"We are not judged, we are admired"

¡Hola!

A funny thing about Ecuador is, there are not many white people walking around the none touristy parts of Ecuador, aka everywhere I have worked. And so when there are 2 gringas walking together we turn heads, and a lot of heads. So today, we were carrying a giant bag of boxes, and I said that we probably look funny and people were probably judging, but then I was like, no, we are not judged we are admired.. haha anything that we do just will become the trend here, because we´re white. :) The bonus of being white here. Also a member told us today, that because we are white more people will listen to us and we have more success then the latin missionaries, not really sure if that is true or necesarily a good thing, but it was funny :) I am sure this was a lot funnier for me and my companion, but enjoy :)

This sector is moving along great, we have some really marvelous people that we have had the blessed opportunity to be working with. Fernando, Patricia, and Veronica all had their interviews this week. Veronica, is going to be preparing for the 23rd to just keep increasing her faith, she is awesome and came to conference and really loved it. The only thing is now she is back to going to school and she is super busy, so we are hoping to be able to find her this week at least twice, but we have planned to work out a time with her that would be a good time to call and be able to have a little conversation and give her an inspirational message to keep her excited and progressing. Fernando passed his interview and will be getting baptized this weekend, as well as Patricia. Fernando had asked us, when we explained the interview, or the conversation he would have with Elder Miza, he asked us "What do I need to do to prepare? Should I read all the pamphlets again? What should I read?" He got super nervous and thought it was some sort of test, we explained it wasn´t and that he would be just fine, he was just super worried that he wouldn´t pass, because he wants to be baptized so bad. So he was super happy when he left and that he had been told that all was okay and that he could get baptized this weekend. Patricia was also super happy and loved conference, and really enjoyed the part about having joy. She just wants to be happy, which is the most important. She is excited for her baptism as well. If all works out, we are going to have their baptism Saturday, and we are super excited for them, and I just love the change that I have seen in them as they have accepted the gospel, it really is a marvelous thing when people accept the Savior and His gospel into their lives. 

They are really enjoyed conference, and I am so grateful for conference and the opportunity that we all have to listen to God´s servants here on the earth. What called my attention was the need to pray from your hearts and not just from your lips, because it is easy to get in a habit with your prayers, and also to really know and love the doctrine of Christ. The second coming is nearing and we need to be prepared for what is up ahead.

This week we started meeting with the Chimbo Family. They are 2 sisters and their kids, one has 3 kids the other has 2 kids, and 4 of the kids are over 8. They are all really great, and were able to come with us to Conference yesterday and really enjoyed it and loved listening to it. We are going back tonight to talk about it and see how they felt being able to listen to God´s Prophet. They are a great family and we are excited to be working with them. 

Something I am so grateful for is the baptism interviews. They really help the investigators to keep progressing and really make those final steps of repentance, if they hadn´t been taken, and to really feel the love God has for them. Everytime one of the people I have been working with has gone into an interview, they are always super nervous, but as they come out after having been able to talk to my district leader, they are full of light and joy and really just want to keep following God, and you can just see in them the love of God. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be working with so many wonderful people, and that I will be able to be present in their baptisms as they take this important step to come closer to their Savior and Redeemer and enter into the kingdom of God.

I know this church is true and I am a grateful for the chance I have to be a representative of God during this time.

Shout out to my sister who got her mission call to South Carolina!! Woohoo!! 

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

Beautiful Ambato:

Leer, Orar, y Asistir

¡Hola!

Well this week went great, alot of our appointments fell through, but we kept pushing through and we worked hard and we had an awesome week. 

Selfie with my Companion

We have 3 progressing investigators. Fernando, Patricia, and Veronica, all of which have a baptism date for the 8th. We love all of them and we are working hard with each one of them. Fernando asked us yesterday "Why can´t I just get baptized tomorrow?" Oh boy did that make us happy to hear his excitement to get baptized. I know that he is coming along and really letting the Lord change his life. Patricia is doing great and has come from being scared to be baptized to being anxious which is a great change! And I am finally friends with her little 2 year old daughter, who´s name is Paola Micaela :) I love her second name! She has always been super shy with us and would never greet us or anything, but this week she finally greeted me and took me by the hand! So cute! Veronica is doing great as well and everyday we can see a change in her. 

This week, juggling trying to visit all 3 to get the lessons in, and trying to visit the less actives and converts, we had a hard time having new lessons with new people. I was really trying to figure out what we could do differently to be able to find new people to keep the work progressing, and not just have no investigator work after the 8th. Then, on friday we had a ward activity, and the bishop came up to us and told us about a friend of his that will come to church on sunday, and then came yesterday as well! He came with his wife and they both enjoyed the church. Then yesterday we were able to visit with them and their kids. They have 4 kids who are 13, 11, 8, and 1. They are all super receptive and want to know more. They are not married, but we are excited to be working with them and we have a return appointment set up with them for tomorrow. Really I know that the work moves forward a lot more productively when the members get involved, I have a strong testimony of that now, because for the first time in several months I am working with people who are progressing, and all three of them are references from members. We just got to keep working with the members and we got to keep getting them excited to get involved in the work. I love this ward and I love everyone who is excited to work with us and to help us out. We are seeing great things here in El Recreo. 

