One Last Trip to PennyPACK

Hey everyone! 

It's been a pretty good week for us here in D-Town like it is every week! How can you not have a good week in the Lord's service? But really, it was a blast.

It all started when I went on my last exchange of my mission with my Zone Leader Elder Jolley. Now, Elder Jolley has a soft spot in my heart since we go way back. Not only was he my District Leader in Kutztown, but he's also from Mesa. He actually went to Mountain View for two years which was pretty neat. We caught up on people back home we both knew and talked about the end of the mission. Elder Jolley goes home with me on the same flight, so it was really cool to get another Elder's perspective on coming home. But it was so much fun, we went to Pennypack one last time and it was a blast to see some of the less actives and recent converts I had visited before when I came before. By the end of it, I felt pretty satisfied with how the exchange went and was determined to move forward in the week.

We also found this great lady named Ellie Parker. Any Ellie I find on my mission I always figure is pretty promising. But it was cool to get to know her, she's 85 and had a lot of questions about being forgiven and living with God again. We both got pretty excited to answer her questions. It was very great for me personally because I felt as though we were sent to be an answer to her prayers so that she may find personal peace in her life. 

We also got back in touch with my good friend Aaron Melchor. We had lost contact/ cancelled appointments with Aaron the past two weeks. So being able to meet with him was such a miracle. We taught him the Plan of Salvation through the Book of Mormon which he really enjoyed. He got so much out of our discussion. We invited him to baptism and he told us he would think about it. You could tell the Spirit was really working on him. I feel it's only a matter of time for Aaron to accept, now it's just a matter of helping him come to church.

But it's been such a blessed week. More stuff about home is getting sent from the office and I'm just really thinking how can I use these last two weeks to help me prepare for home. It was great because I had a few minutes with our Stake President, President Ross. And I asked him for advice about being home and he was just so insightful and kind. It really made me thankful my whole mission I have worked with such exemplary leaders in the church. 

I'm so thankful for the opportunities I have to keep learning on the mission. I might be on the tail end of things, but my ability to learn by the Spirit has no expiration date. That is a blessing I will always be thankful for. 

The next P-day is the Fourth so I'll write then. Can't wait to bring you up to speed with the next scoop in the PPM. We're going to the Restoration Site Wednesday and I am so pumped! Talk to you all later!

Elder Cortes

Doylestown, PA

A Missionary in the Frozen Tundra

Hey everyone!

I cannot tell you the week that I have had. There was a lot going on
and at the same time, there wasn't. I'll explain what I mean by that
in a little bit.

But to start, I went on an exchange in Reading with my district
leader, Elder Jolley! He has actually been out as long as I have. The
great thing about Elder Jolley is that he is from Mesa! What's even
better is that he went to Mountain View for two years and Mesa High
for the other two. We just talked about how strange it was we never
knew each other in High School and that we had a lot in common. We did
a lot of street contact in Reading talking to many different kinds of
people. Elder Jolley gave me some good tips on finding people and we
had a great time all around.

On Wednesday, we had District Meeting! We usually have it on Thursday,
but we had a special Worldwide Missionary Broadcast on Wednesday as
well that they wanted all the Zones to be together for. It was so
great to learn how to be a better missionary from Elder Anderson,
Elder Bednar, Elder Oaks, and other General Authorities. It was the
first time they had a broadcast like this in over a decade! Needless
to say, a lot of instruction was given.

It was a little tough Thursday. Elder Maughan came down with a really
bad cold so we had to go in sometime in the late afternoon. But it's
okay! It was great to practice patience in these kind of situations.
I'm grateful for Elder Maughan, I was glad he didn't push himself over
his limits.

Friday we had interviews with President Anderson! Interviews are
always great with President. It's so nice to get that one on one time
with him and Sister Anderson. By the time your mission ends, I can
guarantee your mission President and his wife will become some of the
closest people you have in your life. That's exactly how I feel about
them. To hear their support and love for me means so much. We also
heard snow was going to come tonight! But we also had to go in early
as well because President Anderson wanted all the missionaries in by
6. That was when the snow hit....

Now, I've seen snow before, but I was so shocked throughout Saturday.
Everything was covered in snow and it was so deep! In my mind I was
thinking "how are we going to get out of this". We could not drive our
cars for the rest of the weekend and Elder Maughan was still sick so
we couldn't go outside. So all day Saturday it was pretty much a day
to make phone calls, study, and whatever else we could do to make the
day productive. It was a little different, just not being able to go
outside all day. I really just wanted to go out there and teach people
even though there probably wasn't any hope in getting to anyone. By
the end of the storm, we had found out we had gotten 31 inches of
snow. It was a record for the Kutztown area for the most snow at one
time!

Sunday was pretty much the same thing. The only difference was Elder
Maughan felt a little bit better, so we went to an older member's home
(The Thompsons) and helped shovel their snow. I had never shoveled
snow before. So it was a great to do that for the first time! We also
helped out 4 or 5 of his neighbors with their driveways. But overall,
it was great to experience a snow storm like this. It will be
difficult to go through the streets and icy roads. But we will be very
careful! I'm also hoping to see a lot of the work move forward in this
Winter weather. I hope all of you are nice and warm! It's pretty cold
over here. But you get used to it! I'm thankful the weather hasn't
been a major problem for me. It really helps me focus on doing
missionary work! Well, I hope all of you have a great last week of the
month! I'm definitely going to over here.

Elder Cortes

Kutztown, PA