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.

New Area, New Missionaries, New People!

Hey everyone!

This week has been, man, I´m trying to think of a good analogy to describe this week. 

Its been crazy, hows that? 

With a brand new area, new companions and new work styles, things have been quite interesting. It feels like undergoing waterboarding simultaneously while riding Space Mountain.

But anyways, to the good stuff! What is happening?

My new companion is a way cool guy. Really friendly and good to talk to! He wants to train to become an Army Ranger when he gets home which is after next transfer. We sometimes like to play basketball in the morning even though both of us are awful. 

We have a couple of people on our radar right now. We have been visiting a part member family. They are from Cabo Verde I think? The household has so many kids I'm not sure who is actually her children and which kids are cousins. We have been helping this nine year old towards baptism in the family and working on reactivating some of the older teenagers. There are two young adults, one who is very interested and one less so, however this one seems to have a ton of history according to the area book with the missionaries and the lessons. We are trying to get them to come to church and want to set up a time to talk with them individually without the entire family. We showed up at their house early this Sunday to help them come to church. The mother came with three CRAZY kids. Almost terrifyingly crazy. As well as the daughter (neice?) who is in a wheelchair and has some mental issues. The older kids didn't come because they didn't want to go to church with the crazy young kids. One, the more enthusiastic one, really wants to but doesn't seem willing to have to deal with all the kids. We'll work on something to get them to come. Working with that wheel chair and the cobblestones and the bus was really hard. Apparently she comes every week doing this. My respect for her rocketed. She is truly incredible to be able to do that. Her patience is great.

We have a member who has provided food for us and has come to teach with us once. When we arrived some Jehovah's Witnesses were already there! It ended up that in one room was my companion, the husband, and I and in the other room was the member, the wife, and the two Jehovah's Witnesses! A house divided indeed! We had a good talk about the Word of Wisdom with this man, Eduardo. The couple (we are working on getting them married) are awesome and pretty set on the church and good friends with this member we were working with. At the end of our lesson with Eduardo we went into the other room to save our member who was doing all she could do to be kind and patient with the Jehovah's Witnesses but were throwing all sorts of scriptures at her. We carefully bore testimony of Christ and our Heavenly Father and left when we could. We will return to teach the Namy, the wife. She only had them over because they had asked if they could come by when they met in the street and they were to kind to say no. They are great people! Very humble. We had to explain why the sun changes color throughout the day and moves from one side to the other and disappears to him. Very interesting discussion.

Funny story, we are standing on the bus and standing with us is a bit grungy looking man and sitting down next to him and the door is this old lady. We are all just standing when the bus arrives at the bus stop; not ours. He looks outside, looks at the old lady (who is looking out the window), he looks back outside, casually lifts up his leg and kicks the lady in the face and walks out. We were taken back! What just happened!? The lady felt her face and looked around agahst. She wasn't hurt or anything, just got a fat lip. We were all like, "Do you know him?" And she's like, "No!" Then all the old Portuguese people on the bus start gossiping about what happened talking all sorts of things about crazy people. The old lady starts going off about "If my leg wasn't as it is I would go running after him and blah blah blah, let me tell you about this one  time, I was somewhere and this guy came..." and she goes off telling a story and all the people are all throwing in whatever word of wisdom comes to them. It was really funny to hear all the Portuguese people going off on something. The kick itself was less funny. The whole thing was super random. The guy hardly thought about it it seemed.

We were talking to an older member outside of her house as she was leaving. Elder Dayton simply introduced me and as we were leaving I had the feeling that I need to ask her for references. I shook it off and kept walking. Soon I couldn't ignore that feeling. I turned back and called for the member and asked her if she had any references or anyone that would be willing to hear about the gospel. Low and behold she rattled off a list of everyone in her street and who would be willing to listen to the gospel! We are going to try to set up a time when they can meet with her in her house and we can talk to them as well. Friends I've decided is the way to get past the hard shell a lot of Portuguese have! Follow the promptings of the spirit!

Also, for preparation day we went to this sweet castle! The Castle of Saint George I think its called. Then, after that, we went to a sweet old Catholic church. Usually you have to pay to get into the cloister but I think the guy saw our name tags and just let us in. In the back they have this massive archeological dig! It was super neat! Elder Jones was really thrilled. That was his element. I'll send a photo with him there!

Anyways I have been doing a whole lot more studying then ever! Lots of insight and lots of learning experiences! The mission is good at putting you out of your comfort zone I'll tell you. It will push you and pull you in every direction! All of your guys' support means so much! You guys are great!

