Where's Nelson?

So ya, this week has been adventurous filled with greater wisdom and knowledge of our area and what nots!

Well first of all was Nelson! He was marked to be baptized this week until suddenly, out of nowhere, he blocked our number. We were like wut? He was awesome! We think it wasn't him but perhaps his family. I don't know if I've mentioned him but he's like in his forties. So we were kind of disappointed but we were just going to move on until we get a call from our district leader. And he tells us: look, he's still marked. Go find him.

Wut. He never told us where he lives. Just the general area. But we had orders. So we went knocking and knocking and knocking asking for Nelson. I'm pretty sure people in that area are going to start putting up signs on their apartments saying "Nelson doesn't live here, please leave!" It was awesome. Well, we found out that a man named Nelson goes to the gym every morning around 8:30 and we found a house who has the same last name. So, we are going to try those out. Nelson shall be found. One Nelson to rule them all, one Nelson to find them. 

Anyways we had the Temple groundbreaking. That was awesome. The talks were great and it was fantastic to see the results of so much faith and work in this awesome country. While knocking doors trying to find Nelson we heard the news through the door of one house mentioning the start of the construction of the temple and what Mormons believe. It was sic. But they didn't really want to open the door to us. No big deal.

Anyways, I don't have too much time. BUT. We can do all.

To quote Winston Churchill: "If you're going through hell, keep going."

The Lord has walked the path and hence knows how to guide us. Watch out for that hole there. There is a step here. Careful of the rock there. He's got our back. Trust Him.

Love you all.

Epic

Elder Cordon

On the Mark

Christmas Lights

Christmas Starting Early

AMADORA

This city is...fantastic. Holy mangos the people here are so open! Its awesome! So far we haven't really met with many people but those we have are amazing.

So first things first, I'm extremely grateful for the sisters that also serve in our ward for the sacrifice of the house we now live in. The house that the sisters used to live in was in our area and the house that we lived in was in theirs. By orders of President both parties were evicted and swapped. Well. Now we live in a five star presidential sweet with air conditioning, yoga mats, and individual bathrooms. It is probably one of the greatest thanksgiving/christmas gifts I've had. So hat goes off to them.

The city is also sic because we have a ton of christmas lights in the streets! Its great! Our ward is super supportive as well. I've met so many people who knew grandpa Hillam. Its amazing to get lunch and help from the members! The sacrifice they make to help with the missionary work is truly appreciated.

So far we have just been getting to know the area. We are teaching a man who is progressing pretty well. He is scheduled to be baptized this coming Sunday. Yesterday he didn't show up to church so we met up with him later and had a super sic lesson about the importance of being baptized because we know the church is true and not because the missionaries are cool and it will make them happy (even though both are true). He is now going to start reading daily and praying to know if its true. He is awesome.

Not much else to report about. For thanksgiving a random lady at the butchers bought us some kebabs. We made those for lunch and it was fantastic. We gave her a Book of Mormon.

My little spiritual thought comes from a quote I had heard before but read recently this last week and it hit me like something that hits really hard (maybe like a cement truck or an iPhone at terminal velocity):

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace."

It explains itself pretty well. The Lord is going to make us a lot better than we think we can be. And its going to be uncomfortable. But its going to be awesome in the end. Who wants to have a four room cottage when you can have a massive palace with schnazy paintings and columns and towers and fountains and other fancy majestic things?

Anyways, this week has been one of gratitude, how fitting for thanksgiving right? 

I love you all,

Elder Cordon

TRANSFERRED

This is the MOTHER insert...This is from Last Week.  Sorry for the delay...No Pictures so you have to just query Amadora to see where Elder Cordon gets to serve.  ENJOY

Well, the title says it all. I've been transferred. Not only have I been transferred but we were whitewashed out, and I'm whitewashing in! And I'll be training a new Elder named Elder Losa. Not sure really about anything else. My area is Amadora and we are doing email in this weird shopping mall thats a maze of phone stores literally called Babilonia. ...Babylon. Awesome.

So I'm kind of turnt down for leaving Vila Franca de Xira. We were just getting things rolling. I pray that the next Elders there don't have so much of a dead stop that we seemed to have when we got there. Me and Elder Lowry joked about getting transferred but we both figured we would stay. Haha, nope. If you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans. We found out Saturday that we were getting whitewashed. Then Saturday night we find out that Elder Lowry was going to the Azores. Then Sunday morning we find out we need to get the train at seven that night and that we were sleeping over at the office. Wow. Sunday was crazy full of packing and what not. 

