Week 86 - June 15, 2015

This week was COLD. Its 5°C right now and we are always walking around in it. 

This last pday we went to BRAZIL! We ate lunch there with a member and then we went to visit another family afterwards. I was amazed because I can understand a lot! I cant speak fluidly at all but they can understand me! I just need to practice more! The Brazilians are awesome though. I loved the couple hours we spent there! 

This week we gave two investigators a baptismal date!!!!! Valentina who is a daughter of a recent convert will be baptized at the beginning of July. Eliana is a 19 year old girl who will be baptized at the end of July! We are stoked about them and their progression! 

I did divisions this week in the 4th ward with Elder Eiker from California. I loved the divisions. We had some incredible lessons honestly! We made pancakes for breakfast and this spicy bean and rice thing for dinner. We ate well!!! 

One day this week we had a lunch that was in an area called Tamandua, which is 45 minutes away on a BIKE. It was a long way away. It was a beautiful ride though. We took the highway on the way there and we flew down for a while. On the way back we took a trail and had to cross a creek. It was super fun! I love adventures like that. 

This week the Copa America started. The work is hard when there are big games on. Its cool though because fireworks are going off a lot! 

Our area is awesome. I really like it even though its GIANT. Its super fun and we are always finding people. The people here are so nice here and we have a lot of members that love us! Thats probably the best thing about being ZL- having a AWESOME companion. 

Week 85 - June 8, 2015

20 MONTHS!!

This week flew by. We had a zone pday together, a zone capacitation and interviews with President Smith, which we had to prepare a lot for! I love being able to teach all of the missionaries in the zone! Its really super fun! We studied a lot of the Gathering of Israel, which I am absolutely loving now. We teach it as a lesson to members so they will help us more with the work! Interviews lasted all day. We got to the stake center at 8:15 in the morning and we left at 7:30 in the afternoon. They were great though. I love President Smith. I just wish I could spend more time around him to learn more! My interview went great though. Once again very short but so great. I just asked President how I could help others more. Seriously like every word he said in the interview was just to build me up. He is an incredible man.

We are killing it in our area. We have a lot of investigators now. We are finding people like crazy but sadly most of the couples need to get married, which takes time. There is a couple getting married on the 18th but they arent super excited anymore about getting baptized. We can hardly ever meet them in their house. 

There is a family that I LOVE! Hugo and Estefani are their names. They have two super cute kids too. They are very humble but also very generous too. They always give us something to eat when we go to their house. 

The Bueno family has two kids from Utah staying with them. They got here last week and will stay here for 3 months. Their father is from Mexico and their mom is from Peru. They speak pretty good spanish but they are learning a lot too! The boy Joshua is going to be 17 this month and is entering his senior year. His sister Jessica is 15 and going to be a sophomore. They have both gone to school here and had some interesting experiences with the kids there. They are super fun to talk to though! We worked with Joshua one day this week and he loved it! 

We talked with the stake president and thought of a stake activity that we are going to start this week. Its so the members will read the BOM more! For 15 weeks we will be reading 15 stories from the BOM. This week we will be studying 1 Nephi 4 for example. Halfway and at the end we will have a stake activity in which every ward will perform a story from the BOM in like a skit. Everyone here loves the idea and we will see how it goes! 

This week all of the elders in our house made a pretty crazy compromise so that we will be smarter when we get back and so that we can be the best fathers and husbands possible! I meant to bring it to tell you guys what I wrote but I forgot it... :) 

Artigas is awesome. I love it here! 

Week 84 - June 1, 2015

This week was crazy and awesome! 

Last Monday we made tacos and it was AWESOME! They came out way better than the last time! 

Monday night we left at midnight to Montevideo. We had an 8 and a half hour bus ride and then we went to the leadership counsel. We were there for the whole day and we left at 6:00pm to head back to Artigas on a 9 hour bus ride. It was a LONG day. The meeting was SWEET though. Especially because Artigas is doing the best out of all the zones in the mission!!!!!!! We got to stand up and explain what we are doing in Artigas and what we plan to do to make it even better! It was super fun! I got to see some great buddies too! 

Saturday was incredible. We call it "game day" and its when we just visit investigators and find new people to invite them to church. We found 5 new people just on Saturday. It was incredible. We worked with 3 different members that day. It was awesome! 

We have a couple people that we are working with that are awesome. 

Hugo y Estefani are a young couple that are both awesome. They have two young kids who are the cutest things ever! I love them. They are going to church and they are planning to get married to be able to get baptized. They LOVE the gospel so muich though and its incredible! Thats what converts should be like! I love visiting them because they testify almost as much as us! Its incredible. 

We had a sick lesson last night with the Fukol Family. They are less actives but we just had like a scripture study with them. Nothing was super special about what we said but we just had the full help of the holy ghost which made for an incredible lesson! 

I bought a new Book of Mormon hard back copy just to mark where it talks about the Doctrine of Christ and the Gathering of the house of Israel. I am LOVING it so far and I am just in 1 Nephi 15! 

This week we have interviews with President Smith. We have to have a capacitation the whole day basically so we are planning already to be teaching ALL DAY! I am excited though. Its fun to teach a bunch of people! 

I love the gospel so much. I love the Book of Mormon so much and I know its true. I am so grateful to be a missionary and sometimes I dont even want to go home! I love it here. Thankfully we can ALWAYS be missionaries and always be able to help people know the truth that we know! 

Week 83 - May 25, 2015

Wow Artigas is awesome! I am really loving it so far! This is such a cool place and its amazing to be with an incredible missionary as my companion! That probably the highlight of being ZL, having a studly comp. We have been running around a lot, especially during changes. We had people get to the zone at 9am, 2pm, 2pm, and 2am the next day. We had to walk to centro, which is a long way away to greet the new missionaries in our zone! Plus we have the mission council tomorrow with all the ZLs and Sister Training leaders tomorrow and we had to do a bunch of graphs for that! I dont miss that part of the offices! 

