NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Dear... everyone who want to read this...

My week has been fantastic, well.... Thanksgiving was fantastic!!! They pushed P-Day from Monday to Thursday, so Monday-Wednesday my companion and I were pretty much dead. Its really hard to work 10 days in a row without a break. We were very beat, but it was all worth it on Thanksgiving! We spent the morning running our normal errands, Walmart was all sorts of madness with the workers bringing out huge things getting ready for the Black Friday sales! (Which started on Thursday night, and I think that is weird). We then went home and caught up on some letter writing, and then went to the Gardners for dinner. Okay, how do I describe the Gardners to everyone at home. Basically they are the most amazing people in the whole world! She is so cute, she is probably around my mom's age, they have 4 kids, only two are still at home, a 16 and a 13 year old son. Brother Gardner is an engineer at Catipillar, and she is a flight attendant for US Airways. She started doing that only about 4 years ago when she moved here, her family was mostly all grown up, and she had just gone from being the RS President in her last ward that kept her very busy, but here she didn't have a calling, looked into jobs that could keep her busy, and became a flight attendant! Dad... her name is Elizabeth Gardner, and she said she's going to be asking every Southwest pilot if they know you, she wants to find you! Haha!

So dinner was in their basement where they had three tables set up, it was there family, her parents, his parents, their friends the Allens (cute young couple who just moved here from REXBURG to work at Cat as well) and the Allens parents (also from Idaho!) and us! There was TONS of food, and she asked us if there was anything that we are used to getting at home that wasn't laid out on the counter, and she was full on ready to get us anything that would make us both feel more at home! She is honestly the sweetest! Then we were going to go home and rest before our next family to visit, but they brought out desert (homeade pumpkin pie) and then we sat around and talked with Sister Gardner for a good two hours! It was one of the best Thanksgivings I've had! For not being at home or with family, I felt very surronded by family, and it was just really all around great! And then we went to another ward members house who had a lot of other families over, so we got to see about 4 of our favorite families, and we had desert with them. And oh.my.gosh was I full by the end of the day. Like super duper sick to my stomach full.... I love Thanksgiving! 

Friday was a really good day to get us back to working after a wonderful day off, we had one of the most amazing District Meetings I've ever gone to about the Atonement. You should know... the Atonement is powerful. It kinda sorta blows my mind just how amazing everything that Jesus Christ has done for us! Literally, my mind is blown! Then we met with Phoebe, and she was having a really hard day. I might have told you about her last week, but she has had a really hard life. She didn't believe she is a child of God, and we decided to sing I am a Child of God to her during the lesson. When we sang "parents kind and dear" she yelled WRONG! Ouch... honestly being on a mission has really opened my eyes to what a wonderful way I was raised. Mom and Dad, thank you for not being hippies and raising me like a gypsy with no home and spending all of our money on drugs. I really REALLY appreciate it.

Church was fantastic yesterday. We had 3 investigators come, and Sister Carver was there even though she was supposed to be out of town. She came home early and came to church. AND she told everyone in Sunday School and in Relief Society how she is getting baptized in Januray. When we first committed her to the date she said yes but she was hestitant, not sure if she could do it. But now she said its on her calendar and she's been living the word of wisdom for weeks now and she even told her Catholic mom at Thanksgiving that she would be getting baptized in Januray. She is SO AMAZING!!! 

The work is basically fantastic. I can't pick a favorite thing we do, because all of it is so fun! I love being in members homes though, its just really cool how people can hardly know us but they love us. Oh, the Bishop in the ward loves us so much. He tries to have dinner with us every other week, but sometimes other people sign up too fast, and so we haven't seen him in 2 weeks but we have dinner with him next Sunday, and he texted us, "I'm having sisters withdrawals for dinner!" We had to reassure him that we would be over soon! And in his talk at Ward Conference last week he talked about us TWICE! What a great man! I kinda never want to leave Lafayette! Good things are happening here! I think I'd be cool to stay here for the rest of my mish, in fact I think I will email President Collins right now and tell him that! 

Anyway, I love being a missionary! I love everything about Indiana, even the dogs are starting to grow on me! 

<3 cordner="cordner" p="p" sister="sister">

November 19, 2012

Ok... where do I start for this week...

First I want to say thanks to everyone who wrote me, not that I'm super homesick... but there is a lot of talk about the holidays and families, and I do miss ya'll, so thanks for the letters! Bri... you are the greatest, I loved your email... I will write you back a real letter soon... if I can remember the address to the Ivy! (If someone wants to look that up for me and send it my way that would be great, probably you Bri, so I can write you back!)

Okay, this week has been absolutely fantastic! We invited Sister Carver to be baptized, and SHE SAID YES!!! She will be getting baptized on January 19th! (This is the lady who's house I threw up in, if you forgot!) When we invited her on Tuesday to be baptized, she asked... what do I need to do? We read the interview questions and she just smilied because she knew all of the answers to them. And that day she committed to living the word of wisdom. So when we came back on Saturday to teach her the official Word of Wisdom lesson, she had already gone a few days without coffee. She told of a great story about how she watched birds in her backyard being super cute in the little bird fountain, and how it was a special treasured moment in time, and if she was still drinking coffee she would have been on the couch drinking and not have ever seen it. It was such an amazing spiritual moment when she was telling us how only after days of living the word of wisdom she is already seeing blessings in her life. It is people like her that make me LOVE the work! Honestly, its so fantastic!!!

Speaking of word of wisdom.... we have been in quite a few interesting homes out here in IN. Like all my life I knew that there were such things as drugs, but I have talked to a good number of people here who have been involved with them, or had children involved, or people they loved shot because they were involved... or... the list could go on an on. Don't worry mom, I'm safe... but it is quite crazy just how prevelant drugs are! I guess my little sheltered life in G-Town and then Rexburg didn't prepare me for some of the homes that I'm in. 

I am amazed everyday at how amazing people are. The people in my ward are absoutley amazing. They may not have much, but they still give so much to us as missionaries. Its so cool how people can hardly know me, but because I am a missionary they love me so much and are so willing to help out. We met with a lady who has been inactive for YEARS and she met up with us at a restaurant, bought us lunch, and asked if she could do anything for us... we were like... hey now, thats our question for you! Members or not, people are just so kind. Even the people at doors who aren't interested just smile and say, I'm not interested, I'm going to close the door now... have a good day! See, they are so nice! Its so fun!

Also, dogs... we have started playing a guessing game when we are tracting. The game isn't whether the house has dogs or not, but its... "How many dogs do you think live here?" And then when we ring the doorbell we try to distinguish between all the different barks. Its been quite fun! And the weather hasn't been bad at all, its nicer than it is in Rexburg at this time of the year, I'm kinda loving it here... except my hair still doesn't know what to do with the humidity... aw well! 

So today isn't P-day, they moved it to Thursday, but they did let us hope on for an hour today to write home because the library will be closed on Thanksgiving. And not having P-Day today has been kinda hard, we work really hard all week and that one day to relax is very VERY needed out here... and today we had to get up and work, and its been hard, but on Thursday we will have a sweet day, and then the next p-day will only be days away. We are having Thanksgiving at a members house. We have ate there once before and I just love this family. They are so amazing, so I'm sure the day will be great, and the Spanish elders will be joining us too so that will be fun! They kinda crack me up! 

Did I tell you that I'm killing my trainer. She goes home in a month, and the closer it gets the harder it gets. She is thinking about everything that she needs to do to get home, and I'm still trying to figure out how to be a missionary! Mostly though it will be hard when she leaves and I won't get to see her at trainings or transfers or ever out here until I come home. She is basically my best friend and its going to be hard to not have her, but I'm sure my next companion will be great too! Its just hard to imagine it can get better than this! I just love Sister Stanford! 

I think thats all for today... I am so excited to hear that Shaun got her mission call to Texas, Spanish speaking!!! How sweet is that going to be! GO HERMANA CORDNER!!! I'm really excited for her! 

Love, Sister Cordner

November 12, 2012

This week has FLOWN by... wait, I take that back... this transfer has flown by! Today is exactly 2 months since I went into the MTC, and its also the first day of my second transfer. How crazy is that. I honestly feel like I just got here! We got the call last night that we are both staying here, which we kind of already knew because I am still in training and they usually always keep you with your trainer for 2 transfers, but you still never know what President is thinking, so it was good to get the call to reassure us that we were staying in good ole Lafayette! 