Awesome experiences? Teaching Augusto and Vanda. They are amazing. Everytime we were with them they were always so willing to learn more about the gospel and ask crazy hard and cool questions. We also have Ivan. I'm going to miss that big guy. I hope that all goes well with him and the other Elders and he finally decides that he actually is ready to be baptized.

I don't really have a ton of time to write but, the church is true! Crazy right? My nice little thought for all you lovely folks is that which I heard from Hoody, something that really applied directly to me. Just a short quote from a longer story: 

"I think that life is much like this. Sometimes it is overwhelming, looking at all of the things we need to get done. As we let all of that go, and focus on the task at hand, it gets much easier. We can each do difficult things. That doesn't mean we can't look around and enjoy the view, but we shouldn't let the view distract us when we're going through difficult times."

You guys are awesome. Love you all. Don't worry about worrying things that don't need to be worried about. Focus on the task at hand!

Love you all!

Elder Cordon

How Empowering it is to Know the Plan!

The Chapel in Vila Franca de Xira

Namastē! 

Thats hello in Nepali! We have become very good friends with some Nepalis who own Everest Handicraft, a shop near the train station that sells Nepali handmade things (coats, shirts, rings, statues, tea, tibetan singing bowls, etc.). Those guys are awesome. They speak...Nepali, obviously, and broken English and very little Portuguese. Very different beliefs and many language barriers but no matter. :)

This week has been pretty great. We read 3 Nephi 11 and then watched The Testements with Ivan. Man that was powerful. I would say that the best part was his deep chuckle at the point when all of Zarahemla is on fire and everyone is running about in panic, but, without a doubt the greatest was the spirit that was manifest. After it ended we simply sat in silence, nothing to say. "One hour," he told us, "one hour straight I had goosebumps everywhere." He still hasn't been marked for baptism but we hope that will happen today!

The reason for the title of this email is because of my gratitude for the Plan of Salvation. The Liahona for last month had that exact sentence in one of the talks. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have of God's plan for all of His children, including me. That plan that tells us from where we came, why we are here, and what will happen to us after this life. I don't think I had ever realized how much comfort and purpose knowing this plan gives. This week we had the opportunity to teach a couple the Plan of Happiness. Now, perhaps more questions were raised then answered, however, they told us about their search for answers. They had faith that God had a plan for them, after all, thats what most religions teach. But they always questioned what it was. She said it was overwhelming that, out of nowhere, all of the answers to her questions were presented. 

How amazing it is to know that our Heavenly Father knew us before we came and we chose this life to grow and progress. How amazing it is to know that we have our Savior, Jesus Christ to atone for our sins and give us the opportunity to repent and be made clean. How amazing it is to know what steps we need to take in this life to truly follow the Master and become like Him. How amazing it is to know that we can see those we love and be with them once again and for all eternity and that death is but a short separation. How amazing it is to know that we can perform ordinances in God's temples to help our loved ones who have passed on without a knowledge of this Gospel to come unto Christ. How amazing it is to know that death has no power and that we may all be resurrected. How amazing it is to know that we have a perfect Judge, and a perfect Savior, who together can meet the demands of Justice and Mercy and provide a way for us to return once more to live with our Father in Heaven. Truly it is empowering.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the straight and narrow way. We can rely on the Savior, He is at the helm. We need not fear. The way has been set forth and is clearly available. It is a path that all may follow. Not a single person on this Earth is exempt from the promises that this Gospel brings. We however, must fear not, and trust in the Lord, and, once again, He will lead us home.

I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives. He lives, and while He lives I'll sing: "He lives! My Prophet, Priest, and King!"

Love,

Elder Cordon

I walk this path EVERY DAY

Overlooking Vila Franca from Bom Retiro

The Things I've Seen...

MOM wanted to see my face

Wow. This week was nuts. Filled to the brim with all sorts of craziness. So lets get right into it.

 There is a guy we know named Antonio who always likes to come and talk to us in English. He speaks English, Portuguese, Latin, bits of German, and bits of Arabic and Hebrew. Oh I forgot French. However, opposition in all things. He pretty much has no job, his home has no water, power, and ya. He is also a bit unstable? Not sure the best way to describe him. Anyways, so we see him the in the square and we had felt that we needed to start focusing on him. So we did. We hadn't seen him in a while so we went up to talk to him and miraculously managed to set up a time later that day to talk to him in the chapel! Well. That meeting was something. He said that as he sat in the church he felt a peace he had never felt before. We started to give him a tour but only made it to the room we have priesthood before he took liberty with the chalk board and explained/wrote a 'map' of words and began to more or less prophecy stuff. That was interesting. Anyways. We eventually calmed down and discovered a lot of his back story. Wow. Well we invited him to baptism and he accepted and is extremely anxious to be baptised and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We gave him a blessing.

