Week 42 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - May 30, 2016 - Makin Progress

SO many cool things going on back home! First off Shout out to my man Ryan (Mitch's cousin) for his mission call to the Philippines...that is sooooo Cool! I can't believe Davis (Mitch's other cousin, older brother to Ryan) is home I wish I could give him a big ole bear hug but that can wait another year haha. Sounds like a lot of fun stuff:)

This week was awesome! Elder Matautia and I are really excited about what's happening in our area! We are teaching a Chinese family of 5 that are progressing really good and we are going over there tomorrow with a Chinese member of our ward for dinner so the plan is to set the whole family on Date...keep M and J in your prayers. It was really cool this past week we went and taught a lesson and at the end we invited M to say a kneeling prayer with his family and so we all knelt down and he offered a sincere prayer - something he has rarely done if ever in his life. Afterwards the spirit was felt by the whole family and they just started to cry and they had no clue why. The wife just told us that she knows that we have something that her family needs. It was LEGIT!

K, a single mom is currently on baptisim date but at the moment we are working more with her 15 year old son J because K has to go to court soon with her other son and she is pretty stressed....but we had J come to a poly family's house last night for games and dinner with several other investigators. It was awesome.

Also we went on Splits with President Fife on Friday so we had to schedule a nectorizing day haha...We went and saw M and her family ( the one who made me cupcakes on my birthday) and we had  a really good lesson with her. President Fife is an unbelievable teacher. I learned sooo much.  Thanks for everyone who wrote me and sent me pics I love you guys!

Oh, also I went on exchange with one of my best mates on the mission Elder Lotter from South Africa. He is AP these days so we went into the DEPTHS of Perth city and contacted for like 4 hours. it was cool! I definitely had to jump out of my comfort zone but there was like this bridge where HEAPS of people were walking both ways and at first I was kinda just off to the side handing out cards and trying to talk to people but after a few minutes I just built up courage and I stood in the middle of everyone and just went wild for hours talking to everyone who came by and handing out cards and pamphlets. Of course some people utterly hated it and me and Christians in general...haha but I made some good contacts got some people to come to their English class so that was good. Whenever I am really out of my comfort zone I can literally feel the strength given to me by the Savior. I know he lives!

I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is the only Begotten of the Father. He is the way, the truth, and the only light this world has. I know for myself independent of anyone else that Jesus Christ Lives. Through him we can have peace, happiness, confidence, and hope in this life, also Eternal life and never ending happiness in a promised world to come. We have a Father in Heaven and his plan is perfect. What Greater message is there!?

I love you all! Have a good week:)

Elder Cordner

Week 41 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - May 23, 2016 - Busy As

This week my comp and I were barely staying afloat in all our responsibilities. Haha! It just worked out that heaps of different meetings and appointments fell on the same few days so it was stressful but we made it out alive so we are happy about that. Sounds like things at home are crazy! So many fun things coming up! I got Nelson's wedding invitation. It pierced my soul when I opened it but I am so happy for that kid CONGRATS!

Zone Conference was unreal as usual. Elder Matautia and I trained our Zone on how we truly change the identity of ourselves and our investigators. It went quite well. We went and saw a less active member from Africa and had a powerful lesson with him and he came to all 3 hours of church yesterday so that was sweet. Things are going great! It's been raining quite a bit but I love the rain so that's no drama! I love all of you!

I promise that our Father in Heaven is doing and has done all he can for the salvation of Mankind, it is our obligation to follow the Heavenly direction each one of us receive on a daily basis and to block out the negative destructive whisperings. Satan hates us and he wants to beat the crap out of us. I love the Savior. If you are ever in the position to stand up for what's right -Do it! I regret the times when I could have helped others by choosing the right at all times and in all places. I am determined to always follow the Savior for the rest of my life:)

Elder Cordner

M...we met her and her family a couple months ago and we have become good friends.
She made me these cupcakes on my birthday.  We are working on getting her and her family of 5 to church!

Week 40 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - May 16, 2016 - Blessed

Last week was so NICE talking to all of you, It left me wanting to be a better missionary! This week was a pretty normal one until Saturday night, Elder Matautia and I decided we would fast for people to baptize and that night after church we went out and found 4 new investigators including a family of 3. It was so awesome! The spirit was so strong in the lessons. It amazes me how even the little efforts we make to show God our love for him are always blessed. My comp and I are on a roll right now. I have a really good feeling about these next couple months.

