December 24, 2012 - Family Email

Hey family how are you??

So yes I got the package!  Thank you all so much!  There is WAY TOO much candy.  I am going to get fat.  I already know the candy is from Heather, she is crazy.  Sorry Jude I couldn´t wait to open the cd´s, but the songs are great, thanks mom!  So it was pretty hot all week, I think I got tan on Saturday I think.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that every Saturday we play soccer so that is nice.  Three weeks ago it hurt so much to run and all but now I am used to it play a lot better. 

So as far as talking tomorrow.  Yes we have Skype.  We are going to talk at the Spainhowers house.  The senor missionary couple have a computer.  So we are trying to figure out the time.  I will let you know by the end of this email.  I am pretty sure I will call at like 8 o clock but I will confirm that.

APs at Zone Conference

 

Well, what I want for Christmas is....

The Family

So this week was great and we had a lot of work.  The family of Maxi is doing great.  They are progressing really well.  So I know they will get baptized.  They all understand baptism really well because we always talk about it.  They may get baptized this weekend so cross your fingers and pray.  They are still coming to church and reading.  I really love this family so much!  The Spanish family is doing great as well.  The oldest daughter kind of had a rebellion against us because she doesn´t like our beliefs on gays and lesbians, but she prayed again when we left.  The mom, two daughters and the little son came to church this Sunday, unreal!!  They also have baptismal dates in January for the 12th.  They are doing really well and I know they will get baptized!!  Also we are teaching two Cubans that want to get baptized.  They are doing well and they have a date as well for the 12th of January.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/more-videos?v=2008190983001  Watch this video it is amazing I cried.  Just copy the link and it will load to the page.  

We also found a lady through a member.  It is the mom of a member and she has potential and we will see where she ends up.  Also we found a family from Colombia that is really nice.  We taught them yesterday, so, they are really new and busy so we will see how that goes.  I know they aren´t married so we will have to see what we can do.  We had a really good week and we kept really busy.  The last three nights I have been able to sleep but I still have a little cough every once in a while so that is annoying when we have to teach but all is well.  

So for Christmas Eve we are going to a members house to eat and then for Christmas Day we have a little district meeting that we have to do.  Then around 6 we are going to the Spainhowers.  So they said we are going to be calling from 6 to 9 our time.  So I will most likely be calling last, so my guess is at like 8 my time okay??  Sorry it´s not very specific but it´s all we got.  They are going to be out of the house until six tomorrow.  

Well that was my week and have questions for tomorrow.

Elder Cody

December 17, 2012 - Family Email

Family

 

In Seville I can take you to the Plaza de España where they filmed Star Wars.  I really don´t mind seeing the cathedrals so if you wanted to do that with her go for it.  So in Jaén the baptism would be at like 7 o clock I think and Seville is like 2 to 3 hours away driving.  Church starts at 10:30 to 1:30.  

So this week was great we worked really hard and I am sick as a dog!!  I haven´t gotten this sick on my mission yet so I guess it was my turn!  I haven´t stopped working and I haven´t slept good the past three

This is where I live no big deal.  this is taken from our house window!!!

I see the sun rise orange and red every morning

So we have now set baptismal dates with Maxi´s family.  The Dad never ended up moving out.  He had moved out the day of Maxi´s baptism and then they went to Church and that same night he moved back in.  They came to church this last week again and they came to the Christmas dinner.  The family is really starting to like us and they still aren´t very sure about baptism but we are working our hardest.  The Dad always takes us back home because they live in a village about 20 minutes away and this last week he took us to the other side of Málaga.  So the dads name is Luis and the mom Lidia and the daughter Micaela.  They are so good!  I love the family.  The daughter and I get a long, I sat by her in the Christmas dinner this last Friday and she even went up and sang with the young women.  So she is doing great!  The mom is going to be the hard headed one in the family I think!  The father cried when he prayed for the first time with us, I think he was praying for us when he started to cry.  The dad really likes us a lot.  I believe the bishop is going over to their house today to teach them about families and stuff for Family Home Evening.  They are now pretty involved in the church and I am positive they will get baptized.

The Spanish family is doing really well.  We set dates with them for the 12th of January.  They have problems coming to church but we are going to start involving members in the lessons.  We taught them last night with a returned sister missionary and they really like her.  The oldest daughter even prayed twice last night and accepted the baptismal date.  We still need to teach her about her whole problem and that might not go down too well but she likes us and is progressing a lot.  

 

The Cubans are doing okay.  We really didn´t teach them this last week but they are there and not a lot to say.  They are freaking flaky people but I think we will get a baptism out of them.  We are mostly just really working with these two families mentioned above.  I want to see both of them baptized so bad!!!  

We had a cool experience this last Friday after the Christmas party.  A member called my comp and went out and talked to this guy.  He has anxiety disorder and really afraid to leave the house.  So we go over and the guy is so nice and we give him a blessing and all.  After I give him a paper that I did a study for like 3 hours all the way back in El Puerto a year and four months ago.  Do you remember Betty?  The girl from Bolivia?  Well yeah I did a study for her and then she disappeared.  SO everyday of my mission I have had this paper with like 20 scriptures linked about fear and faith in the Book of Mormon and I gave it to the guy.  I was always wondering why I did that study and I totally forgot that I had that paper with me and I gave it to this guy.  He was really in need and was thinking about killing himself and all.  Well he came to church and he told us that he is doing good.  

 

So that was my week in Málaga and we are doing good.  I hope you all have fun traveling this week and we have Zone Conference this week and it´s Christmas themed so I am excited!  Love you all and I am pretty sure I will get the package soon.  

Baby Cody

December 10, 2012 - Family Email

JUDE!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Norton and Maxi (12/8/12)

Stop hurting yourself I need to be there and take care of you!  Well I guess má girl is taking care of you!  Make sure you are healed before you come out to Spain. 

