Tag Archives: Elder Joshua 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

Short one this week!

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Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was a terrific one. We stayed really busy and saw a lot of success. We managed to set 3 new baptismal dates and found 6 new investigators. The Lord truly is taking care of us.

I am all out of time though so I am just going to share a quick testimony.

I know with every ounce of my soul that this church is run by REAL Apostles and Prophets today. Men who truly do receive guidance and revelation for the world from God. I sustain these men and would serve in whatever capacity they asked me to do. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; that he truly did see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that Book of Mormon is the most correct book of earth. I know that if someone wants to experience true and lasting happiness than they need to live the commandments. I honestly believe that if people only knew about the happiness they could receive from living the Gospel that not a soul on earth would reject us at the door step. I also know though that God is working on everyone, and that our job as missionaries is to find those who are ready and direct them to wonderful gift that savior has given everybody.

I thought to myself this morning that the savior is like a father over a few month period has lost sleep and put all his energy into making some handmade gifts for his children to give them at Christmas. Each gift is personal and was made with love, and designed to bring great happiness to each child. On Christmas day this father offers his gifts to his children. The first child notices that the gift is in a small box and decides that it most not be that great and doesn’t open it. The next child opens the gift and sets it on his shelf where it gathers dust. But the last child takes the gift and cherishes it and allows it to make him happy everyday. Just like these children Christ has offered us a gift that will bring us ultimate happiness, but what are we going to do with it? What are we doing with it?

I know that our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ love us and want nothing more than to see us be happy. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all!!!

Elder Joshua Cordon

This week was crazy!!

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Dear Family and Friends,

I don’t even know where to begin…

Men Working

Last Tuesday after a great first district meeting as a new district, Elder Newbold and I put on the service clothes, grabbed a mower and got to work. We mowed 2 1/2 lawns in like 2 hours. The reason there is a half in there is because we started mowing and then the guy who the lady apparently hired (I guess she didn’t think we would actually mow her yard) pulled up and at first was annoyed because he thought we were stealing his yard. When he found out we were just missionaries doing service he relaxed and gave us some gatorade. He was a cool guy. He also finished the yard in 1/3 of the time haha. We tried to mow the Suttons yard without getting caught, but that is hard when they are home haha 🙂 So after we finished we had a lesson with them.

Choose the Right

On Wednesday we had a slow day before dinner, but then during dinner we split up and just read the Book of Mormon looking for direction. I found myself in Alma 39 (great chapter), and we both left the apartment ready to go! We found two new investigators that night!! Also that day we went to the senior center to do some volunteer work and ended up doing a chair exercise with some old ladies called sit-down dancing haha it was really funny!

DSC00170

Let me tell you about one of them. We were about to pull away from a street because the lady we intended to visit wasn’t home, but the spirit told me that we couldn’t leave yet. So we decided to knock a few doors. When we were standing in front of one house this lady came out and asked us about Joseph Smith. We ended having a great conversation, gave her a Book of Mormon and got a return appointment. This lady told us that we should go see her sister though that lives on the other side of town, but her mom (Jeana Hutto) wouldn’t be interested because she is hardcore southern baptist.

When we went and contacted the referral we showed up with working gloves hoping it would soften her mom’s heart. It worked. We actually just had dinner with her family yesterday. The lady grew up baptist, but recently stopped going to church because of a some doctrinal issues she had a problem with. Some being that she believes that Godhead to be three distinct individuals and that there has to be more scripture than the Bible.

On Saturday though we went by for a return appointment with Jeana’s daughter. As we pulled up to her house though I felt like we shouldn’t go, but that we should just leave. We both agreed and just pulled away. Come to find out yesterday that she had been drinking all weekend and Saturday was the worst. The spirit really knows what it is doing and I am glad I listened.

Yesterday was also a terrific day! Kayliah got confirmed a member during church and we found some great investigators!

Sleeping Children

This hangs on the outside of our door.

Now to explain that sign on our apartment door. (The one that reads: Sleeping Children DO NOT knock or they will wake up, Thank You, Chelsey and Robert) So we may or may not have told a guy where we live and we are very confident that he may try to rob us. So we said a prayer that he would forget and we had the sister missionaries write this sign for us so that we could throw-off the scent. Apparently it has worked so far. haha I just wonder what the neighbors think?

Anyhow, Sorry for the long sporadic email! There is actually a lot more to share but I have to stop somewhere.

Love Ya’ll!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Chris and Kayliah’s Baptism

He just received the Priesthood

This young man just received the Priesthood

I have successfully completed a transfer!

