Wait... what happened this week?

Well... 

Danielle didn't get baptized because her husband is not supportive. We'll keep teaching her each week and try ot have more interaction with Dustin to get him more comfortable with the idea. we taught danielle the plan of salvation and the spirit was so strong. I know that one day she will be baptized with Dustin and sealed in the temple a year later. it's just gonna take some time.

 

We've been asked to teach 3 people that have been members anywhere from 2 years to 20 years... and they are not converted to the gospel.  So we get to fix what has been done. it seems strange to me but i guess we still need to help them.

 

We helped the Ghormley's with their front yard. People in vegas don't typically have grass. there's just too much heat to water it all the time. So a trend is to fill your yard with rock. so we helped spread around the rocks on thursday - i was the one that shoveled it in the wheelbarrow and i'm still sore - but it feels so good. While we were doing that, their neighbor jokingly said that he has some weeds we could pull - and i volunteered ourselves by saying "yes. what time?" They're presbyterian, i'm looking forward to meeting them and seeing if we might soften their hearts.

 

we also helped a part member family pull some meat apart. they own a texas style barbeque catering business. they sent us off with some pulled brisquit and pork in a bag. it is so delicious :)

 

We've begun teaching active members of the ward the restoration as a way to help them get back to the basics and focus on missionary work. It's amazing to me that the spirit testifies to me of the first vision even when i'm teaching an active family. i love it.

 

the holbrooks are doing pretty well. Sister Marquardt is on hospice now. but her spirits are high.

 

i never realized how scared of spiders i am until this last week. there was a spider about an inch big in our room and i screamed and cowered on my bed. it was ridicious but it happened. i really don't like spiders.... i don't think our member we live with sprays for bugs... but we're gonna have to move pretty soon because her sister is moving in. bishop has been asking everyone if they'd let us stay there. we'll see what happens and i'll keep ya updated.

 

here's another hilarious thing. we had dinner at the bishops house last night and tyler, a ward missionary, was there also. tyler just hit his one year home mark. so we were all talking about that. i'm not sure how it came up - but he was rebelious as a youth. he told us he has a tattoo on his left shoulder that says ctr. incredibly ironic and hilarious. he told us that with his missionary application he had to take pictures of the tattoos and submit it to the first presidency. can you imagine president monson chuckling when he saw a ctr tattoo? bahahahahaha

 

i've got nothin else. i'm sure ther are more stories i could tell but they're not really coming to mind. i love you all. the church is true. i'm glad i'm here. i'll return with honor. :)

 

love,

Sister Cornelsen

Sister Cornelsen, Joe, Elizabeth, Sister Christensen

Room in My Heart

Halllo!!!

 

We were driving back from dinner one evening and saw a man holding a sign: "Kill Mormons". Luckily he didn't see our tag. But I thought about what I would do if we tracted into this man. My mind went into a whirlwind of scenarios and what I would do in each one. All of them ended up with me standing for what I believed and testifying of Christ (and running if he pulled a gun). All of the scenarios were just in my mind... and a bit dramatic... but it was a moment that I knew that I believed in Christ and that I trust Him. He sent me on a mission to preach the gospel, and that's exactly what I'll do. It did bring up the question of what the protocal is if your companion get shot... but I'm guessing the Spirit would direct me. :)

So, we tracted a bit this week and met a mailman. He knows the bible well and accepted a copy of the book of mormon, after we taught him the restoration on the street. he commited to read it. Afterwards, I introduced myself with my name and he said "I'm Pastor ___. Bet you didn't know you were talking to a pastor, did ya?" :D We invited a Pastor to read and pray about the book of mormon and he commited to do it. It was so cool!!!! Unfortunately, we didn't get his contact info. but maybe if we pray hard enough he'll call us :) how cool would it be if his congregation converted too? like that one story of the early church? :)

 

We exceeded the standard of excellence of lessons with less active members and recent converts. but that's about it. haha. we're trying to build trust with the ward so that we can work them and teach their friends the gospel. President Black told me in an interview that that is the best way to bring people to the gospel - it brings people into the church that will be productive members - the elect. build up the trust and it'll come.

 

I never thought I could love people in this way... it's like a room in my heart has just opened up. Sister Marquardt was in the hospital on Thursday and we dropped by that night. I felt so much love. I want the absolute best for that family. I wish I could do more. Chris gave me her grandmothers bracelet as a thank you for everything. It's beautiful - and it means the world to me. I"m so glad I'm here in this area.

