Second Exchange

Hey everyone!

First of all, I hope all of you are doing well. I know I might not say

it a lot in the general email, but I care about all of you and you're

all important to me. I really do feel the love back home, it's so

awesome!

This week.....let me just say, the spiritual experiences I receive

every week are so strong, I'm exhausted by the end of the night

because of them. It's always great looking back on the week, seeing

the Lord's hand everyday in all things.

So to start off, we did another exchange with the Camden Elders on

Tuesday. Elder Knuth came to Moorsetown while Elder Froc went to

Camden. Now, I'll be honest, at the start of the day I wasn't

motivated to really talk to people. Elder Hendricks and Elder Knuth

are probably two of the most talkative Elders in the mission, so I was

just feeling like I didn't need to talk as much. But I knew that was

the wrong thing to think so I prayed and asked Heavenly Father for

help to just be motivated to talk to people on the street or when we

were knocking on doors. After that, I just had the feeling to tell the

Elders what was on Sent from my iPad

The next day, Elder Froc came back to Moorsetown and we went right to

work. We taught 4 lessons that day, and the lesson that really stuck

out to me was a man who met with us named Roger. He was raised

Catholic but didn't believe in it. He was kind of skeptical about

Joseph Smith and wondered how he could have restored the church. It

was great to see his whole outlook on the church change as we taught

that God called a prophet again to bring back His gospel to the world.

He said he would definitely read and pray to know if the Book of

Mormon is true.

Thursday, after district meeting, a member took my companions and I to

a fancy Chinese Restaurant, where I had sushi for the first time. It's

so good! Apparently it's just what we needed because we went straight

to work, teaching and finding and we found a lot of success and

received 2 new investigators by the end of the night. But really, I'm

just glad Heavenly Father blessed us with all the good work we're

doing.

Friday we had another exchange where Elder Hendricks went to

Pennsauken (which is pretty much East Camden) while we got Elder

Fowers, who is another golden. It was great to just do the work with

Elder Fowers and the highlight of the night was seeing Brother Kpale.

Now, Brother Kpale is in his mid 30's and went on a mission to Africa

in Ghana. But he's less active and has not gone to church in over a

year. None of us have ever met Brother Kpale, only Elder Hendricks who

was gone. But the spirit was so strong when we were talking to him.

And it was so awesome just telling him Christ still loves him and that

he wants him to be happy. And that it'll bless him coming back to

church and renewing that baptismal covenant he made through the

sacrament. By the end of the lesson we both were just in tears and he

told us next week he would go to church, even if it meant losing his

job. It was something I can't even describe, I remember walking out

his house just thinking "what just happened" because the spirit just

took over. I just remember praying to God thanking for all he did for

me in that lesson, that I developed such a great love for a man who I

never knew. I definitely won't forget this anytime soon.

We also were blessed to have another baptism yesterday. This was

Amanda's friend Sara Davis, who is so cool. She's so great because she

has a 17 year son and she said she treats me like her son. Which I

thought was so nice. But it's so inspiring to see, she's a mom to 6

kids and she was a huge example to her kids and her husband. It was so

awesome being one of the two witnesses to the baptism and seeing all

the sweet young kids up front to the baptism.

It was just an awesome week all around. So much work was done and

there's still so much to do. It's Elder Hendricks last week, so we are

going to make the most of the time we have left of the transfer. Just

always remember as we put in our all to serve the Lord and have

continual faith in Him, He will bless us. I know it's a simple

principle, but I see it everyday. Always remember He loves you and

wants you to be happy.

Hope all is well,

Elder Cortes

Walking, Learning & Baptizing!

Hola a todos!

You can probably guess I went on a Spanish exchange this week! But

wow, so many crazy things happened this week that's just one of many.

So first of, I just want to say how happy I am to be here, everyday.

It might not click all the time, there have been days where all of our

appointments fell through, or where we are just dead tired, but every

time we keep going the Lord blesses us for our dedication, for

willingness to serve Him.

