I Love my Mission – Jared

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Family, Friends, Mormons lend me your ears!

Yes the weeks are long. Yes I wish I was in Hong Kong. Regardless I am still loving it here!

First with the interesting news, they are shipping us over to Wyview for the last two weeks of the MTC. This is kinda nice I wanted to experience the other campus because then we would have apartments, and we can go eat at restaurants near by. Downsides the gym time facilities are not that great okay, they are all outside, need I say more.

Also I gave the prayer for the devotional yesterday which was cool! There where 4000 missionaries but if you close your eyes, its no big deal. Where I was sitting made it so that I was in the screen the whole time Brother Jon Tanner was speaking. (Yes he is related to the very Jon Tanner the movie is after which was cool and he produced the movie Jon Tanner, The Stone Cutter, 17 miracles, and the new one Ephraims Rescue). I thought it was cool that he is an identical twin, because me and my companion both are twins. It was a pretty good devotional although not that mission motivating!

The one I saw after that for the Sunday evening films was, Elder Bednar’s “Becoming a Missionary”, It was super good. It was mainly about how to become a lifetime missionary, so even though my mission may be up in two years. It should be weird coming back.

Also I started reading Jesus the Christ this last week. Man even though I only have a little time that I can read it. No book has ever been so compelling I am on page 225 out of 800. I feel like I have already grown so much closer to Christ. I have never looked at his Ministry in such a way. I suggest all who are not sure how to increase their faith to read Jesus the Christ (Which was written in the celestial room, by an Appostle, so I consider it scripture).

I have not had the chance to recieve amazing miracles in the same my way my brother has but, I am walking testimony of God’s miracles in how I can speak as much cantonese as I can, with honestly as little effort I have put in. I know once I get to Hong Kong it will remind me how much more I have left to learn and how loving God will be to bless me. Cantonese is really really hard, but not to hard for The Lord.

Everyone I love you, stay tuned for the good stuff, its coming in 3 weeks;)

Elder Jared Cordon

Slow Start, Strong Finish! – Joshua

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Dear Family and Friends,

Things went really well this week. We started the week off with some really low numbers, though we still experienced some great moments, but from Thursday on, things really took off.

One of the early miracles was with Mati. We have been working with her for about 2 months and in all that time have only had 1 complete lesson with her. We were in her area Monday night so i decided to shoot her a text asking if we could come over. To my great surprise, she said yes. We quickly made our way over there to have a lesson with her. She told us when we got there that she had no sooner finished praying for guidance and help when the phone buzzed with my text. I had no idea at the time that it was a prompting from the spirit to send her a text, to me it was just a good idea. Nevertheless it was a spiritual prompting and it got her into tears as she shared it with us. We then set a baptismal date with her for the 19th of October. The spirit was so strong in that lesson, and she kept saying how much peace she felt. I love this gospel!

The pivotal point this week was a humble moment of prayer. Thursday night heavily relied on the fact that one or both of the members who agreed to go on trade-offs that night would still be able to make it, which is why it was so devastating that they both called and said they couldn’t make it that night. Granted they both were pretty legitimate excuses, but it was nonetheless very frustrating. I was lost… I had no idea what were were going to do for the last 3 hours of the evening. It was at this point that Elder Barcala, offered the humble advice of biking down a side street, to do a kneeling prayer and beg for help. That is what we did. After standing up after the prayer, an incredible feeling of peace fell upon me. I still didn’t know where to go, but I knew that God was in charge. We got back on our bikes, and just started heading down the street. We talked to everyone we saw…everyone. And it paid off. We taught four great lessons, and got two new investigators in only three hours. Those are good numbers for a days work.

Another miracle we had this week was that on Saturday after two great sessions of Stake Conference, we decided to go and visit a former investigator. We happened to pull up to his house the same time he did, which was a miracle because he is never home. We talked to him for a bit and then he ended up offering us a ride home. We had a great conversation with him and he made several comments about how he was looking for a church that he was be comforted in. Seeing how he is a pretty bright guy, I am sure he had to have known what kind of reaction that missionaries would have to such a comment. Either he is pulling our leg or he is interested in investigating the church again. I pray it is the latter.

On Sunday, Nick and the Suttons were all able to come to Stake Conference and it made it such a great session. They all had great experiences and we are expecting to see their faces there quite frequently. It surprised Nick to find out how many Mormons he knew. He ended up talking with people for a solid 15 minutes after conference ended. We worked hard for the rest of the day and had two really great lessons with one of them resulting in a new investigator. Her name is Kim. She has two children in the military which was our original connection point. We went over there on Sunday and stood on her porch for an hour and one of the more spiritual lessons of my mission. She readily agreed for us to come back.

