Navidad

¡Hola!

I hope everyone had a great christmas and remembered why we celebrate this wonderful holiday! 

This week was a bit slow, because here is South America, everyone gets even more busy for the week of the holiday and a lot of people leave town. For christmas, everyone here gathers as cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, kids, and everything in between christmas eve and party till about 3 in the morning, and then christmas day is a normal day, just no one has work. It was a bit different from the christmases I have had in my life, but I am so very grateful the opportunity I had to pass this christmas season as a missionary and sharing the message of the Savior to those that would listen. It was a very different, but a very blessed Christmas for me! Though we basiclly only contacted this week, because everyone was really busy, it still flew by, because we were making sure to keep ourselves busy and do our part!

I truly loved talking to you guys this Christmas!! It gave me the added boost I need to keep pushing forward and doing what I am supposed to be doing here!

Today we went to the Basilica, a giant old catholic church here in Quito, and it was cool! The only thing is I always feel so uncomfortable in the Catholic churches, because they are a church, but so empty of the spirit. I am just so grateful that when I enter one of our churches, I can really feel the spirit and we leave rejuvenated by the spirit. But, we got some really awesome photos of Quito, because we could go up into the towers and they are high up! And it was a fun activity with my district! 

I am looking forward to the new year and the chance to make it the best year yet! One thing an apostle, I believe David A Bednar, said in a talk we saw in the MTC was that every year needs to be the best year of your life. With this gospel we should always be growing and doing better, and if we are not we are not using the gospel the way we should be. I really like that, that every year really can be and should be the best year that we have ever had, because every year we should be even more closer to the savior. 

I love you all and talk to you next year!!! 

Hermana Cordon

Wedding and Baptism!

¡Hola Familia!

Well this was a crazy, but a really amazing week! Christmas came early for us! haha For those of you who don`t know, alot of people here in Ecuador do not get married, but live together and consider themselves married. A lot of people are scared to make the commitment, and then have to get divorced, because divorce costs a lot and no one wants to deal with that. And so that is one of the biggest things we have to deal with, with families is helping them get married, before they can be baptized. And so it always seems to take a long time for families to be baptized for that reason. But, this family, Flia Medina, had such big desires to be baptized and such strong faith that they overcome every obstacle that was thrown their way this last month and were finally married this last wednesday!!! And seriously the second that they were married you could just see a huge difference in them, because they now are completely with all the commandments of God. Then they were able to be baptized this weekend! And boy was that a special experience! It was the parents and their little boy who is 9. And after they were baptized they were able to share their testimonies. And the spirit was so strong and they were just saying how they knew that this was the true church, and that despite all the opposition they faced to be married they were able to overcome it all because it is the true gospel. And they were saying how that this gospel has given them a family more unified and they are so excited that in one year they get to be an eternal family! And this has strengthened my testimony of keeping the end in mind at all times. They are looking towards the eternities and for that they are so much stronger and so firm in their testimonies, because they want the eternal blessings of being able to go to the temple. I have learned alot about faith and the importance of obedience from this family and I am so very grateful for the opportunity I had to teach and help them in this path to accepting the gospel.

Today we had a fun pday! We were able to go a little bit out of our mission to a mall called Quicentro, to go bowling! It is seriously the nicest mall I have ever seen. It is like glistening clean and beautiful christmas decorations and everything. Better than all the malls in Utah. That is one thing about Ecuador, its pretty worn down in places, but has really nice malls. Its kind of ironic. And bowling was a ton of fun! I got really lucky today and got 144!! I am pretty sure thats the best I have ever bowled in my life. The only problem is my arm is going to be really sore, because the only ball that my thumb fit into was the heaviest ball and i don`t have a lot of arm strength. But, it was a fun pday activity! 

I have been focusing a lot on listening, and truly listening, in every lesson. And it has made such a difference. If I am focused on what I want to share rather than what they are saying I don`t ever say what the Spirit wants me to say. But with this new focus, I have truly noticed a huge difference in my teaching and that I am truly teaching by the spirit and saying what the people really need to hear, rather than saying what I want to say. And I have noticed big differences this week and felt the spirit a lot stronger in the lessons!

I hope everyone is having a jolly Christmas season and is remembering to serve and focus on the Saviour! 

I love you all! ¡Feliz Navidad!

Hermana Cordon

A picture with Flia Medina and their Wedding Certificate

Baptism of Flia Medina

Spiders

¡Hola Familia y Amigos! 

Well this week there were way too many spiders present! I haven´t really seen spiders more than in Utah here, but this week there was a lot! One was we were walking to our Pensionista´s house and there is this fence and my companion was like "Oh wow, look at that!" And I looked and it was this giant spider!! I screamed and ran a little more down the sidewalk and my companion started laughing, she didn´t know I don´t like spiders.. haha Then the worst was we were in a lesson with a recent convert and her friend and we were talking and then all of a sudden she wacks my arm while screaming and then I see this giant spider (Like the size of a quarter) running away on the floor and then she smashed it! She then told me how the spider had crawled OUT OF MY HAIR and was crawling down my arm. I about had a panic attack and whipped my hair around thinking that there was probably more spiders hanging out on my head. IT was quite a terrifying experience. And needless to say I still hate spiders. 

