Trip to the Volcano!

¡Hola!

I am doing good. I am loving the work! For our pday activity today we went to a volcano, called Quilotoa!! Well.. It is a lake in the pit of once was a volcanoe, but is now dormant. It was super pretty!! The old bad thing was we didn´t have enough time to go down to the lake, because it is quite the hike, but we got some really cool pictures!! I love this beautiful country and the cool places there are to get to know! 

This week I focused my studies on the Atonement, and focusing on teaching it as well to help the people have a reason to do the things. Through the Atonement we can find real peace and comfort. Also I read alot about how Christ was the only one that could do it, and that He WILLINGLY sacrificed His life for us. I have heard that many times before, but reading that this week really made me feel the love that He has for me and for the other people. I realized that as I am teaching people, when I am really focused on their needs and their concerns I can feel the love that Christ has for these people, and I truly develop a sincere love for them. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and that He sacrificed himself for us and that through Him and this gospel we can find true peace and happiness.

Well this week was good. In our lessons we focused alot on teaching with the commitment in mind and being more specific about what and why of the commandments to get people to commit, and we saw a change. Just no one came to church.. we were a little sad about that. It is always hard being in church and no one had come.. 

Our investigator Miquel, commited to be baptized this week, really we could see a difference in him and a bigger desire to follow God and be baptized. He came to a baptism on saturday of a kid in the ward to see how it was, and he said he liked it, he was just hesitant with the goal we put with him. We commited him to pray and ask God about the 6th, and he said he would. Then we didn´t come on sunday, even though saturday he was saying he would be there. He doesn´t have a number that we can call, we just have a number of his friend that he is with alot. So we weren´t able to call him in the morning. We are planning on visiting him tonight, and we are hoping we find him. Also our other investigator that had a baptism date, was Dayana. Dayana is the granddaughter of some recent converts who is 18, and she has really been affected by the change she has seen in her grandparents that she wants to join the church as well. She is reading and praying and is commiting to all the commandments that we teach her. She also came to the baptism on saturday and was super excited to come to church. We called her sunday morning, and she didn´t answer, and she didn´t come to church. In the afternoon we called again, and she slept in.. so we are going to be seeing what we can do to help her not to sleep in. They are both great and the faith and desire they have to follow God is awesome and I am learning a lot about seeing the blessings of being a member of the gospel and having a desire to learn.

We had a really powerful lesson yesterday with a less active, Jessica. She has been holding in a lot of feelings of guilt for the past mistakes she has made, and she is so close to really coming back strong, the only thing holding her back is forgiving herself. We shared the scripture in DyC 58:42-43, and we testified to her that God has forgiven her, and as we said that a strong feeling came over me that God truly loved her and that He had forgiven her for her past mistakes, and that He was just waiting for her to come back to Him. We testified that the power of the Atonement really allows you to feel peace that you can recieve a complete forgiveness. At moments the only thing holding us back from feeling this peace completely is ourselves and our unwillingness to let ourselves be forgiven. But, if Christ has forgiven us, why can´t we forgive ourselves? We left her with the commitment to pray and ask for help to forgive herself, and she seemed a lot more hopeful :) I love this gospel and I love the Atonement! 

Yo sé que a través de la expiación de Jesucristo podemos sentir un paz y gozo inmenso, podemos sentir el amor que Él tiene para cada uno de nosotros, y podemos perdonar a nosotros mismo. Yo sé porque he sentido esto en mi vida y sé que es para todos. Y lo comparto en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen. 

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

More pictures of our visit to the volcano:

The Volcano!

Me and my companion

Me and my companion

My district, they didn´t tell us about the need to wear those shirts.. 

The Volcano!

a part of our sector, I love it!

a part of our sector, I love it!

We always have to have a crazy photo, and me and my companion fell.. hahaha 

My zone, we made zone t-shirts

El Libro de Mormón es la clave

¡Hola a todos!

Once again its monday, really time is flying by, a little too quickly. We had interviews with our president this week, he talked about marriage and when I get home, I think he wants me to be trunky.. don`t worry I´m not. I am convinced that I am never coming home. :) 

Me with the Waterfall

We went to Baños again for our zone activity, it is so pretty and so cool! I am in love with Ecuador. We went to el manto de la novia (Bridal´s veil) a waterfall, and it was really cool and a fun little hike. Once again we left completely soaked, but luckily Baños is humid, we were just slightly cold when we got back to cold Ambato, but I love Ambato.

We are working with some investigators that the Elders were working with before, the Flia Zambrano. They are from the coast, they moved because of the earthquake. They are really interested in our message and we are excited to see their progress. The kids are really smart and they all really listen to what we have to share, they are great. I just love how excited they get when we are in their house, hopefully they come to church next week. We started working with a less active this week, Jessica, who is really great and really searching to understand and have a reason to come back. I have learned about the importance of being humble and ready to learn from her, she is amazing and commited to come to church this sunday! I truly love this sector, ward, and these people!! I am so happy to be here in Barrio El Recreo!

My Companion & I in the bridge by the waterfall.