I have no doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father cares about every single one of us. He proves that by making time for everyone of us, so that whenever we want to talk to him through prayer, he is listening. Listening with pure understanding and love. I know Heavenly Father hears our prayers, and he proves it by answering every sincere prayer we humbly offer. He wants to hear from us, so talk to him tonight.

I love ya’ll!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Here are some updated pictures of Joshua from his missions’ blog.

Crazy! Can you spot Elder (Josh) Cordon?

Just keep swimming! -Jared

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First and foremost the greatest thing that happened this week is I got to see my brother after a long 2 years! That may have been the quickest 30 minutes of my life! Also as far as the language goes I still kepted having thoughts that the language was growing really slowly.

Well I took some time this week and with another Elder and practiced baring my testimony! Well needless to say it is amazing how far I have come, I don’t think you realize how much you know until you put it to the test and I think my testimony could not have been a better way!

I have to say I really hope I get to serve in Macau because you get to go to bed at 11:30 and wake up at 7:30! Not to mention it looks so cool at night time!

I have started my adventure on the Character of Christ. It began one night while I read outside with the sound of BYU crushing Texas in the background! I have to say thought that It has helped me realize how much Christ has influenced the world with only so few verses about his ministry in the bible, we know very little about his minstry yet the world recognizes his life with such importance that our very year of living is based on the Years following his life. Its been ultimately decided that his existence is factual.

But non the less. I know Christ life was not easy and He was strong, so I have to be. Salvation wasn’t easy for him and it isn’t easy for us! Don’t give up do something more!

I love all of you!

Love Elder(Jared) Cordon

P.S. I am so bad at typing so my letters have been short but once I get to the field I will have more time to make this longer:)

Trio, Training, and Tracting with Bikes -Josh

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Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been an interesting one. We finished out our trio of Elder Largo, Elder Newbold, and I. It was a lot of fun being in a trio but it made it harder to focus on the work. I learned a lot though nevertheless and we still managed to stay very productive. By the end of it all I felt like I had two good friends.

Having to say goodbye to Elder Newbold was bitter sweet. I felt like we have become good friends after 3 months and we taught really well together, as a result I had come to trust him a lot. Though I am excited to mix things up, it has proven difficult to regain that trust. It will come though, of that I am sure.

Elder Cordon with his new companion Elder Barcala

Elder Barcala and Elder Joshua Cordon

On Wednesday I got my new companion. His name is Elder Barcala. He is from Scottsdale, Arizona and he is a convert of 2 years. He is 22 and already has his bachelors in criminal justice from ASU. He has a terrific fire for the work and I hope that as his trainer that I can kindle that fire and help him become a very confident and powerful teacher.

Wednesday night we went over to a members house for dinner and afterwards did splits with him and his brother. So day one I have my new companion going out on his own. He did pretty good actually.

On Thursday the ward mission leader and his wife helped us out a ton by showing my companion around and helping get bikes. Being on bikes has been bitter sweet, while we drip in sweat biking in shirt and tie in the hot Florida sun it is easier to street contact when you are on bikes. It is far less intimidating to approach someone on bike than in a car. Also when we would drive slowly in a car down neighborhood streets it was hard to not think that we were the police.

We have gotten into the groove now though and we are starting to build up our teaching pool again. We have been working hard and it is paying off. We are meeting a lot of good people and I just hope that in some small way that we make their day a little brighter with every visit.

We were blessed to be able to catch Ben last night and we took him to the church to watch the CES fireside. Ben has been through a lot and is living in a terrible environment, but while we were watching the broadcast I could tell that a lot of the things hit him really powerfully, and I hope that he can put into action some of the incredible advice of Elder Russel M. Nelson. I was really grateful to be able to see it and it just made me so pumped that general conference in coming up.

I just love this work so much. I know now more than ever that God loves everyone of his children here on earth. I also know that by applying the wonderfully beautiful and simple principles of the gospel into ours that it will make us happier. This life is about growth and constant improvement. I think that one of the biggest sins of this generation is laziness and complacency. God wants us to achieve our wonderful potential, but he can’t force us to do it. It is our job, but you better believe that through the grace of Jesus Christ he will be there every step of the way strengthening us. Life is like climbing a mountain. Some people get tired and convince themselves they are satisfied with how far they have come so they set up camp. Others are disheartened by the steep climbs that lie ahead. But for those who want to make it to the top to see the stunning views above the tree line, Christ has offered to be our climbing partner. He has the made the climb before and if we trust him and do our part, them we can reach the summit of our potential. So get off of the couch and get climbing! Spiritually of course 😉

