My New Career

I can't even begin to express my gratitude for the way things have just been falling into place for me since I got home! Let me back up and tell some background story about how all of this came to be.

In college there was this super sweet girl in some of my healthcare classes. We really hit it off and decided to become roommates! We were roommates until she decided to be a grown up and graduate. That was a sad day! But the good thing is that we stayed friends. She got a sweet job in Salt Lake and I went on a mission and we emailed each other every week! 

Around Christmas I asked her if she could keep her eye open for jobs for me! And then in my last transfer she told me she found the perfect job for me. That the description is basically asking for Tara, and that her boss wants to interview me as soon as she can. Because I was still on the mission we set it up so I could interview over Skype on a preparation day. I apparently impressed them because they wanted to interview me again! So I got home from the mission, made a resume, emailed it to them, and scheduled my second interview for yesterday. My interview was a panel interview with 6 different managers I would be working closely with. After my interview they asked if I could stay for a little bit. Not 10 minutes later my main boss came out and talked with me and I assumed she was going to ask me to have a third interview. She told me that everyone in the room loved me and that they want to bypass the third interview and offer me the job right there! That was totally unexpected but really exciting!  

So the job itself: I will be a Quality Coordinator at Sutter Health Physicians Services. It's a call center for Sutter Health in Sacramento California. So when you go to the hospital and they say, call this number, you are actually calling us! And my job is pretty much the Cheer-leader of the office. I am over all aspects of quality. I will do training for all the new hires, I will monitor patient calls and help to improve the over quality of the whole office! They wanted someone who is happy and bubbly and can be friends with everyone but also someone who can get the job done, train others, and be professional! Apparently they think I can do all of those things! 

So yea, thats the job and the how to behind it! I prayed on the mission when I heard about this job that Heavenly Father would send me where he needed me to be. I told Him if I needed to be in Salt Lake then help me get this job, if not, help me to know where I was needed. I feel so good about this decision. It was almost as easy as showing up to transfer meeting and getting told where my new area is! He sure does love me and watch over me all the time! I am just in awe at how much our Heavenly Father loves us!

Post Mission Baptism

Once upon a time I got transferred from one of the best areas in the whole mission (Carmel) to a tiny little farm town called Rochester. We got there and had one investigator. She was wonderful, but you need more than one investigator if you want to have things to do during the day. So my companion and I started praying for finding opportunities, and the first week we were there we got a HQ referral from a member who said his wife wasn't a member and he wanted us to come and meet her. So we went and met them that Saturday and they were the sweetest couple ever! She was raised Pentecostal, but the current church she was attending didn't have any stance on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. She knew right off that that was a problem. We had lessons with them about twice a week for the whole time I was there. She had a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon at first, also had a hard time with needed to be baptized again (mostly just wondering about the priesthood!) My companion and I just loved teaching them together. When we invited them to church they came! And they kept coming.

On Christmas Eve they had us over for dinner. It was quite a miracle because we were invited to spend the time at the Stake Presidents house but we didn't have the miles to drive down to Lafayette to spend the day with the other missionaries. So we went to their house and we ended the night by watching Joy to the World. After we watched that movie we asked her what she thought, and she told us she wanted to get baptized!!!! But there was a catch... they are snowbirds. They stay in Rochester for the holidays, but once those are done they move to Arizona to spend the winter here. So we told them that that wasn't too big of a problem. We reassured them there would be missionaries in Arizona and you could meet with them and get baptized there. I couldn't invite someone to be baptized without extending a date... so we invited them to be baptized on February 15.  They knew that I was ending my mission soon and that I was from Arizona. So I planned a baptism on my mission for the week I got home!

I was sure I would be there in Rochester to work with them until they moved, but I was transferred out unexpectedly and I didn't have a way to keep in touch with them. The week I got home from my mission I gave them a call and she told me she was still getting baptized and that she wanted me to be there!!! So that Saturday I drove to Apache Junction and got to see a baptism of the sister I taught this last December in Rochester.

The coolest thing about the whole experience was that I really struggled in Rochester knowing what I was to do there. I got a blessing from my District Leader and he told me that someone in Rochester needed me. I now know retrospectively why I was called to go to Rochester for the short 6 weeks I was there!!! I am so thankful that God was in control of my mission and where I went! I love how he works!

