Tag Archives: LDS

It’s Getting Close

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Dear Family and Friends,

This was a pretty exciting week here in Butterfly Ward. After 2 1/2 years and no baptisms, we got one lined up for this Sunday. Gary passed his baptismal interview with flying colors. With us trying to make sure he is truly ready we had to see him about 2 times a week outside of church. Its just so awesome to see the change made in people when they are truly eager and ready to take that next step into a life of discipleship. I have been blessed to help Gary reach this opportunity for him to make special covenants with God and recieve the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost! He is wheelchair bound so its gonna be interesting on how we will execute it.

Also this last week Aaron came back into the mix and He also has a baptism for June. But I really love this kid. This week I got him to play his violin for us, he is pretty amazing! We are going to try and get him to play it for Gary’s baptism! We are waiting on a response to that one.

But all is well here in Hong Kong. There is a lot of energy in the mission and we are seeing a lot of success in all the areas, everyone is getting really excited for July for us all to reach our goal!

Hey love you all hope all is well!

Elder Jared Cordon

A Rebirth For Some and A New Decade For Me

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Dear Family and Friends,

Well two more wonderful children of God have entered the waters of baptism!! Kevin and Lori have come a long way since I first met Kevin in a parking lot back in December. I am excited to see what they can make of this wonderful opportunity. A big shout out to Bishop and his wife who were so instrumental in getting us to this point. They opened to their home up to lessons several months ago and that definitely solidified the testimony kevin and lori already had. It is just amazing to see the change that comes into people lives as they begin to accept the gospel!

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Thank you to all who helped to make my birthday last week a special one! I was definitely taken care of here in the Hendricks Avenue ward. At the end of the night on Thursday my companion had organized a small surprise gathering of cake and gifts. Some of my favorite people in the ward were there so it was definitely a wonderful moment. Sis. Laskis also fed us that night and gave me another cake haha. There are so many wonderful people here. The Lord definitely gave me a great week seeing as how we had one of my most productive weeks yet! (Matthew 7:11)

All in all it was an incredible week. We started teaching this wonderful young man Alfred again! I taught him a few months back with Elder Hamilton, but he was lacking that real intent so we parted ways. A couple Sundays ago, his Sister (who is an active member) told us that her mom wanted us to go see Alfred again. We went by the next day. As we sat down with him he just got quite and said, “Elders, I am going to be honest with you…” as he paused I braced for what I thought was bad news, he then continued saying, “I really want to change my life now and I just want you teach me whatever I have to do to have what you have.” Talk about music to a missionaries hears! With maybe a little too much enthusiasm we proceeded to unfold before him the truths of the gospel. We have met with him every single day since and each time he has read from the Book of Mormon and taken notes on what he read. Can I just mention how great god is! His power to soften the hearts of people in their time is amazing!

Inspired by my amazing sister Shalese, Elder Frazier and I are going to take a picture everyday of something we are grateful for/makes us happy! It should be good. Perhaps I might share a few with you next week. If you are lucky haha.

Love, Y’all!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Alligators, Snakes, and Trios

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Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry I was silent last week, the pictures are of what I was doing instead of emailing. I hope that you agree it was time well spent, and if you don’t well too bad it already happened.

St. Augustine is a really cool city. It has some really neat attractions, definitely some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen on my mission. I got two items checked off of my bucket list, I saw huge gator, and I held one. Next task is to find one in the wild and poke it with a stick. A really long stick mind you. Okee Fanokee Swamp here I come! haha oh man that would be cool. 

Along with seeing the gator farm we got to see the Fort they had there and it was really cool. It was definitely a lot bigger than I thought it would be looking from the outside. Needless to say it was a really awesome trip! It all could not have happened without Elder and Sister Christensen though, they help finance all us poor missionaries and made the itinerary. I am very thankful for kind people like them!

Another interesting thing that happened this past week was that Elder Frazier went to the temple and I was in a trio for the day. It was an interesting experience. Luckily I got to pick were we go for the day, so I was able to stay in my area and keep the work moving along. Both of the Elders I was with are in full bike areas so they appreciated the break. Exchanges are nice because they mix up the monotony and you learn so much from serving with other missionaries. 

We got a call from President Craig yesterday and Kevin and Lori can get baptized this week so that is incredibly exciting! Also, we had transfer calls last night and every companionship of elders in the zone got changed except for us, and all the sisters in my district got changed, and 2 sisters in the other district. It was a massive change that I did not see coming! That just means that I get to build a friendship with a lot more missionaries though which is very exciting! Wohoo! Friends!

Love ya’ll!
Elder Joshua Cordon

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Double Dunks & Back Flips

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Dear Family and Friends,

Oh the simple joys of life! One of the happiest moments for a missionary is to see someone who you felt came into your life by divine intervention enter the gate to eternal life through the waters of baptism. I am a very lucky Elder to have been so richly blessed. I will take just a few minutes to describe my two brothers who were baptized this weekend!

