La Semana

¡Hola!

Seriously cannot believe that it is monday again, every week just goes by faster and faster. But, I guess that is a good sign, I am enjoying the mission! I am seriously loving this work!

We have a progressing investigator! Wohoo!! His name is Stanley and he came to church yesterday and really seemed to enjoy himself! We are going to visit him today and see what questions he has for us! He seems really interested in knowing the truth and really following God. He is also always making fun of my very gringa accent, it is just a friendly reminder that I still have room to improve :) Haha 

The volcanoes we can see from ambato - Tunguragua

We also visited this really sweet old lady named Esther! She has a special needs daughter and they are the sweetest! She accepted a bapstimal date, but wasn`t able to come to church yesterday, because she had the anniversary mass for the death of her husband. He died about 18 years ago. She is the sweetest and we are going to visit her again this next tuesday! She just brightens my day.

Tuesday we came home and we didn`t have any lights... the my companion was like, "oh right, we need to pay the lights" :) So we had an adventure of planning with our flashlights and both of our flashlights were having problems, and then we didn`t have any hot water to take showers, because we have an electric shower. So then we went on wednesday to pay the lights. We had to go to a light place and pay it, it looks like I am growing up, because I am paying light bills :) 

On friday as we were contacting my companion asked me what time it was and said 5:10? I thought I heard her say 5 to 10? And I was like no... its 10 to 5, how could it be 5 to 10. And then she said, no I said 5:10 and I had no idea what she was referring to. I thought she was talking some kind of slang or something. I am forgetting english.. haha I hope that made sense.

An adventure, I think I got food poisoning on saturday: I wasn`t feeling so well and we were in the street trying to find someone to visit, and my companion started contacting someone. I wasn`t feeling so well, but I just kept a smile on my face during the contact. But, like the middle of the contact, I had to step away and throw up. Luckily the ladies we were talking to were really nice and just were really worried about me, not disgusted :) haha A very interesting experience, but don`t worry I am really healthy today! 

The volcanoes we can see from ambato - Cotapaxi

This week I was reading a conference talk from last april, I don`t remember what it is called, but it is by Dale G Renlund. I really liked something he said and I have the quote in spanish "Era yo, mas no soy" Which means that was me, but now it`s not. I really liked this talk about how we can become a different person through the atonement and we can look back and say that I was that person, but now I am not. Through my time here in the mission I have become a different person. I have had my personal challenges and have had some of my lowest lows here on the mission. But, thanks to those moments I have grown and become a better person. I have a lot of room to grow and improve still, but thanks to the atonement I can do just that. I am so grateful for this time I have to learn and to grow and to focus on the Savior and His atonement. It truly is a marvelous thing.

This letter was really kind of all over the place, I apologize. That´s just how my thoughts have been this week. :)
Thank you for all the support you send my way and I love you all!!! 

Tengan una maravillosa semana!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

Before Haircut

After Haircut

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

¡Hola!

Honestly can`t believe that it is monday again, I swear that monday was yesterday. But, I guess it means I am enjoying the work when the time is flying by. 

This week was a bit of a rough week, we had everything fall through and there also weren`t a lot of people to contact as well, I swear everyone disappeared from Ambato this week. Normally this kind of week wouldn`t bother me and I would just keep moving forward, but as a trainer you hope for the best experience for your companion, because those first 12 weeks in the mission are rough, and anything I can do as a companion to make it better for her is what I want to do. So when things fell through and it got difficult it stressed me out, because I didn`t want my companion to get discouraged. I now understand why people say that training is so difficult and stressful. This area needs a lot of work, but we are ready to work and we are ready for a new week. There are always a bump in the road kind of weeks in the mission, but if we move forward with diligence the Lord will bless our efforts and guide our steps to where we need to be. 

This week we had divisions with the Hermana Leaders and I was with Hna Willson for the day!!! She was my latin companion for the last 2 weeks in the CCM. It was so much fun to be able to be with her again for a day and to see how much has really changed and how much we have progressed in that time. It was a ton of fun being with her and this time around actually being able to use spanish. Any time she talked to me in spanish in the CCM I didn`t understand a single thing she was saying, this time around I understood everything she was saying. Even in one contact I corrected what she heard about their dirrection.. it made me realize at how much spanish I actually know. It was a ton of fun being with her and being able to reminisce in the CCM times and to really just see how much has changed and realize at how much I love the mission now. 

Hna Wilson & Hna Cordon

We are working with two families here specifically. One family all of them are investigators and the other, all of the kids are members and the parents aren`t. The reason that they all aren`t baptized is because they are not married. We focused a lot on eternal families and the importance of following God to recieve His blessings. We are hoping to help them all to move forward and be baptized by the end of April.