This week we did another exchange, this time with the sisters in the Lafayette 2nd ward, so we didn't have to travel that far... and no one got sick so that was a bonus! Its funny how you can be only ten minutes away from your area but feel so far at the same time. I went to West Lafayette for the exchange and Sister Stanford stayed here. After a little over 24 hours we reunited and we ran and hugged each other, and we had a lot to catch up about. Its funny how when you are with someone all day everyday and then all of a sudden you aren't, you feel like one day is a long time not to see each other. It helps that Sister Stanford and I are like the best of friends! The exchange was an interesting one. Usually sisters do one a transfer, but President called us and asked us specifically to go on a transfer with these sisters. They didn't know that he asked us though, so it was kind of a secret mission we were on to see if we could help them out anyway. The thing that was interesting though was that the sister I was on the exchange with came out to Indiana with me. So here you have two missionaries that have both been out only 6 weeks taking over an area for an entire day by themselves! We managed to do pretty well though!!!

I am getting used to the cold weather, it snowed a tiny bit this morning, but its sunny now. (Still cold though). And I'm getting used to the schedule. I'm getting used to the challenges, and I'm getting used to missionary life. The thing I am NOT getting used to is the smell... Lafayette smells SO BAD! They have some factory where they do something with corn, and it smells up the whole city. Its quite horrible. Also our neighbor/neighbors are always smoking something that smells a lot worse than any regular cigarette smoke I have ever been around... so that makes our apartment smell fantastic! (NOT!) Something the President told us one day one about Indiana is that everyone has dogs, everyone has a church, and everyone smokes... and I have come to know that is so true. Everyone has smelly dogs... and smelly smoky homes. I can't tell you how great it is to have dinner in a members home after being in yucky smoky homes all day long. I'm thinking the spirit doesn't really like smelly homes so much... but we are trying our best to bring it to them!

Remember the sisters house that I threw up in... well she is progressing very well! She was at church yesterday and when someone asked if she was just visiting she told them she was hoping to become a member soon, and that she was studying with us. She said, "these are my missionaries" and hearing that made my day! I'm someones missionary! How cool is that... We introduced her to Bryan, the guy who got baptized on my second week here, and they talked a bunch! We are going to invite her to baptism this week, so be praying for her! We are so excited!!! 

We also got a referral this week from HQ, and she seems really solid. We have an appointment with her tomorrow that I'm SO EXCITED about!!! Basically... missionary work is exciting! Smelly... but exciting! 

Thanks for your prayers and letters, I love you all so much!

Sister Cordner

November 5, 2012

Friends and Family!!!

I woke up this morning excited that it was P-day, and then realized I didn't have a ton to write home about... but I have come up with a few stories to share! 

Tuesday we had a zone conference, the three northern zones all came together and we had a very powerful training from President Collins. He is so amazing and I love hearing from him when we can. I was a little sad because everyone from my MTC district that I love so much are all in southern zones, so I didn't get to see everyone, but I did see my companion Sister Pitcher, so that made my week! 

Wednesday was halloween! The day was normal, just another day of work as a missionary, but the night was obviously different. We were not allowed to be driving when it was dark, so we had the Bishops wife come pick us up and we spent the evening at their house, and then she drove us home. We had pizza with them and then helped them hand out candy. I dressed up like Sister Stanford, and she dressed up like me (and by that I mean we traded name tags for a few hours! lol) It was a pretty fun night, but the Bishop kept forcing us to eat candy, so needless to say we were a little sick that night, as most kids are on halloween!

We had kind of an off week with members being able to come to our appointments. We had a goal of 4 member presents this week, and we didn't have any! We could have gotten I think about 7, but every appointment fell through! It was quite ridiculous! But on Friday night we prayed really hard that we would know which street to tract, because we had our Saturday appointments fall through, and we had a chunk of time to find. So we felt really good about this one street. Then we started our fast Saturday afternoon, and we were fasting for finding, because the area has been kinda dry since Bryan's baptism on the 13th. Our FIRST house on that street we picked was kind of a miracle! We ran into a young married women who was super cute. She is studying at Purdue to be an elementary teacher, and she just kind of looked like an el ed major! Anyway, she said she had to get going soon, but she kept having things to say to us. Here is the reason... she knew a mormon growing up who she thought was an amazing guy, who also served a mission so she could relate to us on that field, and she said she knew our Bishops daughter! One of the first things she said to us was that she thinks people can be religious without going to church, and then by the end she said she might have to come to church with us one day! People knowing members of the church is huge! I'm so thankful that guy was such a good example to her, and that people aren't afraid to let their friends know they are mormon. Like the conference talk, I'm Mormon, I know it, I live it, I LOVE IT! We all need to be more open about it so when the missionaries are praying to know where to tract, they will meet people who are already open to the church. She didn't come to church with us, but she is a potential and we have high hopes with her!

Miracles! We meet some other people that day, and Saturday night we meet a couple who are both interested in having us back, so we met our goal of having 2 new investigators for the whole week on Saturday night! It was almost a week of no goal meeting, but we did finally meet that couple! 

Those are the stories I thought I would share with ya'll this week! Its getting quite cold here, no snow yet, but its officially ice scraping season! I got really warm boots and some other warm clothing and I think I am prepared (although the people keep telling me I'm going to need more clothes! Yikes!)

We had 2 of our investigators come to church yesterday, and one was the one who's house I threw up in, so luckily that little incident didn't stop her progression! She left after sacrament meeting because she was fasting and feeling a little light headed and needed to go home and eat. WHAT?! We didn't even invite her to fast, she just knew that it was the first sunday so she fasted! This girl is solid! We are just waiting for the day that we come over and she says, "So when can I be baptized!" She is there, she just has a really hard time with the fact that women in our church don't have the priesthood, and it looks like the women are looked down upon in our religion! I think that is so crazy that people think that way, but I understand that its hard for her, so we are working through that.

Want to know a little secret... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Everyday I wake up just happy and excited that I am in Indiana and that I am sharing the Gospel. I don't think there is a better feeling in the world than being on someone doorsteps and sharing with them the first vision. I love being in homes and bearing my testimony on modern prophets. I love giving someone the Book of Mormon and promising them that if they read and pray about it, they will receive and answer about the truthfulness of it! MAN, life is good! President Collins said it was a great time to be a missionary, and with all the baby boomers coming out soon (thats what I decided I'm going to call the youngins that are coming out) the mission needs leaders! My DL said I probably will be training at the end of my second transfer, and I told him not to even joke about that! How scary would that be! But seriously... missionary work is great, and I love the gospel SO MUCH!!! 

Keep writing to me, I love hearing from everyone! 

Sister Cordner! 

October 29, 2012

Dear friends and family...

Remember that girl who's dress slipped down while she was teaching Relief Society. Or how about that girl that fell while walking up to give her farewell talk in church. Well that same girl is now on a mission, doing some pretty horrifying embarrassing things out here in Indiana. (and the reason I'm talking about this girl in 3rd person is because I'm still too embarrassed to admit that it is me!) People have mentioned how long my emails are... well get ready for another long one... but I promise you it is worth the reading...

To tell the story we have to go back to Tuesday... We had a training for all the trainers/trainees in Peru, about an hour away from my area. We were also going to go on exchanges with the Peru sisters, so it made sense that after we were done with training, we would start the exchange. My trainer is the one in charge of exchanges, and thought that it would be a good idea to leave me in the area to take care of Lafayette 3 all by myself while she went to Peru. So after the amazing training by my mission president, the dear Sister Stanford gets in the car with Sister Pitcher and leaves me. (We have become really close, so being away from her for 24 hours was quite sad.) But Sister Donaldson seems nice enough and the two of us go back to Lafayette. That night everything goes well, we teach a family who I LOVE! Part member families are so great, I think I told you about him, he's basically a dry mormon, but we had a really good lesson with him. They asked if missionaries were allowed to go in the temple on their mission and S. Donaldson says we only get permission if a family we taught goes to get sealed. He (the dry mormon) noticed how I perked up and commented on how he should probably get baptized soon so I can attend their sealing! 