Artigas is an amazing zone. We have some great missionaries and a ridiculously awesome group of leaders that support us. I think the main key to the great missionaries is that we have 6 companionships of Sisters and 5 companionships of Elders. 

In our zone we have 3 DLs. All three of them are new. We had a meeting with them on Thursday just to help them feel more comfortable about their meetings on Friday. The district meetings on Friday were fun. I went to our district meeting for the first half and it was really good. The DL taught a lot about the direction of the mission. Then I spent the other half in the Quaraí district meeting. Its the district with the missionaries serving in Brazil. The meeting was in Portuguese. It was super awesome because I literally could understand them! I have been practicing more and I can speak better but I can understand a lot now! Its super cool! 

My second day here we were working with our ward mission leader. We found Rodrigo, who is a 21 year old kid. We had an incredible lesson with him and we gave him a baptismal date during that first lesson. He is a stud and we are excited to work with him! He went to travel this weekend though so he didnt come to church. 

Elder Amaral and I have been thinking about things that we want to do this change so that it will be incredible. We want to do this: FLOOD the earth with the Book of Mormon. We have been studying and praying a lot about this. We have come up with the idea to have a stake study from the Book of Mormon. We went to President Bueno´s house (which btw is probably the most incredible family ever.) Presidente Bueno is our stake president. He is in our ward which makes things super easy for us. We have come up with 15 stories from the book of mormon that all of the families in the stake are going to study, one story every week. Then we are going to have each ward present two skits of these stories. I dont know if I explained it well but we already talked with our stake president and bishop and they love the idea! 

The Bueno family is amazing. He is our stake president, she is our primary president, and they have 5 kids. 3 are theirs and 2 are adopted. This week they are giong to have two kids from the states come and stay with them until July I believe. The kids are 13 and 15. They are coming just to have an experience. Their parents are from Mexico and Peru and they want their kids to learn spanish and experience south america!
Every Sunday the missionaries eat with the Bueno family. They bring two big tables together. One tradition they have is that the missionaries make dessert. It was my turn yesterday. I made crepes with dulce de leche! At first they were too thick but I got the hang of it after a while! Mom I need some easy quick recipies now too for dessert! 

I am so glad to be able to be here in Artigas. I feel like I have changed so much over the last almost 20 months and I am so grateful for that change. I know that two years in ANY college (BYU, Harvard, the Air Force Academy, or the University of Oklahoma) couldnt have changed me like this. I am so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me so much. I am so grateful that he loves and trusts me enough to teach his gospel, even though I understand just a little part of it! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know it is the word of God and that if anyone reads it and lives what it teaches, they will return and live with our Heavenly Father again. The gospel is amazing and its true! 

#InundarLaTierraConElLibroDeMormón

Week 82 - May 19, 2015

CHANGE WEEK! We just got our changes on Sunday night. I am headed to Artigas as zone leader! I will be the ZL of all of the areas in Artigas and Brazil! We have a district leader in Brazil so I will be able to do divisions in Brazil too! My companion is going to be Elder Amaral, who is from Brazil. I met him when I was in the offices and he is a great missionary. He is supposed to be ending this change but he extended his mission so it will be longer! I hope I get two changes with him! We are going to be opening an area in Artigas 2nd Ward. I cant wait to serve in Artigas!

President Smith gave us our changes after stake conference on Sunday. It was really fun because the whole zone was together in the same room. Elder Abel, who is in my ward, is going to be Elder Huntsmans next comp, which they are super excited about. Elder Baggett is headed to Argentina to be Zone Leader also! We will be headed out early tomorrow morning! 

This week in our area was great. Like I mentioned last week, we had the Meet the Mormons activity. We showed the movie and there was around 50 people there, which is the best I have seen here in Salto! Seriously I have loved my time here. In two short changes Salto has become really dear to me! I love the people here and I have learned a lot! 

We had the interviews for Jakson, Gema and Candela, the three people that had a baptismal dates! I found them, taught them, got their interview, but I will miss their baptism sadly. Its cool to be a part of their conversion! 

We have spent the last two days visiting everyone and saying goodbye. I have a ton of pictures that I will send after of people that I have met here! 

The best thing about the mission is getting to grow and learn. I have been able to learn and grow a lot in my time here in Salto! I love the people, the city and the ward here! With the help from Elder Huntsman and Elder Kelly, I have really enjoyed and grown to love Salto! 

Week 81- May 11, 2015

Hey everyone! Wow this week was ridiculously good! Mainly because I got to skype my family.

This week we went to two differnent baptismal services. One where my companion baptized a girl, and another in our ward for the other elders. There were a bunch of cute little girls that got baptized and it was fun to see their reactions as they entered the chilly water! 

I did divisions with the Elders in my district this week. I went to their area and we had a great time. We gave a guy a baptismal date and it was super cool! Their house didnt have hot water and it was literally the coldest shower I have ever taken (not that I have taken very many). Still though, the water was ridiculously cold. 

We tried to set up a lot of Family Home Evenings this week with awesome members and we had 3 that were all just super fun. I really enjoyed them and my companion did too! 

We have an activity this next friday where we are going to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. We are planning a lot and its going to be awesome! 

Awesome news: I will not be leaving Uruguay until October! My parents are coming down and we are going to spend some time here together and go to all of my areas! I am super excited! 

Thanks to all of you that have supported me! I have 3 more changes left in the mission and wow is that crazy to say. I really appreciate all of your love and support. 

Quote of the week: Attitude by Charles Swindoll-
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes."

Week 80 - May 4, 2015

Well hey everyone! A little bit of everything happened this week...

A couple awesome things that happened this week; 

I finished the book Jesus the Christ! Ridiculously cool book! 

The key indicators in our mission officially changed and we only count the amount of new investigators that we find while working with members every day. 

