Week 63 - December 29, 2014

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!! This week was pretty great with Christmas!

Last P Day we got to watch two Christmas movies, Frozen and Spirit. They were both very good. I have always loved the Spirit movie. 

In my district meeting this week I talked about the birth of Christ and then everyone shared their testimonies about Him. It was super awesome and spiritual. After the district meeting I started divisions  with Elder Nelson. We went to a part of their area that is very far away that they want to start building. We went there and KILLED IT. We found a ton of people and talked to maybe a ton (2,000). Alright maybe not that many people but it was a lot of people. We had a super fun time on divisions and I hope Elder Nelson learned a lot from them! The next day we walked 3 miles back to the beginning of our area while we were stopping to talk to people. I talked to a guy from Spain that moved here just 4 months ago. His accent was super cool and it made me think of the people I know serving there.

When I got back to my area we went out with the bishop and one of his counselors and visited 12 less active families. This was on Christmas Eve. It was a super great time and we had lots of good results. We had TWO BIG dinners that night and we got a couple presents from members too! When we got home we watched the fireworks that went off at midnight and we had to go outside to take a couple pics and videos! On Christmas morning we did service which was just literally moving around trash. It was fun though. Then we visited a bunch of families and had another big meal. 

We are entering the last two weeks of training of Elder Cline. I have learned a crazy amount during these two changes. I have been very humbled as district leader too. I am excited for the 14th of January when we have changes! 

I hope everyone is doing great! I felt awesome this week especially after being able to talk to my family. I really loved being able to teach all about Christ and having so many people listen to us. I know that Christ is the Gift from our Heavenly Father. How blessed we are for that never ending gift and the opportunity to be with our families forever! 

I LOVE YOU ALL! HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Elder Cordy

Week 62- December 22, 2014

CHRISTMAS TIME!!!! 

This week was a big week because we had the big Christmas Choir Presentation. We had practices every single day and we had the presentation on Sunday night. It was super awesome. I had a hard time going to practices every day but it was worth it. I got to direct a couple songs in the presentation and that was super awesome. I also sang in a small group of five that was fun to be a part of just because everyone knew music. I got a lot of comments after the presentation from people in my ward because I got super into the directing. 

We had a couple sweet things happen this week. 

Daniela and Alejandro went to the temple just to look at it and be there. They ended up buying about half of the distribution center. They are super nice and love having us over. 

Valentina is a recent convert that totally doesnt want anything to do with the church. We just went to visit her this week in the first time in a while because I got my head almost ripped off the last time. I really enjoyed this visit though. We taught about Gods love for us and it was super awesome. She had a friend over and she wanted him to talk to us. 

I had another baptismal interview this week with a girl that I was able to teach twice doing divisions. She was awesome. She knew everything about what the missionaries had taught her. 

We taught English and Math two different people this week. Everyone is going through their last tests for the year and they had some gringos come and help them.... vamo arriba America. 

Romina Medero got home from her mission this week in Neuquen Argentina. She doesnt know Elder Opfar but she is an amazing missionary! We worked with her two different days this week. Its weird to think that there is life after the mission... 

We had a cool experience to give one of the hermanas in my ward a blessing. Hermana Diaz was having tooth pains bad and she was freaking out about it. We offered to give her a blessing and she asked me to do it. Blessings really do work with faith! 

Biggest thing I have learned this week: Love and Sacrifice go together. There is no love without sacrifice. There is no sacrifice without love. As we serve and sacrifice for people, we grow to love them. As we love people, we have a greater desire to sacrifice for them. Something cool to think about. What have you sacrificed for those that you love? 

Week 61 - December 17, 2014

Hello everyone! Its been a while since we have been able to write but Ive been having a great time! We have had a lot of practices for the choir fireside that we will have this Sunday. Its going to be awesome. I am directing the choir for half of the presentation and I really like directing. Its fun getting into it! Last Pday we spent on the beach with a bunch of missionaries from the zone. This week I had a really fun district meeting. I talked about opening your mouth as a missionary and I did a funny example and made some elders eat some gross stuff. We gave a lot of blessings this week too. Its crazy that I have to refill my oil container a lot! I did divisions this week with Elder Leiva from Guatemala. He is going to end the mission with me. He is a super fun kid. I loved my time with him. They have two investigators who are AWESOME. One of which will get baptized this week. I also have small holes in my shoes. Ive been using them since August 17th and they are already almost trash. I need to buy shoes soon. Elder Cline destroyed his shoes and two people offered and gave him shoes for free. We have a baptism scheduled for the 27th, which will be awesome! Alexander is going to get baptized and Elder CLine will baptize him! We are still working with a couple other people that need to get married. We have quite a few investigators now that just need to go to church and they will be good! I dont know why going to church is so hard! We had quite a few services this week. Including painting a bathroom, installing windows, and helping carry glass a couple kilometers. I feel like the members really enjoy and trust us! We had a ward Christmas party which was awesome. We just had a ton of food, which was wonderful. I also got some sick jerseys this week. a Black portugual jersey and a Barcelona one that has Luis Suarez on the back. 

The highlight of my week were the past two days. We went to the mission home and the temple. We had interviews with President, made personal covenants, sang Christmas carols, and did all the saving ordinances besides the sealings for our family members that we have found. I got to baptize Elder Cline and then he baptized me in the temple. It was such an amazing experience. I honestly think those were two of the coolest days of my mission. Being a missionary is seriously the best. I love the gospel and my Savior! I am so grateful for the gift that He is to us from our loving Heavenly Father! 

Week 60 - December 8, 2014

This week was quite a roller coaster! I wrote last Tuesday and then Wednesday I got sick and I was throwing up until Friday morning. Thursday I stuck it out to teach district meeting and it went pretty well. It was the first one of the new change! On the way to district meeting we were on the bus and we had to get off so I could throw up. I am not sure what it was but I am good to go now!

Friday we had a pretty sweet day. We had water balloons thrown at us, two girls chased us home, and we gave Alexander a baptismal date for the 20th of this month. Alexander is Virginias son, who just got baptized a month ago. We are excited for him. 

We helped a lady home this week carrying her groceries and she was super talkative and interested in the church. We are going to her house this afternoon to do some service. We will see how it all goes with her. 

Sunday was really good. Food is always good after fast Sunday and its fun to be in fast and testimony meeting. I love the leaders in our ward. They really trust me now and they ask me to do a lot. I really enjoy this ward. Its a fun place to be. 

I am loving the mission still. I am studying opening your mouth more as a missionary and its helping me a lot! Its a constant struggle to do it more often but I feel like it will really change the way I am as a missionary! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Cordy

Week 59 - December 1, 2014

Change week! I am staying another change with Elder Cline as his trainer and district leader! This change will complete a full year in Montevideo. Needless to say, I will be happy to hear next change when I hopefully get to leave and hopefully go North! 

