OH BOY! 

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So there was an amazing miracle this week!

Elizabeth was found, which was an answer to her prayers. SHE IS AWESOME. She has a lot of family that is LDS and she was in the hospital last week that got her thinking about her life. She was talking to her aunt that is LDS and she wanted her to find Missionaries and get a blessing. SO Wednesday she prayed that she would be able to find them, Next day we knocked on her door!!! WHAT. She is working towards a date of Feb. 27th and is reading and praying. She is the fulltime caregiver for her father who is suffering from a lot of illness, working around that schedule is going to be our biggest road bump.This week we also had a Part Member family that came to church!  

We have our bishop that is getting really excited about missionary work and he went and talked to 2 Part Member families this week that we are going to start teaching, one of them is going to FHE at his house tonight. Miracles happen when the work is done in His way. I am so excited about the broadcast and striving to become a strict PMG missionary. Such a wonderful focus to Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts!  

We had a wonderful lesson with Nathen this week as well, he is dealing with a lot of stress in his life right now due to his job. He did however make the wonderful connection that in those stressful times is when you need to be reminded that God needs your attention. He really is a wonderful person and has wonderful talent. He builds custom guitars for a living 0.0 and they are beautiful! We have a few musicians in our ward that we are going to be bringing by, they also want to see if he wants to play with them at the church dance that is coming up for Valentines day. It always brings success when the Members wrap themselves into the work, and into the people. The wonderful law of Sacrifice for others, boy oh boy, such a wonderful way to live. 

I love that I have this time in my life to truly turn outward and learn this wonderful truth that this is the way to the most happiness, turning out to help those around you, that is the place where miracles are. I have such a testimony of this that I will be able to apply for the rest of my mission and life. When priesthood callings are magnified and selfless service is given that is truly the life that I want to model after.  

Thank you for all you do for me.  

Elder Cordon 

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Let the Spirit Work Through You!

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What a week we had.

It was a very humbling week, I am beginning to take the humbling a little bit faster now. I am working on trying to just be humble and then this wont happen 🙂 Something that I really learned this week is how easy it is to slip into doing this mission on my own “flesh”. Not that I forget about god but I lose focus just a little, and then I become a cap on the Holy Ghost. He is the real teacher and I am just here to be able to be worked through, and this week I got in the way. I didn’t notice until the end of the week. But we are going to be able to repent, change, and do better. That is the wonderful story of the gospel, it is a gospel of change and progression, recognizing the things that can be worked on and using the Atonement to change the very nature of where those things come from. What wonderful and beautiful doctrine that we now are able to access in full, because of the restoration of the Priesthood.

WOW this was such a crazy week!! We had an investigator who died, we had a PMF that broke up, and we have an investigator that we found out has some crazy hallucinations. We had Alex that dropped off the face of the earth. 0.0 SO MANY CRAZY THINGS! I am excited to go out and be the conduit for the Spirit this week and not get in the way. I am grateful to be able to learn these lessons and learn them well, that I will be able to be a strong life long disciple of the Lord.

I love you all so much!!

Elder Cordon

LET IT BEGIN!

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I am so excited for this transfer! Things are just going so well. I am so grateful to have learned what I have throughout my mission and now being able to just hammer through till the end. This last week after transfers Elder Whiting and I were able to talk about some things that we wanted to focus on this transfer. Acting and not being Acted upon, is what we had decided was going to be a big focus for us this transfer. And wouldn’t you know it we got the chance to apply it right away.

Sense Wednesday we have been having a lot of appointments fall through, and putting our faith in God we ACTED. We knew that we had planned by the spirit and so we set out to find out why we needed to be there. We saw so many miracles come from just being willing to ACT in Faith and find Joy and Trust in Christ. We found in faith and that led to us getting in and teaching almost every door we knocked on. Not everyone but most. We were finding every day and that lead to 7 new investigators sense Wednesday. It was so awesome to see the very clear hand that was leading us in the work. We are so excited to carry this into next week. We are going to but a big focus on getting the members out with us, so that they can see all this amazing work that is going on.

