Tag Archives: Miracles

Temple Work- Jared

Posted on by
1

Dear Family and Friends,

This was another great couple of weeks! We really have been blessed this last week was temple day so that moved and shrunk my p-day. Which I am not complaining cause I got to go to the temple it jsut took away from me emailing you all.

These last 2 weeks we only had 3 days where we did not teach a lesson. So things are really picking up for us. We have 3 solid investigators now. One pretty new, the other should have a confirmed baptism date by the end of the week and the other is our 82 yeard old eternigator(he will come around as soon as he realizes God is better than horse racing). Things are really looking good. Its been a hard road opening up a new companionship for your first area, but by golly we have done it. Also a young man we found sitting on a park bench my first month got baptised yesterday. He is a Mandarin so we didn’t get to teach him, but man we sure found him! So I kinda count that as my first baptism haha.

We have learned a vital lesson that our president was tryin to teach us. Which is when you focus your priorities in order(the number 1 being the most important thing and 3 being the least important) you can recieve them all. As far as finding goes families are the 1 and then you have young people then old people. We have made it a big focus of ours to really shoot for those families. Its a principle that we tried and well it absolutly works. We have been finding a lot of families these last couple of weeks, also a lot of young people, and then of cours the poe poes and the soak soaks. When you align your priorities with the lord he absoluty makes them possible.

I know the lord loves us and I have seen miracles in peoples lives, this church isn’t just a christian church. Its the Church of Jesus Chirst where he leads it as surely as he lead it when he established during his minitstry. Its not where we learn about Christ, its where become like him and truly know him.

Love, Elder Jared Cordon

There is Good Chaos and Bad Chaos -Joshua

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

There has yet be any consistency here in this area. No two weeks have been the same. There has always been something that has set the week apart and made it interesting to me in some way or another. I will have to say that that has definitely been the best part about serving as a Zone Leader here in this area.

Last Wednesday was transfers and I was wondering how that was going to effect us because it takes place in our Zone, but at the same time it doesn’t fall under the realm of any of our responsibilities. Wednesday morning came and we hadn’t heard anything so we were just expecting to have a full day of regular proselyting. Well then we got a call from one of our district leaders asking if he could have Elder Hamilton’s bike helmet because he is getting transferred to an area where he will need it and that he also needs our help jumping his car. So we called a quick audible in our plans and went and helped him out.

Just as we were finishing up there, the assistants called and asked if we could help them with getting one the APs bike from their apartment. We of course said yes and helped with that. We had a good chat with Elder Tuft as we rode in the car with him. (He has been the assistant for almost a year and he just got released, he is also my mission great-grandpa)

Once we finished up there we chatted for a bit with Sis. Craig and Elder & Sister Rhoads and snacked on the food they had their for transfers. We no sooner finished up that when those Elders we had helped earlier called asking if we could jump their car again.

Having completely ruined our morning plans we took a quick lunch and went and had a lesson with our recent convert Solomon. Just as we were finishing up the lesson President Craig called and asked rather urgently how quickly we could get to the Mandarin Chapel. We told him 10 minutes and got into the car and sped off to meet him. We then accompanied him to the airport to pick a Temple Square sister from Brazil who just got transferred here. He couldn’t go alone so he needed our help. It was great to be able to just relax and talk with President about random manly things like cars and sports as well as mission related topics. We had a good amount of time in the car with him and so there was no pressure at all.

All in all it was cool that the desire of my heart was met because I really wanted to take part in a bit of the chaos that surrounds the process of receiving new, sending home, and transferring missionaries.

We also had some great success and some crazy encounters this week as well. The success was seen in who came to church. We were able to see Lily there and she is still very excited about baptism in two weeks, and also one of investigators, a black sister named Genesis, was able to come. She brought two of her children and the ward just wrapped their arms around her. She loved it so much and is probably at this point already wanting to get baptized, I can’t blame her, this church is pretty great.

