Tag Archives: Washington Kennewick Mission

Final Report

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Well this is the last Monday. I am truly blessed and honored to have been this set apart servant of the Lord. I have reached the end of this wonderful experience and am glad to report that I have served well. I have made a mountain of mistakes, I have not served perfectly (I wasn’t asked to) I have offended a lot of people, however, I am a changed person. I have used the atonement to change my life, I have watched the atonement change others. I have reached outside of myself and help the Father fulfill His Plan. I am grateful to have received the witness from the Spirit “You have done good, now go and continue to do so.”

I am so blessed to have learned the things that I have learned I have the knowledge and wisdom from this journey to continue onward with the wonderful work that is being done by and through Jesus Christ on the earth. Yes I am going home but I am not going back, back to what I was, who I was, is different. I have been changed and will continue to be changed. I cant go back, I cant learned all that I have learned and expect things to be even a little bit the same. I have made so many goals and I am going to to keep growing.

My wish and desire is that when ever or where ever you see me, you will be able to see the love of God. I cant wait to be able to continue to share this Love with everyone that I am able, to brighten their day if only for a moment, or all the way back to Heavenly Father! I desire to not just be a loved Son of God, but a Trusted one as well.

I know that I have served a faithful mission for the Lord.
I know that the work that I have been doing is the work true and good.
I know the gospel is the Key to true happiness in this life.
I know Jesus is the Christ and the God is Our Father.
I know we come from Godly parents and that we are from royal lines.
I end my service in the name of Jesus Christ

AMEN

Elder Cordon

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This week I have been able to receive so many different witnesses of the truth of the gospel and its teaching. I have witnessed the pure innocence of what happens when a soul recognizes truth that is being spoken to their hearts. I have been able to see what happens to even myself when I am reminded and reinforce that I am a son of God. I am of royal line and have the rights and privileges of that line, I also have the responsibility to uphold that line and to operate according to the meets and bounds that have been set by eternal laws. I am so grateful for the blessing of this knowledge and desire to hold fast to it for all time.

I love the power of testimony, when truth is spoken that the Holy Ghost can bear witness, that when listened with spiritual ears and heart, it leaves an impression on the very fabric of you soul and you know that it is eternal truth. That kind of testimony is so powerful and one of the things that is the most under used. (In my opinion) So often there is thank-a-monies that replace testimony; now this is not to say that never should you ever share the things you are grateful for the scriptures tell us otherwise, however, they do not have the same effect. They do carry truth and power and great emotion, yet yesterday during the testimony meeting I witnessed a great marvel, I witnessed one after another, wonderful powerful testimonies! I marveled as I listened with “hears to hear” as the spirit shared with my the truths of the gospel.

I have learned this in my mission that each of us have a powerful weapon against the world, we have our pure, simply, and foundational testimonies that we can share with everyone. I have seen time and time again where simply testimony has changed hearts and routed out evil. I know the gospel to be true, I know that Jesus Christ lives. You cant speak those words, truly speak them, without the spirit witnessing that they are true, however, it still requires “eyes to see and hears to hear” and then action taken in order for that spiritual witness to actually do anything at all to you as a person. God is always going to have to respect agency even if we don’t, He is bound by His laws. We must bring the spirit into ours hearts and act on what we know or it is all for nothing.

Pasco truly was a great area and I am grateful for all the miracles that I have seen. I am grateful for the companions that I have had and the people that I have served around. I have experienced so much joy and happiness here. I am grateful for the Pasco Stake Presidency, They truly are wonderful, guided leaders that are filled with love for the Lord and His work. I have loved serving around them and getting to know them. What powerful influences I have been around and examples I strive to be. Pasco has been blessed with miracles on top of miracles and I have been blessed to witness revelation from local leaders come to pass in a beautiful way. The Lord is truly hastening his work!

