WOOAH we're halfway there!!! WoahOH Living on a prayer!!- Bon Jovi

yup so that is my music nerd coming out. let me just shove that back down .*hears me struggle in the background..i come back slightly out of breath*..... okay hopefully it wont come back out for a while :)

but yeah, this week i hit my hump day, and its nuts! like really tho, who would have thunk? nine months and im still here, sweating like a dog, but here (i dont understand that expression tbh, dogs dont sweat... anywho)

but here are some things i have learned about missionarying, my dear friends if you know a greenie, please copy this and send it to them, but be sure to give me credit :)

1. the Arizona Gilbert mission is the best, hands down no questions asked. all arguments against it are invalid so go home

2. minutes are long, weeks feel like an hour

3. sunscreen is your friend

4. water is your friend

5. its alot easier talking to people than you think it is 

6. get over yourself, it will make things alot more enjoyable

7. focus on the people in your area that you serve this also will make  things alot more enjoyable

8.agency (free will) is the best worst gift ever (why can i just force them to do something? because that isnt how heavenly father wants it.. but it sucks)

9. odds are your parents are right

10.biking in a skirt is alot harder/easier than you think, it depends fully on the length of the skirt/ how flowey the stirt is 

11.the Church of Jesus christ of latter day saints IS true, it IS christ's church restored again today. and we can grow closer to our savior through it

12 bug spray is your friend

13 scorpions are demon spawn

14 really though, if you see one run and scream then find the scorpion spray

15. the book of mormon is true :)

16 you have these companions for a reason

17 the docerine of christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end) allow us to change and become the people heavenly father wants us to be, aka a disciple 

18 this is the greatest work and i love it so very much

19 i love being a missionary, i love being a disciple of jesus christ, i love doing his work and bringing his children  closer to him. its kind of the best thing ever!! 

20 i know that this church is true, i feel it in my heart. and i know it is true with every fiber of my being, i know it, and God knows that i know it. and i cannot deny it. 

and i know, whatever our question may be, if we study the book of mormon prayerfully and with real intent, willing to act upon the answer we receive heavenly father will answer it. miracles have not ceased and heavens gates have not closed. he will answer our prayers. 

i know this because he has answered mine, he has kept my purse safe when i have left it in a shopping cart at winco, he has comforted my anxiety and strengthened me through my depression. he has brought miracles to me and given me encouragement when i have needed. all when i have asked.

its cool, we have this investigator., tina, and she had fallen off the face of the earth. for like 2 months. but she has gone through the ringer lately and although she has anxiety and depression and a whole lot of crap in her life. she still wants to grow closer to god, she still wants to come to church, even when her anxiety flares before, she calls us at 7:00 and prays with us so she can receive the strength to go to church, and stay through most of it

well, thats all i got right now

remember God loves you, jesus loves you, i love you and satan hates your beautiful face!!

signing off!

love,

Sister, hermana, sestra, (what ever you choose to call it) cordon :)

So this is weird isn't it?

so this is weird isnt it?

so the zone conference was amazing!! its really cool, they asked me to sing in a smaill group, i dont know why they did that but they did and i guess it sounded okay, elder pearson liked it so thats all that matters!

 hes a seventy! like elder cornish! (kill the cow guy)

he threw down on us, making us feel like the most disobedient missionaries in the world, but it was good because he also showed us our potential. and we have seen the miracles from it!! 

i would basically base my entire email off of it, but it suffice to say  that i realized i need to change, because that is what the docterine of chirst does, it allows us to change and become a disciple of jesus christ. we all have out comfort sins, but when we let those go, then we will be able to grow and become closer to jesus christ :)

also, the general authorities are amazing!!

also being close to nine months is really strange!! its crazy!! but im still feeling like i am growing, i dont know alot, but i know the basics, and now i can try and become even better!!

it seems like alot of times we get comfortable, and we dont let ourselves grow, because we are comfortable. so im out of that now :)

i love being a missionary, i love being able to serve and to help and to lift!