Going to the baptism the week after I got home was the best way to end my mission ever! I could not have asked for a better transition into real life!!!

Remember That One Time I Served a Mission...

The title I think sums it up pretty well... I served a mission! Past tense. Its over! I can hardly believe it. It was the slowest 17 months of my life, but also the fastest. It was the hardest, but also the funnest. It was the saddest, but also the most rewarding.... Wow. I'm about to get all sorts of cliche on this blog. Be ready for sap!

I don't even know how to sum up my mission in a single blog entry. Luckily my mom posted my emails for the last year and a half so my mission is on here if you want to read it! But if all you want is a sum up, here it is...

I always knew that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the true church on the earth. I gained my testimony as a youth in seminary and through mutual, and I had a pretty solid foundation of the truth. What I learned on my mission was that there is a much deeper meaning to the "church being true." I finally understood why we needed a restoration, what Joseph Smith truly did for us. But most important, I gained a conversion to living the Gospel of Christ so that I can be cleansed from sin through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ established His church when He was on the Earth, and after He ascended up to Heaven, the church was lost. Joseph Smith simply brought back Christ's church in its entirety. Thats what it means to be true. This is God's Kingdom on the earth today.... true statement!

That doesn't even begin to cover what I've learned on my mission, but that is a start.

Now into the real life... I'm going to try to be a normal person now. Hopefully everyone will get a few kicks and giggles out of me struggling to be a grown up! I have plans to tell you all about it. I am actually really excited to be back and blogging again! So be ready blogging world... TARA IS BACK!!!

February 10, 2014

It took me all of 5 minutes to read everyones emails this week. And it will probably take only 5 minutes to reply back to everyone. This week was... well it was hard! I hate goodbyes.

There was a snowstorm that hit Tuesday night and we needed to go inside, and we stayed in for most of Wednesday too. Not really how I would have liked my last week to be but it was okay. We had a few really good lessons this week. One that was AMAZING with a newer investigator and his girlfriend who apparently used to be taught by Elders and she was bearing testimony how she knows this church is true and how the Book of Mormon is true. She snuggled right up to him and said, Ah, honey... this could be our first church together! It was way cute, and I'm sad that I won't stay to keep teaching them. 

I loved this area. The work didn't move along as much as I would have liked it to... but it was still really great. I loved my zone. I LOVED my district. These elders have become life long friends. They moved around their schedules today so we could play one last game of Volleyball. I was an emotional wreck though, I think they thought I was kinda weird as I would hit the ball and then start to cry. No joke though. But we have all said our goodbyes and now life is over. (Mission life that is). 

But in all honesty... as sad as this week has been... I'M SO EXCITED TO COME HOME!!! I can't wait to see all of you and talk to all of you! I have some ultra fun plans for tomorrow and Wednesday! Please be patient with me as I try to transition into being a normal person again! I love you all so much!!!

Sister Cordner

February 3, 2014

President Cleveland has set a standard of excellence that we should all be achieving... and when we got double transferred into the area, we were no where close to getting it. We are supposed to be teaching 20 lessons a week... we were maybe getting 10-12. But this week we had miracles. The mission did a mission fast for finding. It included a few steps that we did all week long. We studied finding every day, said an extra prayer before we left the apartment that was solely on aligning our will with Heavenly Fathers so we can be more spiritually in tune to who He wants us to be seeing. We did a lot more finding activities than we have been doing, and then of course we fasted on Sunday! We found 4 sweet new people to teach, and taught a total of 19 lessons! That was pretty awesome for White River!!! With the new people and the ones we will be finding this week, we are hoping to reach that goal he has set for us. 

We had the coolest experience yesterday at a less-actives home. She told us when we found her that she would have us over for dinner sometime, so we asked her if she would feed us yesterday, and she did. Our lesson was going to be on baptism and what her baptism covenant meant, but we prefaced it a little with faith and repentance. Then she starts to cry and says,"I know what you are saying, I need to do..." and then she starts listing off the stuff that the Spirit was teaching her. I love being a missionary because even though I'm the one speaking words, the Spirit is the one teaching... and it is SO COOL when you see others feel and hear the Spirit. She knows what she needs to be doing now, not because Sister Cutler and I told her... but because the Spirit did!!!

