So...how it feels to be a 23 yr old RM

Okay so today I was shocked and excited just as many of my friends are about the age for missionary service being changed. I wish to tell you from the perspective of someone who served a mission at the previously traditional age of 21 what this means and why I think it is significant.

Disclaimer: please do not assume that what I say is doctrine but to me is what makes sense

The first reason that I think this is significant is because it will greatly increase the missionary force numerically. Some may disagree but I think that if we give young men the option to go right after high school graduation they will be less likely to postpone and possibly cancel missionary service all together due to education, careers, relationships, life, etc.

Also by allowing young men to leave right after high school there will be seen a greater spirituality among the young men who enter the mission field having just graduated from seminary with scriptural understandings, insights, and fresh testimonies full of light, truth and innocence. These are all reasons that younger missionaries are going to greatly increase the missionary work spiritually.

Now be prepared for me to validate why I think it is great for young women to also serve at such a young age. I feel and you may disagree, remember not doctrine but my opinion, I feel that this generation specifically has been blessed as a result of their birth with a great desire to share the gospel. I also think that this desire is carried throughout the generation to both young men and young women. In conjucntion with this I don't think that the sudden rise in girls being like, "I am filling out my mission papers today." is really that different than if they were all getting ready to turn 21. It may be a constant status because of the new news but I believe that the desire is there. I also think it rocks because now they like young men now have less distractions before going on their missions.

Another reason that I think it is a brilliant idea is the effect it will have on the future generation. I like many of you believe that the strongest of our Heavenly Father's children are yet be born and that there are also many difficult and trying times ahead. I know from my own opportunity to serve as a missionary that the experiences had and shared there will increase faith and strengthen testimonies that will be increasingly in need as the world prepares for the 2nd coming of our Savior. This faith and testimony is what the world will need especially the future missionary force.

I also want to add my own flare to this and say that I really think that this move will greatly decrease the stigma that accompanies the conversation that many people have about young women serving missions. That stigma is that you only serve cause you are unmarried. This is not true. I served because I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and wanted to share it; it was just convenient that I was unmarried.

In short the reasons that I am so excited are because it will increase the strength of our missionary force not just in quantity but in quality too. Am I disappointed that I served before the rules changed? Absolutely not and any sister who wants to serve should not because I know that everything happens in the Lord's timing. My time was when I was 21 and for the young women now it is as young as 19.

Hey, I just watched it. And this is crazy, but they changed mission age. So call me maybe!

I am home!!!

So I am all about making lists and I am going to make a list of the things that I will not miss about my mission followed by the list of things that I will miss A LOT!!!

So here are the things I do not miss:

1. Snow
2. Humidity Hair
3. Biking in the rain
4. The smell of Manure in the Morning (there is an additional story soon to be posted)
5. Bugs everywhere
6. Sister Missionary Shoes (not the cutest but they sure are practical)
7. Angry people slamming the door in my face

So here are the things I miss A LOT:

1. The people
2. The places
3. The adventures visit http://sisterjordinchristensen.wordpress.com for more details
4. The companions
5. The tag
6. The mission life (rules and everything)
7. The fields of corn and soybeans
8. The Sacred Grove
9. The Hill Cumorah
10. The Peter Whitmer Farm
11. The Grandin Building

Hey Everyone!

This is Jordin's little sister Katie. I just want you to know that Sister Christensen has a mission blog that she updates almost weekly.

you can check it out here

She updates information about her mission, and how things are going. Feel free to comment with any questions you have, and things you'd like to know.

Also she loves getting letters.

Here's the address for you all:

Sister Jordin Dian Christensen

New York Rochester Mission

100 Perinton Hills Office Prk. Ste. 120

Fairport, NY 14450-3603

She loves getting letters, and would love to hear from all of you! :)

Thanks, and I probably won't log on to this account ever again, so just check her mission blog for any information about the mission! :)

-katie-

I have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon

So there is a wierd reaction that happens when you mix a super busy college student, an upcoming mission call, and life. What is that combination? Well that is me. I have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon lately and I am struggling to deal with super little things. Man my life is insane but yet I am not dealing with it well at all. Plus I am sick, add to the emotional mess!
I am ready to scream! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Beginning of the End

It sounds like a dull, dreary, and dark title. But here is the explanation for it. I got my mission call a few weeks ago. Valeri got her call a week ago. Christy got married 4 months ago. And Heather is still Heather. We are the Four Blondes and will remain so forever. But with the continuing distance that is growing between us I feel that there is a need to inform you of the things that go on in our lives. Personally I feel that we should write a book because our lives are that fun, fabulous, and flirtacious (or have been in the past). Our live are almost too good to be true. That is why I feel that our stories would make excellent reading. They would be entertaining, exciting, and addictive. Plus if people figured out how screwed up we are they would be less quick to criticuze themselves. That is the end. Or is this idea the beginning.

Top 10 List of Sister Missionary Prep

This is the list of 10 things that I have learned that would have been nice to know before I got to this point.

1. Be Assertive and take things into your own hands, otherwise you will be sitting around impatiently waiting for other people to do things for you
2. There are many things that are to be done, make them fun. Yeah the medical and dental stuff is not fun but it is necessary so do your best to enjoy them, take the Mary Poppins approach
3. It may seem at times like there is an emotional roller coaster and that it isn't worth it, well it is and this is just to prepare you for the things that you will go through later
4. Sisters are always cute, so if you like me open a call that says Visitors' Center and people say only the cute sisters go there don't assume that you are just cuter
5. Proselyting missions rock but Visitors' Center missions are fantastic too
6. If you are tall good luck with your clothes
7. If you are not a size 4 good luck with your clothes
8. Take every opportunity to share your testimony that you can
9. Take every opportunity to practice teaching that you can
10. Just stop worrying so much, life will be okay and you will survive and yes sisters are cooler than elders, this is true!

I hope they call me on a mission

So I just recieved my mission call and I am thrilled to tell the world that I am going to serving in Rochester New York, Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center. I enter the Provo MTC on June 2. I am thrilled for this wonderful opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father and His children in New York.

The End.