What A Smoke Filled Week

Posted on August 30, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family and Friends,

What a wonderful week. We went out and found two new investigators, well really we where led to them.

One was a part member family what a great family that has a strong love for each other and knows that family is the center of this plan for us. What a better way to strengthen their family the through the temple.

We also have started to teach Tiffany, she has a husband that is not super supportive of her decision to get baptized but she is going through with it. He didnt want the teaching to happen in their home so the ward is really coming together to support her in this. She came to church on Sunday All three hours and loved it. We cant give her chapters in the Book of Mormon fast enough she is just eating it all up. She has known the church was true for 6 years and has been to afraid to act on it. Well I guess it has been more like 18 years. When she was a teenager she took all the missionary lessons and wanted to join the church and was told by her parents she couldn’t and then six years ago was told by her husband she couldn’t now she is just doing it, and it is looking like God is softening hearts already. At first when she told her husband she was going to be baptized he said that he WAS NOT going to be there. Yesterday he said that he would THINK about it. MIRACLE ALREADY. She is on date for September 5th and couldnt be more excited about it. She knows that it is going to be hard and is aware that right now she is moving forward “alone” but she is putting all of her faith in God as her foundation and knows that whatever comes, as long as she is following the commandments, is what is supposed to happen for her in her life.

The ward is just great! When she came to church I think that she was greeted by every relief society member and we already have people lining up to have her in there home to be taught. She has four members that are basically her neighbors that all are there to help her. WOW What a great ward.

The Other Great part is that we have scheduled baptism for three weeks in a row. One on the 5th, 12th, and 19th. We know that as we continue to find, especially using the members (which are really on fire), and teach we will continue to have this success that is causing even more of a fire in the wards.

It is all about building peoples faith in the work and in the plan that God has for us.

Thank you all for everthing you do for me. your prayers help and you are in mine.

Love you all soooo Much

Elder Steven Cordon

Very Hot Summer

Posted on July 28, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family & Friends,

Well wasn’t expecting this transfer at all. It came and went so quickly. I was truly expecting that I would be staying with Elder Harmon, I truly have loved the time that I have spent around him and he has taught me so much. This is going to be the weirdest one yet, but I have also been on my knees in prayer to help me with the coming transfer and become even better each day. I am learning very quickly that the more I recognize that I am in great need of Gods, and the faster that I recognize it, the greater that I can grow with Him.

I love the strength that I receive from Him when I ask with faith and am willing to put forth all of my effort. I love the stretching and growing that I can do on the mission to be able to be more then I ever thought possible. To Become What He Know I Can.

I am going to cherish the moments that I have had to be able to recognize his hand in my life. I am grateful for the atonement to be able to help me become so much more. The Atonement is the reason that we can even become more then what we are. The reason that we can have hope in a better future to know that we don’t have to just be ok with, or even worse get upset about what is just currently happening to us.

We are still working very hard to make sure that we are getting Friends for our investigators so that there connections with the church that are not ones that are going to be leaving any time soon.

Love you all so very much

ELDER S CORDON

2 Years

Posted on July 20, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family & Friends,

Another week of trying to focus on members at our lessons more then half of our lessons were with members at them.

I am focused on teaching from the Book of Mormon and helping others build a testimony of that. The Book of Mormon is truly the keystone of our religion and a conversion to that book is vital to a lasting conversion in the gospel.

So this week came with a lot of reflection time, it has been two years sense I received my witness of the truth of this gospel. I put God to the test and now I get to help others do that very thing. It caused me to reflect on how I did it, and what caused my change of heart.

I also have become very aware of the fact that even with the dramatic witness that I have receive that this is indeed the Church of God on the earth, I can loss that testimony if I do not work at it everyday of my life. Just like so many people in the past and still will continue to happen to others because they do not make the conscious decision to never take their eyes off of the prize for a second. Those who do “…lose their way..”or “…[fall] away into forbidden paths and [are] lost.” Nephi 8:23;28

I love the lessons and insight that I get from the BoM, those insights truly come from Heavenly Father are will effect my life to be directed down the path that is going to lead me were God wants me. I just have to listen and act.

So as I look forward with an eye fixed on God I know that I need to work every day to keep my conversion.

I love this work and this gospel and cant wait for the new lessons that I will learn.

Elder S Cordon

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Happy Birthday USA!

Posted on July 9, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family & Friends,

Well it was another great week. HOT HOT HOT I don’t believe it has been under 105 during the day all week.

But that has been great encouragement to get into peoples homes and teach them about the gospel. It brings to my mind what Jesus taught that those who drink of him shall never thirst. So I have been trying to keep my mind focused on Him and the reason why I am out here to begin with. Jesus Christ is the reason! I love the Gospel and want to share it with everyone that I can. So when I keep that focus the heat doesn’t seem to bother, it is when I have lost that focused that it does. SO when the heat comes it is a nice reminder that I am in need of a change of my state of mind.

I am grateful this week for the Book of Mormon again.

