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