We had our Christmas dinner with President and Hermana Christensen this week in their home! It was so much fun! We spent the morning in a conference with President and focused on temples and how we always need to be focused on the temple and the covenants we have made, even though we can´t go right now. It was a great conference! Then we had the christmas dinner and it was delicious! Just like a normal utah christmas dinner! Just slightly different, because nothing tastes the same here :) And we then played some games, exchanged gifts, had a little talent show, and just enjoyed the day! I am so grateful for President and Hermana Christensen and that I get to be a missionary here in Ecuador during this Christmas season! 

Great news!! Flia Medina are going to finally get married this week and BE BAPTIZED SATURDAY!! I am so excited!! They are finally having the opportunity to have this gospel strong in their lives and they are commited and are going to be strong faithful members! The cutest thing is their little daughter, who is about 2 years old, is so smart! When someone asks her who is Joseph Smith she responds "un profeta!" And when we are praying to open a lesson she makes all of us kneel down, because that is how we pray and she knows it a she kneels down and folds her arms and bows her head! Its so cute! Granted that only lasts about 2 seconds and then she is distracting someone or screaming during the prayer :) This family just makes me so happy! 

A cool experience was during a lesson this last week with new investigators we were talking and getting to know them and my companion had started the first lesson and then it was my turn and I was supposed to talk about prophets, but then I felt like I should not continue with the lesson, but rather ask them who is God for them. And when I asked them that the whole spirit of the lesson changed, the daughter then admitted that she really doesn´t believe in God and that she believes in something, but believes that her life is her own and that she doesn´t see the impact of God. And then the dad admitted that God really hasn´t had a big impact or has been a big part of his life, but he wants to change that. With that question we were able to discover a big doubt and big iceberg for them. I am so grateful for the companionship of the spirit in lessons to really help us to really help these people rather than give robot discussions and not try to understand these people. It was a really cool experience and really helped me to recognize the spirit more. 

One thing I have been focusing a lot on is Why we need a Savior, because of the Church´s Christmas thing they have going on right now. If you haven´t been able to watch the videos, watch them! They truly help make you remember what this season really is about and how we always need to remember the blessing it is that we have a Savior and that because of that we can be happy and be better! Otherwise we would be in never-ending sorrow or misery. Keep your focus on Him, this Christmas season!

I love you all and thank you for your prayers and support!

Hermana Cordon 

The daughter in Flia Medina loves to be Hermana Cordon!

Christmas Dinner

Cows in Ecuador

¡Hola!

Well this week as we were leaving a house of an investigator we were walking down the sidewalk next to a busy road and we look ahead and there are 4 cows just casually walking down the road. Now this is not normal for ecuador and it was quite comical! Especially when a little indigineous lady came running after them trying to corral them. And then a little calf went into a park that was surrounded with a fence and the lady was trying to corral the other ones so we went into the park and cornered this calf so that he would leave and join the other cows. It was quite a comical experience!

Well Christmas is starting to pop up here in Ecuador and it makes me so happy! A lot of the houses now have nice pretty christmas trees! Not a lot of the houses have lights, but a couple do and its fun to see when we are walking down the streets at night! When we walked into our pensionista´s home this week after she had decorated it made me so happy! Her house feels like home with all the decorations, and the best is that underneath her tree she has a train that makes sounds and everything! It really is just like home! This really is such a great time of the year and I am truly grateful for the opportunity I have to be spending this time dedicated to the Lord´s work. 

This week we had a lot of time to contact to find new people and to try to have some appointments, though many people didn´t accept the invite to listen to us, we were able to plant so many seeds! I am reminding myself of that a lot this week, that a lot of people need 7 or 8 times in contact with the church to actually accept the gospel into their life. So this week I was able to be a one of these times for a lot of people and that in the future when they talk to missionaries again or have a time in their life when they are looking for the Lord they will have a moment that they heard about this gospel to have the chance to accept this gospel! I just remind myself of the investigators we have right now, the ones that are truly progressing all had several contacts with the gospel before we even entered their lives and that they were able to be prepared for this moment in time. And that is truly a blessing to me that I get to be the one to see these people accept the gospel, and so I just have to remember that one day these people I am talking to will one day have this moment in time and there will be some missionaries in the future helping them accept the gospel in the moment that they were prepared for. 

One motto that I have started saying and that I just love is "Dios tiene un plan"(God has a plan). Sometimes we don´t know this plan and sometimes things just seems to be a little to difficult or different then you had hoped. But, just remember that God knows you and knows what you need and everything happens for a reason. I know that I am here in Conocoto right now and with the companion I have and with the people we are teaching, because God has a plan and he knew what I needed and where I needed to be. Just remember always that Dios tiene un plan! 

I love you all! Thank you for the letters and love that you send my way!
Hermana Cordon

The cows in the middle of the road with the indigenous lady

A picture a member drew for me whose mom is our investigator

The Family Car

¡Hola! 

