Priesthood Restoration Site

Hey everybody!

I can't believe it's so close to Halloween. It feels like yesterday I

left four days after the Fourth of July. But that's how the mission

goes! So fast.

I know I usually focus on my week, but I wanted to focus on an

important part of my week for my email. This past Tuesday, I went to

the Priesthood Restoration site. It was in this area, Joseph Smith and

Oliver Cowdery received the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist

and the Melchizedek Priesthood from the apostles Peter, James, and

John. It is also where 70% of the Book of Mormon was translated.

This Restoration site has been open for about 2 months and we had the

privilege to go and see it as a mission. It was so great seeing many

friends I have made over the course of my mission. As well as two of

my trainers, Elder Foster and Elder Froc. Even though we left at four

in the morning to travel four hours, it was worth it. I loved the

spirit I felt from walking those sacred grounds. And to be addressed

by President Anderson on how special, this place really was, I was

touched. It made me reflect on my own receiving of the Priesthood and

how important that truly is to me. It also gave me a chance to renew

my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and how dedicated he was to

this work of the Lord, along with his trusted companion, Emma. I pray

as I go and do all the Lord asks me to do, I may do it with honor to

my Savior, Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith did that to the very end of his

life. May we all appreciate the love and appreciate from this great

prophet and the work he has done in order for us to understand the

truth of the Master and our perfect Father in Heaven.

                     (Leo & his 1st Zone Leader, Elder Riley)

40-Degree Weather and First Week Training

Hey everybody! How are you doing??? It's been a little crazy and all

the time busy, but that's a good thing! There's nothing better for

missionaries than work.

So to start off, I had a pretty good last day with Elder Foster on

Monday. We ate food, said goodbye to members and investigators, and

got him packed to go to his new area (Which is Honesdale in the

Scranton Zone).

Tuesday was pretty early for us. We woke up at around 4:30 a.m. and

left at around 5:30 to go to transfers and pick up some missionaries

in Camden along the way. I needed to be there at around 7:45 to get a

trained on...well training. It was good, I learned a lot and got so

pumped to train after transfers. Transfers were so fun, I got to see

so many Elders and Sisters I came out with. 3 other missionaries I

came out with are also training and it was crazy to just look back and

see how all of us have progressed since we came out. But transfers

were unpredictable, like always. I am in another trio again! (I pretty

much came to the conclusion I'll just be in trios my entire

mission).The Elder I'm training is Elder Harris. He just turned 18

last month and is from Orderville, Utah. He's a big hunter. But he's

excited to work. My other companion is Elder Thomas, he is from Provo

Utah and a big music person. He has 5 weeks left, so I'm killing

another missionary, which is pretty rough because I hate saying

goodbyes. But I'm grateful for his knowledge, he's such a great Elder

and we talk so much about music, band, songs. It's so great! I'm

grateful for both of my companions, they have so much to contribute

and really are going to be essential in moving the work forward. Right

after we got home, we went and knocked on doors in our home town,

Riverside. It was great for Elder Harris to just get the real life

experience.

Thursday, I conducted my first District Meeting. It went really well

and there was a great discussion on the Book of Mormon. I was just so

glad the Lord blessed me in leading out an effective discussion. I was

so happy by the end of it. We also did service for Brother Lopata (the

member who will die if he quits smoking). He told us he appreciated

the work we did for him so much, he told us he would go to church the

first week of November. I was so glad by the end of moving furniture,

paperwork, and boxed for four hours to hear him say that. It truly was

a tender mercy.

Friday I conducted my first two baptismal interviews. It was to a mom

and her 13-year old daughter. It is so amazing to see these people who

are ready to make changes in their lives. The spirit truly was felt as

I asked them the baptismal interview questions and they answered

honestly and openly. The best thing was when they bore their testimony

and it was so powerful to see daughters of God who are completely

committed to the gospel. After that, I got a text from a sister

missionary in Medford who requested a blessing from us. I had the

special privilege to give this Sister a blessing and I was just so

grateful for the Lord to bless me with this chance to be over a

district and not only teach and learn from them, but to help them in

any way I could.