Something that happened Saturday though was that we were teaching one of our investigators, Wally, in front of his apartment, when this cookoo lady came walking up. She had what I hope was a cigarette in her hand and she waved it around and she rudely interrupted the lesson we were having. It didn’t help that my patience with her was non-existent due to previous encounters, as she proceeded to tell us that we are wasting our time here, “everyone on this street has been saved.” She then said, “In the name of Jesus Christ.” and then paused for a moment in strange mentally distant way, while I cringed at what might happen next. It seemed as if a she was shut down temporarily why and evil spirit took over as captain of the vessel. Then she proceed shout some of the most profane language referring the “sinners” across the street. I, completely baffled at what just took place, protested immediately the use of such language especially when accompanied with the name of the son of God. I no sooner finished when she turned on me and managed to use even more profane of language than I had heard before. I will not say what i was tempted to do at that moment. Luckily I managed to stay very calm as I looked at my investigator, patted him on the shoulder– all while under verbal fire– and told him, “well brother, have a good night.” We (Elder Hamilton and I, and a member that was with us) turned and just walked back to the car. The lady yelled the whole time we were walking to our which was much longer walk than I had hoped. After we had sufficiently distanced ourselves from the spawn of satan, I managed to get a chuckle out of the other guys by quoting the restoration movie in saying, “God’s grace is sufficient to save all sinners.” A good way to conclude the worst encounter of my mission yet. I guess as a missionary, you really do see the best and worst sides of the world.

Love Ya’ll

Elder Joshua Cordon

Things are happening!!! -Jared

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a great week for our companionship! A bad week as far as numbers are concerned but for everything else its awesome. The ward had given a referal the other week of a family. Well we have done our best with this opportunity. The daughter and her friend have been coming to English class and they have had such a great time that when we asked the mom to come to church that she could not refuse when the two girls were jumping up and down with excitement. So she came with the two girls sadly the husband didnt come but we will keep working on him. They ended up staying the whole time and had a really great experience! Also there is a opportunity down the road for another family through this girls friend.

Families have been a really big focus for the mission and especially the zone! this Last week we had a great zone training meeting and we all made a commitment to give a little time at night to additional prayer for families. Also yesterday I made a specific fast that we could find families. Well my prayers were defiantly answered we found more families yesterday than we have my whole time here. The Lord does not dictate our desires but when they allign with his he is sure to let us know.

Also cool little blip is that we will be reinstating the split tags very soon. Its been a long standing tradition in Hong Kong tell early last year to have split english and cantonese on the same tag. With the great diversity here there is a constant need for both. Well the church has finally reaproved that and we will be recieving those tags any day now. I can send a picture. Its cool cause we are the only mission in the world with dual language tags.

Well everyone I am so greatful for the prayers and the support and Happy New Year!

Love Elder Jared Cordon

It’s been awhile! -Jared

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry for the laps of writing the last couple weeks the Holidays have been crazy here! And its only about to get worse with chinese new year around the corner! But the Lord has been sending a lot of blessing our way, we have been able to have some pretty amazing experiences!

Our wonderful investigator! Well he was moving along but we keep feeling stumped, Elder Howell and I decided to turn it to the Lord as always and we felt prompted to switch up our member present to a very unlikely canidate and well it turned out to be exactly what we needed. He was able to be the right amount of help of being able to put our words in the right kind of way, and help us analize the real need our investigator has. Also the ward gave a great refferal of a family that lives pretty close to us. They came to the ward Christmas party(which was a blast) and also english class while bringing a friend family too… so a pretty great christmas present from the Lord.

Speaking of english class Elder Howell had a great Idea to mix it up and we mad a christmas themed one about different Christmas carols and their vocabulary. Super Fun! We have have been able to have a pretty amazing holiday!

This week we also learned a great deal about stepping out of our comfort zone and we have been talking to people we normally would not have and we have seen some great miracles from it. We had our best finding day yet this week with four golden street lessons–of course they are outside of our area–but hey I dont care if I teach them just as long as they come!

So its been amazing and I love all those who read this I hope you all have a happy New Year!

Love Elder Cordon

Another week into the rest of my life.

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

So this past week was a good one. It definitely kept me on my toes as each day presented some unique experience. I would have it no other way though!

I did my first exchange as a zone leader with a district leader, and though I am sure it should have been the other way I learned a bunch on that exchange. Elder Feliz is such a terrific missionary. He has been out a lot longer, and is very humble. He is a convert from the Dominican Republic, and he one of best missionaries in the mission. One thing that I learned from him that I really appreciated was his selflessness. He is a YSA missionary which means he works with all the young single adults in his area. Nevertheless, during our exchange he still talked to everybody regardless of their age or relationship status. We ended up finding a family and a single guy that were both very interested, but he immediately handed them over to the missionaries who are supposed to teach them without even flinching. (I say that example because it is proving to be the exception rather than the rule) All in all it was a great experience for me.

Another wonderful experience was that we found this awesome Haitian family. They are both very intelligent and they have an incredible desire to learn. We had our return appointment lesson with them last night and it went really well. They had a bunch of questions from when they read the Book of Mormon, and they are excited to learn a lot more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their names are Gabon and Emmanuela. I am looking forward to our lesson with them tomorrow.