Love y’all
Elder Joshua Cordon

A Very Crazy Week!! -Josh

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Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was very… Unique, to say the least. Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal I suppose, but then on Wednesday, another Elder I rode with a member down to Gainesville for a training meeting to prepare us to become trainers. It was great, a terrific way to put some spice into the week. BUT then on Friday morning we got a call from the zone leaders telling us to meet them at there ward building to pick up Elder largo because his companion just got called to be the next assistant to the mission president. Being in a trio is definitely a different experience. Elder Largo is a great missionary though, we were contacting a referral and the family was about to shut the door, but he spoke up and just bore his powerful testimony to them and they let us in and we had a powerful 45 minute lesson. The couples names are Lorenzo and Topeka. Lorenzo loves the Book of Mormon even though he is a deacon in his Holiness church. We will be back there soon.

Some wonderful miracles this week was that the Sutton’s came to church!!! Bro Sutton was supposed to work at 10 but he called his boss and told he is no longer working on Sundays because that is his day to go to church and be with his family! He is such a champion!! We had several powerful lessons with them this weekend. They even came to the sisters baptism on Sunday and Bro.Sutton said that he was so jealous that he couldn’t get baptized right then. He just needs to get married.

There are going to be a lot of changes starting tomorrow with a new companion, being on bikes, and smaller area and all, but I am excited. I will say that I am going to miss Elder Newbold, he was a great trainer and terrific companion. He is going on to bigger and better things though as he heads to Gainesville to be a zone leader.

Sorry for the short email, but things are crazy round here!

Love y’all!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Just chipping away at those weeks -Jared

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Dear my beloved Family and Friends,

This week was another one of those average weeks! You know one of the 12 apostles(Elder Anderson), and getting soaked in the rain afterwards! I had to farewell to my friend Elder Cheung heading to teach the wonderful Cantonese people of San Francisco. I had to give up the double bed to my roommates they think we need to share!

But man has it been a test of faith this week!

I had a point one night where I was wondering my purpose and why I am doing this, because I can’t seem to get the Language in the MTC how am I supposed to get it in Hong Kong! So I did a lot of contemplating and after everyone retired to there beds, and were softly snoring. I snuck out of the room to the janitors closet where I could be alone, I said a really big prayer out loud to my Father in heaven. I started out by apologizing for being so forgetful of all the Blessings he has given me! Then after saying some other things and closing my prayer. I sat there for a moment and just such an overwhelming feeling came over me! I knew that the lord will help me! No doubt in my mine! It doesn’t mean it will get easier! Because from the words of Elder Holland if your mission is Easy your doing it wrong! No one here in the MTC is smart enough to learn Cantonese in 9 weeks. Except maybe the spirit.

Another thing I would like to inform everyone you don’t have to get fat in the MTC cause I have lost 5 pounds already and its not like I don’t eat that! Just make sure I work out when my roommate doesn’t have giardia.

Overall here in the MTC life is good I have had to pleasure to see a lot of friends, make a lot of friends, and just grow closer to my spirit! Plus anyone and everyone should go rewatch Elder Hollands talk Safety for the Soul.

Love you all!
Elder Jared Todd Cordon

Well what another interesting week!

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Dear Loved Ones

Man this last week was one full of a lot of different events! First I didn’t say this last week, but what happened to standing while singing called to serve? No one has done it here so far so last Sunday my companion and some of the other Elders thought it would be embarrassing to start it but I did anyway and I got everyone to follow.

But man there is so much more I finally got my Lava Lava! These kids dared me to eat this huge ball of cheese found at the bottom of the ritz bitz box, lets say I will never again eat a ritz bitz! But it was so worth it because its all I wear now! I am not sure who invented pants, but it was a bad idea.

Also we had three guys who are fluent cantonese speakers from the states that were only here for a few days that were in our room man so that was a short fun party two left this morning at 2:30 so I didn’t sleep much. Then my whole branch accept us and one of the phillipino branches all left today! Man I am gonna miss all those guys so many characters in that group for sure!

Also my companion got geardia its like a stomach bacteria so that has delayed the work we had to go the doctors here which took awhile, then we had to go off campus to the lab. and miss a whole morning session of class while he slepted in! But overall it all came together when after playing some volleyball we watched the sunset together sharing detailed descriptions of the colors and pictures view.

