Category Archives: Jared

Elder Jared Cordon is serving in the Hong Kong China mission as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Badabatadatbaa I’m Lovin’ It!!!!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well just another wonderful week in the life of a missionary in Hong Kong. Training is going smoothly and the ward is picking up we are seeing a lot of good things happening. We have been doing a lot of Less Active work and tried our luck with some old investigators and we have seen some good things happening. Less active work we really stirred up the water so now we have some great potential there. But we really do have some characters for our investigators. Peter Lo is a man who is in a wheel chair cause of polio I mentioned him a few months back. He loves america. Uncle Fighter haha man love him. We actually visited a former and was teaching him a lesson at his door then the door right behind us opened and it was Uncle Fighter and his wife. It was cool to meet his wife. We got family potential there. Then of course you have this english class that we teach these these 9-11 year olds, they are the best! I love them its funny how no matter where you are your gonna get every stereotype of kid in your class. I cant wait to teach english in Mainland.

Elder Tam is just awesome though we do plenty of laughing and he has got so much potential we are going to see miracles together I know it.

But working with a lot of less actives recently has helped remind me of a principle that Joseph Smith taught is that when you fall away from the church your not on nuetral ground anymore you made your decision the only other option is the other direction. Well you choose to fall from a higher plane it hurts cause you fall hard. I have seen some sad situations but I have also seen some amazing ones where a few of these people a very sincere and they recognize what there decision has done to their lives and they are ready to change, they are ready to feel the warm embrace of gods love.

I know the work I am doing is of an eternal nature and that why I am doing it.

I love you all!

Elder Jared Cordon

Another Week Down

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well This has been a really fast week! But a fantastic one. This week we were honored to have a mission tour with Elder Funk and Elder Wong. Elder Wong is the new the general Authority from the first quorum of the seventy. His talk was pretty awesome I even got water poured on my head haha. But he is so powerful and I can’t wait to hear his talk next general conference! Elder Funk, Elder Wong, And President gave amazing motivational talks on some very basic and well needed things like the book of Mormon and the message of the restoration. We were also blessed to hear from Sister Hawks, Sister Wong, And Sister Funk. They gave amazing insightful talks on the same topics.

Training has been going really well. We get along awesome and there is plenty of laughter which makes it much easier to talk to people when your smiling all the time.

This week though we really focused on Less Actives and made some great progress with some less actives that we have not seen in a while.

Things are going fantastic and with our new invitation for all the members in the ward to find one person to give a Book of Mormon a lot are taking the challenge. We should be seeing the referrals pouring in.

Love you all
Stay amazing!

Elder Jared Cordon

Training!!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well a wonderful week has passed by. I got my trainee last week and he is super awesome I love him he is so diligent and hardworking and fluent in the language and his teaching skills are awesome and we have fantastic unity. Well I think my job is done. Now comes the part were he starts training me. I really have learned a lot from my trainee already as far as teaching and preparing for lessons, not to mention the language. Its pretty awesome! One good thing is he hasn’t even had to go finding yet. We have been teaching so many lessons that sadly we haven’t had to be out in the heat sweating our brains out.

We also had our first ward activity in Butterfly ward and its been almost 6 months. It was a lot of fun and yielded some great results! A member brought along a family with him and they had a wonderful time and we were able to earn the trust of the husband its not to the stage of teaching yet but it will get there and then we also met a kid I have been hoping to see again he is so prepared!

Also got called as the district leader so I moved up a lot this last week from junior to senior, trainer, and district leader. Its a lot to take in all at once but Its been going pretty well so far and should keep getting better!

Love you all,

Elder Jared Cordon

Good Week

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well another wonderful week on the Lords Errand. The Butterfly ward is really feeling the blessings of the Lord as two people yesterday entered the waters of baptism! One lady was from the sisters and another lady was from the mandarin elders. Its amazing that after 2 and a half years of no baptism in a two month period we have seen 4 people come unto Christ. Its really the Lords pouring his blessing upon the area and I am truly blessed to witness this mighty change of hearts.

This last week spent with my summer missionary has been super awesome! He is an amazing man. He was baptized a year ago and is a killer missionary. I dont know if I have learned more in any previous week on my mission! His testimony is so powerful! This last week we have met a few people who I could picture in white! from when I first met them. We continue to see new miracles every single day.

Something that just happened this morning is when i was doing studies president called me and i was not sure why but he is asking me to train. this is by complete surprise because elder au has only a little time left and I have been here for quite some time now. But it will be an amazing opportunity and I hope to fulfill it to the best of my abilities!

Well love you all and remember that life is good.

Love Elder Jared Cordon

Good Things to Come

Posted on by
1

Dear Family and Friends,

First things first Aaron got the priesthood and it was an amazing thing indeed. Thats the part I really look forward in taking part in. Thats when he receives the greatest tool and blessing the of dear beloved Heavenly Father has to offer. Right now we are working with the ward to strengthen these recent converts and getting the Butterfly Ward prepared for the many more the Lord has in store.