So to start of the exciting week, it rained twice on Tuesday. Now

that's not a problem....except when we were caught in the middle of

both storms. One was in the afternoon and another was at the end of

the night. You'd think that'd be a downer, but really, they were both

pick me ups. By the end of the second storm, we were all laughing for

ten minutes straight because of how soaked we were and how crazy the

storm was. I felt like a young boy again, just some 9 year old who

loved to play in the rain no matter how soaked I got. That experience

truly just showed me Heavenly Father does care, because He just let me

have that time to just enjoy the rain, to have fun driving home after

the end of the night.

Also, later that night Elder Hendricks (who is the district leader)

told me " Elder Cortes you're going on your first exchange tomorrow".

So I got all excited and packed for the day (for an exchange you spend

an entire day in another missionaries' area). So I had the privilege

to go to Camden, New Jersey with Elder Knuth on Wednesday, sometime

around 11 ish. Camden is a Spanish area, it's also a walking area, so

it was a little crazy, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I will

say, it is something else running for four blocks to catch a bus or

running down the stairs to catch the subway before it takes off. There

was one time where we were looking for a bus and I saw it and I turned

to Elder Knuth and he already took off! That's the great thing about

walking areas, you're always moving. It really does help you move from

appointment to appointment. We also had dinner at the Bishops' house,

and I'm not kidding, he was blown away that I was Mexican. I was

laughing so hard on the inside because it just goes to show, some

things don't change wherever I am. We were able to teach a family at

the end of the night. The parents spoke Spanish, but the kids spoke

English. So while Elder Knuth was talking to the parents, I was having

a great time talking to the three kids (one who is old enough to be

baptized!). When we taught the lesson, it was tough. I couldn't keep

up with the conversation and I was just wanting to say something on

the inside so badly. I did get my chance though. I looked the father

in the eye and told him "Hablo poco Espanol, pero yo se El Libro De

Mormon es verdad". It was so great, I just felt the sprit as I tried

to bear my testimony on the Book of Mormon and he was receptive to it!

At the end of the lesson he asked us to give him a blessing. So Elder

Knuth gave him a blessing in Spanish which I though was pretty cool

too. So we went back to our apartment and just talked about how it

went. I was so happy to go to Camden, it really was a good experience.

They have a gym on the top floor with a perfect view of Philadelphia.

I'm definitely sending a picture of that perfect view next time I'm in

Camden.

Speaking of Pennsylvania, I was able to go back there for retraining

on Friday! Retraining is for all the Goldens and trainers and just

talk about how it's been so far in the mission. I was so happy to see

all the missionaries I came out with, especially Elder Maynard, my mtc

companion. We had the opportunity to bear our testimonies of our first

month out in the mission. Let me just say it was so spiritual to hear

all the Goldens bear their testimonies of their struggles, their

accomplishments, and their faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone has grown

and I can see it with myself as well. We were taught so many

principles by President Andersen and Sister Andersen, we played

mission jeopardy, we were taught how to better teach to people's

needs. I want to work harder than ever, I want to stay focused on the

work. It was the boost we needed to keep pressing forward in the great

work we are called to do.

Sunday, however, was the highlight of the week. I had my first baptism

yesterday! Amanda Curley. Wow, she was a handful to start teaching

when I got here. She had already been taught some lessons by other

Elders the past two months, but had so many questions when I first met

her. But to see her understand, follow commitments like give up

coffee, and enter in this special covenant with the Lord, was just a

miracle and a blessing to watch. I also had the privilege to speak at

her baptism about baptism. I testified of the Savior being baptized

not because He needed to be, but because He was the example. He showed

us, how essential we need to enter into this covenant, to have the

Holy Ghost guide and warn us as we go about this life. As I watched

this baptism, I thought back to mine when I was 8. I remember how

strong I felt the Lord's love and God's love for me that I was in

tears . I remember seeing my parents and how much I loved them and

still love them. I'm thankful my Dad was able to baptize me and that I

was, and still am, a member of the Church of Jesus of Latter Day

Saints. Seeing Amanda baptized just reminded me how special this work

is. Bringing people to know the Gospel is true and just helping others

all the time just makes me so glad in my heart. I sincerely hope all

of you are well and that God is watching over you. You all are truly

are important to me. My hope is that you are well at all times. When

it's to hard to stand, kneel in prayer to ask for help.

Wishing all the best,

Elder Cortes