June 3, 2013

WEIRD!!! I have officially finished 6 transfers and I only have 6 left... I kinda hate this! Its going by way to fast! Well to recap my last 6 transfers for those of you who may have forgotten:

First 2: Sister Stanford and I in Lafayette 3!

#3-4: I trained Sister Guy in Lafayette 3.

#5: I trained Sister Knight and Sister Farr in Indy 1st.

#6: Sister Farr and I were companions in Indy 1st while I became a Sister Trainer Leader.

#7....... I'm training again and I will be staying in Indy 1st and will still be a Trainer Leader!!!

WOOT WOOT!!!

This is kinda exactly what I wanted to happen. I  really was not ready to leave this ward yet, I just love it so much here! And Wanda and Andrew's baptism is this week, so leaving now would have been pretty heartbreaking. But yea, I'm excited to train again, even though I have really enjoyed the last transfer not with a new missionary, I'm excited to get back the swing of training! This will most likely be my last opportunity to train because come September they are going to put Trainer Leaders together as companions just like Zone Leaders, so after I'm done training this next greenie I will be just with another Trainer Leader. So hopefully I don't mess this Sister up too badly! So far my other ones haven't turned out too bad. Sister Farr is training this next transfer too! She is really excited but nervous because she has to go to a new area to train! And there are about 3 new areas that are going to be put in the Ohio mission, so I'm just really hoping she doesn't go there, if she does I wouldn't get to see her until her homecoming... that would be horrible. So lets all pray that she doesn't go to Ohio!!!

What else happened this week... basically the news of transfers is more exciting than anything else. We did our last exchange last week in North Vernon and it was a lot of fun! I went to a Mission Leadership Council on Friday which is always fun. I still feel like I have no clue what I'm doing at those councils with all of the other missionaries being so much older than me, but I plug along and pretend that I know whats going on!

Well yea, thats mostly the news. I can't believe how fast my mission has flown by. I have just loved every second of it (okay maybe not EVERY second, but the majority of them!) And I'm so excited to stay in Indy because this area is the bomb and I can't wait to see it continually explode!!! (haha... anyone else get that pun I threw in there... Tamazine will catch it for sure!)

I love you all, if you are bored feel free to send me letters! I love them!!!

Sister Cordner

May 27, 2013

When you count time in 6 week increments, its crazy to see how fast the months go. I feel like we just started this transfer and it was April and now May is almost over and the transfer ends this week! Crazy crazy! This week just flew by. Sister Farr and I are so extremely busy that I hardly have time to breath during the day. If we want to make appointments we have to do it for over a week away! We are really hoping they put another set of missionaries in the ward because the work is just exploding and we just can't physically do it all! Its so fun to see how many lessons we teach and people we can see in a week when we aren't even spending the whole week in our area. This week I went on another two exchanges, but one of them I stayed in my area with the super cute Sister Hansen. She is this teeny tiny cheerleader who is blonde and has the sweetest personality of anyone I have ever met. We are counting down the transfers until we can be companions, because we just really hit it off! Then I did an exchange in Bloomington with Sister Howard who is a brand new missionary but acts like she has been out longer than me. I was so impressed with how well she can talk with everyone and how she can follow the Spirit in lessons. It was so fun to be with those sisters this weekend. As stressful and annoying my calling can be sometimes, I sure do love being able to work with all the different sisters in the mission! This week I have a Mission Leadership Council to go to in the Mission Home and I am really looking forward to being there and actually having some leadership expereince under my belt. And I'm excited to help the mission out and really be able to contribute something. The weirdest thing is that this will be the last meeting and transfer with President Collins. His mission is done next month and it will be really sad to see him and Sister Collins leave. I'm excited to meet President Cleavland, but sad to see them go. Bittersweet... but mostly bitter.

Lets see... what crazy things to report from this last week. I hardly remember what happened. I seem to remember being really tired a lot of the time, and being really busy the rest of the time. We had an AMAZING lesson with a couple that I met my first day in Indy back in March. They were nice when we first met and said we could come back, so we did... but her husband was going through some health problems, so we asked if we could help and gave her our number so she could call us. Then last week we decided it was time for us to see them again, and she was just chatting and super friendly. We were bold and basically just told her we had a message that could change her life and asked her if we could come and teach it to her, and she was really open to it! So when we went for the lesson, we were just expecting it to be another restoration lesson. But this was SO MUCH BETTER! We started and she was very interested, and then we got to the best part, the first vision, and Sister Farr said it just so amazingly, and Carol started to cry. She said she just couldn't explain how she was feeling, so we explained it for her that it was the Spirit. Her husband got upset and asked us what we were trying to do, because they did not want to change churches and he was getting mad... we just told him we were here not to take their faith in Christ away but to add to it with restored truth. When we taught about the Book of Mormon he had a lot of questions, and she was just silently crying. She said she would read it, and he seemed a little hestitant. But we just testified and then closed the lesson. At the end he apologized to us for being mad and said that he knows that we know things he doesn't, and he said he would read it too! Oh my gosh it was amazing!!!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this work! I gave a talk in church yesterday and it was on missionary work and how members can do missionary work! I just can't help but smile when I talk about sharing the Gospel. I know that this is the most important thing to do and I just love being apart of it. This truly has been the best time of my life and I just love it here so much! Indiana is so weird, the weather is up and down like nobodies business and there are thousands of squirrls and geese everywhere... but I wouldn't change a thing! I love Indiana!!!! We visisted our recent convert yesterday and we are already making plans for our reunion after the mish. She wants us to go head to head with her husbands missionaries in some kind of missionary vs. missionary battle because she is postive that 'her' missionaries are the best!!! I just love it! 

The Stickles family is SO close to their baptism. They are doing so well and I have just loved teaching them! Their baptism is week 1 of next transfer though, so I might miss it by 3 days, which is really hard to think of but I know that I have done my part in teaching them! I'm just excited to see their progress in the Gospel!

I love this work so much!

Sister Cordner

May 20, 2013

I just love getting emails from you two so much! I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home! I try not to think about home too much, but when I do I love having that calm assurance that everything is well! Can I just tell you both how much I love you! We were talking with someone this week who didn't have a good home life and good parental situation... and I just had to thank Heavenly Father so much for my amazing parents! How blessed I have been growing up with parents who love each other and love the Lord. You two have always been such a good example to me of a good marriage but also just a good life! One thing that I love about the mission is learning not only how to be a good missionary, but a good disciple of Christ, and I am excited to take the knowledge I have learned and apply that to my future life. I have such a strong testimony of this church, and I wouldn't have had that without the amazing example you both were. Also I just love your children so much!!! Thanks for making best friends for me! I think about Keri all the time and I'm so glad that we are best friends. Also Angell has been such an example to me my whole life, so I'm really glad you had her when you did and that she could be someone that I could look up to! And your sons are pretty great too! The picture with all of you at Juliet's blessing is so gorgeous! You are just amazing people who have had amazing kids and you have helped me in so many amazing ways! I just felt like I needed to email the two of you and let you know how much I love you!!!

I look forward to the day when we can be together again so I can just tell you personally about all of the amazing experiences I have had out here! Indiana has forever changed my life and I will be forever grateful for the choice I made to serve! Thank you for supporting me and helping me through it all!

Love you both, 

Sister Cordner

May 20, 2013

I'm not even sure where to start this email... This week was such a blur I don't even know what happened! I think it went something like this...

Tuesday... lessons

Wednesday... lessons

Thursday... taught one lesson and did planning and traveled.

Friday... Seymore, Indiana with the cute Sister Mayberry

Saturday... North Vernon, Indiana with the amazing Sister Bunnell.

Sunday... church, tracting, fireside, more tracting...

Today... normal Preparation Day.

Well... that about does it! 

