General Conference, Temple, What More Could You Ask For?

Hey everybody!

It's so good to be able to touch base with you all again. The adventures don't stop here on the East Coast that's for sure. We were blessed with exchanges, meetings, and a great weekend of conference!

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and I was with my good friend Elder Huber in Pennypack. It was pretty fun to talk to so many different people with different cultures. One lesson we had, the woman we were teaching sang an African song before we started with a prayer. I always love coming down to Pennypack, you just never know what you're going to see. 

Conference was also so great. It was nonstop going to members homes, having a great meal, then being able to see the Lord's servants speak to the world. We had our investigators, Eugene and Skylar, watch as well and they had many questions answered. Without a doubt, Conference is such a powerful missionary tool. Also, it was a blessing for me to be able to learn from the Lord and knowing very clearly what I need to do at this point in my mission as well as in my life. 

We also went to the temple today for our P-day, which has been such a blast. Riding SEPTA is always a fun time. You just never know what to really expect from it. We had an interesting talk with a man who was reading the Bible in Hebrew for a performance for his church. It was cool just because he was curious about the book of Mormon and our missions. Then we got into the city and I just felt so good being there. It's like it's become my home! Or even a part of me. Philadelphia will always have a special place in my heart. The Temple was also so good to just be inside of. It's hard to explain, but you feel so renewed after spending just a few minutes inside. I'm beyond grateful for the many blessings in which the Lord guides and directs us each day. It is a comforting feeling to know we are not alone. God is with us at all times and it is so apparent today, there's just no way God couldn't be there. It's the same thing with the Savior Jesus Christ. Because of His sacrifice, He will never leave us in our time of need. He will give us the strength to overcome any obstacle in life. It's pure knowledge I'll never forget and strive to show others. 

I have such a deep love for the mission. There's no other experience that can compare, you really learn who you are these two years. For that I'm forever grateful. 

Elder Cortes

Doylestown, PA

Philly Bound!...Kinda

Hey everyone!

It's been a crazy week with transfers coming up tomorrow because I'm getting transferred (I'll get to that in a sec). But it's been such a great week of the Lord providing many miracles for us. The biggest miracle we saw this week was that the Lord has provided people for us to work with in Exeter for Elder Baker and his new companion. At the beginning of the week the majority of the people we were working with were dropping us left and right. Even though it was tough to see a good number of people we have been working with decide not to keep meeting with us, we had full confidence the Lord would provide more people for us to teach. As we prayed on knowing exactly what we should do, we had the idea to just make calls to people who we hadn't had contact in a while. After a few days we had a good number of people who were interested in us coming back this week and even yesterday. It was pretty amazing to meet with a man named Gilbert, who we talked to around Christmas time but he didn't get back to us have until we called him. Well, we met with him yesterday and it was a pretty powerful Restoration lesson we had with him. He had such a sincere desire to know what is truth and to find more answers from God. He was happy to accept a Book of Mormon and is excited to read. I have confidence he will be baptized in the near future, he's an incredible man of faith.

I also found out I will be leaving Reading which is pretty crazy. I'm the only one in the Reading Zone that is leaving so it makes travel plans a lot simpler. I will be heading to the Philadelphia Stake over to the Doylestown area! Doylestown is on the outskirts of Philadelphia and is pretty suburban. We have a car, so no riding the Septa for us. But I'm pretty excited, I'm going to be a District Leader again and will be finishing an Elders training, Elder Morton. I know it's going to be a blast coming up these next few transfers! The Lord is preparing people here in the PPM to receive the Gospel. I'm thankful everyday I have the responsibility and privilege to help bring these precious people the Gospel which I know changes lives for the better. I can't wait! Another chapter in the mission coming up! I'll definitely keep you posted how it starts!

Elder Cortes

Reading, PA

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