Buses, Buses, and more Buses

¡Hola familia y amigos!

Estoy feliz, disfrutando la mision y conociendo mi nuevo sector, es MUY grande! 

Well today we cleaned up our house fully, and now it is pretty. It was not pretty before, but you can now tell that Hermanas now live in this house :) haha I also had to cut the grass today, and I used a machete.. picture included. It was quite the adventure, I am just happy I didn`t accidentally cut myself :) 

We are getting really good at using buses. In every other sector I have had, I could walk really easily, we never used buses. Here we ALWAYS use buses. We have taken the wrong bus a couple of times, and have gotten lost a couple of times, but now I would say we are basically experts at buses. I never thought I would use so many buses in my entire life. The reason we use so many buses is because our sector is GIGANTE, in a week we have only went to about a 4th of our sector. We are going to need to learn how to sectorize, I don`t think that is an english word, but I am not sure. We are just going to have to figure out how to work one day in one part and another day in another part. So we aren`t using so many buses.

I am loving being with Hna Guevara, she is great! We are always laughing and enjoying the work and we work really great together as well. It is nice being with a companion that has the same time so that we can work and use the knowledge that we have together and get things moving along in our sector. We love this ward and we are getting to know the members, less actives, converts, and finding investigators. We are working hard and we are seeing success. I know the Lord is blessing our efforts.

Yesterday we had a first lesson with this family that we contacted the other day. They are really humble, but content and happy with their life, but have a lot of worries. When we shared the first vision, we asked the mom how she felt, and she responded saying that she was really worried about something, and that worry went completely away, she felt relaxed and a happiness, and she started crying while she told us that. While listening to that I felt the spirit so strong confirming to me that this gospel truly is the only gospel that can bring that kind of instant peace. Tears came to my eyes with a feeling of gratitude knowing that I was able to be an instrument in the hands of God to give this wonderful sister a message of hope and comfort. Everyone has different problems in this life and everyone has different experiences, but this gospel is for everyone and can help everyone. I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, I know that He is our Savior and Redeemer and through Him and His gospel we can find true peace and joy, where we really can`t find in any other place. 

I am loving this time I have to serve the Lord and boy do I wish that the time wouldn`t fly by so quickly. I am just happy for the time that I do have. 

I love you all and remember that if your feeling down, turn to the Lord, He will take your worries and problems and make them lighter so that you can bear the burden. You don`t have to do it alone.

Tengan una maravillosa semana!!

Les Quiero,

Hermana Cordon

Another Update!

This week it rained a ton! It´s the rainy season now, so I need to always leave with my raincoat or I will end up being soaked and unable to return home until the night, because our house is far away from all of our appointments. So don´t worry I always have my raincoat with me! But I love the smell of the rain so it always smells really nice here! 

This week I have been focusing a lot on improving my pronunciation with my companion, because I am making the most of having a Latina companion! And I am finding that Spanish is a lot more difficult then I ever realized and my accent is terrible! But, little by little I may be able to say the 'dr' and 'tr' combinations! I just have to trust in God´s power with the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues to understand what´s important and that what I say in lessons will be understood by the spirit. 

We focused a lot on the importance of going to church this week, because a lot of our investigators don´t understand. The church is the most important thing to do every week, because we need to take the sacrament every week to make sure our lives are in line with God´s. Make sure you put that as a priority in your life to get the most out of it! 

I love you all and the scripture I "ponderized" this week was 2 Samuel 22:2-4. It´s a great scripture about trusting in God.

I know that God is there and has a plan, and that we need to trust Him and He will guide us to where He needs us to be. I know without a doubt that He is my Heavenly Father and that He knows me and every one of you personally. He loves us so very much and wants us all to succeed in this life. Trust God and make Him the rock of your life and you will never falter or fail. I love you all!

Love, Hermana Cordon

First Week in Ecuador

Well 5 days in my area is said and done! I am in the Turubamba Norte Area and my companion is Hermana López. She doesn´t speak any english and we are opening a sector. So basically my mission president threw me into the water head first, but for that I am grateful, because I feel like I am going to learn so much faster this way and so much more about what I need to do to find people and to get the work moving. My patience is definitely being tried, but everyday I am striving to be more and more patient. I am grateful for this opportunity to improve my weaknesses.

The area we are in used to be a Elder´s only area, but we are the first hermana´s in this area for over a year. Which is exciting, but the work has been pretty slow, because we are both new to the area so we are trying to figure things out and get things going. We were are able to meet with three investigators though and set a baptismal date for all of them! Two are the kids of a recent convert and they all came to church which was awesome! The other met with the elders previously, and came to the ward activity on saturday, but did not come to church and we were unable to meet with her yesterday. Hopefully we can meet with her soon and figure out why she didn´t attend church. It was a new experience for me sitting in church hoping and praying she would show up. I just want everyone to accept this gospel and I have such a strong desire for everyone to keep commitments.

My spanish is rapidly progressing. I can understand a lot more things and I get the basic idea of every conversation which is such a huge blessing! The Lord is definitely blessing me with the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. I am still not able to communicate cery well and I am not able to express myself very well, but everyday is better than the last. One day at a time, I just have to remember that I have only been learning spanish for 1.5 months, and so I cannot be expected to be perfect or even close to knowing everything! But the Lord is definitely helping me to understand a lot more and do as much as I can in his hands. 

A huge blessing is the Lord helping me to be positive when everything seems to be going wrong or I feel completely alone. I continually have a prayer in my heart to be strengthened through His atonement to bear this time with patience and happiness. If you need help, pray to Him with faith and He will help you.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thine ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

 Much 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