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