I did an interview this week for the Hermanas in my district. A cute little girl who was really smart! I am loving the zone here! We have some of the best missionaries who are working super hard!

Winter finally has come! We had a HUGE rainstorm one day. Literally the streets were like rivers. We got SOAKED even though we had waterproof boots, big jackets and umbrellas! After the giant rainstorm It got really cold! Ive been wearing a sweater since!

Skype is going to be awesome! 

This week my comp and I had a companionship inventory that really fixed a lot of things and we are doing pretty good now! 

This week I had some awesome studies. I got a talk that is called "Beginning with the end in mind" by Elder Russell M Nelson. It was a really good talk and it explains how the final goal should be the temple, not baptism! When we talk to people in the street, we should imagine them with white clothes on. But the white clothes in the temple, not the white clothes of baptism! I really loved that! 

I also was listening to Elder D Todd Christoffersons talk from this last general conference. He says one line that I LOVE! He says that many things are good, many are important, but few things are essential. I made a list of things in all three categories and its really cool to think about what the essential things are in our lives, according to our final goal. 

I did divisions with Elder Teloma, who should be famous in the history of my mission. We have been in the same zone for 11 of my 13 changes. That has to be a record. The last time we did divisions I was his DL and he was a senior comp. Now he is my ZL and I am a DL (still)... If I am DL next change I think I will break the record of longest time as DL in our mission! Elder Teloma is a stud. I really respect him a lot and I love to be able to listen to other missionaries teach. We had a crazy awesome day together in my area! 

This past Friday was basically Labors day here. No one worked. We had a crazy awesome day and we just contacted like crazy. We got denied a lot but everyone was making food so we got fed well!! 

I got to go to gospel doctrine this week with a new couple we just found this week who are new members here. The teacher was super awesome and It made me wonder how my dads gospel doctrine classes are! I cant wait to find out! 

The mission is so awesome. I can not explain how much I love being a missionary. Its so cool being able to share the gospel every single day! I am so grateful for this sacred time I have here! I am so grateful to be able to learn constantly and understand Heavenly Fathers plan for me! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Week 79 - April 27, 2015

This week was INCREDIBLE. Honestly one of the best working weeks in my mission. I dont know if I have ever felt such an incredible love for the work as I do right now. I love it so much that I am nervous and kind of scared to go back to the real world! 

This last Monday night we left Salto to go to Montevideo for a giant conference with Elder Dallin H. Oaks, one of the twelve apostles. It was incredible. I was chosen as one of the 10 Elders in our mission to be in the choir and I loved it. When we sang our song, Hermana Smith was crying and Elder Oaks said "that was absolutely wonderful" when I passed him on the stand! A couple things that Elder Oaks talked a lot about were that the mission is not the last goal of our life, that exaltation is. Then he went on a marriage tangent for a while :) I really loved how he highlighted the importance of obedience too. He talked about how we need to balance all of the responsiblities that we will have after the mission. But that is AFTER the mission. NOW IS NOW! We have to enjoy the mission and concentrate all of ourselves to this sacred calling. 

The bus rides to and from Montevideo were super fun! We went with Artigas and I got to talk to a lot of awesome friends that I have made during my mission. It was great to catch up! I talked to the Elders in Brasil too and I got excited about learning portuguese again but I doubt that I will head there now! I still have a goal to learn portuguese! 

The day after the conference the Hermanas in my district wouldnt answer their phone. I had told them to text me when they got home at 12:30 at night but they never did... I couldnt go out to see if they were out but I was really worried about them! The next day they still wouldnt answer so we went to their house during studies to see if they were alright. They were doing great but they had lost their phone. So we made a few calls and hooked them up with a new phone! It was quite a freak out moment though! 

Today we are going to the doctor again to see the results of a Ultrasound that they did on my comp on his back. They still have no idea what it is but we will see later today! 

This week was AWESOME in the work. We found 3 new people while we were with members and then we gave 3 people a baptismal date! Its going to be pretty awesome to have 3 baptisms! We had over 100 people in church again which was good! We are starting to do something else this week. We are contacting all of the members on the ward list and teaching all of them. That way we can get less actives back to church, complete part member families, and get a lot more references from different people all around! I hope keeps working because it worked AMAZINGLY this week! 

Seriously the mission is incredible. I can not think of anything better that I could be doing right now. 2 years is a long time but that is the only way that people can truly change! I love the gospel, my Savior Jesus Christ, and I love teaching that to EVERYONE! 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Week 78 - April 20, 2015

Hows it going everyone? This week has been pretty fun and I am super excited about this coming week too!!! 

I did divisions with three different Elders this week. All three were in my area with some Elders from our zone. The first one was with Elder Castillo from Peru and we had a sweet lesson with a family that we found and then we went to a barbeque that we got invited to by a member of another ward who loves me because Im from Texas! :) Then I went with Elder De La Cruz from Spain who took my spot in the offices when I left. He is a fun kid who knows how to work hard. I really enjoyed my time with him. Then I went with Elder McGuire from Utah. He is good friends with Elder Huntsman and we just had time for one quick lesson because we had an hour together. 

This week I got to do two baptismal interviews for a companionship in my district. One of them was an older man who is blind. It was very interesting but it was a great experience. Then I interviewed a nine year old girl who was so darn cute. She was really impressive with her knowledge of the gospel. Her parents want to get baptized too but they are trying to stop smoking first. 

My convert here in Salto, Agustín just got the priesthood last week and on Sunday he passed the sacrament. It made me feel pretty proud. Now I feel like I kind of understand what parents feel the first time their kids pass the sacrament! He is such a stud! 

Our ward mission leader has been slacking lately and two hours before coorelation I decided to call him and confirm it with him so he wouldnt ditch us again. He said he would see us in two hours at the church. We went there and waited for an hour but he didnt show up. So the next day all four of us missionaries went to his house to have a surprise coorelation meeting. It worked out and all was good afterwards! Then he didnt go to church on Sunday.... I think we are going to start to teach our ward mission leader the lessons... 

