and another transfer down

hello folks!

yup i am no longer in the prison aka florence! i have been moved\transferred to the Temple View zone! which as you may be able to tell means that i am by the temple! which is fun!

my new companion is sister king from California and she is a doll. 

hm i do not know what to write about 

we are actually on all bike all the time now, (i jinxed myself with the last email)but it is fun! i went from covering 1 ward to 3 so yeah i am pretty stressed out. but thats alright!! i am really excited to work here. its going to be hard./ but hey hards alright when things are hard that is when you learn to grow and when you see just what you can do with the lords help. 

in gospel principles (one of the three.. yeah its alot of church) we watched a video about justice v mercy and why we need a savior

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/the-mediator?lang=eng (the link to it) 

and something hit me

so its talking about this kid who wanted something really bad, so bad that he got in with a bad creditor then he didnt really ever try to pay off his debt then the money was due and he didnt have it. and was about to go to jail. the video then says 

"There is a way the law of justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended, but it requires another. And so it happened this time the debtor's friend came to help. He knew the debtor well. He knew him to be short sighted. He thought him foolish to have gotten himself into such a predicament.

 Nevertheless, he wanted to help because he loved him.

 the friend then says; I will pay the debt if you will free the debtor of this contract, so that he can keep his possessions and not go to prison. You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with, and can ask no more. It would not be just. If I pay your debt,(he turns to his friend) will you accept me as your creditor?

the man responded yes, oh yes. and his friend continued

Then you will pay the debt to me, and I will set the terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.

of course the friend accepted this mercy. and it made me think about how jesus christ has done this for us, he has redeemed us, all that he asks is that we fulfill his terms. which are to have faith and exercise faith in him. repent of our wrongs and turn our hearts to him. follow his example and be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost and continue to follow him to the best of our ability. (the gospel of jesus christ... it is literally everywhere!!) not because he is not powerful enough to take upon himself all of our sins, or that his grace somehow is not enough. but because it is how we become comfortable to be in his presence.

i love you all, sorry no funny comments today. i will be better next week!!

love

hermana, sister, sestra, whatever you choose to call it, cordon

I like to ride my bicycle! I like to ride my bike!

(because i can talk to people! and teach them about christ!!)

heya folks!

so after i learned from the acostas how to throw it down jujitsu style (dont mess with me?)

we have has some very interesting conversations. its sad how many people dont believe in god anymore. its soo sad! i know that god lives i know that he sent his son to die for us. to take away our pain. 

but the best part is that he did what no one else could do and he ROSE from the grave. i love the gospel, and i know that there is still hope!

haha so transfers happened, and i am finally leaving florence.. i know i know so sad! but it actually is really great! it means i can meet new people and that i can continue to testify of jesus christ :) which is super fun. i love the people here, but i know i will love whoever i meet in my next area 

hmmm so there was this guy we met, his name is antonio and he started to anti us then said he wanted to come to church? so hes going to come next week. also, i have been on my mission for over 6 months! and i still have no clue what i am doing!! sister sprouse says that she still is afraid of people and doesnt know what she is doing... but she is just saying that to make me feel better for sure.

whelp guys. i dont really have any crazy stories...

except for the fact that we moved 2 people in one day... yup... they were switching houses... please for the love of humanity and missionaries who help people move. dont switch houses without thoroughly planning it out with your neighbor. it was a mess!

love you all!

sister, hermana, sestra, whatever you wish to use, cordon

1 jujitsu... how does this happen?

2 yup it cuts off your blood flow to your brain, aka carotid artery ITS SO COOL!

3 bunnies bunnies everywhere(could this be the mythical easter bunny?)

4 sleepy easter bunny

5 cacti bloom and it is pretty!

6 my car was lying it was only like 98 degrees but its still a good photo

also this.

Still Kicken!

Hello friends and family!! this week has been a crazy one and it starts with a crazy guy we met who has the name of sam speed. sam speed is a great guy who happens to be black, and believes that jesus was black, all jews are black, (the jews now are just converts) and that white people were once upon a time the spawn of satan, but now we all have a bit of every color in us so the doctrine that Paul taught ( because pauls doctrine changed Jesus's doctrine apparently... i am confused!!) says that everyone can be saved now so it doesnt matter what color you are.... yeah i am confused last time i checked i am not the spawn of satan.

then we met a couple he is jehovahs witness and she is something called bahai?  anywho they let us come over and help them move which was cool #buildinggoodrelationsbetweenjdubsandmormonsisgood?

