Temple Open House = History in the Making

Hey everybody!

It's been such a fun week being able to have a lot of really neat
experience and to close it out with the temple open house. It was
definitely one of my best weeks in the mission for sure.

It all started when I went to in another Spanish area with my Zone
Leader, Elder Morgan, over in Vineland. It's really neat because Elder
Morgan was a French Horn major at BYU so we were able to click pretty
quickly. It was great because we taught a Spanglish lesson with this
woman named Rosario. We committed her to baptism which was great!
There was also a lot of Spanish and I could actually understand a good
amount I just couldn't speak it well. It was pretty neat because Elder
Morgan said my understanding was actually pretty good which was a
shock for me. But overall, it was a blast.

Thursday we went on another exchange with the English Vineland Elders
and Elder Beach came to Woodstown with me. It was great because we
were teaching lessons and having such a fun time together. We had a
miracle find with a couple from Chicago named Bobby and Ammie? At
first the Ammie didn't seem too interested, but then by the end of the
lesson she broke down in tears. It was such a spiritual experience. I
loved it so much. Elder Beach is such a great Elder.

Probably the biggest highlight was the temple open house. We went with
a member couple named the Coates and we picked up Deborah. Our
investigator Elizabeth couldn't make it but Stacey and Jeremy met us
up there! It was amazing, the Stake Center, the Temple, and the
Visitor's center were great. Being inside the celestial room felt like
absolute peace from the Lord. That had to be my favorite part of the
temple. But the baptistery looked great and the sealing room was on
the fourth floor of the temple which just looked absolutely pure
inside both. Deborah and Stacey both loved it. I can't describe all
the love and joy I felt being at the temple. I saw so many old
companions and missionaries I served around. It felt like an absolute
blessing to be there. The only thing that was missing was my family.
If they were there it would have felt like heaven on earth. I am so
thankful to be here in my mission at such a special time. I'm grateful
always to be here. It's an exciting time as August rolls along!

I hope all of you may feel the peace of the temple as I did. Truly,
that is how all of us may feel the fullness of God's love. I hope all
of you have a great week with the temple in mind!


Elder Cortes

Woodstown, NJ

Hot Summer Days in the Lord's Vineyard Speaking Spanish...Sort Of

Hey everyone!

It's been a great week doing the Lord's work. We had a few struggles
near the end of the week but we still worked as hard as we could,
which we were grateful that the Lord blessed us for our efforts.

On Wednesday, we had dinner over at the Whitfield's (Deborah was out
of town all of last week, so we didn't teach her. But she came to
church after her trip, read from the Book of Mormon, and kept other
commitments while she was away!) and we taught a friend of Sister
Whitfield's named Krista. Krista actually was really close to being
baptized a few years ago but it ended up not happening. It's always
the best when the members introduce the investigators because it flows
so smoothly right from the start. Krista told us she didn't have a lot
of self confidence in herself to be baptized. But we testified of the
power of the Atonement and helped her really feel the Spirit in really
feeling that she could actually do this. You could really see the
change in her countenance after the lesson, there was more hope
without question. I'm pretty excited to work with her towards that
goal of baptism! Anyone can get there, I have been a witness of that
for sure over my mission with doing interviews and helping my
investigators get to baptism as well.

Thursday was a blast! We had district meeting in Bridgeton (south of
Woodstown) which went so well. It was probably the best district
meeting I have ever conducted. It seemed like everything flowed and
everyone participated which make the District Leader's life a lot
easier because you can go off of insights others have instead of just
talking at everybody for an hour. After district meeting, we did an
exchange with the Bridgeton. Now, Bridgeton is a Spanish area, so it
was the first time since I was being trained I was in a Spanish area.
Fortunately, I had a good missionary back me up on my broken Spanish,
Elder Olvera. He's from Fort Worth, Texas and is Mexican, so we
clicked right off the bat with our Spanish heritage. It was an
experience for me because mostly all the lessons we taught were to
Hispanics who didn't speak any English at all. So I prayed a few times
in Spanish, I also taught in Spanish which actually didn't go as bad
as I thought. There were times where I just couldn't find the right
words, so Elder Olvera translated for me in some points of lessons.
But it went so well. We taught 7 lessons that day and everyone in
Bridgeton seems to be pretty humble. Those Elders actually have a
baptism this Sunday which I am very excited for! My hope is all the
areas in my District get one baptism this transfer. So far it is
looking like it will happen which is pretty exciting! But it back on
the exchange, I had so much fun being in a Spanish area for a day. It
made me really miss my Dad a bit, but it was a good kind of missing if
that makes sense.

Friday was an experience for sure. After we swapped back, we went to
take care of a member's front and back yard. Now, I was a little
nervous because I hadn't mowed a lawn in almost a year and Elder
Brewer had never mowed a lawn before. Also, these lawns were huge. But
it actually went pretty well, two hours later it was done and we
celebrated with some great chili dogs for lunch. Unfortunately, Elder
Brewer pretty much struggled the rest of the weekend with heat
exhaustion. We had to spend an extensive amount of time for him to
recover the past few days. It can be a little hard to stay in, but the
Lord was definitely building our patience as we stayed in. I was
thankful Deborah came to church is progressing very well in the
Gospel. Her baptismal interview is in about 2 weeks and her baptism
will be the first Sunday of August. I'm very excited and pray that
Deborah will be able to continue to progress towards baptism. We are
taking her and another investigator, Elizabeth, to the Philadelphia
Temple on Sunday. They have a special first viewing on Sunday for the
missionaries of the missionaries and their investigators. So Sunday is
going to be very exciting. We know both of them will feel the Spirit
within the building. It's going to be an exciting week!