We were worried about Gary this last week, he seemed really off and of course I get worried about him and the gospel. Its hard for me sometimes to think of a world outside of the gospel. It turned out to be just work and he is still moving a long like he needs to be.

We have been realizing the need to focus on the basics the need for new members and investigator to read and pray is everything. I have to come to realize that its our personal devotion to God thats everything. Thats what makes our church so special than what I have come to realize is typical Christianity. God really expects everything from us.

We have been blessed with some miracles this last week. We have been finding it hard to fit finding time in. So when we have it we appreciate it even more. But what we have seen is no matter the length of time the Lord has put a prepared person in our way. We have been able to meet two fathers whose main interest is in their families. How great will be my joy when they enter the waters of Baptism I could picture them in white when I saw them!

Now we are blessed with this opportunity to have summer missionaries. These are young men and women in hong kong who are willing to be a full time missionary for two weeks. So my companionship is split and now Butterfly has 4 elders. I have a great opportunity to influence this young man for the rest of his life. The great thing is he is actually a recent convert. We are gonna see miracles these next two weeks.

PS I say the word miracles so easily cause Its just a common thing you see when your on the Lord errand. Its also not restricted to missionaries. “The Lord is no respecter of persons”

I love you all.

Elder Jared Cordon

1 more down plenty more to go!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well what a wonderful week we just had. We worked really hard to help Aaron be ready for his baptism and the rest of his life. His baptism was a success! After he was baptized he actually spoke and it was really good. He has an amazing testimony and you can tell he is on the road to conversion as all good members are. Teaching him this last week has really taught me a lot of lessons as we were focusing on the holy ghost and receiving personal revelation. I can look back at my life and realize how much stronger my connection with the spirit is now than at any time previously.

Were also able to see Mike twice this week. We taught him half of the plan of salvation on Wednesday and after he was so excited to learn more he was scheduling the next lesson himself. So we taught him again on Friday after English class. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to teach him the lord has been here for us. Every time we get someone close to baptism I ask the lord whose next and he always has another person ready.

A couple in our ward also had the idea to feed the young men and two of our investigators who are in their friend group and that went so well. Its becoming the cool thing to be part of church for them. We were also able to meet another one of their friends and get a 3rd investigator. It really awesome to see the young men getting in the excitement of missionary and having success doing it. We just teach the all together on Saturdays then play a little basketball. Sadly they were not able to attend church but they will be there next week.

Sister Lau and Sister Syu are doing awesome they are really excited to continue to hear more. We have found out more about there families and are really pushing to meet there husbands this next week, we realize the only way to feel the fullness of this gospel is to have the full family involved, so that is our focus this week. With them living in mainland the best way for retention is to get them all.
Well it was an amazing week and I can see that the Lord will continue to progress his work I am so grateful to take part in the Hong Kong peak service to be able to hear about all the sacrifice made by the Chinese people in building the gospel. This is a blessed to be serving.

Love you all

Elder Jared Cordon

20140714-141548-51348508.jpg

20140714-141547-51347821.jpg

20140714-141549-51349038.jpg

The Lord is Opening the Flood Gates

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was a busy one. For P-day I went and finally road a ferry. Also had the best gaak jai bang in hong kong. Gotta love mammies pancakes. It was a good day with a few upsets. One of the sisters got her card eaten in the ATM. But it was good times. Today we will be riding the worlds longest escalator.

Aaron has made some amazing progress we met him on Tuesday and then went to a dinner appointment. He is really set on serving a mission so he wants to help us teach and go finding. That night we decided to have him share the spiritual thought it went so well. The thought and impression really came to us that he is so ready now that we have no reason to wait until the 27th to baptize him. So we have moved him to this Sunday. He is more than happy. Its also really cool because he wants the Bishop to baptize him and the first counselor to do the confirmation. Its such a great way to get the members involved with these converts.

An amazing miracle has also happened on this very same day after teaching another investigator we heard a knock on the church door. Can it be that baptism are knocking on our doors? Well it just so happens that a lady feels very strongly that she must be baptized in our ward. She also wants her daughters family to be as well. So she came to english class than to church with her daughter and her kids and after church we taught them the first lesson and it went so well. That have committed to coming to church every week!

The young men in the ward have also stepped up their game. They showed up to church with two investigators that we have taught previously. Its great to see these boys start doing some missionary work.

Cheui HD (*editors note: HD means something similar to brother, so it would be Brother Cheui) a ward missionary also brought his dad, sister, and his sisters friend to church. We scheduled them for english class!

Heui HD also brought a relative to church He seemed to enjoy himself.

Things are going really really good here in the Butterfly Ward. Its crazy for me to think anyone ever could dislike this ward.

Also I got an amazing opportunity to attend the temple and man probably one of the best sessions I have ever had I am still on cloud nine!