None of our investigators are progressing right now. It was kinda a sad Sunday, we expected 4 or 5 of them to come to church, and no one did. But it was still a great day at church. The Spirit was so strong. I bore my testimony on the work and the gospel. I cried a little in Relief Society just because the Spirit was so wonderful!!! I can't even put into words how much I love my calling. Its the best thing I have ever done with my life! I love it so much!!! 

Talk to you all next week, have a great week!

January 27, 2014

Well I am offically on week 5 of the transfer, which means that next week will be week 6.... and then thats it. That is all of my weeks!!! Words can't even describe the emotional roller coaster I have been going through. I am going to miss Indy so much, I love the people in this area, and I'm going to miss all my missionary friends like crazy... but there are also SO many people at home that I love and miss terribly, and missionary friends who have gone on before me, and so much that I want to do at home.... so I'm really expereincing what the phrase Bitter-Sweet means!

This week has been wonderful! I did something for the first time this week in my whole mission. I went on an exchange with a Sister Training Leader!!! She is so great, Sister Roundy. She is my great-granddaughter. She was trained by Sister Hain who was trained by Sister Guy who was trained by me! All of this happening in the Lafayette 3rd ward. So of course we had a lot in common starting our first 6 months of our mission in the best area ever! And then we just went to work. She is working in the most coveted area, Indy YSA. I have only wanted to serve there my WHOLE mission!!! But I'm not jealous. We had district meeting in the morning and then her and I went to teach a LA that is actually in my area, but then we spent the rest of the day on campus. We give the zone leaders a hard time because they work on campus and are only teaching girls. So I made a goal (to mock the goals they make of contacting 2 blondes and 2 brunettes) to contact a boy that would be interested. As we are walking on campus, I look behind me and see this really tall guy with a Colts hat on. I just start talking to him about the colts, we walk together for a bit, and before you know it we are inside talking about the Book of Mormon and a bunch of other doctrine. We had a great talk and we invited him to learn more. I'm so jealous of the sisters who get to teach on campuses. There are so many prepared people there. My short time on campus we talked with a lot of people and had a few lessons. It was so sweet!!! Then that night we went to Institue. That was really werid because I was just thinking the whole time how in a few weeks I could be in an institue classroom for real, without my tag on! And now I can be one of those annoying people who start every comment I make with, "When I was on my mission..." I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

My Sister Training Leader is so cute, shes been out for almost 8 months now. She told me she was scared to go on an exchange with me, but felt like she needed to! We had a great time together and we both learned a lot!

We had the sweetest lesson with the Thompsons yesterday. We showed then the apostasy cups, and the 14 year old boy asked his mom (the less active member) if the church they are going to has 12 Apostles. She said no and he said that he then wanted to go to this church! hahaha! The truth will get ya, every time!!! That family has become some of my best friends in Indy! I am excited to be facebook and real friends with them after the mission so I can continue to help them grow in the Gospel while the sisters help them here!!! They are so wonderful!!!

I love my companion, we are having a blast together. What a blessing it has been to serve with her at the end of my mission!!! I love every part of the work right now, except of course the freezing weather. There have been days where I just want to cry because of how cold it is. And then I think about how warm it is in Arizona... I'm going to melt once I get home! I can't wait though. I am excited to feel warm again! 

Well I love you all! I will continue to let you know how much I love this place for all of 2 weeks and then I will call you to tell you more! hahaha! Have a great week,

Sister Cordner

January 21, 2014

Dear everyone!!!

Another great week has come and gone in the great city of Indianapolis! I am just so filled with joy for being in the city again! Heavenly Father sure does know what He is doing when He calls missionaires! The hardest thing is the thought of leaving in a few weeks... I am not handling this as well as I would have hoped. Its actually been a pretty hard last transfer as I mentally prepare myself for what is to come. I'm really excited to see everyone and to be home and to take what I've learned from the mission and apply it to real life, but I am nervous! And sad. I will miss it here more than I have ever missed anything, I'm sure of it!!!

