Computer Butt, Awesome Conversion Stories, and Hot Cheetos!!!!!!!!!! #Havasu

So on Monday, we had a lesson and dinner with Carol and Jessie. They are doing amazing, and are so ready to get baptized on Saturday! I love them like crazy!!!! Also Jessie knows about our obsession with hot Cheetos, so she makes "care packages" of hot Cheetos for us". Hahaha. They made us steak and crab legs, ohmygosh! It was so good!!!

I drove all the way down to Parker for district council! Sister Tui, and the STL's all fell asleep. So to keep myself from falling asleep I had a jam sess.....To christian rock.....by myself..... It was a party, obviously!!!

Sister Tui had to use the restroom so bad. We really far from any active members, and we were running late for an appointment. She freaked out, and went through the whole ward directory in like 2 seconds. "Meadows!!! We have someone who lives on Meadows!!! Turn around sister, I have to go so bad!!!!!!" I'm a jerk, because I kept saying things that made her laugh. The good news is that we made it to our appointment, and they were kind enough to let her use the bathroom! Hahaha.

"I have a computer in my butt". "A what??!" "I have a computer in my butt". Then she took my hand and forced me to touch the computer. (yes, I touched someone's butt...) She told me that it charges and everything! She also has a bionic arm!!! Science man!!!! She's my bestie now. Pretty much, I have to move to Havasu. All my best friends live here. I'll be the youngest snowbird there is! I'll live there and work during the winter, because it's nice, and then leave during the scorching hot summer.

We went to contact a former investigator. There was an awful stink, the moment we walked up the giant hill of her driveway. It was the most intense hoarder house I've ever seen in real life. It was slightly scary. I whispered to sister tui,"I am NOT volunteering to clean this house". She busted up laughing, no one answered the door....

So we went on ANOTHER exchange. It was okay. I was able to meet a lot of awesome people in the other ward. I taught the kids at dinner the hokey pokey, it was a ton of fun!! Hahaha. #bestmissionaryaward #pride #jk

"Sister, you only have 38 cents left this month. You can't just pull money out of your butt". "Don't you have faith in your companion?" Ohmygosh. I love sister tui.

I got second hand high at one of their investigators house. It was not pot. I almost passed out when I walked outside. The member stood over me, to protect me from the sun. It was horrible, then I had a headache for the rest of the night.

The sisters knocked on a door, and they only heard,"Hello. Hello." "Do you need help?!" they yelled at the door. But the person kept saying, "Hello, hello." Sister Smith tried to break the door open, then Sister Tui realized that it was a PARROT. Awk turtle! Hahaha.

We visited my very favorite family, The Raders. We sing for them every Sunday, and teach her the relief society message. This week they told us their conversion story. He said that his family investigated the church for years. He wouldn't give them permission to be baptized, because of a bad experience in the past. He used to go running in the woods every Sunday to keep fit for his military duties, while his family went to church. One day as he was running a soft voice whispered to him,"Let them get baptized". He stopped running, and was like,"What?" He started running again, and a few feet later, the voice came to him again, "Let them get baptized". He said he could not deny it the second time, and he ran back home, out of breath and freaked out. He was pale and quiet when he said to his family,"You can get baptized". The kids heard and were so excited, because they had been praying so hard for so long that this would happen! His poor wife was so confused, because she didn't hear what he had said. They got baptized 10 years apart, but eventually the spirit touched his heart, and they are now sealed as a family!!!

So this week I learned about love and service. When we are truly like Christ, we forget ourselves, and serve. Watch this 10 minute video Lift. I cried like a baby, it is so beautiful! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve. "Savior may I learn to love thee, walk the path that thou hast shown. Learn to help and lift another, finding strength beyond my own. Lord I would follow thee". This is my current favorite hymn!!!! I know that our Savior loves us!!! I invite y'all to find someone to serve and help this week!!!

Love y'all!!!!
<3 Hermana Cordova

20 Years old, David Archuleta, London Bridge, Loving Havasu!!!

So this week I turned 20, I skyped my family, and Uce Tui and I busted butt!!!