Love you all,

Elder Jared Cordon

Miracles!!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well what another wonderful week on the Lords errand. Hong Kong has a rich pioneer heritage as all areas embracing the do. They have made a film about this very thing. Sometimes I find myself not looking at the big picture, but this is an amazing work being done here. Yesterday we watched the movie in church and the spirit was so strong. That video helped me realize the amazing sacrifice early members of the church made to build this gospel. The first chapel here is still standing and it was build by the bare hands of the early saints, then you put that in contrast to the building in Wanchi and that makes it really clear how much the church has grown and is still growing. Getting in touch with the pioneer heritage, really helps remind me that the Lord is serious when he says he is building in the 4 corners of the earth, these are the last days and I don’t plan on sleeping through the Resurrection.

On top of that, this last week President Hawks had come out here to the New Territories. He had a special meeting and during the meeting while the district leaders and the zone leaders met, that left three who didn’t fit in to go finding. So us three went out to do some finding and President was really excited saying miracles were going to happen and sadly nothing I could see happened and when we were done, President said maybe you haven’t seen a Miracle yet but they are coming. Well about 30 mins later we saw one. We met with an investigator Uncle Fighter an “Eternigator” *Editors Note: A term often used to describe someone that has been meeting with the missionaries for a very long time* our lesson started with him debating doctrine per usual, until the topic of the spirit got brought up. Suddenly everything changed and he asked us what does it feel like? Well after that we come to find out he has felt the spirit a lot and he knows that our message is true and he needs to be baptized. He also spoke of a talk at the “My Conversion Fireside” were a recent converts testimony had really resonated with him. Its interesting that this was the turning point, because just before the fireside we felt prompted to meet with him after not seeing him for nearly 3 months. We met and he wasn’t willing to come to church and we invited him to the fireside and he didn’t want to come. Later that week he called us and sad he wanted to go. So we went then after the fireside he hurried out and we couldn’t follow up on how it went. We assumed nothing happened well turns out that a lot happened. So next step is preparing him for baptism.

Another miracle is that at church we had 3 referrals!! With two more previously this week! That’s more referrals than I have had my entire mission. With a total of five! When we baptized Gary I was wondering whats next, well here they come.

Another miracle is Aaron this week he has had a total change of heart he said “I know I haven’t been baptized yet but I really want to serve a mission!” Man I can’t explain how good it is to help find not only one of the Lords sheep but one of his Shepherds.

Another miracle is when we were finding yesterday. Finding recently has been pretty tough but yesterday we contacted a family. I can already picture them in white already. But here is the miracle we were out finding when I felt prompted to go to a specific spot. While there we met a guy who was not too interested but we ended talking while walking so we ended up no where near where we had planned. But then we see this kid and start talking to him and he has a lot of interest. He tells me he wants to learn more can you wait here while I run into my house. We thought this might be a way for him to get away since people have done that before. But he comes back out and we teach him the restoration and he says that he just recently started thinking about God again and really wanted to know if he was real, then we came along. We will meet with him again next week.

Here is a few stories I thought you would enjoy, there is plenty more but my time is short.

I love you all and hope everything continues to be amazing!

Elder Jared Cordon

Another Amazing week in the life of a missionary

Posted on by
Reply

Well another Amazing week in the life of a missionary. You never really know what each week will bring but what you do know is if your fully obedient the Lord will surely take care of you.

Recently we have really seen a lot of missionary minded excitement with the members in the ward. We have been getting a lot more meals which we have been happy to fill with investigators and recent converts. Also we have two family visit one of the visits will include two families and the other a younger man, The lord is doing a great work here in this ward. I believe he is preparing to meet all the inspired plans and actions of the church leaders here, looking beyond even 65 to the splitting of the stake.

I had another blessing this week when we were hurried out the door heading to less active finding we were not able to really understand who we were visiting we just had names and addresses. The first visit was received with much reluctance from the security guard, but we were able to meet the convert of my mission presidents mission president when he served in Hong Kong. Whose son- in- law is the new first quorum of the seventy in Hong Kong. It was really great to meet with him and hear his conversion stories we also found out of his difficulty in moving so we are trying to arrange a member to pick him up for church every week.

It’s the start of a great new move and even better now that Aaron has committed to baptism in July and is pretty eager to keep coming now that he and the sisters investigator are hitting it off pretty well, maybe once he gets baptized he can baptize her. Of course we won’t wait but he is moving a lot faster than she is. Anyways love you all have a great week.

20140624-082209-30129905.jpg

Sorry this is a short one.

Posted on by
Reply

Well this last week was pretty cool actually, before last Monday we had gone a total of ten days and had only been able to teach 2 lessons. I am not going to lie it was pretty rough! But this last week we were able to teach 7 in 3 days!
We also had a former investigator show up to english class. We also got a referral from the Tin Siu Wai sisters’ investigator. So we got a lot of great things happening it was a really good week.

We also had so many people at church that some were standing. Perfect timing with the stake president being there. It was a great week I really love this ward and the people I am serving. I feel a lot of Joy in doing the work of the Lord.

Love Elder Cordon