Man even with all that going on I have still been received so many blessing! We had our TRC(training resource center) Were you get volunteers that you get to teach they could me members or nonmembers. Me and my companion did really well, we got to know the investigator, taught a whole lesson on the spirit used some scriptures and set commitments all with just what we knew so the language is moving along!

We are still far from ready its amazing that anybody could ever pick this language up in 9 weeks. Its considered the hardest language here in the MTC, to make it harder we cant even learn the written part until halfway through the mission. So they have the word leah which means like nine different things depending on the tone, but even with the same tone it means to get to know someone and the word for you. Haha I am gonna love it though its an adventure the whole time.

When I first got here I was really competitive about being the best. I would do study that would help me and I would kinda not share things but I have completely changed my mindset. Its so much nicer to just help each other grow and become part of the same team, I dont know why it took me so long to figure that out buts it been a lot nicer I am trying to be a leader and keep everyone on task. But 60 hours a week in class it can be hard to stay focused sometimes.

I know the lord gives no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish the things which he hath commanded of them. I am not worried about the language I am just worried that I wont rely enough on the spirit. I have found countless times that if you rely on the spirit you would be amazed at how much you can accomplish.

Farewell everyone we will talk again in a week!

Love Elder Jared Cordon

PS: Sorry for the bad grammar the more I learn in Cantonese the less I know in English

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Zone Conference in Gainesville

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Dear Family and Friends,

On Tuesday, I did my first exchange with the Zone Leaders because Elder Newbold is the district leader. I ended up going over to the neighboring area none as Cannon Creek. It is directly west of our area. The missionary crib in that area is actually really nice. It is this small house that is on the backside of a lot with a nicer house that nobody lives in… a bit of a waste if you ask me. At the end of the day though I was very glad that I am in Deep Creek. In my opinion our area is far more ripe even though we have twice as many missionaries in it. Elder Clark, who I did the exchange with is a great missionary! I made sure to take some time at the end of the exchange to get some specific advice from him on how I can be a better missionary. His tips really have made a difference! One of my favorites was to look for ways to serve your companion. I find that as I make the effort to do that I am far less prideful.

Apparently, getting an unusual amount of sleep last Sunday wasn’t enough because we had to get up an hour and half early this past Thursday for a Zone Conference in Gainesville. It was totally worth it though. We got there at a quarter to eight and found out pretty quickly that we have the best car of all the missionaries in the two zones. Which is the classy 2013 Ford Fusion. We are so very blessed 🙂

The Conference was very powerful though and was a great spiritually renewing experience. I got to see Elder Williams too, who was one of the Elders in my MTC district with me. He is doing really well which is great! One of the changes we found out from the conference is that we are expected to no longer fully share our area with the Sister Missionaries here, but rather we need to geographically cut it in half so we have individual jurisdiction over our parts. This is intended to prevent the missionaries from stepping on each other’s toes. I made sure to immediately set up a meeting with our bishop so that we can do that. The meeting is on Tuesday. Another terrific part of the conference was just hearing the testimony of many wonderful missionaries and being able to see and visit with President and Sister Craig! Those two are so awesome, and President Craig just has incredible vision for the future of the zone.

One of the terrific lessons we had this week was with Nick Harwell. He was a referral from his neighbor who said that he was a pastor for 10 years and would probably be open to hearing a message about Christ. Personally I love talking to pastors. It forces me to know what I am talking about and they actually understand scriptural language, and have read the Bible. This guy was awesome though when we first met him. So I was really excited to go back. When we went by, he let us right inside and we sat down at his table and proceeded to have one of the most powerful restoration lessons we have ever given. I believe it was because I relied on the spirit in fear that if I said something wrong that it would kill the spirit in the room. He agreed with everything and is really excited to dig into the Book of Mormon. He had a few questions about baptism, so we left him some chapters to read for homework. We are going to meet with him tonight at the church to play some basketball and follow up on his reading.

To finish it off. I found out on Saturday from President Craig that I will be training a new missionary next transfer which begins on the 4th of September. I am really excited to train. I just hope that I can be a great example and help this new Elder hit the ground running so that he wont feel like a new missionary. Also we find out tonight who is going to be district leader next month and if the district remains the same areas than it is either me or Elder Jensen. He has been out for a year now so it will probably be him. It is just interesting that at 3 months I has a 50/50 chance to be a district leader.

I love the work here! I wish I could say that we are baptizing someone this Saturday, but since we can’t get our investigators to church it will be a few weeks until we get one. All in due time though! I know that God is in charge here. I also know that nothing in the word makes me feel better than sharing the Gospel, reading the Book of Mormon, and bearing testimony! That feeling alone is absolute confirmation to me that this message I bear is true! I don’t doubt that for a minute! 🙂

I love ya’ll!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Hello hello hello!