I went on splits twice this week!!!!! I had never been on splits before! It was amazing, and we saw so many miracles!!! We got to cover more of our area, and our members are freaking boss! I got to teach my first lesson completely in Spanish, in 5 weeks! Let's just say I need to start practicing my speaking a lot more. I can write and read pretty well, but if I don't speak it everyday, I notice a difference. Good thing a few of our members are fluent! :) Yay!

My companion is amazing! I love her! We work really well together. Every time we visit members they ask "How long are you two going to be together". We always tell them "6 weeks or however long Heavenly Father wants us together". Then they always say, "Dang. We're going to have to pray really hard that you stay together for a long time". We are a really good team! :) I love working with her! We both love getting to work, and giving it our all every day! She's the best!

We were walking, it was hot, and everything in this town is uphill. As we were walking up a hill, I noticed a group of people. My first instinct was to walk past, and continue looking for the house. But I sucked it up, and went over to talk to them! Turns out it is a part member family! And she really want's to come back to church!!! It was such a powerful experience!!!! We offered to say a prayer with her and her family, and they were so happy! They also gave us cold ice water! :) #happymissionaries

Our water filter exploded in the garage. I woke up, and went to the garage to get my clothes out of the dryer, and I stepped in a river. I was like, "what the heck". I turned and saw that the water filter had done severe water damage to the wall, and was making a river in the garage. It was a huge mess, and this happened only a few days after our house was haunted. (now that's a story for another day)...

We taught Carol and Jessie the 10 commandments and Chastity. Neither one of us have had the opportunity to teach Chastity in english in a long time. It was so awkward. We ended up just having them read the pamphlet out loud. #awkturtle. Also it was so cute! On Sunday they came up to Brother Hauke, and said,"We have a question for you. Will you please baptize us on the 23rd of May?" They are so excited! <3 <3 Oh my goodness, I love them so much!

I met David Archuleta's biggest fan. She's 87....She has 2 copies of all his CD's, one for the house and one for her car. She has his book, a movie about him, and all his videos bookmarked on youtube. It was the craziest thing ever! I loved her, mostly because she sang David Archuleta songs to me. #closestthingtorealmusic #tendermercy

So yeah. That was my week. Nothing too exciting. We had a very productive mother's day! We went on splits, and together visited 7 people in an hour!!! So awesome! 

I love my mission so much!! Tui and I are going to be doing a 40 day fast challenge, combined with the purification challenge! We are striving to be more obedient so we can see more blessings and miracles in our area and for the rest of our mission ! :) 

Choose the right, remember who you are, and never forget that your Heavenly Father loves you so much! Les quiero mucho!

<3 Hermana Cordova

*This morning at the London Bridge. Such a tourist trap.... hahaha.

*Even though it was boring, we found fun things to do....

*My district!! My District Leader Elder Ly bought me a Spiderman shirt for my birthday, another elder gave me a cool jesus picture, his companion brought us cookies, and the STL's gave us peanut m&m's!!! I had a great birthday! :)

My family, and my Havasu Family! <3 Campbells, Duncan's, and Hauke's!!!!!! I love them so much!!!

20 years old, Golden Investigators, SO HOT, Loving Arizona!!!

This has been an amazing week!!! We visited our elect investigators Jessie and Carol every single day this week!!!!!! We had FHE, and they are almost done with all the lessons. They also have been reading the BOM, and doing family history work (we taught it with the 2nd lesson), and came to church again! They are the most elect people I've ever taught. I love them so much! Then at church someone asked "are y'all going to get baptized" Carol proudly said," We will be getting baptized on the 23rd of May!" I'm so excited for them to make this awesome step to follow Christ, in order to have a better and happier life! :) We had 5 investigators come to church, and they all loved it! :) Such a blessing!!!!

So we have been walking a lot. Our area doesn't have any potential investigators. So we're pretty much starting from scratch. I was wearing a pair of my homely missionary shoes, and they started to blister the back of my ankle. We were far from our car, so I continued walking. Finally the pain was too much, and I took them off. That was a mistake. It was 103 degrees outside, and I totally burning my feet on the asphalt. It was so painful for a few days, but I'm toughening up! :) Also, we have a new investigator named Hal, he believes in aliens.....