We came in that night after our lesson and dinner appointment and planned. Then the next day we did study together, and then we went out and tracted. So at this point we have covered all the things we were supposed to cover during an exchange, and we had about 2 hours before we were going to exchange back. We were at the YMCA doing our weekly service when we heard the news. Sister Stanford had gotten really sick and had been throwing up all day in Peru. She was so sick she wouldn't be able to be in the car for an hour to come home to me, so the exchange had been extended for another day. So here I am, having to take over Lafayette for a whole day longer than expected, and I start to freak out a little! We had two appointments set up for that night, we still had to find a member to come to the appointment in the morning, we had things to do and people to see and my trainer wasn't here to help me know what to do. So after our service we went home and regrouped. I made phone calls, got a member to come to the appointment, verified our things for the next day, and kinda ran the show! I got everything put together for the two lessons we had that night, and I was going to make Sister Stanford proud of me. 

Right before we are about to leave for our next appointment, I start to feel sick to my stomach. I keep telling myself its just nerves, here I am without my trainer doing everything on my own, I ought to be a little nervous, right?! We were about to go teach a part member family where the husband is LA and the wife is an investigator, I had never met them, I didn't know how she would react to two new sisters showing up, and I'm missing my companion. But I pray and tell myself that I'm being a baby and go to the appointment. 

Sister Carver is this really sweet lady who has water for us to drink and just dives in with questions about where we are from and what we did pre-mission, and then she dives into how much she loved conference and President Monson. To introduce myself I happen to say that I'm new at all this and have been out here for only about a month. She was saying all these wonderful things about the church, and my stomach starts to hurt more and more. I sip on the water she gives me, but I'm hurting pretty bad. I start to look around to see if I could see the bathroom anywhere. She is a nervous talker and she didn't give me a chance to say anything, she just kept going and going. Finally I had to go, and I just inturrupted her and asked if I could use her bathroom. She started to show me where it was, I cover my mouth, and start throwing up all over her house. I make it to the bathroom but I can't even turn around to get to the toilet. I threw up all the way down her hall way and then into her sink, that isn't draining at all. I do this a couple more times, and my companion that I hardly know is putting my hair up and rubbing my back. I'm about as embarrassed as they come. I asked her if I could help clean up and she said no. I sat there in the bathroom just sick as a dog while her and her husband and my companion cleaned up everything. She asked me if I needed to lie down and I told her we better just reschedule for next week. Seriously this lady was so nice, and she was so understanding. She asked me if I was just really nervous to teach them because I'm new and she saw me looking around during the lesson. I told her I just wanted to talk to her about conference... In the past she has been really hard to meet with, hence meeting her for the first time on my 4th week, but we were able to get a follow up appointment just a week later. 

When we get home I hop in the shower because I, like Sister Carvers house, am kinda covered in barf. When I get out I hear my companion on the phone with the mission presidents wife, who was saying that we should stay in the rest of the night. So we cancelled our other appointments, and I put my PJs on and just laid down in so much pain. I threw up a couple more times that night, but luckily in my own apartment I was able to make it to the toilet. Not that it would have mattered at that point because I didn't have anything left in me to throw up.... 

So my companion is in Peru as sick as ever and I am in Lafayette as sick as ever. We closed down 2 areas for 2 days because we got sick! How horrible is that. We finally got back together on Thursday, and the two of us just laid in bed all day long. Sister Collins (the mission presidents wife) is also a nurse and she was checking in on us throughout the day with phone calls. We didn't eat anything all day except for a few crackers and had some sprite that a member brought to us. We had to cancel everything and we were completely useless... talk about a good way to spend the Lords time as missionaries, right?! It was pretty much horrible.

Friday we slept in because we were still really sick and were told to take it easy. But we didn't want to miss district meeting, so we got up just in time to get ready to go to that. After our meeting we had the DL and his companion give us both blessings, and then we went home. We had a dinner appointment and a teaching appointment that night, and it was about noon at this point. So after our blessing we went home and ate some lunch, just a little sandwich, and then I slept for another 3 hours. When I woke up I was completely better. And so was my companion! We know it was because of the blessing too, we were so sick, we shouldn't have been better that quickly after, but Heavenly Father needed us and wanted us to get better, and the Priesthood is real!  

Was that long enough for ya....So ya, you all have my permission to spread that story around. Hopefully everyone will have forgotten it by the time I get home so I don't have to hear about it again... but I think this is going to be a story for the record books. I hope I shared enough details so you can see how horrible it was, but not get grossed out at the same time! 

The rest of the week was just a normal missionary week. Its the end of the month and since we didn't do much traveling when we were sick we have tons of miles we can use on our car. So we went to the country and did some country tracting and found formers and tried LA's when we were out there. The ward had a Halloween party, with a trunk or treat and a haunted trail in the woods. The YM put it on, and I'm not gonna lie, I thought the trail was pretty scary. I screamed a couple of times, and then the next day at church people in Ward Council and just random people told us that they heard that we got really scared! Apparently the ward here has been gossiping about how easily the sisters scare! I think the YM really got a kick out of it. 

I sure do love being a missionary though! Its getting colder which I don't like, and all the leaves are pretty much gone, also don't like that either. But we have really great things planned for this upcoming week. We met a referral on Saturday who seems really golden and I cannot wait to start teaching him, and we picked up a former who is really sweet and she's excited that sisters are in the area and wants to be taught again! I love this work and I love Indiana! I don't so much love getting sick, but I love the priesthood. I also love choir, here's a surprise to everyone... I have been participating in choirs since the MTC. I sang there and I have been in the ward choir here. We sang in church yesterday and it was amazing, and we are getting ready for the Christmas show, and since I'm training and guaranteed to be in Lafayette until December 16th, we will be here for the show! Christmas songs are just the BEST! I love them.

Anyway, thats about it. I love you guys,

Sister Cordner

October 22, 2012

First I want to make note that I'm only sending this to my parents and Keri, and not to Kyle, because he apparently doesn't have time to read my emails! If he wants it though... mom I guess you can forward this to him, and everyone else that has time for my long nonsense ramblings!!! hahahaha

Dear friends and family,

This week has been... hard! Everyone has told me how hard missionary work is, and I guess I always assummed it was hard because you wake up early EVERY day, and you are busy all the time, and teaching can be intimidating, and knocking on doors isn't the most fun thing in the world... but this week I really learned what it means that missionary work is hard. We had 5 progressing investigators in the area when we got here, and now we are down to 1. One got baptized last week, and after that everything has kind of gone down hill. We had a lot of drama with one investigator. I don't know if drama is normal for all missionary work or if sister missionaries just cause it... but holy cow drama! It ended with the sister telling us that she didn't want to read in the Book of Mormon anymore... and it just kind of broke my heart. But we ended on really good terms, we still love her and are friends with her, we just aren't going to be teaching her anymore. She is so great though, and we knew going into the lesson that it was probably going to be the last appointment... so we weren't surprised about it, just really sad.

Our other investiagtors either just can't make time for us anymore, or are so SO set on their old ways that they just like meeting with us for the educational aspect of what we teach and are not interested in becoming converted. I guess its just hard because I KNOW that this gospel is true, and that the church that Christ established when He was on the earth is on the earth today! We have the authority these people need to return to their father in heaven, and they just don't believe it or won't listen!

We did get two new investigators this week though, but one had to reschedule his first appointment to next week, and the other one we had to reschedule with him because we have a training in Peru this week and won't be able to make it when we first scheduled it. Its a little frustrating when all you want to do is teach people and appointments and things keep getting in the way of our teaching them, but I am still fairly certain these people are interested and will want to hear. One of the new gators is a dad of 4, all under the age of 5, and I took the lead when knocking on his door. I told him that we were missionaries for the church, and that part of our message helps families grow stronger together. We talked about his family and I also told him that families could be together forever... He said that is what he wants!!! So Solid! He said he was looking forward to us coming, and that he invited his gf (soon to be wife), mother and sister to hear us teach, but an hour before he had to cancel... But he said he still wants to meet with us so we rescheduled for next week! I hope he is still interested because it will have been almost 2 weeks from the time we first saw him to the time we meet with him. But I can see a marriage, baptisms, and a temple trip in the next year for this family! So if you will keep the Grey's in your prayers that would be AMAZING!