I am also feeling very spoiled in who the Lord has put around me. We probably have the best Zone Leadership in the mission. We had a Zone Leadership Council and what an amazing time that was. We really focused on the need to really teach the Zone the true doctrine of repentance so that they can find the Joy in it and that they can have better faith in the great power of the Atonement. That really only happens through repentance. I truly do feel spoiled to be able to be around such great missionary fire at this point in my mission; The WKM is full of it, but I certainly feel blessed and wouldn’t trade any of them. Elder Whiting adds such and wonderful spirit and drive, Sister Christiansen has great faith and knows were to put it, and Elder Thompson is going to bring a great understanding of the Doctrine of Christ to the Spanish District. And that is just adding to the already great missionaries of Sister Bland and Elder Burton. How did I get so lucky!!!

I am grateful for the power of Repentance and the real change it can make to the very nature of who we are. I love Jesus Christ and will never be able to truly put into words what a wonderful blessing it is to be able to have the gift of the Atonement to shape me and mold me into someone that I would never be able to be without HIM.

I am looking forward to the blessing and miracles in store for this next week.

LOVE
Elder Cordon

Have Counsels in Your Life

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*Editors Note: Title is also referring to President Nelson’s Worldwide Devotional for Young Adult on Sunday Jan 10, 2016.

What a great week this was. A wonderful MLC!! I love those counsels, the spirit is there guiding and directing it every time. It is building my testimony of the power and strength that I counsel can have. I am understanding time and time again that God truly knows what he is talking about, with how we should run things in our lives. Every time those things are done things just seem to work out and everyone is on the same page.

This week we got to do an exchange with some other missionaries. Elder Burton and Elder Taylor, I went with Elder Taylor. We set a goal of making bold commitments and inviting people to repentance, and prepare for baptism. Wow what amazing miracles came out of that. In both areas we but investigators on date for baptism and found new investigators. There are bothers and sisters everywhere that are looking and being prepared for the gospel we just have to talk with them and invite them to act.

That is the miracle of this work is that we are just there as servants helping with a work that is already going and moving forward, this is His work and His glory and He will move it forward. I love that I am able to put my faith into the plan and help were I am needed.

We, in our area, but Alex on date for Feb. and we have two more that we are planning to have on date for Feb. as well. I am so excited for these people that we have found and excited for their eagerness. The ward is already to help out and to open up their homes for these wonderful people.

So excited for what the new transfer will bring.

I love you
Elder Cordon

2016

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What a week!

UPs and DOWNs, we were going strong preparing for the baptism of Kristy and then she didn’t come to church and sent us a text that she didn’t want to meet anymore. We went by and she wouldn’t answer the door, or our texts. She just dropped us and we don’t know why, that really is the hard part when you don’t know why. Because that is when you just come up with the craziest reasons. We spread the word to her member friendship and they are on their game already.

I am grateful for the faith that I have in agency and knowing that it is such a necessary part, also knowing that not everyone is going to use it wisely either. It helps it times like this to then just go out and use my agency to go find those that are willing to fulling accept this truth. So Sunday night we went out and found two new friends. A wonderful young family that is wanting to start of right and center their family around Christ. That happened on the last door on Sunday night.!!!

We also have another family that we have started to teach they are also a young family that wants the truth of the gospel and willing to act. wow so many miracles.

I got to go on exchanges this week with Elder Sedrick. What a wonderful time that was. He is a wonderful missionary and very sincere he is a great listener. We set a goal to find and teach simply, and boy did we do that. We talked to people like crazy and found a new friend Shyael, and taught several other lessons that day. I love missionary work! So during that day we had a lesson that we just let get taught by the Holy Ghost. there was SO much silence and it never got weird not once. We were silent for 4 minutes one time, literally, and we just soaked up the Spirit.

I am looking forward to MLC, what wonderful counsel that is. I am grateful for all the guidance from the Spirit that I get to receive on a daily basis as long as I am doing what I need to to get it. Even on a mission the simple things is what makes or breaks it. it is especially so in life. My scripture of the week is Alma 31:5 I read it this morning for personal study and it just rang out to me. The answers to life is always in the Gospel of Christ.

I love this work!

LOVE EVERYONE
Elder Cordon.

Happy New Year!

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I am grateful for the Christmas season, the spirit that it brings into the world is wonderful and brings smiles and feelings of love to many. It is a wonderful time for those that know what the true meaning of Christmas is full of remembering the Savior in more abundance; and for those that don’t know it still radiates to them and their lives a happiness that comes from this season.