i know that this is true, i know jesus is real,  and that he lives and loves us. 

and i know that strengthening our faith in christ that casteth out all of our fears, our doubts (even the ones that are about ourselves) i know it because this gospel has done that for me. it has cast away my fears, my doubts, and my lack of self worth this gospel has shown me that i AM a daughter of God who DOES love me and IS AWARE of me. and that i am worth so much in his eyes.

i love you all so much!!!

signing off

sister hermana sestra cordon

pool duck, cause they dont have ponds here

pretty train track photo, dont worry ben, i wasnt on the train tracks just next to the train tracks as we were crossing

mah soap

Hello

so this week has flown by, like the energizer bunny on steroids and large amounts of caffeine flying on a bicycle powered helicopter.... through the jungle

great imagery!! 

but yeah thats how this week has been, its alot of fun!!! sister johnson and our house and i had a whole lot of party this week, AKA before doing paperwork this week we went and got....... JAMBA JUICE!!!! because sister olsen has never had jamba juice!! can you imagine? 

its like why missionaries are out in the world, we have this favorite thing, the gospel, that we will liken to jamba, when we hear that there are people who dont have this awesome thing LIKE JAMBA we are like... HOLD ON JUST A MINUTE! you gotta go to jamba!!! and then we drop everything and go because it makes us happy, and that is like how we are with the Gospel, this gospel gives us so much peace, joy and comfort, and we are sad when we find people who dont have it, thats why missionaries knock on doors, not to force someone into a font, but to be like HULLO! we have this thing, and it makes us happy, can we please share?

but yeah this week was fun, we work as volunteers for a halfway home every Wednesday and this last one WE UNLOADED a TRUCK LOAD of cases of water yet one or two of the sisters "

*cough cough* sister johnson and bischoff** cough GOT dehydrated!!! yup guys! pray for me please!! its starting!! this ice cube is going to melt!!

also we went to a farm AND I GOT TO FEED A BABY ZEEBO its like a wildebeest combined with a cow and it was cute!! her name is zobie and we are friends, also at this farm we fertilized a horse field, which means flinging horse poo across the field with a pitchfork :) it was fun

hmmm what else? 

oh yeah! so crazy cool thing, there was this lady who called saying she wanted to feed us dinner, but it turns out she wasnt in our area, heck she was like 20 minutes away! but she still wanted to feed us so she picked us up and took us to her house, it turns out she was my trainers primary teacher when sister henderson was like 10 and she had just found out that sister henderson served in her area and was bummed she didnt get to see her when she was here (sister henderson recently finished her mission) . so it was cool!

but yeah life pretty great out here!! and just fyi they are moving my pday to Wednesday next week, so when you dont get your weekly dose of crazy from me on monday do not be alarmed, there is just a area seventy coming in to town so they had to play with the schedual a bit so it will be back to monday after that :)

love you all!!

sister, hermana,sestra (what-have-you) cordon 

1 this goat is stretching for the heavens

2 me feeding a zeeboo

3 petting a zeeboo

4 fancy zeeboo

5 see? im a dork (and kinda scared that this pic is going on the interwebs)

6 sister miller and i are cute

7 usa burger press.... i need this because i need this

8 it looks like ice cream BUT NOPE I MADE SOAP WITH A LADY IN ONE OF MY WARDS 

yay soap!! and it has cool shiny things we go and cut the soap tomorrow so more pics of soap next week... and just so my friends and family know i am 100% picking this hobby up when i get home :)

9 my companion died after getting stuffed with food by a member, its fun :)

YO

so migranes are a thing that happen, and they are very interesting. suddenly your brain is on fire and you forget how to spell words, or very important cross streets, and then light hurts. anywho that was fun

yeah so this week has been pretty normal.... EXCEPT I TURNED 20!!!

so what have i learned in 20 years?

absolutely nothing

:)

do you know that that means?

