18 Meses

¡hola!

2 Bananas in 1 :)

Selfie with Companion

We didn´t really get to have many lessons with any of the investigators we already had, they were either super busy or not home. And so we had a bunch of time to visit with less actives and converts and find some new people that seem to have a lot of potential. A cool experience was that while we were knocking doors one afternoon. We had gone to a new place to try and find a contact, and we didn´t find her, so we decided to knock doors until a bus came to go to another part. And as we approached the first door, a bus came, but we decided it would be better to knock this door and we would catch the next one. We knocked, and a lady came to the door, she was hesistant, but as we kept talking she accepted to listen and let us in to share short message. After asking her a couple of questions about her, she opened up and told us how recently her husband had passed away and how she is now a single mom struggling to balance everything in life all the while fighting off depression. We then asked her why she allowed us to come in, she told us that she had just been praying asking God for help and guidance and as soon as she had finished her prayer, we knocked on her door. As she said that, that spirit just filled the room and testified to me that the Lord truly knows and loves everyone of His children and He knew that our appointment would have fallen through and He had put us in her path that night. We were then able to share about how the Atonement of Christ can lift her up and find joy and peace in this life. It was a really powerful experience and I am so grateful that I can be an instrument in Gods hand and be a literal answer to someones prayer. We are hoping to meet up again with her this week to keep sharing this wonderful message.

Pretty sunset with Chimborazo

Fernando and Patricia are transitioning really nicely and are just really great. Good news, Fernando recieved the Aaronic Priesthood this week, and the bishop has assigned him to bless the sacrament next week, so last night we reviewed the sacrament prayers with him. He is so great and is super excited to be able to be an instrument in God´s hands to bless other people.

We are working with 2 less active families, and if all goes well and we find them, they all will be saved by next sunday. They are all meeting with the bishop and have plans to go to the temple. It is great! I am so excited for them and I am so grateful for the chance that we have had to have been working with them.

Well the time has come, though it has seem to come by really quickly and at the same time seems like I have been a missionary for many years, my last week as a full time missionary is starting. Here we go! :) I am just grateful I at least have one more week.

I have learned alot on the mission. 

1. I´ve learned that God loves each and every one of us, with our weaknesses and everything, He is patient as we work to overcome those weaknesses, and I have seen and felt the promise that He gives in  Ether 12:27 that He will make our weakness strengths, when we allow Him to work on us.
2. I have learned that the best medicine to having joy, is forgetting yourself. When I have been the most focused on my investigators, less actives, companions, etc.. I have felt the most peace and have truly enjoyed the mission. For a good amount of time I focused alot on myself and on my weaknesses, but once I changed that mindset, the mission changed completely as well. It was a joyful ride, rather than a stressful, overwhelming ride. My weaknesses didn´t just disappear nor did the trials, but I was able to enjoy it alot more.
3. I now know for certain that this is the church of God, the only true church on earth. I know that Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God, and his words are just God´s words. I know that the full power of God is here on earth and through it we can see miracles and just really feel the full extent of God´s love. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and that because He loves us so much, He literally gave Himself up and suffered and died FOR US. I know that God is my Heavenly Father and that He loves me. 
4. We are truly here to be happy and to have joy, and through the Lord we can. 2 Nephi 2:25
5. I know that the most important thing is going to the temple, and being able to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. This needs to be EVERYONES goal.

I have learned a lot more and I am so grateful for these last 18 months I have had to experiment and learn so much. It was truly a life changing experience that I will forever be grateful for.

I love you all and thank you all for the love and support!

Con Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

We went bowling today as a district, I won :) (sorry it is a dark photo, hopefully you can see it)

We found a dog with no front legs, he was able to walk by bouncing on his stumps.. and he just stood straight up as well.

2 wonderful people coming to Christ

¡Hola!!

This week, Fernando and Patricia were baptized!!! Such a great week, but with a lot of little to dos to get everything organized good for the baptism, but it all worked out great, and it was a very wonderful service and the spirit was really present. 