Well the most interesting but gross story of the week this week was about my companion. Elder Kelly on Tuesday saw something weird on his back. It looked like a small bite of something but it kept getting worse as the days went on. He tried to pop it on Friday and a bunch of puss came out. Finally on Saturday he decided he couldnt deal with it anymore. We called people so we could go to the hospital. When we got there they immediately let us in and took a look at his back. they squeezed more puss and blood out of it and then told us that they have no idea what it is and that they would hook us up with a surgeon. Then they just gave him antibiotics and sent us off! We have an appointment today at 4 with the surgeon. We will see how that goes. 

Tomorrow we have a conference in Montevideo with Elder Dallin H. Oaks!!!! I am super excited for it! We leave tonight at midnight to Montevideo with the Salto and Artigas zones. Its a conference in the morning with just our mission but in the afternoon is the conference with Elder Dallin H. Oaks with the two missions! I am excited to see everyone and meet Elder Oaks for the second time (if I remember right he came to our stake a while ago). I am super excited too because I got asked to be in the choir for the conference. There is only 10 Elders and 10 Hermanas from our mission and they called and asked me! 

This week we had a lot of success with less actives but we just cant get any investigators to go to church! Its pretty frustrating but its part of life! I am loving the mission and loving Salto! 

2 Nephi 5:27  "Vivimos de una manera feliz!"

BE HAPPY! LOVE LIFE! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Week 77 - April 13, 2015

This week was a building week. I was sick for most of the weeks. I have had that seasonal coughing and bronchitis type sickness that I used to get around lacrosse season. I literally lost my voice for about 5 days. Two of them I could whisper and that was it. That was rough as a missionary...

We had a zone barbeque right before the changes and it was super fun. Our old zone was awesome! The same night we went to another families house who also gave us asado! 

We went to the bus terminal late at night to tell everyone bye! We had four Elders going home and then a couple going to Montevideo for their changes. It was a really awesome goodbye. There were a lot of members actually too that were there to say goodbye! 

The next day something crazy happened. The ZLs told me that Elder Mori was going to get to the bus terminal at 2:00 so I got there around 1:40. A couple minutes later two hermanas showed up. We went to help them with their suitcases and then I saw an Elder come in another bus. I went and said hi and asked where he was going and when he saw my name tag he said, "Elder Cordy! Your my companion!" I was waiting on a Peruvian and he was a large blondie, clearly not peruvian. We went to the ZLs and started calling people to find out what was going on. Well, come to find out, Elder Kelly is now my new companion! Elder Mori is staying in his last area! So Elder Kelly is a big kid from Las Vegas. He just finished training. That makes my last 4 comps ALL gringos and ALL of them have less than 6 months in the mission. 

My district is now one group of Elders and one group of Hermanas besides us. I thought I wasnt going to like it but it was pretty sweet! 

This week I hit an official 18 months. The only thing out of the normal is that I lost my voice and when i climbed into bed at night, a wasp stung me on the shoulder! 

Crazy story this week: The Elders from my district called to tell me a story about a guy that they had talked too. They said he needed someone to translate English for him. I called the guy to see what was going on. He told me about some lady that he had met over email who had asked him for help. By the way this lady lives in Africa and is in like a refuge camp. After wondering, laughing and talking to my comp about it, we decided to go over and talk to him. We set up a time the next day to meet him. So the next day he gave us more details and I ended up called a reverend in Africa named Andrew to tell him that this guy Cesar was going to help this random lady in whatever way possible. It really doesnt make sense at all but we got a lot of good laughs about it because we arent sure what this guy wants to do. 

This week Agustin got the priesthood! I am really excited about him! He is such a stud!!! 

I am reading Jesus the Christ and reaching the end. I read about the trail and crucifixion this week. It is so humbling to read and study about the things that he went through for us. Its amazing that our heavenly Father knows that that sacrifice was worth it for all of his children that will one day become like Him! I am so greatful for that willing sacrifice! 

Thanks for all of your love and support! I really appreciate the emails! :) 

-- 

Week 76 - April 6, 2015

CHANGES! This week I am getting a new companion here in Salto. Sadly, Elder Huntsman is leaving and going to Cerro Casabó which is one of the best areas in the mission. Its pretty dangerous but I am getting him excited for it! I am going to be with 

Elder Mori from Peru. He has almost a year in the mission. I havent heard much about him but I am excited to see how it goes! This Thursday I will have 18 months as a missionary and I cant believe time is flying as it is. I am going to be DL (6 months and still going strong) still and I have only 6 missionaries now in my district. Elder Huntsman and I were not expecting to leave eachother but President told us that he felt that it would be best for us! I am excited to see whats in for us this change in Salto! 

This week was pretty interesting in terms of the work. We had a ward council meeting and our leaders were pretty lame. We are trying to help the ward so hard and we dont get a lot of help from our leaders. 

I did divisions this week with Elder Aphowriseth from Argentina. He is a new missionary who is finishing up his training. He is a super cool kid though. We had a lot of great lessons and I really enjoyed all of my experiences there except my cold shower in the morning! 

This morning we went to seminary. We got invited because the youth wanted to say goodbye to Elder Vargas and Elder Huntsman who are leaving. There was a good amount of kids there at 6am and I was really surprised! It was super fun to go! It was my comps first time in seminary though hahaha. 

We found a lot of new investigators this week and we are working with all of them to try and help them understand the importance of what we do! 

GENERAL CONFERENCE! Dang I love general conference in the mission. Its so ridiculously awesome. I had a couple questions that I had answered and I am so grateful for later day prophets and apostles that are called by our Heavenly Father! 

