Just Two Weeks Left in the MTC!

¡Hola!

Well basically my weekend was the normal MTC routine of class and more class and learning a lot of Spanish! But that is what I am doing, learning Spanish and I notice it more and more everyday and it`s awesome! The Lord really is blessing me! I also did the temple session is Spanish today, and I understood quite a bit, which surprised me!! :)

Today was definitely the big highlight of my time here in the CCM. My district, for our last day as a district, got to go on a "tour" of Colombia! We went to this mountain tourist thing called Monserrate. It is at an elevation of 10,000+ feet and had the coolest views of Bogota. Bogota is a GIANT city. I never realized just how massive it was, till we could see the entire thing! 

On top of Monserrat overlooking Bogota City 

We rode this really sketchy tram type thing that we rode up the mountain in. And it basically going straight up or straight down, which was kind of intense! The mountain itself is pretty with really tall trees on it, since it basically rains everyday the mountain is really green! At the top we just looked around and saw the view and it was awesome just being able to walk around. 

Then we went into the church that was built on the top, because it was originally a religious sanctuary type place. It was a cool church, but it definitely was centered around Christ`s death. That`s something I really appreciate about our church is that we focus on the Resurrection and how that was why he had to suffer for us. I did appreciate the elegance of the church though and how much religious devotion they have, whoever built it. After we came back down, which was really sketchy cause it basically like we were staring at the ground because of all the windows. But it was fun!

Then we went shopping at a little flea market type place, and I got a Colombian souvenir of a llama sweater! It`s awesome. It was cool to see the little trinkets they all have and I am sure I am going to be coming back with a lot of Ecuadorian trinkets after my time there! :)

Hermana Cordon in her Llama sweater along with two missionaries who got one as well!

This picture is of me and my companion in front of our picture that they have hanging up in the CCM. We are CCM famous now! They will probably leave it up for several months even!

I get my Latina companion tomorrow and I am more than excited! It`s going to be hard, but it`s going to push me to use my Spanish more than I have been using it now being surrounded by people that speak English! I`m gonna miss English, but my mission is Spanish, it`s time to say goodbye to English! :) Thank you for the support and love and all the updates! I am blessed with many wonderful people who are sending love my way!

Love, Hermana Cordon 

Skip Frustration and Go to Work

Learning a language is hard work, and my brain gets so overloaded with Spanish everyday, that I don´t even know what`s going on by the end of the day.. haha :) But at least I get little english breaks here, whereas in the field it will probably be entirely Spanish all the time, until I have a companion that speaks English. But I am honestly looking forward to when I am forced to speak Spanish all the time, because I definitely will learn a lot quicker when I don`t have a fallback option. I definitely found myself getting frustrated this week with spanish and not really being able to understand it, but I just have to remember that learning a language takes time. Hopefully this week will be brighter and I will remember that I just need to work hard and to not give up on myself or the Lord. 

Well, not much has happened since the last time I emailed, except that every latin missionary left this morning and we are getting a whole new group tomorrow. I am definitely going to miss all the Latina Hermana`s though, because they are all so sweet, but I am sure the next ones will probably be just as awesome! Oh and 9 more norte Hermana`s are coming in this week, which will be fun helping them to adjust to life at the CCM!

On Sunday my MTC President shared a really cool devotional with the Norte missionaries in our english meetings. It was by Elder Bednard to missionaries a couple of years ago. But the main message of it was that you need to know the doctrine before you can understand the principles or apply the applications. So basically, you need to understand the doctrine of the atonement, before you can truly understand what repentance is, and once you understand both of those you can actually understand how to repent. I thought it was a really good reminder about how we just skip to the applications and not really explain the doctrine of why. It was a good thing to hear as a missionary, to remind me of what I really need to be teaching investigators. If you understand the doctrine, then you have a real desire to actually follow the principles. 

Well this week my district switches rooms and instructors and basically it will be spanish in every class the whole time, except to tell us what a word means if we don´t know it. It will be interesting, but it will increase my spanish learning so I´m excited! And it also means only 2 more weeks with my current companion, because the final 2 weeks I`m with a latina companion, so I`m gonna enjoy these last 2 weeks with someone that is struggling with spanish just as much as I am!

I hope everyone is having a great week and thanks for all the support and prayers! Love you all!

Love, Hermana Cordon

First week is DONE!

¡Hola!

The MTC is hard work, learning Spanish is hard work, and focusing when you´re tired is hard work. Though most things about the MTC is hard work, I´ve enjoyed it! My district is a lot of fun, it´s all Norte´s (North Americans) and all of us are always laughing about how we don´t understand anything, it makes the frustration of not learning spanish not so bad when there are other´s struggling with you! :)

My favorite day this week was sunday, because besides sacrament meeting and relief society all my meetings were in ENGLISH :) We were able to go in depth in doctrinal subjects and we combined with the other Norte district and got to have really good conversations. It was a good reminder why I am on a mission and why I want to share the gospel, because I just love the Gospel so much! Especially when I can understand what they are talking about. haha :)

I can definitely feel the Lord´s hand in my time here, because I understand more than I probably should being here for only and week, and I can remember a lot more words that I only learned once or twice. It´s wonderful. The Lord truly is remarkable and I truly love this Gospel!

Oh I got to go to the Colombia, Bogota temple today and that was cool! I truly love going to the temple and I´m gonna miss being able to go once I get to the mission field. But, I am doing a different kind of temple work :) 

Thank you for all the love and prayers! Have a great week!

Amor, Hermana Cordon

P.S. this picture is me and my district