Thanksgiving and Birthday!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We sure did. It was a good

week overall. It was a little tough on lessons because almost

everybody went out of town, but it's okay! We still kept busy like we

always do.

So, for the entire week were helping out this family who have been

investigators to the church for years. They were moving out today and

they needed so much stuff done last week. We helped take down a $7000

playground set, moved out boxes and boxes in the garage, and took out

a lot of furniture. We were so grateful to help out the Kings, almost

every day last week for a few hours. But it finally got done and they

were so relieved and so happy about all the things we were able to

move out. It's always so great to give service like that, because

seeing people happy and glad stuff gets done is a blessing.

Tuesday, we were able to see the Bramhalls, a really great family in

the ward. Their kids gave us 10 or so bags of candy with turkey

drawings on them. They asked if we can give them to people we see and

we were like "of course!", because who's going to turn down candy from

kids right? We already have passed out a good number of bags already

and got great turnouts from it.

Wednesday, we had District Meeting because we usually have it on

Thursday. We had two new missionaries in the Zone. One of them is the

new District leader, named Elder Chapman,for the other district, and

I'm pretty excited to work with him. The other missionary is Sister

Eckman, which I was pretty glad about. She was a Restoration Site

sister when she came out on her mission. But with the winter, a lot of

the Restoration Site sisters go into the mission to proselyte because

they don't get many visitors at that time. So this is her first area

pretty much! It's cool because we flew on the plane to the mission

together so it was pretty great to have friends like that you serve

around. She asked me to give her a blessing right after District

Meeting which I was more than happy to. It was probably the most

powerful blessing that I have given. I will be honest, it is such a

blessing to hold the Priesthood because you feel so good after using

it to help others, to act in the way the Lord would act. After that we

were able to see a few less actives we never met before which was

pretty nice. We were able to set up a few appointments with them this

week so hopefully I'll be able to talk about it next week!

Thanksgiving!!!!! Wow, it was so much fun. We started off by getting

up at like 5:00 a.m. to drive to Cherry Hill to have a big breakfast

and play in the Turkey Bowl (football) with all the Elders in the

Zone. We were there for probably 4-5 hours just having a great time

playing football. Except one Elder had cleats and the field was really

wet, so all of us were slipping except him. I'll be honest, it's been

a long while since I played any football, but I did pretty decent a

few TD's and a pick! But it was so fun having that quality time with

the other Elders. When we got home, we cleaned up and went right to

visiting as many people as we could. We visited Bishop Poaletti and

his wife, the Walches (two of my favorite people in the ward), David

Garduno, and so many more! It was so fun being able to just go and

visit so many different families and we ended the night having a huge

meal with the Davis Family! Oh my gosh, there was so much food

everywhere we went and the Davis' had the most. What was a downer was

I didn't feel all that well after we left the Davis' at 8. We had a

few more people to visit but my stomach had other plans.... So that

was pretty sad we didn't see 1 or 2 more families. But I was really

glad with all the visits we were able to make.

Friday we helped out with service with the Kings then we went to

Cherry Hill again at the end of the night because I needed to do a

baptismal interview for an investigator who was getting baptized the

next day. His name is Tunde and he is from Ethiopia! He is a

professional soccer player who plays in Europe Leagues. But it's great

to interview these brothers and sisters who are ready to make that

sacred covenant of baptism. They just have a special countenance about

them and you can just tell this is something they truly want. By the

time we were done with the interview, it was too late to drive back

home so we stayed the night with the the Zone Leaders.

The next day we decided to come to Tunde's baptism and it went so

well! Of course it's always so neat to see someone get baptized and to

see the difference in them. After that, we got back and did some more

service and went to Spencer and Rebecca's place for dinner! It was

great to sit down with them because they have all these different

goals they plan on reaching like being sealed in the temple, getting

temple recommends, getting patriarchal blessings, and so much other

stuff! They both already got callings, which I thought was pretty

great. They really are doing well for themselves and I'm going to have

such a party when they get sealed next year wherever I am in the

mission.