Watching Conference

Women´s Conference was great, if you didn´t watch it, do it. Some of the things I liked was "In the end everything will make sense." Dieter F. Utchdor. And I liked the general theme and what Sister Oscarson talked about how we are essential parts in the kingdom of God and a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ. I loved it and I am excited for conference this weekend!

In personal study this week I was studying a little bit of Joseph Smith´s story and I was thinking in the people we have been working with. Joseph Smith, to get an answer, went to many churches to see what they teach and how he feels. He searched in the Bible, he read it alot and really pondered on what he was reading. And he finally took it to God and prayed, with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith that God would answer him. And he got an answer, an answer that has changed my life and millions of others as well. While pondering on that, it just reinforced to be the reason we need to make sure that everyone we are visiting (investigator, convert, less active, member) is reading the scriptures, going to church, and praying to God. And if they do that they will have a testimony. Sometimes it seems so simple and so easy to do all those things, and it is. But, we need to make sure we are doing it with all of our heart and a true desire and then we will see miracles in our own personal life. No, not a vision and talk to God and Jesus Christ face to face, but something very powerful and very spiritual personally. I know that if everyone makes time, and really does all with their heart, that reading the scriptures and praying to God daily and a weekly church attendance will change your life spiritually. I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Les Amo Muchísimo!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

The typical cudor meal. You just have to have your rice, fries, and chicken.

We love Kinder Eggs. You can´t find them in the states, because they are illegal because they come with a little toy. But, they are delicious.

Called to serve, but written into how to pronouce it for a spanish speaker. 

Me with Deyni, a less active, and beautiful Ambato

We made mac and cheese with our mission leader and his wife, for our activity. We had a ward activity and each organization was assigned a country to present a food and a talent. So we got assigned the USA and we presented mac and cheese :) And we sang in english with the elders and our mission leader.

El Recreo Round 3

¡Hola!

Great news, I am staying in El Recreo with Hna Bench to finish out the mission!! I am super excited to be able to be here for the next 6 weeks and to keep working with these wonderfully amazing people here in El Recreo. Also I am stoked to be able to keep working with Hna Bench. It also means I will have about 7 months here in Ambato, but thats okay, cause it is the best!

We went with Jessica and her Mom to feed
their animals, we forgot our cameras.
Her mom gave me her shall to put on,
because it was super windy, and she put it on
the Ecuador Way.

Jesica, our less active, is doing good. She has never come to the first hour, but has been coming to church for awhile now. So we talked to her about why we need to go to the first hour, mainly for the sacrament. She thought you had to be basically perfect to take the sacrament, so she didn´t go, because she didn´t feel worthy enough to take the sacrament. So we cleared that right up, and testified to her that the sacrament is for the imperfect people who are trying to do better. I love the sacrament, and here on the mission I have been really able to understand it on a whole new level. 

This week was sad, because we had to drop two of our investigators. I come to love every one of our investigators and I am able to learn so much from them. But, there comes a time when the person isn´t progressing and is not doing what we are asking them to do, we have to love them enough to let them go and to allow them to come back, when they will progress. I am just super grateful for the chance we had to meet with them and for all that I was able to learn from them. 

We had a service project this week, and we painted. It was fun! Fun fact: Ecuadorians think you need to put half water and half paint, so we basically painted the wall with water. And it was a white wall, that we sanded last week, and so we were putting a new white paint on it. But, it just ended up being gray.. It was kind of funny, just painting the wall and just finding gray in our paths.

Use with Deyni, a less active we are working with
that goes to appointments with us.

The members here are great, and we have been able to work with so many here. Hopefully we can just keep working with them and finding more people to work with.

Not much to share, but I love the work and I love the mission. Just keep on keeping on :)

Love you all!!

Con mucho amor y cariño,

Hermana Cordon

Our District, Elder Paiz left, but everyone else is staying

Beautiful Ecuador, the view from our front door.

Our Zone

Ambato., Ecuador

¡hola!

Today for our zone activity we went to Parque de la familia, the park on the top of the mountain here in Ambato, and it is still my sector! :) Haha even though it is like a 35 minute ride in bus up the mountain. It is a pretty park, and we had fun playing the olympics with our zone. Rio has nothing on us :) haha 

We had verification this week for Hna Bench, since she is a new missionary, and it was fun! I really learned alot and I was reminded of a lot of basic principals that seem to get forgotten over time. Being with a newbie helps to remember how to love the work and just to keep it really simple. I love meetings with President Christensen, because it always reminds me of things that I can improve on and how I can become a better missionary. We also had zone conference this week, and that was great, I also learned a ton there as well. More than anything the importance of focusing on and commiting the people to read, pray, and go to church, and the importance of these three things. Hopefully I can improve on that. 