Well Málaga is UNREAL.  I already had a baptism but I totally left my camera home again.  I used to be really good at that stuff but now that I know I am going to see you so soon it just almost makes me forget.  So I promise that you will have the photos the next week.  So I got there on Wednesday and the next morning we go to teach this guy named Maxi with a baptismal date for Saturday.  We get there and he starts crying.  The poor kids parents just separated and they have been married his whole life!  Maxi is 27 years old so that was really hard on him.  I felt like I was there just to help him out because he needs support and is a really sensitive guy.  He is from Argentina and has lived here for about 11 years.  His whole family came to his baptism and church the next day.  His father, mother and little sister.  We set baptismal dates with the mom and daughter and the dad just is kind of there.  We are hoping that through the church they will be able to save their marriage.  So that is what is going on, I love people from Argentina!  Also we found a huge family of Cubans that all want to get baptized and two of them came to church.  I think out of all the Cubans there is 9 people so we have some work to do there!  Also we are teaching a Spanish family.  A mom and her three daughters.  They are really progressing and came to church last week but not this week.  The name of the mom is Inma and her daughters are Inma(18), Laura(11) and Noelia(9).  Great family and they really love the missionaries.  One thing though is that the oldest daughter is lesbian but really likes us and gave me a DUFF beer from the Simpson's and made me carry it out.  I felt bad like rejecting her because it was a gift and she knows we wont drink so that is why she gave it to me.  So they are progressing and all committed to be baptized.  We are going to be setting a date with them this next week.  

Maxi and his family

So Elder Norton is from PG, Utah.  Haha I was a little off there.  His name is Samuel Parker Norton.  He is unreal and I love him to death.  He has crazy energy and I think it will be impossible for him to make me mad.  He just wants to help people and is just a great missionary.  He speaks great Spanish already and has been in the mission for 9 months.  So I think he has a pic of the baptism so I will send it over to you.

The Spainhowers, Elder Barahona, Elder Geest and his new companion Elder Norton

So here is what I am thinking:

- Thursday we will be in Málaga and there is a party here I think that day

- Friday we will be at Gibralter and then go straight to Sevilla

- Saturday be there in the morning for a little then be at the baptism

- Sunday go to church and leave right after or eat there in Jaén and go to Cáceres.  Really there is only one family there to see and maybe the branch president. 

- Monday go to Mérida and maybe go back to Caceres really shortly and then sleep up in Madrid

That is what I have thought up and you basically guessed it so ya!

I love you all.  These are really bad pictures but that is Maxi´s family and I don´t have one of them and then me and the Norton.

Elder Cody

December 3, 2011 - Family Email

Hey family how are you????

Good Bye Sebas and Rosana

OKay so I am going to Málaga!!!!  I am so excited to go there because it´s my missions name.  So I will be with Elder Norton, he is a young Elder and I am supposed to go and help him out.  He is a really energetic Elder and will be a good leader soon.  I am going to go and just baptize people there.  I am going to go work my hardest!  So here is my new address:

 

Goya 2,13,3

29002, Málaga (Málaga)

Spain

 

So there is my new address and I will still be the District Leader.  For some reason President likes me teaching all the missionaries. I just tell him I am an old fart but he says that he would prefer me teaching all the missionaries.  He is crazy.  I had a really good interview with him this last week and we talked about my patriarchal blessing because there is a part that kind of scares me and he told me that is most likely what I think.  Oh also I am pretty sure my new companion is from Arizona so that is my third from Arizona, there must be a lot of members there.

On top of a castle Granada

 

Oh by the way Rafa wants you all to write him back in English, he understands a lot of it.  He was in Utah this summer for like a month so he speaks a little English.

 

This is my family.  The girl in white is my daughter Hermana Cano, she is Spanish; and her trainer is Hermana Torres from San Antonio Texas, she is my wife.  Then the other missionary is my son

So this last week was unreal.  We met a guy from Bolivia and he literally just accepted whatever we taught him and I totally convinced him of his Catholic ways.  I didn´t convince him with facts only, it was a really spiritual lesson.  We met with him again and set a baptismal date for the 16th of February.  His name is Jesús.  He wants to teach his family of the stuff he is learning also.  So I know he will get baptized.  Yes we did set a baptismal date with Jorge last night.  He is doing good and really wants to get baptized. He just needs to make more time he says to read and come to church.  We set the date for the 22nd of December.  Rosa we weren´t able to meet with this week but we talked to her.  She is doing good though and is very honest with us.  Jorge´s roommates weren´t in this week, they are going to need help little by little but I think they will get locked in.  Well at least one of them will.  English Class was a little messed up this last week, only the two originals came to class.  I think there was a lot of testing so the girl and the family were caught up studying in the house.

12 lions???

This Sunday was unreal.  It was the most depressing Sunday ever.  So Javier the less active was sustained to be ordained to be Priest and then he shares his testimony and it was so powerful.  I bore my testimony right after him and cried a lot.  After I just sat down and cried for 20 minutes.  I don´t know why I cried but all I know is that I love all the members here in Jaén with all my heart.  I have talked about the Mexican family here, well the son was ordained to be a priest and he asked me to do it after church.  So that was the first for me.  The family is making me a dinner tomorrow night I am stoked.  Today we went and got churros and chocolate today with the branch president, it´s a breakfast thing.  Today at 2 we are going to lunch as well with Sara the Mexican girl.  I just love all the members and I tried my hardest, all I had to do was strengthen the branch and I think that´s why I was crying.  I love the mission, it´s the best.  So I want to be here Saturday afternoon and Sunday for church.  I don´t want it any other way.  We can go to Cáceres right after church.  You can talk to me about coming out, it wont make me trunky.

 

Well that was my week in a nut shell´.  I love you all.  PS I am going to buy a jacket because mine is falling apart.  Merry Christmas!

 

You are the best!

CODES

November 26, 2012 - Family Email

Hello everyone?!

Homemade by Cody made from a drip pan from the bottom of the stove

So I am so bad!!  I totally left my camera home!  I left the door running this morning because we have a lot of stuff to do and I didn´t grab my camera cord!!! I am so sorry.  I promise that I have some really good pictures from Thanksgiving and Granada.  So yes we totally pulled off Thanksgiving dinner and ya boy Elder Hafen made homemade stuffing.  I have pictures no worries.  The Estrada and Banbury pulled off the turkey as well, but Elder Banbury did all of it.  Haha he had to gut the turkey and I saw the video it was awful haha.  We had a happy Thanksgiving.  My district is by far the coolest district in the mission. 