I am certainly grateful for the testimony that I was able to share with those that we visited this week. To share with them my knowledge of the Savior.

Kristy is a new Investigator of ours that is just so prepared to receive the wonderful truths of the gospel. She is preparing to be baptized on January 9th and going strong for that date. We are having every lesson so far in members homes and she is getting into a different on every time. So many people want to help and they are surrounding her with love and friendship. It is so exciting to have so many people involved in the work, that is exactly what the Lord wants.

As we are out everyday putting forth our faith God leads people to us and leads us to people. I love being a part of this work.

I love that I have the opportunity to serve others, the people of Pasco and other missionaries. This is such a wonderful time of year. This week we welcome in the New Year! WoW were did the time go. It seems like just yesterday that I was announcing 2015 now it is 2016.

Time is truly a precious thing.
Thank you everyone for everything that you do.
Have a great New Years and set great goals to accomplish in the coming year.
Love, Elder Cordon.

WHITE CHRISTMAS

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I am so looking forward to this week. what a wonderful time to be a missionary in the world. The Christmas season just brings a light into the world that isn’t always there, well ok it is there just hidden.

I am grateful to have the knowledge of the gospel and the knowledge of the Atonement. I have loved studying and pondering the Gospels as we have taken the 30 day challenge to read them. I love reading them and learning about the life of the Savior. What a great way to develop more love for him, study his life. I have gained a new sense of his love and compassion. His steady and firm laws coupled with His infinite mercy and forgiveness.

He truly has felt everything there was to fill in a human mortal life and knows exactly what to do to help us in our times of trouble.
This was a great week that we where able to put fourth our effort to find and came out with 6 new investigators. We are so excited to be out talking with everyone that we can. I love that as we bring fourth our efforts coupled with real faith the miracles from heaven rain down. God is truly leading this work and we have the amazing privilege of being able to help and be a part of it. What a wonderful time to be a servant of the Lord. The great part is that it never has to end and never should.

I truly enjoy the Atonement and the Doctrine of Christ. It has truly helped shape and change not only my mission, but the rest of my life. I am so very grateful that I have chosen HIM!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
ELDER CORDON

These two made this Christmas the best Christmas EVER!

These two made this Christmas the best Christmas EVER!

Oh what a WONDERFUL White Christmas it was!

Oh what a WONDERFUL White Christmas it was!

RollarCoaster

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Well another awesome, happy, sad, up and down, week.

We had a lot of things this week. New assignment does come with more to do, more to learn, and more growth.
This week was MLC and WOW what a great meeting that was. It was truly awesome to be ready to receive revelation at meetings, the Spirit is just ready and waiting to be the teacher to a willing heart. Then that night was stake correlation, having just spent all day learning from the spirit I didn’t want it to be anything like I have heard it being at times. Come in and sit down and just read over the report. So Elder Schulzke and I counseled together on what we needed to do to help make that meeting a revelatory experience. We decided that we needed to make sure it was just that, a counsel. So we went in and set the report aside and asked inspired questions. So no surprise there, IT WENT GREAT. We were able to use the report as a help to refer to instead of the dialog.

Friday got a sneak peek at the Christmas Conf. we also had to fit in Zone Meeting Planning, and Weekly Planning. So that we could have time to go out Saturday.

Saturday was a Miracle day. It was already a crammed week and we were already feeling hurt for time to find but we made sure that the time we did have we but all of our faith into. We were knocking at some apartments and found two doors right in a row of people that have met with missionaries before and been invited be members but there was no record of them and we had no idea they were there. We then were in the other building and found another lady that told us to come back next week, Tami.

So the only reason that we went to this place was that we wanted to contact a girl that had been taught before. We just didnt have the address so we went to this close apartment complex. Tami the lady that we found is the girls mother! We had no idea. MIRACLE.

Saturday was our Ward Christmas party and we got and investigator to it. Jessica and her two sons!!! We committed her to church, But she woke up really sick and didnt come.:( Nathan was are Sunday at 8:59 Miracle! He is a single dad and looking to really be able to guide his two girls in the correct path towards God. That is going to be a good family in the gospel soon.