The next day we went to his house. We knew it was bad living conditions there and we knew that cleaning his house would be a massive step to helping him feel the spirit more in his life. Well. That was an experience. You know those pictures you see of the after effects of a hurricane where its just waste? That was the interior of the house. Now take that and add ten or so years of decay, mold, humidity, and what not. You may or may not get an idea. Well, we cleaned the front room which was probably about 250 square feet. We filled a dumpster. For the sake of him, me, and you, I won't go into detail. This we hope is the start for him. He has a goal that by Christmas his home will be a place he is proud of where the spirit can abide. Unfortunately however, he didn't come to church. We're pretty worried because since we cleaned his house we have only gotten to meet with him once.

Other things that have happened: Zone Meeting, Divisions, a suggestive text from a random number we had to decline, more cleaning with Gypsies. We met a guy who we knocked on his door, told us he didn't want anything, and then invited us in for soup. So that was nice.

Ivan is the other awesome tale for this week.  Ivan is flipping awesome!

So we scheduled a time to meet with Ivan in the park. We got there and were about to go meet him when we saw he was examining the first couple pages of the Book of Mormon we had given him in Russian. We quietly backed off for a bit to let him read and think. A couple minutes later we came and simply sat with him as he looked through the book. Oh man. The spirit there was awesome. Everything was super calm. The water on the river was glass. And we just sat there helping him understand who Moroni was, who Mormon was and he was getting everything. There were times when I thought "maybe I should say this!" But every time the response was "Listen" And it was fantastic. Later we walked with him up to the chapel and watched the Restoration video.

Then on Sunday (by the way Ivan broke his left hand beginning of this week so he's just powering through with a broken hand. Ivan is awesome) he came to church and we taught him after with a member. We watched the Restoration video once more this time with a big TV and the sound up high (last time was a tiny portable DVD player with hardly any sound) and in Russian. It was super powerful for him and he said when God spoke to Joseph he got goosebumps everwhere. He wants to start talking to us more often and wants to learn little bits everyday. Ya. He is the best. He loves the videos so we are going to watch The Testaments with him. 

Anyways. All sorts of crazy things happen in the mission. From people begging for five dollars so they can buy a new phone case to racing oranges down a steep hill you just happened to be traveling down. 

Not much time for anything else.

Thank you for your support and prayers everyone!

Love, 

Elder Cordon

"Frozen Cereal"  Notice up at the top.  Eating well!

This is in the valley of Alhandra

backyard of Lídia and Glide

Funerals, Meetings, Stealing

Path we walk everyday!

Looking at our neighborhood

Well this week had all sorts of activities which, now that I think that it was this week, seems super long ago. Time is without doubt the weirdest thing ever.

Usually we get out of the house by eleven thirty because up until that time we are doing our studies. BUT. If we have a district meeting or something else we have to leave the house early to catch the train to wherever so we can get there on time (for example District Meeting at 10 in Alverca). So nearly every day this week was something that caused us to need to leave early!

First things first, we usually have district meeting on Tuesday. So, on Tuesday, we get up, exercise, eat, and head to the train station. We show up at the chapel there to find tons of people. Turns out there was a double funeral! That was a suprise. So after we ask the District Leader about it all and the District Meeting was moved to Thursday. We are thinking it may be more economic to buy a train pass. We'll see. 

Then we had an awesome meeting on Wednesday with President Tavarez. During Zone Conference things ran late so he wasn't able to share what he had wanted to share so he moved it. He talked a lot on the spirit and taught how to ponder the scriptures and the importance of Preach My Gospel and all sorts of good things. It was pretty great. 

THEN thursday district meeting, friday weekly planning, saturday...well we would have gone to that Halloween party but considering how far it was and we had no investigators of ours to take...and the fact that the entire zone would be there to accomodate people, President gave us permission to stay in our area so it turned out nicely. I dressed up for Halloween either way. I wore my Gryffindor tie and put on a sweater and instantly became Harry Potter. It was fantastic.