So about the areas of visitation.  If you could some how make it so that we are here in Jaén on like Saturday afternoon that would be a miracle.  One of the kids in the ward is going to get baptized by his older brother and I would love to be there for it.  I would really like to come to Jaén because all the people here are unreal and I love all of them.  As far visiting Granada I mean it´s pretty and all but there isn´t anything that you can´t see in Sevilla.  The place we went to is unique but it´s really repetitive and cost a lot of money to enter.  I would of course want to go to Sevilla and Cáceres.  There is a place an hour from Cáceres that has a gladiator ring and that would be cool to see.  I actually heard they filmed Gladiator the movie there, maybe.  And of course Madrid is a must and the temple.  So that is my requests I suppose.  I would still love to be in Cáceres for church, that would be nice.  I am going to be weird I know it.  When I hear people speak English here I like run and hide because I don´t know how to greet them ha.

His district having their Thanksgiving Dinner

So I will know if I leave at the end of this week, so next week I will tell ya´ll whether I am going or staying.  I am almost sure that I am getting transferred, so sorry for the delay!

This week was a really good week.  The less active family with the kids we didn´t get to visit again.  They are being difficult but that is alright.  Jorge is doing great.  We taught him two times this last week and he accepted the baptismal invite.  We haven´t set a date yet but we are getting there.  We taught him this last Saturday with a lady his same age from Ecuador.  It was a really good message and Jorge really is progressing.  We also met two of his roommates and they are both from Mexico too.  We ended up teaching them a little bit as well and I know that one of them will really progress.  They are nice guys and they will get baptized!  I have faith that they will.  I may not be here but I will try my hardest to prepare them for the next missionary.  Also we met a new lady that was listening to the missionaries about a year ago.  She seems like she could really progress and has a lot of really good questions.  Her name is Rosa and she is from Ecuador.  Really good and nice lady and I like teaching her, she is fun and really easy to teach.  She has so many doubts and it´s easy to show her with scriptures and she sits there speechless.  We of course don´t try and teach her with signs but with the Holy Ghost.  She will progress and we taught her with our ward missionary Sara.  She is from Mexico and her brother is the one that is getting baptized on the Saturday that you all will be here.  So that is why I want to be here in Jaén.  I love this Mexican family.  The family from Paraguay was sick this last week so we are going to try and teach them this week.  They told a guy that comes to English class that they love it and they will for sure come back.  Also the girl didn´t come to English class either but she said she will come back so hopefully she will come this week.  Other than that everything is normal but we did find 3 new people that can progress.   The Lord really did bless us this last week and I could feel and see the fruit of our labors.  Oh yeah I told ya´ll that Elder Peterson and Manning are the AP´s!  Yeah they are teaching my less active lady from Sevilla.  She wants to meet all of you too.  Maybe we could say hi to her while we are in Fuengirola.  I am pretty sure that President Deere is just going to have all the parents come to the mission home to get us.

Well I sure do love you all!!!  Talk to you soon.  I knew you would be going to Texas for Christmas, that´s fun!  

I hope I answered all of you questions Jude.

CODES

November 19, 2012 - Family Email

Elder Pearce was my DL in el Puerto. Elder Card and Pearce go home tomorrow

Hey family,

Well it was a good week and I had a really good p day.  I am in Granada today and we went to a really famous palace and I took a lot of pictures so I will have to send them to you.  I don´t have my cable with me to transfer all of my pictures that I have taken.  Well if you have seen the blog you can see that we already reached our baptismal goal as a mission which is crazy!!  We are going to hit 450 I hope.  So this week for Thanksgivivng I changed the day of district meeting so that it is on Thursday and we are going to have Thanksgiving dinner with all the district which is 10 missionaries.  So I will take some pictures and you will see what we come up with to eat.  We have plans for a turkey, Elder Banbury and Estrada are in charge of the turkey.

So we had Stake Conference this last Sunday and it was great.  Elder Richards of the seventy came and talked and called the new Stake President.  It´s a guy from England actually that has lived here in Spain the last 10 years of his life.  Today we also met some people from Idaho that just got back from serving a mission in Florida, Fort Lauderdale or something like that.  I asked if they new Heathers brother but they didn´t.  

So this last weekend was fun and I got to see a less active member from Sevilla that moved to Málaga and she is still active!  Actually Manning and Peterson are teaching her boyfriend!  Cool, huh?  This last week was great; we got failed a lot and we had to travel a lot but oh well.  This last week we didn´t get a whole lot of time in the area but good news, we started teaching the Mexican guy named Jorge again.  It was a really good little lesson we had with him.  He really wants to meet with us and admires what we do.  So I hope all goes well and we will be able to see progress in him.  He said when he knows that the church is true he would join it.  So we are going to teach him this next Thursday and hope all goes well.  We couldn´t meet with the less active family that has kids that aren´t baptized this last week.  They kind of act like a really busy family but they both aren´t working, and we are never there in their home for more than fifty minutes.  We teach English class and this last week we had a lot of new people came.  Actually a girl I contacted on the street my first hour in Jaén showed up to English class with a guy that always comes.  So we are going to try and teach her, she really likes me and we talked for a long time in the street when we met. So I pray that she will like the gospel, even though she doesn´t really believe in God.  Also a little family from Paraguay came to English class and they really liked me because I have to teach the beginners class because I have to do a lot of the teachings in Spanish.  So they liked me, a mom, her daughter and son came in and I am going to try my hardest to try and teach them. 

So that is what is kind of going on here, I kind of have to run and I love you all!

Is there any way possible to pass through Jaén for a few hours when you all come in??  Let me know, I just want the members to meet my parents.

Love,

Elder CODES

November 12, 2012 - Family Email

Hey that was a really cool letter I really like that guy.