Funny thing about Ecuador, did you know that a motorcycle is actually a family car? Here in Ecuador a motorcycle can fit an entire family, a mom, a dad, and 2 kids. Unless they have a baby then 3 kids. It takes a lot of talent to manage that and it definitely is one of the most interesting things that I see here. Can you just imagine 4 or 5 people piled on a motorcyle that is just speeding along the street? Its quite the sight. 

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and ate a lot of food!! Me and my companion decided to have a thanksgiving dinner, because we don`t have a pensionista for dinner so we usually just buy bread or make a sandwhich to eat later. But, this day we bought a chicken dinner for our thanksgiving meal! Definitely not the same, but a nice little celebration for us to have a little fun! 

This week we had the baptism for Nelly!! She has been such a great investigator to learn how to help someone understand that not only is this the true church, but its the ONLY true church. She was someone super interested in a lot of religions and when we started teaching her, she looked at it as just all the other ones and something good. With time and with a lot of prayers with her, she gained a strong a firm testimony and she knows that this is the only true church of God and she is going to be a strong member! We had fast sunday this sunday, because we have stake conference next week, and she had remembered without us reminding her and she payed her fast offering and everything! She is such an amazing person! It was such a great baptism too, very spiritual. 

Well, I am now with Hna Maldonado and she is from Chile, she seems like an awesome missionary and I am excited for the opportunity to be with her. We are going to work hard and help the people here in Conocoto! 

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoy the beginnings of Christmas!!! 

Love, Hermana Cordon

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Baptism for Nelly!

Faith is like a little seed

¡Hola!

First off.. I have a new companion! :) Her name is Hermana McGill, she has about 10 months in the mission, and she is also from Utah. She is a lot of fun, and we work great together! I am excited for this time to be learning from her and having different experiences. 

This week our investigators taught me a lot about how much power a tiny bit of faith can have. Every one of our investigators right now are progressing and have dates for baptism in the next couple of weeks, and so when they are at this stage we are looking for any problem they could have about the church to solve all of their doubts and to make sure nothing will prevent them from being active after they are baptized. Every single one of them we came up with one or two commandments that could possibly be a bit of a struggle for them to accept immediately. And so we taught them all these commandments this week, and every single one of them accepted all of these commandments without a hesitation, because they have faith in this gospel. The basis of why each of them accepted all of these commandments without hesitation is because each of them have recieved an answer and know that this church is true, and if this church is true each of these commandments is something that we need to follow for our benefit. They all have such amazing faith and I always walk out of the lessons repenting and realizing how I need to keep working on growing my faith and being stronger every day.

One cool experience this week was with our investigator Nelly. She is someone super interested in religions, but thought that all religions are great and from God. So last week we told her that she needs to read the BOM and to pray to know that only one church is true and that it is this church. Then when we went by monday, she hadn´t prayed so we asked if we could pray with her, because we knew that would solve all of her doubts if she would just recieve an answer in that moment. So we knelt down and she prayed and asked if this church was true. And when she paused and listened after about a minute she said "It´s true. He said it`s true." We then talked about it and she said that never in her life has she recieved such a firm and direct answer from God and that she knows that this is His path. It was such a remarkable experience for me and the spirit was so strong. I know that if we pray with a sincere heart and have faith that He will answer us we will recieve an answer and know how to follow God even more. I am truly grateful for that testimony builder. 

This morning I read in Alma 60 and 61 where Moroni is accusing Pahoran of a bunch of stuff and how Pahoran responds to the unjust and untrue accusations. I am not sure the exact words he uses in english, but in spanish it says that he responds and says that these things aren´t true but I am not annoyed, because he understands his intentions. Its a great lesson on how we need to learn how to put ourselves in the other persons shoes and understand why they are saying something and not take offence. Pahoran was truly remarkable and christlike at how quick he was forgive and to avoid offence. 

I love Conocoto and I am truly grateful for the experiences I am having here and the people I know and are helping bring to the gospel. 

Sé que la iglesia de Jesucristo de Los Santos de Los Ultimos Dias es la iglesia verdadera en todo el mundo. Sé que Jesucristo es mi salvador y redentor y Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y el nos conoce y nos ama mucho.

Love you all!!

Love, Hermana Cordon

Last Photo with Hermana Molina

Hermana Cordon & Hermana McGill

Flia Medina

Christmas Tree

Comida

¡Hola!

