Week 54 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - August 22, 2016 - HI

Hey Fam:) Loved seeing the pics of the fun time in Cali. Looked like a blast! Every time I see a pic of Maddy I am baffled at how much older she looks! Haha crazy! Just an update Dad, I may or may not have grown an inch out here so if I am taller than you when you next see me don't feel too bad.

I feel like I don't have heaps to share with you guys ever! Haha! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have been in the same area for over 8 months! haha! and I could totally see President keeping me here another transfer so I am bunkering down for the long HAUL. I have grown to loooove the area tho. It will always be a special place for me:) and I'm not letting up one bit just so you know.

But this week, I went on exchanges with my old mate, Elder Matautia. We were down in the heart of Perth city cuz that's the assistants' area. It was raining like no tomorrow and we were on bikes. We were just cracking up! It was a good day. In the city we just go to the most populated areas and hand out cards with pictures of Christ and try to talk to anyone who will give us their time of day. It's interesting to see the pride of the world in it's true form....What gets me past all my fears and hesitancies is remembering who I represent...I will never be Ashamed taking upon me the name of Christ.

K's son J came to church yesterday. It's a challenge getting the young men to fellowship....but I don't completely blame them. I remember how I was at that age:) Things are going good! I LOVE Serving the Savior. I love the peace this true Gospel brings. 

An interesting insight about the culture here - a lot of people have had very bad first experiences with organized religion and that's what has really turned people off and made them atheists plus all the bogus "so called" Christian churches sure do a good job at painting a ridiculous first impression of true Christianity. People have pathetic experiences with Catholic schools growing up and with priests doing ridiculous things...It's annoying! Anyways, what I am trying to get at is a lot of the time straight from the get go we as missionaries within the first few minutes of talking to someone have to climb out of the hole that other Christian churches have dug for us and the twisted mindset people have here towards organized religion. So this is something I hate doing but I have studied and thought about it more than anything else lately. A question I often ask people is "Do you believe that Absolute Truth exists in this world? Or do you believe that religion has any truth??" Where do you think that truth came from? It comes down to why Christ put his "Absolute Truth" within a structure of Organized and Ordained Leadership. Could he have introduced His Perfect Gospel plan in any other way? Something to also take into account is the Perfect tool a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator is in the hands of God. Think of it, God perfectly maintains a balance and climate for us as his children here on earth for our personal and individual growth. He balances perfectly His evidence of truth and our obligation to exercise our agency and take steps of faith. Haha! don't know if that makes sense but that's what was on my mind. It's a task to explain this all to your every day Aussie but it's something I have really been working on.

LOVE YOU ALL:) HAVE A GOOD WEEK.

ELDER CORDNER

Week 53 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - August 15, 2016 - The glass is half full.

SOOOO i have passed the 1/2 way mark of my service as a missionary. Crazy how fast it goes- then again it's crazy how slow it goes. Haha! They say the days go like years, the weeks like months and the years like days. First off, Congrats to Ryan! I heard he gave a MEAN talk and is being sent on his way shortly. I still haven't heard which MTC he is going to?? Anyways, I love you Ryan and thanks for making the Jenkins' missionary clan a trio again!

Being half way done has caused me to reflect a lot on how I want the rest of my mission to go...and who I want to become. I have decided that personally I have a strong vision of who I want to become and how I want things to go but I lack a bit in the goal setting and accomplishing sphere...something i will be working on this next year.

We are super busy! We found a man named K from Pakistan who had questions about the atonement which we answered and now he is really interested and that is awesome. K is doing really good she hasn't missed a day at church since she got baptized. M is still in and out of hospital....so things are going great. We are just pushing forward and trying to be well rounded missionaries that hit the work from every angle! I love you guys! My computer is timing off and there is a huge line behind me so this is farewell for this week have a good one!!!!

Never mind- I jumped on a different computer:) Chase has returned with HONOR! That's awesome! I am proud of that guy! Give him a big ole nectorizing hug for me:) School is starting up for all of YOU! Can't believe the little twinsies are seniors...Is anyone taking Mr. Mangum?? haha That was the best class of all! WE are working more with J- K's 15 year old boy. We had a super powerful lesson and the spirit spoke super bold to him through me and he felt the spirit powerfully for the first time ever.  I was honestly surprised how firmly the spirit prompted me to speak to him but it really touched him and had an impact- so we will see what happens.