 

Well ya you got the gist of the email.  The translator in google doesn´t do it correctly.  So send me the email and I will translate it and type it up and send it to you.  After that just do a copy and paste deal, cool?  Pretty much from what I remember is where it says kicked, he wanted to say I am sure you miss him a lot.  I will have to reread it out loud to you when I get home or something so you understand every word.  Ha the man thinks I am going to be an apostle or something, not true.  Yes it is the same Rafa that gave me chicken feet. 

 

So this last week we had everything set for José to get baptized.  He had stopped smoking for two days in a row and then fell and told us that he was done with the church.  We had the Zone Leaders come out to interview him and that´s when everything got messed up.  Elder Adams and I felt so awful because we had literally put all of our heart into helping him and did everything possible and he just didn´t show up to his interview.  Then the rest of the day he failed us and now we are just done.  He called me last night and told me that he still wants to talk to us and I told him when you stop smoking come to church or call us.  He has done this to us three times now and never changes so we can no longer waste time with him.  So that was kinda sad but we found three new people the next day so the Lord blessed us.  They are Seven Day Adventists so they are pretty hard headed about their beliefs.  The good thing is that they believe in the bible and can´t deny things like prophets, authority and the laying on of hands.  They just think that our church has studied the bible and think about it too much and that´s why we practice those ordinances.  They also will not accept The Book of Mormon yet, so we are still in the process.  They listened to the missionaries a long time ago so they already had The Book of Mormon in their home.  The good thing is that they really believe in The Lord so I know they will get converted one day, soon I hope.  I asked them how they knew that their church is true and they couldn´t answer me.  The mom gave me two long stories and never answered my question and the husband just laughed and said we just accept the church I guess.  Their names are Antonio and Pepi and the daughter named Raquel.  So that is them and they can only meet on Sundays so that is kind of rubbish.  We finally got to sit down seriously with the family that has three kids not baptized and talked about what we I guess hope for them.  Elder Estrada and I taught them on splits and we talked about eternal families and it was a great lesson.  We talked about going to the temple and all of that.  The two girls want to go to church and they love going to church but the parents are holding them back!  How sad!  I hope they change because the parents would be like responsible for their kids salvation!  I love the little girls they liked me and Elder Estrada.  So that is what is happening right now in Jaén.  It has poured buckets of rain all day everyday this week.  We get soaked every single day!  Oh so today we are going to the mission home!! YES!  We have a follow up training meeting. 

 

Blanca is doing great, she just got released from one of her callings and now is the first or second counselor in the relief society, the poor thing!  But she loves the callings and teaching, she is incredible. 

Oh so I guess I should tell you that I will most likely be leaving on the 6th of December.  I am still here in Jaén for 3 more weeks.  There wasn´t big moves happening because 21 missionaries leave on that day.  So I am guessing that I will be moving that day and President kind of told me with out telling me.  We will see!  So if you are sending stuff do it now and soon to Jaén because I may not be here when the 6th of December comes around.  

 

So for Christmas Jude, I really don´t care.  You know that I will just want clothes, phone and all that when I get home.  So maybe some creamy JIFFY peanut butter and whatever you all decide.  I really am doing good and don´t need anything special that I can think of. 

 

I hope I have answered all of your questions!  I love you mom and dad so much.  You both are the best!  What that guy said is true and even more!  You are the best parents in the world and I love you all more than you think.

 

CODES

A Letter to Mom and Dad from a Member in Spain

This is a message we received from a member in Spain-I believe he is the one that fed Cody chicken feet in the email that I just forwarded! I had a button that I could push to translate it-hopefully that forwards to you too.

Love Ya all,

Judy

Queridos hermanos Brad y Judy Hafen, soy un miembro de la Iglesia, que vivo en Jaen, donde su hijo, el Elder Hafen esta sirviendo como misionero... El motivo de mi e.mail es expresarles mi mas sincero agradecimiento por las enseñanzas que le han dado a su hijo.

Es un ejemplo para nosotros aqui en Jaen, aqui somo una rama muy pequeña de unos 50 o 60 asistentes cada domingo y su hijo esta haciendo una gran obra... y se que en parte es por lo bueno que el es, pero la mayor parte de que el sea asi, estoy seguro que es gracias a sus padres... no podria haber un hijo tan bueno con padres que no fueran como minimo lo mismo... Yo soy joven, solo tengo 32 años, no tengo hijos, pero imagino que lo echaran muchisimo de menos... sepan que el esta haciendo la mayor obra de su vida, yo puedo testificarles de ello... es un misionero ejemplar, muy simpatico, pero muy recto... el es simplemente especial... yo puedo verlo en sus ojos, el espiritu santo no se separa de el...

Queria agradecerles por haber preparado tan bien a su hijo... le queremos mucho, lo cuidamos, pero el con su amor, su espiritu y sus enseñanzas nos da mas de lo que nosotros le damos...Solo quiero que sepan que tienen un hijo muy especial... será un gran lider en la iglesia, se lo aseguro...

Un abrazo muy fuerte.

 

Dear brothers Brad and Judy Hafen, am a member of the Church, I live in Jaen, where his son, Elder Hafen is serving as a missionary ...
The reason for my e.mail is to express my sincere gratitude for the teachings that have given his son. 

It is an example for us here in Jaen, here we're a very small branch of about 50 or 60 people each Sunday and his son is doing a great work ... and that part is so good he is, but most of that is so, I am sure it is because of their parents ... could not have a child so good with parents who were not at least the same ... I'm young, I have only 32, I have no children, but imagine being kicked out terribly ... know that he is doing the greatest work of his life, I can testify to it ... is an exemplary missionary, very friendly, very straight ... he is just special ... I can see it in their eyes, the holy spirit is not separated from the ... I wanted to thank you for preparing your child so well ... We love you, we care for, but with his love, his spirit and teachings gives us more than we give ... I just want to know that you have a very special son ... will be a great leader in the church, I assure you ... 

A big hug.

November 5, 2012 - Family Email

Hey Family how are you??

