Week 25

How's it going? 

So this week was crazy!!  After last week, I had a great time with Elder Fisher for the next two days and we literally ate soooo much food!!  He was leaving so everyone was feeding us!!!  IT was soooo awesome!!  In one night we had all you can eat Golden Corall! then cheesecake at another lady's house, then we went and said bye to this family from Bolivia and they had prepared this carne and rice and platanos and oh man it was soooo good. But I didn't sleep much that night at all cuz I was worried about training and being district leader and not understanding all the spanish!!  But it's sooo weird!  I can understand now! the Lord must want us to understand!!! So last week I translated better in sacrament!! and I can understand all the lessons!!  IT's sooo cool!  I can understand spanish!!! After that Wednesday came,  I had to get TB tested and it came back negative, so no worries.. then training my new comp. He actually lived in mexico for 2 years, 6 years ago so he knows a lot of spanish!! but it is still pretty foreign.  I feel like I just got here but then he reminds me of all the things I felt when I arrived here.  It's cool.  We definately have some good times!!  Friday was leadership meeting from 8-4:30,  then on Saturday we taught an english class,  Sunday we had church until 4:30, Monday we had zone conference from 8-4:30.  I feel like I never have time to be an actual missionary.  And now today preparation day until 6!! Everything has just been flying by!!  We found a new person to teach last week and she is sweet!!  We invited her to be baptized and she said yes!! but she needs to learn more first haha.  She's just looking to make her life better!  My new comp is definitely good luck!!  I am so excited to get out and work!  Sorry I've been so bad in writing!  and with pictures.  I'm grateful for all of you and your examples in getting me here to this point.  I hope you all have a great week!  Next week I'll have a funny story!  Say hi to Janelle for me!  I can't believe she is home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Cornejo

Week 24

I don't have a ton of time so I'll be brief.  This day was kind of weird with transfers coming and a new mission president.  He hasn't got everything figured out yet so a lot of ppl don't know where they are going yet... but to be brief, so everything is changing!!!  I'm really sad... I'm gonna be a trainer so I'm pretty stoked about that but I'm also gonna be district leader over 3 sets of elders and a set of sisters... kill me! haha  and the worst part is, before this we had 4 missionaries in our branch, 2 sisters and 2 elders and all 3 of them are leaving!!  No sisters are coming in to replace them!!  So our branch covers the entire stake!! which is huge and I have to do all the missionary work.  We were seeing sooo many miracles and the sisters were helping.  This area used to have 6 missionaries so now i have 3 area books to deal with!!  Thats 14 investigators!!  And im training someone who cant speak spanish!!  How is this gonna be possible?  And that means I have to translate church from spanish to english for 3 hours every sunday!!!  And sing at this noche de hoger!! just me and my comp and the mission pres.  We were supposed to have the sisters help but now they aren't cuz none are coming in!  It's gonna be intense... I'm stoked for the challenge but also pretty sad... We saw sooo many miracles this week with both elders and sisters working with the branch and the branch was getting reallly involved... I hope we can keep up the excitement... pray for us... we really really need it...  when our branch presidency found out they all started crying... idk.. It's gonna be nuts  but I know the Lord will help us!!  He is so great!!  I love you all!! your the best!!  I wish i had time to write more but next week I'll let you know.  I love you all!!  Say hi to everyone for me!!

Elder Cornejo

Our branch pres and his wife.  They are crazy.   That is one of the cutest kids ive seen.  His name is Mosi!

Emillio's 4th birthday party fiesta!!  It was sooo funny to watch all the kids!!  There is even this spanish pinata song that they all kept singing it was so funny.  Look it up!

all watching the pinata.  Greg is the guy in the blue.. He is the one we are teaching!

Exchanges with elder young!!!  HE is so sick!! but he finishes his mission on wednesday so hes going home!

me elder young and the branch President's Son Omar!

My companion elder fisher for now..  Im getting a trainee Wednesday!!  We had some good times!!

