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
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