Week 33 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - March 29, 2016 - Kenzie's Home!

Man, it was sweet to look at all the pictures of everyone gathered together to welcome Sister Cordner home! I watched the video of her seeing everyone for the first time and it made me smile HUGE. Happy for all of you but I am glad I am out here:) Heard from several people Mckenzie gave an awesome talk and shared some cool experiences...well done.

This week I don't have heaps to say cuz I just wrote a few days ago but, we had dinner last night with some people from New Zealand.  They are actually Seventh-Day Adventists so we will see how things go but Elder B and I made some mean bbq wings and took them over to add to the FEED that they had prepared. They LOVED our chicken I made some spicy ranch dip for them just like at buffalo wild wings haha! They just kept saying over and over "Cuz this Chicken Gangsta G' haha they LOVED it - gobbled it all up. But it was good! We talked about our beliefs and we have a good relationship with them now so we are planning on inviting them to church...

Easter has been good here.  We missed our ward gathering because we had to deal with missionaries who were acting like punks. Elder Brinkerhoff and I are staying together another transfer! haha We thought for sure he was leaving! We are happy tho! At the end of this transfer he is going to have been here for 10 and a half months lol. We have work to do!

The other day during studies I was reading in the New Testament (which I am trying to finish) and the thought just came to me to read Ether 4...I didn't even know what chapter that was but I turned to it and God just spoke to me through the Book of Mormon...It was a neat experience. It would be nice if I could always follow those quiet little promptings. I love all of you! It was great to see all the pictures! Have a nectarizing week.

Elder Cordner

Week 32 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - March 21, 2016 - RE-United

Hello family:) I looked at the pictures of you guys in Brazil with Kenzie and I was just smiling huge! You all look so good and Kenzie looks soooo happy! Haha Sounded like to me that it has been a very fun trip....It actually just motivated me to work harder because I am not ready for that day to come for me...:) The pictures of dad with the families he baptized were so awesome. I wish I could have been there to meet them. I bet the kids at home are anxious for you guys to get back!

We find out about transfers this Sunday...anything could happen! Elder B has been here ages so I am thinking he will leave but who knows.

I do not have long....It has been a hectic week with a lot of random things going on so we still have a lot to do today. We aren't really taking a full p day.  President Fife randomly showed up at our Zone Meeting. Elder B and I are giving a training in front of the stake/ward mission leaders and ward missionaries tonight on how a correlation meeting should look like so that should be good:)

I love all of you thanks for the letters and all the pictures!

We are all children of a Father in Heaven who loves us more than our mortal minds can comprehend. My love for Him is growing each day as I serve and lift those whom I am able. I promise you all that not for one moment of your life has Your Father turned from you. Put him first in your life and watch in amazement as your heart is transformed. I love Jesus Christ. It is because of him that I have a chance at becoming something. I am SO Weak but through Christ I can be perfected. My hero in the Book of Mormon is Nephi. I pray to become even in the least bit, like he is.

This mission here in Perth Australia was the one for me! Have a good week and enjoy the company of the returning sister MAMMAL. haha

Elder Cordner

Week 31 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - March 14, 2016 - BUZZY

When something is true but hard to believe they say..."buzzzzzzzy" here.....It is buzzy to think that you guys will be going to pick up Kenzie just in 2 days! That is soooooo cool! I am so happy that most of the family will be re-united! haha Don't worry about me. Just send lots of pictutres of Brazil and all the people you guys meet! Can't wait till next Monday to see everything! Cool also to hear all the hullabaloo that is going on back home. Seems like things are quite busy. I was really happy to hear Jake baptized Bennett. That brought a smile to my face! He beat me to his first baptism. haha!

Well, E came to church yesterday. He always loves it and he still wants to get baptized but it's still the same old problem. His elders of his tribe need to grant permission....We talked straight up with him and he called his uncle again to talk to him.  Apparently he won't know for sure until his uncle comes to Australia sometime soon.....Who knows when that will be...so we are praying and fasting for a miracle! J and M are doing well. They are sincerely investigating and they said when they come to know that it is true for themselves they will be baptized. M is having a little bit of a hard time just because her whole family is very dedicated to Catholicism and her brother is a priest....They are reading the Book of Mormon though and they are coming to a small ward gathering tonight so I hope all goes well there. Elder Brinkerhoff and I are sharing a spiritual thought at this gathering so we practiced a little skit we made up. haha I'll film it and try to send it to you guys.  It should create some laughs.

C is doing alright. He is still toughing it out with his smoking habit. We are working as close as possible with him. This morning we went over and read Alma 32 with him and watched all 3 patterns of light videos by Elder Bednar. It was very good. He will be baptized if he can kick the smoking but he needs Gods help...that is where we are at with him...