I have decided that I will explain a little bit about the food here. So lunch usually consists of soup, rice, meat of some type, a fruit juice, and a salad. It is always a ton of food, but I have adjusted and I am satisfied after every meal, luckily with all the walking and my good metabolism I have lost weight and not gained weight :) But, sometimes because I am tall they think that means I need a ton of food and they pile it on. In these moments I suffer a little bit.. haha one funny story is when we were at a recent converts house and she gave us some bread and said to me "here is a fat one for you, because you´re fat" That´s an endearing term here :) haha it was quite funny especially cause I am not fat, only tall :) The fruit juices are really good, and its so weird to have it at every meal. My favorite is with the fruit Maracuya, I have no idea if its in the states, but its delicious. And all the do to make the fruit drinks is peel the fruit and blend it and pour in some water and a lot of sugar. Its not healthy in the slightest, but I enjoy it. But I do not like the fruit tomate de arbol (tomato from a tree) its a tomatoe that grows on a tree, and it really isn´t good. I am happy we don´t have this one in the states. Also here when they have fish. They eat a fish. Its the complete fish with bones and eyes and all, it´s quite interesting having this fish staring at you trying to eat it. I never ate fish before my mission because I didn´t like it, but I am learning to love it here, and its an interesting way to learn to eat it. The next time my pensionista makes fish she is going to tell us so I will bring my camera and I will take a picture for you all :) And still the bread is DELICIOUS! I have a slight addiction to hot bread, so whenever we pass a bakery and they have hot bread I always buy one. And it doesn´t help that a roll is only $0.10. 

I learned this week what power the spirit can have with a person. We had a lesson with this investigator and she was really closed off and wasn´t really wanting to hear what we had said. So we left her with the commitment to read and pray and we set up a return appointment just to see what happens. In the second lesson we didn´t go in with high hopes, but it was a lesson completely different. She was completely open to the idea of praying and I could see the spirit in her life. She had completely changed her idea. For me it was a testimony to me that the spirit can change anybodys heart and I cannot be quick to assume that someone won´t accept this gospel, because the spirit can help anyone to accept. Yes, everyone has their agency, but we have to make sure to bring the spirit to them so they can accept or reject. 

Love you all and I hope you are all having a great week! 

Hermana Cordon

6 Months!

¡Hola familia!

Time is really flying by here in Ecuador and the fact that it`s monday again really gets to me every week, because it always feels like yesterday the last time I wrote. And the fact that I can say I have 6 months in the mission is so crazy, it feels like yesterday that I stepped off the plane here, but yet not at the same time. I have had so many experiences and have met so many people these last 6 months and I am excited for the next year to keep growing and learning and meeting even more people to share this gospel with! Make the most of every second, because before you know the seconds will have passed and you haven`t changed. Make sure you are always changing and growing!

My thoughts on the policy change: I know that we have a prophet called of God guiding this church, and I know that we will never go astray if we follow and trust President Monson. Don`t doubt your testimony of this amazing church, because it`s not the popular opinion according to the world. 

This week was an interesting week, but great!! Here is an interesting story for all of you: This week 2 different investigator families told us that after the first visit with us that had an interesting experience with evil spirits. This family that I have been talking about, Flia Medina, had one of these experiences. They said that in the middle of the night something threw 4 pens really hard from one end of the house to the other end of the house. And they said that they knew it wasn`t from God, and that they weren`t scared. I am so happy that they weren`t scared and that they recognized immediately that it wasn`t from God. Satan is really trying and the people here in Ecuador are so perceptive to spiritual things both good and bad, that they have these experiences so insane with evil spirits. But, we were able to bring an Hermano from the church with us so that he could bless their house so that they can have protection from these spirits at all time. I am thankful for the power of the priesthood and the knowledge that the evil spirits can`t do anything if we don`t let them. 

Also something really cool, Flia Medina and Flia Aguiler, (our 4 progressing investigators) all have really old BOM that they recieved from someone a long time ago. That is just evidence to me that the Lord has been preparing these people for some time so that they would be receptive and open to this gospel at this time with me and Hna Molina. And these BOM are really cool the 1980 and 1960 versions of the BOM :) 

Ecuador is very predictable in the weather here. It is always really nice and sunny in the morning and then really rainy and windy in the afternoons. Every day. And the rainy season here is their winter. Everyone is saying how this is winter and it`s so cold, yet I am always perfectly comfortable with a light cardigan. They just don`t understand what a true winter is here in Ecuador. haha :) 

I love you all and I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Hna Cordon

La Primera Vision

¡Hola Familia y amigos! 

Espero todo está bien con todos! 

Today for pday we had a zone activity to play some group games; dodgeball and ultimate frisbee! It was so nice to just be able to run around and spend time with the missionaries! I love the activities where I get to wear pants :) The little things such a pants on the mission make me so happy! And the pictures are me and the other hermanas in my zone. In the photo with everyone on piggybacks is the companionships, and on bottom is the gringas (hermanas from the US) and on top is the Latinas. Each companionship is a latina and a gringa it´s pretty cool :)

This gospel is simple and we should be so quick to just follow the commandments and know that the commandments are not hard to follow and nor should they be. Yesterday we had a lesson with the family that we found last week, and they weren´t able to go to church because of their jobs. So we decided to have a lesson about the sabbath day and how we need to keep it holy. And in the lesson we always start with explaining the commandment and then we tell them the blessings and the blessings are always to comfort the people that they won´t suffer if they follow this commandment, but yesterday was a completely new experience for me. When we explained the commandment, before we even mentioned the blessings, the father said "I need to follow this commandment, so I need to find a new job so that I can go to church every sunday and not work on sundays." Hearing that made me so happy! It really should be that simple! We shouldn´t even have to hesitate to be obedient to the Lord´s commandments and his desires! 