So Sister Tavarez had the idea, on Sunday there is a day similar to Memorial day when people go to the cemetary. So after church we ran over there to attempt to leave flowers with people along with family history and plan of salvation stuff. It was...awkward... but it worked out nicely in some cases :) 

Ivan showed up to church! Very simple and big Russian man. He could probably break me in two without a problem. His home is up in an unfinished building (they have a lot of those). He simply moved in, fit a door on the door frame, inserted some windows, found a bed and bed frame and moved it in, and slowly just started accumulating items for his house! We have yet to visit him in his home. We had a lesson with him at the chapel about the Plan of Salvation though we're unsure of how much he understood but he said he would come to church and...there he was! He told us that he didn't understand a lot and would need to learn more. Ya, I think we can help with that!

Ahh! How could I forget about stealing from the gypsies! This is a fun story. We went back to the first house and really got to work this time. We leveled this hill of what first looked like dirt then turned out to be several layers of trash and who knows what else. We found a bone that looked suspiciously like a femur. And a large kitchen knife... I'm suspicious of Professor Plum in the Conservatory. So we level it all out until its just dirt but there was danger of it all sliding down to the house if nothing was there to hold it back. So we found that there were two stakes in the ground that were pretty tall. If we could find something to wedge between them it would form a pretty effective wall to hold back the dirt. So we try the marble slabs they have. None were long enough. By the trash is a ton of ruined furniture so we go there and find a head/footboard! Perfect! We bring it back and while we are working out how to get it in, this guy comes up to us.

"Did you pay for that??"

"No, we got it over there by the trash."

"Thats all my stuff."

"Oh, our bad, here, take it. We'll find something else."

"Nah, leave it there."

"Are you sure? We can get something else"

"No. Leave it there. Thats my stuff. I sell it. You didn't pay for that."

"...Ya. So...here. Take it back. We don't need it then."

"No leave it there. I don't want it. You didn't pay for it."

"Sir. You can have it back. We are sorry. We'll find something else."

As he then walks away *grumble grumble* "leave it there" *grumble* "leave it there" *grumble* "mine"

So ya. That happened. He didn't want it back. So now its holding back the dirt! It works really nicely though! I'll take a picture of it this week!

We also knocked at the door of a guy we contacted last night. He proceeded to show us his entire apartment and all of his earthly possessions and where he got them and gave us a peice of cake. So he is super friendly!

Ether 6:5-7. I hijacked this message from a Liahona, not sure which month. But I use this scripture to share with people a lot. This is the people of Jared who are commanded to cross the ocean after the fall of the Tower of Babel. They have now built the barges, solved the problem about air and light, and have set forth:

 5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

 6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

 7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

Imagine for a moment what an experience this would be. I imagine it would be terrifying, frustrating, stressful, harrowing, depressing, and who knows what else. I'm sure you can come up with some more adjectives. But there are two things I love about this.

1. The direction of all of this turbulence was towards the promised land. These afflictions and trials, wave after wave, gust of wind after another, were bringing them closer to the reward their Father in Heaven had planned for them. Without these trials, they would never have progressed and never have gotten anywhere closer to their end goal.  

2. Now at times the weight of our trials can get really heavy. We end up submerged in the depths of the sea and escape seems impossible. Yet everytime they were in the depths of the ocean what would they do? They cried unto the Lord. They prayed. And, because of their prayers, the Lord supported them, he did not leave them alone in their trials, and brought them back to the surface.

Now that in no way means that the Lord took away their problems. Back at the surface was still gigantic waves and crazy winds. Nor did the Lord say "Well, you passed the test! You won't go under the water again!" No, they reached their lows many times but that didn't take away their faith in God. They did not murmur and say, "hold up, this happened last time. Why are we going through this again?" Rather they put their faith in Heavenly Father, prayed once more, and were brought to the surface.

Find the surface.

Love you all,

Elder Cordon

We removed the stump in the picture.  Oh what a stump

Three Baptisms, One Zone Conference, Eight Billion Emotions

Blessings

Imagine combining every rollercoaster that has ever and will ever existed into one ride. Thats effectively been this week. Then add a hurricane. The words do not exist to properly and effectively describe this week.

Warning: I just kind of word vomited this week into this email. For a detail account (so, pretty much Mom) you can read down here. But if you just want the gist of what happened. Just scroll to the bottom.

So. From the beginning. The start of this week was relatively uneventful. We helped out Lídia and Glide a bit more with cutting grape vines, rose bushes, fixing clippers and such. They are really starting to warm up to us and trust us. We fixed their window latch from outside and cut more vines and roses. They are super sweet. Also near by is this street where a whole bunch of gypsies live that we have started doing service at. They are super friendly and their yards and neighborhood is a mess! So we are starting to clean up the area and they are super grateful! We are going to try to bring them all the gospel too. Should be a party.