I hope for all of you that you may truly take time to visit the
temple, even if it's just to visit the grounds. It truly is a place of
refuge from the world. I'm so excited to be inside a temple for the
first time in over a year. To just be inside even before it is
dedicated will be a special experience for me. I pray all of us make
take advantage of the special blessings that are given from these holy
houses of the Lord. May each of us find inner peace as we continue to
work towards returning to our Father in Heaven through the temple.


Elder Cortes

Woodstown, NJ

Year Mark!

Hey everyone!

I hope all of you have been well and are enjoying the summer vacation
back home. I'm having a blast here in Woodstown. Many special moments
happened this week which I was truly grateful to be a part of.

So to start off, our Fourth of July got rained out pretty hard. We
still had the party inside the church though and we were able to talk
to a few nonmembers which was great! They even set off the fireworks
even though it was pouring so that was neat.

Tuesday was a miracle day for sure. So near the end of the day, we
were walking in Woodstown and we stopped by this guy who we have
talked to numerous times and told us he wasn't interested, but he was
curious about missionaries and what they did. So we had the feeling we
should go over and talk to him. Well, during our conversation, his
step daughter, Samantha (20), came from some errands and was really
interested about the Gospel. She had never grown up religious and
really had a desire to change and be baptized. So she wanted to sit
down and talk with us right then and there. It was such a great lesson
because she didn't know where she really stood with God and as we
taught her the Restoration, you could just tell she was feeling the
Spirit so strong. Her eyes lit up when we talked about Jesus Christ
and who he was and Joseph Smith and other points. She kept saying over
and over she felt so good throughout the whole lesson on everything we
were teaching her. She even committed to baptism on August 21. Now,
half the time she lives in Newark, Delaware and the other half she
lives in Woodstown, New Jersey so we may have to move her records. But
it was such a miracle find! All because the Spirit prompted us to go
talk to a guy who has said so many times he wasn't interested. It was
a great day without a doubt.

Wednesday was pretty busy as well. We taught the Whitfields and read
with Deborah, which always brings the Spirit whenever we do that so
that went pretty well. They decided to all quit smoking cold turkey
this weekend which was great to hear because they were all in
agreement to it. However, I've heard the struggles of quitting just
like that can be a struggle, but I fasted and have faith for all my
investigators that they truly can quit smoking.

Thursday we had a great Zone Training in Vineland. The Spanish Zone
Leaders gave great trainings and Elder Curtis gave a really emotional
dying testimony. He shared DC 136:31 and mentioned how his mission was
the hardest thing he will ever do. But most importantly, that he was
grateful for it all. It really made me think of my trials in one year
on my mission and how I would not have traded any experience away. To
be able to be tried and even chastised is such a tender mercy from the
Lord. Elder Curtis went home Saturday, which was really hard to see
him go. But I was so thankful I was able to know him for 3 weeks,
because he really did change my mission. After Zone Training, I went
on an exchange with a Spanish Elder in my district named Elder DeLand!
Now, Elder DeLand and I go way back. I met him when I was 3 months out
and he was serving in Camden NJ. So I was excited to finally go on an
exchange with him for the first time! We went to my area and we
actually went into an area where there was a good amount of Spanish
people which was really fun for the both of us. We talked to this one
lady on the street and asked if we could bless her home because she
said it was full of evil. So we did, it was a little out of the blue,
but we were glad to do it. Fun times with Elder DeLand!

Friday (year mark) was busy all around. We drove all the way to
Vineland so I could give a baptismal interview for the Vineland
Sisters. It's neat because the Sisters are leaving next week to go
work on the temple open house so I was glad they were able to get a
baptism right before they left.  But the interview itself was great!
It had been so long since I did one and the person that was getting
baptized was a man named Chuck. He's 82 and had parents who grew up in
the church but didn't decide to join until now. It was great to see a
man this far in his life was willing to change for Heavenly Father. We
also had interviews with President Randall for the first time. Mine
went so well! We really clicked and he invited everyone to have a
scripture from the Book of Mormon about the Character of Christ so I
shared 3 Nephi 17: 5-7 because it truly shows the compassion of the
Savior and the reality of His divine love. We had a great talk about
that scripture and as we talked more and more, I felt more of the
Spirit confirming to me how lucky I am to have such a great Mission
President. I know our mission has one of the best leaders any mission
could ever have, which I'm very thankful to Heavenly Father about.