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Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry for the Tuesday update, but that happened because of transfers. Luckily I get to stay here and continue to labor in the lovely Lake City, Florida zone! My comp was made District leader so I will be doing a lot more exchanges this transfer which is fine with me. It adds a little flavor to the weeks. Overall life is going great though!! One awesome investigator of ours is Sis. Singh, I don’t know if I have mentioned her or not, but she is just full of the most crazy questions!! It is great to ask questions, everyone should, it is healthy because so much growth can happen upon searching and finding answers, but it makes it frustrating when you are trying to make a lesson plan haha. Yesterday we had a lesson with her that went really well. We taught her the Plan of Salvation, with a little Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and tithing sprinkled in. She started out by asking some really odd yet insightful questions and was just really confused, but we asked her to wait till the end in case all of her questions are answered. When we finished and asked if she had any questions she said, “I love this so much! All those questions that I thought were important were either answered or the just don’t matter anymore!” It was awesome to hear that! She promised to read and pray, and come to church on Sunday!!

I have had an interesting experience with the scriptures lately. So for the first part of my mission I have had this frustration with the Bible only because there are mis-translations that have totally misguided and blinded so many people. So I would never use the Bible except for some memorized quotes from PMG scriptures. THEN we went over to member in our wards house who is in charge of the YSA in the Stake and we have a YSA we are working with. We were talking though and I asked about some essays he had written that use the Bible to explain the views in mormonism. After a very long talk and a lot of biblical examples I walked away with a new found love for the New Testament. However, it then took away from the fact that we want to focus our teaching on the Book of Mormon. So after a few days of being Bible bi-polar, I finally resulted in my current feelings. “I believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly, I also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” Sound familiar haha  😉 It is definitely good to know my Bible, and I do know it better know, but I will focus my efforts on the Book of Mormon.

We found this awesome couple last week doing some tracting!  They are an elderly couple named Jim and Mary Hathaway that is in their 80s and they don’t go to a church regularly right now because Jim asks to many questions that don’t get answers! Of course this put a smile on our face because we know that we can give him the answers he is looking for! They also watch the BYU channel regularly haha. They are so ready! We had a really good lesson with them on Saturday and they agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! Whoot Whoot!

Life is good though!! I just need more energy, 8 hours isn’t enough! Br. Sutton last week said that he knows that everything we have taught him is true and he even came to Scripture Class last week, so did JC! JC was a big surprise though because we swung by his house to invite him and his sister said that he was really angry (so angry he just punched a hole in the wall) and didn’t want to talk with anyone, but we invited him a then went over to church. 10 minutes after we started he came walking in the door and stayed to whole time. What a

This saturday we have… drum roll please… A BAPTISM! It is Chris (12) and Kaylia (10) Gallagher. They are the grand kids of a recent convert Sis. Hug and they are such champions! They are both really excited and Elder Newbold is baptizing Chris and I am baptizing Kaylia. Also their parents are not members… can only else smell the sweet scent of potential in the air. Cause I CAN!

Anyway, Ya’ll are awesome!!

Elder Joshua Cordon

P.S. here is a conversation in Southern

M R Ducks
M R Not
O S M R
C M Wangs

Can anyone translate?

**Put your translation in the comments and I will send them to Elder (Josh) Cordon. :)** (His Sister)

Tried and Blessed This Week For Sure!!

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Dear Family and Friends,

It is interesting how much my mission can feel like a roller coaster ride. Last Monday we had a district bowling party which was awesome! I had a whopping score of 116, and beat my companion so he had to buy me ice cream. He makes all these bets with me and has literally lost every one of them. He would have had to buy groceries twice now if I wasn’t so nice.

So one of the highlight lessons this week was when we got our super awesome family, the Suttons, over to the home of one of our awesome families in the church, the Hergets. I was on trade-offs that day and Elder Newbold went with Br. Hand up to the North side of town and Br. Herget was my companion so I could be there for the lesson. They had dinner and the lesson went great! It was about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentence, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and [Enjoying] to the End) blesses families. They have kids that are the same age so that worked out really well and the spirit was very strong. Also I got the Hergets to teach most of the lesson, and I feel like they could be great friends. It is so great to work with members!

So I go from that on Thursday to the worst spiritual experience of my mission on Friday. We going to contact a potential on our records when we saw this guy in his front yard playing with his dogs. We decided to go and talk with them and as I was walking up I got this terrible feeling like something bad was going to happen. So I should have just got out of there, but I wasn’t sure of how to handle the situation. The guy invited us inside, and once again I had that feeling and I literally new exactly what was going to happen. I prayed for strength though rather than just getting out of there.