This week was pretty solid. We just got back from the temple and it was pretty great! We got names from our own family history to do work in the temple for and I will go in two weeks to do that work! We had no lunches this week with members and we had quite a solid amount of rice with whatever else we had in the house. I did divisions with Elder Cepeda from Barrio 17. He has 21 months in the mission and he is from Ecuador. He is a really good missionary, funny, but quiet. It was on thanksgiving day and we had chorizos with the other 2 Elders that were there with us. 

We had one day where we just got stuck without any lessons so we just started to knock tons of doors. We met a new guy who went to church until he was 9 and then he moved away from his grandma who was a member. He never was baptized and hasnt been to church here but he is super cool and hopefully we can get him to go! 

This week was hard to measure the progress of our investigators because we didnt have church. I am feeling good about a lot of them though. We will see next week! 

This week was the final elections for the next President of Uruguay. We were allowed to work this time and it was pretty calm until they announced who the president was. Then everyone CROWDED the streets with flags, horns, fireworks, yelling, etc. It was pretty funny. Its been raining all week and its been pretty nice honestly. Rain is a lot nicer than heat on a mission. However, with the combination of rain and obligatory elections on Sunday, we had a terrible drop of attendance at church. Last week we had 109 and this week we had 42 people at church. It was pretty crazy. 

Big news of the week is the initiative of He is the Gift or "Èl es la Dàdiva" that the church is starting. We are talking to tons of people about Gods love for us and I have been studying a ton about love. I feel like we have honestly seen a change in many people in just a week of time. Hopefully we can get the Christmas spirit into the hearts of these Uruguayos. 

I am weighing a whoppin 170lbs. Which is a lot considering I wrestled 138 Senior year...  

I hope you all have a good week! I love you all! 

These pics are my District this change and then the Medero family! 

Week 58 - November 24, 2014

Hey everyone! This week was pretty good and we have quite a couple cool stories! 

We found a lot of people first of all this week. That family that we got a message from saying they want to be baptized and married is AWESOME. They are going to figure out what they need to do to get married this week. We have had 3 lessons with them. Familia Santos. 

We tried to find the whole 2 other people that have been baptized in the last 2 years here. The 13 year old girl that had been baptized came out of her house with almost no clothes again so we decided it wouldnt be a great time for us to go through that. 

We talked to a man who is inactive too and he didnt even let us come in his house. He is a high priest and he said he stopped going to church because his wife died and no one came to visit him. 

I did divisions with Elder Finnegan, our Zone Leader this week. He is a STUD. for realz. He has a great attitude and teaches so well. I would literally love to be his companion or someone like him. 

We found a family of 8 this week. 7 girls. Only the mom believes in God. We had an interesting lesson with all of them and some of them were really receptive but the younger teenagers were just laughing the whole time. I hope they can be a cool miracle too! 

We have been working with Flor for a while now and only going by her house like once a week because she isnt progressing. However, I called her before church on Sunday and she came! It was super awesome. I feel totally comfortable in this ward now. I literally know everyone and most of them know my name. Its cool just to walk down every single isle of chairs and being able to say hi to everyone by their name. 

I gave an interview to a lady named Sandra in Playa Pascual for the Hermanas in my district this week. The lady knew everything but she talked my ears off. It was a 45 minute interview and I think I talked for 10 minutes. 

Elder Cline is doing pretty good! He is working to progress every week and I am trying to push him hard, even if he doesnt like everything I do. Dont get me wrong, Im not mean, but I make him go out of his comfort zone to learn new things! Its good though. 

I am doing super good though. I feel totally comfortable in the mission and I love it. I am seriously trying to learn portuguese now. I have a Book of Mormon, Preach my Gospel, a Dictionary from Portuguese to Spanish and a book with basic portuguese. I for real want to learn it. 

We have no lunches set with members this week, so it might be a rice week. 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Week 57 - November 17, 2014

This week was super good! We have quite a great things that have happened in San Fernando!

First of all, I did divisions with Elder Mendoza Jimenez this week, who is from Colombia. He is a super cool missionary and I enjoyed my time with him. We did service and we had to dig a ditch so water could go through the yard easily. We got working and I ended up breaking the shovel and maybe I hit a water pipe... Im not quite sure! Then we had a CRAZY lesson with this guy named Heber. Heber believes in extra terrestial people. He doesnt believe in God or anything like that. He says his brother saw a UFO that was Giant and that NASA was so interested that they came to visit them and talk to them about it. It was a crazy lesson and I feel for Kade who will be teaching in Thailand to people who dont believe in God. Its tough. 

We also did a service this week and we had to dig a lot and then smash concrete to make a driveway. My comp had a bunch of blisters quick! Then we ate two lunches that day. 

On Thursday we had a conference with Elder Christensen from the 70. It was with all of the missionaries in Uruguay and it was awesome to know all of the missionaries from our mission still! The conference was awesome. Elder Christensen talked about how we can be better missionaries and love the people more. My favorite part was when President Smith talked though and then they did a Question and Answer for all the 500 something missionaries. It was crazy cool to see the two mission presidents and a member of the 70 just answering with scriptures and what they have already taught us! We just dont understand everything yet! 

Saturday we had a MIRACLE. Absolutely ridiculous miracle. We were walking to contact a reference we had just received and we got a text that said "Elders we hope everything is going great. Its been a while since we have talked. We want to get our birth certificates because we are urgent to get married to be able to get baptized that way we can follow the Lords plan for us." I literally stopped in the dirt road and just said "WHAT!? NO WAY!?" It took me a while to read it again and make sure I read what I actually saw. I called the number and we talked to the couple. It was legit and they said they would go to church the following day! They went to church and we will be visiting them on Wednesday! 

Sunday we had quite a good amount of less actives and investigators in church! I feel like we are working hard and seeing the Lords hand in the work! 

Sunday after church we went to the 16th ward for a choir practice. Then I went on divisions with Elder Baggett and we slept the night at their house. It was super fun! Then today we went and played volleyball at the beach but we went to a grass field because there was too many temptations at the beach. Then we went to the World Trade Center in Montevideo and had Frozen yogurt at a ridiculously nice mall! 

This week we are changing the mission schedule! We wake up at 7 and get to be outside until 10 at night! Its mainly because of summer. We study at mid day because its ridiculously hot. 

I cut my hair this week with a 1 on the sides. Dad would be proud of me. I cant send pics this week though! 

We had a good week with quite a lot of good lessons! We are just trying to get more people to go to church so they can get baptized! 

Cool scripture that I have been meditating this week: Mosiah 15:7. In English it says that Christ swallowed the will of God but in Spanish it says he Absorbed the will of God. Whats the difference? I like the Spanish way better :p 

I love all of you! 

Week 56 - November 10, 2014

This week was AWESOME! 

