One Week To Go!

Well, it's hard to believe, but in one week from today,

Jaden will be on a flight home!  We're so excited!

I've asked Jaden how his focus has been and he said that he's honestly almost more 

focused now than he has been his entire mission.  Go figure!

The other night, Chris (my husband) was over at the church house with our bishop,

and our bishop handed him a letter from Jaden's mission president.

President and Sister Sonsken only arrived on July 1st, so I'm not

sure how well he really knows Jaden, but our bishop received a 

wonderfully written and very personal letter from President Sonsken about Jaden,

and how much he has grown as a missionary.  The one thing that struck me was

that through Jaden's struggles, he has learned to love the people he has served,

and in return they have loved him.  That was so nice to hear!  And, really, as

President Monson would say, it's the essence of the gospel.

Here are a few more pictures from Jaden.  I have to say...he sure has taken

a lot of pictures of food!  In fact, I've been putting his scrap book together, and

I think he has more pictures of food than of people! Cracks me up!  I don't know a lot about

the pics, but I'll post them anyway.

 Not sure who this gentleman is.  I'll have to ask Jaden when he gets home.

 This is Jaden's friend, Elder Julseth from Saskatchewan, Canada

 This is called a Jaws bar.  Bet you can't guess why!

 This is called bing-so and Jaden says it's delicious.  Looks like ice-cream, so it must be good!

Jaden sent a picture with him standing in front of wings a year or so ago and it's 

been my favorite picture.  Well, he found more wings!

I guess they're painted all over the place in Korea.  So cool!

Thanks again for all of your love and support!

I'll probably post one more time after Jaden gets home!  Can't wait!

 

In the Home Stretch

It's hard to believe that in a little more than 5 weeks, Jaden will be home!

Crazy! That means I really need to get crackin' on getting my house in order!

Jaden is doing well.  His new companion, Elder Mortensen, is from South Jordan.

I think that's only the second companion he's had from Utah.  Well, maybe third.

Jaden says Elder Mortensen is a hard worker, and he was hopeful in talking

with a few people this week that they'll pick up some new investigators.

It's been a tough area, and overall a tough mission trying to keep investigators.

Hopefully, Jaden's planting seeds and that someday those who he's 

had opportunities to meet and share his testimony with will have

a desire to learn more about the gospel.

Jaden's been brief in his letters lately.
 He didn't say a lot this week, but he did send a couple of pics.

He took pictures with some other elders, but not his companion.  Go figure.

 Above is Jaden with Elder Jones.  He went to school with Jaden's 2nd cousin, Grace.

Elder Pelina is a whiz at the piano and is in Jaden's zone.

Not sure if they were meeting for a zone conference or not, 

but I assume that's why there are so many elders in the background.

Thanks again for all of you support.

I can't believe this part of Jaden's journey is coming to an end.

I'll keep everyone posted on his coming home!

The Piano Guys!

So, some of us in this household are a little crazy about The Piano Guys.

In fact, a few years ago, Chris and I took Aubree and Jaden to a Piano Guys concert 

for their birthdays, and we sat in a major rainstorm for 4 or 5 hours so we could watch them.

We love these guys!  I was really excited last night when Jaden wrote home to tell

us that The Piano Guys presented a fireside for Jaden's mission!  Here's his e-mail:

Hi everyone!

So, want to know something cool? Last night, we had a fireside here in Seoul Korea, with the Piano Guys. Two of them, (Steve, the cellist, and Paul, a manager guy) served their missions in Korea!! They were filming some videos in this part of the word and were kind enough to come speak to us, and play a few songs too. 

Each Brother, (four in total) took a few minutes to share his testimony. I'll summarize:

Steven Nelson: We have weaknesses to be humble, and God is there to help us. He encouraged us to just go out and do what we have been taught, just like his son at a soccer scrimage.

Paul(? I'm not sure that's his name....): He just told us he knew the Church was true, and that the Gospel blesses his life.

Brad(?): He talked about how they pray so much as they make films, and how they have so many cool experiences filiming and feeling the Spirit as they do.

John Schmict(piano): He also talked about praying over their music to make sure its good, and how we can pray to God about anything, because God is our loving Heavenly Father. 

They played a song called "The Mission" mixed with How Great Thou Art that they filmed down in Brazil. Look it up on YouTube. Its so beatutful. They played two other songs I didn't know, both so good. Then Steven played Arirang, Korea's song. So good! They closed with "O come O come Emmanuel" and told us that they love the words of the song. "O come O come Emmanuel, and randsom captive Israel" and told us we can be ransomed as well. 

It was so cool to hear their testimonies and music. You should all look up their songs because they are so good! I'll send a few pictures as well!!

This is Steven and John. I was pretty far back, so its a bit fuzzy. I'm not sure if the video sounds good either, but it sounded good in person!

I love you all! You're all so awesome too!! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Roskelley

 

Cool, huh?  I'm so glad he gets to have some experiences like this.

He did send some video, but I'm having a hard time getting it to open.

I'll try and work on that and post it if I can.

 

He Has His Flight Plans!

Well, we now know that Jaden will officially be leaving Korea on August 7th.  Exciting!

It's three days later than we've thought, but we knew that nothing was official

until he got his actual flight plans.  And actually, he told us that these were his

preliminary flight plans. Didn't know there was such a thing. 

I just can't believe how fast it's all happening.

Jaden continues to do well.  He told Chris he thinks he will be split from

his companion soon, and he doesn't really want that to happen.

Even though Jaden's the trainer and senior companion, he has told us that

he's learned so much from his companion.  Honestly, I think Jaden has 

learned something from each companion he's had.  I'm so grateful for that.