My favorite talks were these:

Jeffrey R Holland -  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154894180001&cid=10

David A Bednar -  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154660827001&cid=6 

D Todd Christofferson - https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4153720783001&cid=7

Michael Ringwood - https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154406123001&cid=11

Linda K Burton - https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4153387734001&cid=6

M Russell Ballard - https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2015/04?lang=eng&vid=4154628103001&cid=3

Study Conference!!!! Seriously I got so much out of it! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did! I know that these leaders are truly called of God! The Gospel is so amazing and I am so grateful that I have been able to be in the service of the Lord for almost 18 months now! How great is my calling! I love you all! :) 

Week 75 - March 30, 2015

Hey yall! This week was great!!! We had Agustins baptism and it was amazing! He was incredibly prepared for it! It went very smoothly. We had good talks and then with the four missionaries in our ward we all sang Nearer My God to Thee and it sounded great. I had the priviledge to baptize Agustin and we just did it once so SUCCESS!! 

We also had interviews with President this week! My interview was so great, I love that President and I have such a great relationship because we talk about anything. He asked how Elder Huntsman and I are doing together and I told him we are the best of friends. He told me that Elder Huntsman says the same thing so we will probably be staying together another change! We will see for sure about that this week! 

We had a great week this week. The weather started to cool down a couple days and we even broke out the sweaters which was so nice! I love sweater weather. We met Yamila, who is a 29 year old member of the church. She is living with her boyfriend Gabriel who is 25. He is a carpinter and she is does workout camps (kind of like mommas camp gladiator workouts I assume) but she works out of her house. Gabriel is not a member and we are teaching him now. We can only meet with them once a week so thats kind of annoying but they are super cool. We are really excited to be able to work with them!

We had ward conference this week and the stake leaders dropped cane! They were talking about being worthy to get a temple recommend and paying tithing. I loved it though! We had 107 people at church and we keep raising almost every week! 

Elder Huntsman and I are both reading the book Jesus the Christ and getting to the end. We have really been able to understand a little bit more of what Jesus Christ went through and how voluntary his sacrifice really was. Its humbling to understand that sacrifice that he gave so willingly for us. I memorized D&C 20:37 this last week and studied it a lot. We need to be so much better as members of the Church!!!! 

Overall, we had a great week. It will be interesting to get changes this week but we are excited for them! I hope you are all doing great! I love you!!! 

Week 74 -March 23, 2015

Hey crew! This week was pretty darn awesome. We are going to have an even better week this week though! We are going to be having interviews with President Smith tomorrow and  a baptism on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Last Pday was pretty fun. We have a secret room above our house and we decided to go explore. We snuck into it and it lead to three other apartments right by us. Then I cut Elder Hodges hair, which was a first! I got a good couple years of watching and learning by my dad though! 

On Tuesday we were on a trio with Elder Hodges because his companion was at concilio. We had a great time and we were laughing the whole time. Then he went on splits with a kid from his ward. He is a new elder and he struggled being with a teenager because they talk super fast but he got through it! 

We had a legit lesson with Dario from our ward. He has been inactive for a while but he has a calling in the elders quorum presidency. We taught him the doctrine of Christ and he asked us after the lesson when we had ward council. We told him that he had it tomorrow and he showed up the next day! He then went to our ward activity and to church on Sunday! Then he left with the other missionaries of the ward! The Doctrine of Christ works MIRACLES! 

In the district meeting this week I taught about the gathering of Israel and had an activity that had to do with throwing a football. The gringos killed it! 

I did divisions with Elder Bedoya this week, who is one of our zone leaders. He is from Colombia and wants to be an English teacher. He is a stud missionary and I loved my time with him. I was happy to go back with Elder huntsman though! We seriously get along so well and we missed eachother! 

Our ward activity this week was legit. We played jeopardy and we had about 30 people there. It turned out great and everyone had a great time! 

Saturday we had the interview for Agustin, who is getting baptized this next Saturday! It was an hour long interview and I played piano for an hour which was super nice! He passed the interview and we were super stoked about it! He is really really prepared. 

Saturday night the other Elders in our ward had a baptism so we went to that. I got asked to give a talk 10 minutes before it started but it went well! The baptism was very well planned and we hope to do something similiar this week! 

Big marker this week: I have six months left on my mission! Its crazy how fast time is flying by. I am loving it so much right now. Elder Huntsman and I are the best of friends and our area is doing amazing right now! 

Quote of the week: "Effort is required, but it is effort you will never

Week 73 - March 9, 2015

This week was rough at the beginning but it ended AMAZINGLY.

Today is my 17 month mark! 

We have played volleyball the last two pdays and its super fun. I still am too competitive but I am working on that. 

I taught the district meeting this week about love and it was amazing. I get a lot of good comments from the Elders in my district. 

For literally three days in a row we struggled for lessons. We were contacting, going to less actives, but no one would let us in. We met a lot of cool people but it was tough. Then on Friday we had a miracle happen. We met Agustin. He is a 14 year old kid who is friends of the bishops son in our ward. He came to talk to us and said he wanted to learn more. We have taught him two lessons now and he accepted the invitation to be baptized. We will do that in probably two or three weeks. 

Saturday we had another miracle. We finally were able to meet with Patricia who was their "golden investigator" right before the changes but then she had to study hard for her lawyer exams. The problem with her before was that she would go to church but as soon as we started the invitation to go to church she stopped us and said "I have already decided I am going to church tomorrow." We were stoked about that. She is amazing. She is a smart 24 year old who is about to be a lawyer. She speaks English fluently and she really wants to know more! 

So basically we have hopefully 2 baptisms this month! We are stoked about it. They both went to church and are loving it! I am loving my time with Elder Huntsman too. We are becoming amazingly great friends and he is an absolute stud. 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! I love you all too! Have a wonderful week!

"Faith is best gaged by obedience and untiring service."