 

on a more shallow note, i've taken to painting my finger nails again. i find it to be a nice relaxing hobby. i make my toes vibrant colors but my fingers have to be neutrals. it's really nice to just take a couple minutes for me.

 

Love,

Sister Cornelsen

"Missionary Siting!!"

Here's part of a letter to my Mom from Sister Aird, who I met in the Mission Field... see how much fun it can be to serve the Lord by serving others? 

Hello Sister Cornelsen,

Sister Cornelsen on Weed Duty

My Name is Marchelle Aird and I just had to write and tell you what an amazing daughter you have! Ü She is serving in our ward right now and she is SUCh a good missionary! PLUS she is a really hard worker! 

I create their missionary baptismal programs, so they were over here one day giving me program information, and  Sister Akemon asked me how I got so tan? 

I laughed and said, "Because I have LOTS of weeds to pull in my yard!" Ü And they BOTH said, "Oh can we come help you, we have to do so many service hours a week and we would LOVE to come help you!!" 

Well I thought they were nuts, but who is going to turn down THAT offer!! Ü So they came over and pulled, and pulled, and PULLED those weeds! WOW! They really worked hard and got them all done!! I was so embarrassed because some of them were almost as tall as they were! UGH!! Ü 

Anyway, they are both just really sweet girls! It was fun to get to know them better, and to hear their stories! When they left they said a prayer with me, because I had to speak at our women's conference and I was really nervous! But their sweet prayer calmed my nerves and REALLY helped me! 

I know these pictures are  small because I just took them with my phone, but I thought you might like to see them so here she is: Ü

Sister Cornelsen & Sister Akemon
"Sister Service" - Pulling Weeds

That is my son in the back trying to break up some boards that needed to go into the trash! 

The girls were trying to help! That was pretty funny to watch! They have some pretty good karate moves though!! Ü

Back Yard Clean Up Karate
 

Back Yard Clean Up Karate

AND then, They came to Women's conference, and were sooo cute! They came to my class to support me.   I am really glad your daughter is serving in our ward! She is amazing, and is NOT afraid of hard work!  Thank you for sharing her with us! 

Love,

Marchelle Aird Ü

Making Friends with Brick Walls and The Shoe on the Other Foot...

Hello!

 

I love this work... Did you know how incredibly hard it is? I didn't feel the weight of the responsibility until I became a trainer. I kinda broke down last night. But Sister Akemon is fantastic. She has lots of greenie fire. She's a myenergyprofile.com Type 1 and "can make friends with a brick wall" (her words). we've made goals to tract a lot more to find new investigators.

 

Joe and Elizabeth have been baptized! it was awesome :) Sis Marquardt said that they were so incredibly happy that evening. They're very quiet with us, so we asked her what kinds of things they were saying. They were saying that they knew baptism was so important and now they've been baptized. Joe volunteered for another talk in primary. Elizabeth is studying Personal Progress like no body's business. It's amazing to see them have that fire of the gospel in them.

 

Danielle talked with her husband and he's not very supportive. :/ but she still feels really good about the 27th  for her baptismal date. we're moving forward as if everything will work out because we all believe that it will. But she can't be baptized without his consent so we're praying like crazy. She wasn't at church when she said she would be... so i'm a little worried. but we're seeing her tomorrow.

 

We have several potential investigators but we can't seem to catch them at the right time. Bishop suggested that we look for the elect, people that will build up the church. So that's what we're gonna do. get outside of myself and talk to people about the gospel. it's nice that sister akemon is so willing to talk to people. i think we'll be a good team. it's so funny when her accent comes out. haha.

 

we had the jehovah's witness knock on our door when we were studying. our member we live with wasn't home so we answered and they were very polite. they shared a scripture from revelations. and said good luck. lt was interesting being on the other side of the door. i learned a lot about how people see us when we knock on the door and what we can do to bare testimony in a way that they will listen. We're gonna try it out. :D

 

I love you all so much. i feel your prayers. thank you.

 

love,

Sister Cornelsen

For Kicks and Giggles

Yes.   Turn your head sideways and laugh with me.

Plan of Salvation Infographic

The plan of salvation. Be taught. Be enlightened. Live forever in never-ending happiness. 

The Babb Family

Beautiful Desert Sky

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?! there's not a lot of beautiful moments in the desert, but this was one of them :)

The Easter Box

Hey,

Did i tell you all about the Easter box? For Easter we were supposed to bring a boxed lunch and the boxes would be judged and the winner would get a prize. We made a Jesus box. Who could not choose Jesus? ;) 

We also cut a hole and put our dvd player in it and played "Finding Faith in Christ."

 WIN. :D

 

Scooter Races

Scooter Races with Sister Christensen on Brother Pyne's Chairs :D.  

Really, we did help his family move that day.  Service with a smile!

Ah haaa...

We found a dead bird... and took a picture... ah haaaa....  

Poor Dead Bird... It's Spirit Flies On...

Spirit Works & New Companion

My new companion is.... drumroll..... Sister Akemon! Straight from the MTC and from Paris, Kentucky. She's 22 years  old. She did some schooling at BYU-i. she's funny. very talkative. she wants to be here and it's great :) I love her. I think we're going to work really well together.

 

i feel like a missionary! what is this crazyness! I know my area. i know who we need to go see. i know how to talk about different principles. i have lots to learn... but I can do it. Wister Akemon here I'm remembering where I was 12 weeks ago and I'm humbled by how much I've learned. heavenly father really knows how to help his missionaries when they reach out to him.

 

Can I just say how true all of this is? This is Christ's church. I love it. I love feeling the Spirit. I love seeing other people feel it too. I feel like I'm hardly doing anything... but the Spirit works through me... and it's changing me in the process. How grateful I am to be a missionary.

 

Thank you for supporting me, in whatever way you are. know that the support is not being wasted.

 

I've learned that if i just take some sort of action, the spirit does the rest. If i walk out the door, walk to a door, open my mouth, the spirit does the rest. i'm stretching myself by taking more actions so that the Spirit can work more.

 

Sister Cornelsen

Transfers,Training, Tithing, plus Referrals and Faith

So Sister Christensen is being transfered and I'll be training a new sister. I"m meeting her at 5pm today. crazy! That was just me 12 weeks ago. I'll be staying in the Meadows 5th ward. Sister Christensen is going to a new area in the ghetto... well, new to sisters. She's going to train 2 new sisters. i'm stressed about training... but at least i'm not doing that.

 

i'm actually really nervous about training. I think it's just the anticipation of who my new companion will be. but i'm still nervous. ya never know what you're gonna get. that's why i've been praying so much. haha.

 

So what's been going on this week. Sister Christensen got a bad cold. I took tons of Lysene. I got a sore throat but it hasn't developed into a full cold and I don't think it will.

 

We taught Joe and Elizabeth the Law of Tithing this week. THey don't have income yet. We talked about how when you do get something, you need to pay 10% tithing. Joe says to his grandma "oh! i can pay tithing on the dollar i got from the easter egg hunt!" So sweet. They're super excited for their baptism this saturday.

 

Danielle wanted to come to church one more week before her baptism so it's been moved to April 27th. She hasn't talked with her husband yet... we're waiting to hear from her. I know she'll feel so much better when she just does it. There's something about getting it out in the open that's relieving. The other person  may not like what you say, but at least you'll know where they stand and you don't have to guess anymore.

 

We've gotten several referals. We have 2 appointments next week to meet them.

 

I loved general conference. LOVE. I learned a lot about faith. Faith to find new investigators. faith to open my mouth. I loved Elder Holland's talk about it. And then there was so much throughout the entire conference. The main theme I found was to stand firm in the faith that I do have. Do the things that I believe will bring results. And as I obey those promptings, more promptings will come.

 

We met an older member who just moved into the care center. he hasn't been to church. he's hilarious. he said "i'm related to humphry bogart. i didn't get his money. but i got his good looks"

 

Love you all!

 

Sister Cornelsen

Car Comfort, Exchanges and Baptisms...

Happy Easter!

 

So to answer some questions, I'm in a car. A 2012 Ford Fusion. It's pretty nice. Sisters have the option of riding bikes but it's rather difficult in a skirt. With so many sisters coming out, I hope that they will still give cars to sisters.

 

Exchanges just started with sisters in this mission in january. Typically it's once a transfer. But Sister Christensen is the Sisters Exchange Leader, so we've gone on exchanges 3 times this transfer.