As we were driving home I slowed down and looked at a "coyote". Everyone we talk to, warns us of coyotes, so I was super interested to get an up close look at one. I put my brights on (there are no street lights here), and we followed it down the street. "Bro, I can't believe this is coyote. It's so small..... Is this really a coyote?" "Yeah, man look at it's face. It's totally a coyote". Then it ran up into a driveway (more like a hill), and the owner of the DOG waved at us. It was extremely awkward....

I found mini mexico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a hard task, but I did it!!!!!!! Ever since I've been in an english ward, I've been cracking down on my language study. I'm already seeing improvements. It's so awesome! #giftoftongues I'm finally learning proper Spanish grammar. hahaha.  

We met and taught an inactive member. We all got along so well, and learned so much from each other. Then she came to church the next day! It is so awesome! She's now our best friend, I can't wait for her to feel comfortable enough to come to lessons with us. 

I've been drinking so much water. Which makes for some fun bathroom experiences. Including having to go so bad, I accidentally ran into the boys bathroom.... Sister Tui was laughing so hard, that she was rolling on the floor outside the bathroom.

"And please help us always remember that it's going to get even hotter." I started laughing. "Heavenly Father, Sister Cordova is laughing during my prayer". Then I laughed even harder and fell off my swivel chair. hahaha.

Our ward mission leader is amazing. The last set of sisters that were in the area totally hurt the ward.... It's so sad. It took us this long to build their trust, but it's so cool! A bunch of members talked about how much they love us in their testimonies, and they are getting excited about missionary work again!!!!!!!!! 

The Lord knows and loves us! I love Lake Havasu city, the Crossman Peak ward, and the people I serve here. I know without a doubt that Sister Tui and I are here to help and strengthen these people together. I love Sister Tuimaualuga! I even learned how to say and spell her name correctly. ;)

So tomorrow I will officially no longer be a teenager. So weird....

Anyway! I watched the Mormon Message The Will Of God this week. It changed my life. I love it so much, because it's so true. We all have moments when we question the master gardener, but He knows so much more than we do. He has eternal perspective. I invite y'all to watch this, and reflect on moments where you've been like the little currant bush. I know that I was embarrassed when I thought about it, but I'm so grateful that the Lord has lead me, guided me, and loved me through those times. I love this Gospel, I love my Father in Heaven! I'm so grateful to be a missionary! I learn and grow every single day! 

I love y'all! Hope you all have a great week! <3 <3 Talk to you on Sunday!

<3 Hermana Cordova

*The end of April came waaaay too fast. :( I tried to draw pacman....I failed.

*I made dis!!!! Well actually, I bought the shirt, and got an elder to spray paint it for me! Lake Havasu/Kingman Zone for life!

*Went to a wedding reception for dinner on Saturday. SMORES!!! #favorite

My bestie sister Rader. We sing for her every Sunday. I like her because even when we're awful, she still tells us we sound beautiful! :)

*sister tui and I got yellow letters on the same day! :)

*<3 <3 <3

<3 Hermana Cordova

Out of Valley for Days! #lakehavasu #rockingit #bestwardever

We taught our first 1st lesson together on Monday this past week. It was so powerful! Tana offered the closing prayer, and the spirit was so strong. We all got choked up with emotion, before she was done praying. She's amazing. The cool thing about Tana is that we street contacted her while she was smoking in her garage, and she wasn't super interested!!! 

I walked into one of our members houses. I looked over and saw a baby in a high chair. I was like "hm...that's weird, these are old people. why do they have a baby?" I walked a little closer and had to hold back a scream. It was a doll, with a super scary face. Then I looked around, the whole house is covered in custom made life sized dolls. It was like a horror movie. I tried not to have a panic attack. Hahaha. 

Our area book was really bad when we got into the area. Most of the people didn't have addresses written in, so we have no idea where they live. We decided to call the ones that had numbers. I did a bunch of restoration contacts over the phone, and one guy was actually interested, although, he didn't give us his address..... 

It RAINED!!!!!!! kind of..... Everywhere we went the rain avoided us. It was a sad life. People here act like rain in awful.... Weirdos.

I was talking to one of our less actives on the phone. She was so curmudgeonly. When I hung up I was like "hehehe, grumpy old people". To my horror the phone hadn't disconnected yet.... Ijole.  