The down part is that I found out that Mike Gilbert, Baptized in September, died this weekend unexpectedly. He was preparing to go to the temple when I left the area just 2 weeks ago. That was not something that I was expecting to have to deal with on the mission. Death really is an interesting thing. I am just so VERY GRATEFUL for the knowledge the gospel gives in regards to death and the part that it plays in our lives. It is necessary and an important part of the plan. I love that I know that I will see him again.

If you would be willing to say a prayer for his wife Brenda she is a wonderful lady.

The VERY UP SIDE.
Temple for the Oberweiser’s is tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you all so very much. You are all so awesome.
LOVE
ELDER CORDON

Prayer Is Awesome

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WOW! A new area, new assignment, and a new companion! This is one week that I am grateful for prayer. To be able to truly talk to Father and receive direction. What comfort it is to know that prayer truly is communication with Father and that He hears and answers prayers.

I am also very grateful for the power of the Atonement. It truly gives us power to do things that are beyond our own capacity to do. Jesus Christ lifts us to where he needs us to be if we allow him to. the only way to do that is through the Doctrine of Christ. I took me a long time out to realize all of this but now that it has finally clicked I can continue to master this skill of “using” the Atonement and not just “needing” it.
I got here to the new area ready and excited to work. This ward is about the size of both my previous wards and LOTS of people to talk to. I got so excited about coming to Pasco ready to apply all the things that I have been learning in the last transfer. Elder Schulzke (new companion) and I got right to work, well after having two long days of planning and meeting with everyone that we needed to and going to another meetings, we got right out and talked with everyone that we could.

We found 4 new friends to teach and part of that is a family, the Mendoza Family. We first talked to there son and the taught the parents on Sat. We will be teaching the two sisters as well come Sunday. Crystal was another that we found and she told us that she is on a spiritual journey right now trying to have a better relationship with God. 🙂 Well we certainly can help with that.

SO CRAZY STORY TIME……

There was sister missionary that was in the other MTC district in the MTC zone that I was in that was from Kennewick and was called to serve in the Ogden Mission, later after the split finished in the Logan UT Mission. SO I was eating at Costa Vida for the last time while in kennewick right before transfer meeting and ……… That sister missionary recently, of 2 weeks, home from her mission is standing right in front of me. OUCH That was a hard reality check. She came in after me to the MTC and is now home and eating at costa vida with her mom and grandma 0.0 WOW where as the time gone.

AND IN OTHER NEWS.
SO NEXT WEEK IS GOING TO BE THE BEST DAY OF THE MISSION.
DEC 15th Converts are getting sealed in the temple. YEAH. I have been having butterflies about this day for so long I cant wait for it. 8 MORE DAYS!

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Elder Steven Cordon

PMG Is the BEST

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This was a week that was full of new and wonderful things.

This week I studied PMG everyday! I am studying out of the fundamental lessons and I am learning a lot. The more and more that I study the more that I learn that I have no idea how to do missionary work. 🙂 I am starting to realize that PMG has all of the answers for my questions, whether it is for recent converts, investigators, even my companion. What a wonderful book and I dont understand why I have not had my noes in it my whole mission.

The last couple of days I have been studying the fundamental lesson of revelation through prayer. We have a couple of people that we are teaching that are in need of the knowledge that is in that lesson, but I am also studying it for myself. I am really trying to have more faith in my prayer and to receive more revelation through them. I am trying to have a more personal communication with Heavenly Father. I know that it can be my favorite moments in my life to communicate with Heavenly Father and so I am trying to seek for knowledge on the thing I need to do different to make that happen. I also know that it will greatly help me as a missionary and His tool if I can talk with him better.

SO WE MET MARSHAL.

So for those of you that don’t know who that is, which is everyone that is reading this. He is the BIGGEST ANTI in the TriCities, teaches classes and protests, the whole nine yards. He has been doing it for like 30 years. Boy he needs to get a life.

He came to one of our lessons!! Georgiana the New Investigator lesson that we taught is taking a Mormonisom 101 class that is being taught by him and she invited him the come to the lesson. 0.0 We received a great blessing, he showed up 35 minutes late so we got through basically all of the first lesson. We had Brother Blaser with us, 1st counselor in the bishopric, he shared great testimony. We left as soon as Marshal got contentious which not surprisingly didnt take him to long. What a crazy experience!

Thank you for everything that you do.
Love you all so much.

Elder Cordon