Love,

Elder Cordon

Zone Conference Aug 2015

Elder Jones at a historical site

Baptism, Transfers, and Zone Conference Oh My!

Things change at the flip of the switch!


Well, first item of business is the baptism!

Last Sunday we had a girl who wanted to be baptized and had been hoping to be baptized for a super long time. She is sixteen now and has been wanting to be baptized since she was eight! Her parents are less actives and wanted her to wait until she was older to make this kind of decision for herself when she could better understand what she was doing. She has tried to be baptized several times in the past years but each time her father stopped any progress in performing the actual baptism.


She expressed to us and the bishopric her desire to be baptized but the biggest obsticle we could see
was her father so we had a member, good family friend and young women leader of the ward who volutunteered to ask the parents. I hadn't expected anything hurried so I don't believe I made any mention of it. But, out of the blue, we got a call from the ward member who told us that both parents had given their permission and were super excitied! We were shocked! She wanted to be baptized that coming Sunday! To do that we would need to teach all five lessons to her within a period of three or so days! So Friday we taught her two of the lessons, Saturday two of the lessons, had her baptismal interview, and Sunday we taught her the last lesson after church, came back a couple hours later and baptized her!


She invited a ton of people and as a result their was about the same amount of people as we would usually have in sacrament meeting! In the closing prayer we had an older member of the ward say it. "Eu esperei nove meses para ser batizado, ela esperou oito anos...Por culpa de alguem!!" The bishop nearly died trying to hold back laughter at such an accusatory remark. However, if that was the only thing strange about the baptizam then it was a very successful meeting.


She is very prepared and very dedicated to the gospel. She accepted everything very quickly and learned extremely fast. She is the kind of person who will stay active. This experience really increased my understanding that this work isn't my work, my companion's work, or the mission's work but the Lord's. He prepares these people. We just need to find them and tell them what they are already ready to hear.

Second suprise, TRANSFER!


Elder Davis hung up the phone with the assistants on Saturday, looked over at me and said you're getting transfered. Wait. What?? There was an issue elsewhere, details unnecessary, but I was going to be transferred to Tejo, across the river back in Lisbon and I was leaving later that day! I had to pack and be ready. This was as we were taking the Zone Leaders to our investigator for her baptismal interview! Later that day as I was packing I heard Elder Davis call back to tell me to stop packing because they were going to have me leave on Monday so I could go to the baptizam on Sunday. So I am now currently in Tejo!

We had Zone Conference!


President Tavarez talk was straight fire. Awesome. He talked about how his priority was us as missionaries and our personal salvation. He said he worried that many were not taking their salvation seriously. As missionaries we are jeopardizing our salvation by being comfortable with the chains of hell. How do we escape the chains of hell? 2 Nephi 1:13, 23. We need to WAKE UP, realize our sleep, and run. He gave the story of a man traveling through the snow in the dead of winter. As the man decided he deserved a rest he sat down and began to feel relaxed, he started to feel warm and comfortable, he might even be able to take a nap. Suddenly he heard a voice that said "You are dying." Man. I got the shivers just typing that. The man got up and began to run, Not just walk, dead sprint. He ran and ran and blood started flowing again and he eventually made it to his destination of safety.


He told other stories as well such as the training of the Arabian horse. Other things were taught. The same way we keep the Sabbath day holy, we must keep the mission holy.The Terrestrial Kingdom is for those who become comfortable on their missions.

So, fun things, remember that fun and delicious Chinese buffet from last week?


Not sure if I mentioned it or not, ya, I threw up. That was less fun and less delicious. I think it wasn't that it made me sick I just...overflowed from eating too much.


We had a division where Elder Marques and Elder Paiva switched so we got to be with him for the day! That was fun to experience teaching with another Elder. I also saw this man who had more swag than any other man I have seen previously. He had dreadlocks that went to or past his knees. On his head he wore a dish cloth tied to his head with a rubber band. He wore glasses of some sort, crocs on his feet, and a bath robe. The smell that followed this man was unlike anything I have experienced. It was so awful it was impressive, perhaps even laudable.


Nearly got mauled by two dogs running in the plaza on Saturday, luckily the owner called them off. I was ready to unleash my inner wolverine and destroy but fortuanately for the dogs and for my clothes such bloodshed was not required.