It started of weird and pretty bad on Monday though. After we got off the computers, we found out that an hermana had gotten robbed in the same place we were at while she was writing. Someone stole her backpack and she didnt even notice. It was raining hard too so that just adds a good effect. Then after our day, we were getting followed by two guys on a moto that kept passing us. Then we went to buy milk and one of them followed us around the store. We made sure he was following us and then we took a good speed walk home. Nothing happened but it scared the heck out of us haha. 

This week I also did divisions with Elder Salomè from Perù. He is super cool and he wants to go study at BYU after the mission. We had a great time and I love doing divisions with other missionaries. I studied Italian for language study that day too. While I was there, I did a baptismal interview for a girl that was getting baptized. She is young and her parents havent been active, but hopefully she can help them get all back to church. She was awesome. 

One day we got called by some Sisters in our zone and they asked us if we could go to their area to give one of them a blessing. It was really humbling to be trusted by this hermana and to be able to give her a blessing! Always gotta be ready! 

We had a Family Home Evening with the Smith family. The whole Smith family came. All the kids, spouses, and grandkids. It was quite a festival. We invited Flor to come with us and she came. It was with all the missionaries in Montevideo. I was in the choir and we performed High on the Mountain Top. It was awesome. It was a great activity about the restoration and families. Then it was fun to talk to a bunch of Smiths when it was all over. 

Saturday we had the BAPTISM of Virginia! I was able to baptize her and it was so awesome! It was a pretty well prepared baptism and everything went very well! She also asked me to confirm her on Sunday. That was really cool too. On Sunday I was running all over the stage. I was playing piano, confirming Virginia, and then I gave a talk. I gave a talk about the Doctrine of Christ. The mission leader and bishop told me I dropped cane but they liked it a lot. The mission leader told me that it was one of the best talks ever because I just read and explained the scriptures. I didnt have anything written down, I just read DOCTRINE. It was a pretty sweet Sunday. 

One of the cool things that happened is after the baptism, we went to one more lesson before the day ended and we gave the investigator a baptismal date for next month. We need to keep finding people though! 

Overall, pretty awesome week. I feel so grateful to be a missionary. Its super weird to think I have been here for over 13 months now. I love all of it though!

Week 55 - November 3, 2014

Hello!!!!!!!! This week the biggest news is that on Saturday we will be having a baptism!!!!!!!!!! I am super stoked! Virginia is super excited and we cant wait for her to get baptized! 

This week Elder Cline had a roller coaster of a week. He had some stomach problems which we think was caused by the water. We had to stop in a couple fields a couple times. He has been trying to talk a lot more though and he has a great attitude. 

The work here in San Fernando is exploding. We are talking to lots of people and finding many. We just have a problem of getting people to church for the first time. Our area is far away from the church, so its not easy for people to just go by themselves. 

This week we will have a family home evening with all of the missionaries from Montevideo put on by the Smith family. We invited Virginia and we will see how it goes! I am in charge of finding a bus for us to use for the whole San Jose part so that will be fun... 

My district is doing awesome too. We have some awesome missionaries and everyone is figuring out how to work hard! 

The weather this week was weird. Sunday and Monday was HOT HOT HOT but now we are in sweaters and jackets because we have had rain and cold wind for 3 days straight now! 

I am doing great and super excited about the baptism! We just need to keep trying to find people and get them to church!

Elder Baggett says hi! 

I love you all! Have a great week!  

Week 54- October 27, 2014

Hello to everyone!!!! This week was the first week as being a trainer!

Lets see... My companion is Elder Cline from Utah. He is pretty awesome honestly. He is one day older than me but he just graduated this year. He is excited to be here and work hard. The trip to Montevideo to go pick him up was great. I took a bunch of pictures and we had a great time with all the trainers. When we met eachother, we just took a quick pic and then headed to the temple. It was great. We had a full session. President and I had a good talk in the temple too. I totally admire that man. My kid is doing great for the first week in the mission. Not home sick or anything. He definitely needs to learn Spanish though. After the very first lesson he said "Yeah we definitely need to speak more Spanish." I am glad that he recognizes it. I like it honestly. I get to teach a LOT and its cool to see someone get here and totally depend on me and the Lord to get through. We have done quite a lot of talking to people on the street too. I want him to be the best missionary ever and I am doing what I can so he can be it! 

I am still serving as District leader. I have ten missionaries in my district. Its super fun. I love the district. Its weird though because all but 2 are older than me. We have quite an old district. 

This week with our investigators... 

Virginia is super stoked about her baptism. She asked if I would baptize her and of course I was more than happy to! We are still planning on that on November 8th. 

Angelina is having a surgery this week to drop weight. So she will be idle for a couple weeks. 

Felipe and Jocelyn are doing great too. They just need to go to church.

ABSOLUTE THROW BALL of the week was that we had votings for President in the country. Apparently some times it gets bad, so therefore we had NO church and President Smith told all the missionaries to stay in our house ALL DAY on Sunday. It was super weird and I felt like such a bad missionary just sitting in the house. We ate a lot of food though so that was great. We played soccer and catch with a tennis ball all day and that kept us busy. The funny thing is that there is many parties in the votings. To win, a party has to have 50% or more of the votes. There are two parties that are now going to the finals the 30th of November so we might have to stay in the house again that day. 

Pretty awesome week though! I have missed Speaking spanish all of the time and honestly I have realized how many spanish words I use even when i speak english. I have used my dictionary more to look up english words than Spanish words this week. I love being a missionary. Its pretty dang awesome. 

Week 53 - October 20, 2014

Good morning to everyone!!!!! This week was AWESOME! 

I have been informed this past week by President Smith that I will be training a new missionary (aka oro) this change! Elder Morales is headed to Rivera and I will pick up my son tomorrow in Carrasco!!! I am SUPER STOKED. I dont know if you guys really understand how pumped I am! The other wonderful part is that I will be training the same time as Elder Baggett! Elder Baggett and I will head to the mission home tomorrow morning to meet our kids! We will be making Cerro one zone once again, and I will be one of the other District Leaders with Elder Ramos and Elder Clark. I am SO PUMPED! 

Alright so this week... we had Virginia come to church! She has a baptismal date for November 8th and she is super excited to be baptized! Angelina is progressing well but next week she will have a surgery and we wont be able to visit her as often and I doubt she will be able to go to church. This week is the votings for President of Uruguay and its a law that we cant have public meetings on Sunday so church is cancelled. Yeah its weird... Felipe and Jocelyn are doing great. They want to get baptized and are working on finding new work opportunities so they can go to church! They are awesome. 

This week we had a lot of good byes for Elder Morales and we ate a lot of food. We made tacos one night that were bomb and Elder Morales and i were the only ones that ate the spicy salsa we brought. Elder Morales has been bad mouthing me lately and so I challenged him to a wrestling match. He boxed so he had a high head and hopes. I have a video of me and him wrestling. Lets just say any wrestler beats a boxer in a wrestling match. 