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Hello

The MTC is a very interesting place indeed! You may have heard stories and they are probably all true! The food kills you, Sundays are like holidays, the sisters are too serious, and man the growth of the language will surprise you!

This last week was awesome! Me and my companion Elder Cederlof decided we need to rely on the gift of tongues! A companionship from the other cantonese district gave us the idea. Basically you need to have complete faith for the spirit to help you! Previously we would teach our investigator using lots of notes and reading them. But this last week we decided to go in with no help and just pray for the spirit. I could not believe the difference that made we did the whole thing, taught how to pray and the importance of obedience, I was having words come to my mind that I forgot I knew! From then on we decided that we weren’t going back it has also helped are study because we know we have to be more prepared! Also its tough here it really is, when your spending 55 hours a week in a classroom not hearing a single word in English it wears on you!

My teacher though is really amazing! He has such patience, he knows the importance of SYL(Speak your language) It must be so hard when you have 8 missionary staring at you blank faced because they have no idea what your saying! But his knowledge is amazing! He speaks 7 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Loa, Malaysian, Japanese, English, and I think Mong. But yeah that gives you an idea! He is also just a spiritual giant as well he does a great job and teaching the gospel principles in a way thats simple and you can feel the spirit!

But everyone here is amazing I have made a lot of friends in my Zone and in the weight room! I have a nickname here and that’s Captain Joseph Because everyone thinks I look like Joseph Smith and Captain America! I wont complain about that one! But this place is truly amazing and I learn so much here about people, the gospel and especially myself! I hope everyone is doing just splendid!

Elder Jared Cordon

ER TRIP!

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Dear Family and Friends,

Luckily we didn’t go for me. We actually got a call that woke us up yesterday morning from the mission mom and she told us to go straight the ER to go give the two sis. missionaries in our ward a blessing. After getting ready (shirt, tie, tag, and a part in my hair) in 5 minutes, we noticed that it was 1:20 in the morning. It was a neat experience, though. The poor Sister has kidney stones. I sealed the anointing, and the blessing I pronounced was focused a lot more on her mission than on the sickness which was very interesting to me. By the time we got home, both Elder Newbold and I were wide awake and it took like 45 minutes for us to fall asleep. But despite the sleep deprivation it was a great sunday!

This past week was pretty rough until Friday. We had great member support with a lot of member lessons, but our afternoons were very unproductive. We only had 5 other lessons until Saturday. Luckily when i was on a trade-off with Elder Jensen in my district we worked really hard and got a terrific 7 other lessons. A lot of them being from tracting. They say tracting is the least effective way to do missionary work, but if it is all you have to work with the Lord will bless you. I think our area is a perfect example of that.

We had two great lessons this weekend with two different pastors. One was a non-denominational one and the other was a Nazarene. I will say that the promise from the Lord that known will confound you is very true. Not to say that they tried to twist our words, but we always had a sound, doctrinal answer to reply with. One after a long engaging conversation said that he enjoyed it, but we were never going to convert him, but the non-denominational one became a new investigator and wants us to come back!

Also, one of our investigators, William, is just such a character. I love the kid though. He is 18 and has moved over 7,000 miles, has been married, had a kid, divorced, and now he lives at his Sisters place. We have been meeting with him for a couple weeks now and just out of the blue he cut is long hair and looks a lot sharper. He also just has such an incredible understanding of the things we are teaching him. Before we even explained it, he knew what the baptismal covenant was, and what he had to quite doing before he was baptized; it makes it really easy. He agreed to try to quite smoking, but he has never tried before. I believe in him!

Anyhow, I transitioned my study to help me build a stronger testimony of Christ, and the principle engine for that is James E. Talmage’s, Jesus The Christ. I read a chapter every morning and then record my thoughts. It is just incredible how much my image of the savior has matured in just a week. I have been brought to tears several times and I am only his baptism. I can say with complete certainty though that I know that Jesus IS the Christ. I have no doubt in my mind that he lived, and he that he suffered and died for each and everyone of us. He did it because he LOVES and our Heavenly Father asked him to do it because he LOVES us. Christ made it through the trial of this life, but none of us can do it alone. That is why he reaches his hand out to everyone of us and offers the gift of his atonement which will lift everyone of us to be better and do more. I experience the blessing of the enabling power of the Atonement each and everyday! I know that without Christ life would be hopeless, and I know that because of him we can have hope! I love you all, but God loves you more!

Love,

Elder Joshua Cordon