All in all it was a great week. I feel like I have so many wonderful experiences everyday that I would never be able to talk about all of them, but when it comes to writing this email it seems that a lot of it escapes me haha so well that is it for this week!

I love ya’ll! Merry Christmas!

Elder Joshua Cordon

It’s About the Little Things -Jared

Posted on by
2

This was another fun exciting week! We had our trio for a couple days and and now we got a sweet Bundeih (means a local missionary). Its a great benefit to helping me with the language.

Well I would like to share a quote that a great man told to me recently:

“At least I can walk, at least I can pray, at least I can learn.” -Jay Riding

Thats a great way to remember all the little blessings The Lord gives me in my life to act on my own agency everyday. Every week I can walk more, I can pray better, and I have to the ability to see more of what the Lord wants me to learn. Remember the little things and they surely will become great things.

The work in Hong Kong is progressing we are meeting amazing people everyday who are all being brought just a little closer to Christ. We also got another progressing investigator who during our lessons starting recalling how often the lord has reach out to him to accept this message in his life. He recalled after hardships he had met Elders and before a great miracle in his life he had met Elders, and now when he realized life wasn’t what he wanted he met some more Elders. The Lord does this work in his own way and his own time. Just keep walking praying and learning.

Elder Cordon

Here It Goes Again- Jared

Posted on by
Reply

Dear everyone!

I have another crazy week! The living situation with the 6 in the apartment has been a bit crazy but also fun, plus apparently Americans can develop a Hong Kong allergy haha. Don’t worry I was able to beat the system and find a cure. Its issues with wearing contacts and the bad air here. So all the missionaries have just resorted to wearing glasses, well given my eye situation I can’t wear glasses so after being blind for 2 days I was able to find the cure which was in these eye drops! Hooray I can see and the work can move forward.

This week we were able to get our first member present with our investigator, since he is 84 we got a man in the ward who is about the same age. They were best friends from the start, I love listening these 2 old Cantonese guys chat back and forth. I had no Idea what they were saying but I feel like it was helping haha. Also we have been blessed this week in being able to find a lot of Chinese men we could teach lessons to! It was great and we have a couple new investigators scheduled! I love being able to enjoy the fruit of my labors and not having to pass them off that was so hard! But this last week we were able to have dinner with a part member family and they have 2 little twin girls! Her story is amazing!

When she was married she found out she could not have children and that was something that was hard for her, but when she met the missionaries and started receiving lessons she was able to meet President Anderson and he told her she would have kids, well sure enough after she was baptized it wasn’t much longer until she was pregnant with twins!

This gospel is amazing and I love the change it has been able to make in families here and the lives it has truly blessed.

I love you all

Elder Cordon

Mission Conference with Elder Zwick!! – Joshua

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was definitely an interesting one! I don’t think it really got good until Thursday though. In order to keep missionaries out of trouble on Halloween they made a rule that we all had to be inside someone where by 6. It through and interesting twist into the scheme of things. We managed to stay busy for most of it. But we ended up getting a free hour in the apartment, at the end of it. We spent the time going through a Halloween gift basket that a wonderful sister in the ward put together for us, and I tied the first few notes of my paracord scripture case that I am making for Stefan (who had his baby this week!) as a baptism gift. It is going to be sweet! haha

Friday was simply amazing! We had the blessed opportunity to go to Gainesville for a spectacular Mission Conference that was very much enlightening. It was put on by Elder Zwick. He is the executive director of the Missionary Department. He is a very powerful speaker and he gave some very insightful comments. I got the opportunity to participate with Elder Barcala, by doing a brief training on listening to the spirit. It was a wonderful opportunity for me and I hope that it also helped somebody else. Besides being able to meet Elder Zwick, I got to see President and Sister Craig which is always a wonderful thing, as well as Elder Newbold! We got to chat it up as I filled him in on the latest and greatest that is happening in Deep Creek.

One of the highlights of the conference was the talk by Elder Zwick on sanctification. He taught that sanctification begins by living the Law of Sacrifice. He defined the Law of Sacrifice for missionaries as a perfect use of the Lord’s time. I did a lot of reflection about how I could use the Lord’s time in a more productive and effective way. He also showed us one of the fully loaded Ipad-minis that we will be getting very shortly which will be super awesome!