This week we taught the Doctrine of Christ three times in one day. It was one of the coolest days ever. I want to teach you all the Doctrine of Christ lesson when we call in Christmas. Other cool thought is you will get to meet my son from the mission and talk to him a bit! We will see if he is latino or gringo tomorrow! 

This week I gave a lot of blessings on short notice. It was super cool to just be so trusted by many people to change and bless people. We blessed one man who is about mid twentys. He is a drug addict. He cant walk, talk, or do anything right honestly. His mother is a strong member and she has another son on a mission. It was a giant testimony to me of the gospel and the difference it makes in lives. Other experience this week, we were walking and this man on a moto crossed the busy street and headed right toward us. He was slowing down. He started to fall over and I ran over to catch him. He thanked me a lot and I could immediately smell that he had been drinking. We talked to him for a while and he told us all about his sad life story. We got his address and we will visit him some time! 

The gospel is so true. It makes me sick to see the people that are so blessed to have these truths right in front of them and not be able to understand and love the teachings! Alma 5:7 has been one of my favorite scriptures on the mission. I only know it in Spanish though. It says that Jesus Christ is the one that changes the hearts of men. I could explain the rest in English but I think it sounds better in Spanish so I wont. Many people are sleeping. Members, less actives, people who dont know about Jesus Christ, etc. We need to wake up. We have the truth. SHARE IT! 

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Cordy

 

Week 52 - October 13, 2014

Hey everyone! This week was pretty tough but I have loved it too. I really have grown a lot here in talking to people. I didnt talk to that many people in the offices but this change I have really changed the way that I work as a missionary and I think it will help out in the long rong, even though we arent seeing immediate results. I have been studying diligence lately too...

This week was very humbling. We had quite a bunch of AWESOME lessons. I felt like we were going to have a lot of people in church. Investigators and less actives. However, we hardly saw anyone, even though they promised. I talked to a returned missionary after church because he realized I was down. He helped me out a lot. I have realized how awesome returned missionaries are in this area.. Its been pretty tough to see that our hard work doesnt do much. It just has to be the right time for the people and the Lord. I did do divisions this week with our ZL Elder Devashrayee. He is from Utah and is a stud (Weird how that happens haha). No but he is awesome. We had two new people that day that were both awesome. Miracles happen on divisions. I feel like I can speak pretty darn well when I get around other gringos. Hopefully my Latino comp trend can keep going. 

I have grown my testimony about the atonement and prophets this week after really studying general conference. I feel like there is so much we can repent for everyday and we can only become better and truly be clean through the atonement of Christ. 

My One year mark wasnt anything too crazy. I woke up to my alarm at 6:30, prayed, and then I got a call from Elder Brown. It was fun to talk to him after a while. The only other thing we did for the year was make pizzas after we got home. They turned out super well. 

This week we had crazy weather. Its getting super humid and its been all over the place in terms of weather. We had rain, super hot heat, hail, and super crazy wind. I am getting pretty dark now and I still have all of summer to come!!! I love the missionary tan on the neck too. Its pretty sweet. I bought a white watch this week for super cheap and I will be rocking it too. It looks good with short sleeve shirts :) 

This is the last full week of changes! Next week I will talk to you on Tuesday and have the information about my changes! I dont want to say what I am wishing for to jinx it but I will say that I am super proud of my boy Elder Libby in Juiz de Fora, Brasil! What a babe. 

I have had a lot of fun with Elder Morales. We have become super good friends. He actually might be the first comp that can ligetimately visit me after the mission, and maybe it will happen! 

I want to thank all of the Texas Longhorn fans going to the game and supporting my boys. What troopers. 

I also want to wish Eli Cordy a happy birthday tomorrow! I love you stud! 

Thanks for all your support and prayers! I could use them again this week! :)  

I love you all! 

Elder Cordy

Week 51 - October 4, 2014

Hey everyone! This week was a pretty good week, especially compared to last week! 

We had interviews with President and they went great. He asked all of us to teach him the Doctrine of Christ lesson and I taught a part that was the most shaky for me. I told him that too and after he said, Elder Cordy, you teach great! I dont know why you dont feel totally confident. He also complimented my hair and told me I looked handsome. The man is an amazing President. 

Then after the hard week last week contacting and not having any luck, we received a call from a member who said he wanted us to visit his ex wife who wants us to visit her. She has received all the lessons but couldnt quit smoking. We went to visit her this week and she was super awesome. I felt like we walked into a miracle. She told us her whole story and then to make it all awesome, she told us that she didnt get baptized because she couldnt quit smoking for so long. Then she told us about a month ago, she quit smoking. HECK YEAH BABY Miracles happen! We want to give her a baptisimal date this week but I want her to go to church a couple more times. 

I had divisions with Elder Larrea this week, who has about a year and 5 months in the mission. He has been a district leader before, and he is a stud. I was super excited to do divisions with him, and it was great. He taught me a lot and we did some awesome work. We ended the last two hours of the day on divisions with older men from the ward. I went with the ward mission leader and we taught two lessons. It was super fun. 

While I was in Playa Pascual with Elder Larrea, Elder Morales and Elder Chuyes were in my area working hard. Elder Chuyes has a change less than me but man this guy is a heck of a missionary. They found a new investigator that is apparently amazing. I still havent met her but she went to a different church to watch general conference. 

The highlight of my week though was general conference. I loved the talks about sustaining the prophet and really doing the small things to have a strong testimony that is constantly growing. I loved the conference talks about the sacrament. That is the main focus with the Doctrine of Christ lessons that we are teaching and it really has made an impact in my life and my mission. I arranged some special divisions with Elder Baggett for conference so I could watch the conference in English and work with Elder Baggett. We were together for Saturday and Sunday and it was awesome. It was crazy to be with him almost a year after the MTC and see how much we have both grown. We stayed up way too late the first night talking but it was worth it. 

Other big news in the mission... We are opening new areas in BRASIL and ARGENTINA. We will have 4 Elders and 4 Hermanas in Argentina as well as 4 Elders in Brasil (Speaking and Learning Portuguese of course). For now, I am not one of the chosen ones, but hey ya never know! 

This week I will officially hit a year as a missionary! Its crazy to think how fast this year has gone by and how much I have learned and grown as a person and servant of my Heavenly Father. 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Week 50 - September 29, 2014

This week was quite a week. Let me first off by saying that I decided that I need to be a lot more humble, so I prayed to be humbled. Let me testify that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers. 