Well the real exciting stuff happens on Wednesday. We were finishing up our personal study when we get a call from Marlyne. I'm not even sure if I've told anything about their situation or teaching them or anything which adds to the idea of how out of the blue this was. We had marked them a while back for this weekend but because of various issues we didn't feel that they were perhaps ready. Anyways, she calls us and is like "I was talking to the Relief Society President and I just wanted to know how things are going to work for our baptism this Saturday." So, I said something like, "...uh...you kind of need to teach you a bit more stuff (all of the commandments and 5th lesson)" to which she very directly replied that when people are ready, they are ready and that they may not know everything yet but that doesn't mean they have to have all of the scriptures memorized before baptism and what not. This went on for several minutes. At the end I was like, "Yup. We can do a baptism Saturday."

We met with them later at six. I had been praying like none other from the end of that call up until we met with them. We explained to them how the baptism was going to work. We tore out a page in our agendas that has all of the baptismal interview questions and gave them that and asked them to read through and see what they didn't understand. They said they understood everything but we left them with the pamphlets for the Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithes and Offerings. Later that night we get a text saying, "Whats the law of tithing?" When we got it me and my comp just looked at each other in a kind of 'well now what?' So we told them. They still were determined to be baptized. YES.

Thursday. Oh yes we are only on Thursday. We had Zone Conference which was flipping awesome. We had some great practices from President, the Assistents, and the Zone Leaders. We received the announcements for the temple ground breaking on December 5! We also found out that our stake is doing some Halloween Party this next Saturday that all missionaries are supposed to come to. We live as far as possible from this activity so unfortunately it may not be very effective for us to go but it will really help out that ward in Lapa.

Friday. We did a companionship inventory that lasted perhaps two hours or so. No elephant in any room for the next mile could be hidden from us. It was super needed and will help us work more effectively together in this work. That was the day we helped the gypsy home! 

Then Saturday we had the baptismal interviews for the three. Marlyne, Marilene, and Leila! The mother's interview went for two hours. When she finally came out, Elder Bethers who did the interview happily proclaimed she was good and asked who was next. The two daughters were much quicker. When we finally left a lot of stress we had been feeling was now relieved.

Sunday came around. E. Lowry and I both spoke in Sacrament with the theme of Member Missionary Work! It was awesome. We had the baptism at the chapel in Alverca later that day combined with the Sisters' baptism. We found out however that there wasn't enough baptismal suits and all sorts of problems started popping up. Somehow, not sure how, all of them were addressed and we finally started one hour later.

Then there was the baptism in and of itself. AH. It was so great. That was definitely the highlight of the week. I was so nervous about saying her name right I forgot to close my eyes for the prayer. But hey! It all worked out!

Well, I just realized that this letter is massive and it in no way fully describes nor conveys even slightly the breadth of craziness that went on. Its been nuts. But. If you just kind of skipped through all of that to get to the end I can't blame you. For you who didn't want to read all of that. This is effectively what happened: Service, Zone Conference, Temple Construction Announcment, Companionship Inventory, Super Suprise Baptisms.

You guys are great. This letter is long. And I now I don't really know what to say. So...k thanx bai.

Love,

Elder Cordon

Insert Clever Title Alluding to Elder Cordon's Past Week Here

Dallin's Mom inserting information.  This entry is from last week.  I have been out of town so we are playing catch up...

Salutations,

I luckily thought of that one last minute ;)

SO, good to see you! Its been about, what, a week since we last talked? Things in Vila Franca de Xira are going swell. We have had some pretty neat stories this past week. First things first is the window. Our house is slightly weird so we have a glass window in our study that looks into a small apendage of our kitchen where our washer is. Its funny because there is a window in there that looks outside so in the study we can look out one window to look out the other window to look outside. Hard to explain, maybe I'll send a picture. But anyways, the window in our study. We found a dry erase marker and are now using the window as a big list of all of the people we have contacted with potential, our formal list of our investigators and their individual needs, and other relevant information such as that mentioned. Its really nice for planning because we will think "who on earth can we call or plan for?" then we just look at that window and a lot of times we find someone to call!

The other day we had Ivan up on the window (contacted him once) and we were having no success in getting in contact again so we decided that we would give him a call and if nothing came out of it we would take his name down. We called him and, to our suprise, we marked a time to meet with him! Who knew? We were both like, well, I guess he's staying up there. 