We have been sooo busy with stuff for the zone also. Sometimes it bothers me and gets me frustrated thinking of the time we could be putting into our area instead of helping the zone but I quickly change my thinking and remind myself it is all the same work of Salvation and we all have different duties!!! 

Anyways, I honestly don't have much to say. Sorry I don't write the most legendary letters. I always forget the cool or funny things that happen during the week. Maybe I will try to write some of them down from now on.... 

The spirit has just been so strong in the lessons lately with Elder Matautia.  I have faith we will see miracles together:) 

Pray for our new investigators M, his family and N. 

LOVE YOU ALL

ELDER CORDNER 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!

Week 39 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - May 8, 2016 - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY and Elder Cordner at church

                                                        MISSIONARIES IN ACTION

At church waiting for investigators.

Welcoming people to church.

Elder Cordner and his new companion Elder Matautia.

                                                               MOTHER'S DAY

LOVED to see Elder Cordner laugh!  We miss it!

Had to take a family selfie!

HELLO...from the other side.

Week 38 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - May 2, 2016 - Fish

Hey guys:) I don't have a lot to say because I just emailed a few days ago...but a few things happened since. We set a single Aussie mom on date. Her name is K.  We will be working closely with her! She just needs to see that there is hope to change and that her life can be so much better!!!

I went on exchanges with Elder Outohoma from The Kingdom of Tonga this past week he was hilarious...funniest day of my life! He can hardly speak English but he is soooo fearless. He just says whatever he wants at peoples' doors. I was laughing my head off. Well, we got to this one house and some Filipinos were having a barby in their yard and they invited us in. Turns out they were cooking up some fish heads so we ate dinner with them and taught them some, but they were a little drunk so we will go back when they get back from the mines, but Elder Outohoma just dug right in and started downing the giant eyes on the fish. haha! Then they all told me to so I tanked a few as well. They were pretty gross- just tasted like blood. 

A lot of people here hate America so its pretty funny sometimes the stuff they have to say about us when they hear my accent. The news here is rubbish. They feed so many lies about America to the people here, it's annoying. I can't tell you how many times I get asked a day if I have gotten shot at or if I have guns at home or if I agree with our gun laws. It gets annoying.

ANYWAYS! I love you all and I will see you on Mothers Day:) I am so excited and I love you all so much!

I Testify the church is true.

ELDER CORDNER

The fish we ate.

Week 37 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - April 28, 2016 - Happy days mate!

HEYYYY! so its been a really good week just like all the weeks on the mission:)! SO like you all know by now since you tend to find things out before I even email home about them somehow....haha Elder Nielsen (THE Gifford Nielsen) came and spoke to our mission....IT WAS REALLY GOOD!! He had us come prepared having studied Alma 17-29 and we talked all about it and he just had so many cool insights that I had never thought of before. At the end of the conference he left us with a Delegated Apostolic blessing. I found out while on exchanges with the AP's yesterday that he has NEVER given an entire mission a blessing in his life and he has done TONS of mission conferences...SO it was pretty cool he just kept saying that our mission was a very special group and that awesome things are gonna happen here so that pumped me up!!!  Then that night we traveled back to the mission office and had a leadership training meeting with Elder Nielsen. We had dinner with him and President Fife first out in the backyard of the mission home a nice Snag on the barbie! it was cool it was just a few of us missionaries back there and Elder Nielsen was just talking to each of us. He asked what high school I went to and I told him Lone Peak. Then he asked if I played sports so we just sat there and talked back and forth about football for a little and he asked if I wanted to play when I got home. He was SO COOL! But the Leadership meeting was awesome too. Something cool that he said was this "I have toured a lot of missions and let me tell you something! You have the best Mission President in the world...Then he said go home tonight and pinch yourselves because you all have it so good here". Haha... I honestly fully believe him. President Fife is the most fearless non-stop full throttle man I have ever met! He does not slow down ever.