Sunset driving home.  Its pretty beautiful here1

Week 23

So this week was another week of workin super hard non stop!!  We have so much fun!! but it is hard work too!!  You never stay in one place more than an hour and once you do it feels like youve been there forever!!  LAst week we had to pass 2 of those investigators that we found to the sisters and drop one but we gained 4 more!! its kinda like tithing ;) haha its been sweet!!  We are meeting such cool ppl and now we are going to start playing soccer because everyone wants to play!!  I'm pretty pumped!  Last night was crazy as far as the lesson,  We go to this recent converts house with his wife, then our branch pres shows up with his entire family so we all eat the most fantastic authentic mexican style dinner and it is sooo good i cannot eat any other type of mexican food now and then we are going to share a lesson when Alex goes hey lemme go and get my friend for a lesson.  So he runs accross the street and we wind up having 10 people in this room as we all teach his friend the spirit.  I feel like he felt a little intimitated but everything turned out great.  We mainly just sat quiet as everyone in the room testified to him how they have felt the spirit of god.  It was sweet!!  Then we sprinted to this other guys house.  He is Peruvian so we talked about Qui!  I wanna try it so bad!!  Maybe one day! haha  But had the most amazing message about the restauration and they felt the spirit so strong.  That message has to be my favorite and it is good in any occation!!  But last week we went on exchanges and it was hard cuz i literally have to teach everything because the guy that came doesnt speak spanish.

  Well we had to move this lady this week and oh my gosh, she had some of the heaviest furniture in the world!!  Each piece was like 300 pounds and we had to squeeze it out of this little tiny door frame... It was all solid oak!!  but we got it all in.  She only broke one lamp!  So that was awesome... literally just pushes it off the table... and it shatteres... we all watched her and were like did that just happen?  Cuz she almost starts crying after... idk...but ya we got to go to the temple this week.  That was sweet.  The member that took us fell asleep and the guy inside was freaking out.  So let me describe to you just how humid it was, we walk outside the temple and my camera wont even take a picture because the air is so humid.  IT fogged up my lense within seconds... so thats the reason why i have no pictures this week :( sorry!  What else  i really need to write down these cool experiences because by today i forget them all!! and I definitely need to write in my journal, its just we are sooo busy i never have time!!  I am gonna work on that this week, Follow up with me next week to see how I do! Enjoy your vacations if you see guys with white shirts give em water!!  ITs so hot! haha

Week 22

So this week was sooo hard but sooo sweet!!!  We went hard! haha  We found 5 new investigators!!  Literally everything possible happened to us this week!!  So Monday we met a sweet latino family Hernandez.  His mother in law goes to our branch but he goes to the english ward with his family.  He is nuts but its funny.  He calls all the hispanics laminitas or laminites and says they are always late for everything!! So we set up a party for couples last friday night and while he was waiting for them to arrive he got his disco ball out and blasted Turn Down for What and the sub was sooo beautiful!! haha He just started blasting all this solja boy and wobble and all these songs and starts dancing and has us film him so he can send it to an ex missionary. hahaha he is hilarious pretty crazy tho.  I wish my words could better describe what went down but no amount of words can have you fully capture the image of his dance moves that will forever be engraven in my memory... not a good thing... haha... then we also had some drunk guys we delt with.  I talked to a homelss guy for 5 min a guy that had been living in the church for 5 weeks and then one day the bishop comes and says there is someone here that shouldnt be and they find him!!!  i cant believe he dodged the members for 5 weeks straight!  But now he just chills outside and the members wanna put him in jail... youd think theyd wanna help him?? but idk thats the english work haha  As far as our missionary work it was so sick!! the members here are awesome!!!  We are becoming pretty good friends with them.  We helped set up a wedding but couldnt go to it but that was last friday and then we are litterally contacting like crazy to try and meet new ppl.  We have met a ton of pregnant teens.  One 14 year old we gave a blessing to last week and then another one we talked to in the street... so weird.  Sundays are the best in the mornings cuz this family makes these Giant and i mean Giant pancakes for us to eat with strawberries, peaches, blueberries, platanos, whipped cream, dulce de leche and of course maple syrup.  When i get older i definately wanna get a tradition going for the missionaries to come over at least once a week.  This family is famous around the mission for these pankakes cuz they are literally so huge!!!  And missionaries rarely ever eat breakfast so it'll be cool!  Oh this week we get to go to the Washing DC temple, last week we did babtisms with the branch so that was sweet but this week we get to go thru a session.  We werent allowed to do the baptisms and i forgot my temple reccomend... so pres wasnt too happy with that haha but i won't forget it again!!!  Man there are so many cool things that went down but ya its hard, it's sooo tiring but it is sooo fun!! and rewarding!!  Work hard and love one another that is our goal for this week!!  Hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Cornejo