We also were walking at night and passed a couple who seemed to be having a deep conversation of sorts and as we passed I thought "maybe we should contact them" but I just kept going. Well, whatever happened we were walking back that way and he calls out to us and asks "Are you guys Jehovah's Witnesses?" And we flip around and we're all "Nope! We are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Have you heard of us?" We left him with a Book of Mormon and are excited to see them again.

We met this week with those two old ladies, Lídia let us in and we took more bags of garden waste out to the trash, sweeped up, helped pick grapes, and took the head of a garden hoe that she was very attatched to, and, using a branch she had picked out for just this purpose, put the head on. She now uses that for her cane. She was pretty excited and praised Elder Lowry endlessly for his genius as an engineer and his capability in using a screw driver! Really fun.

All sorts of stories and miracles. We got hold of a family we have been trying to meet with for a really long time and will be teaching them tonight. YES!!

Well, love you all. You are great! Happy Flippin birthday Rachel (that kills people)!

Stay awesome!

Elder Cordon

Conference, Bulls, and such

For some reason I always want to start off with something like "Hi" or "Hey everyone" or "Hello once again" but each time I always want to say something different in fear of getting repetitive so I decided to explain this dilemma to buy me some more time until next week to figure out what my opening will be.

View from My home

ANYWAYS, things are still going! I've been awful at writing in my journal which is my usual source of inspiration for writing my weekly letters as it helps me to remember what I actually did this week. However, in recent memory is (trumpet fanfare) CONFERENCE!! Ahh. It was so awesome. On Saturday we watched the Morning Session then on Sunday we watched Priesthood Session, Saturday Afternoon Session, and Sunday Morning Session. It was funny because it all happened in that order. As we were watching Priesthood session they mentioned the three new apostles and all of us Elders were like, "wait, what?!" It was simply awesome. Also, my comp just taught me how to write in italics after I accidentally pressed it. Super neat. Off topic, my bad. The Church is true. Nothing could affirm that more to me at the moment than having seen the calling of three new apostles and hearing the words and testimonies of our leaders including our wonderful prophet. One of the topics of conference I loved was that of eternal progression. I loved the talks that spoke on getting up and pushing forward in faith. One talk said something along the lines that we should not focus on the size or speed of our steps, but rather the direction we are facing.

That really hit me personally I felt. The mission will definitely show you personal weakness and I found mine: I am not patient with myself. I found that if I do not make progress quickly and immediately I become frustrated and dismayed, mostly with myself. However, as we turn to the Lord all things can be made strong. The message that I loved was that if you struggle with anything; addiction, depression, work overload, heart break, or individual weaknesses; ANYTHING, by turning to the Lord He can and will build us stronger. The scripture Ether 12:27 comes to mind: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I remember Dad once telling me of Captain Moroni (pretty sure). The Lamanites were preparing to attack. Moroni knew his weak cities and knew likewise that it was these places that the Lamanites would focus on to attack and take over. So he went about strengthening and fortifying these, the weakest cities, until they were nearly impossible to overcome. When the Lamanites came in an attempt to take Nephite land, they were suprised to find that the weakest cities had become some of the strongest. Taken back by the preparations of the city they vowed to attack the next...only to find that the next city was even greater than the last. They had truly made weak things strong and the Lamanites had no chance.

Dad compared this to our lives. We have our cities. The city of patience, of honesty, of virtue, of humility, and many others. Some are stronger than others. We all have cities that are weak. When we humble ourselves the Lord will show us our weaknesses. This way we may know where we can fortify, resupply, and defend and with the Lord these weak cities can become truly strong. I also would add that I don't think any city is ever done fortifying or becoming stronger. Even in moments of peace, Moroni continued to fortify. Even though there may have been a lack of immediate conflict he did not relax and say 'all is well in Zion'. He continued to strengthen. Hence the eternal perfection as we continue constantly to strengthen ourselves and our cities to the point where we become like Moroni, and the powers of hell are shaken forever (Alma 48:17).

In my excitement for talking about conference I think I partially wrote my own conference talk. The past two weeks or so we have only had about half an hour to write email so now that we've finally found a place I suddenly seem capable of writing a whole lot more.

