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

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