We talked to him for a little bit and got to know him better, then suddenly the spirit leaves and the guy changes the subject and begins pegging us with these ridiculously worded and annoying questions. Trying to get us tangled in our words. He failed and it got him obviously frustrated. Then he starts to tell us how he had this experience where he went to turn the page of his friends Book of Mormon and he felt a feeling that he hasn’t felt since he did sorcery. And tells us that we simply haven’t asked enough questions or else we would see that our religion is false, and that he feels bad that we are going to hell and that he loves us more than we could possibly comprehend and that is the only reason he does this. I bore a short testimony about how I follow the spirit because it testifies of truth and that he didn’t speak truth. And that if he wanted to know, he could find out if the Book of Mormon was true but he has to read first, turning pages won’t do anything for you. Elder Newbold shared a testimony as well, and then we shook hands and departed. What a waste of a solid hour of prime proselyting time!

Also if anybody wants to know what that feeling was that he felt when went to turn the page, it was the same feeling Joseph Smith felt before his prayer in the grove.

After that experience we were totally drained of the spirit, so we gave each other blessings that night, and I was felt one of the most peaceful feelings I have ever felt. And the blessing gave me some wonderful counsel.

The following day went really well. And then Yesterday we had a baptism in the Ward! It wasn’t one of our investigators, but it is always good to see some one change their life for the better and come into the fold of God. God is great and he takes good care of those who listen to his counsel! I know this to be true and I can feel the blessings in my life as I try each and every day to align my will with God’s. Then only way that can happen is through sincere and earnest prayer, something that I am very grateful for!

I love you all!

Elder Joshua Cordon

P.S. this is the sixth week of my mission in the field which means that transfers is coming up! Here is a picture of the current zone though. I wonder how it will change.

 

First Zone of my mission.

First Zone of my mission.

Life is Good!

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Dear Friends & Family,
 
My time here at the MTC has been awesome!!! I have learned so much and I have already had the opportunity to hear two amazing devotionals. The first was by Ted Gibbons, who did a narative about Joseph Smith’s his finals days from the eyes of Willard Richards. They guy talked really fast and loud, but I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was one of those ones that when you get out you are completely speechless and you feel like you are walking on a cloud.
 
Then on Tuesday we had a devotional by Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy. (I think it is really funny that the two devotionals are given by Ted and Tad. I hope the next guy is a Todd.) It was literally perfect for a Southern mission in the bible belt. I have never taken notes so furiously in my life. He gave scripture after scripture, and showed how the blueprints for Christ’s church can be found completely in the New Testament, and that we are the only church that matches those blueprints. My district and the Branch presidency collaborated for an hour afterwards, combining notes to make a handout for everyone to put in their scriptures.
 
On other news, our zone lost three districts on Tuesday, but we only had one show up. So our zone consists of only 22 people. Basically it is tiny it feels like. The new district seems really cool we just haven’t had much opportunity to interact with them.
 
I finally get to do some much needed laundery today. I personally hate re-wearing workout shirts, I am just saying.
 
One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the past week, is the role the Holy Ghost plays in my life. I am comforted by it everytime I pray and read the scriptures, but as far as it guiding my actions, I supposed I didn’t understand it fully. I wanted the Holy Ghost to either comfirm or chastise everyone of my actions, but more often than not I will be acting by the spirit and never even realize it. As Elder Bednar put it, “Be a good boy, honor your covenants, keep that commandments, and STOP worrying about it.” A lesson I very much need to learn.
 
I just want to say that I have such a powerful testimony of prayer. I know that if you prayer with a sincere heart, and a true desire for answers that you will receive answers. If you feel like this is not the case, I challenge you to pray tonight if your Heavenly Father loves, and ask with a true desire to know, and with faith that he will answer, and I promise that the Holy Ghost will confirm it to you.
 
I love you all!
 
Elder Joshua Cordon

Joshua’s Mission Address

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For those of you who would like to send me letters while I am at the MTC for the next 10 days or when I am out in the mission field these are my addresses.  I would love to hear from anyone who is willing to send a letter!

From now until June 10th My MTC mailing address is:

Elder Joshua James Cordon
JUN11  FL-JAK
2013 N 900 E Unit 309
Provo UT 84602

**Feel free to use the free delivery service of dearelder.com if submitted by 10am MST he will receive the letter that evening. You will need his MTC address for that as well.

After June 10th send all mail and/or packages to:

Elder Joshua James Cordon
Florida Jacksonville Mission
8663 Baypine Rd Ste 102
Jacksonville, FL 32256
United States