Recently, President Tavarez has been focusing on power as well. Gaining power in the work. Power behind our words and actions. He talked of two missionaries who could say the exact same thing to the exact same person with the exact same tone of voice and yet that person would react differently to the invitation of the two missionaries. What was the difference between the two? That difference comes from power. Where does that power come from? Okay, obviously from the Lord but how do we obtain that power? Dignity, faith, obedience, morning studies, prayer, diligence, hope and the time of our service are some of the things he mentioned.

Well, maybe some fun stories now. Today, my comp and I went and had the chance to see the bull runs. They had maybe a dozen people on horses, six in front, six in back, and the bulls in between. They all ran down the fenced street that had been filled with sand. Then, after a bit, they assigned one bull to each fenced off section and then let them go. People would run around with umbrellas, coats, and capes trying to get the bull to charge them. It was awesome.

Well thats it for me I believe. Prayer works. Try it.

Love you all,

Elder Cordon

Elder Jones

People and Contacts

Hello everyone! Nice to see you all today! 

That BYU game sounded incredible! I'm was pretty stoked reading about that! 

Alright. Well, lets get this letter going. Fasting brings the powers of heaven. We had a fast with our investigator this last week to help her with quitting alcohol. We have been taking a ward member Sofia with us to lessons with the couple and many times Sofia and Namí talk with one another. Marriage is still a big issue.  Do or don’t get married that is still the question. Things just got really complicated. Plus, the man didn't come to church because he decided to visit another church for fun. We'll figure it out! It comes with the mission I guess! I pray and hope everything works out well with them!

We have started doing more contacts and talking with more people. YES!! 

We were having fun contacting some people and we decided to contact a man who (so we thought) was looking grumpy in his semi truck. So we went up to the truck, knocked on the window, and he rolled it down and we came to find out that he was a man named Paulo from Brazil who has lived here in Portugal for the past 24 years or so! He is Evangelical and was extremely happy to talk to us! 

He wants our help talking to his wife about God and religion without her knowing and she goes to a Pastelaria every day in the morning. So now it is our little mission. We are starting to go to this little cafe Novo Horizonte more frequently to scout out the area and figure out which is the Brazilian and get to know her! We think we know who it is now but we just need to figure out how to be friends with her. She wasn't giving us the time of day in our small attempts at contacts. This extraction will be more difficult. I feel like a ninja of eternal salvation. We hope we can make some things happen with this family!

Oh ya, that Bruno guy who was super excited to talk to us on the phone? Ya we talked to him! He is quite interesting. Apparently has a chip in his mind of some sort. We had a sort of half lesson with him because he had to go to do something so we are working on getting a follow up lesson to help him out.

We met with a man named Ruí who is a big painter. Very into painting. He studied at Picasso's School in France for some five years. We talked with him about his painting for a while and shared a gospel message. He has had some experience with the church long ago. He didn't come to church, but we are hoping we can meet more with him to help him out! He seems really cool and ready!

We talked to a man yesterday who had tons of deep questions that were really good! He wanted to know where we could find truth and why there are so many religions and such and where are the miracles on Earth. People speak of miracles but they aren't there. We shared with him the Book of Mormon and explained the miracle that it contains. Through prayer and reading we can gain the truth of all things and that the gospel can answer his questions. He wanted a miracle and we told him he would need to put effort in to receive one. Then he wasn't interested! He just wanted his health to magically be fixed and his suffering to be suddenly taken away from him. Anything short of that was no miracle. We shared that these things come after the trial of our faith and we were there to help him gain a knowledge or response to his doubts but at this point he was tired with us and excused us from his bench. He seemed like a great man and it was hard to leave him but he was tired with us. Some seem to be kept from the truth because they know not where to find it whereas others choose to keep themselves from the truth because the refuse to believe it once they find it. We all have our agency though and so we went on our way.

The mission is fun. Its still hard though and it requires your everything. The Lord will test you every which way to see if we will give of our everything and will try us in every aspect. The days and weeks are simultaneously exauhstingly long and freakishly short. Time is a very strange thing on the mission. We talk to crazy people all the time! They are awesome! We meet all sorts! One step at a time! I like the words of the hymn that say, "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!"

Follow the prophet! Jesus Christ is our Savior! Heavenly Father loves you and wants to hear from you! Pray to him!

Love you all, keep up the everything that you may be doing and stop doing the things you shouldn't be!

Elder Cordon

P.S. Today for P Day we rode bumper cars and I picked up the wax seal I ordered. Its pretty neat.

Elder Jones 

The Great Area Book Search

Oh hey, didn't see you there.