So the week was hard, and Friday was when our investigator told us she was done... but everything did turn around on Saturday. We had the opprotunity to go to Indy (thats what the natives call Indianapolis) and hear from Sister Burton, the general Relief Society President. Her message was on temples, and being Heavenly Homesick! Oh man it was so good! As much as I loved her message, the best thing was that all the sisters in the mission were there, and I got to see my MTC companions again! Sister Pitcher is in Peru and I will see her twice this week, and Sister Palmberg is in Bloomington (where I was origianallly going to go!). The three of us had so much fun catching up, and I just love those girls to death, so it was so great seeing them. We have the training in Peru this week and then we are going on exchanges with the sisters in Peru as well. So tomorrow we will drive up there, and then I will come back to Lafayette with Sister Pitchers companion (Sister Donaldson) and her and I will work together for a day, and then Sister Stanford (my comp) will come to Lafayette with Sister Pitcher and we will exchange back. Basically I am so excited for this, but really nervous. I am going to be the one taking a new sister around Lafayette, so I should probably figure out this missionary work thing we do!

I love Lafayette though, and I'm finally starting to know my way around the town. Our little Toyota Corolla is not as much fun as Christine is, but she'll do. We are slowing becoming good friends. Oh, another thought, I am also becoming pretty good friends with the canine population here in Lafayette. I decided that dogs are like humans in the way that you don't hate all of them. Some of them are actually pretty great! There is a sister in our ward and we help her walk her 3 big dogs once a week. And there is something kinda fun about being dressed up in a skirt and blouse with tennis shoes on walking dogs around the park! I think I kinda like it!!!

Okay, last few thoughts... Don't think that I'm unhappy because I said its hard work! I'm still as happy as can be, but I've been sad and frustrated at the work a lot this week. But I know that missionary work is a cycle, and we are really focusing on finding new and solid gators this week so I'm excited about that. Yesterday was Stake Conference and the Chicago Temple President was there with his wife, and they talked about preparing for the Indy temple to be built. It reminded me a lot about you fine people in Gilbert and how you can prepare for the G-Town temple! Prepare for the new temple by going to the temple! Lucky for you the Mesa is close enough, these people are traveling all the way up to Chicago, so you can go to Mesa! Go a few times for me too, because I really miss attending the temple regularly! Also my mission Pres and his wife were at conference and they spoke to everyone. They are pretty much the greatest people in the world, so it was so fun to see them. President Collins asked if we think there might be a problem with having sisters and elders out on missions at the same age.. I think he's a little worried that missionaries are going to have a harder time locking their hearts! lol

No pictures this week because, well I just didn't take any! Sorry! Maybe this week I will be better. I love the restoration, I love the plan of salvation, and I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I love everything about this church, and I know that I don't just love it because the bishop is nice, and the people are cool... but the doctrine is true! ITS SO TRUE!!! Man I love it!

If you could, I would love to hear from anyone about how daily scripture study has been a blessing in your life. I love teaching this and sharing my experiences with people, but I would love to hear from you. Mom, Dad, Keri... can you send me your thoughts this next week, and anyone else of course!!!

Sister Cordner

October 15, 2012

Hola friends and family,

This week has been one of the best weeks of my entire life! And I'm not just saying that! Lets start with the highlight of the whole week. Bryan's baptism! It was Saturday at 11, so me and Sister Stanford got to the church around 8:30, set up the chairs, filled the font, copied the programs, and got ready for everything! The baptism itself was amazing, and the other Elders in our zone came and brought their investigators, so that was awesome! Bryan is so solid, and he is meeting with Bishop this week to get going on receiving the aaronic priesthood. When we taught him earlier this week about Priesthood he was just saying how great that sounds and how he was excited! What an awesome guy he is! I'm so excited for him! And then on Sunday when he got confirmed was absolutely amazing! We had another investigator named Amber come to church on Sunday, so that was a great time for us to teach her more about confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost. She seems really awesome too, but she's going to Law School right now, so she couldn't stay all three hours because she had so much homework and things to do, but still... it was an amazing experience to see him get confirmed and to have her there!

Another girl we are working with is probably one of the sweetest girls ever! She's 26, and just really amazing. She didn't want to pray out loud or in front of us earlier this week, but we met with her on Friday and talked about prayer and she totally said the closing prayer! It was such a great prayer too! Sometimes I still think about her and just smile because of how amazing she is! We are meeting with her tonight and I honestly cannot wait. As much as I love p-days, I just want it to be over so we can meet with her! 

We have a few "eternal investigators" that have been meeting with missionaries for years and are still not baptized. Its a little bit frustrating because I feel like everything I want to teach them they've already heard, and I don't know how I can teach it better or different than the last set of missionaries, but we are working hard. One of them is married to a great member, and I think he will eventually get baptized, he just needs to know for himself that it is right, and the other is an older lady who just is more interested in reading the Book of Mormon and asking us random questions than she is actually seeking answers from Heavenly Father about the truthfullness of the book. She has been doing it for a long time, and she is in 3rd Nephi 28. Last time we visited we talked about the 3 Nephites. Theres a lesson I never thought I'd give on the mission. It was hard because she cared so much on the details, and I just had to tell her that we didn't know much about them, other than what is in this chapter. We encourage her to pray about it, which she likes because the other churches would tell her "its confusing because it got lost in translation" and we tell her to ask God about it... but I don't know if she really is.

We have a new investigator this week. She is a member referral and her sister recently passed away, so we are thinking the Plan of Salvation is going to be a great lesson! Also she is native american, and I cannot wait to teach her about the Book of Mormon. She's really into history though, so I'm afraid that she won't accept our opinion on where her ancestors came from, but she is really great and I can't wait to teach her. She also has the best dog in the whole state of Indiana. Its a little chiwawa that just climbed on my lap and just sat there while I petted it. I love that dog! (And dad, I am starting to love the dogs here!)

During our morning studies we always role play how we would teach a certain concept or invite someone to something. This past week I asked Sister Stanford if we could role play us as a companionship talking to someone instead of just Sister Cordner talking to someone, that way we could work together as a companionship. So we pretended to talk to someone whilst just looking at the wall, and then the brilliant Sister Stanford came up with the best idea ever! We made Jackie, our own personal eternal investigator. We stuffed an old BYU shirt and sweatpants with plastic bags, blew up a balloon and drew a face on it, and put a beanie on it. We named her Jackie, and we use her to help us teach lessons together! Basically we are just really cool people who talk to a balloon placed on clothes to help us be better missionaries!!!! lol

One more story before I end! There is a really great baptist women that Sister Stanford and Sister Hill tracted into before I got to Lafayette. She called us a cult and explained that she was not interested, but said they could come back to discuss it a little more. They had one lesson with her and told her she could always contact us, but she wasn't interested. Well last week she texted us and asked us if we would help her fill bags with cotton candy for a carnival she was volunteering at. We went to her house Friday morning and she had breakfast for us, and then as we made cotton candy we had a great discussion on Christ, and then on our prophet, the organization of our church, the plan of salvation, and other questions she had about our church. Even though she isn't interested in joining, she now knows that we believe in Christ the same way she does, and that we are not the same religion that has the show about Sister Wives. She totes thought we were poligimists! Crazyness!!!

Okay, basically I can't wait until elections are over and we do not look like we are inviting people to vote for Mitt Romney. I love the man, but people need to realize that we as missionaries are not out campaigning for him, but are inviting people to Christ. Its crazy how many people want to talk politics with us! We just want to talk about religion! 

Also, I know I said I would end earlier but I'm not... if you have not read the book "Our Search For Happiness" I would suggest you read it. I am reading it on my breaks now and it is SO GOOD!!! I just love it!

The weather here is basically amazing, chilly fall days. We were talking to someone on their porch the other day and started to pray with them when it started to downpour on us. Nothing like praying in someones doorway while being rained on! I loved it! It rained pretty crazy yesterday, like I thought we were going to be in a tornado warning because the wind was going cray cray too! But today is a bright sunny day and I love it. Before we came to the library we stopped at the mall and hit up Bath and Body Works. So wonderful!!!

I love you all, thanks for your prayers in my behave. Send me letters, I love hearing from everyone! 

Sister Cordner

October 8, 2012

Friends and Family!!!!

Do you like the title, it was on a fortune cookie I ate my second day in the field, I thought it was pretty relevant! Well I hope you are ready for this, because I have a novel coming your way!

First of all, I'm just going to jump ahead to conference! THE NEW AGE IS TOTALLY AWESOME!!! We were watching conference in the church building, and it was only me and my companion and the 2 spanish elders, and the 4 of us were just freaking out! We are so so so excited for the new opportunity for more sisters to serve as well as for young men to get out here faster! I can't wait for all the young teenagers we are going to be working with! I just think that this is truly inspired, and am so excited for the more sisters we are going to get because of this! I'm thinking with sisters being RMs at 20, there is no stopping what we can do! I'm so so so excited about this!!!