So this week just went great! I love my companion, we are just best friends! We had a succesful week of finding people, as we found 4 new people to teach! Thats a high number for this mission, sadly enough! But they are 4 pretty solid people and we are excited. One of the guys is our neighbor and he asked us a while ago if we were mormons. So we said yes and set up a "bible study". He said he would let us lead it... so we went on to teach him the Restoration. He had lived in Provo on a job once, and he knows about the church. He knew most of what we had to say, but he listened. When I got to the Book of Mormon, I told him that this Book was the fruit of Joseph Smith's being a prophet, and "by their fruits ye shall know them". Then the coolest thing happened. I asked him if he would read the Book of Mormon, and he paused... he said he was going to say no, but that I made a good point. The Mormon church has a lot of good fruits... (I didn't say that, the Spirit did!) So he is going to read it and pray about it, and we are meeting him again this week! I love those teaching moments when I feel like I am actually following the Spirit fully and He is the one doing the teaching. That is how I felt in his lesson!!!

We had another really great Resto lesson with these two sisters. They aren't attending a church and just the thought of a prophet made them say, "WOW!" And not in a sarcastic, I don't beleive it way... but in a sincere... how come I have never heard of this before way! I am really excited to teach them so more! 

We do work a lot with the ward here! There are over 400 less active members. Our ward roster is over 500 people and I counted less than 90 at church... so our work is cut out for us. I figured LAs are a great way to find new people to teach, because most of them are part-member families. So we have been working with some famillies where one person is a member and we are trying to teach the whole family! Keep the people of Indy in your prayers! I love them so much and I love teaching them!!!

Exciting news from the Carmel area! I started to teach someone named Ashley there just a few weeks before I got transfered. We invited her to be baptized our first lesson and she said yes, the 2nd lesson we gave her a date, and she said yes! Well this weekend she is getting baptized! She has continued to meet with the sisters since I have left and has just gotten answer upon answer that this church is true! She met with Jehova Witness's for over 4 years, and met with us for about 2 months!!! I know she will be an amazing member of the church and I am so excited for her to be baptized. Sad that I won't be there but still excited nonetheless!!!

Good things are happening in Indiana!!! And all over the world I assume, but I only really know about this place! Even when the weather wants to bring me down, I manage to find happiness in the work that I have been called to do! I love it here so much!!!

I pray that all of you will continue to find happiness in this cold winter! If you need a source to look towards, missionary work sure does bring a ton of it!!! I love it so much! Have a great week everyone, I love you!!!

Sister Cordner

January 13, 2014

After the crazy weather that we had last week, the 30s and the 40s have just been beautiful temperatures to live in! I love being new to an area because everybody has been asking me where I am from, and when I tell them Arizona they usually all just laugh! Its been a great winter though, I really can't complain too much. The thing about good ol Indiana is that as soon as its miserable, the weather changes. Its not like Rexburg where it got cold and stayed cold for months!!! I love it in the City. Indy is where it is at! We have just had a blast this week.

I had a bit of a cold so that wasn't the best, but we did meet a lot of people and worked really hard. I am really excited about one family. Ryan Thompson (former baseball player, you can probably look him up) is married to a less active member. We are having dinner with them this week and will be watching the Restoration with us. He wanted us to come over and play video games and watch other movies ( He says he always tries to trick the elders into doing that with him) and we told him we had a great movie about Joseph Smith and he said he would watch it! They are great friends with an amazing active family and this man told him that he would send their family good looking Sister Missionaries so Ryan would want to sit down and listen to us! So Ryan calls his friend when we are there to tell him that we passed and that we are cute! haha. And then he gave his friend a hard time because we could hug his wife but not him! They are the funniest family. I feel like they are the reason I'm in Indy! You know when the Spirit just tells you something and you just know it! That is how I felt at their house. I'm really excited to see where things go with them!

Church was so great. The ward has about 500 on the roster, and maybe 70 people were there... so there is a lot of work to be done. But those that were there are just wonderful. There is a family who has a daughter on a  mission so naturally they love us. They have fed us a couple of times and she has come out with us to visit less actives. She is the YW President and wants us to help her a lot with the less active YW. We are just so excited to work in this area.