Something you will laugh at- Elder Brinkerhoff and I were dishing up our plates at dinner and President Fife was just talking to us and I tried to crack a joke that I thought would be funny but he shut me down sooooo hard! Hahaha. Elder B and I  have been laughing about it since. (I'm not really laughing... I'm actually embarrassed...)

Earlier this week we went and picked up 2 fresh Tongans from the airport and they stayed with us for the night. That was pretty fun.  

As far as our investigators go, we are working with 2 part member families. They are both interested but they both have the same issue -they are way to involved in their work and they are super busy. E finally just told us he will wait to be baptized when he is 18 in December....so we will continue getting him to church. We have been using so many different tecniques to try to get referrals -none yet but we will continue trying! We have been traccting a lot lately and we have soooo many potentials and investigators but none who are steadily progressing. Oh, we got this old man named T to come to church with us.  He is Seventh-day Adventist but he might come again this next week. When we taught him at his house he fed us toast and jam. I kid you not I had like 15 pieces. He just kept bringing them out! Good thing I bought some laxatives while I was in Kalgoorlie:) Haha! Love you all! Have a good week!!!

Elder Cordner

I don't think the the Horseman is Elder Cordner, but who knows??

Yummy pigs tail I had. My favourite part was the thick bristly whiskers.

After the Temple today.

In the city on the way back from the Temple today.

Week 36 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - April 18, 2016 - HOWDY!

Good to hear from all of you!!! I loved seeing all the pictures of the twins looking top notch for the night of all nights! haha. Elder B and I were laughing about that picture that woman sent you mom. That guy was the first ever on my mission that actually chased us down to talk to us! haha It was hilarious!

Some cool things happened this week. We have been seeing a less active family for a while now. We have a really good relationship with them they have a huge piece of land and R parks all his big semi trucks in his backyard. We were helping him feed all his pigs and everything. We had an awesome lesson with them and they came to church for the first time in so many years it was SWEET! They came on the perfect Sunday too! The talks were pretty much speaking directly to them...  

Big R!

Earlier this week I was tracting with our District Leader Elder Arieta from Manila and it was super late, like 8 o'clock, but we had nothing else to do. After tracting, we started biking home and a house just caught my eye for some reason so we stopped and we knocked on the door and this Asian guy answered and we talked to him for a while then we just asked if we could introduce ourselves to anyone in the house (because we heard people joking and laughing). He agreed and we went in and shared the restoration with like 8 university students from Taiwan. It was awesome! We are looking to go back soon and continue to help them develop a faith in a true and living God.

So we met these kids outside of their house and we were talking to them for a while. We ended up going in and teaching them a lesson but they were just smoking pot the whole time. It was just a house filled with kids our age just going hog wild. Funny enough tho -we got a ride for two of them for church and we actually got them there for the full 3 hours! We were nervous because they are such a hostile bunch haha! One of them started blasting his rap out of a big old speaker in his backpack in the middle of church.....but (VISITORS WELCOME) is plastered on our front door so no one was too mad:)  We went to this house last night that was just like those houses on "Horders Buried Alive" I kid you not, no exaggeration....there was crap piled up in every inch of the house with parrots flying around and dogs rummaging through everything. When we got home a cochroach fell out of my shoe when I took it off. Haha!

I love you all! I won't be emailing you until Thursday next week because we are going to go to the Temple.

Every morning when we wake up we are influenced by two Forces, One of those forces deliberately wants to murder us spiritually and physically. He entices us with lies and half truths. He wants all men to be miserable like unto himself. The other force is Our Loving Father in Heaven who influences us through the Holy Ghost. He wants us to grow and develop to become like him. He wants us to have Peace, Confidence, and Happiness in this life and in the life to come. He desires to give us ALL THAT HE HAS. Choose which FATHER will be yours. If we constantly become entangled and lost in the distractions and sins of the world then we are listening to and have chosen the wrong DAD! Invite the Holy Ghost to be your constant companion by the way that you live so that you can listen and obey his loving voice:) I Know That we are all Children of God, but Satan desires to sift us as wheat and have us as his children, tell him to go to h#%$...(oops! -had to edit that.) HAVE A GOOD WEEK:)

ELDER CORDNER

These guys are from India. They told us they came across on a boat and they were the only survivors.