Okay, for the real stuff you all want to know. I got to Indiana on Tuesday and we had a great night at the mission home. Then on Wednesday we went to the Fishers building (just a church building they call Fishers) and had transfer meeting. Here I am watching all of these missionaries get called to new companionships and new areas, and I'm just sitting on the stand waiting for them to be done so they can introduce us and assign us to our trainers. Finally it gets to us newbies, and I am the last sister to be called. I am put with Sister Berrett, and we are assigned to go to Bloomington! So naturally I'm super excited to be born in Bloomington, just like mom was, and I am really excited to get to know my companion. All of us sisters go out to lunch and get back for another training meeting before we head to our areas. Before the training starts however, the president needed to see me and Sister Berrett, Sister Palmberg and her new comp Sister Stanford. Sister Stanford was in a car accident a year ago, and doesn't have driving privileges, and Sister Palmberg never got her drivers license, and they were a companionship... so we had to make an emergency transfer right then and there. Sister Palmberg is now in Bloomington with Sister Berrett, and I have been in Layfette with Sister Stanford! And before you get really bummed out that I'm not in Bloomington, I need to tell you just how amazing Layfette is! I'm in Layfette 3rd ward, which I'm convinced is the greatest ward in the state of Indiana! And I am super close to Purdue, so naturally I'm a huge Boilermakers fan now! The area is so nice, a little bit cold for my liking, but beautiful. Its actually a big nice city with a WalMart and everything! I just really love it here and even though I was sad at first that its not Bloomington, I know this is where I'm supposed to be!

The first week has just flown by! Its so weird how it has been working. Our first day we had three appointments and I'm already jumping in and teaching people! I love it! We also went tracting on my first day, which was probably the best fun ever! Some people are not interested, well most people actually, but just meeting people and talking about Purdue, or their children, or whatever we notice about them we can start a conversation about has been so fun! Not so much fun is when we knock on the door and three huge pit-bulls come running out and chase us... We thought they were stuck on us since no person came out, so we just walked away with these dogs running all around us, and the lady finally comes running out asking us to grab her dogs for her! Um, excuse me, your dog almost killed me, and now you want me to catch it! AHHH!!! That was literally my 5th house that I knocked on! I love missionary work! lol

But seriously, everybody in Indiana has dogs! Its pretty insane. President Collins joked about it on our first day here, but he wasn't kidding. I'm not sure if I'm allergic to dogs, cats, or the entire state of Indiana, but I have been having pretty bad allergies. Yesterday my eyes were so red and I started sneezing so much my companion thought I was going to die, okay not die, but she was freaking out more than I was. But no need to worry about me, I bought some claritin today and I'm feeling good! 

We have a baptism this Saturday. They have been teaching him for a while and he had his interview yesterday... and he passed!!! We are so excited for him and the covenant he is about the make with our Father in Heaven! I can't wait for the baptism, I think about it everyday, and we talk with him everyday and he is excited. Tonight we are going to be teaching him about the priesthood and how he can have it soon after his baptism. I hope he is as excited as I am, because this is the real deal, and I'm STOKED!!!

We have been eating with members in the ward almost every night. One of our first nights we went to the bishops and actually taught a lesson to Bryan there (Bryan is the one getting baptized). The bishops family is great! He is so funny, and their kids are just relaxed and sweet! Their oldest son is serving in Mexico and he went to BYUI, and so they are always talking about him. We watched conference at the church building for the first three sessions, but then for Sunday afternoon we watched it at the bishops, and they fed us snacks, dinner (at half time, as the bishop called it) and a huge brownie with ice cream on it for desert. Oh thats another thing, the members love to feed us desert! YIKES!!!

We tracted into a lady named Amy two nights ago, and I just really like her! Her daughters were outside playing and they talked to us so much! They were so cute, and they asked us if we were really sisters, and then told us how beautiful we were and how we look like we could be sisters. The girls said they loved Jesus Christ and believed in God, but haven't been to church in a while. Their mom, Amy, works a lot and is too tired on Sundays to bring them to church, so we are going to be meeting with her soon, and I can't wait! She has been to a lot of different churches and I think she just hasn't chosen one because she somehow knows that ours is the true church and she has just been waiting for us to come find her! Anyway, just keep Amy and her family in your prayers!

Lets see... what else! My zone is so awesome, we had a zone training on Friday that blew my mind. Like honestly, one of the most spiritual moments of my life! I was just so happy leaving that training. Sometimes I'm just smiling and I have no reason other than the fact that this gospel brings so much joy to my life!

My companion is probably the coolest person in the world! Me and her are SO SIMILAR! She is from Fullerton California (and she is REALLY happy that I'm not from Utah). We get along so well because we have the same ideas on so many things. I love studying with her because she is a spiritual giant, and I love teaching with her, because she is just so good at putting the investigator at ease and just talking! We have 4 investigators right now, and I have only met 1, but we have appointments to meet the others later this week! 

I told you I would be writing a novel. I just am going to end by saying that I love being a missionary! I love this gospel, and oh man, did I love conference! The doctrine of Christ was in every single talk given! I loved it!!! One of my favorites was Elder Bednars talk on conversion, its so true that testimonys can fade, but conversion is different. We are out here to convert people, not to just give them a small testimony that might fade a year or two after they join! And of course I also loved Elder Nelson's talk! Ask a missionary, because apparently we know everything! It made me feel so good to listen to him promote us like that! President Uchtdorfs talk was also mindblowing, and I related it to missionary work of course. I am not on a mission just to wait for the end to happen, I am enjoying every moment of it! And Sister Burtons talk about observing and serving was amazing. She is going to be in Indiana in a few weeks so I'm pretty excited to go to that!

Thanks for your letters family! My P-days are always on Monday's up here, so I will be writing you weekly at this time from here on out. I'm going to be in Layfette guarenteed for the next two transfers, but then after that Sister Stanford goes home, so unless they transfer both of us out (which I doubt) I will be here well into Feburary at least. My real address here is 

3111 New London Ct. #529

Layfette, IN 47909

If you write to that it will come straight to me instead of going through the mission home in Carmel first. I am off now to play some frisbee with the spanish elders. I challenged them to some ping pong, but I think we are going to take advantage of the fall weather now before it gets to winter, and then bust out the ping pong battles at the institute once its freezing. 

I love you all so much, sorry for the novel! GO BOILERMAKERS!!!

Sister Tara Cordner

p.s. Mom, Sister Collins wants to know where you got my bag, because she has the same bag, but she got it at goodwill, and wants to get a new one because hers is really old! Thanks!

First E-Mail Home

Dear Family and Friends, 

Hola, mi hable Hermana Cordner, und ich liebe die MTC! (I'm trying out the languages I have been picking up here!)

The MTC is probably the greatest place to be in the whole world. I have learned so much about myself as a person and a missionary in just a few days. I think the thing I have learned best is how to multi-task. Don't get me wrong, I have multi-tasked before, but there seems to be a greater need here. I have studied while eating my cereal, I have memorized while blowdrying my hair, and most impressively I ate an apple while I put my contacts in. Just picture it, an apple in my mouth, and contacts in my hands and eyes, it was a pretty sweet moment! 

The language is going great, we only have about an hour a day to learn spanish, and it happens to be at the same time as gym time! (okay not really, but during gym time the language missionaries are encouraged to speak their language, so I try to help them by speaking espanol or asking them how to say certain things... Como se desa, volleyball? And then they tell me how to say it! Its been great fun! 

Speaking of volleyball, I was thinking that in all of my youth experiences in the church, the one I am most thankful for this week is YW volleyball! There's no way I would be up against these Elders the way I have been without that prior training! So shout out to my leaders for making me a volleyball extrodianre! 

Okay, for the real stuff now! My district is SO GREAT! We have 7 elders, 3 that are going to Mesa, and the other 4 to Indianapolis, and then the three of us Sisters! Sister Pitcher is 24, from Orem Utah, and is 6 foot 2. Sister Palmberg is 23, from Conneticut, and is 5 foot and 1/2 inch! The three of us get along so well and are basically just best friends! We go everywhere together, as companions should, and just have such a blast doing it! We always stand in order, Sister Palmberg, me and then Sister Pitcher, and people tell us we look like the cell phone company who raises  the bar! It's quite a sight to see the three of us! We have been trying to become best friends with the Elders so that they won't think that Sister Missionarys are weirdos who are only out because they couldn't get married and what not... Sister Palmberg pointed out that its a good thing we're all good looking! The elders seem to like us just as much as we like them, and the 10 of us just have so much fun together! We usually are all on the same court for volleyball, we eat together, we are in classes together, and we study together! I can honestly not think of a better district to be in! 