This week the Lord has really blessed us with putting a lot of new people in our paths who want to listen and are open to following God in a different path than they are currently on. I had many opportunities to share my testimony with a lot of new people this week and I love being able to share my testimony and helping others know how to come closer to Christ. It truly is a blessing to me that everytime I share or listen to my companion share the first vision, the Spirit that I feel everytime confirms to me that this gospel is true. I know that this church is true, I know it without a doubt. I know it´s true, because EVERYTIME I hear the first vision the Spirit is so strong and I cannot deny the feeling that is testifying to me every single time. Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, and he restored the gospel of Jesus Christ. He didn´t create a new church with his own opinion on the things of God, but he was a humble boy who sought the will of the Lord and recieved an answer that has affected my entire life. Because I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I have been guided in every moment of my life. I am who I am today, because of this gospel. I am a missionary here in Ecuador, because I know that this is the true church of God on the earth and I have a divine mission to share my testimony and let others know about this gospel and give them the opportunity to accept this gospel in their lives. And that´s the wonderful thing about God, we have our agency. And with our agency we CHOOSE to live with God again or we CHOOSE our own path with our own desires. God doesn´t have different opinions and with that we know that their is only one way to follow God the way God wants us to follow Him. And I know that this is the way and their is no other way that can bring the true happiness that everyone is looking for! With this gospel we can have never-ending happiness! (Mosiah 2:41) I know these things are true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

LOVE YOU ALL!! :)
Mucho Amor, 

Hermana Cordon

Colada Morada

Hola Familia!

The Colada Morada season is here in Ecuador and everyone is very excited about it. But you guys are probably like I was and have absolutely no idea what colada morada is. Well its some kind of warm drink that they make with a bunch of different fruits, but the main fruit is mora, which is like blackberry. Its a pretty good drink, and its a tradition here in Ecuador during these next couple of months and so I will be drinking quite of bit of it here in the next couple of weeks. But I am happy to say I finally got to try it, because people have been talking about me needing to try it since I have been in Ecuador. 

The rainy season is in full force and we are often finding ourselves outside in the pouring rain with a thunder a lightning storm. Thankfully I love lightning and thunder so that doesn´t bother me, but my companion is afraid and is clinging to me everytime, it´s quite funny and we are always laughing together when she screams because of the thunder :)

This week we had the wonderful opportunity to meet a family very prepared for this gospel. We were walking home quickly the other day, because it was dark, raining, and close to 9. We both saw a mom and her son up ahead and it would´ve been really easy for us to just keep walking by and hurry home, but we have a goal of talking to every family we walk by. So we stopped and talked to her, she said that she has been having a feeling that she needs to listen to the gospel, and that she needs to go to church to find what she is searching for. I am so glad that we opened our mouths so that we could get her information to teach her and her family. Last night we were able to go to her house and teach her. She is married and has 2 kids. Her oldest is 11, but special needs and is seriously the sweetest little boy and always willing to help his mom, and her little daughter that is 2. We weren´t able to teach her husband yesterday, but we have an appointment with them both tonight. She didn´t even hesitate to say yes, when we invited her to be baptized and I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to be bringing this gospel into their lives. I am just grateful we opened our mouths and shared our testimony so that we were able to contact her. 

I hope you all are having a wonderful week and are opening your mouths as well.

Mucho Amor, Hermana Cordon

Selfie with my companion!

Random picture of Ecuador

Random picture of Ecuador

Me and my companion in our favorite chicken place, that just gives us a fourth of a rostiseree chicken with fries.

Clarita´s baptism!

¡Hola! 

As the subject says, this week Clara was baptized! She is a sweet little old lady who has such a sweet and strong testimony of the gospel! It just brings joy to my heart to see how excited she was to be baptized! Especially considering she was a very catholic old lady a little over a month ago. She was very closed off to the church and would not give it a second thought, then after her grandson passed away he visited her in a dream and told her that he wants her to be baptized so that she can live with him again! Then she completely changed her heart and opened up to the idea of this church and now has such a strong testimony and listens to the audio of the book of mormon for 1-2 hours everyday! She is the best!

Also this week was a cool miracle from the Lord. We were in a different part of our area that I hadn´t been to before, because we had a appointment with a reference we recieved from other missionaries. But, we weren´t exactly sure where the house was and he wasn´t answering his phone. So we decided to contact for a little bit and call back after 20 minutes or so. We were walking down this street contacting houses and we started on one side. But while we were walking this lady called us over and asked us to come into her house. We went in, slightly hestitant, but not sensing anything bad. And we talked with her. Turns out she is a member, but hasn´t gone to church for awhile, and she is new to this area and doesn´t know where the church is. Also she lives with a daughter and granddaughter that aren´t members that want to be taught! It was a a sweet miracle for sure! I love the way the Lord works!

I also get to stay in Conocoto with Hna Molina for another transfer! Which is nice since we are both new to this area, and we have only been together for 3 weeks. I am excited to see what we are here to do for the Lord!

Love you all! 

Hermana Cordon

Another Update!

This week it rained a ton! It´s the rainy season now, so I need to always leave with my raincoat or I will end up being soaked and unable to return home until the night, because our house is far away from all of our appointments. So don´t worry I always have my raincoat with me! But I love the smell of the rain so it always smells really nice here! 

This week I have been focusing a lot on improving my pronunciation with my companion, because I am making the most of having a Latina companion! And I am finding that Spanish is a lot more difficult then I ever realized and my accent is terrible! But, little by little I may be able to say the 'dr' and 'tr' combinations! I just have to trust in God´s power with the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues to understand what´s important and that what I say in lessons will be understood by the spirit. 

We focused a lot on the importance of going to church this week, because a lot of our investigators don´t understand. The church is the most important thing to do every week, because we need to take the sacrament every week to make sure our lives are in line with God´s. Make sure you put that as a priority in your life to get the most out of it! 

I love you all and the scripture I "ponderized" this week was 2 Samuel 22:2-4. It´s a great scripture about trusting in God.

I know that God is there and has a plan, and that we need to trust Him and He will guide us to where He needs us to be. I know without a doubt that He is my Heavenly Father and that He knows me and every one of you personally. He loves us so very much and wants us all to succeed in this life. Trust God and make Him the rock of your life and you will never falter or fail. I love you all!

Love, Hermana Cordon

Conocoto!

¡Hola!

So this week was an interesting week trying to get to know my new area and adjusting to the random change that came about, but I love my new area!! The people here are great and my new zone and district are pretty great too! In my district is an Elder that was in the MTC with me so it´s fun seeing him again! It´s good to be not the only one struggling with the language! 

But the highlight of this week was definitely being able to watch conference! It was such an amazing, spiritually uplifiting, and inspiring weekend for me! I definiltey loved Nelson´s talk about Covenant-Keeping women and making me think on how I need to change and do better to be the woman he was talking about. I am definitely grateful for the opportunity to know how to do better and how to become closer to God. I also like the idea to ponderize a scripture every week to keep your thoughts on a higher plane and grow closer to God. Also to ask in prayer "What lack I yet?" These talks were definitely inpsired by God and I recieved many answers to my prayers. I hope you all had the chance to watch and be uplifted as well!

Today we went to yet another watefall hike with my new zone, it was fun :) Enjoy the pictures!

Me and my companion Hna Molina

 My district right now

Love you all and look to God always!

Love, Hermana Cordon

The Lord Has A Plan

¡Hola!

The kids in the Bagui Family were baptized this weekend! There are three of them, ages 9, 13, and 14. And that service was such an amazing baptismal service. The kids were so happy and they just glowed with the Spirit, being perfectly clean. And when they bore their testimonies after they were baptized they all said that they know this to be the perfect church and they feel so good and so much peace and happiness. Hearing that just made me so happy and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to work with them and help prepare them for this major step that they just took. The Lord definitely guided us to them, and I know that me and Hermana Greer were supposed to be here for them to help them be baptized. I just love this family so much, and I know that the parents will follow their kids example and be baptized in the next couple of weeks. They have a strong desire to be baptized, they just don´t have a strong desire to be married (which I don´t quite understand, but they´ll have the desire for both soon). I am so grateful I got to be a part of this baptism!

We also now have a new investigator, who is a mom of a girl who is 17 who has been a member for almost a year, and she is so ready! She listened to the discussions when her daughter was being taught, but she never had a desire to be baptized or even consider joining this church. But now, she was telling us that she just wants to know the truth and she wants the happiness that she believes this church can bring her! I know that before it wasn´t her time, but the Lord put us in her path again when her heart is open to give her the opportunity again, because now it is her time. I am just happy that she wants this now so that she can be a member with her daughter and her daughter can have a strong backing to help each other go to church! This family is really awesome, and we have only been to their house like 2 times, but we already love them!

The Lord truly knows what he is doing and has a plan for everything. I know that if we are being righteous and we are always trying to follow God, whatever happens, happens for a reason. Trust God and let Him guide you. His will is the right way, and we just need to let go of our own personal will, and follow God. I was transfered today, and though a bit abrupt I am excited for the change and to have new experiences! I know that transfers are a prayerful decision, and God doesn´t make mistakes. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had with Hermana Greer and I am excited for the journey´s ahead. I am just really going to miss the people of Solanda. It´s crazy how much I love the people here! 

Love you and all and trust in God!

Mucho Amor, Hermana Cordon

So Much Rain

This week has had a couple days of complete downpours here. The first time it downpoured this week we were walking to the church with some investigators for a family home evening and it just started coming down so hard! We just started sprinting to get to the church, but we were still a good 10 minutes away from the church, so we got there soaked.. but we were all laughing so hard and no one ended up coming to the church because of the weather so we just taught our investigators a lesson and left :), so we ended up running through the rain for no reason.. The other time it just downpoured was on sunday during the third hour, relief society. And it was coming down so hard and pounding on the roof that we were literally inable to hear anyone except the person right next to you. So it made it a little difficult to have a lesson, but after a good 10 minutes of a straight downpour, it finally let up a little bit and we were able to hear and they taught a great lesson on the dangers of pride. The rain here is crazy, but makes for good stories :) Also everytime I wear my rainboots, people make fun of me. Because no one wears rainboots here and most people think I look like some irrigation person, but it keeps my feet dry so that´s nice :)

The Lord really blessed our work last week. We have been working hard since the beginning of the last change trying to find new investigators and people to teach and haven´t had much success, but this last week the Lord guided us to 3 new families who are all really prepared to hear the gospel and are really interested in our message and are excited to hear more. The Lord really has his hands in all things and really has helped us with the work here. I am just so grateful for the watchful eye the Lord has in his work and the opportunity to that we have to be teaching these new families and introducing the gospel into their homes. I am seriously so blessed to be able to help these families and to share my testimony everyday. 