Saturday we met with Samantha again and taught her the Plan of
Salvation and it was cool for her to understand what this plan truly
means to her. When we first started talking, she told us she was
afraid of death, but at the end of the lesson she said she felt a lot
of comfort and peace in the Plan of Salvation. She also brought up
that she smokes and asked if she had to quit in order to be baptized,
which we said she needed to. So we gave her a blessing and also fasted
and prayed for her and continue to pray for her to be ready for
baptism.

Sunday was great! Deborah came to all 3 hours of church for the first
time which was really nice. She enjoyed it and told us later on that
evening she is set on being baptized at the beginning of the month,
which is always great to hear as missionaries. We also got to see our
Stake President, President Sikahema, who I love very much. He's such a
fun guy but pretty spiritual as well.

I'm just so thankful for my mission! This time now is so precious to
me and I can't believe I have less than a year. It doesn't even feel
like I have been out as long as I have. However, I am determined to
keep going strong! I can't wait for this next year. I know the Lord
has a lot planned for me. Well, I hope all of you enjoy your week in
the hot summer, it's perfect over here in New Jersey. May the Lord
bless you in all that you do!

Elder Cortes

Woodstown, NJ

Serving in the Land of Freedom with One Year Left

Happy Fourth of July!

It's been a great week here in the PPM. And on this day, I'm thankful
for those who have fought and who continue to fight to preserve the
freedom of all of us. This is also the week where I hit my year mark
being out on my mission. Much has gone on this week, yet I'm thankful
to really reflect on how it has been on my mission so far.

On Tuesday, we saw Matt for the last time for a month or so. It was
great to talk about where he's at and how much he has grown since I
met him. He also asked Elder Brewer for a blessing before he left for
an internship in Connecticut. He asked Elder Brewer to give it because
he had never met him before, and it was such a powerful blessing. He
told him Heavenly Father has been giving him signs that He truly does
exist. For me personally, I couldn't stop smiling because I knew it
was the Lord speaking directly to Matt. You just know because the
Spirit of the Lord was in that room testifying to each one of us it
was His voice. We also later taught a guy who worked at Burger King
while we took lunch. He was on his break and ate with us and he was
searching for truth. It was great because we taught a bit of the
Restoration and we got all his info so we are hoping we can get in
touch with him soon!

Thursday was the eventful day all the missionaries in this part of the
mission were waiting for. We had a short, three hour Zone Conference
to meet President Randall and his family. All the missionaries lined
up to meet the Randall family. We met President and Sister Randall and
their three children; Haley (15), Morgan (13) and Brian (8). It was a
conference that I have never experience before. Their children were
kind and had sweet testimonies and President and Sister Randall were
great. Originally, President Randall is from Portland Oregon and
Sister Randall is from SLC. They left from Provo, Utah where President
Randall served as the Stake President before he came out. They have
been all over living in Chicago, New York, Portland, and Provo. They
are such great leaders. Throughout the conference we talked about
expectations about them and us. They also testified of the
truthfulness of the doctrine of Christ shown in 2nd Nephi 31. Both are
just so intelligent in the Gospel and have testimonies that are strong
and everlasting. The Spirit truly testified to me in person that my
Mission President and his wife were are leaders and that this mission
is under their stewardship. I'm just so thankful for the Lord with
such great leaders!

Following a great Zone Conference was a great District Meeting the
next day. After that, I went to Vineland to conduct my first exchange
with Elder Curtis. Elder Curtis goes home this Saturday, so I was able
to work with him just before he heads out. He's such a fun Elder. He
has jokes left and right, but at the same time, he had a lot of love
for me. He cared about me and I knew he trusted me. The best exchanges
are when you work in unity with an Elder you see only once a week. We
testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the importance of
keeping the commandments that God has given us. I'm just so thankful
for the Lord giving me such great Elders to work with.

Sunday was pretty intense at the end of the night. We met with Deborah
and she was in a really frustrated mood and told us she wasn't going
to be baptized. Now, when she said that, I was floored, I had no idea
what to say. But I just had the continual prompting to keep calm and
talk it over with her. We talked with her problems and continually
asked questions that really softened her heart. She calmed down and
told us she really wanted to be baptized, she just felt stressed with
smoking. We gave her a blessing Saturday for a sickness she had and
the next day she was healed. She told us how grateful she was for us
to help her, to help her come closer to the Savior and our Father in
Heaven. When we drove home, the member that drove us asked "how did
you know what to say"? All we could tell her is that we went by the
Spirit.

Really going off that, I'm just thankful for this past year of my
mission. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to teach by the
Spirit to others' needs. I'm thankful I have been obedient with
exactness and committed to building the church in each area I have
served in. I'm grateful to have seen growth in Moorestown, Kutztown,
and Woodstown. To see less actives become strengthened through
repentance and investigators light up with truths like the Book of
Mormon has been such a humbling experience. I know what I am doing is
not a waste. I know I am making a difference in the Lord's vineyard.
I'm thankful for my growth so far as a person, as a son of God.
Although I have changed, I know I'm not done yet. I'm excited for this
next year and to see what the Lord has in store for me!

Until then, I'm excited for the Fourth of July Party we are having at
the church. We have a booth for missionaries for the Philadelphia
temple! It'll be an exciting night for sure. I hope all of you have a
happy Fourth of July!

Elder Cortes

Woodstown, NJ