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