Kutztown, My New Home

Hey everybody!

Well, needless to say, it has been more busy than usual this week for

me here in the mission. I left on Tuesday Morning to the mission

office to meet my new companion. I found out that I was going to be a

refininer (a refiner is a missionary's companion right after he has

been done being trained) which is pretty important. His name is Elder

Maughan (pronounced "Maun"). He is from Logan, Utah. Like I said

before, he finished his training so he has been out for 3 months. He's

very soft spoken, but a very hard worker. It's...a little hard to find

similarities but that's alright. There really isn't a difference when

we are doing the work.

Regarding the area, it turned into an Elder area a few months ago.

It's very rural. Farmland is all over and the cities in the area are

very spread out. Of course it has been a little tough adjusting

regarding the area, the ward, and other things that came with being

transferred, but I'm adjusting! For the most part, we have

investigators that really don't want to commit to make commitments

(reading the Book of Mormon, going to church, etc.). But we are going

to work through that and hopefully these people will come closer to

Jesus Christ.

We have already have had a lot of great experiences. One is that we

knocked on a woman's door named Juliana and she told us she was Roman

Catholic, but told us we could come back the next day. The next day

she told us she didn't want to be rude and slam the door in our face,

when we came again, she didn't think it might have been a good idea to

talk. But in the end, she let us in and we talked simply about her

family. One of the things she brought up was if we had any advice in

raising her four sons. It was a perfect way to tie it into 1st Nephi

(family with four sons in the wilderness) and give her a copy of the

Book of Mormon. In the end we set a return appointment in 2 weeks! It

was so great to see the spirit work in her heart. She went from "I

don't think this is a good idea" to "give me two weeks to read". It

showed me that the Lord truly does have a way to soften people's

hearts as we teach them.

For the most part, the Elders in the past have knocked on doors. It

hasn't been effective as you'd hope it would, but we will keep trying,

especially for me thinking of new ideas for missionary work. Remember

when I said all those weeks where it has been in the 60's and 70's?

Well, this whole week the highest it has been is mid 30's.... It's

been beanies, gloves, and layers of sweaters and coats every day. But

I'm excited for this next transfer. I'm excited for this year overall.

The Philadelphia Temple open house will be in late July hopefully so

there has been a lot of buzz about that throughout the mission and the

members.

The last thing is that I had the special privilege to bear my

testimony to the ward in Kutztown. It is a different feeling bearing

your testimony to a ward you just came into in less than a week. But I

was so grateful to bear it. It showed myself no matter where I am, the

Lord is with me and I am still who I am, a son of God. It is my hope

with all of you that you recognize that special identity you have

being a son or daughter of the most perfect and glorious being in the

universe. Such knowledge allows us to be strengthened in our lives as

we perform out labors here in mortality.

I hope you all have a great week and that you turn to the Lord in your

times of joy and sorrow. By doing so, your relationship with Him will

grow and never break.

Elder Cortes