I can't even express my love for the city. I love skyscrapers, I love people who just walk across super busy streets, I love the huge buses, I love being so close to everything, and I just love Indiana!!! This has been such a blessing to be transferred here. I love my district. The elders here are great friends with me and they like to tease me about how I will be dying soon... I'm basically already dead to them... but I'm not going without a fight. I have a solid 4 weeks to work hard and I'm so excitd to do it! I love it here so much!!!

Yesterday we went to a Why I Believe Fireside and Sister Kelly spoke at it. She was baptized in Carmel in October. I miss her so much, it was so fun to see her and her family yesterday! And I got to see a lot of people from Indy 1st ward! I love serving right in the middle of two of my favorite places, I get to see all sorts of loved ones!

I love you all, sorry this email is shorter! Have a great week and I will talk to you soon!!

Sister Cordner

January 8, 2014

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been a week I will get to tell my future family about! I never thought I would see the day where the high in temperature was -8*. The windchill being MUCH MUCH colder than that. You know your life has been a little turned around when you are excited to see temperatures in the 10s. It was 19 this morning and we were so excited! Our zone leaders told us how it was nice and warm today so we could go and work, and we agree! Its above 0, its WONDERFUL!!!

Okay, let me start with last week. Leaving Rochester was harder than I thought it was going to be. We spent Tuesday running around saying goodbye and having amazing lessons with everyone we know. Leaving the Bontragers was really hard. I know the Elders coming into Rochester though and I told them how I needed them to take care of them, so hopefully they are well loved by the new missionaries.

Wednesday was a crazy day, we got everything packed and ready to go and drove to Fishers for the meeting. I knew ahead of time that I would be a junior companion, so it wasn't a shock for me. But when President announced that sisters would be opening a new area in White River, he called Sister Cutler... and her junior companion will be Sister Cordner! I jumped up and gave her a hug and I think everyone was a little confused! But it was been the best being a junior companion! We have had such a great week together. I did an exchange with Sister Cutler last transfer. She was trained by a sister I trained, Sister Mumford! So they say in the mission that my granddaughter is killing me. We are having a blast together, she is one of the funniest companions I've had. We just laugh all the time!!!

Thursday-Saturday was a lot of trying to meet members and learn our way around the area. We met with the WML and a few other people. The Elders in the area helped us to know how the area was split and who we would be teaching. We have one family, the Cunninghams. They are dry mormons. They have a daughter who is a member and everytime they see her she gives them another book to read. He has read Jesus The Christ and is reading it again! But they have a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon. So we will be meeting with them and helping them accept it, and then they can be baptized before I go home! Thats the plan anyway! haha.

My district has been giving me grief for dying soon. I think this will be a fun group of elders to be with for my last transfer. They are great and we have had a lot of fun together.

So while we were meeting people on Saturday, all people were talking about was the bad weather we were supposed to be having. They told us not to go out on Sunday-Tuesday. We were started to get a little worried. Church got cancelled, and we legitimattely had 2 snow days, where we couldn't work. Sunday it just snowed ALL day long. I didn't even know the sky could hold that much snow. It was crazy. Then Monday morning looked like a beautiful morning, but the high was so low... and the low was even lower... and it was bad. We thought the cars were gounded on Monday but the zone leaders let us know that we could go to the church. So we spend the entire day Monday at the church playing sports with the elders. And then we went to find someplace to eat but almost everything was closed. We finally found a Denny's that was open so we ate there and then went back to hibernate. Yesterday we tried to email but everything was still closed. We did get our shopping done yesterday though, and today the libraires are open so we finally get to email!

All I want to do my last transfer is work super hard and find someone to baptize. Its been really hard with the weather, but I have faith that it will warm up soon enough and we will be able to work hard. My companion and I love the area. We live just west of the 465. So in my year and a half misison, I have spent 4 months just south of the 465, 4 months north of the 465, and now 6 weeks west of it! Never will make it to the east side, but if you know anything about the east side of Indy... its probably for the better I don't venture over there. The ward is mostly in the innercity. We have skyscrapers and everything. but our area is the outside of the innercity. Still city and still kinda sketchy and fun, but not as sketchy as the elders area. But we do have some less active single sisters we will be working with in those sketchier areas! WOOT WOOT! I'm so excited!!!