So time to write about my exchange. I got attacked by fleas. My right arm was covered in bites, I thought stuff like that only happened in more ghetto areas. Then the STL had an allergic reaction to the cats. Only one of her eyes swelled up, and her throat started to get scratchy. I had to drive like the wind to meet up with the other sisters to get her medicine. That was so scary!!! Then she was rude to a member, I was shocked, she kept interrupting the member as she tried to talk to our investigator. *facepalm* Then we volunteered to help a less active family set up their new trampoline. The STL was in charge because "I've set these up before". So whatever, I was there for moral support and reading the instructions. She set it up wrong, and so the net wouldn't fit, then as we were setting it up, it started pouring rain. We spent two hours, we were late to the ward party, and in the end the trampoline was not done. We were soaked, cold, and our hands were messed up from tightening the coils. Pretty much, I was so done by the time the party rolled around. I ate, went home and showered, then planned. Exchanges......

Sister Tui and I killed it this week! We found some extremely elect people!!! We also worked hard to talk to every body, no matter how awkward the situations were! Carol and her daughter Jessie, are probably the most elect people I have ever met. They came to church the day after the first lesson, then we read the BOM with them and set them with a date after church. They are so excited, and we have an FHE with them tonight. I cannot wait until the 23rd!!!

I love this ward, this week were are going to work harder in getting members out. It was super frustrating this week, we called, texted, and talked to members, but it seemed like last minute things kept coming up for them.  Also dumb Satan was working super hard on some of our investigators, it was super sad to see them struggling! :(

We had a super cool experience with the mccoys. I had been studying in 2 nephi during personal study. I found a scripture that explained the reason why we need the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I was able to whip that scripture out and testify to them about the Book of Mormon. It was such an awesome experience. As prepare ourselves through studying the Lord will  bring all things to our remembrance.

I love y'all! I hope you have an amazing week!!!! Looking Through Windows, I invite y'all to watch this video! It's one of my very favorite Mormon Messages! :) I recently listened to this talk given by President Monson, so it's fresh on my mind! 

Choose the right! Remember who you are!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

*Tuimaualuga and I are only one week apart!!! Her birthday is tomorrow, and mine is next Tuesday!! :) We are twinners, obviously!!

*My mission president is better than yours. Seriously. I love him!!! #Hispanigatorhunter

*wet and tired...

*I LOVE uce Tuimaualuga!!!! She is teaching me Samoan and Tongan, and I'm still practicing my spanish!!! 4 langauages yo! <3 <3

<3 Hermana Cordova

Hello From Lake Havasu City Arizona!!!!!

My last day in El Rancho was beyond boss!!! We took the obispo's wife out with us! The appointment fell through, and no one answered the door. After trying 4 people, she offered to take us to her house and give us fresh baked banana bread. When we walked in the whole house smelled like baked goods. We ate a bunch of banana bread, and drank milk. Then she made her dog do tricks for small pieces of banana bread. "Baila Rocky, baila". Dinner and a show.

I packed all my stuff on saturday night, so my companion and I wrote in our goodbye journals, and cleaned the house a bit on Monday night. I ended up writing her 17 pages of inside jokes.... I already miss Hermana Davis, she and I had some super awesome moments in North Las Vegas. 

Side note: I didn't cry when I left, which is super weird, especially because I loved El Rancho so much!! #mature #notacrybabyanymore

Then on Tuesday I drove from North Las Vegas to Henderson, and then from Henderson to Lake Havasu City Arizona. My mission has made me enjoy driving. I got to see my mission baby, Hermana Allen, who is now training my mission granddaughter!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoo!!! 

"Lake Havasu is like a bowl of spaghetti". I have become a master map reader in the past week!!! I have my ghetto gps, which is me looking at the map, and writing directions on a sticky note. hahaha. "I'm so classy, you already know...." I had to learn fast, because I was getting home with awful stress headaches, from getting lost all the time. 

We had appointments that filled up most of our days. So we finally went grocery shopping on Thursday. We were living on cookies that members gave us, and the few water bottles the other sisters left a few transfers ago. Speaking of food, I kind of miss hispanic food. Actually, I miss it a lot. 

There were Kim Kardasian workout DVD's at the 99 cent store, I was so tempted to get one, but I decided not to.... 

We had district council in Parker on Saturday. Then we met Ronald McDonald and the weird purple thing at district lunch!!!