So that leads me to transfers. Yes I am getting transferred for my last two weeks, yet further proof that God knows how to laugh. I thought that I had it all planned out that I was staying in Pasco until I left I was telling everybody and then….. BAM I get the call I am getting transferred special assignment and I am assigned to……. NOWHERE yup you guessed it. I will have no area for the last two weeks just traveling around.

Love you all so much

Temple

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Well last week was not the greatest week ever, I let stress get the best of me. It even started to get me a little sick. I was getting really caught up in stuff that doesn’t need to be my focus. I know that it was just Satan trying to distract me especially as things get close to the end, he doesn’t want me to finish strong. I am so grateful that it was our temple day today. What a spiritual recharge, I spent time thinking about others and really recharging the fire. I spent time picturing the people that we are working with at the temple and the people that I have worked with, I remembered the joy that filled me the day that the Brian and Katie were sealed. It was a spirit filled session at the temple. Turning outward is truly the fix and every time that I forget that I get right back on the roller coaster. I am so grateful that The Doctrine of Christ is always there, Eternal and Everlasting so that I can get back on track every time that I need to.

EASTER IS COMING!!

The video is soooo good! *Editors Note: Click link to video that Elder Cordon is referring to*

We are flooding pasco with that video, we have so many people have cards and are going to hand them out to their friends. We challenged the whole ward to show the video to their neighbors in their homes and then invite two people or families to church with them on Easter Sunday. We had a lot of people that were asking us for more cards. We have been using to video during our dinners and just in stopping by members. It is such a powerful video, I will never get bored of watching this one.

Discover is defiantly becoming part of my vocabulary.

Last week we had Cierra to a baptism and she loved it. She is also making great friends in the church, she is coming to our WML’s house tonight for a lesson. She has been sick the last couple of days and she was unable to come to church so we are making plans to have her there this coming week. Which is Ward conference so that is going to be a great time.

Well I love you and am grateful for you.
Love Elder Cordon.

PASCO!!!

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I am so excited that I get to stay here in this wonderful place. Not gonna lie and say it was a little shocking when I heard Elder Whiting was leaving but I have already spent enough time building my faith about transfers that I knew it was from the Lord. Because then I got Elders Scott! He is a great companion to be around, plus I will get to learn a little bit more Spanish. I think I talk to more people a day that speak Spanish then English especially if you include the people that are Bilingual. So it is nice to be able to learn at least a little to be able to say hi. I am understanding a lot more but speaking it is a whole other level. I feel very grateful to have been called on a English mission. Not that learning a new language wouldn’t have been great it just would have been Really hard!!

The Pasco Zone had 5!!!! People baptized this week, Rosario, Rager, Rochelle, Santi, and Exavier. What a wonderful week it was! There was so much excitement happening! We had investigators come to them and had church tours afterwards. Members where helping to pick them up and take them. It was just a great week. We had dinner with a family with Non Member kids and now all three of the kids want to learn more. Rial, Rochelle, and Colt.

We also found are now teaching two other wonderful families starting last night. One of them is a PMF where the dad is the member but went less active as a teen, so about ten years ago. The wife is a non member, and last night was the first night that we have been able to catch them both home at the same time. We had a wonderful lesson and the committed to read and pray as a family and to come to church on Sunday, they also excepted to continue to meet and learn more. Right now Martin is out of work so we are going to help him find a job, but in the mean time we have lots of time to teach the family.

Ciere and her three kids is another family that we are teaching, she has studied with missionaries before over in Kennewick like 4 years ago. Last week she was praying for help and we knocked on her door just a few minutes later. She told us last night that every time she has asked God to send her help the missionaries always show up. MIRACLE She is going to be coming over to our WML’s home this evening for FHE.

