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