Our teachers are super fantastic (and cute, but I'm not supposed to notice that ;). They are just so amazing, and with them and the 10 of us, lessons are always filled to the brim with the spirit and are so great! Both teachers portray an investigator from their mission, and we have been teaching them. Luke was our first investigator that we taught and he committed to pray about God's love for him, and we have a return appointment on Monday! We are meeting with Doug later today, and we seem to have a pretty sweet lesson plan ready for that meeting! Its so great the way the MTC is set up and the role playing that we are doing! 

I love being a missionary so much! I can't even imagine a place I would rather be. The spirit is so great and the God loves all of us! I'm not going to lie, its pretty hard here! Imagine having a to-do list that never ends, and literally zero time to do it. I compare it to EFY where we have a schedule given to us and a group of guys and girls, and we all work together all day long. But the only difference is we don't have a counselor to watch over us and make sure we are where we are supposed to be. It is up to us to be where we need to be when we need to be there. It would be easy to take study time to sleep, or to be late to lunch or not go to planning meetings or what not, but we have been promised that if we obey with EXACT obedience we will be greatly blessed! We have been trying really hard to be where we need to be on time, my companion struggles a little with punctuality but she knows it is something I love and she is working really hard to be on time. Its a struggle at times but we seem to make it to everything on time without too much stress! 

Thats probably all I have time for, I love all of you so much and I can feel your prayers. Dad, I absolutely LOVED the letter you sent me on the first day. Thank you so much for remembering me and writing me! Being a missionary is great and I just love every second of it.

Love, 

Sister Cordner

Farewell Talk

You know when you picture something in your mind and the real thing turns out NOTHING like how you pictured it. Ya, I know the feeling!

Today I was in my parents home ward and I gave my farewell talk. I have been so worried about what I was going to say I didn't even think about anything else. Once I was sitting on the stand it all felt so real. This was my farewell talk, I was leaving on Wednesday, and I am really, FINALLY, going to be a missionary. My head was spinning! I was thinking at a hundred miles per hour. I was the last speaker which was great, because I had a lot that I wanted to say. But by the time the speaker before me ended, I realized I had about 15 minutes, and the musical number still had to go. During the musical number I am thinking about what I should cut out because I know my talk, the way it was written, would have been too long.

The musical number was over and it was time for me to get up and speak. I honestly don't even know how to put into words what happened after that. I was wearing heels, and my ankle twisted a little over my left heel, and I started to fall to my left. I stood up on my right foot trying to catch myself, only to fall even more to my left, almost landing on the ground in front of the bishopric. Luckily I never did fall all the way down, but based on the congregations reaction you would have thought I did. I throw myself up and stand in front of the podium at a loss of words. Everybody did a collective gasp, and then fell silent. The next few minutes were a blur, but my mom told me later that the first thing I said was, "Well that was embarrassing, I hope I don't do that on my mission!"

I honestly don't know how I made it the whole way through my talk, I fumbled so much at the beginning before I could really jump into my talk that by the time I had finished telling my intro story about my Nauvoo trip my time was basically up. This is when I remembered that I had to cut out a lot of my talk based on time, so I start scanning the page looking for what I need to keep. I tell a story from Young Womens, then I actually talk about what my talk was one, which was blessings from perseverance, and finally find my way to the end of the talk. I bear a short testimony because I was over time and still probably completely beet red.

Once I sat down I lost it! The closing hymn started and I couldn't stop shaking from the silent laughing I was doing. The guy I was sitting at laughed too because I was shaking the hymn book so bad. I looked down at my family and Staci and could tell they saw me laughing because they were laughing just as hard. I had to cover my mouth and bury my face for the majority of the song because I was just so embarrassed.

Lots of people came up to talk to me afterwards to say goodbye. Most of them told me how excited they were for my homecoming talk in 18 months and asked me how I was going to top this!

And now, from now on, I will forever be known to Vintage Ranch Ward as the girl who fell on the stand before her farewell talk. Great!

Goodbye Christine

5 days until I leave! FIVE DAYS!!! I have already wrote a whole blog about things that I'm missing out on, but I didn't mention one of my most favorite possessions that I am leaving behind. My car! 2 years and 1 month ago I bought Christine, and she has been nothing but good to me! But I can't take her with me, and its not worth it to sell her, so I am storing her for 18 months. Today I cleaned her out, put her away, and hung up her keys for the last time for a year and a half. My dad is going to take care of her so she's not dead when I get home, so thats nice! For the next few days I'm just using my dads car (which I really am NOT complaining about in the least!)

My dad thinks I'm weird for naming my car... but really I think its rude not to name your car!

Also I forgot a detail about my dentist experience a couple of days ago. When I was getting my cleaning, the song Call Me Maybe came on the radio. I decided there was nothing worse than listening to that song in the dental chair, because I wanted to sing to it so badly! That song is just so hard NOT to sing along to!

In other news, I LEAVE IN 5 DAYS!!! I just need to take a chill pill, because I'm so SO SO excited! I've been wanting to go on a mission since I was 14, and since I turned 20 I've been counting down the days until I could turn in my papers. 6 months ago I turned my papers in and got my call, and I have been anxiously waiting for this week ever since I read that call! It almost seemed like it would never come, but its basically here!

What to expect next: As you may have noticed I have decked my blog out with Sister Cordner stuff. I am no longer a college student named Tara, but a soon to be full time servent of the Lord. I give my farewell talk this Sunday and have a open house that night from 7-9. (Anyone is welcome so feel free to stop by). I will probably blog about that adventure, and then I will head out! I plan on emailing my family every week updating them on the mish, and I'm planning on teaching my mom how to blog so she can put my emails up here! So hopefully you will not be left Tara-less for 18 months! I'm really just looking out for all of you out there!

Okay, well that is all. No puns at the end of this blog! Sorry.

Dentists and Puns

Today I had to go to the dentist. I just needed a cleaning right before I leave. I've never had a cavity, or any other reason to go to the dentist before besides cleanings. But today they noticed a decalcification (I think thats what they called it...) in one tooth that they thought would be best to fix up. So I had to make another appointment for later in the day. 2:30.

What time do you go to the dentist? Tooth-Hurty! (2:30) Get it... its a pun! And today when I made my appointment for 2:30 I felt like I was living in a pun! If you didn't know this about me, puns are my most favorite kinds of jokes ever.

Back to my real life story of going to the dentist... As I was sitting there in the chair, I was basically hating life. I don't know how you could enjoy yourself while having 4 hands, cotton swabs, a pokey thing, a mirror, a sucky thing, and a curing light in your mouth at the same time... I feel like I'm gagging, choking, and drowning all at the same time! And then I started thinking, whats worse than getting your teeth worked on... probably being the person who has to work on my teeth!

I just don't know what my brother-in-law and my brother were thinking when they signed up for dental school. Being a dentist would be the worst, you're in peoples mouths all day long, all the while being hated by your patients. So then I started to think of jobs I would do before I became a dentist. I would so much rather be a...

• foot doctor (podiatrist)
• garbage man
• plumber
• the night shift cashier at 7/11
• off shore oil rig worker
• fishermen out of Alaska
• septic tank cleaner
• David Archuleta's personal assistant

Well... that last one I would do regardless! But seriously, the thought of having my hands in other peoples mouths all day long just grosses me out...

But then, when the whole thing was over (a long ten minutes later) I go to the front desk and pay $110! Plus they got like $300 from my insurance company! HOLY COW! That right there is the reason people become dentists, between my 45 minute cleaning and my 10 minute filling thing, he made $397. I would say thats a pretty good hourly wage if you ask me! Now I understand why my family is interested in this business! 

And since I brought puns up earlier in my blog, I thought I would leave you with a few more:

• If a clock gets hungry, it goes back four seconds.
• Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen the mall. 
• I usually take steps to avoid elevators.
• He has been a jogger for three years running!

Spirit of Contention

Tonight in my studies I read the following:

"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another." - 3 Nephi 11:29

The spirit of contention is not of God, but of the devil... Why then, I ask myself, does my family allow this devilish spirit to enter our homes every night when we play Settlers of Catan!!!

