This Week Was a Blur

So yeah! This week was good, but I don't really have much to say. I wrote y'all a letter today, and sent it in the mail. Which was good, because we got the worst emailing time ever, and p-day is almost over. I love you all tons!!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

Being An Instrument in the Lord's Hand-Life of A Missionary!

Another amazing week in the mission field!!! This week we saw crazy awesome miracles! We street contacted everyone we passed on the street, and we got to know a lot of formers. Monday night we knocked at a door three times, and the lady finally opened it right when we were going to leave, she welcomed us in, like old friends. We listened to her, and shared a message about eternal families!!! We have another appointment tonight!!!!

Then last night after the "Why I Believe" fireside, I had a strong prompting to go and see an inactive member, that we've been trying to contact for two weeks. We went to her house, and to our surprise she opened on the second knock. She welcomed us in, and begged us to help her get a relationship with her Heavenly Father again. She said that she had had a really rough weekend, and had been drinking. She had been praying that He would send someone to help her, and that is when we knocked at her door!!! As we started to pray with her, her son's girlfriend walked in. She decided to sit with us and listen. Sister Hutchinson and I had the same prompting, to begin reading the introduction to the BOM with them. Natalie (the girlfriend) was extremely interested. I pulled a El Libro de Mormon out of my bag, wrote our number, and the steps of prayer on the inside. I had also put a Restoration pamphlet in the that specific BOM a few days ago. We were able to invite them both, to read and pray. We also challenged them to overcome their addictions! The spirit was so strong in that lesson!

I have such a strong testimony of making plans, but also being willing to follow the promptings of the Spirit. The Lord cannot change your plans unless you make them. He sent us to her right when she needed us, when she was ready to hear our message! Natalie will hopefully be there for our next lesson!!! I'm grateful that the Lord inspired us to do little things to prepare for this opportunity! And also that He gave me a companion, who is so in tune with the Spirit. I KNOW that this is the Lord work. He loves His children. And He places us on the path to help His weary and disheartened children! I am so grateful to be an instrument in His hands!!!!

I love you all!!!!! Try to look for someone having "a hard time" and serve them!!!! Service brings so much joy, and peace! By serving we follow the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

So I made a birthday gift for my mission mom!!! Sister Pecjak! And the m&m had 7 packs instead of the advertised 6! Blessings!!!

Hoover Dam, Boulder City Exchanges, Area Splitting....

So! I am staying with my companion this transfer, I still have six weeks of training so we weren't surprised. BUT! We had to split our area in half with the help of the Branch President, because, we are getting ELDERS! Alta Vista is going to have 4 missionaries! 2 training missionaries, but we are pretty sure the other trainer is fluent!!!! 

I went to an english area in Boulder for 2 days this week. There is a Spanish sister going home, who has been serving english for 2 transfers, and she really wanted to go Spanish again. It was hard. BUT, I got to see the Blumenthal family!!!!!! It was so awesome. (pics will be on the email to my mom)!!! I seriously was so excited! The sisters had organized it, so when I came into the area they surprised me with the news!!!!!

Hoover dam was amazing! We actually just got back! I love my district, but a lot of them are leaving this transfer. :(

This is going to be the most amazing 6 weeks ever! My bike is fixed, I have a lock for it, and we have plans to start riding more so we can find more people to introduce the gospel to!!!

I love love love my mission! Everyday I go to sleep exhuasted, and extremely happy. I love the people that we have been blessed to teach! We have a WHOLE family, 6 people, getting baptized next month!!!!!!! The spirit is always so strong in our lessons with them. They are a miracle family!!!!

I encourage y'all to work on your personal prayers this week! That's my goal for the transfer! I know that as we have more meaningful conversations with our Father in Heaven, we will be more converted to the Gospel, and be able to see amazing miracles in our lives!!! I love you all!!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

Choose the right. Remember who you are. And remember who YOU represent!!!!

Week 6 of Training!!!!!! Justin Bieber Toothbrush, Baptismal Dates, and Abundant Blessings

So last week was beyond amazing!!!! We started the week off super slow. We had a bunch of people cancel appointments, or not even open the door, we dropped 4 investigators, and 2 of our investigators had to have their baptismal dates pushed back. BUT, by Wednesday, instead of getting discouraged, we prayed and decided to try walking around more. So we went to one of our most ghetto areas, and we knew that it was the area that the Lord needed us to work on. We walked around for a while, from potential to potential, and talked to EVERY person on the way. We exceeded our street contacting goal for the week with 42 people contacted!!!!! It was such an amazing blessing. We got referrals from all the english people we talked to , and we were able to get referrals for a few of the english missionaries! The Lord led us every step of the way, and we left behind our fears, and declared His gospel to each person we met!!!

We found 2 inactive members this week! Our goal is to reactivate them as soon as possible!!!!

While we were walking on Saturday in our sketchy area (we only walk during the day, and the early evening. NEVER at night), we passed a house. I saw a Panama sticker on the car. And I said, "Hermana! People in Panama speak Spanish!" Let's go knock on that door. We introduced ourselves behind a screen door, and when we said that we were representatives of Christ, she opened the door and ushered us in. We prayed with her and she wants to learn more! We invited her to church, and I was able to follow the prompting to invite her to look at ldsjobs.org. I'm so grateful that we were able to find her. If we had not followed the prompting to walk in this area, we would not have found 7 new people to teach!!!!