Sunday was really great! It happened to be my birthday which I thought

was pretty cool. We also had testimony meeting this week because of

Stake Conference next week. It was the first time having that on my

birthday, a lot of good testimonies were given and the chapel is all

set for the holidays. I also got a pretty nice tie from the Davis',

it's solid teal. Everyone loved it! Sara was so happy when she saw me

in it, it was such a great day. Nothing super different, we just went

out knocking on doors and visited people, but I was glad to see tender

mercies on my birthday.

Well, I just got done taking my first full trip into Philly. The Zone

Leaders showed us around for my birthday! There's really so much you

can do over there, I really do hope I get to serve there at one point.

But now we are getting ready for Christmas! There's a new video on

LDS.org called A Savior is Born. We are planning on showing that to as

many people as we can. But I want you all to know I am grateful for

you and I'm grateful for this mission. I have learned so much about my

Savior Jesus Christ, and I continue to do so. It is my hope and prayer

you all have that chance this holiday season. Have a great week! Oh,

it's below 30 degrees now, no snow yet, but it'll come!

Sincerely,

Elder Cortes

               (Leo with Sara Davis & her husband)      

Long Rides to Philly and Another Goodbye

Hey guys!

It's been getting pretty cold out here in Jersey. But we are still

pressing on! This was the last week of the transfer so we had a few

changes in the district, a few goodbyes, but still, it was a great

week!

Tuesday and Thursday, we saw the Davis family and taught the kids

simple things like the Godhead and Families. It's really great because

teaching the gospel in basic terms is how it should always be. With

kids, that just sticks out. They always have good questions and really

do want to listen.

Wednesday, we saw the Williams Family, who are members in the ward.

However, Sister Williams hasn't been to church for a few months. She

works at a hotel and says she could never get Sundays off. But we

promised her if she asked to get Sundays off. What was so awesome was

yesterday, she was at church! She put our promise to the test and she

was able to get off. I love promising people blessings as we invite

them to keep commitments, it just feels like it always comes true. It

also feels like there is a divine power that backs it up as well as we

promise them a blessing in keeping a commitment.

Thursday and Sunday, we took Elder Thomas to Philadelphia. I'll be

honest, it is something else driving through Philadelphia. You learn

so much! But anyway, the reason we did was on Thursday we dropped him

off so he could go to the temple on Friday, because all the departing

missionaries get to go to the temple before they go home. Sunday was

the finisher! It was so great, because we met the Assistants at the

Philadelphia Temple and it was such a great sight.

Saturday, we also saw David Garduno. We started teaching him about

temples and he is on his way to getting ready! I'm excited for him and

hopefully we can get him there. That will be a really exciting time.

Also, before we took Elder Thomas home, we taught Relief Society on

Missionary Work.....and our Stake President was our escort because we

need a guy in the room full of sisters. Even though it was different

on a many different levels, we had a great time getting all the

sisters ready for the Holidays and what they can do to spread the

gospel!

Also, transfer calls were Friday and I am not getting transferred!

Neither is Elder Harris. So we will be together for another six weeks.

Which means I will be in Moorestown for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and

the New Year! It'll be a good transfer. I'm excited to find new people

and hopefully get a baptism!

Well, Thanksgiving is this week! We have a lot of plans to go to a lot

of houses. I can't wait!

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving and a great break. I hope

all is well back home. Take care and have a great holiday!

Elder Cortes

Mid-November

Hey everyone!

It's been such a busy week, especially with Thanksgiving coming up.

But that's exactly how it should be!!

We had a a day filled with interviews with our mission president and

training from the Assistants. It was a really good day learning how to

teach more simply and efficiently. Also, our President is so great. He

truly does care about each of his missionaries individually. It really

does make me want to have more charity with everyone I see.

We also had a new investigator this past week named James. We met him

Saturday and he's a real down to earth guy. He has mild autism and he

has a son about 6 who has autism as well. He also has a cool two year

old daughter. We taught him the plan of salvation and he had so many

honest questions. Those are the best lessons, when there are so many

questions asked. He's great, we are meeting with him sometime this

week.