Us with Fernando, in his white shirt and pant :)

Fernando was super excited and nervous all week, but just really was looking forward to be able to be clean. There was a baptism in the ward this week for a little 8 year old, so we invited Fernando to come and see what a baptism is like, he loved it! He really enjoyed it and I know that it helped him to be a little less nervous for his own baptism, knowing how a baptism worked. Then in the baptism, he was able to bring his mom, who we hadn`t met yet, and she really seemed to enjoy herself, this week we are going to be able to meet with her and get to know her as well. After he was baptized he said "I feel blessed." Hearing that just made my heart happy, he is such a humble and sincere person with a ton of desire to follow God and he just wanted to change, and when he said that I knew he had been able to make that change and came to know God on a whole new level, and really felt the effects of the Savior`s atonement for us.  Yesterday after he was confirmed we asked him how he felt about everything and he said he felt great, also he was super excited when we reminded him that the gift of the spirit helps him to overcome temptations. He is great, and is heading in a great dirrection.

Us with Patricia, in her white gown :)

Patricia, disappeared on us this week, and we weren`t able to find or talk with her much. But, we had an appointment planned for friday night to finish up the lessons and to keep up her excitement for her baptism. She told us that she was going to come to the baptism of the kid in our ward, but didn`t show up. Then we tried calling her afterwards and it went straight to voicemail.. we were super anxious to talk with her and we were worried that she was getting scared or something that she was avoiding us to not get baptized. At that point Hna Bench was getting super worried, and so we went and found a room and knelt down and said a prayer for Patricia to find her and to help her to progress to her baptism for the next day. As we were praying I felt a bunch of peace and I knew the Lord was aware of Patricia and of us as well. Right afterwards we called her, and she answered right away! She said that she was on her way down and that she would be there in 10 minutes. Seriously was a testimony to me of the love of God. He loves Patricia and also wanted her to be baptized, also He loves me and Hna Bench and was able to comfort us in a time when we were worried for Patricia. I am grateful for prayers and for answers to prayers as well. We were able to visit with her, finish her lessons, and keep her excitement for the next day. She loved her baptism and just looked super happy and content. Afterwards we asked her how she felt and she said that she felt really good, and just couldn`t stop smiling. She also told us that she felt great after her confirmation and is really a great person, I love her so much!

I really love both of these wonderful people, and I am grateful for the chance God gave me and Hna Bench to work with them and to guide them along this path. I am so grateful for their examples and I have been able to learn so much from them. I know that they are headed along the right path and we are going to focus on strengthening them to help them to keep going down the right path and always have the Spirit with them. 

Baptisms always remind me very clearly of my purpose as a missionary. The people as they come out of the waters of baptism are full of light and joy, and that is the effects of being with God and after baptism they are right there with Him. I know that every little thing we do as missionaries when sharing the gospel, brings everyone that much closer to God and to His kingdom. I hope to give it my all these next 2 weeks to more fully fulfill my purpose as a missionary.

I love you all!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Cordon

This is me with a giant book of mormon we found in our church, while waiting for the font to drain. 

It had pages and everything! It also weighed quite a bit.

Baños round 4

¡hola!

Well today as a zone we went to Pailon del Diablo. It is a REALLY STRONG waterfall in Baños and seriously it is so pretty and really just puts me in awe about nature and about the creations of God. I seriously love this beautiful planet, and especially beautiful Ecuador and its wonderful waterfalls. We got completely soaked again, and so we came back super cold, so we were happy to put on nice warm clothes. Just my hair has a nice after effect of the humidity of Baños and being soaked :) 

This week I kept focusing on focusing on the spirit and really noticed a difference. This week a ton of appointments fell through, everyday. And we were found where all of our appointments, including backup plans, were null and we weren´t sure what to do. But, this week I noticed alot more of the hand of God in this work, and I am convinced its because we turned to Him more. We found ourselves praying to Him, letting Him guide us, and really trying to focus on what the Spirit was saying. And I know that if we keep doing that, we will see a huge difference. 