I miss Spanish so much, but I really love the people here. The ward was so welcoming, and they are very missionary minded!!! We also found out that it is literally 20 degress hotter here than Las Vegas in the summer. #voyamorir

One of the brothers in the ward served in the Champions ward in 1995!!! It was so cool when we figured that out! A bunch of people in the ward speak spanish, and agreed to let me practice with them. I am hispanic hunting, we can teach anyone out here so I'm praying for a hispanic family to teach!!! 

I love being a missionary. Everything is always changing, and I have to adapt to new situations and circumstances. I never thought I would serve out of valley, but now that I'm here, I'm ready to work hard and help the people in this ward!

Favorite quote of the week: "Accountability is a principle that influences how you begin, how you think, and feel about the responsibility the Lord has given you, how you approach your work, and how well you endure". #pmg #beaccountable I love this quote because it's true, we need to take responsbility and give 100% to what the Lord has called us to do!

I love y'all so much!!!! Choose the right. Remember who you are!!!!! The Lord loves you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

*Ronald and the Ohana Squad

*Transfer day! 3 of my 4 companions are in the picture!!

*I had packed all my clothes, so I had nothing to wear to P-day sports......So I borrowed Hermana Davis's clothes..... Pajamas for days!!! Neata matched us, so we took a picture with him! 

My new companion and I!!! And our awesome district!! Out of valley for the win!

<3 Hermana Cordova

101 Tortillas, I used my strength to rip my skirt, Smells like chicken......

So we were out with a recently returned missionary on Thursday!!!! We were walking through one of our very sketchy apartment complexes. I walked too close to one of the wooden polls, and my lace skirt caught on and ripped. I was so sad, but there were not modesty issues so it was all good. "Don't worry sister, you can really see it......Unless you look at it". Thanks Sergio.....SO helpful. Davis almost lost it. 

I was at dinner the other day, and the member made us homemade fried chicken battered in evaporated milk. Aka, crack in liquid form. It was amazing.... Then midway through dinner I realized that I had a piece of onion chillen' on my tag. I'm so classy.

It was super windy this past week. So I rotated through my 3 wind proof outfits. Hahaha. We stopped in to visit my favorite member, Nancy, and the wind was so strong it blew the door open. Her friend Hector was there and he mumbled to himself, "Entrar el espiritu santo". I cracked up hardcore. 

Butt tortillas. So we volunteered to make tortillas for district lunch on Wednesday. We thought it would be a great idea. WRONG. We ended up making like 100 tortillas, because we didn't know how much to put in. Then we realized that our "brilliant" idea of using books to flatten them out was not so smart after all. So the reason I called them butt tortillas, is that davis took a book and sat on it to flatten the tortilla. She threw that one away, and got fired from flattening. So I was in charge of flattening them with a pot. Let me tell you, full freaking body work out. Then Hna Davis flipped tortillas for the whole lunch hour. We also borrowed a tortilla skillet from Sergio, but the tortillas got stuck...... So in the end they were delish, but waaaaay to much work and stress. Never again. Or at least for a big group of people. The only good thing is that the elders were impressed with our bossome tortilla making skills!

"Voldemort representative". People should not write in cursive, it confuses my brain!!!

"I got rebuked when I went to institute yesterday." -Sergio "Oh yeah how so." us "Well, they read the scripture about being engaged in a good work. And then they asked if we are using our time wisely and not binge watching Netflix  I had just gotten done binge watching on Netflix .... Sergio is the best!!!

We didn't have dinner a few times this week, and since we hardly bought any food, because transfers were coming up, we were forced to go out. So went to Farmer Boys, and Cane's (our favorite restaurant). Both places awesome members bought our dinner without us knowing!!!!!!!!! It was so cool. One of the brothers, recognized hna Davis  from the beginning of her mission in Los Feliz, he was so sweet and he came and talked with us!!

"Wow. It smells like chicken." -Me "Really? It smells like weed to me."-Davis

"Sisters, I can't go to church tomorrow. I dyed my hair....And my forehead is now purple". We went over on Sunday morning, and hna Davis scrubbed it off with weird green stuff they had. I love Rosa!!! :)

"Wow. Are you a rock collector." -Random guy. "Um....Nope just a penny collector"-Me. I awkwardly walked away....

