Monday, July 25, 2016

Week 50 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - July 25, 2016 - HELO

Hey, I actually don't have much time at all but I love you guys, and I will make sure to write you a good long letter on Monday, I will know who my new comp is by then so should be exctiting. I love all of your letters and I am sorry I can't respond to them all have a good week I love you guys more than anything!

Elder Cordner

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Week 49 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - July 21, 2016 - WET FEET

HELLO Family:) It was good to hear from all of you:) Sorry I didn't email on Monday we went to the temple this morning so we took p day today! I was just at the mission office and I saw I had a letter so I ripped it open and guess who I saw beaming back at me.....RIO MANNING (Mitch's cousin who got married last week sent him an announcement) dressed in a suit looking like an absolute SKUX! (stud) man could that guy get any better looking? and lets be honest he must have borrowed one of Trey's shirts or something because his arms are not thattttttt big.....haha Rio I love you and congrats:) 
SO YES!!! K got baptized! it was so awesome and it was a super good turn out about fifty members of the ward came! K had an awesome experience and she said she mostly just felt a massive relief from a load she has been carrying for so long. It was such a testimony builder to me to see Kelly sooooooooo changed. When we found her a couple months ago she was an alcoholic and had really bad depression. She felt no purpose in life. She now knows for herself that she is a daughter of God and that God has a plan for her, Nothing but the true Gospel of Jesus Christ could have brought about this change. J, her son, still wants to be baptized but is gonna hold off for a few more weeks because he wants to learn more....fair enough. 
We are teaching quite a few people at the moment...just slow progressing. A lot of them need to quit smoking. Everyone smokes in WA. Especially where I live, all the young kids smoke. It is such an issue..... Elder Daniel leaves in less than 2 weeks so now it is my task to keep him focused.....that's been fun. It's been raining buckets. It's funny- people think it is sooooo cold here in the winter when it hits like 70 degrees fairenheit every afternoon. Haha! They think if they go out at night they will immediately catch a cold or the flu or something. 
I have been deeply studying the New Testament along with Jesus the Christ and my understanding of who the Savior is and what he did has improved. I love learning about Jesus Christ. I want to be like him more than anything! I know he expects much more devoted disciples out of us than modernized Christianity seems to think. This life is about what we become. It's possible to go through the motions of the gospel and become NOTHING. The whole purpose of this life is to change. We already lived with God before life on earth so why did we ever leave? Why couldn't we just stay in his presence where we were safe and things were easier????? Our Heavenly Father loves us too much to be overly concerned with our present state of comfort or our current amount of temporary joy. His Plan for us includes more change from who we currently are than we as mortals can even begin to comprehend and because he loves us HE will give us opportunities to change who we are every single day. It is up to us whether or not we are really going to start living the kind of life that the Savior lived, start doing similar things that the Savior did, beginning to put aside our present comfort and Change! Jesus Christ is our Greatest Example. He was perfect and so if we are to change and fulfill the purpose of our existence we should consider asking ourselves more often "Am I striving to follow the example of Jesus Christ today? in where I go, what I say and what I do?" My love for our Master increases every day as I serve him to the best of my ability:)

I LOVE YOU ALL! HAVE A GOOD WEEK:)



K's Baptism!!!  Yay!!

These parrots are all over here!
Me and my boy, Elder Ta'ala twinning!




Monday, July 11, 2016

Week 48 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - July 11, 2016 - G'DAY MATE!

HELLO:) good to hear from you all!

This week has been awesome- really productive and lots of good things that have gone down....

SOOOOO K is getting baptized on FRIDAY!!! She is super excited and she is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy! Unless something really random happens, she will be my FIRST OF THE MISSION:) Her son, J, still really wants to be baptized also but he stayed up late on Saturday night and missed church so he will have to wait for the following week.....We sang him the song "Saturday is a special day." Haha! He thought that was funny.

We found a Chinese guy who is KEEN city to learn and come to church. His name is JOE. It's pretty crack up all of the immigrants pick the most basic Westerner names and they think it is sooooo chill city....anyways......

IT has been utterly pouring rain down here......probably the heaviest I've ever seen...soaks you to the undies within seconds...

Elder Daniel and I laugh about being a companionship because for the past few weeks I have served more with other missionaries than with him! haha. With so many district leaders in our zone we are always working with them...especially the ones who struggle a bit....

Over all, things are absolutely awesome...I trust my Heavenly Father and I know as I do my part and work my TAIL OFF out here for 2 years, he will give me the experiences and the mission that I need to mold me into the man he intends for me to become! I love this Gospel:) I love serving my Master, Jesus Christ. Though filled with tough moments, this is the happiest time of my life:) I love you all and hope you have a good week. Please pray that K's baptism will be a beauty.


ELDER CORDNER

Monday, July 4, 2016

Week 47 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - July 2, 2016 - PURITY

HEYYYYY Family:) Where to begin! It was super cool to see all the pictures of POWELL!!! I honestly forgot that this was the week you were all going so I didn't even think about it till today so I guess that's a good thing haha. Judging from what people told me and all the pictures it looked like another LEGENDARY trip!!!! Glad I'll be there for the next one ehhh:)

SOOOOO, Things are going good here. K and J are doing really well. They came to church yesterday again! and they are loving it! If everything goes great they will be baptized on the 15th!!! I am super excited. It has taken a lot of work with them but they are finally feeling of Heavenly Father's love:) and coming from a really rough background that is such a huge step! So they are doing great,  they are reading the Book of Mormon daily and everything so we have a lot of Faith it will work out!

WE have mini missionaries with us at the moment, they have been with us since Saturday and will stay with us till Wednesday. My companion is super cool. He is from South Korea and he actually reminds me a lot of Papa Darrington haha! We are having a good time. We are still working a lot with all our other Gators. They are just having a bit of a hard time coming to church but we will get them there!!!:)

I Know that This is Jesus Christ's true church. I know that God lives. I will never be able to deny these things I have felt so deeply. Serving this mission has Given me a Vision of what I want my life to be like and who I want to become. I want to spend my life Wearing myself out in the service of Jesus Christ, HE IS MY MASTER. His will is increasingly, little by little, becoming my will, and this comes from his Atonement working in and through me as I strive daily to serve Him. I love this Gospel. It is all that matters. I love you guys and I am so happy we get to live in each others' presence for time and all eternity.

ELDER CORDNER



My mini missionary companion.


Z from Syria.  He is awesome and attending our English classes.