I thought last week about what I had wrote about and it help us have several great lessons with the Book of Mormon. The investigator had a question in there mind and said a prayer to be guided to the answer and the just opened the book and started to read, AND NO SURPRISE AT ALL, they found their answer. THE GREATEST PART was that it didn’t always come by what was written on the page, sometimes it came by just they feeling they got or by what they “thought” it meant. That is why the scriptures are so powerful, and you can read and reread them over and over; it all about where you are at in your life at the time you read it.

So the 4th of July is over and done with I am now at the point in the mission that everything is now my last. WHICH IS SO WEIRD. It is so crazy that the time is just flying by, it really makes me think a lot about how I am going to use the time that I have because clearly I don’t have as much time as I thought I did, I never expected that the time would fly by as it has. It helps put it all in perspective.

Thank you all for everything that you do. LOVE YOU ALL.

ElDeR S CoRoDoN

The Converting Power of the Scriptures

Posted on June 29, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family and Friends,

What a wonderful week we had! I know I say that all the time but , it’s true! How can it not be we are working in the Lords vineyard to bring souls unto him! The world is a crazy place with lots of negativity, loneliness, anger, pride, and suffering; its also a place that we can find peace, joy, happiness, love, comfort, and support. God is there to help us find the things that makes us happy. So as I get to watch people come and find Christ and find the happiness in all the darkness and chaos, it brings such a joy to my life. So ya I know that I say “what a wonderful week” all the time but that is because it is true!

This week did end a little different then last. Last week we had a lot of people at church and it fired us up to have it happen again. Sadly it didn’t, BUT…. We did have Jennifer accept a date to be baptized we will be helping her prepare to be baptized on July 18th. She is excited to come to know the truth that is here and she felt the spirit during that church tour.
I am gaining more and more a testimony of the strength and power that comes when we use the church buildings. These building that are everywhere have been built and dedicated to the Lord for his purposes and they carry a powerful spirit with them. Every time that we have a lesson in them and I fell of the spirit that is present it brings a peace to my heart that this is his work. We are using the church for tours with as many as will accept and we are using it for lessons, separate from a church tour, on occasion as well.

We have been working forward with an eye of faith know that as we desire to teach the Lord will help us find. We are focusing our efforts on helping those that we teach gain a witness of the Book of Mormon. We had investigators that weren’t daily reading, they have a very difficult time reading, and we have also noticed that it is hard for them to but themselves into the stories of the Book. So we have been reading it with them one chapter at a time, we have been picking the chapters that talking about the principles that we have been guided to for them, and helping them put themselves into the scriptures.

I love the scriptures and the power that comes into my life because of them, and the testimony that I get to gain by seeing that same strength come into other peoples lives as they start to study and learn from the scriptures, are the small things that I get to have every day that strengthen my testimony and conversion to the gospel.

I am so grateful that I am able to come out on my mission and not only help others find their faith and hope, but help find my own as well. I am so grateful to all of you for the things that you have helped me with in my life and for the examples that you have been for me to look to.

Love you all so very much!!

Elder S Cordon

Life is about the CHALLENGE

Posted on June 29, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family and Friends,

Well What A WONDERFUL WEEK!!

We are seeing miracles all the time here, it is crazy to see the work flying so fast. Now where there is so much good Satan is there to try and stop it. He will through whatever he has at it. We have so many people that are being taught and coming to know Jesus Christ and Satan keeps trying to throw them off the path. So to combat this problem we are striving to meet with our investigators as often as they will let us. We have some that we are able to see everyday, and then Satan tries even harder on them because we are trying harder. They are reading the Book of Mormon and praying and doing the things they need to in order to help combat when we are not around.

I am gaining a great testimony of reading and praying and the power that it gives to our lives when done every day. I know that will be what gives me the strength and knowledge to endure to the end, and to always live the Doctrine of Christ. We had 10 people that came to church this last week. They were able to feel of the spirit and for two of those people it was their first time coming. One was Erica she was one of our new investigators last week, she came to the first hour and then left to see her dad for fathers day. The other is …. John, who is Damien’s friend, Damien showed him the ropes and was a great friend the whole time.

The work is moving forward and we are just trying to make sure that we are keeping up at the pace that Heavenly Father would have us. We are praying, planning, and teaching with faith so that we can be the servants that He needs. I am grateful to be here serving in this area with Elder Harmon, I am learning and growing so much everyday come with a new set of challenges to help grow me as a missionary I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Growing is a part of this life and God is going to make the most out of our lives if we let him.

Love YOU
Elder S Cordon

WKM!!

Posted on June 22, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family and Friends,

The work is moving crazy fast here in Hermiston. We had another baptism this weekend. Kathy was baptized. What a wonderful day that was to see her so happy for making the decision to come and follow Jesus Christ.
We are watching every day as the people that we are teaching are making the steps needed to gain the conversion to the truth of this message. I have seen an increase in the faith of our investigators since the fast that we had for them. It is great to see them all be willing to make the steps that they need to make to gain the knowledge from god that this is true. Faith is such an amazing power that cant be put into words, but I know it works. God is there and wants us to believe in Him so that he can use that power of faith to bless our lives, so when others are doing that and experiencing the truth of it all IT IS A MIRACLE.
We have so much that is going well, we are teaching everyone as often as they will let us. Abel and Kristina are letting us meet with them EVERYDAY. They came to church and brought all the kids. What a wonderful family! We are excited for their baptisms in July, they are praying and working towards that date.