One miracle was that we were walking in the rain going over to try and find someone we had contacted a couple of days earlier. While walking there, we noticed some kids huddled under a poncho running to their house, and then they noticed us. They all started waving, and we waved thinking it was probably some little kids that wanted to wave to the two gringas, but then one of the kids asked us if we remembered him, and then it clicked in my mind that it was the kids of the person we were headed to. So we said yes, and we asked if they were going to their house and if their mom was home, they said yes, and then they showed us to their house. Their house was really complicated to get to and so we never would have found it if we hadn´t had run into them. They are a cute little family, and we haven´t been able to visit with them again, but we are praying that we find them this week. We were really grateful for that little "coincidence" or better said miracle from God. 

We also were able to visit with 2 other new families this week that are really great and seem like they have a lot of desire to follow God and to learn more about Him, we have been praying to find a family and we were able to find 3 this week. I know that families can help each other progress and really come to God, so I am grateful for the chance to be teaching them and helping them to know the way that can bless their family. 

We have 2 progressing investigators right now, and they are really great! One is Fernando, and he is a 18 year old boy and has a ton of desire to know God and to follow Him. One thing that really respect about him, is his prayers. He really has such sincere prayers and pours his heart out to God, and with that desire we have seen him grow over the last 2 weeks and really have come so much closer to God. The other is Patricia, she is great and has been really doing all she can to follow God and to change her life for the better. She loves what she sees in the church and she wants her daughter to grow up in the atmosphere of the church. We are excited to be working with her as well and to really see the change in her from the gospel. They both have baptism dates for the 8th of October, and we are praying for them.

Hermana Bench and I are getting along great as well. We work hard and I love her desire to work and her desire to just do that much more. She is great and I love working with her.

It was a great week and I really love this work and these people.

Con mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

Me with Fernando (our investigator), Gaby (a member, and his girlfriend), and Jessica (the less active we have been working with). I love them!

Us with a member that came with us for the afternoon

We had divisions this week and I was with Hna Loayza, she is great

Everyday a New Day

¡Hola!

At the verification meeting, 2nd day as companions!
Woohoo, emergency changes :)

Big news! We had emergency changes! haha :) The Lord is good at keeping us on our feet at all times here in the mission. Well I am still here in Ambato in the same ward (Wohoo!!!) but, now I am with Hna Bench, she has only 3 weeks in the mission, so I will be training her. She is so awesome and sweet and I am excited to be working with her, she is from Utah as well, so we are going to be great friends! I am excited for this new experience ahead and for the opportunity to be staying where I am :) That just means today I spent traveling and meeting up with my new companion here in Quito and we are going to be staying here till tomorrow night, because we have verification meeting tomorrow for the new missionaries. Every week there is a new experience ahead!

The work is moving along here in El Recreo, we are working with some amazing people with such big desire to know the truth. Mauricio keeps moving forward and what I love about the lessons with him, is that he always has a ton of questions, and a true desire to really know the truth. When someone has questions it is because they really want to learn, and it is really evident in Mauricio. Yesterday we taught him the plan of salvation, and something that was really new for him and hard for him to grasp was the fact that we lived with our Heavenly Father before this life and we were only spirits, that surprised him. And we testified to him, but it still kept with him a doubt, so we invited him to pray and ask Heavenly Father if he lived with Him before this life, and he was so excited to be able to do that and recieve an answer. He is learning for himself that God really does hear and answers our prayers.

A new investigator we found this week, was a reference from her twin brother who is a recent convert in Riobamba, Veronica. She is really looking to change her life around and to come closer to God and is really searching for the truth. In the second lesson with her, we verified if she had prayed, and she did! And she said she felt good and that she took it as an answer. She was willing to accept everything afterwards, and when we asked her to pray specifically about the Book of Mormon, she told us, that it doesn´t matter if it is true or not because she is going to go forward with blind faith. It was an interesting comment, because it is true, faith we can´t see we are blind to the things, but because God loves us so much he gives us a way to know if these things are true. It starts with interest and a sincere desire to know, then as we act and pray for an answer God blesses us with knowledge, line upon line. Like it says in Alma, it will keep growing, but it will keep growing until we no longer have faith, but perfect knowledge. We explained that concept to her and then she commited to praying and asking God if the Book of Mormon is true, so that she could keep increasing her faith.