Oh yeah..... So I got transferred out. After only 3 month here! :( The ward was I'm super excited though, because I'm going to be companions with one of my favorite sisters! Sister Tui is poly, and she was in my last district! We are getting DT'd into the area, so it's going to be slightly challenging. So I'm going out of valley!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So crazy!!! I'll be serving in the Lake Havasu Arizona!!! :) It's a zebra area, so I can teach in Spanish if we find people, but it's mostly white people. I'm a little sad about that, but it's where the Lord needs me to go right now. 

SO anyway! That was my week! I'll be driving to arizona with my new companion tomorrow!!! Pray for safety por favor!! 

 

<3 Hermana Cordova

*Dream team District

*Awk missionary picture with Sergio

*Maas family! <3 <3 It only lets me put 3 pictures, I have like 150 this week! I had to say goodbye to all my El Rancho friends!!!!!!!!!!! 

Easter, Chocolate Cake for Breakfast (yup, that was today), General Conference!!!!

The Poly elders tried to April Fool's us. We're obviously too smart for that! ;) They told us that Jeffery R. Holland was going to come to our Zone Council Meeting, on Friday. They were super bummed that we didn't fall for it. hehhe. Also the elders made Tongan juice for lunch on Saturday after the morning session of General Conference. Holy crap, so gooooood.

A member bought our Subway sandwiches on Saturday, after the morning session of general conference. It was so sweet, and completely unexpected!!!! 

I'm pretty much a Kinaki professional. I got paid 8 cents. Not really of course, I just found a bunch of money on my way to the field. "Hm....I like this park, we should come here more often". I also made a sweet basketball shot! #nothin'butnet

"Sisters I'm literally too tired to drive."-Me kidding around with the sisters. "You are the only one who CAN drive, so suck it up, and stay awake."-Davis. Hahaha. So much sass. We've been driving the YSA sisters, because the sister that drives had her license expire. They ride their bikes.... They cover the whole stake... So when we can, we help them out. 

We had quite a few of the youth come out with us this week. It was so awesome. One of the youth, Edith, is probably one of the most amazing member missionaries I have ever met. "My goal is to see that man and his family baptized. I will contact the missionaries when you leave and tell them that I'm going out with them." She was less active for a while, and now she's building her testimony, and coming back to church. That's probably the best part of my mission so far. I've seen so many of my less active sisters and brothers come back to the loving arms of our Savior!!!!

I love love love street contacting!!!! I had so many cool experience this week!! One guy told us that we were angels on the Lord's errand, and another one thanked us for doing the Lord's work. Then on Saturday, as we were leaving a note for someone who did not show up for his appointment with us. I noticed a man walking by and he looked kind of down. As he walked by, I had the unmistakable impression that we needed to talk to him. I said hi, and walked right over, and started a conversation. He was super busy and on his way, but he agreed to watch Because He Lives. As he walked away, he looked over his shoulder and sincerely said, "Thank you so much. I really needed this today. I really will check out the video when I get home". It was so cool!

My recent convert Cristian started talking about his mission plans at dinner last Friday !! His dad, Jose, was beaming with pride!!!! I love them so much!

I'm so grateful that the Lord trusted me enough to come to North! I have learned so much, grown, and found my strengths and weaknesses. I have so much love for the people here!!!! It was hard the first couple of weeks, but I could not imagine not having had these experiences to shape me!!!! I hope to have at least another 6 amazing weeks here! :) 

Hope y'all had an amazing Easter!!!!! Remember Because He Lives we too can live. Because He loves us He gave His life. He suffered, so we would never have to suffer alone. He is the gift. He is our Savior. I don't know about y'all but General Conference changed my life. Both for my present life, and my life after my mission. I loved President Eyring's talk on Fasting!!! I can't wait to apply his council! L. WHitney Clayton's talk was amazing too!!! #hope #courage #light

I love y'all!!! Have an amazing week!!!! :) I pray for you every single day!!! Remember that our Heavenly Father loves you!!!!!!!

<3 Hermana Cordova

*My baby puppy, Coco Cola! :) Gave him a bath as a service activity.....

*On crutches....Those things hurt.

*Makin' it rain. $1 bills for days! ;)