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.

Just Working Hard

¡Hola!

At the service project

Well time is flying by and I cannot believe that it is september already. People are so kindly reminding me of how little time I have left, but at the same time it is really helping me to use every moment I have left. I love the mission, I love this time I have to focus on the Lord and on His work and to really dedicate my time and talents. I just want to be able to completely focus on the work and give it my all, and I am so happy to be with a new missionary in this time to really keep me focused and to feed off of her new missionary energy and diligence. Hna Bench is amazing, I really do love her. I have learned so much from her and her diligence and I can see myself getting better with her example. She was sick a bunch this week, and we weren`t able to work as much as we wanted to, but we kept a positive attitude and we are excited to get out and work harder this week. Seriously I think I am learning more from her, than she is learning from me. 

This week we had a service project with our zone, and so we sanded some walls for about 4 hours. We were sanding off white paint, so we got covered in white chalk, and it looked like christmas in the rooms! haha It was fun, but I ended up coughing all day :) Pictures attached, we look great. Our zone is great and we always have such a great time together, and we are all super diligent in the work and are supporting everyone together.

Us with 2 hermanas and the cookies

Also today for Pday we learned how to make donuts from an hermana that has a bakery, and the trade off was that we taught her how to make cookies. No one here knows how to make good cookies, and so she now knows and is going to start selling chocolate chip cookies :) It was a fun afternoon.

Though we didn`t work too much this week, we worked hard and did our best. We were able to visit with 2 member referrals this week. And they are great! It really makes such a difference in the work when the members get involved and really share the gospel. All of our progressing investigators right now are member referrals, so thats cool. 

One of the new investigators is Patricia, she has gone to church 2 times in a different ward with some family. She has a little girl and she really wants to change so she can give her daughter the best life possible. She has loved what she has seen in this church and what she has seen in her family as well. She is super receptive and just loves this gospel and I love her sweet spirit and the love and patience she has for her daughter. She is really seeking to know the truth and is really searching it out in her mind. I just know that she is going to find the changes she wants to see with time, because that is true conversion: A change in your heart and mind.  

The other is Marisol, she is super nice and really likes this message as well, we only shared the first lesson with her and then she was going to come to church, but had an inconvenience so she wasn`t able to come, but we are excited to keep working with her and to see where it goes. 

Jesica, our less active, finally accepted and had an interview with the bishop, it was a big step for her and she looked a lot happier and a lot more at peace yesterday when we visited with her, she is super close to being saved! I just love her and I have been able to learn a ton from her in our time visiting with her and helping her, the spirit is super strong in every one of the lessons that we have with her. 

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

After the service project

Hma Bench and I at the service project

our two donuts

Me with my donut