Along the same principle of faith, we met with Jessica, a less active, and the discussion was led to faith and how she can have her testimony again. She knows that before she knew the church was true, but over these last couple of years when she has stopped doing the things she knows she should be doing, she has come to really forget her testimony, in the sense she know doesn´t feel anything. That is the interesting thing about a testimony, we can know that we knew, but no longer know if we stop doing the things and we now no longer have the spirit with us. We were able to have a very spirit filled lesson with lots of testimonies of the importance of doing the little things, to make sure to have the spirit with you to nuture your testimony, like reading, praying, and going to church. I had testified to her that it can change her life to start doing these things, because it has changed my life, and she then asked me how it had changed my life. It stopped me and gave me a minute to reflect, on really how it has changed my life, and more than anything, it has put my life with God´s will. I have realized that a continual reading of the scriptures, sincere prayers, and going to church with the intent to learn, we put ourselves where the Lord can work on us and truly guide us. I realized in that moment that, that is what has happened over this last year that the Lord has been able to shape me even more, because I am continually doing the little things that put me in line with His will. I am grateful for the mission for that, because it is scheduled into our day studies so that we study the scriptures everyday, we create the habit to pray at many times during the day, and we are constantly thinking and talking about the gospel, and it really aligns us with His will. She commited to start doing those things, but a commitment that really showed a desire to change and have those blessings.

Just Us!

We finally were able to meet with a recent convert that we have been trying to get a hold of since we got here, but this week we finally met and visited with her! She is great, and is the only member in her family, but when we went and visited her we met her mom and were able to visit with her as well. She made a comment about how she is happy, because she knows her daughter will be saved, but she won´t be, but she was happy for her daughter at least. It got us thinking and we were able to testify to her and really have a really spirit filled lesson about the plan of happiness, which includes being an eternal family, because true happiness isn´t being alone, and that she wouldn´t ever be happy, even if her daughter was saved, if she wouldn´t be able to live with her daughter. We commited her to start reading the book of mormon again, because she was reading before, and to really come closer to God so they can be saved together. I love God´s plan of happiness.

I love the mission, I love this work. I know that this is the true church and I know that the Lord guides this work. I am so happy to be here in Ambato, in this ward, and with these wonderful people. This beautiful country will forever have my heart.

Con mucho amor y carino,

Hermana Cordon

Amor para las personas

¡Hola!

Me and Hna Morán

We had divisions this week, it was great :) I got to be with Hna Morán, she is gringa, but her dad is mexican so she looks latina. We had a great time in there sector, and we visited a family that I had visited with the Hna Leader about 3 months ago, and they remembered me :) There are 3 cute little girls that are super sweet, one wanted to brush my really snarly hair (Thanks to the wind and dust and walking everywhere :) ) haha It was fun to see them again, and I was able to learn alot, it was great.

Well three weeks ago our mission leader informed us that someone was at church that wasn´t a member and that he had been going for a long time, but he didn´t get any of his information and he informed us after church. So we had to wait a week until we got to church again, and we were grateful that he came again :) And this week we finally were able to visit with him, he is great! His family goes to the Jehovah Witness, but his mom is the only one baptized there. He has gone there his whole life, so he has studied a ton and knows alot, which means a lot of questions, but he really listens to our answers and has a lot of faith and is really open to knowing for himself. When we taught him about the restoration and invited him to pray about our message, he responded quickly saying yes. Since he has been coming to church for awhile, I then thought to ask him if he had ever prayed about it, he then responded with a no, because he didn´t know that you could pray and actually recieve an answer. I just love the knowledge we have of God and prayer, knowing that if we pray He listens and He answers us. I know that is true, because I have recieved answers from Him, in many different moments in many different ways. We testified to him and he left with a lot of desire to find out for himself and he accepted a baptism date for the 3rd of September! We are excited to be working with him and to guide him along this path, I just love how humble and open he his and we can see that he has a true desire to follow God. 