#hewantedustoonedaybejdubs... (jdubs= jehovah witnesses)

#notgonnahappenbro

#maybeyouwillbeamormon!

also miles are tight so we are biking alot which is actually tons of fun because we get to talk to soo many people!!! #returnappointmentsupthewazoo

then the crowning funny event of the week is in testimony meeting this sunday (people of the congergation bear their witnesses of jesus christ and how they come to know that the church is true... i dont know how to explain it) anywho a kid got up and said "i would like to bear my testimony i pooped a big poop and i am glad i pooped," then his dad came up and was like "this is sacrament meeting, we talk about jesus" so the kid continues " i love jesus and i want to hug you jesus but i can't because your in heaven" thank you small child you made my day

yeah this week was fun but its also been really spiritual as well, we got to testify alot of jesus christ and how our heavenly father is there and that God is real which was really  cool and it was awesome we have been working with this 8 year old whos mom wanted her to take the lessons her name is kira i have talked about her before, but she was baptized this last saturday and she brought a friend! and this friend came to church and sat by us then she looked up at sister sprouse and said " i want to be baptized!" it was really cool we are going to see if her parents are on board as well!

also another little kid bore their testimony on sunday, she told a story about how she had let her dog out to go to the bathroom and then when she was opening the door to let the dog back in it got stuck, she tried a whole 2 times but the door would not open. so she said a prayer asking that the door would get unstuck and it did! its cool, we never think about praying about simple stuff like that but we should! no matter how small or simple it is, our heavenly father wants to hear from us and bless us! all we need is the faith to look for the answers!

i know that this church is true. i know it with every atom of my body and bit of my soul. and i KNOW that God is real, he loves us, he is the father of our spirits and he sent us here to learn, he is not sadistic and he did not set us up to fail, because he provided us with a savior. he gave his son, jesus christ, who was perfect, and jesus christ was willing to take upon himself everything that can keep us from God. If we follow him, we will be washed clean of those things. 

he sent us here to experience pain and sadness and death, only so that we would know their opposites and that we would learn to turn to him. its like in second Nephi chapter 2 verses 22-25

If adam had not trangressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of eden... and [adam and eve] would have had no children; werefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good; for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy.

also in 2 nephi chapter 2 verse 11 it says:

for it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. if not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. wherefore all things must needs be a compound in one...
 

i know alot of scriptures, but they make my point. bad things happen in the world, not because heavenly father is sadistic or absent. but because we have the ability to choose. and because if we didnt know what was bad in the world, how would we know the good?

this is soo much better explained in that chapter in the Book of Mormon, its 2 nephi chapter 2

and it rocks!

i know that heavenly father loves each of us individually!! he knows us!!

i love you all, now i am off to shop, and learn some more jujitsu... i will take pictures this time!

love 

you know who :)

1 goals

2 kids that i built a train with

3 when the library is closed you email at members.. when you email at members your companion emails first, when your companion emails first you get roped into building a train

4 one festive pooch

I learned it there

a lot of crazy things happened this week, things that made me reflect.... (sop email im sorry... i will make fun of pictures for you at the end to make up for it)

in stake conference we were talking about how to raise a missionary. and it hit me hard.

you raise a missionary by having a strong testimony of the gospel of jesus christ yourself and from teaching your kids about jesus christ. when i think about what it takes to be here. i realized that it all came from growing up.

i learned to cook, i learned to change a tire, i learned how to work even if you do not want to. i learned to pull myself up by my bootstraps and not complain despite whats going on around me. all that i learned from back home, and all have come in pretty darn handy here in the mission field. 

but the stuff that hits me the most is the stuff that i learned at home that isnt a measurable skill. 

like, wanting to brighten someones day so i try to eat random things (mini oranges that in hindsight are just decoration..... war heads have a new competition on the sourness scale). i learned to take peoples mean words with a smile and wish them a good day. i learned to bear others burdens and be sincere as i speak to people.

but the thing i think i learned most comes in the form of a story,

so my parents and my siblings are HUGE role models in my life. and they always taught me to stop and try and help people, that is why i took emergency response, because i hate being helpless when someone needs my help. well, my fear came to life on Saturday. we were driving to stake conference when sister sprouse had a feeling to get into the next lane, and its a good thing that she did because a few seconds later a man on a motorcycle goes FLYING by, like he would have been considered speeding on a freeway, let alone on a small highway. he would have hit us if she had not moved. this highway a few... maybe a hundred yards up the road has a big bend, and the man goes completely off the road and we watch him fly. i  immediately tell my companion to pull over as i already start to take off my seatbelt and as soon as she stops i hop out and run to him.