So Halloween week was pretty good I guess!  Spain doesn´t really celebrate Halloween but 4 girls died in Madrid at a party so they kind of celebrate it a little too hard.  No one here in Jaén dresses up except the members.  We had a really good party and a lot of people came!   So I have included some of the pictures.  We stopped by and said hello and talked to some of the visitors that came.  Only one of them would give me their information to try and teach them. 

Antonio, Ana, and Javier (vampire)

I have some other crazy pictures that you will have to see.  You will be proud of me when you see them!  

So finding this week was good.  We may not have found a lot of new ones but we did get 19 references so that is what is going on.  We have been working a lot with less active members and that is the fruit we are seeing.  José called us back and wanted to change and he came to church and we taught him last night with Rafa, one of my favorite members.  It was an amazing lesson and the spirit was so strong.  After the lesson Rafa gave him a blessing of comfort to help him stop smoking.  It was a great lesson and José hasn´t bought tobacco for 3 days now I think.  He is hardly smoking now so there is a lot of progress going there and maybe he will be able to get baptized this weekend.  Pray for him.  We met a new lady named Magdelena.  She lives out in a small village and it is really hard for her to come to church and her husband doesn´t want her to have anything to do with the church.  She knows it is true because she has been studying the church for like 10 years through a member. 

I'm sorry but that's just gross!

He said he almost threw up...good for you Cody :)

Rafa

We had a really good ward meeting last night and we have plans to work with this family that has two kids that aren´t baptized!  So we are going to work with Rafa and his wife to get into the house with them because the parents literally work more than any person I have ever seen.  The kids came to the Halloween activity but they are just so shy because I think they are just always in the home alone.  So we will work with them.  We did some good finding this week and we worked really hard and things are looking a little better here in Jaén.  We taught a lot of lessons to less actives and some of them are returning back to church.  We had 10 more people in church this week so that is good!

I am doing really well and we are in the last week of the transfer and I could possibly be transferred next week so hold off on the package or letters.  I will know by Thursday or Friday if I leave or not.  Mom maybe you will have to find the CD online!  Sorry!  

Wow that race looked amazing!  I was getting emotional reading about the race.  That is amazing!  There is still good in the world!  Here is a different story!  I had a lot of weird things happen to me this week.  One probably the worst thing that has happened to me on my mission.  I am going to write out the story to Heather and she can read it to you mom.  It is just kinda gross to put on the  blog.  (It involves a guy that was gay that hit on us and sent a text and called us and stuff, bad news!!) Haha but no worries I am safe and nothing bad happened, it just sucks because I am the one that has do all the speaking in weird situations like that so it means that stuff always happens to me!  Well the church is true and I am loving the mission!

I love you mom and Dad.  I prayed really hard for Dad last night about 14 hours ago so that makes me happy that he is feeling better.

Love you family!

CODES

October 29, 2012 - Family Email

Hello family once again,

Well how are all ya´ll??

Well that is good to here from Damon like that.  He was amazing before his mission and now  I can only imagine that he is unreal.  I really love that kid so much.  I hope that he doesn´t get married before I get home! 

 

So Halloween in Spain well is really not a huge deal.  I mean if I remember last year people dressed up very little and just hung out in bars until 5 in the morning.  I am pretty sure the streets will be really loud because this Thursday is another Holiday and they will all get to sleep in.  The Spanish people always make up Holidays so that they can rest from getting wasted the night before haha it´s kind of sad.  So really, Spain isn´t crazy like Ireland or anything especially here in Jaén it´s just a calm area.  

 

So this week was good but we had a little bit of travelling to do so it kind of slowed us down.  Also when trying to do contacts in the street it doesn´t help that it has been pouring buckets of water all week LONG.  Hey that is  okay we have been trying to work with the less active families and getting references.  We got a new investigator out of one named Tamara.  She is probably around in her early twenties and just says she has a lot of problems in her life and needs help.  We found her in a less active home and so we will see how she goes this week.  We dropped all of our other investigators that won't come to church and we are practically starting from ground zero.  I am pretty sure we will see some new  people this week so keep praying for us please.  I have been getting pretty good at asking references from less actives and so hopefully these people can turn into new investigators.  My companion is doing great and we get along great.  He is a funny kid and will be a great missionary, he already is.  

 

The husband of a new convert, I guess he was hilarious

I went to Granada this last week to do a baptismal interview with Elder Estrada and we also did a split.  That was a lot of fun and we worked really hard.  It felt like we were in Sevilla all over again.  The lady I interviewed is crazy funny but a really good lady.  The picture of the man is her husband that has dentures he was unreal and we had to take a photo with him haha.  Oh so before I forget Elder Estrada asks that you get Toree Colemans email because he wrote her a while ago and he moved and now they lost contact, so could you do that for me?  Thanks.

 

I have been really taking advantage of my study time that I have to read the Book of Mormon and learn as much as possible.  I love study time, it´s one of the best things for me personally to grow and be the person and missionary that I am.  It´s amazing how much I feel the spirit in the studies.  The Book of Mormon really is so true and it is the key to our conversion.   

 

Elder Crawford and Elder Codes

The other picture is of Elder Crawford, he was my Zone Leader in Cáceres.  He is a good buddy of mine. 

 

So I am doing really well and I am learning a lot in the mission.  I love it so much, I just have a hard time explaining it with words because it´s really how it makes me feel that is the change it has had on me.  I owe everything I am to my mission and it has made me converted to living the gospel of Jesus Christ not just knowing it but living it. 

 

We have been working with a less active kid that has been inactive for like 10 years plus and he used to come to church with earrings and normal clothes and now he comes in a suit and tie.  He has pulled out his ear rings with out anyone telling him to, comes to institute and all the meetings on Sunday.  I consider that a miracle.  He is amazing and I want to make him be home teaching companions with us so that he goes and works with us to visit the members. 

 

So these are just some little miracles that are changing my life.  It´s true what Alma said "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Everyday is a miracle to me in the mission.

 

I love you

COOODES

October 22, 2012 - Family Email

Hey family how are you???