We have 6 trainers in the Pasco Zone for this transfer, you can already feel the fresh fire that is brought into the area. Lots of them even got to do Ministering visits on their first night. 🙂 Baptism by Fire! We are so excited for all the great things that are happening here in Pasco what a great place for New Missionaries to come. God truly does desire that every one of his children come back to Him and He is allowing us to be able to help with that, we have to be able to stay worthy of that blessing and be willing to look outwards to others. Missionary work can never and will never be a inward effort the only way it can be done is to be humbly and look out past yourself and seek to help Gods children. The greatest work that we can be involved in in this life will always and has always been missionary work. Teach Repentance and Baptize converts! Just like the Priesthood, because it is a priesthood work, it cant be inward it only works in helping others, and by doing so it helps us.

I have spent some many times on my mission looking inwards when really it is so much faster, easier and better to look OUT.

I love you all so much and am thankful for your prayers and love!

Elder Cordon!

#WannaReadIt

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This was a great week full of great miracles.

We made plans this week with our WML (*editors note: Ward Mission Leader) to have couples from the ward come out with us. So the Brother Erickson (WML) offered to babysit for couples that would like to come out with us. The King Family took them up on it TWICE!

The first night we met a family that had four kids, (the Kings have four kids) Ages eight, six, four, and two, (the Kings also have 8,6,4,2) It was just awesome to see such a wonderful miracle that night. They were with us both nights and we taught lessons both nights, from people that weren’t even in the plans. The Kings did a great job of sharing their Testimony and adding so much to the lessons.

We also have been having Daniel (A preparing missionary) come out with us every Sunday. He comes out all evening and is now asking us about it each week. Last night we gave him the Restoration Pamphlet and told him to study it. We also gave him the assignment to memorize the first vision. He was so excited about that. Last night we were out with him from 5 to 9 and found all night. We found Juan and Silva, taught them both in their homes and the both are excited for us to come back and to learn more. We also talked to and had a Great Gospel conversation with at least 10 more people. It is so cool to see him take to missionary work and love it. Next week we are going to have him start some of the conversations. As we help him build his confidence we will be able to help him talk to his friends that he knows who aren’t members.

I had the wonderful privilege to be able to go on exchanges with Elder Taylor this week in Pasco 4th ward. I got to meet the wonderful Cazier family that is just on fire with missionary work right now. She is talking to all of her neighbors and so excited about it. Those two elders are teaching so many people that have come from the Cazier family. She is going to have to start working her way down the next block to find more people, the great part is that she is excited to do that. We were at her house that evening for dinner, which a friend was at, and TWO lessons. It was so cool to see the joy that came from that family and their want to share the gospel.

We talked with her children about ways they could share it at school, Sister Cazier shared her testimony that if they prayed for it then it would happen. They we talked about using their Library time at school to read the Book of Mormon, then when someone asked them what they were reading the could say something like, “oh this is the book that has helped me know who God is and who I am… Wanna Read It?? ” We were having a great time coming up with different things that they could say before asking, “Wanna Read It?”. It was a great night.

I love the mission so much for the fact that I get to help others come closer to Christ and in doing that I am being directly lifted because of that service. I am learn to Choose Faith every day, to know that as I loose myself Christ still builds me in the best ways. It is the best ways because it is Him that is building not me. If I try to build myself I am always going to miss something, it will never be perfect; so by allowing Christ to be the builder I am allowing the perfect builder to make sure that it is right.

I love this work and love that I am able to be a part of it, and to learn how to continue to be a part of it for the rest of my life.

Love you so much.
Elder Cordon

Fast Sunday Week!

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What a spirit packed week. MLC was again AWESOME. We talked about the Doctrine of Christ. I am so very excited by what I learned. The number one things was that the Atonement working in our lives in not an event it is a state of living. To live in the way that allows the atonement to work on you every day and to know that Christ is there to lift us up and make us better as long as we are will to use the atonement every day. That happens through repentance. God has not asked us to be perfect just to progress and keep trying.

I love this gospel for so many reasons but the purest and most perfect reason is because of Jesus Christ. He is the reason for all the hope and mercy, otherwise justice would have all the claim.

This week was also great in many other ways.

