¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

¡hola!

So this week was Año Viejo (New years eve) and Año Nuevo (New Years day) it made for an interesting week. Ecuador has some different traditions with this holiday. The two most prominent is viudas and viejos. Viudas are cross-dressing men that wear really short skirts and dance very interesting in front of cars in the middle of the street and the cars are forced to stop and then they ask for money and they don´t let cars pass by till they give them something. It is quite interesting, but luckily we were in the house the whole day and we did not have to deal with any of them. We did go up on our roof at one point and there was one a little bit down from our house and a line of about 15 cars that he was just filing through, so I am sure he got a ton of money. Then the viejos are just stuffed giant dolls, that are called viejos (old people) because it is the Año viejo and they all burn them at some point during the night, but they put them out right at midnightand everyone walks around to look at them all and then after they burn them. Those are a couple of the interesting traditions that they have :) We were in the house the whole day that day, and it was a good break, to get back out and working to give it your all. Sometimes you just need a tiny break to keep working, and mondays don´t seem to give that break. 

I have a lot of goals that I am hoping to see through this year, 2015 was a year of many experiences that I am so grateful for and that I have changed for the better from and so I am excited to see what 2016 brings and who I can become through the gospel and atonement of Christ. Just remember that God has a plan for every one of us, and if we make our goals with Christ in mind then we will find success and truly be the people He needs us to be. 

Then on New years day it was like a ghost town in all of Ecuador and there were drunk people on every corner basically, and every house we went to and talked to someone was drunk and still drinking from the night before. A funny thing a drunk person said to us this week was "se va al cielo o la luna?" (Are you going to heaven or the moon?) I don´t know about you guys but the moon sounds pretty cool :) hahahah I just didn´t know that those were the options we have :) The interesting minds people have when they are drunk. 

We have been able to find a couple of great families this week and hopefully we can help them to progress and really accept this gospel! Next week is changes so we shall see what happens :) 

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week and a great start to your new year! Good luck to everyone that is starting up classes again! 

Mucho Amor, 

Hermana Cordon

Navidad

¡Hola!

I hope everyone had a great christmas and remembered why we celebrate this wonderful holiday! 

This week was a bit slow, because here is South America, everyone gets even more busy for the week of the holiday and a lot of people leave town. For christmas, everyone here gathers as cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, kids, and everything in between christmas eve and party till about 3 in the morning, and then christmas day is a normal day, just no one has work. It was a bit different from the christmases I have had in my life, but I am so very grateful the opportunity I had to pass this christmas season as a missionary and sharing the message of the Savior to those that would listen. It was a very different, but a very blessed Christmas for me! Though we basiclly only contacted this week, because everyone was really busy, it still flew by, because we were making sure to keep ourselves busy and do our part!

I truly loved talking to you guys this Christmas!! It gave me the added boost I need to keep pushing forward and doing what I am supposed to be doing here!

Today we went to the Basilica, a giant old catholic church here in Quito, and it was cool! The only thing is I always feel so uncomfortable in the Catholic churches, because they are a church, but so empty of the spirit. I am just so grateful that when I enter one of our churches, I can really feel the spirit and we leave rejuvenated by the spirit. But, we got some really awesome photos of Quito, because we could go up into the towers and they are high up! And it was a fun activity with my district! 

I am looking forward to the new year and the chance to make it the best year yet! One thing an apostle, I believe David A Bednar, said in a talk we saw in the MTC was that every year needs to be the best year of your life. With this gospel we should always be growing and doing better, and if we are not we are not using the gospel the way we should be. I really like that, that every year really can be and should be the best year that we have ever had, because every year we should be even more closer to the savior. 

I love you all and talk to you next year!!! 

Hermana Cordon