 

Well sorry if there are errors in this letter because the keyboard is broken and I can´t even read the window hardly because I shrunk it down to look at all the pictures and I can´t make it bigger.   So I hope that you are able to read and understand my email.  Man I love Damon so much.  I emailed him here and there in the mission, I just never had a lot of time but he would send me stuff here and there.  I hope he is doing well and I know he was a beast missionary.  He was always trying to reactivate his family and friends his whole mission.  Well I hope he can get his family going good, well his dad and brother.  That makes me really sad to hear they got divorced but I don´t really know the story.  I would like to email Damon, could you get his email address that he uses now?? 

 

So this last week was really short and not a lot happened.  We are just trying to find new people to teach.  Paqui and Belén pretty much have fallen off the face of the earth so I don't know what to really say about them.  I haven´t met with them for over a week or so.  We are teaching a guy named José and he is doing really well.  We set his baptismal date a long time ago for this weekend but he needs to fully stop smoking so that is kind of the bummer.  However on the convert side of things everyone is doing well.  Alba gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting.  She is really progressing well and the members love her now and she is helping her father stay really active in the church which I don´t think he really has ever in his life.  We taught a less active family and we are going to try and work with the kids but the parents are really far off from the church as far as the word of wisdom goes.  We are trying to be their friends so they trust us and like us and keep trying to work with the kids.  I need to buck up and start trusting in the Lord and know that he will put miracles in our paths.  I have been kind of doubtful recently because we really don't have a lot of work right now.  We baptized all the work we had and now I just have to find again.  I also feel that the branch lost their excitement and help because they just seem dry of references because they gave us all they had.  There isn´t a lot of active members and the less actives it seems have been less active for 20 years and don't want a single thing no matter what you say.  I am trying to follow the words of the prophet and find the less actives and find through them but they just don't want anything.  Spain is different¨but I love the people here.  The branch is still so nice and I feel like they love me but it´s always the same people that are helping us.  So we are just going to go to the streets and find new people and trust that the Lord will give us new people that want to listen.  I have seen miracles from contacting and working with the members and I know the Lord loves Jaén and will make miracles happen here again.

 

Well my companion is doing great we get along great and he is learning a lot.  Spain is really new for him because he is used to a very clean sheltered home and he doesn´t like change.  For example we were passing by an old investigators home and it was in a really really scary neighborhood were all the Gypsies live.  So we walk up 5 stories in this super sketchy building and there is Gypsies everywhere sitting on the floor; girls yelling at us and getting in our faces and all, there was also poo all over them and the floors and trash.  So we knock on the door and she wasn´t there in the home.  So the whole time we are walking up the stairs Elder Adams is whispering in my ear say what the heck are we doing here and he said it like a hundred times and I was just smiling and so after the lady wasn´t home, Elder Adams just takes off running down the stairs while all the Gitanos-Gypsies are yelling at us and flies out the door!!  Hahaha oh it was so funny and he was so mad at me for making him go into the building.  They really aren´t dangerous people just dirty and they rob you every once in awhile but I have never had problems.  So he is doing great though, and picking up on the language little by little.  So that was my week!! Pray to help us find people please!!

 

I love you all.

Cody

October 15, 2012 - Family Email

Hey Family how are all ya´ll???

Well thanks for the email I loved it today; it was very special!  I hope that everyone is doing well and is happy!  It was good to see the snowy mountains and my hood rats!  Rachel looks like she is doing
great that makes me feel really good!  Heather isn´t allowed to cut her hair until I get home now!  I got a letter from Jerame and he is making me not want to have kids!  Haha I think he is trying to make me worried about how hard life is!  He also mentioned that scouting is really hard and is drives him crazy.  Haha my companion speaks little but understands a lot of Spanish so he will catch on.  It takes like 3 months of listening to catch on to the patterns and the conjugations of the language, well for me it did.

So this last week was good and we really are teaching a lot of new people.  We are working with the members trying to find new people from them while trying to reactivate less actives.  The prophet came out about a month ago and kinda changed the way we do missionary work. It´s called the Rescue!  So we are trying to do that here in Jaén while finding people to teach.  We found a family with 3 kids that aren´t baptized but it is going to be A JOB getting them back to church but not impossible because they like the missionaries.  I feel like if I can get Alba baptized I can get this family reactivated with the help of members.  Speaking of Alba, one of the best days of my life was yesterday.  Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and Santiago and Alba get up to bear there testimonies.  Santiago went first and it was great and then Alba.  She gets up and says I know know this church is true that it´s the only church because I can feel it and just starts crying and says in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.  That was the best thing in the WORLD.  I know this is the Lord's church.  She is only 13 years old and chose to get baptized by herself with everyone around her telling her don´t do it and then bore her testimony!  Next week she is going to give a talk in sacrament meeting!  She is going to be a beast in the church!  Also another testimony was amazing but I have to tell a story first so the testimony makes sense.

So the member that took me into a room and told me I am special and I did a really good job training Elder Rojas, well him, he had a little problem this last week.  He calls me one night, I think
Wednesday and tells me he needs to talk to us urgently.  So I tell him where we were and he comes by and picks us up.  So he is kind of in a big pickle with someone that had black mailed him and so he was asking for a blessing.  He had told me he hadn´t slept for two nights and he was really messed up and his wife as well.  So we go to their home and I go into the bathroom and pray real fast to have the Lord help me with the blessing and I felt a big peaceful feeling. So I gave him the blessing and I felt really well!  So yesterday at testimony meeting he gets up and bears his testimony about the experience and about the priesthood.  That night I gave him the blessing he slept like a baby.  I was in tears, it´s just the tender little mercies the Lord gives me and I love them so much!

We don´t talk to Ursula and I haven´t called Sonya, she told me she would call when she was ready.  So I am not trying to pressure her in anyway.  I have thought about calling her soon to check up on her. 

Thanks for all you do and I love you all so much!  Feel better DAD!