This week in my district meeting I decided to talk about finding more people. My district is doing great but we can definitely find more people to teach. I felt like I learned a lot from preparing the meeting and I felt like I definitely needed to apply it. I taught all about talking in every second of the day. We have nothing to lose as missionaries, but so much to gain. I really set a goal to talk to more and more people throughout the week and this week we talked to more people than I have ever talked to in any other week. However, that little prayer came back to humble me every single day. We talked with a lot of people but we have not a single new investigator this week. We almost always have quite a few but this week, when I talked to the most people, we had no success. I felt very humbled because I realized that the work is ALL in the Lords hands. I needed to understand that and realize that I need his help, and I need to be humble and rely on His guidance to find people to teach that are already prepared. 

Apart from that, we had a ton of rain this week. We got stuck in a hail storm too and we ran to a bus stop to get some cover. We decided that it wasnt ending any soon and we were already soaked from head to toe, so we finished the nice couple kilometers to the house we were going to. We got to the house and they were surrounded by a moat of water. They let us in though and treated us nice. 

We worked one day this week with a stake counselor, and it went alright, but he left a lot earlier than what we had planned because he wanted to see his daughter, who lived close. 

To end a hard week, we got to go to the temple. I was able to confirm people and watch some baptisms. It was great. I loved it just because I was having a hard time and I needed to sit down and think for a while. There isnt a more peaceful than the temple. On Sunday we had the primary program and it was precious. I love the primary programs. One little 8 year old kid played the violin and did VERY well. He impressed me, but then he got shy and forgot the memorized music, and ran off the stage. 

Tomorrow we have interviews with President. I am excited to talk to President and he wants me to teach him the Doctrine of Christ lesson because we have had a lot of success with it. I am pretty stoked to learn from him. Its going to be great. 

The thing I am most excited about this week is General Conference. I cant wait and I hope we can get a lot of people we are teaching to go! I would love your help through prayers! 

I am doing great! Dont worry about me! I am just learning to submit myself to the hands of our Heavenly Father! 

I love you all a ton! Love Elder Cordy

Week 49 - September 22, 2014

Hey hows it going? I am doing pretty good. We had quite an interesting week. 

By the way, today I have one year left of service as a full time missionary. 

First, I have a couple stories. 

My Book of Mormon spine broke this week and I am hoping super glue can make it all work out. 

One night we had to run home to make it home on time. We had a couple people yelling at us from the high school as most people always do. The funny part about it is that one sister from church saw us from the bus and she sent  us a super nice message. She has a son on the mission in Argentina and she said she cried when she saw us running home and waving at the people yelling at us. 

My second District Meeting went super well. Awesome. I did an activity that everyone loved and there were a couple friends from a ward close to us that came because they are leaving on their missions soon. 

Divisions this week was with Elder Teloma. It was my first division as a DL. I loved it. It was super fun. Elder Teloma and I have been in the same zone since I was born. Every change for 8 changes. He is a super good teacher and I learned a lot. We had some bomb lessons. Its good to teach with people that are really good at teaching. Not everyone is just a good teacher for their time in the mission. 

I feel like we are making really good relationships with everyone in the ward now. We have a lot of member friends now and they are helping us work. 

Elder Morales and I had a really good week. We get along very well and we honestly can talk about anything together. He is a great kid. 

Interesting and scary story. This week we had service at Flor. I think last week I told yall that she said she was wondering about a doubt she had that she didnt want to ask us. She told me that she "sees me as a man but wants to wait until I finish the mission." I got pretty freaked out by that. I told her that we are missionaries who try and help people come closer to Christ and be baptized. If she doesnt want to change her life and become a disciple of Christ, we cant visit her anymore. She is like 45 years old. Needless to say, we dont go by her house as often. 

We had a couple blessings to give this week. Its pretty cool to be able to say a blessing in Spanish almost perfectly in "tu" form that we cant practice with people unless we are giving a blessing. It only took me about a year. 

This week we are going to the temple as a ward. We have permission because there is a sister that we have brought back to church after 30 years of not going who wants to go with us. 

I feel like I am becoming a really good missionary now. I feel like I can teach well and comfortably and I love the work. I need to talk with everyone all the time, but I am feeling like I have come a long way in a year. 

This week I feel like I have received revelation honestly. I have realized that I spend too much time thinking about home. I will write my family just the same amount, but my friends wont get quite as much detail in letters or emails. Im sorry but I gotta do it! This is what the Lord wants of me. 

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Week 48 - September 15, 2014

This week was the first week of the new change! We spent Pday at the temple and that was super great. Today we played soccer in the morning. 

We had a conference with the leaders of our church yesterday about the Doctrine of Christ. I was in charge of teaching 3 returned missionaries, which was super fun, especially since I had some good feedback (what I thought at least). We have had a lot of success teaching the Doctrine of Christ lately, found in 2 Nephi chapter 31, 3 Nephi 11 and 18. Those are the three chapters I like to use, but many prophets testify of the Doctrine of Christ and teach it. I have been thinking I want to teach yall that lesson in English if I can, when we skype on Christmas! We had a couple lessons this week and we had quite some success. One lady, Sonia, came to church for the first time in over 30 years this week! Even though it was raining! You all may laugh at that but thats a real problem here. When it rains, there are many people that dont go to church. Its a true faith tester. 

Gross Story: If you dont want to hear it, skip to the next paragraph. This week we had lunch at a ladys house and I ate so much that I threw up. Literally. It reminded me of when the Hasketts took me to a Brazilian Steakhouse and we had the buffet. I threw up after eating so much, then ate some more! :) Maybe that is some wrestling blood or reactions... 

This week I taught in the district meeting as District Leader. I was pretty nervous but then when I started it got better. I talked about being a successful missionary and what that means. I tied that into the Law of Consecration, which I have been studying lately and I love it. I really enjoy talking to all of my district and getting to know each of them. Its pretty fun! Tomorrow I am doing divisions with Elder Teloma, who was in Colonia, then followed me to Oeste, and then we both came to Cerro. He has been in my zone with me since I started the mission! I love having Elder Baggett and Elder Devashrayee serving as leaders with me. Elder Devashrayee is still the only ZL and I think that will be that way the whole change. We have one new ZL, and two new DLs. We are all new, but we are excited to work hard and make the Cerro Norte zone successful! 

Joseline and Felipe. This week we had a great lesson with them. They accepted the compromise to be baptized but they didnt want to set a date yet. They want to go church but Joseline has conflicting work schedules. 

Valentina has decided she will come back after talking to us this week. We talked to the temple president about a doubt she had and she will come to church two weeks from now with us! 

Flor has a doubt that she wont tell us. Its really bugging us too. We are always able to help her but she has to ask us questions first! She promised she would come to church this week, but she didnt. I would like to think its because of the rain. 

That is about it folks! I am doing great and I am glad to be where I am today! I am loving being a leader and dedicating myself everyday! I feel like I know the gospel so well now and my favorite part of everyday is studying something amazing and then teaching it. The church is true. The book is blue. I love you all a ton too!