Dayana opened up with us this week and let us know what she is truly going through, and the obstacles she will have to overcome so that she will be able to be baptized. Thursday we had commited her to be baptized for the 26th of August and she had accepted and we were going to fast with her to help her to recieve an answer from God, but we weren´t able to find her saturday when we were supposed to start with her. And then she also didn´t come to church. When her grandparents got to church, we asked about her, and they responded saying she now doesn´t want anything and doesn´t want to be baptized... My heart dropped, I almost started crying right there in church hearing that, but I convinced myself that they were mistaken and that there was just a miscommunication and she just didn´t feel good to come to church. After church we went and passed by for her to talk to her to see what was up. As she was telling us why she had decided to not be baptized and stuff I felt my heart break, knowing that the decision she was making would prevent her from recieving all the blessings the Lord has for her. While listening to her I felt an overwhelming sense of love for her and a desire to help her. A love I know that God blessed me with to help her, and we began testifying and explaining to her the consequences of not being baptized. We testified a lot and she opened up to the idea again of really seeking an answer from God and doing a fast with us this week. I am praying for her and I want the absolute best for her. I know as a missionary the Lord has blessed me with a love for these people that would be impossible to create in such a short amount of time knowing a person. I love Dayana so much and I know how happy she can be coming closer to this gospel and I hope and pray that she makes the right decision so that she can have this happiness. But, it also helped me to realize how Christ feels when we make bad decisions, when we move away from Him. His heart breaks, He wants nothing more than to bless us, and we are choosing another path. But, for that He suffered and died for us, so that we could come back to Him, and that brings Him the greatest joy imaginable when we have come back into His. The joy we feel as missionaries when people make that step (come to church, read, pray, are baptized, etc..) is a small part of what Christ must feel, and that joy is something very difficult to describe, it really is true joy. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be working with Dayana and that she really is seeking to know for herself and to come closer to Christ.

This week went well, and we got some good work in. I have been stressing a bit, feeling like I can´t do all that I need to do, and not wanting to finish the mission, because I am not ready, but I just keep changing my mindset and focus on what I am doing, and focusing on always seeking the help of God in every situation. I just have to keep reminding myself to do that, and then I am good. :) I love the mission and I love the help that I recieve from God in every moment.

I know this is the true church, I know that we pass through trials so that we can become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that I am a representative of Jesus Christ and for that reason I proudly put my nametag on everyday and boldly claim that I am a representative of His true church. I don´t doubt it, I never have. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all and thank you for your prayers!! :)

Mucho Amor,
Hermana Cordon

Me and my companion

My companion, Deyni (a less active that always goes to appointments with us), and me 

Me and my companion with a rainbow 

Lunch at the mall with Hna Morán and Hna Loayza

Caldo de Pata aka cow foot soup again. This time I tried the cow foot. It was really, really chewy....

And the Work Keeps Going

¡HOLA!

I am just enjoying it here in Ambato with Hna Guevara, we are working hard loving the members, and loving all the people that we are meeting. We were able to meet a lot more new people this week and we have a lot of hope for them and we are excited to see their progression! 

I finally had Cuy (Guinea Pig) this week. Guinea pigs are only food here, not pets.. It was a little weird staring at the foot of an animal that I once had as a pet, but it tastes really good! haha It tastes just like chicken.. I can now say I have had a traditional meal of ecuador.

Quillanloma - there was no one around so we decided to take a quick picture!

We started visiting Dayana this week, she is 18 and was an old investigator who was going to school on sundays, and couldn`t change her schedule, but in 2 weeks she won`t be studying on a sunday again! So we started teaching her and she has a baptism date for the 13th, she is great and has a big desire for her family to be like the family of her aunt and uncle. Her aunt and uncle are the Flia Bravo, who are recent converts, who have a ton of faith and just love the gospel and put all their trust in the Lord. And when you walk into their home you can just feel the peace and love that is in their home. I love the gospel and the influence it can have on families, and hopefully we can help Dayana to have this blessing in her life and the life of her family as well. We are going to try and get to know her parents. 

