Tag Archives: Hong Kong

I <3 HK

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well I have had a good eventful week and a half since I last got on!

For starters picking up from the beginning of last week. President Hawks (mission president) called a special district leader meeting. He was a professor at BYU before his mission. He has influenced my life in so many ways! But because he was a professor, teaching means everything to him as it does to me. A missionary had introduced some videos (a link to 1 of 24 videos) by Elder Bednar and other general authorities, Teaching No Greater Call (a link to the website with ALL the material), to him and President Hawks is a man who is quick to observe. He felt every missionary needed to see these videos so he called the district leaders together to introduce the new district meeting plan for the next three months. After that truly mission changing meeting we were able to have a mission changing district meeting. Which set off a fantastic week where we were able to add two new baptismal dates to the teaching pool. They are both friends of a young man in the ward! He has introduced so many people to the church he is awesome!

Then this week we had a last minute meeting with a powerful group of men. Elder Rasband president of the seventy, Elder Allen Director of the missionary department, and the Asia Area presidency (Elder Gong, Elder Wong, & Elder Funk). So we were able to hear from five general authorities and there wives! Very powerful.

The the next day all the members in Hong Kong and all the missionaries got together in a stadium for an all day race event! It was fun I won one race!

Today we have the chance to attend the temple always one of my favorite things to do! Its such a spiritually uplifting experience!

Love you all,

Elder Jared Cordon

Preach My Gospel and Pot Luck

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this was a great week for missionary work we have made leaps and bounds in becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries. I think the mission overall has been a very very humbling experience everyday the Lord reminds me I am nothing without him, and now (I am not sure why so late) I have truly began to understand the power of preach my gospel. This experience to train I feel like has been more for me and less for him sometimes. I have learned a lot about relying on others and allowing them the opportunity to grow, Using my time wisely, and most recently working with the ward.

I was analyzing our situation with the ward and why we are not getting more and more members to be receptive. Then something clicked something so big that I have been missing. Ward Missionaries!! I have been here Six Months and have not used them at all. So I met with the sisters and expressed my desires of having a ward missionary correlation meeting then with the ward mission leader. It went Amazingly they are all on board and have made some new goals. This meeting could not have happened at a better time. It was the 5th sunday and we didn’t have meetings before church so we could do it then and get everybody to attend, also it was right after the ward activity that we had planned. I have been making huge goals about trying to get 1 ward activity a month.

The ward was not so enthusiastic at first but we worked so hard and invited everyone (we did a good old potluck) We ended up having over a hundred people there and about 28 were investigators. with 7 ward referrals! It was amazing the ward is really excited about the success which is the real outcome that have been praying for all week! So moving into this meeting everyone was really excited to plan another event we have now lined up one per month for the rest of the year. In my eyes activities are the genius of this church. Because we contact people every day who are Christians and every time we ask them how they became one its typically “my friend invited me to activities” this helped the ward know its not scary to invite friends to these events!

But hey love you all!
Elder Jared Cordon

As Always!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Well a wonderful week in the orient! We had a lot of mix ups happen this last week in the zone and in my district. They sent away the sisters and brought a set of elders in. Which happens to be my MTC (Missionary Training Center) companion Elder Cederlof and he is training its awesome it work near him and both be training at the same time, and then the other sisters in my ward are training as well so 3 greenies (*editors note: new missionaries) now in the district (*editors note: group of missionaries in a defined area). Its good the ward clearly sees good things happening in this area and we are excited to see the effects of all the excitement new missionaries bring to an area.

This week we also made some great progress with our investigators. We were able to organize a ward activity after some reluctance but it will be awesome we have already got 14 investigators coming and should be getting more. We are doing a good old potluck when I said the idea no one knew what it was but they like the idea. Our ward mission leader is so enthusiastic about all this he has taken a brake from work to do full time church service. It will be a fantastic event! Our investigators have really made some fantastic progress. We have now got uncle Fighter to church twice in a row and he has said he really wants to get baptized its just getting over a lot of addictions. First comes the desire then comes the change. We also got Peter Lo to commit to coming to our activity. We are going to introduce him to Gary because they both are in wheel chairs, love speaking English, Love America, Hate communism, I think they will be best friends for sure.

The biggest difference maker in the work this week is something that was expressed by our investigators. We heard on multiple occasions: You really care about me don’t you? with a look of tears on their face. People are really influenced by the amount of love you can show if you look at them the way Christ does. Well fantastic week.

Love you all! Enjoy the little things!

Elder Jared Cordon

Badabatadatbaa I’m Lovin’ It!!!!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

I love you all!

Elder Jared Cordon

Another Week Down

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

Love you all
Stay amazing!

Elder Jared Cordon

Training!!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

Love you all,

Elder Jared Cordon

Good Week

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

Well love you all and remember that life is good.

Love Elder Jared Cordon

Good Things to Come

Posted on by
1

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you all.

Elder Jared Cordon

1 more down plenty more to go!

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

Love you all

Elder Jared Cordon

20140714-141548-51348508.jpg

20140714-141547-51347821.jpg

20140714-141549-51349038.jpg

The Lord is Opening the Flood Gates

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love you all,

Elder Jared Cordon