Besides telling you that my toes are probably never going to be warm again... I don't have much else to say! I'm excited to see you all soon! But I'm excited to have the next 5 weeks to work hard in the city I love! I'm going to miss Indy so much when I'm home! Oh man I can't even think about leaving this place! Until next week,

Sister Cordner

December 30, 2013

Okay... what a crazy craze week! Even though I talked with the family just a few days ago... SO MUCH has happened... so get ready for a super long email! Oh man... here it goes!

So I kinda talked about this with my family a little, but for the rest of you. The story of the miracle of Christmas Eve...

The Stake President had all of the missionaries over for dinner and an evening at his home, only we didn't have the miles to drive all the way to Lafayette... (turns out later that we did and could have gone... but we didn't.) The day before a member invites us to come to her place for Christmas Eve. She is a single lady without family around, so we assumed it would just be the three of us, maybe playing games and not doing too much... and we had dinner with our investigators before that. So our night goes like this:

-We go to the Bontragers for dinner. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this family!?) We then watched Joy to the World. That movie is the best because it doesn't just talk about the story of Christ's birth, it also talks about the signs of his birth in the Americas, teaches all about the Book of Mormon and teaches about prophets and Joesph Smith. Oh its the best! So we watched that with them and asked what she thought of it. She enjoyed it... and then I don't even remember what question we asked but she just came out and said she wanted to be baptized!!! This is the same women who for the last month kept telling us that she's been baptized before and doesn't need to do it again! We choose a day for her to be baptized and that day is February 15th. The best part of it is that they are snowbirds who go to Arizona every winter. They are planning on going soon... so we gave the date far off enough for them to meet the missioanries there and finish the lessons so get baptized in an AZ ward. And guess what else... they invited me to come because they knew I would be in AZ at that time! I get to go to a baptism my first weekend back in Arizona!!!! That could not have worked out any better! What a great way to go home! 

So then after that miraculous appointment, we go to Sister Krol's house. And to our huge surprise there is a party going on. She had her daughter over and her daughters in laws and neighbors and it was a huge Christmas eve party! We got some food and sat by some of her neighbors. (PS, we can learn a lot from Sister Krol on missionary work. We come into her home and she welcomes us and introduces us to EVERY nonmember there by saying, these are the sister missionaries for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!) So we sat by her neighbors and strike up a conversation... turns out these people are the most prepared by the Lord people I have ever met on my whole mission. They just started going to church again, they both quit smoking recently, they got married after being together for 8 years... and they are living so many commandments that they don't even know about right now! We had the best conversation with them and they just changed my life! We had a return appointment with them this last Saturday and they just told us how much of a miracle it was to meet us and how things in their life are just falling in place. We gave them the Book of Mormon and they are reading and praying about it as we speak! (At least I think they are!) They are incredible!!!

Christmas day was super fun. We went to the members home and had dinner (Stake and potatoes). We played with their kids and called our families...

Then we had a leadership meeting on Friday which was super fun. We came back that night and had a sweet lesson with a new investigator from China, John, who wants to be baptized but needs to understand more. So we are teaching him very simply and gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese... it was so sweet!

Saturday was one of those days were the Spirit just led us the whole day long, and we just saw miracle after miracle as we found new people to talk to and went to the less actives homes at the moment we needed to be there! It was just a great day to be alive and to be on God's errand.

And then Sunday... Sister Bontrager drove John to church! Investigators brining investigators! Its the best! The Spirit was so strong and I just knew that I LOVED Rochester and I knew I was supposed to be here. Maybe it took me all transfer but I can say that I LOVE it here and that I'm so happy I was called to come to the cornfield to teach the wonderful prepared people here... and then... the night ended.