We found Miquel this week! We went to buy some food for dinner and we contacted the lady that sold us the food, and she was really nice and we felt as though we should teach her, we were headed off to another appointment, but we decided to try a share a small message and get them more interested. We asked her if she could invite her brother and her friend that were there as well, her friend is Miquel. As soon as he came over he started asking a bunch of questions and saying how he isn`t baptized and that he hasn`t really had an interest in religion. At the end of the message he asked us from what church we were from, because he forgot. And we responded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, but sometimes refer to us as Mormons. And he responded, "You guys are mormon?? Of all the churches that I have studied this is the most correct and could be the true church." That was super cool to hear! He then was saying how his mom was studying this church and thing that caught his attention most was that his mom was always super happy listening to the missionaries, he said that that was the happiest he has ever seen his mom. I know that this church brings that kind of true happiness, and I am glad that he has seen that affect in someone that he loves. We walked out feeling really good that we shared a message and we were able to get to know him. We visited him again and he had read and had a bunch of questions, and then he also came to church! He was really hesitant to come to church, because he doesn`t like churches, but he said that he felt really good in our church. 

Also Adriana we have been visiting for 2 weeks, and she is great, also came to church! On saturday we were able to visit with her and her husband which was really awesome and help him to get to understand more, he is a lot more reserved and hesitant, but it was a big step, because we were able to gain a lot more confidence. But, Adriana loved church and is progressing really well!

We saw a lot of miracles this week, and yet right now I am having a hard time remembering all of them. I wrote them in my journal, but I didn`t bring that with me, but these were a couple of the miracles we saw. I just love the hand the Lord has in the work and really good feel the love he has for every one of these people.

I love this work, I love this people, and seriously I am so grateful for the guiding hand of the Lord during this time and that we are not doing this work alone!

I love you all and I hope you all recognize the Lord`s hand in all things!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

I had cow foot soup this week.. it was interesting.. 

My reaction looking at it.. haha

Me with the Guinea Pig

Guinea Pig...

El Recreo (The Recess)

¡Hola!

Me and Hna Guevara

Well this week was changes, and both me and my companion left MIra Flores, and they closed our sector and now that ward only has one companionship of elders. I was sad to be leaving everyone without either one of us, but I know that the Lord knows what is best for this sector and that He will guide the Elders. I am now in El Recreo, the ward that touched my sector before, so basically I just stepped onto the other side of the line. Here there hasn`t been Hermanas for over 15 years, so the members are probably going to be really excited to see Hermanas here again. And so, as you probably guessed, I am opening a sector with Hermana Guevara. She is from Peru and really nice! She has the same time as me and so it will be really great to just get out and work and get things moving along here. Today we spent a lot of time organizing our house, because elders were here and a elder that just finished his mission was here, so it isn`t very clean. Hopefully by the end of this week we can clean it up and get it all organized. 

We were helping Gabriela alot this week, by sending her chapters every night to read, and she has been reading them all! She really does have a great desire to follow this gospel and to have a strong testimony. I know that with the Elders help she can be guided to baptism to recieve all these blessings. With our other investigator Stanley, I think it is going to be really great that there is going to be elders teaching him now. I am sure they will be able to relate to him more and guide him to baptism. We also found a new investigator this last saturday, Cecilia, and she is really great and really open to hearing this message, she even came to church! She came by herself and on time, it was awesome! The elders should be passing by tonight to visit her, hopefully they don´t forget. We were able to get something rolling along here and I know that the Elders will only be able to keep working and helping this area and this ward. I really fell in love with this ward, the members that come every week are really faithful and really willing to help us missionaries in every aspect of the work. The bishop is really involved and always looking for more ways to help us and everyone just supported us and helped us. I really do love that ward and really appreciated all that they did for us. 

The US beat Ecuador in soccer this week and the day before the game we were joking with our pensionista and her husband that the US will win and then we made a wager with them that the losing team has to buy the others ice cream. So they bought us ice cream!! (Picture included). Everyone was mad with us, but we were happy! haha I was sad and happy at the same time, they are both my homes. 

We tried doing a weekly scripture study class with the ward so they could bring their friends, and only the bishop and his family showed up.. hopefully this week more people will show up to that class. 

Yesterday me and my companion taught the primary class for kids 8 and older, it was a great practice for how to teach really simply and keeping their attention. It was fun!