Elder Harris invited his first person to be baptized on Saturday! I

was so proud of him. He is just trying his hardest and I couldn't be

happier about it. Everything he does in teaching, inviting, and

studying reminds me when I first started in the field 3 months ago.

He's progressing very well and I know he will be a great missionary.

We also had the fall festival where it was pretty much a get to know

you for Elder Thomas and Elder Harris with the ward.

Carmen and Spencer are both doing well and are progressing toward

their baptisms in November! I'm excited for them and their spouses as

they strive for baptism. Also, we are going to Susquehanna to see the

Priesthood Restoration Site tomorrow! We only have a few hours for

P-Day today, but tomorrow is our real P-Day for this week. So I will

respond to individual letters tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your

thoughts and prayers. I pray you all have a great week!

Elder Cortes

                       (Leo & Elder Harris)

                        (Elder Thomas playing his Ukelele)

   (Elder Thomas teaching Leo to play Piano)

From Trainee to Trainer

Wow, it's been a crazy past few days everybody. I hope you all are

alright and are doing well, I'm doing great here and had a great last

week of being a golden! I'll get to the exciting stuff later, but to

just say right now, I have been called to be a District Leader and a

Trainer!

So to start off, on Tuesday, Elder Foster and I made the goal of

getting 18 lessons in during the week. We have been getting an average

of 12 or 13, which we thought was pretty decent, but President

Andersen told us the mission committed to 18 back before I came into

the mission. So on the way home, we just said to each other "let's get

18 lessons". By that point, we had 6. Now, numbers aren't the main

thing in the mission, but we knew we could do better. Also, we just

wanted to work like it was our last week together and that's exactly

what we did.

Wednesday, it was really tough because we tried contacting about 15

names of less actives and we were only able to touch base with one and

set a return appointment. But Elder Foster and I just kept being

diligent in the work and we were able to make Sister Theurer's night

(The woman I have my first blessing to). It was for about a half hour

and we haven't been able to see her for weeks since she has been in

and out of the hospital. But she told us it was so great to see us

again. She called us the next day in tears just saying it was a

blessing from God heat we came over. I was just so filled with the

Spirit at that point and just got me motivated to work that Thursday.

Thursday, it was a hard day of finding. We did teach a young mom in

about her young 20's, but she told us she wasn't interested. But after

a long day, we were able to get 2 more lessons by the end of the

night. We pretty much had the mindset of getting 18 lessons by the end

of the week.

Friday, is when it got interesting. We taught Carmen and Rodrigo on

keeping the Sabbath Day and we committed them to coming to church. The

members we commonly take with us to their home, the Cluffs, even

volunteered to drive them to church. It was so great! Carmen is

getting closer and closer to baptism, I can feel it. At the end of the

night we got transfer calls ( phone calls letting us know if we would

be leaving our areas or not). We found out Elder Foster would be

leaving Moorestown on Tuesday and I would stay. We were shocked, we

thought we might get 6 more weeks together, but that's not where the

Lord wants Elder Foster to be. By this point, we were just focused on

our goal. We wanted to reach this together for our last week.

The next morning, we both found out we would be district leaders. So

here I am, just blown away because I'm just finishing my training. I'm

still a little surprised by it. It's a good thing we did serviceable

dat Saturday! By this point we had 11 lessons, but we had faith we

would get 18. We prayed and Sunday was an absolute miracle.

Sunday was a great fast testimony meeting. Elder Foster and I bore our

testimonies and so many spiritual testimonies were given. Our Bishop

came for the first time in 3 weeks because he was in a motorcycle

accident. So it was a great day at church. But after, we were getting

lesson after lesson. Some of them weren't even planned. By the end of

the night, we taught 7 lessons! I was thanking Heavenly Father so much

Sunday night and was so happy that we got to this point.

That brings me to today, 3 hours ago, President Andersen called me an

extended the call to train a new missionary! I was floored. I start

training him tomorrow. I'm also going to be driving for the first time

in 3 months. You know you're moving up in the world when you start

driving a minivan. My first drive will be from Broomall Pennsylvania

to Moorestown New Jersey. It'll be something else. I'm grateful for

this opportunity to train and to be a District Leader. It is like what

Elder Stevenson said, "the Lord will qualify who he calls". I just got

done being trained, so I'm a little anxious, but I will keep what

Elder Stevenson said in my heart. I don't know what it's going to be

like the next transfer or two, but I'm ready! I can't wait to get my

4th companion  tomorrow! I pray all of you are well. I invite all of

you to set a goal or two, as you strive for it, you will be blessed.

