Mission Transfers

This isn't really from Cody. Just an update I got!  He has been transferred to a place called Pisco Peru. When I googled it, it was on the coast and they have some really cool looking ruins there! They are rebuilding from a 2007 earthquake that destroyed a lot of their little town. (let's pray there aren't anymore earthquakes!)  His new companion is from Argentina so he will continue to grow and practice and learn his spanish!  Thank you so much for writing him and supporting him. I know he loves hearing from all of you and your letters really lift him up when things get tough!

Cody sent alot of pictures this week. There are no explanations with them, but it's great to see his personality still shining through in alot of these pictures

January 26th catch up!

heya everybody!!!

so i dont have a whole lot of time, but this week was great!! we had interviews with our mission president and that was awesome!! learned lots about the importance of if we want to improve, we have to set goals! we have to push ourselves if we want to unlock our full potential! we have to rely 100 % on the atonement of jesus christ and the enabling power it gives us. if we do all we can, we will help us out.

anywho as far as work here in peru its going. the time is flying by so fast but its so sweet!  im learning tons and my spanish is pretty great!!! also i aplogize if my english doesnt make sense!  ha spanish is starting to override my thinking process, so as youre reading this, enjoy a free laugh or two at my english hahahahaha.

anywho love you all and i hope you have a fantastic week!!!!!

Hey momma

uhm nothing overly crazy happened this week. only that we had interviews with mission president and i had a training too. and it was wayyyyy powerful exactly what i needed to hear. basically i could sum it up by saying that if we want to unlock our potential and even surpass our potential we have to continually push ourselves and always try to improve. we have to be the change that we want to see. if we do that. watch our world here comes a group of people committed to what they do and not much if anything will be able to stop them. that goes for everything we do. im learning lots and having tons of fun! were teaching some people that i think just might be chosen people to hear the gospel at this time in their lives, they wont quite accept a baptismal date quite yet but they are reading and understanding the importance of gaining a testimony of the book of mormon, it all depends on the book, if the book of mormon is true, our church is true, if it isnt true, nothing is true of our church. todo depende en el libro de mormon.  ha i just wrote in spanish!! sometimes it is easier to say things in spanish than in english!! so you might have to use google translate or dad for a few sentences haha!! but anywho yeah im having a great time! learning lots! especialment about the atonement of jesus christ. the more we understand the atonement, the more we are willing to give to be able to live with god again. literally he has given us everything we need, he plead for us and overcame the need of justice with mercy. his sacrifice permits us to overcome sin and be clean. something that we couldnt have done for ourselves, and the only thing he asks of us is to keep the commandments. mosiah 2 is a really good chapter i would encourage you to read it with a question in mind of what do i have to do to strengthen my family. and what do i have to do to use the atonement in my life? you will learn lots!  but yeah! yueah dad told me about the temple and about grandma kelly, good to know that the whole family came together to help out. ill definetley talk with grandma and send my love!

uhm oh yeah also i thought you would appreciate the fact to know that peru is where the eighties came to die! haha all the buses play your 80s hairbands music and all the good classic stuff. the internet cafe im in right now always plays something haha. its awesome!! oh and also in that package that youre sending if you could add my socks like captain america, batman, spiderman those ones and maybe the peyton mannings, maybe ha that would be well appreciated!! i love you so much mom!!! thanks for everything you do for me!!! you da best!!! 

January 19th update

hey everybody!!!!

 so this week in peru ive been doing awesome!!!! the week started out pretty slow and not much happened, we didnt find anybody to teach pretty much all week! friday i went on splits with the zone leaders in there area and one of them came to our area, it was pretty good! i learned lots about how to take the iniciative and do everything you can to be obedient. and then on satuday, on man saturday, we found a family of 5 people and another couple of 2 to teach! they are all awesome!! theyve got such a great potential!!!!! ha the food here has my heart! i eard somewhere that peru has the best tasting food in the world for its diversity, they have so many different types of food and they are all delicious! i havent eeaten anything i dont like yet!! and my spanish is coming along really good! i would not say that im fluent but i would say that i could say what i need to say and im getting better at understanding people and learning!!! im learning lots about missionary work! and onething that i realized is exactly how much the missionaries need members to help;them! without members the missionaries cant do anything!! ha it sucks when the members dont want to help believe me! please do all you can to help them! give them references of peopole friends, neighbors, anyone they can teach! and if you are able to, go with them and teach with them! they love that! ha rant done, anywho im having so much fun! thank you all for everything you do! for all your prayers! and for being awesome!!! love you all and i hope you have a fantastic week!!! accomplish something hard! love ya!

