June 24, 2013

Well another week in Indy has come and gone! I love it here so much! It hasn't been the best week of my mission, or my life... but it has been a learning and growing one for sure. We aren't teaching anyone right now, except for my best friend Naradah who was less active but isn't really anymore, and the 9 year old daughter of a less active. But other than that we have just been really struggling to find new investigators and to have lessons. Its been kinda a downer to look at my numbers lately, so naturally I was down about that... and then the week just kept getting better (and that was sarcastic...) 

Last Monday after I emailed I got a call from President Collins while I was at Bath and Body Works (Semi-Annual Sale is my best friend). Anyway his voicemail was... Sister Cordner, please call me back when you can! My heart sunk... why would President Collins be calling. When I called him back he goes on to explain to me how the mission is splitting in a few weeks (which I knew) and how there was currently a sister who was waiting to get her Visa in one of the wards that was going to the new mission, and how Salt Lake didn't want that to happen. So his words were... "Will you take her?" Of course I said yes, but I had no idea what was all happening. So I am now, once again, in a trio training two brand new missionaries. One of whom needs to learn Portuguese,  so instead of 3 hours inside to study, we have 4! Thats a long time of being inside... I just loved last transfer where at 10:00 Sister Farr and I could leave the apartment and work hard all day long. I don't have that luxury when you are training a language missionary. We are going to be inside until about 1:00 each day... and then go to work! Holy cow thats a lot of inside time. 

We didn't actually pick up Sister Wear until Friday, but all week it was something I was stressing about. How am I supposed to go on exchanges with a trio? I've been doing a lot of work trying to figure everything out. We had an exchange on Tuesday in tiny North Vernon Indiana. That day was okay. Then on Wednesday I was excited because it was the only full day I had in my area to work with my companion, and the day starts off just great, but on our way to help an investigator move we pulled into a gas station to get some water and a car backed into us right on the passenger side. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be in a car accident on my mission, both Angell and Kyle were in some sort of accident... but I was not ready for what was to come. The accident wasn't that bad and nobody got hurt, but spiritually and emotionally it threw me off. Our mission President's wife told us to go inside (which bummed me out again because all I want to do is work) and to rest. I just went in and cried, a lot! Then on Thursday after District Meeting the District Leader gave Sister Mumford a blessing because she wasn't feeling to good (you know, because a car basically ran into her!) and I got a blessing of comfort. Then we got our apartment ready for our new companion, did weekly planning, and then had a meeting with our ward mission leader. Another day of not really doing the work that I love. 

Friday we went to the mission home for a Mission Leadership Council. This was really a sad one because it is President and Sister Collins last week. I was not ready to say goodbye to them. They are some of my favorite people in my life and saying goodbye was hard. We went to lunch at a Chinese Buffet and the Collins sat by us sisters. It was a great way to spend the lunch break! I love them so much! Then after the meeting we picked up our little visa waiter, Sister Ware. She is super cute and is from Kentucky (only 3 hours away from our area). She is also 19 (as all of my companions have been since the announcement) and she is just a little ball of fun! We all get along really well, but I still have to remind them sometimes that we are missionaries and not teenage girls! Even though they are... 

Saturday was good because I was on an exchange with one of my favorite sisters, and it was in my area, so it was nice to work in my own area and to work with someone who knew what she was doing! 

Sunday was the greatest because Naradah took the Sacrament. She asked for my Preach My Gospel and wrote her name under the place for names of people Baptized. She calls me her missionary and says she couldn't have done it without me! She is now preparing herself to go on a mission, and will probably be going threw the temple about the time I am just getting home. She is actually planning a trip to go to Utah next February because both Elder Davis (the Elder she met with before us) and me will be home and she wants us to go to the temple with her! She has been the highlight of my week, and my transfer really! 