Elder Cordy

Week 47 - September 8, 2014

Today I complete 11 months in the mission!! Thats crazy. TIME FLIES 

The big news of the week is that this week is CHANGES! I will be staying in Cerro San Fernando with Elder Morales, and I will be serving as district leader. Big news of the mission is that we split 3 of the zones to make 13 zones in total! Our zone is called Cerro Norte. I will be serving with Elder Devashrayee as my ZL and the other DL in the zone is Elder Baggett, my BEST FRIEND! Thats pretty awesome isnt it?! I am super stoked to see the kid and give him a giant hug. 

This week was pretty good. Last week we played sand volleyball at the beach with the whole zone, the funnest pday that Ive had so far! Today we just got back from the temple! Our zone had special permission to go. 

The Hermanas had a baptism this week and it was really good! 

Mom found a pic of me and Elder Morales at our zone conference on the mission Facebook. That zone conference was awesome! We talked about the doctrine of Christ again, and I loved it, again. Its awesome to be able to teach the basics and really people understand it. We see the results in our area too. After the zone conference we went to the fortaleza in Cerro to take pictures with the zone and President. 

This week was harder with our amount of time with the zone conference and services. We painted the cielings of a home one day and it was super fun. Then that same afternoon I was called to be the Zone English teacher... yeah weird right? So basically whenever anyone from San Jose wants to come to my weekly English classes from the area, they can. 7pm on Fridays. You are all invited. I will be teaching basic and advanced English :) 

Fast Sunday this Sunday was especially awesome. I couldnt tell you exactly why, but it was awesome! Just a great spirit. 

Jonathan and Flor de Liz - Jonathan, Flors son, had a bad weekend. After not drinking for 4 months, he fell into temptation again and Flor was a mess. She didnt want to do much of anything. We helped her out a lot though and she is doing great now that Jonathan has asked forgiveness and they talked about it. 

Karen and Claudio - We visited Karen this week without Claudio home. It was a great lesson because Karen actually talked instead of just Claudio the whole time. 

Felipe and Joseline - Are progressing! They are praying and reading the Book of Mormon. They said they listened a bit to missionaries in Chile but they didnt understand much. They say they understand everything now! We are super stoked about them! 

I am super excited to serve as District Leader in the same zone as Elder Baggett, the other DL. It will be a fun change! We are going to have a baptism this change. I can feel it! We just gotta work harder and do more! 

Week 46 - September 1, 2014

Hey Y`all!!!!!!!!!!! 

This week was quite a week. We had some nasty weather until Thursday with the tropical storms. Now its been warmer. A couple big events have happened though this week that I would like to share... 

Flor De Liz. This week we went to her house and I felt inspired to teach a lesson JUST about baptism. WE read the story of Christs baptism and we talked about it the whole time. At the end, I extended the baptismal challenge and she said she would like to be baptized. We are planning the 20th or the 27th of September. SWEET EH? 

We didnt have many lunches this week planned this past Tuesday. Only one day actually. However, we were super blessed and we didnt pay for lunch a single day! We feel like we are being more obedient and working harder, and the Lord is blessing us! 

We also gave a blessing to HErmano Conde, who was in bed with a nasty cold and he couldnt breath. We passed by to visit, and we gave him a blessing. The next day, the wife called us to tell us that he was completely fine after being sick for 4 days! Miracle of the Priesthood. 

Sonia who promised to come to church didnt come this week. That was super bumming. She treats us like her kids, because she doesnt have any. She fed us a super good asado, which is a bunch of meat for lunch one day. 

We did a small service of putting in a fence this week. The thing is that we did it in white shirts and ties. It was super fun actually. Then we saw 10 piglets that our mission leaders pig had!  

We had a ward activity saturday which meant a bunch of soccer. We played for two hours and it was super fun! 

We have been working with quite a couple families that are less active who are now coming to church consistently! Its amazing to see them progress! 

We found a couple from Chile this week who have family livng in Utah and they are members. This couple is SUPER nice and I love hearing them talk because they have a funky new accent. We have a lesson with them tomorrow! 

This week I tried something new for studies. I went through reading each chapter heading of the book of Mormon and I wrote what I got out of it on a paper. I ended up with 10 pages of notes, basically a big time line of the Book of Mormon. IT helped me internalize it a lot and I would recommend doing it! 

Elder Morales and I are still getting along pretty well! He told me that he has gotten along better with me than any other companion! 

This morning we played volleyball on the beach. SUPER FUN! I have pictures but I forgot my connector cord! Next WEEK! 

This is the last week of the change! I will have the information about the next change next week! I am excited to see what happens and either way, I will be pumped to keep working in San Fernando, with whoever it may be with. There is a lot of work to do! 

Week 45 - August 25, 2014

Hey Family and Friends! This week was crazy weather wise. Last monday I was playing soccer with the zone and dying from the heat. Now, we have a tropical storm that is here and we havent been able to stay warm or dry! 

This week I had a couple gifts for my birthday! I got a couple packages, letters, and gifts from families in the ward. The Maldonado family gave me gloves and a beanie that say Uruguay, and the Lopez family gave me a cake! 

This week we had 3 different opportunities to do service. Two of them were painting and one of them was to help move furniture. One of the beds we were moving was too big so the lady asked me to saw off a part of the head so it would fit. It was pretty funny and fun to saw a bed! 

This week we are going to be eating a lot by ourselves because we dont have very many lunches. This week was pretty great though. We only had two days that we werent given food and we ate lunch with the hermanas. One day we made Tacos and the other day we had Milanesas and rice. Both days we had cake from my birthday :) 

This week I was able to do divisions on Friday with our district leader. They were awesome. We had a great day and it was super fun to be able to see that I already know the area and people well. Its super cool to see how I have progressed as a missionary. I feel like I can teach pretty well now and that I can truly help people according to what THEY NEED. In the day of the divisions, we found a new investigator and had a lesson with him, we contacted a reference and we taught him, we got a lady who hasnt been to church in 30 years commit to coming to church this week and for the rest of her life, and we had a awesome lesson with our investigator Flor, who is progressing quite well. We taught Flor the Word of Wisdom and she committed to stop smoking! 

This week was Stake Conference at church. Our ward was in charge of the choir, and we had a whole 4 men participate. Lots of women though. Not a lot of people went to stake conference, but it was very good and fun to ride a big bus as a ward to Montevideo. 

This Monday was a holiday, thats why I am writing today! It also was the day of the strong tropical storm. We walked all day around with beanies, scarves, gloves, umbrellas, and basically all we had. We still managed to get soaked though because the wind blew the cold rain horizontal. Our pants and socks were drenched. One day I probably wont forget! Good to make those kind of days though right!? 

This week I have a couple people I want to talk about. 

First of all, I wanted to name all the people that are less actives, that came to church last Sunday! The Cualgia family, the Desalvo family, and Graciela. We are getting a lot of success with teaching the Doctrine of Christ to less actives and getting them back to church! 