Sorry about the lack of pictures from last P-Day, I didn't have my card reader with me :/


Thats all for now, lets see how this new area goes!!


Elder Cordon

In Almada on the banks of Tagus River

Companions  in Almada..Three Amigos

Bishop of Almada and His Family..Served as a missionary with Dallin's Grandpa Hillam

Love the  Paralelepípedos

Elder Jones and The Bridge..Looking from the Almada Side

Week Two, AKA I Should Start Coming Up With Sic Week Titles.

Hey everyone!

Missions are crazy. For all you preparing for missions, keep it up! Are they hard? Yes. Are they exauhsting at times? Yes. Are they fun? The same way running is fun. But the amount I have grown within the past couple weeks is incredible. It is no wonder they say that a mission brings you closer to the Lord than anything.

Lets start from last Preperation Day with the shower, taken from my journal:

"Hopefully next week I can have enough to buy some Drain-O. Ya thats right, Drain-O. We cleaned today and I was all "I ain't doin' no wimpy 'sweep here' and 'organize there'." I grabbed a sponge and rag and what little cleaning materials we had and went to town first on the sinks. Not too hard. Those babies were clean pretty quick. No yellow, just celestial white. Then the mirrors. I got all those toothpaste styains out. Then came the shower. Its a good thing I worked at the Rec Center. That was my MTC for cleaning. THis shower however was something else. Sludge, blak bold, hair, and goodness knows what else. This was part one of my assault. I dumped all my cleaning materials into that place and began to scrub, to rinse, and to beat justice into that shower, all while carefully keeping my white shirt, tie, and slacks emaculate. I made progress, but this beast still lives. I've only injured it. I doubt I'll even be able to slay it next week. This shower will be clean though. It will be so clean it won't know what hit it. We did have a casualty however. That sponge is a goner. ONe look and you know, you don't need an ambulence you need a mortician. He was brave. He fought the fight.l He gave it his all. Many more shall fall before this beast is eradicated but we continue on. Our cause is just and such sacrifice is necessary. For cleanliness is next to godliness. We shall convert this infernal wyrm to a celestial being."

May we all be as that sponge. Willing to give every last ounce to the fight. Ready for part two? Well, either way this week I couldn't find Drain-O nor did I have the opportunity to fight but it will come. It shall be cleansed.

Lets see some fun things that have happened here. I touched my first cat in Portugal on Wednesday, we went to teach a man and his friend showed up and told this massive story about a person with three loaves of bread and some advice and not killing people and being curious about long journeys. It probably went for half an hour and he would let us talk. It was half frustrating half hilarious because everyone was like, where are you going with this?? I have had some experiments with cooking and am slowly becoming a master at eggs. Still figuring those out. We found a stalled car and pushed that in the road amidst full traffic, we had pancakes one night, and then there is church. All sorts of fun things happen there.

Anyways, some cool experiences, quote from the journal: "We wound up around the same area about a half hour later. We passed a woman on a 1/2 floor balcony and I just knew we should talk to her. We went into a building to find someone and came back out to see her still there. I finally overcame something and said, 'Can we go talk to her?' In portuguese ovbiously. We went to talk to her to find seh was sick with something serious. She didn't tell us what (mayber cancer?). She said she believed in God before but found it hard to believe now. We shared with her that God loves all of us, including her and that He knows what she is goin through and is there to help us if we turn to Him. We left her with a restauration pamphlet, our number, and the church website. She wouldn't mark a day because, with her medical and other things she does, she never knows when she will be home." It was awesome to talk to someone and help. We should never be afraid to open our mouths.

We have one lady. She was married some time back when she lived in Africa but this husband was, well, there is a reason she is in Europe now. She is amazing and is completely ready to be baptized. She prays and reads almost daily. She currently lives with a man and has a daughter but they aren't married. Apparently before I came my companions had a lesson with her about the importance of marriage and all of that time in Africa came back. She told them that she did not want to get married again and that she was done. She was done with it all. However this time, when we talked with her, she said she could not forget what the Elders had said about marriage and finally she realized she had to stop looking to the past and look to the future with her daughter and realize things can change. She is planning on continuing with the process of getting married! Unfortunately, we are currently waiting for the papers to come from Africa that finalize the divorce from before. Official documents are hard to get from Africa and its apparently a big mess to get legal things done. But we think that it should be done soon and then she can be baptized finally!

The Lord is always preparing people. Trust in him and be not afraid. And then work.

I love you all

Elder Cordon