Emergency Room

¡Hola!

First off don`t worry, it wasn`t me :) My companion decided she didn`t want her appendix anymore and so she had an operation to take it out :) haha no she got appedicitis and so we had to go up to the hospital thursday night. And we left the hospital saturday in the afternoon and hung out in the house all day saturday and only left for church on sunday and now today we only left to write and we are going to be in the house for 2 more days so she can recover. I am going a bit stir crazy in the house, but luckily the nurses gave us a dvd player and we have been watching a bunch of movies. I am just excited for when we will finally be able to work again :)

This week we had a broadcast from the General Mission Council of the church for every missionary in the world. And fun fact that are over 76,000 missionaries serving right now! How cool is that?? But, it was a really awesome broadcast that focused on teaching repentance and baptizing converts. It also talked a lot about finding when you teach and teaching when you find. That in every moment you can be doing everything and not just finding in one moment teaching in the next. Which is something I liked, because at times I thought that there isn`t time for everything, but if we do everything at the same time then there is plenty of time :) It was a really cool broadcast and I really enjoyed it! 

Our investigator we had that was progressing pulled away again. I think he has a ton of fears of losing family and a bunch of other stuff that the idea of baptism scared him, even though just 2 days before he was anxiously waiting for the day that he was going to be baptized. We haven`t been able to really talk with him the last couple of days and we were hoping we were going to be able to do divisions and meet with him tomorrow, but we haven`t set up the appointment yet, because we haven`t been able to talk with him. Hopefully we can get a hold of him and help him to keep progressing. Just the opposition in this world gets to people, we just have to remember that there is opposition in all things. If the path was easy, what does that show to God? We need to have opposition to really show God that we are in it for the long run and that we have the faith necessary to follow Him always. And if we read the scriptures daily and pray daily and go to church every sunday (with real intent) than we will have the spiritual strength to stay strong with the opposition comes along. Just remember what Helaman 5:12 says when satan throws his fiery darts (or something like that I am translating from memory :) ) it doesn`t say if it says when. So we need to be prepared when the temptation and opposition come to stay strong and not falter. Remember to always trust God.

I love you all and I hope all is well!! 

Hermana Cordon

Me and my companion in her hospital bed

The view from the Hospital Room

Chistosa en Ecuador

¡Hola!

Well this week wasn´t a very exciting week but I will share some funny stories: 

During companionship study, I think wednesday, we were talking a then my companion asked if a black dot on the wall was a spider. I didn´t think it was, but I told her she should check to be sure so we wouldn´t be focused on it. She got close to it and screamed when she realized that it was a spider. I jumped up and ran to the other side of the room and was telling her to kill it, and she wasn´t too happy, but ended up doing it for me, because I am a bit more scared then she is :) hahaha it was a funny experience afterwards thinking about what are neighbors probably thought when they heard us screaming and yelling ¡MATALE! which means kill it! haha I am just glad it is dead now.

The other funny story was we were visiting some recent converts and we had finished the lesson and we were talking and then I asked the dad if he could pray for us, and it got quiet and everyone looked at me funny then started laughing! Literally about 1 minute before this he had finished the closing prayer, I literally completely spaced and forgot that he had prayed. It gave them all a great laugh and I was laughing pretty hard too, because I was pretty confused. The gringas are always good for a good laugh :) 

I have been studying charity this week, and focusing on really trying to develop it. It says in Corianthians that charity is the most important of all christlike attributes. It also says in preach my gospel that the only way to develop this gift is by God giving it to you, we just have to do our part and put in all our effort to do everything humanly possible to develop this gift, pray and ask fervently for it, and then God will bless you with this heavenly trait. Charity means Christ-like love and really love is the most important, through love we can really truly help bring people to christ. If we don´t love people they won´t feel our sincerity and won´t have the desire to accept our message, but if we show love then the people know its something important and we truly want to bless their lives. I have felt this christ-like love for my investigators when they have been baptized and I was so happy, because they were finally accepting the gospel and they were going to be able to recieve even more blessings from God. I am so grateful for this time that I have to truly focus on developing these christlike attributes and that I have this time devoted to Christ and God and their work. It truly is a blessing and I need to make these next 10 months the best ones yet. 