hey momma!!

 my week was very good! it started off very slow and we didnt have much success but then friday and saturday we found 2 new families and in total 7 people! and they are all awesome! they didnt accept a baptismal date in the first visit but they are all super open to hear and very interested and curious, i think they will all be good converts, they are chosen people right now i can feel it. church was good! i taught the gospel principles class which was interesting haha church is different not being in young mens, theres elders quorum and gospel principles, i feel old! haha glad to hear that everything is hanging in there in good ole idaho! ha 5th graders arent crazy theyre just fun!!! haha, i have no idea when our next conference is.

ha it cooled down to 87 today! woohoo! ha im going to be very tan i feel in two years!

uhm were getting a new mission address so dont send anything quite yet! the secretary will send to you the new address of the miisom home but some things that would be great would be: the book 13 articles of faith by james talmage, teachings of the prophet joseph smith, maybe if you could the tiny steamer for shirts, its just so much easier and the irons here kinda suck ha. um ha and just some things from america that i cant get here! candy, neat little knick  knacks, idk ha but that i think would cover me for a little bit. Thank you.

anywho yeah im having tons of fun here and wouldnt trade it for anything! miss you guys lots but i know itll be great when i ee you in two years!! love you lots1!!!

January 12

Heyall!! 

ha thats the whitest thing ive said in a long time!! haha hows everybody doing? i hope you are all awesome!! im having a great time here in peru!!! i went to immigrations and interpol this week so i lost lots of time at that, but i am now officially a peruvian!!!! this week we got to play sports for pday which was awesome!!! felt so good to expend energy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha and my investigators are doing well!!! having lots of fun and learning lots!!! spanish is coming along great!!!!! gift of tongues is awesome!!!!

this week i have been studying a lot about gaining the confidcne and courage to become the missionary the lord needs me to be. i can sum up my study in a quote shared with my by one of the elders in my district.

you become who you want to be by doing the things that person would do everyday!  you become a great missionary by being a great missionary and living the gospel of jesus christ and hleping others!! exact obedience is key!!! also study is huge!!!! three things that help us become greater members is the ola! orar pray, leer read, y asistir, go to church, through these 3 small things we grow more than we can imagine!!! love you all and hope you are strong in the gospel, if not, take the courage to be who you need to become!!! love you all! have a great week!!!!

hey momma!!

This week was pretty good!! last monday after i wrote you guys we got to go to a park as a zone and play sports!!! we played volleyball and handball(ultimate frisbee with the volleyball and a goal) it felt sooooooooo good to be able to just use all of the energy that has been building up in me that i can never use!!!!! it was awesome!!! and much needed haha. ha yeah were just getting into the good heat of summer that wont be starting to drop until like march down to 60 if im lucky. have fun with the snow drive safe ha!

um as far as a conference talk from this past conference i would suggest one of three, Lord is it i? by utchdorf, joseph smith from neil l anderson or the one from thomas s monson about walking how jesus walked, not where he walked, those are my three favorites from this past conference. 

um there have been rumors going around about that they might split our mission up into the cities that are here in lima, and the south of the mission and maybe even a little more than that but its not for sure we dont know yet. personally if that does happen i would want to be in the south when the change is made cuz its just that much cooler and sweeter honestly haha.

in july we are going to receive a new mission pres. his name is president McGinn or something like that..... funny thing is that he was the bishop of hermana bailey that is in my group from dc, she says he is wayyyyy awesome! so thats good! im excited!!

sounds like everything is going really well there in burley and im glad you are having fun! glad everyone is doing good! im doing great here having lots of fun! im focusing lots this week in taking the iniciative in doing things and making the changes i need to make to be the missionary that i want to be. one thing that has helped me is to just submit 100 % to the lord and although it might be hard just do what you gotta do, elder mask, an elder in my district has a quote that says, who become the person you want to become, by living and doing the things you want to become everyday.

yeah we have a church building its kinda small but its nice and the houses are kinda like little huts, some are brick some have metal sheets for roofs most are concrete but they are all very humble! Thank you so much for everything you do mom i love you soo much!!! have fun this week! do something hard!!!!!! love you!!!

