April Showers Bring May Flowers

Hey everyone! 

It's been a pretty good week for us here in Doylestown. I've learned a lot from what we had to endure from an unfortunate setback, but we keep going.

So Elder Morton and I have had to stay in for 2-3 hours a day because Elder Morton has been experiencing some pain in his leg.  So the mission nurse told us we could go out but when it starts to hurt to go back in and rest the leg. It's been humbling for me just in the fact at the beginning I was a little frustrated. Not at Elder Morton, but in the circumstances we were in. But as I studied and prayed to find some sort of counsel from the Lord it just came to me that Elder Morton and I needed to face this together. So it's been good to be able develop patience and faith regarding this situation. Because I don't think I'm an impatient person, but I feel like the Lord helps us develop Christlike attributes in different aspects in life. A medical situation is different than working with someone you may not get along with when developing patience. It's a blessing to really think how the Lord helps us develop in our individual lives.

Even though we have had our limitations, the Lord still blesses us with opportunities to teach. So in that Spanish development I was talking about in my last email, we went back and we found this really cool young guy. His name is Chris and he looks like he's in his young 20's. He is a recovering addict and just told us flat out he wants to come closer to Christ. So without hesitation, we taught and personalized the Restoration to his situation. It was really cool to see the sincere desire he has to change. We even had a kneeling prayer with him that he offered! We'll see where it goes from here, but I just felt so full of the Spirit when we were walking back in the car. I can't tell you in words what a blessing it is to teach and bear my personal witness of the Restoration. As I've reflected back on my mission, the Restoration has always been such a huge part of what I teach and experience. From the Book of Mormon to his last great dispensation, I know the words I speak of this message is absolute truth. 

We also started teaching a new convert that we received from the Philly YSA Elders. Long story short, the Assistants would drive from the city to Doylestown once a week to teach Tom Ashton and Tom would go to the YSA ward. But the Assistants got doubled out of the YSA so Zone Leaders took their spot instead. But since they have no car, we were referred to teach Tom. He's such a great guy to work with. He was baptized last month, holds the Aaronic Priesthood, and went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It's been a great experience for him so we are no doubt excited to be working with him. Teaching people my age has always been pretty fun. 

Skylar has also been doing very well. We are hoping to baptize her by the end of this month so that way she can go to the youth temple trip at the end of May. It's been a great experience going out and getting to work, especially in the Springtime weather. It'll be an exciting week this week as well! Two exchanges in Pennypack and interviews with President Randall. Believe me, you can't find anything else like the mission.

Elder Cortes

Doylestown, PA

Standing Steadfast in the Kingdom of God

Hey everybody!

It's been such a good week here in Doylestown. A lot of blessings came our way this first week of the transfer. It was a reminder for me how mindful God really is with our situations. There's a lot on His plate to be mindful of, but at the same time He is so aware of our current situation. It's such a blessing!

Well, to start of the week, it was pretty slow the first couple of days. After we played soccer on P-day, Elder Morton had some pain in his leg. In fact, it's been around with him the past few weeks but not as aggravating as it was this week. So we talked to the mission nurse and it turns out Elder Morton may have tendinitis. So there have been times we've had to stop or even stay in because the leg was bothering him. But it was a good experience, to really learn from the Lord on the importance of patience. I know I don't have a ton of time left, but if the Lord wants us to be in here and there, I need to accept His will.

But there were still some cool experience we had in the week. For one, we had our first District Meeting with the new District. So the background about this is our Zone combined with another Zone to make a huge Philadelphia Zone. So the Philadelphia North Zone turned into the Doylestown District. So I was asked to be over 4 companionships this transfer, the biggest District I have ever been a part of. But it was pretty fun for a first District Meeting! With 9 missionaries, it's definitely not difficult to have participation going on. I have such incredible missionaries to work with in the District. Needless to say, I'm beyond excited for this transfer to work with this District. 

We also had this cool experience going to this ghetto Hispanic barrio with apartments all over. It was pretty shocking for both of us because Doylestown is a very wealthy area for the most part. So it was pretty neat to find this place of humble circumstances. I was able to use my limited Spanish for the first time in a while, since the good old days in Reading! But it was definitely a lot of fun talking to Hispanics, I haven't typically work with a lot on my mission, but they are such kind people.

The best part of the week was helping out Eugene. We did service for him for a couple hours cleaning up his backyard because he wants to start some sort of garden. So from getting rid of weeds, to moving giant pieces of stone, we got a good start on his backyard. It's always such a blessing to help Eugene. I always feel like Ammon who gave such loving service to King Lamoni when we serve Eugene. He really is doing well. He hasn't gotten to the point committing to baptism yet, but it's so amazing to see how much solid fellowship he's getting from the ward.