This is a long email, sorry! One more thing! The Broadcast yesterday about missionary work was the BEST THING EVER!!! Oh my goodness I am so excited. I saw President and Sister Cleveland in the audience, they will be here on Friday! It will be a weird transition but it is something I am excited for. We have been teaching Sunday School classes the last few weeks on member missionary work, and after that broadcast I am just praying that more members will step it up and that the work will explode! I love it here so much and I love being a representative of my Savior doing the great work that he asks us all to do! I love inviting others to come unto Christ! And I love being a missionary! I am determined to be in a better mood this week because the work is great and the church is true, and I am going to tell EVERYONE!!! 

So yea... long email, sorry! Love you all, 

Sister Cordner

June 17, 2013

This week has been a very.... weird, humbling, out-there, kinda weeks... Not one day was a normal day for me, and as a trainer its hard because I want Sister Mumford to get into a good routine but we just don't have the time. Here is a quick over view of the weird week...

Tuesday we went to District Meeting and then drove to Bloomington to start an exchange. 

Wednesday I brought another sister from Bloomington back to Indy to do another exchange here.

Thursday we had a specialized training on finding, and it was fun because it was 4 zones big, and everyone was there, so I got to see a lot of friends.... unfortunately the friends that were not there are going to Ohio, so I won't see them ever again. Then that training went longer than expected so it pushed the rest of our plans for the day off. At the end of the trianing though we all got to give President Collins and Sister Collins a hug! It doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you spend 9 months with a leader who is just like your dad out here and you can't even hug him, the moment you can hug him becomes a big deal! It was pretty sweet. I'm really sad to see him go, but I still have a leadership meeting to go to this week and he will be there, so I haven't said my goodbyes just yet!

Thursday night we got probably one of the best calls from the AP's ever!!! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was in town Friday night, and if you could get an investigator to go with you than the mission would give you free tickets and you could go, but we tried all last transfer and couldn't get anyone to commit to going. Anyway, Friday night the AP's called and said there were EXTRA tickets... and asked if we wanted to go!!!! WHAT?! Yes please!!! 

So Friday was a weird day too, we had 3 lessons planned but 2 fell through. When the noon appointment cancelled the member decided to take us out to lunch so that was really fun. Then we had another cancelled appointment so we used that time to take our dinner break because we weren't going to get one later that day, and then at 5:30 some members picked us up and drove us downtown for the concert, so all in all we did like 3 hours of proselyting that day, and 3 hours of study, and the whole day just felt off! But the concert was SO GOOD! I cannot even put into words how good it was. It was a spiritual vacation to say the least. I just let myself listen to the music and the Spirit and not stress about what I had to do for my ward or for the sisters I'm over... and it was so amazing!

Saturday was another weird day because there was an event in downtown called PBS Kids in the Park, and the mission has been helping out for the last 4 years. So we put on these bright green T-Shirts and show up at the park to be crowd control. I thought people being mad at me for sharing the gospel was scary, but getting in the way of a mom and her 10 month old daughter getting to meet Daniel Tiger.... holy cow... SCARY! We had to tell people that the line ended so the character could take a break because the suits they were in were huge and they needed to take them off every 30 minutes to cool down or they would get heat stroke... anyway, we had to be the mean people, and gosh... parents are not nice when they drove all the way here and stood in line forever to see Daniel Tiger! 

Sunday was my favorite day, because I got to take the sacrament, and start my week over. This whole week was just out there and I really just needed a re-start, and thats exactly what Sunday did for me!!! 