My comp and I are honestly swamped with different stuff this week. It's probably the busiest I have been on my whole mission so things could get interesting....

HAVE A GOOD WEEK! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH:)

ELDER CORDNER

Week 52 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - August 8, 2016 - Humility is Key!

It's down pouring rain here in Perth like nothing else. What's the weather like in Utah??? Probably 90's hot summer day ehh??? Well it was a decent week. My new comp and I are going to war on the daily and loving it! I've been in this area for sooo long the members are starting to say, "Oh, you're still here?" when they see me on Sunday. Haha, it's funny. I have gotten to the point where when we ride up roads that we are always on I can pretty much just call out people by their first names by the hundreds and they respond with, " Oh, Hey Cordner." Pretty crack up. 

Something I have noticed over and over again in our area is that God is not afraid to severely humble people to situations and circumstances in their lives where they will listen to us. You could say a lot of the people that are willing to hear us out and apply the Gospel to their lives are those that are currently at rock bottom.  Our Heavenly Father Knows what is best for each of us in the long run even if that means passing through mortal personal Gethsemanes. I also know that God is preparing those who are not as humble or who don't feel an immediate need to reach out for help. That is often where it is up to us as missionaries to be POWERFUL instruments in the Lord's hands and instead of trying to do things our way, doing it His way. It reminds me of Alma and Amulek rebuking the mule out of Zeezrom. He was in no way humble nor did he feel any immediate need for comfort or help. In fact, the people of Ammonihah LOVED HIM! haha but because Alma and Amulek listened to the spirit, Zeezrom became astonished. He knew they could discern his thoughts and it shattered his pride, broke down his walls and led him to what we might suppose was a devoted life as a disciple of Christ. That is what I want to be - a Powerful tool in the hands of God that can be used to do some serious Aussie humbling:) haha!

I finished Jesus the Christ and the New Testament this week! I LOVED BOTH and learned heaps! Soooo kinda sad news but we are still really hopeful, M is back in the hospital and she could be required to stay up to 4 months:( We are praying for her. We gave her a blessing and we are fasting for her SO we are super Hopeful things will turn out:) God has a plan. We are teaching soooo many Chinese people at the moment they all have similar concerns that are hindering their progression. The Chinese men tend to be quite logically inclined and have a hard time tapping into their spititual side, largely because of their backgrounds growing up atheist and all, but pray for our Chinese investigators:) I love you allI  I love this work! Keep being Lights to this Darkening world! Have a MEAN WEEK! OFATU

SORRY, I just pulled out my camera to send heaps of photos cuz i know its been a while and my battery was dead!!!! I am sorry next week for sure!!!

ELDER CORDNER

Week 51 - Gosnells, Southern River Zone, Western Australia - August 1, 2016 - Transfer #6 in Gosnells

I am pumped city to stay in Gosnells another transfer! My new companion is Samoan, Elder Tua'itanu from Pleasant Grove, UT.  He is the man! He has been out in a country area doing really well. I am excited to be with him.

So We have been teaching M and her son Z and they are doing soooo good. They came to church yesterday and they loved it. A miracle occurred! We went over a few days ago with our WML to see M. When we got in she said she was feeling really sick (she struggles with rare seizures and other tough things). Anyways, she said that she would probably head in to the hospital that night. We then taught her about Priesthood blessings and offered to give her one which she accepted. We went around the next day and she was so happy! She said that normally when she feels that way she can't sleep at all and has to head in to the hospital but after the blessing she went straight to bed and woke up feeling like a million bucks!!! It was a HUGE testimony builder for her especially because she is receiving a lot of negativity for meeting with us from family and friends. Both M and Z are on date to be baptized on the 12th so pray for them. M is trying to quit smoking and we have been working closely with her and the "Quit Smoking Program" so we have a lot of faith it will happen!

Other than that we have been tracting heaps and trying to visit the leaders in the ward to ignite a missionary spark:) It's interesting knocking doors. I would say 70% of the people we talk to are athiest so we gotta really open up their heart and try to tug at their true feelings! There are 3 things that if you hit on will open up peoples hearts quickly.  1. Why do bad things happen to good people/Why so much destruction, pain, and suffering in the world.  2. I want to get rid of feelings of guilt and regret. 3. What is the purpose of life.

I am out of time. I love you all! Have a good week! Thanks for all the letters!!!!

ELDER CORDNER

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

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!

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