I love you all and I hope you are all having a wonderful week!!!

Les Amo MUCHISIMO!!!

When we went to the basillica a couple of weeks ago. 

Rain

¡Hola! 

All of december was really dry and really hot, but this week the rain started back up again and it has cooled down a bit! Its been a welcome change, but it makes for an interesting time when we get caught outside in the downpour and we get soaked through, whether we have our rain jacket or not :) haha I have learned to love the rain and make the most of it, this rain storm that happened this last week we were completely soaked, but I had my water bottle with the filter that the church gives to us and so I just took the cap off and tried filling up my water bottle with the rain, but I never ended up drinking it, because it grossed me out when I saw dirt and stuff floating in the water. The filter would have been able to handle it, but my mind wasn`t able to :) haha My companion was making fun of me the whole time I was filling my water bottle, because she kept saying how gross it was!

We finally were able to locate an investigator again this week! We haven`t been able to teach him for almost 3 weeks and he was progressing really well, but then we weren`t able to teach him. But, when we finally were able to teach him this week it was a great lesson! He has been having a lot of problems and difficulties and that is why he was hard to find. He told us how he felt completely alone and how his only comfort during this last couple of weeks was the Book Of Mormon which he was reading everyday. This lesson we were able to explain to him the power of the Atonement and how Christ truly knows how he feels and he never needs to feel alone, because Christ always understands. I truly felt the Spirit testify the truth of this to me, which was something I needed to hear as we were teaching it to him. It was a little aha moment for me where I was able to truly feel the love a Christ and really begin to truly understand the power of the Atonement. I read a talk the other day, The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope by James E Faust, and he explained that this is something that we need to focus on learning and understanding everyday of our lives. It is a power greater that in its fulness is greater than our comprehension, but everyday we can focus to understand it even more and truly apply it in our lives. This is something that I want to focus on even more to truly let the Atonement into my life to become an even greater person.

Thank you for all your love and your support and remember that Christ loves you!

Les Quiero Muchisimo!

Hermana Cordon

Aftermath from the Rain Storm

A Bunny and a Cat eating Corn Together

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

¡hola!

So this week was Año Viejo (New years eve) and Año Nuevo (New Years day) it made for an interesting week. Ecuador has some different traditions with this holiday. The two most prominent is viudas and viejos. Viudas are cross-dressing men that wear really short skirts and dance very interesting in front of cars in the middle of the street and the cars are forced to stop and then they ask for money and they don´t let cars pass by till they give them something. It is quite interesting, but luckily we were in the house the whole day and we did not have to deal with any of them. We did go up on our roof at one point and there was one a little bit down from our house and a line of about 15 cars that he was just filing through, so I am sure he got a ton of money. Then the viejos are just stuffed giant dolls, that are called viejos (old people) because it is the Año viejo and they all burn them at some point during the night, but they put them out right at midnightand everyone walks around to look at them all and then after they burn them. Those are a couple of the interesting traditions that they have :) We were in the house the whole day that day, and it was a good break, to get back out and working to give it your all. Sometimes you just need a tiny break to keep working, and mondays don´t seem to give that break. 

I have a lot of goals that I am hoping to see through this year, 2015 was a year of many experiences that I am so grateful for and that I have changed for the better from and so I am excited to see what 2016 brings and who I can become through the gospel and atonement of Christ. Just remember that God has a plan for every one of us, and if we make our goals with Christ in mind then we will find success and truly be the people He needs us to be. 

Then on New years day it was like a ghost town in all of Ecuador and there were drunk people on every corner basically, and every house we went to and talked to someone was drunk and still drinking from the night before. A funny thing a drunk person said to us this week was "se va al cielo o la luna?" (Are you going to heaven or the moon?) I don´t know about you guys but the moon sounds pretty cool :) hahahah I just didn´t know that those were the options we have :) The interesting minds people have when they are drunk. 

We have been able to find a couple of great families this week and hopefully we can help them to progress and really accept this gospel! Next week is changes so we shall see what happens :) 

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week and a great start to your new year! Good luck to everyone that is starting up classes again! 

Mucho Amor, 

Hermana Cordon