Sonia, hasnt been to church in 30 years and committed to go for the rest of her life after the best lesson of the week in my opinion! That lesson was definitely guided by the spirit and I would say it went almost perfectly! 

Flor. Our star investigator! She is doing great. Reading the book of Mormon, praying, stopping smoking slowly but surely, and invites us over EVERY DAY. Its almost like she wants us to be in her house more than her family! She is super nice and loving. She always has hot chocolate ready for us and she calls me Yankee, and laughs every time she says it. 

Valentina is the recent convert from the area. She has had a lot of doubts lately and has decided she wants time away from church to think. 

Noemi and Juana we have been teaching for a while, but this week, Juana told us that her son told her she cant listen to us anymore. That was pretty bumming after seeing them be so happy every time we visit! 

We had a hard week, but we are still having success. I am doing great and we feel pretty blessed! Thanks for all your support and love! I miss and love you all a ton! 

Week 44 - August 18, 2014

Another week in San Fernando. Quite a crazy, odd, but good week! 

Monday we had couple people planning to go play soccer with us for pday, but we ended up just getting to montevideo and 4 people showed up. We went to a local chapel and played pool and foosball for the day. It was actually super fun. Then we had a FAmily home evening with the Desalvo family. They had a friend over, who is named Flor De Liz. We talked a lot to her and she was super interested in us and what we do here. At the end of the night, we had full bellies, a couple good laughs, and a new investigator!!!!!!!! 

On Tuesday we had probably the best zone conference that Ive ever been to, in terms of what we learned. We talked about converting yourself, the young rich teenager (joven rico and I dont know the right translation) in the bible. The story is in Mark 10 or 15. I cant remember exactly. We talked about the law of sacrifice and the law of consecration and the difference of coming to and following Christ. It takes a lot to come on a mission (Come to Christ), but it takes a lot to be a Consecrated Missionary, someone who leaves EVERYTHING behind, does EVERYTHING you can, and gives EVERYTHING you can to help the Lords work to progress. Awesome conference. 

Today is HOT but besides today, its been pretty darn cold. I gave Elder Morales a couple winter things because he was dying, but we are doing good now. One night in particular, we were out and we were about 40 minutes from our house. We had been out for a while and it wasnt cold, however, a quick storm came in with crazy cold and strong winds. The only things I had were a sweater and scarf. I also remembered that I have the power of prayer constantly, something that we always teach people. We put it into practice and we said a simple prayer asking the Lord to not stop the winds, but help us stay warm and not get sick. Literally we walked less than 10 more steps and I was WARM. I havent had a ton of crazy experiences with prayer, but I KNOW that it was the Lord that helped me, through our faith and trust in a small prayer. (We never got sick either)

Leticia and Luis. They are a family that only the dad is a member, but inactive. They have been having a lot of doubts and we have visited them a lot lately. They told us one night that they wanted to talk to us and teach us the lesson this time. We listened to them and all their doubts, answered all their questions, and we decided to stop by every two weeks or so to see how there are. 

Valentina, the recent convert from this year, had a rough week too. She has had a lot of doubts about the church and its basically because she was offended a couple of times. I have learned a lot about how to be a good member and how to ALWAYS support people. 

Claudio and Karen are a couple that we found this week too. Claudio is a member who hasnt been to church for a while. His wife, Karen is not a member. They are married, and they just moved here a while ago. Claudio is a firefighter in Carrasco, which is about an hour and a half away. He has trouble being able to go to church now but he committed to go next week, because work permits him to. 

One day this week we had two lunches. We have three meals a day and snacks in between from generous people. I will get fat here, even though I walk MANY kilometers a day. 

Oh yeah, my birthday was this week. It felt like a normal day and I dont feel much older though, haha. I woke up and opened two packages that I have received, from my parents and my grandparents. Thanks so much by the way, they were great packages. I have 3 cakes to bake now. :) Today was the dia del niño also. Its literally the day of the child. Just like mothers day or fathers day, but for kids. Church was full of candy wrappers and everything else good for you. I just got assigned to play piano in church, which will be fun. I actually really enjoy it now, and I dont get as nervous. We had choir practice after church, practicing for stake conference this week. I am the only bass that showed up, and it was hard not to get upset with people that dont understand music. I enjoy singing a lot now though. I didnt get any special cakes from anyone from church, but I got a couple nice cards, phone calls, and emails from friends from home, the mission, and members in Uruguay. The Hermanas in our ward told a ton of people and they got me a couple snacks and a nice card. Everyone in church was saying happy birthday to me. It was super fun. 

This was a pretty good week, and I love that all my problems now are with people that are in my area. Its really cool to be able to come unto Christ and try to follow Him every day as his servant. We are leaving everything behind to be able to help other people and bring the world its truth. I love that I can be a missionary and I am super glad that I get to spend my whole year as a 19 year old kid serving in Uruguay. Yeah I am still a kid! I am not sure I want to grow up yet! I am loving that I can get to spend all day smiling, helping people stand up, walk, learn more about Christ, and help them change their lives for the better. Its a beautiful work and I know that its guided by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Eternal Life will be the "greatest gift of God" but the spirit world will be pretty awesome too, being able to preach the OBVIOUS truth to everyone else there, for who knows how long! 

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!  

Week 43- August 11, 2014

This week has been quite a week. I have really realized how much I LOVE THE MISSION! I also realized, the very first day, how calm life is outside of the office. Its nice to be at home at 10:00 and not know what to do. I really missed walking and teaching all day long, but I have sure made up for that last week. We have had a couple mornings that are HARD. We have a Giant area and we walk just 15 minutes to get to the area from our house. One morning, we were out from 9:10-12:30 without stopping to sit down. Lessons falling through isnt fun. One night, we were on the opposite side of our area and it took us an hour to get home from our last lesson. I have worn the same pair of shoes since day one of the mission, now they have gone about 10 months. This week, I got a hole in the sole. I feel very proud of it actually. I havent shined the shoes for a month now and I want to wear them until I cant anymore. They will be my shoes that I will keep as a memory.
This week we had service that reminded me of working with my uncle Josh about a year ago. We were cleaning and moving furniture in a less active families home. I felt like it was an abandoned home and no one lived there, just trash was thrown. I cant wait for you guys to come see this beautiful country :) I have also gone back to 100% Spanish, which I really like actually. I just live with my comp, and I learn a lot just by listening to people. I feel like I will better my level of understanding here because a lot of people are very poor and they dont speak well, due to lack of education.
The bad part of the week, I have had stomach problems of some sort since Friday, and its still going on. I have thrown up, and been to the bathroom way too many times. I am not exactly sure what happened but I think its the water. We will see and hopefully it will be gone by next week. On Saturday morning I woke up and I had the throw up feeling at 12:00. I took off sprinting down the hall to the bathroom, but I didnt make it. That was the first time I have had to clean up my own throw up. That was an experience I wont forget. I sure missed my mommy that night.
I mentioned the cold, and I mean its cold. Our area is long and narrow, right down 2 parallel highways. Its cold, and windy. I have worn my giant jacket everyday and I have worn my scarves for the first time. Now they are my best friends. 