As long as I can remember my parents and I have been playing this awesome yet horrible board game! I get so frustrated and so angry and SO ANNOYED almost every time I play, and yet we keep coming back for more! Tonight we only played three games... but my dad won all three of them. Lets just say my mom and I were pretty ticked off, to say the least! I really shouldn't be all that mad, considering that I won more than three games yesterday, and I won two this afternoon when we played, but tonights games were all my dad...

Side story, this is my older sister's facebook status about her 5 year old daughter yesterday:

So I was waiting for Anika in a public restroom outside of her stall when I heard, "Oh, SICK!"
Me: "What's wrong, Anika?"
Anika: "My hand just touched the toilet water!"

about 30 seconds later...

Anika: "You have GOT to be kidding me!"
Me (laughing): "What?"
Anika: "My hand touched the toilet water AGAIN!"


My whole family was just dying when we read this, and then we started quoting Anika all the time. Every time something bad would happen to us in the game we would just say, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" And then we just laugh at how funny we all are! (If you didn't know this about my family, we are all hilariously funny people).

Okay so I just re-read this blog and its kinda a lamer one, but I just kind of found it ironic how after being so mad at my dad tonight I came downstairs to study and happened to be reading in 3 Nephi 11. When I read that scripture I just had to laugh and blog about it! Sorry if this was a waste of your time!

Flaws

Guess what? I have flaws. What are they? Oh I dunno, I sing in the shower? Sometimes I spend too much time volunteering. Occasionally I'll hit somebody with my car. So sue me.

Okay, those are not my flaws, those are Michael Scott's flaws... but I thought that was a good way to start this blog. Today I spent sometime on one of my flaws. You may be surprised to know this, but I'm kinda addicted to TV shows... my biggest addiction has to be Glee.

During the Glee season finale I may or may not have bawled my eyes out, as my roommate Bri will recall. And my other roommate April will also recall coming in seeing me sobbing, asking me whats wrong, and then laughing when she found out it was all for Glee. 

Anyway... today I might have gone back and re-watched the last three episodes of the season. Why? Because I just love it so much! I cried again, maybe even more so this time, if that is possible. I have been so sad every time I see commercials for the new season (WHICH LOOKS FANTASTIC) because it comes out the DAY after I go into the MTC. Also... One Direction has a new CD coming out this fall, and the Jonas Brothers are recording together again! Um. Where have you guys been for the last three years? Why did you wait until now?! Come on! Also I just think about all the movies I will miss, like Despicable Me 2, and Les Miserables! I do take some pride in myself at knowing all the answers to the Pop Culture category on Jeopardy, will being out of the loop for 18 months take that away from me? I also saw a Help Wanted sign at my eye doctors office, looking for receptionists and managers! Am I giving up an opportunity to start my career, am I doing the right thing leaving, am I really questioning myself because of TV shows, CDs, and movies... 

See, my flaws! Then I think about it. Whats a season of TV compared to serving families? Whats a new Jonas Brothers CD compared to teaching the gospel? Whats a two year wait on a job compared to the enormous blessings I am going to bring to others, and myself... Why am I questioning all this? 

Just so you know, I am going to miss things like seeing Kyle and Natalee's baby when she's still a baby, and I'm going to miss my sister Keri moving away to college. I'm going to miss phone calls with my parents on a daily basis, and I'm going to miss sleeping in... But I know that the baby will still be here when I get back, Keri will still be in college when I get back, and my parents will still have phones when I get back, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to be okay.

As far as all the other pop culture crap that I probably shouldn't be wasting my time with anyway... well lets just say an 18 month break from this is probably just EXACTLY what I need to grow up and become a real live person! I know Heavenly Father needs me to be his servent and go to Indianapolis, and because of this knowledge, giving up everything I listed above will be exactly what I will do! Give it up! I can't wait to be a full time missionary and to devote all my time to the church! 

Wish me luck everyone! (Oh and please don't write me and tell me whats happening with Glee or Grey's, I'm pretty sure that would not help me focus!)

Also I wanted to give a HUGE shout out to the best celebrity there is... Mr. David Archuleta (and by Mr. David I really mean Elder). At least he has the decency to serve a mission the same time I did so that I won't miss any of his music being released. The two of us can pick up right where we left off March 2014! Thanks David!!! Love ya!

"The effect she can have."

Peeta Melark says about Katniss Everdeen, "She has no idea. The effect she can have." Well I think I will open that up to a more broad statement. Nobody has an idea what effect the whole series has on me! (not really as good as his... but its the best I've got!) Its pretty weird how crazy about the Hunger Games I am. Okay, not so weird considering I have obsessed with things in the past (David)... but to obsess over a book series is pretty unusual. I mean I liked Twilight as much as the next girl, and yes I do own all of those movies, and yes I am a huge fan of Jacob... but that is so minimal compared to my love for the Hunger Games.

Saturday I woke up not able to focus on anything besides the fact that I needed to go to the store right away and buy the DVD. Once we had it I wanted so badly to watch it on repeat, but I thought Keri would want to watch with us so we waited for her. Then that night we watched it, and yes I did cry again! We finished the movie around nine thirty that night, and the only thing I wanted to do after we watched it was watch it again, but my family wasn't up for it. So instead I go find my book and just start reading from the beginning. I didn't plan on re-reading it, I have never re-read a book in my whole life... but there is no putting this book down! I didn't read it to sleep, shower, and go to church, but the rest of my Sunday was spent engulfed in it. I finished it around nine that night, and went and found my copy of Catching Fire and started that too!

I had to take a little break from reading it yesterday as I had errands to run and real life to attend to. But today I had nothing stopping me! I didn't even come out of my room today until about 1:00 because I was reading. I read the first two books... and the last three pages of the third. The only thing I like about the third book was the ending anyway, so instead of waste time being mad throughout the book, I just read the end!

But now I'm at this weird fork in the road. I'm not sure what to do now. I've already seen all the bonus features on the DVD (which were fantastic), watched the movie, and re-read the books. Do I try to move on... or go pop the movie in again!? I'm just like really addicted to it and haven't been able to really think about anything else since Saturday!

I think this E-Card sums up how I'm feeling right about now...

Forever 21

Thats right, I'm 21 now! Not forever, for like 362 more days... but that seems like forever, right?! hahaha.

My birthday was really great. It was on a Sunday so it was actually pretty chill. I went to an 8:00 Sacrament meeting to see a friend give her homecoming talk, and then I went home and had pancakes, got ready for the day, and went to my singles ward at 1:30. The highlight of the day was the mission prep class we went to for sunday school. I'm just a huge fan of everything mission prep-ing!

The rest of the week has been spent in stores working on my mission wardrobe. Today I tried on what I have up to this point. So far I have bought 1 new dress, 5 new shirts, 4 new skirts, and 4 new cardigans. Plus I have 1 skirt and 1 dress that I already had that I still love and am taking with me. With that I made about 11 cute outfits!!! So I'm thinking just a few more blouses, and maybe 1 or 2 more skirts, and maybe another dress or two, and I should be good to go! Oh and I need to make sure I have jewelry too. And then of course I need to get shoes, a new bag, some new make-up... oh gosh, I have a lot to do before I leave!

Besides going shopping and going to see the movies like The Odd Life of Timothy Green, my days are pretty boring. I watch some TV, spend way too much time on pinterest, and I listen to Taylor Swifts song "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" about 50+ times a day. In fact I'm on the 3rd time listening to it since I started writing this post! Its. Just. Soooooo. GOOD!!!

What else do you need updates on... Oh I know! A long time ago I had an idea of a novel I would write when I return home from my mission, and today Gaby gave me the idea of what the sequel should be! I'd like to tell you all about it, but I'm afraid someone would see it and write it before I get the chance to, so I'm keeping the premise to myself... but you should know that its gonna be good! I'm thinking of starting it as a blog, and if its popular I will try to make a novel out of it, and I'm like dead serious about it! I think it would be hilarious!!! So stay tuned for the RM Sister Cordner blogs! They will be bomb!

(Just started the song for the 4th time, never gets old!)

I guess I will just end this blog with a joke: What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta!
-And before you give me all the credit... you should know I saw that on pinterest.

You Know You're Bored When....

Did you know there is actually a point where you can get tired of watching Say Yes to the Dress... I never thought it was possible, but it has come to this!

Luckily the Olympics have been on to distract me from my boredom, but even that is sometimes not enough. Once Ryan Lochte was done swimming I was basically done watching. Whats the point if you're not seeing Ryan!

