Terremoto en Ecuador

¡Hola!

First off I am all good, don`t you guys worry :) No damage happened here where I am. Only about 3 different parts in Ecuador weren`t affected at all, and one of those places is the province of Tunguragua and that is where Ambato is. Some damage to buildings and house happened in other parts of my mission, but nothing too big. My mission doesn`t reach the coast really where most of the damage and problems happened. Ecuador is tiny, so the earthquake was felt by everyone and most places were affected. I am praying for everyone that they recieve comfort during this difficult time. 

My experience with the earthquake: well we were in the church because we had an activity with our ward and the floor just started moving, It was the weirdest feeling, it felt like it was like a rug being shook out, it was like waves in the floor and my legs felt really weird. It lasted for almost 2 minutes and I just felt super weird afterward. But, we didn`t even feel that much, because the church is anti-seismic, apparently all the house were rocking back and forth and the cars were shaking and everything. If it was like that here and nothing was damaged I can only imagine what it was like on the coast.. my prayers are going out to all of them. I have never experienced an earthquake before, and I am grateful it was a mild experience for such a big earthquake. 

I have found that the people have been a lot more receptive these last couple days during our contacts, because everyone is pretty spooked by the earthquake and really grateful that nothing happened here. I am hoping that we can help people to come closer to Christ and our Heavenly Father through this gospel with this experience. We have been talking a lot about that we never know what will happen tomorrow and we always need to make sure we are ready for whatever comes and the best way to do that is do what the Lord expects us to do. I am so grateful for this gospel and the comfort we can recieve in times of stress and disasters. Even though it was a pretty big earthquake and alot of the members that we were with were really spooked, I was able to stay really calm and didn`t have fear, and I know that its because I understand God´s plan and that if we are doing what He wants us to be doing His will will be done. I am so grateful that this is His plan and His hand is in all things.

Yesterday we had a multistake conference, with everyone from Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. We were able to hear from and couple of general authorities and also Dallin H. Oaks talked to us. He talked alot about the importance of paying tithing and how we recieve a lot more blessings when we as members faithfully pay our tithing. They talked alot about the blessings we recieve when we pay our tithing, but the biggest one that I think stuck out to the members here is the blessing of being able to go to the temple. There is now going to be a temple here in Quito and the members need to prepare themselves and a big thing that we as missionaries need to focus on is helping people understand tithing so that they can recieve all the blessings of the temple. On the mission I have learned a lot about tithing and the importance of it and how much it truly has blessed my life. I am grateful my parents taught me about tithing growing up, and that they showed me that we just always need to pay our tithing to recieve the blessings of God. 

Today we had a zone activity and we went to a park on the top of a mountain, so it had a really pretty view of Ambato. I am so grateful for this time to get to know such a beautiful country. And I enjoyed being able to run around and play sports with my zone.

This week was a bunch of moments of reflection to make sure that we are doing the Lord`s will and preparing us for whatever is to come, because we can never be sure what tomorrow will bring. 

I love you all and remember always the God loves you as well and wants us ALL to return to Him.

Muchísimo Amor,

Hermana Cordon  

My Zone

Me and my companion with the other hermanas here in Ambato

Ambato