absolutely nothing 

because its a lie

i have learned lots

like dont eat the yellow snow, unless you go to a sno cone place then yellow sno is yummy. 

haha no, but my birthday was great, quite, but great and it was fun. its crazy to see how much we can be strengthened. i got some amazing stuff from my family and my housemates and companion helped me celebrate!!! it was really fun!!

also, we got a new investigator!! her name is jenny and she is amazing!! its so cool to see just how much god has prepared her, its just another testimony that this is so true!

i love this gospel, i love that it makes bad days good and good days better. its amazing how we can grow closer to god every single day if we try. 

so anywho, another year has gone by, and i am still a dork. some things just never change

I.E. we were biking to a less actives home and they pulled up just before us, but we had a really awkward moment, and now the daughter was awkwardly hugging her boyfriend (assumptions) and it was awkward. so what do i do? i go to my ward mission leaders house! and pretend to knock on his door! and everything was going swimmingly! Until! HE OPENS HIS GARAGE AND WE SCARE HIM HALF TO DEATH yup so we then relate the story about how awkward we are to him and he just calls us dorks..

... yup thank you brother maez 

hitting the nail on the head

i am a dork, but God still loves me!! and thats all that matters, i guess that is what i have learned over my 20 years is that no matter what, no matter how crazy life is he is still there and he still loves you!!

talk to you in a week

love sister cordon!

sorry aobut pics, forgot my camera

well hello there!

hello there!! so i got a new companion!!!!! her name is sister johnson 

she is from.... (pause for effect....................) GREAT FALLS MONTANA!!!

anywho so i got a new companion and i got to skype my familia so that was fun. also, guess what? IM TURNING FRICKING 20!!! its NUTS!!! im so old!! (sorry to those older than me) but yeah, 20. so the real question is. what have i learned in 20 years?

1. walking, walking is fun

2 talking  talking is fun

3 bathrooms are a good thing in life

4 bikes are hard at first, like many things in life

5 lifes like a box of chocolates.. you never know what you are going to get

6 superheros are life 

7 dont be afraid to stand up for what you believe in

8 disneyland really is the happiest place on earth

9 actually, thats inside the temple

10. the way to get the closest to god is through following his son jesus christ

11. prayer works

12. the priesthood is real

13 captain america is boss

14. sometimes life sucks, and thats okay

15 even big kids cry

16 how to tie shoelaces...i cant tie a knot... but i can tie a bow!

17./ good friends are worth more than anything in the world

18. service is alot of fun

19. some dogs bite.. but not all

20 scorpions are of the devil, they are devil spawn and should be eradicated (platform for next president of the united states)

here's a sidenote on number 12, i originally wrote it to my dad, but i thought i would put it here

{its really cool, the priesthood is so real, i asked my district leader elder vapel for a blessing last night, and all i told him was it was an transfer anti depression blessing, but in the blessing he was talking about something that i was struggling with, something that i had told no one about, but he talked about how god knew what i was having to go through and that he was aware of me and he promised me that if i am patient it will all work out and i will be blessed. it was cool, elder vapel didnt know, there was no way he could have yet god did, and he comforted me. its amazing!!

also, the work is going really well we have some good stuff going on, and some amazing investigators!!}

and just so yall know, if there is anything,ANYTHING you are struggling with, ask someone, who holds the priesthood authority from god, to give you a blessing, it really does work and it is so worth it! i know that this church is true, i know that if it wasnt, that priesthood would not have been restored. i know that through a prophet of god it has been/ we have the authority to act in gods name and to direct his work and his church upon the earth. and i love it!!

well, thats all folks!

i hope you enjoyed this one!

sister, hermana, sestra (what have you) cordon

this is sister miller, she is one of my favorite missionaries!!!

​

1 part of my area looks ghetto

2 its on an old ww2 airforce base that got turned into a college campus#asupolytech

3. another shot of the ghetto

4 see? part of it looks ghetto!! (elder ashton, the senior missionary in charge of vehicles (cars and bikes)would be proud we locked up our bikes!!)