So Transfers have come and gone. I am staying here and so is my comp. Which means that we are staying in the Kennewick Washington Mission.
And This will be at least 4 1/2 months in Hermiston I love the people that are here and everyone that I am around. I am very excited for the next 6 Weeks!!

Love you all so much.

Elder Cordon

#FWB

Posted on June 10, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week was wonderful and full of HEAT, from the Spirit and the weather. We are teaching every day and teaching a lot. Talking to everyone is really helping us find those that God has been preparing. We didnt talk to as many people this week that we could have but there is always room to improve. We are committed to refocus on it this week. REPENTANCE that is what it is all about. Finding those small things that you can work on each day and each week. Doing the small repenting every day and week keeps the big ones away.
WE HAD A BAPTISM YAY!! Damien has made the choice to become a member of the church. What a Spirit filled baptism that was Donna his grandmother that is currently praying about a date for baptism really loved it. She is making the changes in her life that are necessary for her to be ready for when she does get a date. Watching Damien go through this has really helped her. She is such a wonderful lady that I am so glad to have been watching her grow.
Kathy is making the step of baptism this weekend. Her baptism is Saturday she is so very excited. What a wonderful miracle it has been with Kathy, her friend is a Recent Convert that took the courage to talk to her friend about the gospel. Both of them have been receiving blessings through this whole experience. We are going to be asking her to give a talk at the baptism.
It has really been able to give me a testimony of the power that comes when friends talk to there friends and are involved with the whole thing.
It is such a wonderful time to be apart of this work, and the blessings don’t have to be just for the full-time missionaries. I am trying to share that with the members that we have dinner with, and when we see them anywhere else. God wants to bless all of his children that get involved with sharing his work with the world. This gospel was restored so that it could be shared with the world.

Love you,
Elder Steven Cordon

Bright Times Ahead

Posted on June 4, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family & Friends,

Well it was a sad weekend, but it will all work out in the end.

Arnoldo didn’t get baptized… that is the sad news. His grandmother didn’t feel that he was ready to. She wants him to wait a while longer to really see that he is taking it serious. So… the good news is that in talking to her, through the aunt cause the grandmother doesn’t speak English, she said that she would like to sit in on lessons to learn what he is learning. So we may have found our way into getting his whole family. We are going to be working with the Spanish elders to help with this family. He still came to church on Sunday and still loves Primary.

We have Damion getting baptized this weekend He had his interview last night and it went great he is so excited for it. Our WML is baptizing him.

We had to move some baptism dates that we have Abel and Kristina need to get married but Kristina needs to get unmarried first. O.O She has been separated from him for over 12 years she has just not done it out of fear. But we pushed that fear right out of here and DUN DUN DUN DUN!! We are also teaching her oldest daughter now too she is 17 and going through the “Im a rebel teen” phase but she is taking interest and she is starting to soften to us. Walls are coming down!! We are now working with them to getting baptized on July 25th.

What a wonderful day at the temple. It is always wonderful to get the spiritual recharge that you get there. Sometimes you just need it. The spirit was able to testify of some amazing truths and wonderful talents that have been given me, so that I may put them to good use.

I love the work that is happening here. I love missionary work all together but it is always great when you are just focused on the work.

I love you all so very much and pray for you. We are having a mission wide fast this weekend for our investigators if you would like to pray for some of mine you are more then welcome to. You are all fantastic people.

Love Elder Cordon

Oh What A Beautiful Morning!

Posted on May 25, 2015 by shalesecordon9

Dear Family & Friends,

Well this was a great week we got two more people on Date for baptism which brings us to 7.

But all great weeks come with set backs.

I was Sick for the last couple days of the week. It started at Zone Conference and the Saturday I was out Still was able to get the strength to make it to our lessons that we had planned but I couldnt do much more then that. So by the end of the night I had enough, Medicine wasnt working so I called in the big guns, I got a blessing that night. Sunday I was feeling better but I was still noticeably sick and still had a cough. I made sure that I sat away from everyone in our meetings and during church. And now today I am feeling a even better. The cough is still there but that is about it.

Arnoldo is preparing to be baptized this weekend. He loves coming to church and loves primary. His grandparents also like how he is when he comes home from church. We are hoping that when the attained his baptism and feel of the spirit it will lead them to ask more questions. 🙂 His grandparents first language is Spanish so we are inviting the the Spanish elders to the baptism so that they can have some referrals.

Damion is preparing to be baptized on June 6th. He is such a wonderful kid that loves church and loves all the friends that he has made. He notices that they are much better then the other friends from school and that the gospel is going to help his life. I think I have already told you but this is the kid that read the whole Book of Mormon is like a week and a half. It was crazy!

This week is crammed full of lessons and I cant wait for it all.

Love you Elder Cordon