I love you!
CODES

October 8, 2012 - Family Email

Rocio and Miguel's Baptisms (October 6, 2012)

Family,

So yes the two baptisms happened and it was a great Little service.  The aunt and uncle came with the family to the baptism and it was really spiritual.  Rocio and Miguel did great in the interview and they really have learned a lot and understand the doctrine.  Elder Estrada came to Jaén with me on Friday to interview the kids.  He is doing great and he tore apart Sevilla in a good way!  He reactivated the Koh´s daughter!!  So in February I am excited to see them.  So the uncle baptized the Miguel and the cousin baptized Rocio.  All of the members were really excited because Pilar is coming to church and Antonio.  I don´t know if I ever explained the connection very well.  So Antonio is the oldest brother, Pilar and Nerea´s mom are the sisters of Antonio.  Antonio has one active sister that lives far away in a city called Jerez(right next to El Puerto).  So the active sister´s husband and son baptized Rocio and Miguel.  The picture with the woman with short blonde hair is Antonio and Ana.  The other picture with the man and woman with long hair is the branch President and his wife.  The one with the woman alone is Pilar the mom.  Hahaha the moment you are waiting for.

Elders Adams and Hafen

Yes I got the BRITT!!  Haha I got the kid that speaks English.  His name is Joshua Adams from Wakefield, England.  He is pretty cool I really like him a lot.  He played basketball for Englands National team so he must be pretty good.  Ha it is amazing to see how much Spanish I have learned over a year and 8 months!  He struggles with the language just like any other missionary.  That is okay there is a lot of room for improvement.  He has a girlfriend that really talks a lot and is a little crazy.  I think she emails him everyday and sends letters everyday.  I hope she calms down a little so that he will be able to concentrate more.  What Heather does is perfect!  I have a perfect girlfriend.

So conference was amazing.  I still need to finish it.  I didn´t get to watch the last half of the priesthood session and the Sunday Afternoon Session.  Ha yes!  Elder Hollands talk brought me to tears, it was one of my favorites for sure but there was one talk that was my favorite.  It was the one by Shayne Bowen, I literally bawled my eyes out I am not even joking.  I couldn´t help but think of Rachel, Heather, Mama Stratton and the whole family.  There were some others talks that I loved as well but I can not think of all of them right now.  I also really liked Elder Cooks talk!!  Did you know that Hermana Clegg was called on the General Relief Society Board??  Cool huh?  Well I am doing great and pray for Elder Petersons mom she has cancer, but Elder Holland gave her a blessing!  I got to see Peterson and Manning this week, I love them so much!!!  Well I am doing well and I am a lot happier and the mind is a lot clearer.  I feel less stressed but at the same time even more stressed because it is a completely new training experience and he has a lot to learn!  I love you so much family!  I hope is well. CTR

All the new missionaries and their Trainers

I love you
CODY

Training for the Trainers Day

October 1, 2012 - Family Email

Paqui, Juan, and Albe's Baptisms

Family,

Hey to answer your question yes  I am staying in Jaén!!  I am excited because I feel like I need to stay here.  I had a dream that President Deere called and he had a new assignment or something for me and I had to go to an area near the beach.  Well I guess it was him telling me I was going to train again and I had to go to the mission home which is on the beach.  So I go to the mission home tomorrow and on Wednesday I get my new companion.  I am really nervous I don´t know why.

This week rained like crazy!!  For like 4 or 5 days straight it was dropping buckets of rain.  I also got sick but that didn´t slow down the work.  I am feeling a lot better, I think it was the quick change in the weather.  So yes as you all know we had 3 baptisms and they were unreal!  Watching Alba´s baptism was one of the best baptisms I have every seen!  Missionaries have been trying to get her baptized for 4 years!  Some how we were persistent and she finally said yes!!  She was so excited about her baptism and she is such a sweet little girl.  Yeah so Juan stopped smoking and he wanted the Branch President to do the baptizing.  So there is our Branch President and the fat guy is Alba´s Dad.  The branch President is amazing!  There is Beléb and Paqui mom to the left of Paqui the daughter.  They are doing well and I think they are kind of happy that I am staying.  I know I will get them baptized before I leave they just need time and love.  Elder Rojas just wanted to get them baptized.  Beléb said no because she wants to be prepared and get baptized with her mom.  She is doing great though and coming to church with her mom.  Antonia is the one behind Alba wearing the glasses.  She really liked the baptism and there is no doubt that she felt the spirit watching her husband baptize her daughter.  I gave Paqui the Holy Ghost on Sunday and other ward members gave Juan and Albe the Holy Ghost.  Also we gave Blanca's little son a blessing so that he is in the church records.  Elder Rojas blessed little Fermin.  It was an amazing Sacrament Meeting.  I gave a talk as well but it was really short with 4 blessings in the meeting!  Antonio and Ana are still in the process because it turns out that Anonio´s old wife still needs to sign one more paper and then they will get married.  They are still just doing amazing and the Lord will bless them for being faithful.  Miguel and Rocio are getting baptized this Saturday right after conference so I am stoked!!  The Lord is blessing Jaén.  

 

My favorite member cornered me in his kitchen and closed the door and told me that I am a special missionary and that I have the most special spirit; and he said look at the fruit that you planted in Elder Rojas.  He told me that all the members will remember me here in Jaén for forever.  He almost made me cry.  We had previously had a lesson with him, his wife and Antonio and Ana and it was really spiritual.  I have had a really good week.  Rosana and Blanca both got called in the Primary and Relief Society; they are doing great.  Neyera is the Beehive President and Sebastian has memorized 10 articles of faith and has marked off the most out of all the Primary kids haha.  I love my mission-I learn so much!  Shaver is leaving and Elder Estrada is taking his place haha another one of my companions!  I get to hang out with Shaver for like 7 hours tomorrow and Elder Rojas leaves at 7:30 in the morning.  

 

I love you all!
CODES

September 24, 2012 - Family Email

Dear Family,

Training for my new "kid"

So this last Thursday President Deere called me and told me that I will be having a new kid! Yes that is right I will be training all over again.  I must have done something right with my companion right now even though I don´t feel so.  There is only one English speaker and he is from England, I hope he is my companion.  I want to know what it feels like all over again not knowing Spanish and being terrified.  So tomorrow I get to go to Fuengirola all over again for trainers training.  I feel like I have been there every week I am lucky!