So this week has been area book week it seems. A lot of our work this week has been focused on that book! On Tuesday we spent a good couple hours going through names and records in there, calling people, writing down people with potential, filling out incomplete records, and devouring Maria Bolachas. We got out our map of the area and got some sticky notes and marked where all of these people were.

Then comes the finding. We have been everywhere in our area it seems on this mad hunt to find the people in our area books. Some have phone numbers. Of those we call some answer, some have their phones off, and some numbers don't actually exist. Of those that answer, we try to mark something with them and most all of them are 'de férias'. On vacation. So many people are on vacation! Hopefully we can get more people at home now that August is ending! Some people however are just barely leaving now for September! Férias are the worst! But thats okay.

Anyways, those that we can't get contact of we have been trying to go to their houses. That is another beast entirely! Some houses we can't find, don't exist, the people that supposedly live there have  never lived there for the past fifty years, the person has died; all of these things have happened! We called this one guy named Bruno who, when we said who we were, got super excited and told us he really needed to talk to us. He was also gone on férias but we are going to pass by on Wednesday of this week because he gets back on Tuesday.

We are still working with Eduardo and Namí trying to help her overcome alcohol and drugs. She is having a bit of a hard time but is really anxious to stop. We taught them about prayer and fasting and will be doing a joint fast with them soon. We passed by Ana, the lady who we found knocking doors, and she wanted us to pass by next Tuesday but she has apparently been reading the Book of Mormon and had some questions about it. I just really hope we can get a solid lesson with her to teach her. Lets hope and pray she can be willing to accept us and listen to our message! 

Fun things that have happened? 
Well, we have had some people contact us! Kind of...they come out of nowhere speaking English at us and asking about the church. Before we can say much and do much more than give them a pass along card with the address to the church they are gone again. We need to figure out how to get these random people to give us more to go on than a name and a promise to go to church!

This week we have a lot more work ahead of us. The mission president has set out a mission standard that we are going to start hitting every day. This will be the week of lots of new people to teach! It will be exciting!

We had transfers today. Nothing is changing for us except for one of the Elders in our house is switching out with another. We are losing Elder Ormond to Elder Yansey.

Thats about it for now, expect better story telling next week!

Love you all,

Elder Cordon

Zone Conference Part 2: The Mysterious Baptism and Division

I hope the title was as attention getting as I wanted it to be. 

This Tuesday I went on a division with the District Leader to his area Lapa! Man that area is super pretty! Its the really old part of Portugal! We didn't have a terribly successful day, lots of walking and lots of appointments that fell through. But it was nice to be able to walk around so much if nothing else but to see a bit of the area and the beauty of Portugal! I also got to try my hand at teaching in their English class! English is hard! We have weird speaking rules! The best part about this division however was what went on at home. I learned a lot regarding planning and studying with Elder Williams, he is a really great leader.

So, then there is Thursday! Zone Conference Part 2! Because of my transfer to Teijo in the other zone I got to hear this zone conference as well! A lot of the same topics but that doesn't mean it wasn't just as enlightening and just as helpful as the first time! I probably learned even more! Unfortunately I forgot to bring both my journal and my notes to the computer today so I can't share a ton of specifics. But once again, don't play with your salvation by becoming content with what you already have or are.

So, the mysterious baptism. The wife and son of this previously inactive man were scheduled to be baptized since I got here. Since they were on vacation the entire time until the day of their baptism I had never met them. I literally met them at their baptism when they showed up! I'm not even sure if we taught them. They live up in the North I think during the week but live down here during the weekends and hence go to church here in Teijo. This is sincerely just a blessing from the Lord at this point!  The family seems pretty cool. Family now completed!

Church was really nice, I love getting to know the members! The ward is really awesome. 

Fun story, I was asked to introduce myself in sacrament meeting and leave a short message. I talked a bit on our purpose as missionaries but when I stood up to talk I told everyone that I was excited to be here in Brazil! Not Portugal!   Everyone kind of gave me that same look a dog gives when confused, you know that slight tilt of the head and the eyebrow thing?   Then I realized, and was like ''Ah! I meant Portugal!'' Ya fun times!

Not much time to write nor do I have my journal to fill in as many details and fun things and spiritual experiences that have gone on. Next week will have more information and more stories! Stay tuned. Next time on this blog, Elder Cordon finds super elect family ready for baptism by talking to lots of people, getting lots of rejections, and sharing the gospel!

Love you all! Thanks for you continual support!

-Elder Cordon

P.S. Elder Jones was upset he wasn't mentioned. He's fine.