he had a very large head wound and is in the middle of a broken bush. and i could do nothing. i had nothing with me to help him. so i sat and talked to him, trying to keep him calm and trying to keep him from moving his head or doing anything that might cause him to damage his spine more. luckily, he was really close to a hospital and the first responders and paramedics took care of him.he was (according to the policeman who took our statements) stupid drunk and chose to forgo his helmet. when i first was running up to him. i thought he was dead. and as soon as the police came my companion and i said a prayer, asking heavenly father to watch over him and the medical team.

i realized that i was helpless, in more ways than one. we all really are. no matter how much we try, how much we know, or how grand our skill sets are. without jesus christ we are nothing, we never will be good enough to make it back. but because we have him, if we choose to come unto him and to try to do as he did. try to follow him. we never will be enough, but with him we can be. isn't that cool? i think it is!

also, i learned to follow promptings from the holy ghost, if sister sprouse had not moved. that man would be dead.

so the question is asked, how? how can i know? how can i know if there is a God? how can i know what his plan is? how can i know the answer to any of my questions that really matter (sorry math... you dont usually count in my book) the awnser is to pray. the coolest thing about that experience is just how many people pulled over to help him. and the feeling of peace we had when we prayed. we still knew there was a large chance that man could die, but we received comfort in knowing that he was one of Gods children and that whatever happened, Heavenly Father had a plan for him.

i know that jesus christ lives!!

thank you to everyone who has taught me and helped me so much. you have made a huge impact on who i am, as a woman and as a missionary. 

Alma 26:

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

docterine and covenants section 4

now behold a marvelous work has come forth among the children of men. therefore O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. therefore if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; for behold the feild is ripe and ready to harvest; and lo he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth  up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; and faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. Ask and ye shal recieve Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.

signing off <3

sister (hermana, sestra, mckayla, whatever you want to call it) cordon​ :)

1 cant see too bright

2 elders trying to be cool

3 and failing

4 realizing they are failing

5 normalish

6 after temple french toast

7 soon to be a baby bird in a fan tree

more :)

1 my sisters need this sign

2 spring has sprung in AZ (it was close to 80 degrees)

3 elder romero cant do the 4 pieces of toast needed to break the record (i could not either)

4 this is a Kokopelli they are everywhere

when you do more dumbs

so you know that week when i told yall all the dumb things you should not do?

yeah this is one of those weeks again

so elder ashton our vehicle coordinator did not want to be switching designated drivers more, so he issued a policy a policy that made it so when my companion and sister allison went on exchanges it left me and sister donaldson without a car, (this has now been remedied by elder ashton for future exchanges) now, mind you, in most areas biking everywhere is possible, but here in this area it is not... but we did it.... lets just say many a back dirt road that could have quite possibly given me whiplash from the sure amount of bumps and carrying our bikes over train tracks :) my brain was shaken but there were so many miracles we got two new potential investigators!!

the second i did a dumb thing is very much a dumb...... so i really want to eat a cactus now that i know that you can. and i have been interested in catcus fruit.. (have not eaten it yet... im not that dumb) but we saw a cactus and decided to check out the prickily pear.... yup folks baloo from the jungle book was right. when ya want the pear you gotta use the claw!!

 i still have tiny miniscule catcus spines in my fingers!! yup and my comp did it too :) 

we are sooooo smart!!

its funny these little kids look up to me and i am just here

1 Illuminati......

2 adorable? yes!

3 pretty flowers who knew they would grow in AZ

4. crossing the train tracks (dont worry we were on a path by them when we stopped)

5 born and raised in the prison #wearebane #thebaneofsatan #sowegoodbanes

(florence is mission termed the prison because there are so many prisons in our zone)

6 this truck tho.... it trippin all the cool kids want it

​the zone!!