Haha, jk, I will go into more detail, I know my mom would so not be happy if that was all I emailed this week! But really things here are pretty much same o same o. Sister Stickels is getting so close to her baptism its so exciting! We taught her and her sons about tithing this week. We gave them a little cup of 10 jelly beans and asked us to pay "tithing" on it. They gave us one back and we read the scripture that said they would have blessings poured out that they wouldn't have room to receive them, and then we poured the bag of jelly beans so much so that their little cup wouldn't hold them all! They seemed to like that. And when we committed the mom to pay tithing her answer was, "Of Course!" I just love seeing people so close to baptism that all of the commitments are answered with "Of Course!" At this point she knows its true and will do everything to be in the true church! Oh man its been so fun teaching them! We are nervous for the interview with her 13 year old son, we just hope that he fully understands what we are teaching him enough to pass the interview, that will be done next week, and then they will get baptized week one of next transfer. I'm REALLY hoping I stay in the area because I would just hate to miss that one! Its going to be amazing! 

I had some really neat experiences this week while on exchanges with the other sisters. Being in a leadership position is hard because I feel like I have to be a perfect missionary for the other sisters to look up to me, but what I have realized is that Heavenly Father is really blessing me to be able to know what each sister needs and how I can help them. I had just the coolest experience teaching with a sister who has had a hard time teaching in unity with both of her companions in the past, and we taught together so well. Then we talked about it and she feels like she knows how to follow the Spirit better in lessons. 

The most amazing thing happened this week at church. First of all I have to say that members are amazing. and we could not do missionary work without them! Sister Buckles is just about my most favorite person in the world, and she has helped us out so much! She went to visit our investigators this week when we couldn't, and she invited them to come to church and she gave them a ride. We have been trying to get them to come for months and they always say yes but never do, but they finally came! They had a great time in Sacrament meeting and they said they felt like all the talks were addressed to them! Then we taught gospel principles and we were on the chapter about the restoration, and we did apostasy cups (a visual about the church in Christ's time and how it fell and how it was rebuilt, with new apostles and a prophet and Christ still at the top). They really liked that and asked a lot of questions. We saw her have some "ah-ha" moments as she asked a question and we answered it and others in the class answered it and she covered her mouth with her hands and started to cry. She SO knows its true! That was probably one of the coolest experiences I've had out here! 

We had a missionary fireside last night and the ward asked us to come and pretend to be investigators as the youth came around and taught us. It was a lot of fun to be on the other side of the lessons, and I love seeing the ward get excited for missionary work. The youth can leave so early now, and its just exciting to see them get prepared! 

Well I hope that was enough detail for you! I love being a missionary! I hate to say this... but I've reached my half way point! Its weird to think that there is less ahead of my mission than there is behind it... so weird. 

I love you all! Have a great week, can't wait to hear from ya'll soon! 

Sister Cordner

May 13, 2013

This week has been so... BUSY! We had a full day Tuesday, we had to do planning on Wednesday, and Zone Conference all day Thursday, then I went to Bloomington and spent Friday with Sister Saunders in Clear Creek and Saturday I was with Sister McDowell in Highland! It was so fun to be with Sister McDowell because we know all the same people. It was a mini- Gilbert reunion in Bloomington Indiana! The two of us just had a great time complaining about the weird 40 degree weather and constant rain storms... yea, welcome to my life now! Its all new to her but its been annoying me for about... 8 months now! haha, not really, but the weather in IN is just about the weirdest thing in the world. Its the middle of May and still in the 40s and 50s... come on!!! 

Talking to home was so much fun! My parents are so funny! Mom you just made me laugh a lot! And Keri, it sounded like Prom was so much fun! How did you grow up so fast, I'm pretty sure you just barely started your senior year, how the heck are you almost a graduate! So weird!!!