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Jim, oh Jim. He is honestly the most prepared person that I have ever met in my entire life. Once he knew it was true, which didn’t take long, there hasn’t been anything that has been a struggle for him to give up. Every time we taught him a knew principle he immediately started doing it. He had to get work off for Sundays and his job wouldn’t comply, so he quit! He spends every day serving his neighbors and doing acts of kindness. He is one of the most kind-hearted men I have ever met in my life. It was an honor to be able to baptize him. Sunday after he was confirmed he also got the priesthood and went and did home-teaching right after church! This church is in dire need of more Jims.

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Then you have the good ole Steevo! This brother has made me laugh more than anyone else. He truly understands good humor. He, like Jim, has been so willing to make the changes in his life to come closer to God. His love and enthusiasm for the Gospel has been an inspiration. He just wants this more than anyone I know. He has no problem with telling everyone he meets about the church! Especially via facebook! He has the potential to be a great missionary! I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him and that the spirit softened his heart so that he let us in to teach him.

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This week was just an unbeatable one with that great weekend coming to a close! I am looking forward to helping these brothers down the path of growth and progression in this amazing church! Sadly Kevin and Lori were unable to join them in the font on Saturday but when they get baptized in a few weeks the joy will be just as sweet!

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A quick word of caution for all yall! If you are going to be attempting a back-flip off of a swing at 6:45 in the morning any time soon, don’t tuck your legs too much or you will over-rotate and turn that back-flip into a back-flop. Trust me I know! It is okay though, the swings and I are still on good terms.

Love Y’all!
Have a great week!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Keep On Keepin’ On

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Dear Family and Friends,

Well A great week with my new companion and new district. I have seen a lot of blessings this week. We have one investigator who is really just taking off and progressing great! He should be baptized this next month. He was a former investigator a while ago and he reached out to us and we have been so blessed to teach him.

I got to really know our ward mission leaders family a lot better! I love that family! It is so nice to be able to sit at dinner with them and I can hold a great conversation about whatever in chinese! So much fun we got to eat with them yesterday while teaching a less active!

Also had an excellent young mens and young womens activity where we had an investigator and less active. I was worried that the games we planned would not be fun but man it was a blast! Kids are the same wherever you live!

This last week our ward mission leader came out with such a great energizing plan. Its a 21 day plan where all the members will be fasting and also making special commitments for the 21 days. Last time we did something like this was a 40 day fast and at the end the Butterfly ward saw a baptism after a 2 year drought. He has got a lot of faith and once we peace this all together I know its going to be big. It will start June 1st.

I have learned a great deal about faith from a lot of these members and seen the real importance and need to be acting as well as talking. Butterfly ward should be taking off here soon.

I love you all and hope all is well

Elder Jared Cordon

PS: Big buddha was really cool! I will send some pictures later on

Family, Isn’t it about time!

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Dear Family and Friends,

It feels like its been a “hot minute” since my last email, but that is just how things go I guess. (I actually have no idea what “hot minute” means, but someone said it the other day and I have been trying to use it since) Time is a really strange thing when you think about it. Technically it goes at a constant rate, but it feels like it is always changing pace. They say it goes in a line, but that definitely is not the case. They say you can spend it, but it is not something you earn, that its actually a gift we eventually learn. We all have a lot of it, but it is never enough. You can use it with care, or you can waste it on fluff. Now that my time of talking is through, I’ll give you my love and bid you adieu. (Special thanks to Elder Sutton with helping me finish that) I hope ya’ll enjoyed my hand at poetry. Now that I have spent all my time trying to come up with a poem on time, I am now out of time. Funny how that works!

I hope y’all will use your time wisely this week, by doing what matters most.

Bubye now, bubye.

Elder Joshua Cordon

“That He Lives”

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Do the Butterfly!!!

Following an amazing 5 sessions of general conference, we were also blessed to witness a baptism in the Butterfly ward. The first baptism in 2 1/2 years!!

IMG_0752[1]It actually caught us off guard this last week when we got a call and the mandarin sisters asked Elder Falk to baptize a Mandarin girl he had found just before I got here. We had seen her at church a few times but we had no Idea it would be this soon. It was not our baptism but it was a ward baptism!

For our investigator Gary, well he is moving along Fantastically. He was having some hard times after last week when he received is baptism commitment, he was feeling baptism is to fast. After bumping heads a little with our ward mission leader over what to teach him we came to a fantastic compromise and taught him an awesome lesson and the spirit was very strong. We helped him overcome some big concerns then recommitted him to his date of May 11th. After conference he smiling definitely feeling the spirit. He will get there.

Other than the part where it was nice to see all the missionaries in the zone and get to spend all day in AC. Conference is sadly something that I know I took for granted before my mission. Now that I have a more clear understanding of our Apostles and Prophets role in Gods majestic plan, I am much more in tune with the spirit. General Conference is a true feasting upon the words.

This time though from the unknowing eye you wouldn’t think the Our Leaders shared any crazy revelation that would shake the world. BUT THEY DID!! The words they shared, if truly taken to heart and followed with exactness, would shake the world. We would see such an outpouring of Gods blessing, we then might be worthy enough to form Zion. Cause its the quality of Gods saints which is preventing us. The words they shared get down the core problem of every single sorrow our world faces. People ask “if God is real why does bad things happen”, well He just gave us the cure so lets take it.

Lets all become the disciple we are destined to be. Lets the Shake the World.

Love you all

Preach out

Elder Cordon
Tang Jeung Louh

April Showers!!

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Dear Family and Friends,

Well April showers! We have been seeing plenty of rain this week! It defiantly makes it harder to street find when it is raining. But hey then if they do stop that makes it all that much better.

The best part of the rain was our service this week at Crossroads foundation. It was raining until we got there, then it stopped just in time to help them with there drainage system cause the building kept flooding. We were able to get all the work done just in time for it start raining right away! We got soaked!! Haha we had to track through a river to put the stuff away.

This week was fun though we had zone training. We were able to hear the good news that the numbers really show that everyone in the mission really wants this 65 baptisms to happen. So we heard great news talked about how we could do better then headed off for Zone 24S (When everyone in the zone swaps companions). I got the chance to head to Tin Sui Wai. Where there is not a building under 30 stories haha just tall tall tall apartment buildings. My companion was in my MTC group so it was great chance to work with him and see how others are doing that are at my same time level. We defiantly have been learning different things but both equally important as we found when we taught we had great unity! He is awesome missionary and he taught me some great things.

Then I came back to my area to have some great success this last Sunday by having a father and a daughter we invited to come to church came. That had a great experience so that’s good.

Looking forward to watching conference this next week, you are all lucky to have seen it already…
 
Well, love you all, have a great week.
 
Elder Cordon

The Dawn Of A New Day!

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Dear Family and Friends,

I may have shared this already, but I got a fortune cookie once that said, “Relish the transitions in your life, they will happen regardless.” Well I am approaching one of those big transitions of the mission. A new companion. Spending 24/7, with a few exceptions, with the same person for 4 1/2 months can either create a great friendship or quite the opposite. I am lucky it was not the latter of the two. Elder Hamilton is one great missionary!! I feel like part of me is leaving. Indeed he will be missed! I wish him the best of luck as he finishes out the last two transfers of his mission. Fleming Island is blessed by the best to have him coming their way.

My new companion is going to be Elder Frazier, who just so happened to be trained by Elder Newbold just before he trained me. So basically we are brothers. I am excited for this next phase of my missionary experience!

This past Sunday was hands down the best Sunday of my mission so far! We successfully committed several people to come to church that day and most were able to come! Even Steven who said that he had to work that morning was able to get work off early to come!! It was so awesome! I can tell the difference it made on the ward, there was just a contagious excited feeling. In all we were able to share this wonderful experience with Bro & Sis Nesbit, Bro Colney, Steven Bryant, and Daniel. All of them seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves!! What a blessing it was to have all of them come! The ward just wrapped their arms around every one of them and the love was tangible. They all have baptismal dates on for the coming month and I hope all the pieces come together that will allow them to join the fold.

Something strange that happened last week was that we were asked to do a baptismal interview for the YSA sisters. Not that being asked was strange, but rather the circumstances that surrounded the interview. We were sent to the large campus of UNF and had to somehow find this dorm which proved to be a challenge in and of itself. Upon finally locating the dorm hall we learn that the sisters wont even be there for the interview which is regular protocol. They told us to just wait in the lobby and she will come down to meet us. So here we are on a college campus in a dorm hall just sitting in the lobby waiting for a girl. It didn’t help that we were wearing suits and we appeared to be lost. We also had no idea what this girl looked like, so we just said high to every girl in the lobby– hoping each would react in such a way that let us know if she was who we were looking for. After a few awkward attempts, we decided to just take a seat and act like we knew what we were doing. No sooner had we done so that the awkward tension subsided and a sense of control over this situation returned. In a few short minutes the baptismal candidate arrived that interview commenced.

Moral of the above story and the lesson for you all this week, always act like you know what you are doing even if you don’t.

Love, Ya’ll!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Mandarin Zone Elders

Those with a second tie around their necks are the Elders being transferred.

My Companion and I

Elder Hamilton and I

When the weather outside is frightful!

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Dear Family and Friends,

Well we have been getting lots of rain and beautiful display of lightning, so it keeps the work interesting for sure. WE started the week off right with Monday evening having a lot of success right out with two great street contacts. 1 of which is victor lau. The next couple of days were very slow with little to no success, and we had a lot of people lined up to teach this week it seemed really likely we were going to be hitting our goals but then it seemed like every option just kinda fell out. We got to teach Gary (he has the Baptismal date) and he continues to progress everytime and he has also committed to getting to church every week, which has keep the last two weeks. Even though our other options fell through we were also able to pick up two new prospects. So there is Victor we met on monday that was a really short contact but we met him yesterday at the church with his daughter and they have committed to coming to church next week. Also we happened to find another man in a wheel chair who loves america, Peter Lo, Him and Gary could be good friends. We met him two days in a row. We actually had seen him 3 times before the fist lesson he has a motor chair and he would always cruise past us and say something like: “Happy Hunting for Converts” haha. Well we finally got him to stop on the fourth occasion and looks like he might be one of those converts. Although a lot of options fell through in the that time we were able to find these other two I feel really blessed.

Love you all back home

Elder Cordon