We also had Spencer's confirmation Sunday. It's always great to be a

part of confirmations. He's getting the Aaronic Priesthood soon, so he

just keeps progressing! Last week of the transfer! We are having a

blast together, but it'll tough to see Elder Thomas go. Transfers are

next Tuesday, so we will see if I'm staying or leaving! If I stay,

it'll be until after Christmas.

Hope all of you are doing well! Take care and be happy and safe.

Elder Cortes

Busy Cold Days and a Baptism!

Hey Everyone!

Time just doesn't stop, that's for sure. I have just been going

nonstop this week, but that's a good thing. I can't even imagine

wasting time on the mission. I hope you all are doing great! I'm sure

you're a all excited for the holidays. I know I am. Thanksgiving and

Christmas are going to be so fun here! But anyway, I'm excited to

share my experiences this past week with you, there's a lot of good

ones.

Tuesday we drove to Broomall, PA for Elder Harris' Golden Retraining.

It was really great! They talked about the same things for the most

part when I went to my retraining, but I learned so much more. It was

like the Lord just always has something to teach me, which I am so

grateful for. I also got to do a role play of a street contact with my

Mission President which was pretty fun and different at the same time.

All of us had such a blast, trainers and Goldens. I really loved

getting to know the trainers and seeing good friends, like my friend

Elder Drake, who is serving in Pottsville. I'm also glad my son, Elder

Harris, did a great job (trainers are dads). He's doing a good job so

far in his mission, I can tell he really does care and is progressing

very well. Also, traffic to Broomall is insane. We went on the road

call Roosevelt Lane, which has six lane and a divider between three

lanes. It's one of the most accident prone roads in the country and it

was just so crazy. But on the way home we drove through center city,

and it was so amazing. There were all these murals and endless amounts

of people. I just want to stay there the rest of the day and do street

contacting. But I'm not worried, I'll get there one day!

Thursday, we went to Zone Training and had a really fun time. Elder

Bowman and Elder McCarthur did a great job with the training. We also

met some mini missionaries (16 year olds who are with missionaries for

a few days) from Delaware and the North Jersey. They were pretty smart

in the gospel, I'm just grateful the youth understands the importance

of preparing now for a mission. After Zone Training, I did a two day

exchange with Elder McCarthur, we went to Cherry Hill the first day

and Moorestown the second. He's been my Zone Leader ever since I have

been out on my mission, so needless to say, it was pretty nice to

spend two days with him just working together.

Sunday was pretty much the best part of the week. All week we were

getting ready for Spencer's baptism (interview, the program, etc.) and

to finally see him be baptized was great. His wife, Rebecca, was

sitting next to me and she was just beaming constantly. I was just so

happy for her, it was her first time seeing a baptism besides her own.

She gave the closing prayer and was so nervous, but it was pretty

powerful. I truly did feel the spirit as she prayed. The end of the

night was pretty much perfect. We taught David, who we have been

teaching for months. When we got there, he had almost finished 1st

Nephi and just wants to do everything he can to strengthen his faith.

He had all these questions written down and we just had a great

discussion with him. At the end of it, he gave the prayer and was so

emotional, I was so happy with the progress he is making to get back

to being active.

It's constant 40's over here but that doesn't bother us. We just keep

on moving, because that's all you can do. Anyway, I hope all of you

have a great week. I truly do love you guys and I do love the gospel,

may we all be strengthened in the Lord and His everlasting grace. Keep

being great!

Elder Cortes

Halloween

Hey everyone!

I hope all of you had a great Halloween. Mine was a little....

different. But it was a great time nonetheless! But I'll get to that

in a little bit. There were a lot of great miracles that happened and

we just continue to learn and grow by the spirit!