I love you all and never be afraid to share your testimony!!

Love, Hermana Cordon

The Power Of The Spirit

¡Hola!

Well a cool thing I learned this week was how to tell the difference between a real $10 and a fake $10, one of the kids in my pensionista family quized me and then when I failed the test he taught me :) That´s the thing about ecuador, there are so many fake bills floating around here, but luckily I hardly ever use bills. I have never used so many golden coins until I got here. But, everything is so cheap and most places don´t even accept a bill bigger then $10, luckily the grocery store does so that I can have smaller bills for everywhere else. Also another thing about Ecuador, that America needs more of, is bakerys. There is a bread bakery on literally every street here in Ecuador and the bread is DELICIOUS. I don´t know what it is about the bread here, but it´s my favorite I have never eaten so much bread in my entire life, and I loved bread before my mission. 

The power of the spirit is amazing, and I have seen it play out immensely in the family we are teaching right now. They aren´t married and they have had a lot of problems since we´ve walked into their home, yet they notice such a strong difference when they do the things we tell them to do and when we are in their home. And they are willing to do whatever they need to do to accept this gospel. They are experiencing a lot of trials, but because of the spirit they know that they need to press forward and do the things that are required. And on saturday the mom, who before said no to baptism this month because she wanted more time, said that she is going to do whatever she needs to do to be baptized on the 26th because she feels something so peaceful when we are giving a lesson. And when we talked about temples it touched them in a way that we could never have done without the spirit.  They have such a strong desire right now to go to the temple as soon as they can, and we left a picture of the salt lake temple with the date september 27, 2015 written on it. Exactly one year after their goal date for their confirmation. And they want to do all they can to enter the temple on that day :) 

Through this experience my testimony of temples grew immensely, because that is the purpose of this life. To go to the temple. If you have gone through the temple, go back as often as you can, if you haven´t make sure to live the way you need to to be able to go to the temple when the time comes. The spirit in the temple is amazing and you get to know your Heavenly Father so much better through the temple. And what better blessing then obtaining a eternal family can we recieve in this life? I can honestly tell you none, because family is the most important thing we can have and I am truly grateful for the wonderful family that I have been blessed with. To my family, I love you all so much and thank you for your love and your guidance. Knowing I get to be with my family for eternity is my greatest source of joy in this life! 

I love you all and make sure to let your family know that you love them this week!

Love, Hermana Cordon

The Spirit Is A Grand Thing

This week was a really great week! The Lord is really blessing the work in Solanda and guiding me and Hna Greer´s steps to where we need to be and who we need to teach. Out of all the areas in my mission, Solanda is definitely my favorite! haha ;) But it really is a such a great area! And the ward is so great and so eager to help move the work forward here!

Yesterday we got to visit with this less-active family for the first time and it was such a powerful lesson. The son, who is about 22, has cancer and is really sick right now. So we, with the Bishop and two others in the ward, went to visit to see how we could help out. This guy has such a strong testimony in God and His plan and we could just feel it in his room. His one desire right now is to have an opportunity to go to the temple. And he has a very pretty picture of the temple hanging up and he loves this picture because he said that he can´t go to the temple right now, but he can at least look at this picture! His faith and his desires are so inspiring and his hope when everything seems to be going downhill is something to look up to. The spirit was so prevelant in this lesson and I hope the ward can help find a way for him to go with the ward to the temple in October. 

I am truly grateful to the Lord for giving me opportunities to be in lessons that are spiritually uplifting and that I get the chance to be spiritually edified several times a day. The greatest thing about missions is being so close to the spirit, when we are obedient, and getting to see so many miracles! 

¡Les amo mucho cada de ustedes! Tienen un buen semana y hablo con ustedes la proxima semana

Amor, Hermana Cordon

Commandments Are A Gift of God

¡Hola! ¿Comò estan? Estoy muy bien :) 

There is a little spanish splurge for you guys :) Today for our pday we had a zone activity where we went to this thing called TelefèriQo, it´s a cable car thing going to a top of a mountain. And then from the top of that mountain you can start a hike to go to the top of a volcano. I didn´t get to go up all the way to the volcano (Don´t worry it´s dormant :) ) but, I was still really high up and got to see a beautiful view of the city of Quito. The Lord really has blessed us with a gorgeous world. And I get this amazing opportunity to be in Ecuador and seeing new things and having new experiences! Hikes really just rejuvenate me and just really help me to appreciate just how gorgeous Quito really is! The only downside was it was FREEZING, because we were probably at 13,000-15,000 feet and it was really windy and cold. Gratefully I thought to bring a jacket! And I am adjusting well to the altitude difference, because I am really not struggling a lot at all with it, and so I am really grateful for that!