After the conference and before the evening devotional we got to go procelyting on UF’s campus! We had some good success actually. 2 new gators in only 1 1/2 hours 🙂

My miracle is that on saturday we were trying to contact a potential investigator, but his house was empty and apparently he had moved out only a few days before. We went over to talk to the neighbor who informed us and it turns out that he is a less-active member. He is actually one of the 3 Ensey brothers who we have ran into bumped into randomly over the last month. His brother Thomas actually just moved into the that he was at, and so we talked to them and met his fiance and her daughter. We also were able to give Thomas a blessing of healing for his ankle because he sprained it. We went back on Sunday and had a great lesson with them! and then they came to the CES dinner and broadcast at the stake center with us! We have another lesson with them today! Finally another family to work with! I love families! Plus their little girl Nevaeh is possibly one of the most darling 5 year olds I have ever met! God definitely put us in their path and they are so ready for the Gospel right now!

I love this work so much! I know that true happiness and peace in this life comes from living the gospel. I know from experience that this is true. I know with my whole heart that, “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.” (3 Nephi 5:13) I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

Love Y’All

Elder Joshua Cordon

Service Helps! And So Does Chili :) – Joshua

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Family and Friends,

I had many great experiences this past week. This first one I wanted to mention is about a less-active sister in our ward. We went by her house two weeks ago and at the end of the lesson we asked if we could have some more of her amazing cooking. She loves to cook (and we knew that) so she readily accepted. The result was DELICIOUS! Southern cooking is a hoot! (that means it is really good in southernese) I have come to find that one of my favorite southern dishes though is creamed corn, and acres peas. It is probably on the healthier side of the southern cuisine, which is good for a guy who eats as much as I do. (After my performance at a members home on Thursday I have received several comments haha.) Also the dinner gave us a good chance to invite her to church and talk some gospel with her.

On Wednesday I had an exchange with Elder Lake from Price Creek. During our trade-off with another member in our ward we found ourselves stuck in a pickle after striking out on all my plans. While praying silently for some direction I felt that we should visit the Greens. Upon arriving it seemed like their daughter was going to chase us off, but I stood my ground and insisted on doing some service for them. Once they realized that we were serious, they accepted. We proceeded to till and rake their garden for the next hour. The result was a gift bag of microwave meals and frozen deer leg, dirty hands, and softened hearts. They asked if we could come back Saturday and help finish the project. After that service project we part of the family according to their 38 year old daughter Michelle. They experienced some real hard ship two nights ago with the passing of their grandson/nephew though so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great.

Lastly, we had some awesome success with the Fall Festival this past week. By the grace of God we were able to get Nick there are Camekco(who brought her sister). They both had a great time as we enjoyed some great conversation with great people, while eating great chili. Seeing things come together so well is such a great feeling!

All in all it was a terrific week and I hope it was for the rest of ya’ll!

Have a great week and don’t forget to pray. One simple prayer opened the doorway to some great service and new friends!

Love ya’ll!

Elder Joshua Cordon

Wow that was fast!! – Jared

Posted on by
Reply

Hello Family and Friends,

This might have been one of the fastest weeks I have ever had. Probably because it was just so good! A couple of firsts this week, we got our first investigator. We also will be seeing him again tonight. He is 84 and we can comprehend what he is saying! That is a miracle in itself! Also I taught my first street lesson yesterday in all Cantonese! The gift of tongues is real! Normally I just let my trainer do all the talking! I also went to a normal sacrament meeting this week, which was amazing because it has been 4 weeks since I have been able to take the sacrament. It was quite an amazing experience the spirit I felt to be able to feel the gift of the atonement and know that all those mistakes I have made I can be forgiven of!

The ward here is small but they are amazing! They are blessed to be one of the only wards with 6 missionaries! 2 Sisters and 4 Elders, President would love to see this ward grow enough to have to split!

This is the first week we have been able to have street lessons with people we will actually be able to teach! So far it’s been a lot of girls and non-Cantonese speakers. But we have taught 5 to Chinese men. That’s a miracle because this city is so crazy and everyone is so busy! So to get that kind of time from the men was pretty amazing! Our secret is to get over the lack of confidence and stop and asking people for the chance to teach them and just do it. When you’re really assumptive and assertive in a polite and kind way it really works. We were tired of people saying no, truth is they don’t realize what they are saying no to, so don’t give them the option.

I realize how much of missionary work is truly the work! You have to try your best to be the best missionary you can be and that is having the faith to talk to people and the diligence to grow. We have been struggling with boldness so this last week we really focused on it! For these Chinese men you got to be very confident and bold, something I struggle with in Cantonese because I am really insecure about the language. Yesterday though something hit me and we stopped in the middle of evening studies and went out and I was talking to as many people as I could and that’s what lead to the street lesson that I gave. The Lord is amazing. He can even help me speak Cantonese.

I love everyone and hope all is well! Thanks for all the support!

Elder Jared Cordon