1... sister donaldson is learning fast the reaction to our antics

2 elder johnson is always judging everyone

3 SISTERS! SISTERS! never were there more devoted sisters! (if you dont know what this is from.. shame on you go watch white christmas, i dont care that it is almost march, go watch it now)

4 my district leader is now mike from monsters inc

5 this is what happens when you are bored and your comp is in zone leadership conference

6 elder johnson gets way too excited about zone sports

7 the birds here are nuts 

8 elder wilcoxs face says it all 

9 you saw it here first my comp is a superhero

10 sister donaldson doesnt know how to react to the intense action shots

11 lets play spot the hummingbird nest (its in there)

at the water! oh at the water! (Nashville tribute to the Redeemer soundtrack)

yup so we had a baptism this week!! kayla (9) and skye (12)

 and it was amazing! they are so sweet and the spirit there was so strong to be honest tears were shed!  

so this week has been just short of miraculous!! as we were starting to worry about our investigator pool dropping as kayla and skye get baptized we got two new awesome investigators!! escalator missionaries for the win!! (continuously moving up)

its crazy to watch what happens to the work as you do what the spirit prompts, really its great! also, its presidents day so we are emailing at an awesome members house!! just thought yall should know that as you go out and do fun things. I love being a missionary, even when things kinda get sad as people anti you or say that they are not interested in the greatest news ever, but then you also get to see some crazy miracles of people coming to Christ!!

its just awesome!!

sister sprouse and I are getting along great, really, our house right now is doing awesome, and so is our zone, we just support eachother a lot and it is great to see, we were playing speedball against another zone and one of there sisters put me in a fake headlock, and one of the elders in my zone yelled "no! let sister cordon go!" its awesome to see the comradeship that comes as we serve heavenly father, sister Allison and I have decided that since we only want to get married for temple blessings(#sanctifiedmissionariesaresanctified) for a while when we are both home we are just going to go live off the grid  in the mountains its great, we have a plan and everything! (dog sledding, boating, and snowmobiling are included) the gospel of jesus Christ (faith unto repentance, baptism, recieveing the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end... yall should know this stuff I write about it enough) is so simple yet it is so powerful and it brings people together like really, I never though I would be besties with these older couples in my ward (the petersons who are letting us email at their house and the gillises who are just awesome I will talk about them in a second) but because we are all growing closer to Christ and working together we are buddies!! the gillises rock!! like you know csi Miami? yeah brother gillis was literally like horatio before that was even a thing, finding serial killers? brother gillis did it! connecting the dots of and finding who committed murders, yup he did it! throwing it down sassily when a woman cop was saying a crude joke? yup he walked In and said its sad when the world has changed so much that a woman talks like that and a man is offended, YUP HE WAS THROWING IT DOWN!! and that woman, ended up getting converted to the gospel and is now his awesome wife!! he also was a state attorney for murderers, drives like a boss, and is an awesome young mens president and works in the temple, and drives missionaries (aka me and my companion) to meetings sometimes. yup the people in granite mountain ward are dropping the mic! even in their member missionary work they have really taken to the challenge of reactivating the 70+% of the ward!! (also brother gillis is on time magazine cover a few years back :) ..)

so you guys probably want to hear a bit from me (although I do not know why...) I am doing well, the mission is now officially threatening us with ipads, saying we just need first presidency approval , so that is awesome, I am getting some rocking tan lines that would make any farmer jelous. so yeah I am doing well!

love you all!

sister, Hermana, sestra, or whatever floats your boat,cordon!

soo many birds!

Kayla and Skye

All the Sisters that taught them... trio power!

Giant asparagus

this is really cute... until you think about it... he is holding heads... that look like his

me, Kayla and Skye

Kayla and Skye with their grandparents

Miracles? Yes.

so some really funny miracles happened this week, but i will tell them to you later because.. i have a new companion... who is actually someone who i have talked about in my emails before!
her name is.... Sister Sprouse!!!

yeah so they split up my sister training leaders, sister allison is training and sister sprouse is my companion! haha its fun she is really chill and i am chill so we get along great! its really cool so because she is an stl we are going to get to go on exchanges alot so sister donaldson or i will go to one of our areas and the stls will go on exchanges! so i get to hang out with a rock awesome greenie alot!!

haha its funny just how a new perspective can change things, sister sprouse and i are working on talking to every person we meet and it has been fun because we have gotten some awesome potential investigators now!! also, so sister wheeler gave the stls a traning on dress as a missionary, and sister sprouse was sad because she was trying to be obedient and her skirts were just too short, so the day she told me we were stopping by a potentials house elders had found a while ago, so we stopped by and his wife answered and immediately let us in so my companion and i were like " well she is either golden or she is a member" turns out she was neither, so she has alot of mormon friends, some that have kids on missions, and she claims the title mormon adjacent she says she loves everything about the church, except for some of the teachings :( any way, she works for an lds company called lularoe so she GAVE us each a skirt that we could pick out! she said it was because she hopes that someone would do something like that for her friends son. so #miracle even if she isnt interested it was crazy!