This week we had Zone Training meeting! I learned so much! Here are my favorite things that I learned, all of these things are on my "How to Be a Better Missionary Wall"

I encourage y'all to read the following scriptures!!!!

• D&C 60:2-3- Open your mouth to declare His word, or your gifts will be taken from you! Totally rebuked!!!! I know that as we open our mouths, and invite every person we come in contact with to come unto Christ, He will protect us and strengthen us.
• 1 Cor. 13:11- Put away childish fears!!!! My companion and I heard this and applied this in our area! It was such an inspired scripture for our ZL to share!!!! It was certainly awkward to approach people, but the blessings far outweighed the initial fear!!!
• Omni 1:26- ALWAYS INVITE

"They have the same knowledge that we have, they just don't remember it. It is our DUTY to bring this knowledge back to them."

Okay funny stories:

• During one of our member present lessons, the sister said, "Cuando nosotros no tiene ojos". My companion and I started freaking out! She meant to say, we won't need glasses, but she didn't say it right. Hahaha. We had to clear up the confusion....
• During another lesson, we invited Maria to be baptized! She said yes, but um...Then she pretty much asked us never to come back. When we got to the car, I realized that I had a red punch mustache from lunch..... I taught. a. whole. lesson. with. a. red. mustache. I looked like the Joker. But the weird thing is, it was only on one side of my face..... Ugh.
• I bought a Justin Bieber toothbrush at the 99 cent store!!! I've never been so happy to have "real" music. (Mom, if you want to send a mix CD with cool Christian rock music, I will not complain). Hahaha.

Okay. I think that's it from the week!!!! 

I hope y'all have a great week!!!!!!!! <3 Choose the right, remember who you are, and always remember who you represent!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

*Justin Bieber toothbrush

*Temple Walk with a recent convert!!!!

Mom.....I Punched A Cactus...

So this week has been crazy!!!!! I walked into a cactus, met crazy amazing people, followed promptings, fasted for the investigators, studied the Atonement, and learned how to receive personal revelation!!!!

First off. Our investigator Lorenzo had a lot of doubts this week. We fasted and prayed for him all day yesterday, and when we went to the lesson he told us about the strong spirit he felt at church. Also he went to a baptism on Saturday, and he told us that as he watched the baptism he felt the spirit confirm that this is what he should do!!!!! It was amazing! Also, we fasted for the gift of tongues, so that we can better answer the questions of our investigators! We both understood every single word in the lesson with him, and we were able to bring the spirit in by testifying! It was such a cool experience! I know that the Lord blesses us when we make the sacrifice to fast!

Vanessa is progressing so well!!!! I love her so much and I love that she seriously STUDIES the scriptures. She treats it like school. It's amazing how estudious she is! Her questions are thought provoking, and often we have to take them home to study up, in order to answer her!!!

We went to a referral from the ZL's, only to find out that they don't speak any Spanish, and they are asian.... They also said that she was super interested to hear more about Christ..... She was really rude to us and didn't seem at all interested.... Elders.....

BUT, we got another referral from them to a lady named Maria who wanted a blessing contact. It was amazing! She just kept saying, "I don't want a new church. I just want a prayer". We were happy to do it for her, and invited her to read about the Plan of Salvacion. I am grateful that we were able to plant that seed!!!

On Saturday we were walking from potential to potential. When suddenly we passed Taco Bell house. (All of their windows are covered in Taco Bell signs) I got the distinct impression to knock on the door. We walked over a bunch of beer bottles and cigarettes, and we started to talking to the lady. We told her that as representatives of Jesus Christ, we bring His message into the houses of the people! She spoke English, but we only had Spanish cards. We apologized for only having Spanish, and she told us that her husband is from Mexico!!!!! We have an appointment with her tomorrow!!!! It was such a cool experience for us, because we both followed the prompting and we witness a miracle!!!!

We also made an awkward moment an optimal moment on Saturday. We were trying to contact a referral for the 4th time, and we saw the garage was open. We parked the car, and we walked over to the garage. There were 3 people inside and we started to talk to one of them. (the other 2 ignored us). One thing led to another and both of the guys started talking to us, and we were laughing about things, and telling them about the church! It was the most fun and awesome contact that we've ever done! They gave us each 2 water bottles AND a capri sun before we left. And we left them with our number, Christ card, and a folleto about the Restoration!!!! It was amazing!

Oh. And as we were walking away from a door on Saturday, I turned around too fast and crashed right into a cactus..... Desert landscaping man....It's a struggle!!!!

Anyway! This week I encourage y'all to read in The Book of Mormon. Even if it's just 2 verses, do it. It will help you throughout your day. I promise that as you pray sincerely before and after reading, you will see a difference in your day. Things will be easier to understand, the Spirit will be stronger, and you will feel closer to Christ. I know that through Christ, the rock of our Salvation, we can overcome all challenges! He loves us, and He is always there to help us. Satan was working hard on me this week, from mean comments from less actives and ward members, to making me doubt my ability to teach the gospel. I overcame these doubts by reading my scriptures, and praying for His help!!! He sent amazing people to say kind words to penetrate the doubts, I read about the Savior and His life, and I studied and tried my best to better speak the language. Satan is a jerk, and I know that as we strive to become more like Christ and build ourselves on Him, Satan will have no power over us!!!

I love you all!!! Have a great week!!! Choose the right, remember who you are!!!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova