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Gospel Wings

The Master

Lift Up Your Voice

June 23, 2014

Well it's been an interesting week! Lots of appointments canceled. A less active woman threatening suicide. A part member family member had a seizure. We were dropped by 2 investigators, except they like the social time so they still want us to come. Ugh. Moved to an Apartment Friday. Packed on Wednesday. Why is it the 3rd week of the transfer that is so off?

Now here's for the positive. I sang in the mission musical fireside. The rehearsal was terrible. I made lots of mistakes. But the actual performance with the investigators and less active members there... was SPOT ON!!! You know that promise that if you lift up your voices the words will be given? well, I've tried that a couple times when I'm just talking with people and I stumble over the words. But that promise has been so true as I have sung on my mission. The spirit helps me so much.

Another happy thing of the week was Ed and Monique. We answered one of Ed's questions about whether God has a body of flesh and bone. We studied the scriptures and shared 3 of them that showed our point and then left a list of scriptures he could study on his own. HE ACCEPTED IT!!!! It has taken me 6 weeks to learn how to teach him, but I got it! I really hope these last 3 lessons with him count. I can totally see him getting baptized. Monique is his granddaughter who's staying with him. She's 12. and has been listening in to the lessons with Ed. (as has her dad, Rob) We invited her to go to girls camp on Friday. On Saturday she said she wants to go, and on Wednesday they leave. :) There's going to be scripture time at girls camp so we gave her a Book of Mormon and introduced her to it. I was AMAZED how well she understood! I've never known a 12 year old like her before. I really hope to keep in contact with this family. I wish I could be here for the whole conversion process, but I'm glad to be here for the part that I am.

eta: 3 weeks and 22 hours and 35 minutes ( that took me a minutes to do the math. haha)

love, 

Sister Cornelsen

High Notes: Mission Musical Fireside

June 16, 2014

Please excuse the oddity of this email. i'm not really sure what happened this week.

 

I'm going to be singing in the Mission Musical Fireside on Sunday. So that's fun! I think a bit of our time has gone to practicing for that. it's amazing how good I feel after warming up and singing a high note.

 

There's a less active sister who seems to have gone back to drinking. She was in a frantic state when we showed up for our appointment with her. Sister Kellar did a great job of calming her down and the Spirit came in.

 

Wednesday was an incredibly busy day. An appointment every hour. It was WONDERFUL!!!! Teaching is my favorite part of missionary work.

 

I'm doing well. super tired, but we still get out and work. I probably will sleep for a very long time once I'm home and everyone leaves after our reunion fun.

 

Love you all!

 

ETA: 29 days and 1 hour

 

Love,

Sister Cornelsen

P.S. Missy Whitlock-Ghormley‎ recorded me singing in the Mission Musical Fireside!!  Not a fancy video, but my momma loves it!!

Honesty and Humility

June 9, 2014

Hey everybody!

 

It's been a good week. Theresa, an investigator, just moved into our ward. She was taught by some zone leaders in Lone Mountain stake and we just met her. She is solid! She came to church and wanted to spice up the music a bit. in Gospel Principles we talked about baptism and how it needs to be performed by the proper authority. Our other investigator, Ed, has been struggling with that concept. Theresa, after the class, went up to him and testified of that. they both have a Catholic background. it was really cool to see.

 

Janice is down to 3 cigarettes a day. We're just going through the LDS addiction recovery program with her, and actually doing the workbook with her. This week has been about honesty. Honesty sparks humility. It's amazing what happens when you recognize God's power and ask for His help.

 

Love you lots!

 

Sister Cornelsen

Six Weeks, Connect the Dots, Politics vs Truth

June 2, 2014

And here's the transfer news!!!! Sister Coleman is going to a new area with a brand new missionary from the MTC. I am staying here for my last transfer and Sister Kellar is coming to be here in this ward with me!!!! Crazy?!?!?!?! My impression is that the lord has a long term plan for her. :) It'll make the transition to a new area much easier if she knows someone. And I'm excited to have her!

Stake Conference was wonderful! I really enjoyed it.

Remember the less active member who wanted to quit smoking? Well she doesn't anymore. At least not right now. She does want to work through the 12 step program the church offers. I think that was the biggest disappointment this week because I was so convinced she wanted to quit.

Ed is doing great! He had lots of questions about the plan of salvation. It was really fun to answer one question and then see him "connect all the dots". He came to the adult session of stake conference. Afterwards he said "the Lord is in this Church",  and then later he said "that man said when I get baptized he wants to come... I'm still saying if." Haha. I think when he connects the dots about the Priesthood, he'll say "when".

As we were driving home one night, we saw a teenager walking along the side of the street. I kept driving and then turned around. said to Sister Coleman "I have an impression we need to talk with him" and she did too. We turned around and he wasn't there. what?! someone had picked him up. so we stalked the car back to their house. And then ran down the street to catch them before they went inside. (literally running to save souls) and talk with the people there. We told them we had an impression to talk with their grandson. They said they were Catholic and don't speak about religion with anyone. so we walked back to the car rather disappointed. I said a prayer we got to the car to ask for understanding. We both had the impression we needed to talk with the teenager specifically. So we went back. Knocked on the door. And he answered it! I felt the spirit so strongly just standing there. But none of the words could come out of my mouth in the right way. We told him we just felt like we needed to talk with him. His grandparents came out, and cut off the conversation. Nothing happened. again, we were rather disappointed. But this time I felt no more inspiration of what to do. I hope he remembers the night that two sister missionaries felt the spirit and went to talk with him. I hope one day he will come to the church. I will certainly keep an eye out for him on the streets. It saddens me that we weren't even allowed to speak about religion with him because of his grandparents. I hope he gets the help he needs.

We met the Peck family! They are less active because they felt unaccepted because of their political opinions. We asked if it made the church any less true? "No". We invited them to come back. She said that if she were to come back her attitude would need to change. We told her that's exactly what the Atonement does. It was so awesome!!!! They were very open and they said they'd read the chapter from the book of Mormon that we left them.  I'm hopeful.

I think those were the highlights of the week. Looking forward to the coming week. :)

Love y'all!

Sister Cornelsen

P.S. Is it just me or is everyone I know getting married? It's kinda crazy how many engagements have happened the last month. Just sayin...

Baptism, Blisters and "Journey with the Mormons for a While"

Camdyn and Abby got BAPTIZED!!!! Their dad baptized them. :D the whole Relief Society room was completely filled. every chair was used. it was so great to have so many people there. :) They are such a great family. Their mom is continuing investigating. Great moment of the week was when she said that she thinks she will get baptized, she just needs to learn more. so proud of them!

Yesterday, for memorial day, we got permission to go on missionary splits with women in the ward. The stake was putting on a fun run. Sister Coleman ran for BYU before her mission. She's been itching to run more. I'm just not in that condition. so Sister Coleman ran with a woman in the ward and I walked with a woman in the ward. it was a very nice walk. :D in the process, I realized my tennis shoes are 5 years old and just too old. I got two blisters on the balls of my feet. Thankfully, I threw in some moleskin when I was packing for my mission. I am very grateful I have brought that with me my whole mission. :)

We have a new investigator named Ed! He's in his 50's or so. we grew up an alter boy and in 9th grade denounced Catholicism. He's studied Lutheran, Jehovah's Witness, Seventh Day Adventist, was baptized in the Church of the Nazarene, and in his 20's was baptized into a Baptist church. He still feels like these churches aren't quite right. One day he ended up at a public library but had no idea why he was there. He was led by the Spirit. He figured while he was there he would check out the books of Enoch in the Apocrypha. A member, Brother Cox, was also led there to the library and had no idea why. He figured he'd check out some consumer reports while he was there. They met each other at the reference desk and started talking about the prophet Enoch. Brother Cox said "my Church actually has some information about Enoch in our scriptures, The Pearl of Great Price" They met several times to talk about religion after that. 2 sundays ago he came to church and we met him. He has many many questions. 5 years ago he didn't think Mormons were Christians. So he's come a long way in understanding our beliefs. I'm excited to work with him. On Sunday he said "When the Lord tells you to journey with the Mormons for a while, you journey with the Mormons for a while". He's very in tune with the spirit and has a very inquisitive mind.

It was our zone leaders birthday yesterday so we made him a cake! it's regular cake. but it looks like a block of fancy cheese, cause he's into that. Sister Coleman made the cake and I made the little sign. it was fun!

There's two different less active/part member families that we're making some good progress with. Two completely different situations, and the spirit told us to read the book of Mormon with both of them. It's so cool how the Lord can use the Book of Mormon to speak individually to people.

We started the stop smoking program today with a less active member. I sure hope it goes well. The only thing i'm worried about is the friendship support. It seemed to be an odd dynamic. I pray it goes well.

Love you all!!! Keep up the great work! Follow the Spirit. Have the courage to follow His promptings.

Love,

Sister Cornelsen

Fantastic Week!

May 19, 2014

This was a FANTASTIC week! Lots of lessons with members there. :D love it!

 

The Newcomb's are ready for their baptism on Saturday. They had their interviews and they are set. Sister Newcomb still hasn't chosen to be baptized. It's disappointing but I think she'll come around eventually. Brother Newcomb was ordained to a priest yesterday and is ready to baptize his kids. Exciting!

 

I went on exchanges with my sister training leader, Sister Nelson. (cornelsen and nelson). She'd been wanting to organize her area and ward directory and I just happen to love doing that. So we did that together! It took a day and a half, with some spare time throughout the week to organize the area I'm in. But it only took a few hours in her area! It was fun. :)

 

Zone Conference was on Wednesday. from 9am to 4pm was about the Atonement. I LOVED IT!!! It's the longest zone conference I've ever had. but it was so edifying I didn't mind in the least bit. I wanted it to keep going forever. It's those times that I look around and say "I don't ever want my mission to end"

 

This week we're going to help a less active member quit smoking. We're actually going to follow the "quite smoking program" just how it says to do it. Never done it before. It seems like an intervention almost. A bit bold. But she's already been through it once before, so she knows what's coming. After this first week we're going to go into the Church's 12 step addiction recovery workbook. So that when the stress that causes the addiction comes back, she will know how to use the Atonement to heal, instead of trying to solve the problem through smoking. I'm really curious to see if the combination of programs will work.

 

Hmm, I'm not really sure what else. If you want something to pray for, pray that i'll have the motivation and time to write in my journal. Haha. I need help with that.

 

Love you!

Sister Cornelsen