January 5th letters

***I think as he is conversing more in Spanish that he is forgetting how to spell in English too, or he is getting used to how fast they talk in Peru, that he is trying to type that fast too! I am going to post his letters just as I get them so you can see the fun!  It will not let me download his pictures onto the blog for some reason, will do more research on that one! Sure miss my Cody!***

hey everybody! im having a great time here in peru! i dont have ltos of time to write but i want you all to know that ive been doing well! christmas was great as was new years!! our neighbors threw a huge party new years all night long so it was a little tough to sleep but its all good ha. im having a great tiem!!! hope you are all too!!! lvoe you all ltos!!

heya momma!! 

Things are going really good in the mission! ha i have no idea what cold is... i dont even know what 60 degrees feels like! but things are going really good here, im not trying to sugarcoat things, everybody knows that the mission is hard, its 16 hours everyday of doing everything you possible can to help others, being exactly as obedient as you can, and workng your little tooshie off its hard it sucks, but its okay! some advice i  received was through a couple of talks compiled together by someone with a video, go to youtube and search something like jeffrey r holland and henry b eyering atonement talk, it talks about how the life of jesus christ was hard, he had a mission his whole life that was nothing but difficult, so us as representatives of him should be expected to have it a little tough, but we also get to share in his joy and love! jeffrey r holland says something in it along the lines of Why should it be easy for us, when it was never easy for him? this is like my alltime favorite quote from him. because its sooo true. also i received this little book from my mother with a quote in it that says surround yourself withthe good news and dont worry about the bad, theres no point in focusing in the hard bad things, just focus in the good and search for the light.  so yeah the mission is hard not gonna lie, but its soo easy at the same time! spanish is coming along so great! i can talk and express pretty much everything i want to say, almost im stil learning ha. and im having so much fun!  sounds liek you are having tons of fun too as yw leader! they are lucky to have such a hard working dedicated president like you! thats awesome!!! ha i memorized all of section 4 of d&c in the ccm in spanish! the entire section is a huge help for me when im down, i just repeat it to myself to remind me what is expected of me, and i think in the atonement of jesus christ and am filled with hope and know that i can do anything if hes with me. My favorite scripture now is Alma 26:12, i also love versus 27,30, and 31 its so sweet! im learning lots from my companion and learning ltos on my own! were starting to find people to teach and im starting to see the blessings! thank you guys for all of your prayers and everythigng ou do for me! i really appreciate it so much!!! 

Christmas Skype

I'm trying to attach the first 5 minutes of our skype phone call just so you can see how great he looks and some of the things he talks about.  I will have it all figured out for Mothers' day and should be able to record his whole call!

Enjoy!

First Baptism.

Hey everybody!!!

 So this week was pretty great!! i got to go to the temple and do a session in spanish!!! it was a little difficult but it was awesome!!! Then we got to go to the market and look around for a bunch of stuff the markets are pretty cool! as far as investigators, we have a baptism this Saturday of two young  boys named Anthony and Leonardo! they are so awesome! their testimonies are 10 times stronger than mine ever was when i was 11 or 14 they are legit! Also at the temple like one block away is a subway!!!!! needless to say i ate fresh!!! it was great! not exactly american but the closest that i could get!  so excited for Christmas coming up! even though i don't really get to do anything, the 25th for us is going to be a normal day of preaching the gospel, but if i look on the bright side im almost kinda like santa because im bringing gifts to my investigator, and this gift is the greatest gift of all, the gift of the gospel!!!! Thank you everybody for all you love and support  i really appreciate it! hope you all have a great week!!!!