We had John come to church this week and he is continuing to progress towards his baptism date of Feb 27th, we are very excited about that. John is such a good guy, he is 77 years old and has lived a lot in his life. He lied on his military record for his age and was in Korea at 17 years old. WOW Just a crazy life. He really liked church and stayed for the whole time. we are going to be seeing him again tonight.

Were having another FHE with are bishop and a part member family.

Very excited to bring the same spirit that was at MLC to the Zone.

Love you all so much.
Elder Cordon.

Rough studies and rough days. 🙂

BTW the bottle is empty

Let the Spirit Work Through You!

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What a week we had.

It was a very humbling week, I am beginning to take the humbling a little bit faster now. I am working on trying to just be humble and then this wont happen 🙂 Something that I really learned this week is how easy it is to slip into doing this mission on my own “flesh”. Not that I forget about god but I lose focus just a little, and then I become a cap on the Holy Ghost. He is the real teacher and I am just here to be able to be worked through, and this week I got in the way. I didn’t notice until the end of the week. But we are going to be able to repent, change, and do better. That is the wonderful story of the gospel, it is a gospel of change and progression, recognizing the things that can be worked on and using the Atonement to change the very nature of where those things come from. What wonderful and beautiful doctrine that we now are able to access in full, because of the restoration of the Priesthood.

WOW this was such a crazy week!! We had an investigator who died, we had a PMF that broke up, and we have an investigator that we found out has some crazy hallucinations. We had Alex that dropped off the face of the earth. 0.0 SO MANY CRAZY THINGS! I am excited to go out and be the conduit for the Spirit this week and not get in the way. I am grateful to be able to learn these lessons and learn them well, that I will be able to be a strong life long disciple of the Lord.

I love you all so much!!

Elder Cordon

RollarCoaster

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Well another awesome, happy, sad, up and down, week.

We had a lot of things this week. New assignment does come with more to do, more to learn, and more growth.
This week was MLC and WOW what a great meeting that was. It was truly awesome to be ready to receive revelation at meetings, the Spirit is just ready and waiting to be the teacher to a willing heart. Then that night was stake correlation, having just spent all day learning from the spirit I didn’t want it to be anything like I have heard it being at times. Come in and sit down and just read over the report. So Elder Schulzke and I counseled together on what we needed to do to help make that meeting a revelatory experience. We decided that we needed to make sure it was just that, a counsel. So we went in and set the report aside and asked inspired questions. So no surprise there, IT WENT GREAT. We were able to use the report as a help to refer to instead of the dialog.

Friday got a sneak peek at the Christmas Conf. we also had to fit in Zone Meeting Planning, and Weekly Planning. So that we could have time to go out Saturday.

Saturday was a Miracle day. It was already a crammed week and we were already feeling hurt for time to find but we made sure that the time we did have we but all of our faith into. We were knocking at some apartments and found two doors right in a row of people that have met with missionaries before and been invited be members but there was no record of them and we had no idea they were there. We then were in the other building and found another lady that told us to come back next week, Tami.

So the only reason that we went to this place was that we wanted to contact a girl that had been taught before. We just didnt have the address so we went to this close apartment complex. Tami the lady that we found is the girls mother! We had no idea. MIRACLE.

Saturday was our Ward Christmas party and we got and investigator to it. Jessica and her two sons!!! We committed her to church, But she woke up really sick and didnt come.:( Nathan was are Sunday at 8:59 Miracle! He is a single dad and looking to really be able to guide his two girls in the correct path towards God. That is going to be a good family in the gospel soon.

The down part is that I found out that Mike Gilbert, Baptized in September, died this weekend unexpectedly. He was preparing to go to the temple when I left the area just 2 weeks ago. That was not something that I was expecting to have to deal with on the mission. Death really is an interesting thing. I am just so VERY GRATEFUL for the knowledge the gospel gives in regards to death and the part that it plays in our lives. It is necessary and an important part of the plan. I love that I know that I will see him again.

If you would be willing to say a prayer for his wife Brenda she is a wonderful lady.

