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!