We found a couple from New Zealand who are keen to hear our message so we are seeing them tomorrow. We met her walking home from the Chemist (a store) and we talked to her for a while. She needed a vacuum but she didn't have one so we biked ages home and got her one and drove back in the car with it. She was super grateful and maybe something good will come of it....:)

Elder Brinkerhoff and I keep super busy with all our various duties.  It's good since some of our district leaders are struggling. We might start going on even more exchanges to try to help them out....That means we are going to have a pretty dirty flat if we don't keep on top of things haha. Anyways, things are good here in Perth...I saw the weather on C's tv today and Perth is the hottest this week in all of Australia BY FAR....so we are in for a treat:)

Congrats to Nelson....he sent me and email and informed me all about what went down...love ya brother and Hello to his new Woman you will be seeing me a lot in the future haha. S/O to Rio also...idk quite whats up with him but they are engaged ehhh???  idk haha love those 2.

King, Nana, and Maddy, I am sure you guys will have the time of your lives spending the week with Aunt Jayne  I am sure Maddy is very excited! Love you all! Thanks so much for writing me and have a fun adventure in South America!!! Welcome to the SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE:) 

Elder Cordner

J, M, and M. J actually played college bball in the Phillipines. They are doing pretty good. 

They have real intent to know the truth. They read the Book of Mormon in Tagalog every day.

                                

                                

                             

Week 30 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - March 8, 2016 - Never let a Poly in your kitchen

Elder Ramsey from Tonga....in the back is M the Filipino who came to church!

I'd say 70% of the Elders in our Zone are Polynesian and their is a new way we do exchanges where they actually come to our area and stay the night and work for a day instead of us going to their areas. But this is starting to pose a slight issue...THEY EAT LIKE HOGS! I am not kidding unless you specifically tell them to stop eating, I promise they never will. I am about to print out a paper to put on our fridge that says "NO ISLANDERS" on it.  haha I have no problem sharing food but when it gets to the point where we are wondering how we are going to fill our stomachs....that's an issue. Imagine. 2 cartons of eggs, 2 cartons of milk, 3 loaves of bread, a carton of chocolate milk, a tub of cookie dough, 6 packages of noodles, a tub of peanut butter, a box of cereal, 4 avocados, all the butter etc.... Elder B and I were just stunned when they left....its ok  tho we are putting together a future plan of action. From now on they will not be allowed to enter the kitchen. It will go as follows. 1. They will say that they are hungry 2. Either I or Elder B will enter the kitchen and serve up a plate with an appropriate portion size 3. They will eat. 4. They will ask for more. 5. We say no...no more.
That's simply how it is going to go. haha.

ANYWAYS, I had an experience this week that I always knew would come but never quite thought through how I would handle it....but we went to L's house this past week to visit her.  We ended up helping her and her partner D from Ethiopia around the yard. Afterwards, they kindly offered us lunch and we sat down and awaited the food. I was not nervous at all.  Elder B and I were just pretty calm just sitting there...but if we knew what was in store we would NOT have been calm whatsoever.  L places before us a giant helping of this green goulash on rice. Elder B asked "What is this???" She just responded "meat" haha ohhhhh it was much more than just that and to make a long story short we spent the next 15 minutes absolutely fighting our way through chunks of raw fish and goat and who knows what else....I am going to be honest. Elder B was being such a little girl about it so I was having to HOG down HUGE helpings and since we were eating from the same plate HE EASILY MADE ME DO THE HEAVY LIFTING... haha! As I was feeding and gagging like crazy I just chuckled to myself as I imagined Nelson battling down his Ukrainian food  and all the other stories I heard of missionaries eating disgusting meals but I guess the day of reckoning comes for all of us...I'm probably just wimpy because I am in Australia -  but it was DISGUSTING! haha.

So we found a new family! They are Filipino and their names are JAND M. They have a daughter named M. We have HIGH HOPES for them! They came to a baptism on Saturday...loved it....and came to all 3 hours of church on Sunday...They are a miracle! We are going over tonight to teach the Restoration....Pray that they will feel the Spirit very strongly. E and C are still a work in progress we just found out one of C's dogs died today so we will go over to see how he's doing. He LOVES his dogs.

I know we aren't allowed to chew gum...that was a one time thing...This is C.

 His dogs are Pucks and Ali...Pucks died today :(

Love all of you! The work is good!  I UTTERLY love serving the Master. I love the mission and I LOVE AUSTRALIA. Have a good one MATE:)

Elder Cordner

An Aboriginal decorated my scriptures... SO SICK!