Sometimes when you don't have a reason to wake up in the morning, you spend hours at night watching Youtube videos of the Ellen show. I'm not even sure how it got started but three hours later I had to force myself to close my computer and go to sleep.

I sat in the office and watched my dad work on his work schedule for the month, because there was nothing else to do. He told me I need to get a hobby.

My mom has been talking about projects to do, so I asked her if I could do some of the photo collages. Hoping they would take a few days I got started on what ended up only being a three hour project. It was super fun while I was doing it but it was over too fast.

I'm contemplating doing things by myself for the first time. Like going to the movies by myself. I have never done that before, but I've been thinking about it lately. I refuse to go bowling by myself, but no one will go with me and its just really sad! But with my birthday coming up I think I can force a few family members to go!

In Rexburg if I was this bored I would just go places, like Walmart or campus or somewhere just to get out. But when its 115 degrees outside, the very thought of leaving the house disgusts me. So I just stay in! And when I do go out, all I want to do is get home.

I need to go shopping for my mission, but I just haven't been feeling up to it. I think it has to do with the above paragraph. The thought of shopping for clothes and going to all these different stores is not appealing because I have to go outside in order to do that... so instead I just stay home.

The best part of this retired life I have been living is the time I have for the temple. I have been going a lot more frequently lately because I can, and thats just been the best! I just love the temple!!!

Anyway, if you haven't noticed, I'm kinda bored out of my mind. Everyday I think about how much I miss Rexburg. Everyday I wish I was just on my mission already. Everyday I miss being in classes, or doing something with my time that feels worthwhile. Mostly I just am in a rut and cannot wait for a month from now to just be on my mission and get out of it.

Wow when I just re-read that it seems like I'm very negative. I'm really not, I'm actually really happy... just really bored. Also I have a new favorite song, Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson. That and Call Me Maybe are my current repeat songs. (Well lets be honest, Call Me Maybe has been a repeat song for about 5 months now). Its just the best! *Before you came into my life I missed you SO bad, I missed you SO SO BAD!*

Most Important Meal of the Day

I thought I would give you a brief look at my Denver week, starting with breakfast of each day!

Monday: I wasn't really in the mood for food this morning on account of me being rushed out of bed by a wake up call from my dad. Due to this early and rushed morning, I had little time for food, and downed some chocolate milk to hold me over. Then my dad and I got in the car and drove until we got to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The drive wasn't too long, and the company was great! Also listening to Pandora in your car is basically the coolest thing ever, so no complaints about this day!

Tuesday: Continental breakfasts are the best, sometimes! The little tiny hotel we stayed in had breakfast for us, and I decided on the waffel! I thought that was a great choice, and it really was! A perfect way to start the day. Then we made our way to Denver and had a great evening with the Cordners! This day's drive was a little less exciting than the day before, as most of New Mexico was a whole lot of nothing. Note to self, never move to New Mexico!

Wednesday: I woke up to the smell of french toast. Not only was it french toast, but it was made with french bread. This was a little confusing since just the very night before we were talking about our dislike for the french whilst watching the olympics, but the breakfast turned out to be quite delectable! The rest of the day was filled with Olympics watching and Denver exploring. I was shown the city by a friend who has lived here his whole life... and then we went bowling! I had been wanting to go for some time now so I was quite thrilled that I finally got to go! To top off a great day Kyle, Natalee and I ended with a Wendy's frosty and some Just Dance!

Thursday: Natalee made pancakes! This is when I decided that when I'm a wife I want to be just like her, and that before I get married I'm going to stay with them again and take wife lessons from my sister-in-law! I have been feeding myself cereal for 20 years now, and she made us breakfast two days in a row, so I'm pretty sure she wins! Then we put in some Pysch and watched some of their favorite episodes! We also had a trip to the fanciest mall I have ever been to and probably will never be able to afford to shop at! We finished the rest of the day with more Pysch and pizza!

Friday: Omelets! Kyle made my breakfast this time! Apparently he is really good at making eggs, and I pointed out that he doesn't really make them, he just cooks them! But he is really good at that! We tried to go mini golfing, but the traffic was quite horrendous, which was weird for a Friday at noon, but we figured with all the liberals in Denver who don't have jobs, Friday afternoon is when they all get on the freeway! (Ouch, was that mean to say... oh well, I already said it!) So instead we went to Old Navy and Chipotle. Both good ideas! The night ended with some Slurpees from 7 Eleven and a redbox!

This week has been absolutely fantastic at my brothers house in Denver! (Well Aurora to be exact). They have been so nice to let me stay so long, and as much as I hate to do this, I have to leave tomorrow. But no worries, I am fairly certain that one of the first trips I make when I return from Indiana will be to meet the newest member of my family up here in Denver! (Also we find out next week if that new member is a boy or a girl, so thats pretty darn exciting!) Also I don't really know why I felt the need to tell you all what I had for breakfast everyday this week. I just was thinking about it when I decided I should update my blog, so I went with it! Hope you enjoyed!

"Want to go to California tonight?"

While I was writing the last post I mentioned how I was texting Amy about going to California. Basically we had talked about going to Tuesday, but she had to be back on Thursday, so if we left Tuesday night we would have only had one day. It was just before 5 o'clock Monday night when I suggested that we just go now! I left my house at 5, got to Tucson around 7, and the two of us drove to LA until about 3 in the morning. It was quite exhausting, but it was really fun!

Once we were in Cali we just had a blast. We played badminton (and if you know Amy and I you know how awesome we are at that sport), we sat by the pool, we played games, watched movies, went shopping, and went to the beach! There is something about shopping in Southern California that I just love so much more than shopping in Idaho... I can't quite put my finger on what it is... but its just better! hahaha.... And the beach was such a blast! We laid in sun, we found sand crabs, we boggie boarded, we ate cookies and doritios, and we napped (which probably wasn't the smartest idea).

Now, three days after that beach trip, I am still as red as can be and in as much pain as I could imagine... oh man its bad! I feel asleep on my stomach so basically my entire back is burnt. Oh well, what can you do!

Basically it was the best way to celebrate my graduation with my best friend! I think I will be making my way to Tucson one more time before I leave, I need her help shopping for my mission wardrobe!

Graduation and The Start of Summer!

So much has happened in the last little bit I feel like I have major catching up to do. Lets start with my last night in Rexburg, Idaho...

Thursday was probably one of the greatest days ever! I slept in, helped Crystal move into her storage unit, and then Bri and I played all day long!!! We went to Costa Vida (for the last time, and yes my heart did break a little), and then we just hung out together while we packed. That night all of us who finished our finals went to celebrate by doing a little bowling. We got nachos and french fries and bowled two games! It was so much fun spending that last little bit of time with my roommates. What a fantastic day!!!

Friday my mom came in early that morning, so I went to pick her up, and then the two of us worked all day long. I had a bunch of stuff that I had to get into the car, and then a lot of cleaning to do. Then it was about 3 so we went to lunch with Bri and Tyson, and then we headed to the BYUI Center. I took my mom on a small little tour of the campus where she took pictures of me in my cap and gown, and then I went and lined up. An hour and a half later, we walked into the auditorium while the graduation music was playing and everyone was looking at us. It was the coolest thing ever! The ceremony was so good, and it was such a good night! That moment when they called my name and I walked across the stage was so surreal, and so amazing! SO COOL!!!! After everything was done with Graduation my mom and I drove to Idaho Falls and slept there for the night. 

Saturday we went to Utah and stayed the night in Orem, and then Sunday we drove all the way to Gilbert. Unfortunately, I had a sore throat and a cold those two days, so the road trip wasn't too much fun for me. But its over and all my stuff has been moved into the basement, and I officially live in Gilbert again! 

Today has been my first day of summer since 2009, and let me tell you it has been fantastic! It started with unpacking and that was lame, but it got better! Even though nobody would go bowling with me, I still had things to do! We had Paradise Cafe for lunch, always a good choice, and then Keri and I got my car washed, went to see the Gilbert Temple, and went to the mall. I even got a slushie at QT! Brought me right back to my high school days!!! Now I am texting Amy trying to get her to come to Cali with me tomorrow, or even possible tonight! I want to go so bad, and now is really the only chance we have... hopefully her husband will soften his heart and let us go! 

Other than possibly Cali in the next couple of days, I do have some awesome plans for the summer, and I am 100% ready to get this party started!!!