hectic. First of all, all of our furniture is basically worthless so lots of it fell apart and we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies carrying couches with holes and dressers from the 60's through the swankified lobby but WHAT 'ER! Also, it lacked organization like none other. Again, WHAT 'ER! I'm in a better place so it all worked out in the end.

Now an update on Christmas and New Year's.

Christmas was good. But then again how could it not have been when I got to talk to almost everyone I love for a very long time?! I told the other missionaries that I didn't care where I was or what I was doing as long as I had a phone in my hand all day, and that was truth. We went to some members of the Spanish branch for the day because it wasn't our day to drive the mini van but it was fun. I got a new watch that I love but will have to exchange because it was too big, some really pretty ties and a sweet set of cuff links, cologne, amazing pillow case from Melanie, :) and lots of candy.

New Year's, on the other hand was not so awesome. Back when we were living in the ghetto, we had these neighbors that always played loud music. It got about a trillion times worse for New Year's and lasted until 7 in the morning for two nights in a row.

As far as missionary work goes, things have been really slow from the holidays and moving but we are ready to hit the ground running again and things are going really well. We taught Malicia last week and if she and her boyfriend can keep the law of chastity, she'll be good for baptism! Please pray for her!

I love you all so much and want you to know I'm doing well. Peace and blessins, Ya'll!