We didn't meet with Skylar this week because of conflicts with the families' schedule, but next time we are seeing her we will most likely have a date set for her baptism. It's looking like it's going to be a great transfer ahead!

Elder Cortes

Doylestown, PA

New Year, New Opportunities, Same Great Work

Hey everyone! 

Happy New Year!

It was a great week here in the mission field as we continued to work with old and new investigators and really seeing some of our converts progress in huge ways towards the temple. There were a few great experiences as well that I saw that really solidified my testimony in what President Hinckley calls it "a marvelous work and wonder". 

One experience was on an exchange where I went into one of the Reading Spanish areas. Now, why this was such an experience for me was because I was with Elder Warnick, who has barely been out for 3 months. So for anyone that can guess, Spanish Goldens don't exactly have Spanish down 100%. It was decided I'd be with him because I knew more Spanish than Elder Baker... So with our limited Spanish, but faith that we'd have a great day, we went to do the Lord's work. It went so well, even though we didn't know exactly how to say certain words, or understood everything investigators were saying, the Spirit was so strong by the end of every lesson. It really showed me in a big way how the Lord is willing to help out all the time, although we have weaknesses, it won't hinder from the Spirit if we are humble enough to receive it.

Mariline (the Haitian Woman who we teach) went to the hospital and we gave her a blessing of healing with the sickness she had. We visited her on New Year's Eve and we had a powerful lesson on hope and how Christ can take away our pain and sicknesses as we have continual faith  and patience with that faith. She was so concerned she wasn't going to be able to spend New Years with her 4 kids who have been gone to New York for over a week. But later that day she called us to let us know she got released from the hospital which was great! It's really cool to see Priesthood blessings come to pass that's for sure. 

Also, to start the New Year strong, we had Miguel at church again! He really enjoyed it and wants to keep coming back which is so exciting. We are excited for him to be baptized later this month. I'm so thankful for this past year in 2016, there were so many experiences that really have made me a better me. So many companions, areas, and leaders that really have changed my life. I'm really excited for this next year. It's my goal, no matter what I do or where I am, the Lord will always be involved in what I do. I hope all of you have a great start to this great year!

Elder Cortes

Reading, PA

Good Ol' Hazy, a Brand New Experience

Bienvenidos!

I hope all of you have been doing well! It's been great over here in
Pennsylvania! A lot of changes and new experiences. Also, my emails
may be a bit shorter since I have a ton to do, but I will do my best.

So Tuesday (aka transfer day) we drove up to Broomall to see where I
would go. And I went to Hazleton PA! It's around Scranton which is
pretty north. We are about 3 hours away from Philadelphia, but it's so
great here. Hazleton is full of Dominicans. So much that there are two
Spanish companionships working here along with us, who are the English
missionaries. But we pretty much have to speak Spanish everyday. It's
a blast. In all of my past areas, I have been in farmland and rural
area for the most part. Here in Hazleton, it is not the case. It's
super city and we pretty much street contact people all day. It's such
a blast.

My new companion is Elder Neilson. He came out a transfer after me, so
he's been out 14 months. He's a fairly new Zone Leader (2 transfers),
so we are pretty much figuring everything out as we go. He's probably
been my hardest working companion I have ever had. He's from Orem,
Utah. He's also the biggest hipster I have ever met. He told me he's
wearing cut off slacks, fuzzy socks, and his hipster hat he bought at
a garage sale we were at. He's hilarious. He's been showing me the
ropes on how to do things here in Hazy and how to be a Zone Leader.
It's been great to work with someone who is willing to be patient with
me. It's awesome.

The Zone is great as well! We have 6 companionships, the smallest Zone
in the mission, but they are all wonderful. We range from old
missionaries, to a brand new golden, to some who are in between.
Hazleton is also a branch, which is smaller than a ward. We meet in a
small building that is part of a strip mall. It's such a blast. They
are short handed, so we gave talks and taught priesthood as well. We
also share the building with the Spanish branch so we see the other
two companionships all the time. Not much to report on for this week,
it's been a lot of trial and error as well as getting to know the
people. All I know is that my Spanish is being tried and tested
everyday, I wish my brother in law was here to coach me. But that's
alright, I learn somehow someway.

I hope all of you have a great week! Just remember it's up to you to
choose to be happy, no matter what circumstance you are in. I love the
Savior Jesus Christ and I know He is strengthening me as I go, which I
am forever grateful.

Tengo buen noche! (Elder Neilson's favorite Spanish phrase)

Elder Cortes

Hazleton, PA

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

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