The work is really exploding, despite the fact that I feel like I have half the time to work... we found another 4 new investigators this week and our planners for the coming week are already full! We have NO time to find this week because of all the teaching we will be doing! I love it! Also our family is progressing so well and we just can't wait for June for their baptism date. Teaching the Word of Wisdom this week was tough because she thought she was already living it by drinking de-caf everything, and she said we left her with nothing to drink... but she is committed to doing it! I love seeing people change. Her sons came to church this week with nice white shirts on! She is going to be an amazing member and her family is going to change forever because of this! 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! I told you guys on the phone, I think I just want to do this the rest of my life! Its just about the best work there is to do, and I love being a part of it! I miss you all though, but I just love being out here!!! Thanks for everyones love and support! Talk to you next week!

Sister Cordner

May 6, 2013

This week has been a long one. I've been sick for the majority of it and I'm just trying to survive! Tuesday I went to bed thinking I just had really bad allergies, and Wednesday I had a 7 hour long training for leaders, and the whole time I thought I was going to die! Not really, but I was not feeling that good. The training was really good, but like I said, I just felt gross. That night I got home and I had a fever, so that night was a rough one. Then on Thursday we were packed with appointments, so the day went pretty fast, and I didn't have a fever anymore but I still didn't feel to great. Friday though was interesting...

We had Zone Meeting and I gave my first training! I was so nervous but everyone seemed to think I did a good job. It was kind of like teaching Sunday School, but 100 times harder because you are in front of really smart missionaries and you are trying to train them on how to be better missionaries... I wanted them to do a role play, but first I had to role play what I wanted them to do... and let me tell you, teaching investigators isn't hard, but pretending to teach your companion in front of the whole zone is SO SCARY! Especially after I just taught them how to do it, I was afraid I would do it wrong and they would all judge me. Luckily it turned out okay, and if they judged me... well... then oh well! 

After the Zone Meeting we went tracting and had an interesting experience. This man would not let us leave his porch and he just kept telling us we were wrong and bad and going to hell... we tried to leave but he just wouldn't let us, and we didn't know how to get out of that situation. Finally Sister Farr just asked if she could bare her testimony, to which he just TORE it apart, and that did it for her... she had a hard time recovering from that one. I just smiled at him the whole time and appreciated him for his opinion and very nicely just told him he can't tell us we are built on lies unless he actually reads the Book of Mormon... but he wouldn't hear any of it. Anyway, that really hurt Sister Farr and its been a tough weekend since then. 

That night we drove to Seymour for our first exchange. The assistants gave us mattresses to take with us so we don't have to sleep on the floor. So we get to their parking lot, pull out our suitcases and our mattresses and my purse and my preach my gospel and my notebook and I'm trying to balance all of it when it starts DOWN POURING rain. I can't balance everything and start dropping things left and right and just start running to their appartment. Finally they heard me screaming, "SISTERS!!!" and they came out and helped us. By the time we got to their apartment our mattresses were soaked, so we ended up sleeping on the ground anyway. Not a great way to start my first exchange. 

The next day Sister Fullmer and I just totally tore up Seymour. We tracted the entire day, found some AMAZINGLY prepared people, and had a blast doing it. I'm sad that it wasn't my area because I want to teach the people we found so bad! Sister Farr and Sister Fullmer's companion Sister Mayberry also had an awesome day and found an investigator. I love that my role as a missionary not only includes serving the people in my area, but serving the other sisters in the mission! At the end of the exchange Sister Fullmer just said thank you a ton! The assistants said that exchanges can be turning points to missionaries missions. Sometimes just having an amazing day with a leader can remind you that this work is possible and do-able, and I think Sister Fullmer saw that when we were together! 

Sunday was great because we had stake conference that was broadcasted from SLC. President Uchtdorf gave an amazing talk and I was very spiritually filled! (But I was still really sick, so I didn't get a ton out of it!) In fact after church I went home and slept for a while before we went out again because I was still so sick, and I still am not feeling that well, but I got some juice today and I am determined to kick this cold and cough so I can get back to working! It drives me crazy being sick on the mission! 

Dang... this was a long letter this week! you're welcome! I love you all so much, 

Sister Cordner!