Week 72 - March 2, 2015

Hey everyone! I have sent out my Letter from Elder Cordy to a lot of people but I want to revise and know who wants a copy of it every week! Please respond and tell me you want a copy from here on out if you want my emails every week! Thanks! 

This week I left Rivera and headed to Salto! 

I had some pretty crazy travels. I went from Rivera to Santana do Livramento in Brazil. I took a bus from Santana to Quarai en Brazil. Then I took a taxi to Artigas and hung out with Elder Baggett for a couple hours until my last bus left for Salto. I traveled alone from Artigas to Salto! That was my first time traveling alone on the mission but luckily I behaved myself. 

I am in Salto Obelisco with Elder Huntsman. Elder Huntsman is from Utah but his family is living in The Woodlands Texas right now (Houston area). He just finished getting trained by famous Elder Caires Franca so he has about 4 months in the mission. They had a hard time together though and he was excited to get a new companion. He is seriously really awesome though. He is totally goofy and is a stud missionary already. We get along great. We live in a SUPER nice house with two other elders which is fun. Elder Johnson from Utah is in his last change and Elder Hodges from Arizona is in his second change and they are our house mates. They are super cool. 

One surprise that I got when I arrived to Salto was that I heard that I am district leader again! I have a bunch of studs in my district so I am super excited. 

Salto is super great so far. Its a pretty big city and the people here are the nicest I have met in this country! Our area is hard though. They have one progressing investigator who I still havent met so we have just been trying to find a ton of people. 

Our ward yesterday had 98 people. I played the piano and kept that streak going. Apparently its a big ward but most of the people are new and they dont have a lot of great leaders. We will see how it goes. After singing in a class, a sister in our ward invited me and my companion to be part of the stake choir. We went to the practice and they were learning If you could Hie to Kolob in Italian... Interesting but super fun.

So far I am LOVING Salto though! Its a great place and I love the group of missionaries here! I feel lost in my area after just a couple days but I am really enjoying my time and I hope that it stays like this! 

Quote of the week: "Father, Forgive them, for they know not what they do." - Jesus Christ. I believe this is maybe the most powerful statement in the Bible. After Jesus Christ was beaten, spit upon, mocked, denied, and took upon all the sins of the whole world, he asked that his heavenly father would forgive the people that were literally torturing him to death. What a perfect example.

Week 71 - February 24, 2015

Transfers are tomorrow and I am leaving! I will be headed to Salto in the Obelisco ward. I will be with Elder Huntsman from The Woodlands, TEXAS. He is actually from Utah but he lives in Texas now. He just finished his training so that will be interesting. I am just getting a ton of new companions! Tomorrow I am taking a bus in Brazil to go to Quarari, which is another city in Brazil. From there I will take another bus to Salto. I am excited to go buy a brazilian bus ticket and see if I dont get lost by myself in Brazil!

This week was crazy because of our companions. My companion was Leandro Rodriguez who is from Cerro Montevideo. Elder Adasme was with a kid from Rivera. They were both 16. We got them to open our area and we talked to a TON of people during this week. It was super fun and made me grateful for members and their references! Leandro was super fun though. He was quiet but he got more and more relaxed as the week went on. 

We had a couple crazy events this week:

1. Talent show - The talent show this week was awesome. it was so much fun! We had a ton of people participate. It was super fun too because we did two dances. One was choreographied pretty legitly and we practiced a lot. The other song was one that we got EVERYONE to dance too. It was super awesome! 

2. Conference in Tacuarembò - We had a conference with President Smith and Elder Viñas this week from the 70. I got to see Elder Baggett, Elder Woodcock, and Elder Sanderson who just got back to Uruguay! It was so awesome to see them. They let us watch Meet the Mormons which was super awesome! I loved it. I felt a rollercoaster of feelings though. I was super stoked watching the Navy football part, I got scared a bit when I saw the boxer mom from Costa Rica. I cried when I watched the part of Elder Armstrong going to South Africa. I was laughing the whole time too. It was a really good movie. 

3. Goodbye Parties! Elder Lima finished the mission and went home to Brazil yesterday. Elder Adasme is going to Colonia. We had some legit goodbye parties. We didnt expect 3 of the 4 Elders to leave so we got a lot of cake because of it. On Sunday we all three got to speak in church. I got to teach primary too! that was a first! 

Honestly this week was really fun but I wasnt expecting to leave at all! I am excited to go to Salto but I will miss Rivera a lot! I dont feel as connected as I did in my last area after the 6 months I had there. Other awesome thing is I will be with my son Elder Cline in Salto too! 

Lead by example! I have realized lately that you dont have to be a called leader to lead. Anyone can be a leader but its all in your example! 

I love you all so much! I hope everyone is doing great! Its crazy to think that I will be arriving home 7 months from TODAY! Thanks for all of your support! 

Week 70 - February 16, 2015

This week was interesting but this week will be very crazy. At 6 o`clock tonight I am going to get a kid from Uruguay who will serve with me for at least until next wednesday, which is when we have changes. My companion will also get a young man to work with. It will be quite an experience. We are doing it mainly because we have a giant area and we want to open an area where there are no members. So basically one of us will be working where we ususally work while the other companionship will be contacting in the new area. It will be a long week but I am sure I will learn a lot! 

This week we had rain for a while and when it rains here, no one is in the street and everyone sleeps way too long... We had a couple interesting things that happened this week. 

Solis told us that he didnt want to have us come by anymore. That happened on Thursday. Then on Sunday he showed up at church again so we talked to him. He said he prayed and he wanted to over come his disabilities.

We also had a random kid come up to us and ask us if he could come to church on Sunday. It happens a lot so we didnt think it was any different, so we told him where to go. He, unlike the majority of the kids, actually showed up to church! It was pretty cool! We want to work with his family a bit more. 