 

Transfers are a little different now too. With so many more sisters coming out, things are being switched around more because the new sisters need to be trained. Transfers are next monday. Sister Christensen and I will both be training, not sure where though.

 

I'M SO EXCITED TO DO FAMILY HISTORY WORK!!!!!!! oh my goodness!!!  yes yes yes yes! you'll have to learn it really well dad so you can teach me when i get home. :) it's cool that you told me about it cause just that morning I read a general conference talk about doing family history work and doing their work in the temple. i'm really excited :)

 

Jeremiah, Alexus, and Elijah Babb were baptized on Saturday :) It was really cool. Sister Babb had the oldest daughter speak on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She's been less active for years. But when she stood up to speak, she said that she felt so good here with all of her family in the church. She felt the Spirit. The little kids are an example for their family. We still have a lot of work to do with them. But it's so good to see the progress. :) When we taught Elijah and Jeremiah the plan of salavation, we played basketball at the same time.  it was pretty fun :)

 

Danielle has a baptismal date! She's gluten free so i made some brownies and took them over randomly. She was sitting on her porch reading and she asked if we had time to stay for a lesson. She still has reservations about her husband being supportive, but we talked about how setting a date willl show Heavenly Father that you have the faith that it'll work out. April 20th!!!! She said she felt good about it. Then their whole family came to church on Sunday :) I'm really excited about Dustin coming. We haven't talked about why he came, but the fact that he did is a good thing :)

Already out of time! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Cornelsen

Painting; Step by Step Spirit Lessons; Nephi's Horse?

Dear wonderful people,

 

Last monday we helped a family paint a room in their house. they said i was good at doing the trim work. thanks dad ;)

 

On Wednesday we had a Specialized Sisters Training. I think it may have just been an excuse to get all the sisters together but it was fun nonetheless. i'll take it. Sister Christensen and I were asked to talk about nutrition. We did and it worked out really well I think.

 

We met with Mario again this week. He texted us and started asking about whether we believed in multiple gods and if we'll be gods. He's reading all of this deep doctrine that he's not going to understand because  he doesn't believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Spirit teaches step by step. If we're not willing accept the first step of modern day prophets, why would he help us understand deeper things? We're trying to help him focus on the basics but he's not very receptive right now. i think eventually he'll join the church. we'll do our part of the story. and we can be patient.

 

Sister Seward is so sweet. She said that our job has been breaking down the wall that she's built up over the years. On Sunday the whole sacrament meeting was about the Atonement. It was beautifully done. Something really touched Sister Seward. She couldn't stop crying. She went home. I see it as a good sign that the wall is coming down. Even if she is crying about her losses. It means she's letting it out so the Atonement can come in.

 

The Babb's are getting baptized on Saturday! We're calling it the Babb-tism. :) Elijah, the 8year old, keeps saying that after he is baptized he's gonna be pumped up and then play basketball. :) I was nervous about Jeremiah passing the interview, but he did.  I think he's just nervous to talk to people. And Alexus is sooooo ready. She answers questions like a 20 year old.

 

Things are going well. Only two weeks til I'm training. crazy!

 

Here's a joke from President Black. What was Nephi's horse' name? Beuntoyou. "Wo, beunto you!" haha

 

Here's a couple of things from Sacrament meeting that I liked :

 

Because of the Atonement, we can learn from our experiences without being condemned by them.

 

If we are seeing more of our weaknesses, it may mean that we are drawing closer to God.

 

We grow when we remove weeds from our soul and when we add roses to the garden.

 

And here's something I've learned by the Spirit:

 

We don't go to chruch to make friends. We go to church to receive revelation, partake of the sacrament, serve God's children, and worship God. If we make those things our foucs, it is my belief that friendship will develop as a by product of our service and worship. And that friendship will last because it's foundation is God. The friendship will be a strength because you're helping each other worship.

 

The first great commandment is to love God and the second is to love others as we love ourselves. What happens if we don't love ourselves? Are we supposed to not love others? no. that's silly. As we focus on the first commandment, to love God, we will see who we are and who other people are. Can't do the second commandment yet? that's fine. just focus on the first. Love God.

 

Okay. that's all I learned. This email is a bit all over the place. but hopefully you get something out of it anyways.

 

love you!

Sister Cornelsen