I am excited to see what this next change will bring, I love being here and being able to work for the Lord, the best job there is! :)

I love you all!

Hermana Cordon

Me and Hna Vicky, she is the president of the primary and she was always willing to go to appointments with us, she is the best! 

My zone last thursday, we are crazy

This is a photo  I took in my last sector and I had taken a picture of my new sector, everything on the other side of the river is my sector now.

Sleep Contacting

¡Hola!

Well my brother came home from his mission and my other brother got married this week, a lot for my family. And with a bunch of things going on, I kept doing the same thing here, and I couldn`t be happier. I am so grateful for this time to serve the Lord and I wouldn`t trade it for anything else. It was a good week and I am grateful that I was able to stay focused and wasn`t distracted thinking of my family and home.

Indigenous Statue at the Market

Well first off my companion told me one day that I had woke her up during the night, because I was talking in my sleep. Apparently I was contacting someone and it was in spanish! I guess that is a good sign that I am spanish sleep contacting! haha I thought that was a pretty good sign! And back that up with the husband of our pensionista is always giving me a hard time about my gringa accent, but I am secretly grateful, because it is helping me to improve my spanish! My accent still has a lot of room to improve.

My companion was sick this week, so we lost of little of working time, but I just kept animating my companion and making her feel bed. It is so hard to be sick on the mission! And she has been sick like really bad 4 times already and she is still in her second transfer.. so difficult, but she is awesome and keeps pushing through! During this week trying to help my companion realize why the mission is so awesome, because sometimes it can get hard, it just makes me love the mission even more. It is a great time to learn and to grow and to become like Christ. I won`t have another time like this, this time completely to focus on how I can become more like the savior and to really put all my energy in His work. It is quite the blessing. My companion is so awesome and I am learning so much from her about being really diligent and truly giving the work your all!

We went to the Market for P-day and I found
 this cool hat... I didn't buy it though!

We were blessed with a bunch of little blessings this week from the Lord and He was guiding our footsteps. I am really trying to focus on truly following the spirit as I teach and for everything that I do really. Sometimes I just get in the habit of being a missionary and forget to really focus on what He is telling me to say and do, I just need to remember whose work this really is and that without His spirit I am not going to have much success. I know that it will be a huge blessing if I can learn how to follow the spirit in everything I do, and this has been my focus this last week and will be for the rest of my mission I believe. I am also learning that I need to think less about myself and my needs and a lot more about the people around me and my companion. I am here to serve and sometimes I think to much about myself and my personal struggles. I still have a lot to work on, but when I focus on the work and the people, those things will come as well. The Lord blesses us a lot more, when we forget ourselves. I really love the quote from what Gordon B Hinckley´s dad said, "Forget yourself, and go to work." I just need to forget myself even more and to really just focus on the work and the service I am here to do for others. 

I found myself in a lot of moments of reflection especially with the last email from my brother, I began thinking about where I want to be and who I want to be when my time has come to a close, and as I started thinking about that I realized that I still have a long way to go. Gratefully I still got time, I just have to use it wisely. 

Selfie with the Statue

I am so grateful for this work and the love that the Savior has for me and every one of you guys. I know that this is the true church and it doesn`t matter how many times people try to tell me why we are wrong or confused or ignorant it just makes me love this church more and know with a stronger assurance that this church is true. We have so much opposition, because it is the true church. It wasn`t easy for the Savior so it won`t be easy for us, that`s what Elder Holland has said many times. Today a guy in the mall, as we were eating lunch, was trying to argue with us about how the Book Of Mormon contradicts with the bible and all that fun stuff, but as he was talking I just had a strong feeling, that okay if you want to find mistakes and contradictions, you`ll find them. Because, you won`t understand what it is trying to say and you are going to find what you are trying to find, you`ll make anything work. I know without a doubt that the Book Of Mormon is the word of God and is a compliment to the bible. And with them both together we have everything we need!

This is the work of Jesus Christ and I am so grateful to be His representative and to be working in it.

I love you all!!

Tengan una maravillosa semana!!

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