Now I have to tell you all about my new best friend. Her name is Naradah, and she has been less active for about 10 years. She had a horrible day about a month ago and drove past the church and decided to park in front of the church and pray. She said in her car she just felt so much peace, and knew she needed to come back. She told her mom and her mom tried to find missionaries to help her (her mom being very active still and has been praying this whole time she would find her way back.) She ended up calling a missionary referral line in SLC and Naradah got a hold of a Temple Square sister who has just been talking to her over the phone. Then the sister pushed her to go to church, so she did, and met some elders in the ward. The Elders in the 3rd ward texted us a few weeks ago and said that they had been working with someone who actually lived in our boundaries  so we had a lesson with them and then we started to meet with her. It has been AMAZING helping her, I cannot even express the love I have for this sister. She is 25 and is totally changing her life. We set up an appointment to meet with our Bishop, and he said she could take the sacrament again!!!!!! This is as exciting as someone deciding to get baptized, the result is the same! Naradah is just doing amazing and she has come with us to lessons to teach other people, and we keep teaching her a couple times a week. I have been asking her about serving a mission and she said she has been thinking about it! Oh my goodness, I just love her and think the world of her, and I think if my whole mission was for me to meet her it would have been worth it! I just love her so much!

Wow this has been a long email! I guess I had a lot to say! I love you all and thank you all for your emails! Attached is a picture of my posterity (my 3 daughters (Sister Knight wasn't there), my 3 granddaughters, and my 1 great-granddaughter), and a picture of me and Sister Stickels at her baptism!!!  And me and the Mo-Tab... no big deal!

June 10, 2013

My camera cord isn't working so I can't send pictures of the baptism, but I promise I will make sure it works soon because you just have to see them! Wanda and Andrew got baptized yesterday and it was one of the best days EVER!!! (I say that a lot!) But she was just so happy! She told me at her last lesson how it has been interesting to see how she is changing. Like before she used to not mind swear words but now they bother her, and when things are bad she used to not care but now she turns away from them! She is truly becoming a disciple of Christ! Her baptism was beautiful and she is ready to be an amazing member of Relief Society and to raise her children in the Gospel. Teaching her has been my favorite thing about this area. My first lesson in Indy was with her, and it has been the best 3 months ever! 

Oh yea... and transfers happened this week. Sad day, Sister Farr and Sister Guy both got transfered to areas that will be in the Ohio mission. My whole posterity is ditching out on me. But I got a picture with my posterity for the last time, and it was really cool! I have 4 kids, 3 grandkids, and 1 great-grandkid. I'm a great grandma at 9 months old... how crazy is that?!?!?! hahahaha! But my new companion, I'm sure thats what everyone wants to hear about, she is just AMAZING! I cannot get over how perfect she is for right now in my mission. Her name is Sister Mumford and she is from North Carolina (NOT UTAH!!!) and she is just super cute! She is not scared to talk to people at all and our first lesson that night she got here she was asking inspired questions and bearing testimony. (Those teachers at the MTC sure are amazing... Sister Stanford!!! ;)

But I feel like I'm not really training her to be a missionary but to be a leader, because I just see it in her already. She is going to have to go on 10 exchanges with me in the next 5 weeks, so she will have a lot of experience working with other sisters, and although she won't be the leader, she will be helping me figure out how I can help them, and she is so ready for it! In her interview the first day here they told her she would be a leader because she just has what it takes! Honestly, she is just an answer to prayers and she is just simply amazing! I wake up happy every day because of her!

Having said that, the work is going great! We also had Elders put into the ward, so my area just got half the size, and the Elders are going great. The trainer was just released from being a Zone Leader and he is going home at the end of this transfer, needless to say I'm super intimidated with working with this Elder, but he has great ideas that will really help the ward. I'm just glad because with us being gone so much out of the week there will still be missionaries in the area so Indy can hear the Gospel!!! 

I love this work so much! Reading Elder Cordner's email this week was weird because I think of his mission in Fiji and my mission in Indiana and although its the same (worrying about investigators being able to give up smoking to get baptized) its SO DIFFERENT! All I can say is I'm glad Heavenly Father knows who can take what, and I'm glad there are amazing missionaries like Elder Cordner that can go to crazy places like Fiji! 

Well, I don't have anything else to say, this week is going to go fast! Exchanges the next 2 days, training on Thursday, and a all day service project in downtown Indy on Saturday! I have maybe a day and a half to do work in my own area... so crazy! I love it here so much though! I hate to see the time fly so fast! I love all of you, 

Sister Cordner

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