Lunches in this area are bomb. We have lunches like every day of the week that we ask, besides Monday and Tuesday. Craziest thing I ate this week was OCTOPUS. Yeah. It was actually pretty good. Its a very soft textured but tough meat. ACtually pretty good, too bad my stomach hasnt been happy with anything. 

We have 105 that showed up to church this week. I am the lucky one that gets to play the piano though! That is something that I have gotten to do in every ward or branch now where I have served, despite all of the whining and yelling, I am glad that somehow I kept practicing piano until I did. I wish I was a lot better though. 

The work in San Fernando. WOW! This is where I get really excited. I heard great things about the area before I came, but I saw the numbers every week of what they were accomplishing and it wasnt much at all. In week one, we have made a good start. We found 4 new investigators this week, Worked with members EVERY SINGLE DAY this week, and had about 20 lessons. The week before I got here, San Fernando had 6 lessons and no new investigators. I AM EXCITED!!!!!! You guys, the mission really is awesome. 

Familia Lopez. Okay this family is pretty awesome and they have a crazy story. 

First off, Hermana Lopez, the mom has cancer and tumors throughout her throat and lungs. She is a mother of 5 kids, two who live at home that are about 5. She has a daughter who is named Lucia, who is 16 and pregnant. Lucia is a member, who was baptized when she was 9 years old. Hermana Lopez was just called as Gospel Principles teacher this week. We had two lessons with both of them this week. The first lesson was with just Hermana Lopez, she told us her whole story, and we shared a scripture story, which I forget what it was now. I felt the spirit super strong in the lesson and she actually cried during the lesson, when I was speaking. That was the first time that someone has cried when I was teaching. It makes me feel like I really am helped by angels. Then she told us about her daughter, Lucia who is 16, pregnant, and living with her boyfriend. She thought that we were good elders and that we should go visit her and see if now was her time to come back to church, now that the pregnancy has opened her eyes a bit. We visited her the next day and had a great lesson with her in the home of her boyfriend. We havent met the boyfriend yet, but thats a goal we have. We decided we should meet the next day at her moms house after a good lesson. The next day, we met with Hermana Lopez and Lucia in the house of HErmana Lopez. We taught about the Book of Mormon, just like we would to investigators. It was a GREAT LESSON. Super strong spirit and it was really cool to be there and be teaching. They were both crying at the end of the lesson and they testified that they both KNOW that this is the true church and they want to be together forever with their whole entire family. I loved Hermana Lopez`thoughts because she said she was grateful that Lucia has this opportunity to be a mother and start her own family and raise them in the gospel. Then Lucia shared her testimony, which was amazing. She said she knows that this has all happened for a reason, and she has learned a lot from her mistakes. I am super stoked about them. They are great!!!!!! 

THE MISSION IS THE BEST! I cant believe Ive almost been here for half my time! Shoutout to my boys Elder Opfar, Elder Mott, Elder Loertscher and Elder Argyle who are just being blessed to START their mission! 

I cant wait to tell you how this week goes! I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

August 4, 2014 - Week 42

Fernando & Joaquin

Okay I am writing my first letter out of the offices! I just got to San Fernando last night at about 11. This week, we had changes. They were super crazy. First of all, we had changes. We had a ton of more changes than ever before. I have no idea why. Then, we had 17 missionaries that had to travel to Argentina to be able to have residency here in Uruguay. The financers ran out of money, and we had an oro that came at a different time from the rest of them. The oros were awesome. Super great group. I slept with the oros and then went to the health test with them. I still hold the all time mission record for push ups and I did the most of the day too :) The health test was really fun to go to because it was just a long wait so I got to talk to all the gringos who were super scared, nervous, and excited about it all. I ate some awesome food too. 

On my last pday in the offices, we had to be at the Charla Fogonera practice for most of the day, so that was a blown pday. I had to go early too because I was in the groups for singing. My ward was super awesome with all my going away festivities. I got a ton of food, and our investigator Fernando gave me a new tie! It was super awesome. I felt like I have really got to know a lot of people and I can speak well enough to have good relationships with them now. 

The charla fogonera ended up AMAZING. We had a TON of people show up, although I dont know the exact number. There were a lot of emergencies and complications right before but it all ended up well. An hour before, we still couldnt get the projectors to work for the video portion. Also, we had a hermana who didnt feel good and couldnt hit her notes, and she had a solo. She rocked it though when it counted. Then when we were going through the final practice, there was a random song that a group put in that I have never heard before. President stopped the song in the middle and said we couldnt sing it because it wasnt good. So... With ten minutes before game time, we made a group and sang Nearer my God to thee. Its a very easy song, and it sounds awesome in parts. I sang bass, Elder Moffat sang tenor, which is funny because he is HUGE. Then 3 hermanas sang the alto and soprano parts. It sounded amazing though honestly. We sang acapella the last verse and it was SUPER AWESOME. Maybe I can somehow get it on video. Afterwards, I said goodbye to a lot of the people from my ward, and a bunch of the missionaries. Then we had to wait for a while.Then I drove my last time to my new house in Ciudad de la Plata. It is not a city of money, even though thats what it means. Its basically just like the interior part of the country again, which I have missed. My new house is VERY humid and gross, but I spent this whole morning cleaning just the kitchen, which looks a LOT better. The house is huge and its just two of us. Elder Morales is my companion. He was born in Mexico, but has lived in Italy for the last 14 years. He is very quiet, but a good kid. I havent been with him for a whole day yet, so I will have more about him to tell yall next week. I have heard a lot of good things about the ward and it will be fun to see how this week goes. I am excited to get out and work. I almost want to stop pday to get out and work! I have had the most calm morning that I have had in 6 months. Its crazy how crazy the offices are and how accostomed I got to the offices. 

I am going to miss the offices, but I am excited to be out to work all the time again. Let me tell you, it is pretty darn cold when you have to walk around all the time. Our area is huge too. We have to walk 15 minutes to just get to our area. We live two blocks from the church, super market, the cyber place, bus stop, and the hermanas in our ward. We have everything super close, but our area  haha. There are no investigators here right now that are progressing. I am interesting to met people and see how hard this is going to be. The Lord never said it would be easy though, he just said it would be worth it. 

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time in Spanish this week. It was awesome and really cool. President Hinckleys promise I think is true for me, after reading it in a different language, I would consider myself fluent! 

This weeks highlight was definitely the charla fogonera, we had so many people there and the spirit was just so strong! It was a great manifestation and testimony builder of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, and the restoration of the gospel, through Joseph Smith. 

I hope everyone is doing great and I hope you all know that I love you more than you know! Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Cordy