Tag Archives: Mormon

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

Exchange Week!

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Dear Family and Friends,

The highlight of this week was definitely the exchanges that we went on. We had one with one of our district leaders and the other with the Assistants. Exchanges are nice because they are good change of pace. It really helps to keep things from becoming monotonous especially when you don’t stay in your own area for it. For the exchange with Elder Jones, I stayed in the area and we had some great success! We were able to teach some good lessons, especially one to Jim who agreed to be baptized in May, and find some new investigators. He is a good elder indeed! They other with the AP Elder Huntington was pretty nice. Not to say I didn’t do anything, but it is nice to sit back and let someone else fully take the wheel for a day. We had some good success there as well! It was just nice to get to know both of the Elders a little better. Each time I like to engage in frivolous deep doctrinal discussions. We usually just end up more confused, but it is definitely a good mental exercise. They also both taught me a lesson or two on how I could become a better missionary. It is amazing how God will reveal to us one step at a time something we can work on, and if we can just muster the courage to always heed the counsel we receive than our growth accelerates! I have definitely felt that!

One thing that is interesting though that I have observed is that having a healthy amount of discontentment is essential to making progress. Somebody who is fully satisfied with their life will never have the desire great enough to evoke change. I am starting to see that in some of the people we are teaching, you can exhort with all the boldness and love you can muster to live life at higher and more joyful level, but if they have no desire to change any excuse they can think of is enough to stop them, and sadly, anyone can make an excuse to not do something. It is a tough and frustrating thing to witness in the life of someone you have grown to love so much, to know that greater joy and happiness could be theirs if they would only listen, yet they refuse to. I am sure I am just getting a sample of what God feels every single moment of every single day. However, it is days like that when you just accept that you have done all you know how to do, and if they don’t want to change than that is their choice. I am learning that it is not our job as missionaries to change anyone, nor should we try to make it our job, but rather we simply share the message and invite them to let it change their life. If they don’t want it then we must move on. Anyhow, so I hope that all makes sense! It is just what has been on my mind lately!

Have a great week!

Love Ya’ll!
Elder Joshua Cordon

True!

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Well an exciting week this last week! The biggest being the amount of new investigators we got! We have a good teaching pool hoping to turn it into a great baptismal font soon. There has been a lot of sowing going on in Hong Kong for some time due to the amazing work of missionaries. I feel so blessed to be in an area were I have the opportunity to now to reap of their labors.

This last week we had stake conference. Elder Randy Funk who spoke in priesthood session, presided over the whole event as well as president Hawks on the stand. Due to the fact that they are stressing member missionary work so strongly. They have plans to have to new stakes by the end of the year. So that means that we need trustable priestholders to fill those spots. Member accountability here is unreal. God is making it clear that he does not only want sunday members. The plans an actions they are setting up and excuting have been making a world of a difference here.

Its so interesting that in a culture where there is by no means a christian background that the members are so amazing. When you can sit in a beautiful brand new chapel that has the overflow opened to the stage by the basketball court. It helps remind that the message and the saints are the same everywhere in the world. Its because they have all come to the very same conlcusion. That Christ lives, and he undoubtably leads this church. This church is consistent because it is lead of God not by the ideas and concepts and differing opinions of men. This church is true.

Love you all.

Elder Cordon
Tang Jeung Louh (chinese ping yam)

Literally and Spiritually Fed

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Dear Family and Friends,

I had a wonderful week this past week, which is not surprising because I always do. I is raining today though, it might clear up, but we will see.

One of the notable experiences of this past week was that I had the opportunity to go into a full bike area for the day to do an exchange with another Elder. It honestly was really nice to get on the bikes for a full day. Considering the size of our area here and the usually scatter plot of appointments that we have it would be unpractical most days in our area so I am glad to have had that chance. I knew that this area was struggling to find people to teach and that things had been slow for them so I was hoping that by some miracle that the lord would guide us to at least one person who is interested in learning about the gospel. Well he answered my prayers and then some because we found two, both of which were found by listening to spiritual promptings. God really is just so good.

Also we ate so much food this week!!! I will send a picture of the meal we conquered on Tuesday. alone ate 3/4 of Chicken Fried a big bowl of mashed potatoes, 2 bowls of coleslaw, 6 biscuits, and a helping of creamed peas. It was delicious! Having not yet fully recovered we doubled dinner on Wednesday. Sadly, I had forgotten about the second dinner until after I already was full. But with only an hour to recover I still was able to step up to the plate and bring it home.

We had interviews with President and Sister Craig this week. I will have to claim the title of the most blessed missionary in the mission though. In order to make sure everybody else got their interviews we had to gross our fingers and put ourselves at the end of the day on Tuesday, but because they were behind schedule a little bit we had to go before we had ours so we could dinner that chicken dinner with a less-active. I thought I was just going to have to have mine a month late like last time, but after calling president he suggested that we just come over to his house at the end of the day on Wednesday. Basically we had true one on one time and no pressure to meet a schedule. The spirit in that home and in President and Sister Craig reminded me of the temple. I am so blessed!

I wish I could tell you about all the wonderful experiences we are having but time is short! Needless to say, I am happier than I have ever been and I know it only gets better from here!!

Love Ya’ll,
Elder Cordon

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