This week we focused a lot on our investigator family, who was deciding on whether to get married or separate to accept this gospel. And the dad said something that made me really happy. He was like I am okay with whatever decision she makes, as long as we follow this commandment so that I can be baptized. He has recieved an answer that this church is true, and because of that he wants to follow the commandments at whatever sacrifice he needs to. The commandments from God are not to punish us, but to uplift us to become better people. And he understands that so much that he just wants to follow the commandments. When we follow the commandments of God we recieve so many blessings, so much so that we can´t even recognize every single one of them. If you have recieved a witness that the church is true, then what is stopping you from living every single one of God´s commandments? Like Elder Holland said obedience is the first great commandment, and we all need to be obedient. And if you haven´t recieved a witness that the church is true, listen harder and have a real desire to know that it´s true. And then you will recognize your answer. 

Mosiah 2:41 -- Consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God

Love you all and thank you for your prayers and your love!

Les Amo, Hermana Cordon

Temples!

Hola!

Okay, so this week was great! We had a member of the seventy, Elder Waddell, come and talk to us on friday in a multi-zone conference. It was such a powerful and wonderful talk! He stressed the importance of temples and how with missionary work, we are not working to get the people to baptism we are working to get the people to the temple. And baptism is an important step in that process. He also was saying that you need to get converts on the mission, that's the numbers you should be looking to. Not the number of baptisms you have. Because there is a lot of less-active work to be done and if you help bring these people back and get them to the temple then that's a convert and the same with a baptism. But, if through your work none of the people you baptize go to the temple than you didn't baptize a convert you baptized a person you convinced. Because, if a person is truly converted to the gospel their goal, along with yours, will be the temple. It was a great talk and I am truly grateful for that opportunity!

We also have been working with an investigator family, Flia Bagui, and they are awesome! They all came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it! They all left with huge smiles and feeling like they had a lot of friends in the ward. We truly have a great ward here in Solanda, because everyone is very aware of the less-actives and investigators that come and strive to make sure that they all feel very included in the church, which is truly awesome! But this family is really excited to learn more about the church and progress, we just have to lead them to marriage before baptism. Everyone here is not married, which makes mission work hard, but if we are bringing the spirit in the lesson they will feel the truthfulness and desire to do anything to accept the gospel. Which is what we are striving to do with this family. We are hoping they can get married by the end of this month so that they can be baptized on September 5th! Then we will make sure that they immediately start looking to going to the temple on September 5, 2016. :)

Ecuador truly is a wonderful place with some really wonderful and kind people :) I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here teaching these people the gospel that can truly bring them true happiness and MANY blessings big and small. Mission work is truly a wonderful thing, so don't hesitate to share the gospel with whoever you can! And if you can't seem to find an opportunity to share the gospel, pray and the Lord will bless you with an opportunity if you truly desire to share the gospel. So find an opportunity this week and share your testimony, it will bring you blessings! :)

Love you all so much! Thank you for the emails and the support! And for those I told that I can't email, I can email friends so send me an email if you would like! :) 

Have a fabulous week!
Love, Hermana Cordon

Love and Laughter

¡Hola familia y amigos!

First off me and Hermana Greer get along great! We are always laughing and both have a lot of goals to get the work moving along which is awesome! Laughter is seriously the cure for anything, if you´re frustrated or down in anyway just laugh! But it has definitely made a difference and it is continually strengthening our relationship! One funny thing is the public transportation here. There is one thing called an eclovia (I have literally no idea how to spell this word) but it´s basically kind of like the trax in Utah, but 5 billion people use it. So when you want to get on you basically are crammed up against everyone else and have literally no space to even take a step in either direction and you´re all moving with the car and so people are falling on top of people and when me and Hermana Greer had to get on it, we were basically dying of laughing. It was quite the experience and I realized that in that moment I could have been annoyed about how crowed it was or found how humorous it was that we were falling on top of each other. And laughing about things are always a better option! So my advice just laugh!

One huge blessing from the Lord this week is that we were able to find and contact two families, which added 12 investigators to our teaching pool! It definitely was a huge blessing and hopefully we can do all we can through the spirit and our willingness to work hard to teach these people and help them to accept the gospel and recieve all the blessings that it has! And the fact that is families is awesome! Because families help each other to progress and families stay so much stronger in the gospel, because they have a good support system!

One big lesson I learned this week is the importance of loving everyone that you are teaching, whether it be the first lesson with this person or the tenth lesson. Because when you love them the spirit is so much stronger in the lesson and you are able to be guided more by the spirit to know what to say to help these people exactly for their specific needs! This trait is definitely a gift from God and something that doesn´t come with no effort, so I am working and focusing day to day to just love everyone I come into contact with, and basically everyone in Ecuador so that I have a desire to talk to everyone and to teach everyone.

I love you all and thank you for your prayers and your love!

Love, Hermana Cordon