Marcelo is the stud who has come back to church and stopped smoking for about a month now! He is not living with his wife anymore but she came over this week. He thought she was coming to get a divorce but she was still there after 3 days so we thought something was up. He called us when we were at a service project cutting down trees and bushes with machetes. We went to his house and he was crying. He opened the door and all his wifes stuff was packed up and set on the couch by the door. He cried for like half and hour before his wife finally left and then he was able to talk and calm down a bit. She has a lot of problems with drugs and needs to change. She said she didnt want to hurt Marcelo and thats why she left. She isnt sure what she wants left. He is a super cool guy and he says we are his best friends. He needed a lot of help after that though. 

The craziest story of the week was on Friday night. Friday the 13th. We had just gotten home and we decided to have a Friday Feast so we bought stuff for tacos. We made some BOMB tacos and we ate well. We went to bed on time at 11:00. At 12:30the ZLs got a call from some Elders and told them that there was something in their house. Like a spirit. They asked them to come over so they went. We stayed and slept. At 1:15 we got a call from the ZLs and they told us we had to go to the church too. We got clothes on and took off running the 4 kilometers to church. We ran for like 10 minutes and then my comp said he needed to walk for a bit. I admit, the tacos were not making it easy for a missionary who is out of shape to run. We walked for a bit and then finished running. When we got there they told us all the creepy things that had happened and then they called President Smith. He told us that we should just get some sleep and worry about it tomorrow. The ZLs went to the other Elders house and spent the night there. We walked home after running to the church and just listening to the stories. It was good to run but creepy to walk home at 2:30 after hearing stories like that... It was a great opportunity to understand the realness of the powers that are working against us and grow my testimony of the power of the priesthood as we "[sook] to take down power."

This week was pretty good though. I am happy that we have changes next week. Please dont freak out next monday when I dont write. It will be next Tuesday! We have a talent show this week and we are going to be dancing so I hope to have some sweet videos... On Saturday we have a big conference with an area 70 and half of the mission so I am stoked for that! 

I loved studying the story of the young rich boy in the bible this week. Sometimes it may seem like we are so close to heaven but the last step is what takes the most work! 

 

I hope everyone had a good Valentines day! Have a wonderful week! I love all of you! 

Quote of the week: If the power to do hard work is not talent, it is the best possible substitute for it!  

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I know who I am.

I know God's plan.

I'll follow him in faith.

I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.

I'll honor his name.

I'll do what is right;

I'll follow his light.

His truth I will proclaim!

Week 69 - February 9, 2015

This week was a pretty humbling week. We had quite a few ups and downs but its all a part of the work! Jeffrey R Holland said that when we are rejected, we are shoulder to shoulder to the best misionary who has ever been on this earth, the most pure and perfect being ever. Even our Savior Jesus Christ. I sure felt that this week. 

We had a baptism planned for this week. While I was on divisions with the comp of our District Leader, I got a call from my companion. He told me that the interview was still going on after 2 hours. After it was all said and done, our investigator had to wait another month before he could be baptized because he had broken the law of chastity a while ago. My companion told him that and he didnt want to wait any longer. He said he didnt want to be baptized at all. The most frustrating part is that he said he couldnt wait any longer as if he wanted to have relations again, even though we had explained MANY times that he could never have relations until he got married. Theres that...

We visited Mario who is an inactive member. He told us that he didnt go to church anymore because the wards split and they shouldnt do that because we are all brothers and sisters. We explained everything greatly to him though but we have to respect his ability to choose. 

Two great things happened: We got a new ward mission leader who is a CHAMP. I love him. He is my favorite member of the ward. So that was pretty awesome. Then we had a lesson with a lady who hasnt been to church for over 6 years. She committed to go to church this next week. (We visited her Sunday evening.) 

We had two service activities this week, one was digging a poso negro, which is a 2 meter deep hole. We dug one meter so far and we will finish it this week. Then we helped a family that is investigating move in. They are great but they smoke a lot... 

We contacted a lot this week because we just need new investigators. One day we walked for four straight hours just talking to people. It was pretty fun but pretty humbling because we only got 3 set lessons and no one let us in. 

I was blessed enough to be able to speak in church on Sunday though. I talked about missionary work and basically talked about how the members are the missionaries and not us. I feel like I can talk forever now. I talked for 20 minutes and just had my scriptures with me. I know I wouldnt have imagined that two years ago in the States. 

Quote of the week:

"A big man show his bigness by how he treats little people"

Today I have been a missionary for 16 months exactly! Its crazy to think how the time flies and that I only have 1/3 of my mission left! I love the mission! 

Shoutouts of the week! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (on the 14th) Grandma Hickey! I love you! 

Isaac Cordy for getting into BYU Hawaii and moving on to the Regional wrestling tournament.

My old man who is officially 45! 

Elder Sanderson who is back in Uruguay!!!! 

I love you all for your amazing support! Thanks for everything! Please pray for my companion and I so that we will be able to have a great week and find new people to teach! Thank you! 

Week 68 - February 2, 2015

Hello everyone! This week we had some pretty high highs and a couple low lows. We learn from all of it though! 

First off, I want to with my old man a happy birthday this Friday. I am so grateful for you dad and your wonderful example which has helped me be the missionary that I am today! I love you so much! 

Well on Tuesday I cut my own hair. It looked pretty darn good but I could even it out well on the back so I asked me companion for some help. MISTAKE. He took the clippers to my head without any guards and gave me a nice short cut. I have some really short hair now. I have pictures but I cant send them on this computer! Sorry! 

We visited Yolanda and she basically turned away from us. She got a talk from her pastor in the evangelic church. She basically said that she didnt believe in anything besides Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. It was a frustrating lesson. 

An awesome miracle that we had this week though is the fruits of a wonderful spiritual lesson last week with a less active. We taught Marcelo about faith and with just a deep doctrinal conversation, he found the will and courage to stop smoking. He smoked 15 cigarrettes on Saturday, 10 on Sunday, and he stopped on Monday. Now he is a week in and still hasnt smoked anything. He is AWESOME! 