5. hugging a chicken, like one of my dear friends back home does quite often

6 sister johnson

Hello!!

there are some things that come and go, companions, areas, people, investigators. but the memories dont. the laughs the struggles, the tears and the smiles. I am staying in this area for a while, at least another transfer, and sister King is getting moved, so idk who my new companion is.

i love the power of prayer, we can go and just sit and yell and plead with god and he loves us and will comfort us and strengthen us. theres a song that has gotten me through this transfer. it says

we pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody, beautiful the mess we are, the honest cry of breaking hearts, is better than a hallelujah.

I really  love prayer, and i love this gospel! i know that the Book of mormon is true! when i feel scared or hurt or lonely or like its me against the world. i crack it open and i read. it makes me feel calm and it makes me feel my Heavenly Fathers love for me and it gets me through the rough times and lets me know that everything is going to turn out okay. and then i go to the temple and it makes everything that much better!!

also, its funny what vocabulary you pick up as a missionary from missionaries around you. my vocabulary now consists of meow, Purrfect, thank yooooooouuuuuuuuu, bye!!! haveagoodtiime!, for why?,where ya from? NEW YORK!, PARTY!!, iwannagohome!!!, DO IT!! YOU WONT, do it and your cool!! durdedurdadurdedur. yahs!. FOR DAYYS!!!! ew greasy,  i am sorry for how much  my language skills have declined.

anywho, its getting hotter, and i am getting sweatier, so is life, as i continue to bike around in the suberbian desert looking for people who want to learn about jesus, because jesus is awesome and i kinda like talking about him, like all the time. cause jesus makes me happy even when life says i should be sad, jesus helps me be happy and gives me comfort that its all gonna be okay

1 us with small member child

2 sister olsen and i found superhero soup

3this reminds me of my brother in law (he has a hippy van as well)

4brave zone leaders elders clark and bowman at our samoan fireknife dance fireside that elder bowman put on

5. elder bowman and his fireknifes (dont worry the mission nurse was there and 911 was on speed dial, also it was sanctioned by the mission president)

6.i can be adorable sometimes

7. when missionaries go home they "die" so as elder bowman is going home, we held a funeral

8.part of the zone not the whole zone, but part

i love you all jesus loves you all, God loves you all, and satan hates your face

the one and only

Sister, hermana, sestra, (whatever you choose to call it) Cordon
want to hear more of my zany adventures int the greatest mission in the world? sistermcordon.blogspot.com

Well hello there!

how is life?

life here is good i am a biking missionary and biking is fun, except when you are biking in the wind, because wind biking is fun.. so fun :(

but its worth it!! 

we had an amazing talk with a less active woman, who doesnt believe that god loves her. we sat and testified for an hour that he does. and then there was a nasty dust filled windstorm, so she fed us dinner.  then we had a lesson with an amazing referral that has had a rough life and he wants to learn more, and we had some amazing members there who rocked!! he was explaining how he was feeling and she just said, hey you know there was a young boy named joseph smith who had the same questions... and these sisters are going to teach you about him. basically they rock!

also, we had a lesson with some formers, who are now no longer former investigators because the woman is GOLDEN (meaning she is really awesome in missionary views) and its so cool she said she is searching for god, and she cant find it in the church she is in. 

its amazing , i know that this church is true, and it brings me so much peace in my life and i know that Jesus Christ lives!! he heals me when i am hurt, when i feel alone and unloved. when i feel like i do not matter, HE reminds me that i do. that i am a daughter of god. who loves me. and i have a work to do, helping others feel that love and find the healing only he can bring./

no matter what. know that he loves us and that he cares for us. he is aware of you./ 

and if you feel alone, if you feel like nothing is right, that no one is there, or if you wonder why you are going through the trials that you are. i encourage you to pray, ask god why. then pick up a book of mormon. and pray to ask if it is true. i promise you, it WILL bring you peace, and it WILL bring you closer to jesus christ and our savior