One thing that I learned this week, is the importance of the Book Of Mormon. The first week we met with a less active, and she told us, "in my 2 years as a member, I have never finished 1 Nephi, and thats because I don`t like to read and I never read the Book of Mormon." So we talked about the importance of the BOM and the power it has and the blessings she can recieve and we commited her to read every morning before she does anything. She, with her husband, has read everyday since :) And we have seen such a huge difference in them. They are a lot more receptive to what we have to say, they have a stronger desire to do the right things, and they really are focused on the goal of getting to the temple. We also commited Jessica to read the BOM everyday as well, she didn`t read everyday, but she was reading and she also is a lot more excited to keep learning and to keep increasing her testimony. Everytime we go into a home, whether it be an investigator, recent convert, less active, or member I ALWAYS verify if they are reading the BOM or not. And if they are not, we teach them about the BOM and read with them. I know that this is the key to having a strong testimony and that no one will be able to progress, if they are never reading the BOM. I want to encourage everyone, that if you are not reading the BOM everyday, DO IT: You won`t regret it, and you will be even more blessed and have an even stronger testimony that this really is the true church. I have seen the BOM change lives here and I am so grateful that I have grown to know this for myself.

Well I love you all and never forget that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the true church and that the Book Of Mormon is the word of God and has power to change your life!!

Have a fantastic week!

Love, Hermana Cordon

Trusting in the Spirit

Today was a great Pday! We went as a zone to Baños! It is a cool tourist place here in Ecuador, and I haven`t had the chance before to get to know it, so it was cool to be able to finally go! We went to a waterfall called El Pailon del Diablo (The Devil`s bowl) and it was so cool!!! When we got there it was raining, so we knew the waterfall was going to be huge, but it was a lot bigger than we expected. When we got to the waterfall there is stairs to go down to get down to the bottom of the waterfall and we started walking down and within 2 seconds a huge wave came crashing down and we were drenched!! And there was a way to go up behind the waterfall and it was so cool!! Seriously so pretty and a cool experience, and we were drenched from head to foot. Also as we were taking our district photo all of a sudden a giant wave crashed in a soaked us again, we were very surprised! And the problem was, was I was wearing a sweater (Because they didn`t tell us what we were going to do in Baños, and it wasn`t raining in Ambato) and it got super stretched out and now I am going to have to wash it by hand.. Lets see how that works out for me :) But, everyone was laughing really hard and screaming about how cold the water was and because we did not expect to get soaked.. haha just a cool experience! Ecuador is such a pretty country!!

We had a really cool experience yesterday with a less active, Miquel. Our appointments that we had planned yesterday afternoon fell through, so we decided to call the Flia Baus (some members) to visit them and to get to know them better. When we got there, Miquel was there as well. He is the brother of the Hno Baus, and he is a member as well, but hasn`t gone to church in over 39 years (he was baptized 40 years ago). We were talking and then we ended up starting our lesson and we had asked him if there was a reason why he wasn`t going to church, he said that it is because he never felt the spirit and that he was expecting to feel differently, so he left, because he never felt the spirit. Then he told us a story of how he had gone to a christian church service and just had a really overwhelming feeling of happiness and he was like that was the Spirit, I know that is what I felt and it is what I didn`t feel in your church! I then shared how growing up in the church I always had the doubt that I never felt that I had felt the spirit, because everyone always explained it as a burning in your chest, but I never felt that, so I was convinced it was just because the spirit wasn`t talking to me. But, over time I began to recognize the way it talked to me and how he testified of the truth of the gospel to me. We then explained how everyone feels the Holy Ghost differently and it is different for everyone. Then the granddaughter of Hno Baus was able to share her experience as well, and she explained how she had the same experience as Miquel. She felt great in another church and she was convinced that she had never felt the spirit in our church, and she was confused. But, as she kept explaining her story the spirit just filled the room and we were all developed with the spirit, honestly the strongest I have felt the spirit in a lesson, and we all were crying. And she was saying how she began to look back at her life in the church and realized the many moments that she had felt the spirit and didn`t put much importance in it, and she had just forgotten. She explained how there were many moments that the Lord had completely lifted off her burdens when she was weighed down and she had just forgotten. It was a really powerful experience and you could feel the spirit literally confirming what she was saying was completely true. Then we were able to testify to Miquel that what he felt why she was talking was the Holy Ghost confirming that it was true. He then started crying and saying that he has always been looking for Christ and has just wanted to follow Christ. He said that what she had said really got to him and touched his heart and he felt really good. When we testified again that that was the Holy Ghost, he was like Really?? That is the Holy Ghost?? And he really changed, his whole demeanor and his outlook changed. We commited him to keep listening to the missionary discussions and to come to church this sunday. He doesn`t actually live in our ward boundaries, he lives in a different ward. But, I am so grateful for the experience to have felt the strength of the spirit and the importance of having the spirit testify in a lesson, because we can talk all we want, but if they don`t feel the spirit than it won`t change them.

We were guided to three new people and were able to visit them this week! One is Monica, who doesn`t believe alot in religions, but God is the most important thing for her. Hopefully we can keep helping her to enjoy and love even more God and realize that His was is an organized way. Also we met with Ruth on tuesday and she was really receptive and had lots of questions, then on friday when she came to our second appointment she brought her son as well!! He seems really receptive as well and wants to know the truth of all things. Hopefully we can help them to keep growing in faith and to feel the spirit. 

We contacted a lot this week, but really I enjoy contacting and I just remind byself that whether we visit them or not we are planting seeds for when missionaries come around again they will be more receptive. I love this work and I know that this is the Lord`s work so I need to make sure to give it my all and to trust in Him and give myself over to Him. I just need to forget myself and get to work!! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!! 

Mucho Amor, 

Hermana Cordon

The Hermanas

My District

Me of course!

My companion and I

My Zone on the bridge