This week I learned a lot about just trusting in the Spirit and being diligent. As a trainer there are a lot of moments that I have to make the decision,and a lot of times I feel like I actually don`t know what I am doing. But, when I focus on the Spirit and when I focus on doing the will of the Lord we are able to keep moving forward and seeing little miracles. Though a lot of things fell through this week we had a lot of little miracles that kept our spirits up. One cool story is last monday night when our appointments fell through we decided to start contacting so that we can find out why we were there. The first door we knocked on the lady let us in and we were able to teach the first lesson. We still haven`t been able to have a second lesson, but it was really cool for Hna Stoneking to see the hand of the Lord in His work. She really was happy when we left and I was really grateful for that experience.

We have a lot of work in store for us to prepare Quito for a temple and to help more and more people be ready to enter the temple and work there when it is finished. I am so excited for the people here and the blessings that are in store for them!

Though the work can be hard sometimes, I truly am blessed to be able to be a missionary here in Ecuador. I love the mission and I love being able to share my testimony with everyone.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Mucho Amor,
Hermana Cordon

Ambato is really pretty

Temple in Quito!!!!

!Hola!

Yes, we screamed with joy when we heard President Monson announce a temple in Quito, Ecuador!! My mission, my converts are going to be within an hour of the temple!!! I was in a room with only the american missionaries, because we were watching it in english, but we were all really happy and shouting for joy! One elder said "Just think about it, our efforts have helped put this temple here." That really hit me, our work here is helping people have even more of the blessings of the gospel in their lives. Yes, there is already a temple here in Ecuador, but in Guayaguil, and it`s like a 8 or 9 hour bus ride for the members in Quito to get there. I am so happy for them, that it will be so much easier for them to go to the temple so much for frequently! It is a huge blessing for sure! I truly loved conference and recieved a lot of strength for my testimony and rekindled my diligence to give this work all my might, mind, and strength. Because, this truly is the most important work that we can engage in 

Well with my health, I feel a ton better. I got a blessing from the Elders monday night, because I did not feel good. But, during the blessing I felt the infection leave my throat, and I felt better starting from that moment, and the next day I was able to work without a problem. I was still coughing and I had a stuffy nose, but no infection so I wasn`t in a ton of pain. It made me super happy. It was such a huge blessing, I love the power of the priesthood!!

This week we did a lot of contacting, because we don`t have many investigators to work with here. But, we found a couple of people this week that seem really interested and hopefully they truly have the desire to progress and we can help them to feel and desire to have the Spirit. On saturday evening we went to go and find a contact that said that we could pass by. She didn`t answer her phone and she didn`t give a specific dirrection so we started knocking on doors on the street that she said she lived. On the second house we knocked on, we asked if she knew the person and she didn`t so we then presented ourselves with her. After I just said our names, she asked "would you guys like to come in?" Boy, were we shocked, usually we have to ask if we can come in, yet she invited us in without us saying more than just our name. It was so great, it is two sisters Valería and Veronica, and they are both really interested in learning more and really loved our message. The Lord put us on that street for a reason, and that is what I am trying to always remember. When we plan something we are in that spot for a reason, and now we just need to find that reason. I truly love the work and I truly am grateful for the little blessings that the Lord gives to us on a daily basis. 

My companion is awesome and we enjoy the work together. She is really putting things into perspective for me. I just am remembering where I was 10 months ago, when I got to ecuador, not knowing any spanish and not really knowing what was going on. Now I am training. Crazy how time has just flown and that I do actually know what I am doing now. 

One night as we were running home, because it was 9:15 and we were 15 minutes away from the house. It started DOWNPOURING. We were soaked in like 2 minutes and we were desperately searching for a taxi, I didn`t want to bring my cold back, and there was no taxis. So we kept running and all we did was laugh at how ridiculous the weather here in Ecuador is. At one moment the sky is clear and there is no appearance of rain, and 5 minutes later it is a downpour. But, boy do I love it here. Ecuador is my second home. And for those of you who don`t know, I am not a fan of getting wet, but on the mission I have learned to truly just love and laugh at the moments of discomfort or inconvenience or when someone slams a door in your face. I am doing the Lord´s work and whatever the price I am willing to pay. It is not an easy work, the road to salvation, but bringing people to this road is the greatest joy and the greatest happiness that I have ever felt. Boy do I love this work. 

I love you all and I hope you all enjoyed conference! Have a fantastic week and don`t forget what you all learned! Set goals and keep conference with you!

Hermana Cordon

My district

A cool fruit that is here

A cool fruit that is here

Getting lunch at the mall

Catching up on our journal writing today