Solis had a hard week last week and was going to get baptized this past week, but we felt like he could use another week of preparation. So WE WILL BAPTIZE HIM THIS WEEK! 

Lunches with members have gotten a lot better this week, but I had to spend a solid amount of personal money because I was the only elder in our house that had money left. I bought lunch for four Elders three days this week. We got money today though! 

We are having a talent show in two weeks in our ward. I need ideas from you all! I am thinking about singing, dancing, or playing piano. I would love thoughts though! 

Just today we went and played volleyball as a zone and then we went to eat. I bought some 5 dollar fake Oakleys. Elder Adasme and I met two missionaries in Brasil who are serving there. They talked to us in Portuguese. I was able to understand but I cant talk in Portuguese still. I can understand a solid amount though! its pretty awesome! 

Rivera is changing a lot. We have had a couple problems with a couple missionaries, but this week just changed a lot. We are a lot more united and we are getting people to understand humility and repentance! Rivera is ZION. 

I love you all so much! I hope that you are doing what the prophets have told us to so you can keep progressing as a member! Read the scriptures daily, pray very often, have family home evening weekly and attend the temple regularly! I know that is the best way that a member can keep progressing! 

Favorite quote of the week: "You can often gauge a mans ambition by whether he hates is alarm clock or considers it his best friend" -Thomas Edison. 

Week 67 - January 26, 2015

Hello everyone! I am writing from Montevideo today. We left Rivera last night at midnight and got here at 7 this morning so Elder Adasme can sign some papers to be legal in this country. We will spend Pday here in Montevideo and take the nice 7 hour bus ride home later today. 
This week was pretty good! We had a Family Home Evening on Monday where we taught a parable in D&C 101. We compared it to missionary work and we invited the two families that were there to leave with us during the week to be able to help us in the work. 

This week we had a random zone meeting that was called one day before it actually happened. We learned about obedience and things that we can do specifically better in Rivera. I feel like I miss Cerro still but I am starting to grow a love towards Rivera! We went to Brasil and went grocery shopping for super cheap. My Portuguese doesnt sound too great but I can understand a lot. I am slowly learning words and vocabulary but I just need to be able to put it all together! I feel like I am a newbie again when we cross over to Brasil. We do have a couple members in the ward from Brasil though and they just speak portuguese.

This week we had a couple funny encounters. We found Yolanda who has listened to the missionaries before but is a little bit crazy. She accepted the baptismal compromise at the end of the first lesson though but we didnt feel like it was time for her to have a baptismal date. On Sunday we passed by her house to go to church and she said she couldnt go but her grandson wanted to go so we took him! It totally surprised us but it worked out nice! Maria and Carlos were digging out two trees from their front yard. We passed by and offered to help them. We ended up spending a while there digging out trees and dragging them to the field across the street. It was super fun! Solis has been progressing towards baptism but this week he was super sick. We gave him a priesthood blessing and he said he was feeling a lot better. We will check with him tomorrow to see how he is doing. 

This week in church I got to play piano! That is keeping my streak alive for playing in every ward! I really love the active members here. There are TONS of less and non active members though. Its crazy what an understanding of the gospel can do for you and your life! 

The greatest treasure I will bring off of my mission will be my understanding of the Gospel and the Doctrine of Christ. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Remember who is most important to you and express your love to them! 

A couple great quotes I heard this week:
"True doctrine understood changes behavior."

"You can always better your best"
"The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement"

Week 66- January 19,2015

First week in Rivera!! They say Rivera is Zion so I am going to see soon! I left my area in Montevideo on Wednesday morning and I took a bus to Rivera at 12:30. I rode with two other Elders. It was a long trip. Luckily I had some snacks and music so that helped a lot. When we got to Rivera that night, we had to just hang out until the trainers and new missionaries got to the terminal. We went to Brazil and just walked around and ate burger king. We brought protein for our house too. When the trainers and their kids got to Rivera at midnight, we made sure they all took taxies and then we headed to our area on another bus. We basically just crashed around 1:30 in the morning. Sad news about this travel, one of my suit case handles broke, so that will make some complicated changes after this. 

For the first two days in Rivera we were in a trio with my companion Elder Adasme and Elder toledo, the ZL. Elder Adasme just completed 6 months this past Saturday. He is half chilean. His mom met his dad while she was serving as a missionary in Chile and after she finished the mission... well the rest is history. Elder Adasme is super funny and a good missionary. He is absolutely crazy though. He has pretty good Spanish because he lived in Chile for 9 months before the mission. We live in the same house with the Zone Leaders. Its super fun but sometimes I dont like it. Elder Toledo (Chile) and Elder Lima (Brasil) are our ZLs. 

I am not district leader anymore which is kind of nice to have a break and just to be able to focus on my area. Our area is tough. We had 49 people at church on Sunday and its just now starting to grow. President told me that he hopes I can give Santa Isabel the good push that it needs. The ZLs just got moved to this area last change so it needs some help... 

The members here are pretty good but the bishop is just alright. There arent a ton of leaders though. I taught gospel principles this sunday because the teacher didnt show up. Bishop talked with us yesterday and he is going to have all four of the missionaries in the ward teach a class... It makes me appreciate my awesome teachers and leaders that I have had! 

BRASIL. Yeah its pretty awesome. I have been there 3 days now. I have eaten three times there and I realized I dont know as much portugues that I thought. I have never felt so uncomfortable since I got to Uruguay... Its weird to walk the streets of brasil and not understand hardly anything. However, I am studying portuguese and I live with a brasilian so I just need time! 

This week was slow with the changes but we are excited about next week! We are going to have to find a bunch of new people because this area isnt doing so hot. We have a potential baptism though whose name is Solis! We will see how it goes with him! 

HOJE È O DIA!!!!! I love you all! 

Elder Cordy