It was a pretty great Tuesday for us! We saw Brother Madueke before he

took a trip with his Mom to Nigeria for a couple weeks. We talked

about him getting a calling and he said he was all for it! It is so

great because all he wants to do is help the youth in the area and I'm

just thinking "Oh my gosh, he could be a perfect Sunday school

teacher"! So I can't wait to see what happens because I think that is

what will get him completely active again. We also met a man named

Marcello who was locked out of his house. It was perfect timing

because we had 30 minutes before we needed to be at a lesson so we

went to do some finding. He was such a kind guy, he's from Brazil and

just moved here two weeks ago! He's been studying English for 8 years

before he came and he was very interested in meeting with us! What a

tender mercy by the Lord.

Wednesday we met with a young boy named Mateus who just turned 8 this

past week. It's pretty great! We met him two weeks ago and he asked

what we were doing, so we explained we were missionaries. He was

pretty curious what we were all about, so we told him we would stop by

sometime and give him a Finding Faith in Christ dvd. So we did and his

mom only speaks Portuguese but is so nice. We had a great lesson with

Mateus and he was pretty receptive to all that we were saying to him.

Later that night we went to the Davis' (Sara Davis was baptized in

August). We stopped by and simply invited them to church (they had not

been coming for a long while due to personal issues with extended

family). It was so great! They both opened up and said they knew they

needed to come back to church, that they could feel a difference when

they did not go. They committed right then and there to go to church.

Then, before we left, we asked their kids in the other room if they

want to be taught and be baptized. Two of them were interested and

honestly, it was such a great feeling to see these young kids, all

three I saw, take a sincere interest to our message. The Lord truly

did soften my heart that day to see these special young kids take bold

steps in coming closer to our Father in Heaven.

I also had a pretty inspirational district meeting on Thursday. It's

pretty great, the past three weeks I had topics all relating to the

scriptures: The Book of Mormon is the Keystone of our Religion, How to

use Scriptures, and How to use the Book of Mormon. At first when I got

these topics I was a little confused because they are all so similar.

But my friends, they are all so different. I truly have learned so

much on the Book of Mormon and to use it more effectively and to treat

it with such great respect and love it deserves. I also have learned

new ways to help and to teach those to use the scriptures and to help

them feel the spirit as we read. This week it's zone training, but

next week the topic is the Book of Mormon answers questions of the

Soul. I'm really excited for that. It's also been a struggle lately

with Carmen. She did research about the church. When you hear the word

"research", that isn't a good sign. She saw some anti stuff on YouTube

and it broke my heart because it really had her confused. We are not

giving up though, we are seeing her tomorrow and we're hoping the Lord

is with us as we teach her.

Regarding my Halloween, we have to be in before dark (which is 5:30

over here) unless we are with members. Well, I spent my Halloween at a

wedding! It was for Rebecca and Spencer Mora. Spencer is getting

baptized this Sunday so we were excited for them to be married and for

him to be baptized. It's pretty special to see, especially since I

have been teaching them since the beginning of my mission. I'm just so

grateful the Lord has given me this opportunity to see both Spencer

and Rebecca have such special life changing events. There was also a

candy bar, so I guess you can say I got my trick or treating in before

we went back to the apartment.

Sunday, it was so strange. We had a sewage problem and it was a health

hazard.... So we had to leave church after Sacrament Meeting. It was

the weirdest thing. I don't think I have ever had church cancelled. It

was pretty strange seeing everyone just file out and go home. I was

blown away. I also experience daylight savings for the first time in

my life. It was so nice getting an extra hour of sleep. I can safely

say, I know I can live outside of Arizona now.

But to end this, I just wanted to talk a little more about what I was

thinking regarding the children I met. Imagine if all of us had the

great wisdom children do. We all have trials and struggles in our

lives. But if we had the great love and the positive attitude children

have, our lives would be so much better. It really put things into

perspective as Christ said be as little children. We really can learn

so much from them. May we all be as children, full of faith and

righteousness. As we do, we will press forward in this life with love

and joy, I guarantee you that.

I hope all of you have a great first week of November. 3 weeks left

for Elder Thomas. We are going to be putting in some work! We also

have Elder Harris' Golden Retraining tomorrow. It's so different

having both ends of the spectrum for companions. But it's exciting!

Take care.

Elder Cortes