He's a great example of humility to me.  I will share his last letter home and sign off! 

Hello again! The cherry blossoms hit their last stand last night. We had a big wind storm and now most of the trees are bare again. But it was so pretty this last week. And I just wanted to let you all know that it was pretty.

The week was good though. Elder Song and I have met lots and lots of people on the street. I'll share a story about one man.We placed a Book of Mormon with this man. He smiled at us as we said hello, and told us he could tell we were missionaries as soon as he saw us down the street. He told us he believes the Bible because there are no lies in it, and so he reads it lots. And he seemed so open minded to the fact that the Book of Mormon was the word of God as well. He was so fun to talk to, and after we got his number and he left, I could help but walk with an extra spring in my step. Elder Song and I were both so happy about it and it made the rest of the day much more enjoyable. 

This weekend we also were able to watch General Conference!!! It was so good. As always. I especially enjoyed Elder Pearson's talk on Sunday. He talked about how we need to read the Book of Mormon and pray, everyday everyday everyday. And how true that is! Before my mission I didn't really do it ever, and now on my mission as I do those things everyday, I've realized how much better it makes my life. And its the same for all of you, and everyone! So, if you aren't already doing it, start today! If you already are doing it, don't stop! Yep. 

I love you all! I do hope each one of you has a good, fun, happy week!

Love,
Elder Roskelley

Jaden's companion in front of tree outside of their apartment.

I love cherry blossoms!

Last Package Sent

So, earlier in the month I mailed an Easter package to Jaden,

and as I was walking out of the post office it hit me that this would probably be

the last care package I mailed to Jaden.  Wow!  We're in the home stretch!

Jaden hasn't taken many pictures lately, but a lot has happened since I last posted.

He was transferred to a new area, Gierum.  I gather it's a suburb of Seoul.

Jaden and his companion are helping to open this area.  Exciting!

This is also the first time Jaden has had a Korean companion, so he's

speaking Korean pretty much 24/7!  That may have been helpful earlier on in 

his mission, but he has definitely had some neat experiences with the

gift of tongues as he's struggled to learn the language.

 

The other day, I got an e-mail from the mission president's wife of the

Korea Busan mission.  She and her husband got permission to take their

16 year old son to Seoul during Spring Break, and they met Jaden at the

mission office.  They have a family in their home ward with the last name

of Roskelley, so they wanted to see if there was a family connection,

and, of course, there is!  It's been fun this week to e-mail some distant

relatives and get to know them a little.  When I e-mailed Jaden about it,

he said that he and his companion were told "accidentally" that they needed

to be at the mission office at 8:30am, but they really weren't scheduled to be

there until 9am.  If he and his companion had come at 9, they would have

missed meeting President Barrow and his wife.  Coincidence?  I think not!

Here is the picture Sister Barrow took of Jaden and Elder Song:

 

 

The work is slow, but Jaden has still witnessed so many miracles

and his testimony has grown so much.  As a mother, that's really all I've hoped for!

 

Three-Quarters of the Way!

 Wow, it's been a while since I've posted.

Today marks 18 months since we dropped Jaden off at the MTC.

It's hard to believe he's three-quarters of the way through his mission!

Jaden didn't send any photos of Christmas, but it was sure nice to talk to him 

on Christmas Eve.  It would have been Christmas Day for him,
 and he and his companion had a full schedule of going and singing at some nursing homes

and doing other acts of service.  He sounded great on the phone!

He sent us some wonderful gifts. I got a beautiful scarf with Korean characters,

and Chris and Caleb each got a tie with Korean characters as well.

Jaden will have to translate when he gets home.

He sent his sisters each a fan with primary songs written in Korean on them.

It was so special, and he put a lot of thought as to what fan to send to each of them.
Alexa also got to talk to Jaden's companion from New Zealand.
She's obsessed with The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring's, and Jaden told her that his
companion had been to the Shire, so Alexa squealed and wanted to talk to him.
I think it made her day!  Here is a picture of Jaden with his companion:

 

For New Year's, member's of the ward gathered and ate Rice Cake soup.

Jaden says it's very similar to Chicken Noodle soup.

Doesn't look too bad, but then again, I made some Korean pastries the other night

that I thought sounded good, and they were horrible!

Here are pictures of the soup and some of the members enjoying it:

 

Jaden has had some very sacred experiences and has witnessed tender mercies.

While attending the temple a couple of weeks ago,

Jaden ran into Brother Soh who he taught in his last area, Wonju.

He was very close to Brother Soh, and I hoped that Jaden would get to baptize him.

He was transferred before that happened, but Brother Soh was baptized at the beginning

of January.  Jaden never thought he'd see him again,
 so I know it was a great experience for him.

Here is a picture of them together:

Another miracle happened for Jaden last Sunday.  I'll share a part of his letter to me:

  "I actually had a cool experience in Sacrament meeting yesterday. Brother Daro is Cambodian, and he can't speak Korean. So, I was asked to translate Sacrament meeting for him. I tried translating before for another brother, but it was really hard. Its also always hard to focus for the whole hour because after the first talk, the speakers normally use bigger words or speak too fast, etc. BUT, yesterday I was able to translate the whole hour. Not perfectly, I left a lot of blanks, but I was able to help Brother Daro out. It was really cool because I know that Heavenly Father was helping me out by helping me focus on speakers who talked about simple topics that I know about."

The language has not always been easy for Jaden, especially understanding it while others are speaking, but I have a testimony of the gift of tongues
and of the interpretation of tongues.

I know that as these missionaries are obedient and are striving to do the Lord's will,

He will bless them with the gifts that they need when they need them.

So grateful for the gifts of the Spirit!