So this last week was great we had a lot of success.  We taught a lot of lessons which is unheard of here in Jaén.  We taught 24 lessons! So things are going well but as for baptisms who knows.  I have faith that Paqui, Paqui and Belén will get baptized but they aren´t doing anything to show they want to.  They don´t read at all and don´t understand the importance of the gospel in their lives.  Juan is doing great and is smoking less.  He wants to stop smoking so bad and hopefully he will stop within a couple of days, pray for him.  Oh yeah Paqui is still smoking a lot.  Miguel and Rocio will be getting baptized the next week when the family can all come out and see the baptism.  Alba is doing good and coming to church but she is confused whether so be Catholic or Mormon.  She wants to be the God Mother of her nieces but she has to do some catholic confirmation things to do it.  So she needs help! Antonia is kind of a lost cause right now. She has her problems and doesn´t care to change or get them solved by the Lord.  We have a new investigator named Luis.  He is 11 and lives with his grandparents.  They all came to church and Luis is progressing a lot and has already received an answer.  He does all his reading assignments and came to the church activity this last week.  So hopefully we have 5 baptisms this week; Alba, Juan, Paqui, Paqui and Belén.

Brother and Sister Richards

Elder Richards was amazing and made me cry like a little boy.  He looked into my eyes like 8 times just staring and I knew that Christ was looking at me.  He told us that he is a special witness of Christ and when he said that I just started crying.  He is amazing and knows so much about the gospel.  He even corrected President Deere in his teaching.  The Conference was great.

This week, well yesterday I had an experience I will never forget.  It was one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had.  So this man from Arizona is biking across the world.  He started in Portugal and yesterday was here in Jaén.  He does it for his job.  He is a motivational speaker and is an amazing man.  He is a member and has been his whole life.  He is very active and goes to church every week.   He came to church and after we walked up to Antonio and Ana´s house to eat.  He asked for a blessing before hand and after eating I gave him one.  I gave it to him in English and I really don´t remember what I was saying but he just started crying and I felt the spirit so strong like never before and I started crying.  After the blessing he

Hanging out with Layne Gnieghting

looked me straight in the eyes, a grown man crying and told me thank you for being worthy.  I will never forget this man.  He had the best spirit about him.  He has 8 children and most of them are in elementary school.  His name is Layne Gnieghting.  Look him up on facebook and write him a message from me telling him thank you for the experience, he changed my life.  He sleeps on the streets or in peoples homes if they invite him.  He took a shower there in the house and stayed the night I am pretty sure.  He is great, look him up on facebook and tell him hello and thanks.  He will be a friend of mine forever.  Here is a photo of him. When I mean bike I mean Road Bike.

That was my week I love you!!
CODES

September 17, 2012 - Family Email

Our new ZONE

Well we didn´t have any baptisms this week but they will be baptized all together on the 29th, so keep your fingers crossed and pray!  I will talk about investigators in a little bit.  So as you already know I went to the mission home this last week!  Haha no it was really funny I was talking to Hermana Deere about the pictures getting up on the blog because I have called her like 3 times about it!  I was like Hermana Deere I don´t really care about me getting on the blog it´s the mother.  Haha so the next day she literally finishes taking the picture of all the District Leaders and sees me running out of the bathroom and starts laughing and giving me crap!  So she took one of my face all close up!  Good times.  District Leader Conference was great.  I got to sleep in Elder Manning´s piso with Elder Rhees Jackson and we slept in a seperate room and we talked for a while I love Elder Jackson.

ME and Elder Jones on the way to DL Conference.  We met some Asians that spoke English haha they loved us

 So this week I got your package on Tuesday morning, I had just missed it when we went to email last week so I had to wait until Tuesday morning to go pick it up!  I love it so much thank you!!!  I love the Book, ha it kinda scares me though, President Kimball makes me feel like a lot of people are damned or not going to live in the Celestial Kingdom.  As President Clegg say´s and I quote "NOBODY STUMBLES INTO THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM" or "THERE WILL BE NO ACCIDENTAL SALVATION".  Those are my two favorite quotes along with others.  Thanks for the face scrub and the candy even though Heather supplied me with candy for a couple of months!  I have been sharing my candy with some of my close friends!  So I was out of town for two days this week and Alba won't be able to go to the temple this week so we are going to teach them and hopefully get Paqui, Paqui, Alba, Belén and Antonia(HOPEFULLY) baptized on the 29th.  They are all Spanish from Jaén.  That is a lot of Spaniards right there!  We also started teaching a guy that is really good.  He is also Spanish and his name is Juan.  He has come to church for the past two weeks and we finally got to teach him and he wants to get baptized!  He told us he wants to stop smoking and he knows he has to before he gets baptized.  So pray for him and Paqui to quit smoking.  Antonia is still there, not really progressing.  She has her problems and we are hoping that when she sees Alba get baptized it will touch her and make her want to change.  Miguel and Rocio are doing great and they will be baptized on the 28th!  We are just teaching them and they are doing great and it´s reactivating the mom Pilar.  She is great and has desires to stop smoking and find someone to get sealed in the temple with.  She really wants to raise her kids in the gospel.  Blanca taught Relief Society yesterday and she loved it she says. 

This is what I EAT pasta always...it´s cheap and good and I make it

 So probably the coolest thing in my mission happened this week.  It was so simple but the best thing in my mission.  So we gave two Books of Mormon to Rosana and Sebastian and told them to write their testimonies in them and we are going to hand them out to their neighbors.  So Rosana is writing hers and finishes and then Sebastian finishes and his mom reads it and starts crying.  Man I  am crying right now.  That was the best experience in my mission.  I know that the best thing a parent can read or hear is the testimony of their child.  It was the best thing in the world.  Well with that I finished my week.  Everything is going great and I am good and things with the companion are good.  I am just learning patience.  The Lord really wants me to grow up and leave the mission knowing how to be an adult and kind of take care of a kid.  I know the church is true and I love my mission.

CODES