You may not always reach that goal, but that is okay. The Lord is

waiting to see what you are going to do with your time on this Earth.

Elder Cortes

Meetings and Long, Long Days of Rain

Hey everyone!

Well, I'm really starting to see how cold it is getting here on the

East Coast. Everyday it's been below 60 degrees and the coldest it's

been was 40 degrees plus wind chill. But it's okay! It makes it that

much nicer when people let you in their house.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet with anyone we met last week

but it was still a good week nonetheless. On Wednesday I went to my

first Zone Conference! I saw missionaries from North Philadelphia,

Cherry Hill South, and Dover (Maryland Area). It was great to see a

lot of friends and President Andersen. It was for most of the day, but

really, it was worth it. We did all these trainings and practices on

being better with using the Book of Mormon. It was a lot of fun all

around!

Friday wasthe first day of raincoats and umbrellas and sweaters and

anything you can think of to stay warm. We went finding for 3-4 hours

in the pouring rain, just making sure our Books of Mormon wouldn't get

wet in the process. Now even though it was 45 degrees with wind chill,

I was okay. I never thought about going in or not knocking on doors. I

was just grateful the Lord gave me that blessing of not wanting to go

in and  just never really feeling cold. It probably was first in my

life, hopefully it's the same way in the snow.... Probably not! We

were also getting our investigators ready for General Conference! We

have an investigator named Spencer, who's getting baptized on November

1st. So we sat down with him and his fiancé, Rebecca, who is a member

and talked about General Conference and how conference really can

speak to you personally. They were so interested and excited when we

said if you have a question, you can get an answer to it through

conference. I'm excited for Spencer and to see him get baptized. He's

been taught for a year so he knows his stuff. They're also getting

married on Halloween so that's great! He'll be ready to go for the

next day. It was also the first day of raincoats and umbrellas and

sweaters and anything you can think of to stay warm. We went finding

for 3-4 hours in the pouring rain, just making sure our Books of

Mormon wouldn't get wet in the process. Now even though it was 45

degrees with wind chill, I was okay. I never thought about going in or

not knocking on doors. I was just grateful the Lord gave me that

blessing of not wanting to go in and  just never really feeling cold.

It probably was first in my life, hopefully it's the same way in the

snow.... Probably not!

Saturday and Sunday, of course, were General Conference. This was

probably the most spiritual conference I have had in my life. Every

talk, hymn, and testimony of the new apostles, was excellent. From

Elder Holland's talk on Mothers, to Elder Oaks' on the atonement, to

President Monson's powerful testimony yesterday, I felt the spirit. We

watched all of conference at the church, something I have never done.

I usually watched on my laptop back home or on the kitchen t.v. with

my Mom. But really, there was a different feeling watching it at the

chapel. It would usually be us and Brother and Sister Cleveland, and

one other family maybe. But to hear the Lord's servants talk was just

excellent. I'm grateful for the new apostles and their testimonies. I

already have a great love for them and can see how much they love the

Lord.

I know there wasn't a lot to talk about this week, but really my mind

has been focused on Conference. I invite all of you to watch the talks

again. Or to watch it as soon as you can if you haven't already. I

learn so much from watching a talk 2 or 3 times over. As long as your

heart is open, you will be able to feel the spirit hearing these men

and women talk. I testify President Monson is the true living prophet

of God. He is my friend, and I love and sustain him with all my heart.

Although I have not met him (and probably never will) I feel like I

know him so well. He is a great man, he showed that yesterday with the

incredible amount of courage he had to bear his testimony. May we all

follow the prophet and his counsel, along with his apostles and anyone

who speaks at General Conference. They are the mouthpiece of the Lord.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Cortes

  (Leo & Elder Foster with Bro. Dunn who translates Gen. Conference in 

                      Burmese with his wife below, every session)