second # miracle is that i have this hymnbook that has a whole bunch of quotes in it, i made it when i left so if a bishop or someone randomly asked me to talk i would be prepared, but i lost it and was kinda sad, but i was like oh well and forgot about it, then i get a call yesterday from brother stoddard (basically one of my favorite families) in magma ranch ward. that a couple who were looking for a house met him and he told them to not go to magic ranch (its out of his ward) but they went, and got in a wreck, so they were just walking around and they found this hymnbook sitting on the ground (turns out it was in front of an awesome womans house who is a member) but they started to look through it.. and this is where it gets crazy, just a few days before i put a sticky note with brother stoddards name on it because he always says "one fight one team" and i really liked it so i put it next to the hymn we are all enlisted. so they gave him the hymnbook and then he was like "who would do this... sister cordon" so yeah it was too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.... heavenly father really wants me to have that hymnbook for something.... its really funny because i havent even used it yet! #igotthemessage

its really cool to see how heavenly father looks out for his servants, just in the little things. he wants us to succeed! its like nephi in the book of mormon " And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." 1 nephi 3:7

and its so true even just like.. you are trying to be obedient... heres a skirt, or, sister... why did you loose this, here have it back. he really does love his children!

oh so another cool miracle this week, we met with an investigator, mike, and he just sat down and was like here! this is all of my reasons why i am not on date to be baptized and then he answered his own concerns! he is not on date, but i think he will be soon, also, he has been struggling with smoking, but then he was like "i am going to be done smoking by next week" apparently he is taking this medication that makes cigarettes taste terrible because he was in the infantry in the army and he is sick of getting winded just from walking up stairs. so talk about crazy!

also the girls on date are awesome, their mom who does not want to be contacted by the church just wants them to write a 3 paragraph essay on 3 other religions... so yeah thats cool. they are sweet hearts, the oldest Skye is 12 and then kayla is 9 its really cool :)

so yeah that has been my week! I remembered to send pictures!!

whelp!

i love you each alot! just remember that i love you, Jesus loves you, Heavenly Father loves you.... and satan hates your face!!

Love,

sister (sestra, hermana, mckayla, whatever you want to call it) cordon :)

also my companion just showed me a meme of a dog wearing a cowboy hat with a confused expression saying "what in tarnation" that someone sent her

...

yup this transfer is going to be awesome :)

1 am i a dork, yes

2 wally world

​​3 hats!! (brother sidenstrickers son made them for us)

4 they are thug life.. i am not #storyofmylife

5 a members daughter gave these to us.. i got a pug #puglife #hisnameispugmire

6 the zone

7 sistas of the flo zone!

8 sistas!

9 another one of the zone

10 #dorks

11 the new house!! this transfer is going to rock! (also 3/4 of the people in this picture are beautiful.... guess who the one is? yup shes the one in the back by the blond :)..) but yeah sister donaldson is in front of me she is the new greenie and is a rock star!

also more pictures!!!

(arnt you just lucky ducks?)

1 we got zone t shirts

2 the back needs explaining so its a thing of solomon's temple. so the first box at the bottom is the temple alter that represents repentance, then the circle is the washing and anointing that they did which represents baptism then they pass into the first room that is like the  receiving the gift of the holy ghost, then they go into the room passing through a veil to the holy of holies where they can be in the presence of god, which is the end goal and why we endure to the end :) the arrow is our faith so it is Faith in the lord Jesus Christ,because thats what we have to start with, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end goal of being with our heavenly father again :) which is the doctrine of Christ and what our focus is as a mission! and the wings are just to look cool, also, we were challanged to THRIVE

anywho we were challenged to thrive with the new missionary schedule so that is our goal, also the elders are dorks

3 this is the member girl (she has a learning disability so we are teaching her the lessons so they can be sure she knows what the church believes... its a long story but she isnt an investigator) who gave us the stuffed animals

4 this is bishop packards wife and three of his kids with my comps

5 and this is us with Billy, (the wife) brother sidenstricker (our ward mission leader in the back in the red shirt) and his son Phillip who made us the hats, he has an awesome story, basically, they rock