The VERY UP SIDE.
Temple for the Oberweiser’s is tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you all so very much. You are all so awesome.
LOVE
ELDER CORDON

Prayer Is Awesome

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WOW! A new area, new assignment, and a new companion! This is one week that I am grateful for prayer. To be able to truly talk to Father and receive direction. What comfort it is to know that prayer truly is communication with Father and that He hears and answers prayers.

I am also very grateful for the power of the Atonement. It truly gives us power to do things that are beyond our own capacity to do. Jesus Christ lifts us to where he needs us to be if we allow him to. the only way to do that is through the Doctrine of Christ. I took me a long time out to realize all of this but now that it has finally clicked I can continue to master this skill of “using” the Atonement and not just “needing” it.
I got here to the new area ready and excited to work. This ward is about the size of both my previous wards and LOTS of people to talk to. I got so excited about coming to Pasco ready to apply all the things that I have been learning in the last transfer. Elder Schulzke (new companion) and I got right to work, well after having two long days of planning and meeting with everyone that we needed to and going to another meetings, we got right out and talked with everyone that we could.

We found 4 new friends to teach and part of that is a family, the Mendoza Family. We first talked to there son and the taught the parents on Sat. We will be teaching the two sisters as well come Sunday. Crystal was another that we found and she told us that she is on a spiritual journey right now trying to have a better relationship with God. 🙂 Well we certainly can help with that.

SO CRAZY STORY TIME……

There was sister missionary that was in the other MTC district in the MTC zone that I was in that was from Kennewick and was called to serve in the Ogden Mission, later after the split finished in the Logan UT Mission. SO I was eating at Costa Vida for the last time while in kennewick right before transfer meeting and ……… That sister missionary recently, of 2 weeks, home from her mission is standing right in front of me. OUCH That was a hard reality check. She came in after me to the MTC and is now home and eating at costa vida with her mom and grandma 0.0 WOW where as the time gone.

AND IN OTHER NEWS.
SO NEXT WEEK IS GOING TO BE THE BEST DAY OF THE MISSION.
DEC 15th Converts are getting sealed in the temple. YEAH. I have been having butterflies about this day for so long I cant wait for it. 8 MORE DAYS!

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Elder Steven Cordon

PMG Is the BEST

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This was a week that was full of new and wonderful things.

This week I studied PMG everyday! I am studying out of the fundamental lessons and I am learning a lot. The more and more that I study the more that I learn that I have no idea how to do missionary work. 🙂 I am starting to realize that PMG has all of the answers for my questions, whether it is for recent converts, investigators, even my companion. What a wonderful book and I dont understand why I have not had my noes in it my whole mission.

The last couple of days I have been studying the fundamental lesson of revelation through prayer. We have a couple of people that we are teaching that are in need of the knowledge that is in that lesson, but I am also studying it for myself. I am really trying to have more faith in my prayer and to receive more revelation through them. I am trying to have a more personal communication with Heavenly Father. I know that it can be my favorite moments in my life to communicate with Heavenly Father and so I am trying to seek for knowledge on the thing I need to do different to make that happen. I also know that it will greatly help me as a missionary and His tool if I can talk with him better.

SO WE MET MARSHAL.

So for those of you that don’t know who that is, which is everyone that is reading this. He is the BIGGEST ANTI in the TriCities, teaches classes and protests, the whole nine yards. He has been doing it for like 30 years. Boy he needs to get a life.

He came to one of our lessons!! Georgiana the New Investigator lesson that we taught is taking a Mormonisom 101 class that is being taught by him and she invited him the come to the lesson. 0.0 We received a great blessing, he showed up 35 minutes late so we got through basically all of the first lesson. We had Brother Blaser with us, 1st counselor in the bishopric, he shared great testimony. We left as soon as Marshal got contentious which not surprisingly didnt take him to long. What a crazy experience!

Thank you for everything that you do.
Love you all so much.

Elder Cordon