Week 3 - Kalgoorlie, Australia - August 31, 2015 - Heyyyy Perth....nope no Perth

Family!!!! I don't even know where to start! I have so much to say! Well, the plane ride was just the most hostile thing! It never ended! haha You get off the plane to Sydney and you think you can be done but noooooo. another 6 hours ahead of ya haha. Well I guess I should start by telling you where I was assigned. I am in Kalgoorlie. I had to take a 9 hour train ride from Perth to KAL...so it was funny.  President Fife lined us outside of the mission home and our trainers all came running out and he started calling out who is with who and he calls Elder Cordner and I step forward and he says with Elder Mathews and we run and give each other a hug. haha and after we hugged he's says "We're going to the Bush!" Then President announced that we would be serving in Kal. so we took the train ride which was cool and fun! Everyone here is so surprised I'm being trained here. They say no one has for a long time. So about Kalgoorlie. It is soooo isolated. We have 2 other elders here and then there is no one else for hundreds of miles. This place is crazy. It's the Outback! My companion is Poly. I'll try and send some pictures! We get along well and laugh a lot. He is 23 years old. The ward here is all from New Zealand pretty much so everyone is Poly. They are so cool! We played bball with some members this morning. This is just the strangest town. It gets hot! and there are a lot of Aboriginal people here. Most are in very sad situations but we talk to them all the time. I'm loving it! The mission is really hard but I am adjusting and I love talking to people. I love tracting. We talk to so many different kinds of people becasue this is a mining town. It is so diverse so there are a lot of different kinds of people here. We tracted into a woman named J a few days ago and taught her the Restoration. She accepted my invitation to be baptized and we all felt the spirit very strong. She said that as we knocked on the door she had just finished talking on the phone with a friend saying how she wants to change her life...miracle...she came to church yesterday. It was awesome. We are teaching quite a few people here mostly less actives, but a few investigators at the moment. I don't have much time to explain but this place is nuts... haha I love it though. I love serving the Lord and I just want to run myself dry doing it! Perth was soooooooo cool! It was so green and awesome looking. It will be fun to go back sometime... I love all of you I don't have much time to write and I will try to answer more questions in later emails. Thanks for writing me! I love reading all of your emails. We ride bikes everywere. Yes mom I did buy a bike but you need to set things straight with our bank. My card is struggling a little out here. I still need to pay more for the bike and other things. I left my new bike in perth becayse we couldnt take it on the train. I love all of you have a great week. I know I will!

Love Elder Cordner

This is my comp, Elder Mathews

These are some Elders in Perth showing me what they call Tim Tam Slams.  The lingo here is ridiculous.  I'm picking up a mix of Maori and Auzie.

Kalgoorlie

Week 1 - Provo MTC - August 18, 2015

An unexpected photo that was taken of Mitch by a friend who works in the MTC.

Hello Family! I have arrived in war. I can't believe it has already been almost a week since I was ripped from the family car straight into the MTC...It's crazy how fast time moves in here but then again at times it feels so slow haha...The mtc is mostly what i thought it would be classes all day long but i am doing well and i am enjoying every bit of it! SO I got my travel itinerary a few days ago and it says that I leave for LA on tuesday then I fly for Sydney and then strait to PERTH all of which will take over a full 24 hours of travel time haha wowwwww. but we will see what happens anything could change I guess because they havent said anything concerning my visa...

I am in a tri-companionship which makes things difficult and annoying at times but it is also a blessing at times so i am alright with it. one of my companions is Elder Kimmins he is from canada and is coming to perth. my other companion is Elder KulKarni and he is from Mapleton and is going to India so kinda a wierd mix haha. I see my friends a lot when i am in the cafeteria like chandler and brooks goekeritz and Joel and ben clark We talk and laugh and have a good time when we see eachother! Brooks was also in my zone so we so eachother a lot but he left this morning for san diego. 

The spirit in the mtc is amazing i feel more at peace here than I have in a long time. I love our teachers they are incredible seriously the nicest people ever It makes it fun to go to class becasue they make it so fun! I am learning so much every day and am getting better at teaching our TRC investigators. it feels pretty real and its such good practice! I got to watch the Character of christ on sunday and I went into that meeting with few questions that i had written down and i was ready to feel the spirit. I was ready to hear something incredible because of what everyone says about this talk! and I was NOT disappointed every question i had was more than answered. It has changed my whole mindset about what kind of a missionary i want to be and how I want the lord to look at me. The savior Jesus Christ is what our message is he is everything the spirit is so strong when we testify of him. I know that I am not out here alone when i pray I know that god hears me I feel such a strong urge to share this gospel with everyone and i want to do it like CHrist would. the words that are constantly on my mind are...Turn outward whenever your desire is to turn inward. I know that If i can apply this principle to my life the lord will be able to use me in ways i cant imagine. its crazy how fast you can lose the spirit when it is so close to you I try to have it with me at all times. I love all of you back at home and miss you so much but i know that i am on the lords time and my main goal is going to be selflessness my entire mission. Study the Characteristics Of our savior not once did he think about himslef. I love the message that i am preparing to share and i know that I am simply an instrument in the lords hands I want to give all the glory to Heavenly father and Jesus Christ. thanks to everyone who wrote me I love getting letters:) idk when i'll email next but i'm sure i'll get to tell you when I can call you at the airport love you guys!

Love Elder Cordner

Enters the Provo MTC on Wednesday, August 12th