Letters From France

Day 52

I have a great relationship with my youngest brother, Jordan. Over the years we have become especially close, tight, connected and he truly is my best friend. When he left on his mission to Paris, France in 2001 I was so proud of him, but I was also devastated that I wouldn’t see him for two years! Fortunately, he and I kept in touch via “snail mail” and his letters to me were the best!

All I can say about these postcards is Chouette!

Jordan and I have so many things in common, such as love of movies. Jordan knew that I was a huge film fan, so he sent me these awesome movie postcards. It was so cool to see the French translation of American titles. And the postcards Jordan sent were not just random movies: they were some of my favorite movies.

Jordan is a gifted artist and has a tremendous talent for creating logos/lettering/titles. Many of his letters included his artwork and it was such a joy to see! When I was living in my apartment he sent letters directly to me and always did such clever things on the envelopes. When I moved back home he would include letters and mini-notes in the envelopes sent to the entire family.

I kept Jordan's letters on my fridge in my apartment.

And on the subject of letters and notes, I definitely understood how busy Jordan was, preaching the Gospel to the people of France, whether it was in Paris, Chartres, Cherbourg, or Argenteuil (to name a few). So, even if he only had time to jot down a quick, tiny note it still meant the world to me!

I loved hearing about his mission, about the people of France; I had the wrong perception of the French people and Jordan was able to correct that. But I think that Jordan just set a better example of what an American is like and improved the French people’s perception of us! Jordan sent tons of pictures of France, of the landmarks: like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomph (I know I misspelled this one!)

Jordan shared many of his spiritual moments with me and always bore his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was able to share this in a way that wasn’t preachy or “churchy”, just completely sincere!

Jordan and I have a lot of “inside jokes” and “inside references” and throughout our letters with each other we’d pepper them along with the serious news and family and/or mission updates. I tried to keep a limit to the “worldly” stuff in my letters because I was afraid that this would distract Jordan from the Lord’s work, but Jordan was able to keep a perfect balance of the worldly and the “not of the world.”

I hope that my letters to Jordan were as special and uplifting as his were to me. He really helped me in numerous ways. He set such a fine example and I was humbled by it. Here I am, the eldest brother and yet it was my younger brothers that set the example! I was the Laman/Lemuel in the family, Josh was the Sam and Jordan was the Nephi! Or something like that!

Jordan, you are "my brother, my best friend forever" (a little inside joke, but also completely true!) I love you and am so grateful for your letters/notes/postcards. I cherish them! I hope you know that vous pouvez compter sur moi!! Je t'aime, mon frere - mon ami!!