We didn´t get to work alot this week for the many meetings and spontaneous trip to Quito monday, that I feel we didn´t do much this week, but reflecting we were able to get a lot done. One cool thing was saturday night, when we finally were working in our sector after having been with the stake for a blood drive, contacting and bringing people to the blood drive, it was fun and we got a lot of contacts, but we were happy to be back in our sector. Once we started working all of our appointments fell through, so I started praying asking the Lord to guide us, because there was no one that we could go to, so when we rounded the corner there was a mom with her kid going into her house. We started talking to her and she started mentioning a lot of questions about religion that she has had for awhile and as we were talking we were able to invite her to let us in to share more and she accepted and we got to share something with her. It helped me to remember that the Lord is always watching over us and wants us to find His kids that are willing to listen to our message. It was a good lesson and we are going to be returning next week to talk to her more and help her to know for herself if these things are true. 

We were not able to find Mauricio like at all this week, but yesterday we had a very powerful lesson about the importance of baptism and that it opens the door to our salvation, between the wonderful testimony of my companion and the testimony of the members that were with us and my own testimony of the importance of baptism the spirit was really present and we could see in Mauricio the greater desire he had to find out if he needs to be baptized on the 10th. We are excited for him to be taking this step and I am praying that he finds comfort in this decision and that he can be strong with his family and can be an example to them. 

We had a really powerful lesson with Jessica yesterday about the atonement, and how she can really feel peace about herself and with God, once the atonement has been completed, and that process included forgiving yourself and letting yourself be forgiven as well. We testified a ton, and I seriously love the testimony of Hna Bench, everytime she testifies the spirit just comes pouring in, I love it. Jessica really felt the spirit, and broke down when we shared with her the experience of Alma the younger with the Atonement in Alma 38, we asked her if she felt like him, and as she was crying and said yes, we could see in her the desire to know how to change, and we testified to her that it is through our little actions everyday and our desire to follow God and our obedience to the commandments. The coolest part of this lesson though, for me, was the overwhelming feeling of love I felt for Jessica. A love so strong that I know through God I was able to feel that love for her. She is making big steps and I know that she will be able to come closer to God. 

Not only for Jessica, but for all these people here in my sector, I just love them. I love them and desire that all of them know and love the gospel for themselves. Ecuador seriously has stolen my heart and I will forever love these people and the wonderful love that they have so graciously shown me.

I also reflected this week on the scriptures alot and focusing on strengthening my testimony of them. I know that through the scriptures we can find answers to our questions. I know that the Book of Mormon does exactly what Joseph Smith testified that whoever reads this book will come closer to God than by any other book, because I have felt that change over my mission. I love the strength I can find from this book and all the other books of the gospel. I know that it shows how much God loves us, that we have these scriptures. And I know this because I have felt the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost. I invite all those who don´t know and can´t say these things with an assurity to read and pray to know for themselves, and I know that if you do it with a sincere heart, you will know for yourself.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

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

Miming my way to Ambato

¡Hola!

Ya I am not in Guaranda anymore, after 5 weeks, because this change was a week shorter, I got changed again! Now I am in Ambatom still outside of Quito, and I am going to finish the training of Hna Stoneking, and she is from California! So now I am going to be a stepmom! :) haha A bit of a change, but I am excited to be here and get to work.

Now the reason for miming, is because I basically have no voice right now. I have an infection in my throat, so my throat hurts and my voice is very quiet. A nice change for those around me I am sure ;) I am just hoping for a quick recovery, luckily I can keep working, because my companion can talk fine! Hopefully she is confident with her spanish! 

Easter here in Ecuador is quite different from home, they don`t really celebrate easter, but focus more on the Good Friday, because everyone is Catholic and they put a lot more emphasis on the death of Christ then on His resurrection. I am so grateful that we realize the why He died and the importance of his resurrection that we are able to look at the more positive side of things. I am so grateful for Christ and His atonement for us and the strength we recieve, and I am so grateful he was resurrected so that we too can be resurrected and live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our families for forever! They do have a couple of traditions here that you can`t eat red meat thursday, friday or saturday, so we had fish two days. And they say that if you eat red meat you will turn into a fish...They also say that if you go swimming these two days you will turn in to a fish as well.. Also they have a traditional soup, that`s called Fanesca, and it is so interesting. It is a bunch of different types of beans, with fish that usually isn`t deboned, and a hard boiled egg (see picture). Not my favorite, but got to try new things in a new country!

We found a new family this week that are so awesome!! They are really prepared to hear this message and want to really guide their kids down the correct path. Even though I won`t be there anymore I am so happy that they are starting to listen and I know they are in good hands with Hna Varney. It is quite weird leaving an area only after 1 change, but I did what I was supposed to and I gave it my all. Now I am ready to do what the Lord needs me to do here in Ambato! 

This week I took pictures of some typical ecuador plates so enjoy these photos!

llamingachos (my favorite ecuador meal, and Ambato is famous for it and everyone says they have the best here, so I am so excited!!)

llamingachos

Rice, egg, and avocado

Fanesca

My fish was going to eat me

I love you all and I hope you have a truly amazing week!

Gracias por todo!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon