Sep05
September 5th, 2016 // #36 of 2016
Good Morning!
To start off this week, I want to begin talking about something that
happened over here in Bari on August 26th 2016, 16 years since our
accident. It was around 8:00 pm and we were finishing up the night by
doing some finding in the park. We came upon this family, and they
were seriously the coolest people that I have met in a long time.
There were two little families hanging out together, just passing some
time together in the park. One of the families had a 16 year old girl
and a 14 year old boy. The other Italian couple is going through the
process of adopting a little boy and a little girl from Russia. We
came to find out that Friday night, August 26th, was the last night
that the little Russians were going to be down here in Bari. They
haven't completed the adoption process just yet, so the little
Russians were here on vacation for a little while. We showed them a
video about Christ that our church has produced and during the video I
had a prompting, and a very strong prompting, to share what had
happened 16 years ago to the day. After the video was closed, I didn't
get the chance to speak. My companion had one idea in mind, and I had
something else in mind. I really wanted to hit the family hard, while
he wanted to talk about the Book of Mormon. They were super
respectful, and thanked us....but they didn't accept a return
appointment and they didn't really want to see us again. Walking away,
I just kind of kept my mouth closed and that was the first time in a
long time that I felt that bad after someone didn't want to accept the
message. We both kind of walked away knowing that we could have done
better, and that we let that one slip away.
Now fast forward to Monday evening. From Friday, the 26th of August to
Monday the 29th of August, I had these two families in mind. I prayed
that we would have another chance to run into them and talk about how
families can be together forever. Monday evening I was on exchanges
with a brand new missionary named Elder Young. Elder Young comes from
the Salt Lake Valley and is a great young missionary. We were doing
some park finding and had been doing some park finding for about two
hours with some success. We were getting ready to call it a night,
when we decided to take one more little round around the park. Sure
enough, we came around the corner and those two families were sitting
exactly where they were sitting the Friday before. I looked to Elder
Young and said, "This is a miracle." We walked over, sat down and I
could tell that they were all a little bit sad, because the Russians
had returned home just two days before. I asked them if I could tell
them a little story that I would have liked to share with them the
Friday before, and they said go ahead. I told them the story about
moms accident, and tears began to flow from their eyes. I told them
that her loss has easily been the hardest thing that I have ever had
to deal with, but also that there has been someone, who came along a
little while after the accident, who has blessed my life more than I
even know. I explained to them that my dad got remarried, and that
this second mom loved and still loves my brother and I as if we were
her own. I told them that it hasn't been easy, but it has been worth
it. I told the family who is in the process of adopting these two
Russians that they are doing the same thing. I let them know that I
admired them for loving these two Russians as if they were there own.
Tears filled most of our eyes and it was a pretty special moment. I
had been praying for another opportunity to meet up with that family,
and my prayers were answered.
I don't have a lot of time today, but I would like to finish up with
another tender experience that happened last Tuesday afternoon. So we
are now working with the aunt and cousin of Vittoria, the lady that
was just baptized. Marianna is the aunt and Lucia is the cousin. They
are awesome. We went out to Trani on Tuesday to pay them a visit but
Marianna, the aunt, was really sick. We offered to give her a
priesthood blessing, which she accepted. Lucia, the daughter of
Marianna, doesn't show a ton of emotion. She is a pretty reserved lady
and doesn't talk a whole ton. She received a priesthood blessing and
when we opened our eyes, both Marianna and Lucia had tears in their
eyes. Marianna healed up quick and made it out to church yesterday.
Family and Friends, I love you all very much. Life is good. I love
being a missionary.
Again, I apologize but I don't have a lot of time. Y'all take care and
have another good week.
I love you all.
-Jardman
Only pictures I took this week was on our train ride to Trani on
To start off this week, I want to begin talking about something that
happened over here in Bari on August 26th 2016, 16 years since our
accident. It was around 8:00 pm and we were finishing up the night by
doing some finding in the park. We came upon this family, and they
were seriously the coolest people that I have met in a long time.
There were two little families hanging out together, just passing some
time together in the park. One of the families had a 16 year old girl
and a 14 year old boy. The other Italian couple is going through the
process of adopting a little boy and a little girl from Russia. We
came to find out that Friday night, August 26th, was the last night
that the little Russians were going to be down here in Bari. They
haven't completed the adoption process just yet, so the little
Russians were here on vacation for a little while. We showed them a
video about Christ that our church has produced and during the video I
had a prompting, and a very strong prompting, to share what had
happened 16 years ago to the day. After the video was closed, I didn't
get the chance to speak. My companion had one idea in mind, and I had
something else in mind. I really wanted to hit the family hard, while
he wanted to talk about the Book of Mormon. They were super
respectful, and thanked us....but they didn't accept a return
appointment and they didn't really want to see us again. Walking away,
I just kind of kept my mouth closed and that was the first time in a
long time that I felt that bad after someone didn't want to accept the
message. We both kind of walked away knowing that we could have done
better, and that we let that one slip away.
Now fast forward to Monday evening. From Friday, the 26th of August to
Monday the 29th of August, I had these two families in mind. I prayed
that we would have another chance to run into them and talk about how
families can be together forever. Monday evening I was on exchanges
with a brand new missionary named Elder Young. Elder Young comes from
the Salt Lake Valley and is a great young missionary. We were doing
some park finding and had been doing some park finding for about two
hours with some success. We were getting ready to call it a night,
when we decided to take one more little round around the park. Sure
enough, we came around the corner and those two families were sitting
exactly where they were sitting the Friday before. I looked to Elder
Young and said, "This is a miracle." We walked over, sat down and I
could tell that they were all a little bit sad, because the Russians
had returned home just two days before. I asked them if I could tell
them a little story that I would have liked to share with them the
Friday before, and they said go ahead. I told them the story about
moms accident, and tears began to flow from their eyes. I told them
that her loss has easily been the hardest thing that I have ever had
to deal with, but also that there has been someone, who came along a
little while after the accident, who has blessed my life more than I
even know. I explained to them that my dad got remarried, and that
this second mom loved and still loves my brother and I as if we were
her own. I told them that it hasn't been easy, but it has been worth
it. I told the family who is in the process of adopting these two
Russians that they are doing the same thing. I let them know that I
admired them for loving these two Russians as if they were there own.
Tears filled most of our eyes and it was a pretty special moment. I
had been praying for another opportunity to meet up with that family,
and my prayers were answered.
I don't have a lot of time today, but I would like to finish up with
another tender experience that happened last Tuesday afternoon. So we
are now working with the aunt and cousin of Vittoria, the lady that
was just baptized. Marianna is the aunt and Lucia is the cousin. They
are awesome. We went out to Trani on Tuesday to pay them a visit but
Marianna, the aunt, was really sick. We offered to give her a
priesthood blessing, which she accepted. Lucia, the daughter of
Marianna, doesn't show a ton of emotion. She is a pretty reserved lady
and doesn't talk a whole ton. She received a priesthood blessing and
when we opened our eyes, both Marianna and Lucia had tears in their
eyes. Marianna healed up quick and made it out to church yesterday.
Family and Friends, I love you all very much. Life is good. I love
being a missionary.
Again, I apologize but I don't have a lot of time. Y'all take care and
have another good week.
I love you all.
-Jardman
Only pictures I took this week was on our train ride to Trani on
Tuesday. Caught my comp as he was sleeping.
We played some basketball a few weeks back and this kid knew Eric Mika.
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