Our district leader called and he knew before us what was going to happen with transfers. As he told us we started to fall apart... and then President called. Both Sister Barrett and I are getting transfered out of Rochester!!! We just got double transfered in 6 weeks ago... but we are in the Lafayette Stake driving to the other stakes to do exchanges, and Lafayette already had STL's on Campus... so they are moving Sister Training Leaders to another area. So we are leaving... and then President just like that told me that I was going to be going to the White River ward to open it up to sisters. White River is in DOWNTOWN Indy. Like downtown downtown. I've been to that building on exchanges, across the street from the church is the zoo and the Indianapolis Skyline! I LOVE downtown so much. I've been there a few times on exchanges or for service projects. Its kinda sketchy being so in the ghetto, and I heard people say my whole mission how sisters wil never serve there... but now they are!!! And I get to open it! The best part is that I am being released as a Sister Training Leader and I will be put with another sister who President didn't tell me who she was but that I have worked with her before (either an old companion or someone I've gone on exchanges before.) He said she was amazing and that I will be able to help her a lot in my last transfer. The best part is that he is making her my senior companion!!! I cannot wait to go and open an area and be a jr. companion! I've never been a normal missionary my entire mission and the idea of not having to plan exchanges, go to extra meetings, and train is blowing my mind! There is zone training next week... and guess what! I don't have to do anything but show up and feel the Spirit! I haven't done that since March! I could not be more excited. I'm sad to leave Rochester because I FINALLY fell in love, but its going to be such a fun adventure. They call this a 6 week bullet, when you only have 6 weeks left in your mission and you just go and open a new area to die in it! But it will be great, and I cannot wait!!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!

*Sorry for the long email, it was just the best week of my whole life!!!* 

Love you all,

Sister Cordner

December 23, 2013

This week has been one of the BEST WEEKS EVER!!! They always are, but this week was especially good!

The Bontragers are my favorite people. She was the HQ referral we got our first week here. I'm pretty sure I was sent to Rochester when I was to teach her. She is my favorite thing about the area. We had a sweet dinner and lesson with them on Tuesday, they came to the branch party on Friday... they stayed and helped clean up, they basically are members already. (well Brother Bontrager is a member... he has a heart problem and at the party he asked the Elders for a blessing! So cool!) And then they came to church on Sunday! They came two weeks ago to, and last week they didn't because of the weather but they were so sad they couldn't come. In one of our lessons this week she expressed to us how she has been feeling like she has been in the wrong church! That was huge! She knows she needs the truth, and she is seeking it! And finding it! They are going to have us over tomorrow (Christmas eve) for dinner and a lesson. We are going to watch Joy to the World with them and invite her to baptism, again. We invite her almost every time. But she thinks she already was baptized and made a covenant, so she doesn't yet see the reason she need to be baptized again, but we are working on it!

Thursday we had a Christmas Conference with the whole mission. It was a lot different than I expeceted it. Instead of a zone conference type feeling that the last years conference was, this was more of a party type feeling. We had about a 2 hour training on Christlike attributes with a lot of musical numbers intermixed... and then that was it for the spiritual side. We had a big lunch, played some games, took pictures, watched a talent show (which was so good! Indiana missionaries are the best people in the whole world!!!) and then we watched Mr. Kreugers Christmas and got presents from our family! Don't worry mom and dad, I haven't opened all the presents you sent me! I am being good!!!! The conference got over so late that night, we didn't have time to drive all the way back, so we spent the night in Kokomo with the sisters who drove us down, and then we made our way back Friday morning. The conference was so fun, it was probably the last time I will see most of my friends. I was informed through email today that I will be staying in Rochester next transfer with Sister Barrett, so I won't have another transfer meeting to go to. We have two mission leadership councils left and then thats it... so it was kinda emotioanlly draining because I did say goodbye to a lot of people. Ah, I love the people I've met on the mission, this has been the best decision I have ever made!!!

I love Christmas! There is so much Spirit going on everywhere. I hope everyone continues to use what they have left of their christmas season to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. "After all that has been said, the most important thing is to spread the gospel" -Joesph Smith (don't take those quote literally, I can't rmeember exaclty what he said but it was something like that!!! haha!).

I love you all so much! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! haha.

And to my familia, TALK TO YOU SOON!!!!!

Sister Cordner