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

Adventures Up the Mountains

¡Hola!

Seriously can`t believe that it is monday again, this week just flew by! We worked hard, we got lost, and we to know more people :) We went on an adventure up the mountain this week. We got on a bus trying to go down the mountain from an area that we are working in, and in the end we went up the mountain. We noticed it wasn`t the right bus, when it didn`t turn to go down, but instead went up.. so we asked the people in front of us where the bus was going, they said to Constantino. It turns out Constantino is at the tip of the mountain, like 35 minutes in bus up the mountain.. So we went on a little adventure up the mountain, and then took the bus down the mountain :) We got some cool pictures, because it was a pretty view, and we gave everyone on the bus a good laugh, because I sure it was pretty funny to see a gringa and a latina with skirts on hopping on a bus to go to el campo (where there are only dirt roads and farm land). :) Everyone gave us a pretty weird look when we got on the bus, and we figured out why when we figured out where the bus was going. We are getting better at buses and now we know that if the bus says Constantino to not get on it.

We visited a less active couple this week, that are now coming back to church. They were saying that they didn`t go to church for over 5 months because of something a member said that was really rude. They decided that they were missing out on way to many blessings to not go to church for that reason so they decided to come back and go for God and not go for the people. And that is the key. We go to church to serve God and to learn more, and we need to always remember that the church is perfect, but the members are FAR from perfect. The Church of Jesus Christ is a hospital for the sick (people who are sinning) and Christ is the perfect Doctor. But, we all have weaknesses and things that we need to improve and we just need to remember that we are going to church for God and not for the imperfect members. I love this church and I know that it is the true church of God, and I know that I am not perfect and I have a long way to go. I am just so happy that they have decided and realized this for themselves and they are coming back to church strong :) 

A cool story, we were knocking doors one afternoon when all of our appointments had fallen through, and we

were just going door to door and no one was answering. As we were turning the corner, it came to my mind that we had unintentionally skipped a house, so I said to my companion "Lets go contact that house.. I feel as though there is a golden family in that house." I didn`t say that completely seriously, but I did feel as though we needed to contact that house. It turns out that it is a family that lives in that house, and we talked to the oldest son. They listened to missionaries before a really long time ago and he told us to come back on sunday so that we kind find everyone. They seem super interested. They weren`t home yesterday, but we set up another appointment for tomorrow and we are praying that we find them.

We had divisions this week with the Hna Leaders and I was with Hna Willson again! I love her!! We had a lot of fun working and contacting together and we were able to contact a lot of families, which was awesome! 

I love this church, I love this work, and I am so grateful to be a missionary. 

 I love you all and have a fabulous week!! Also HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Hermana Cordon

El Gozo de la Mision

¡Hola a todos! Espero que encuentren bien y feliz y estén disfrutando su verano. Está haciendo mucho frio aqui.. jaja There was my little spanish for you guys :)

My group!

Well we had to travel to Quito this week so that I could renew my visa, but it was really cool, because I got to see all the gringos from my group, which was a lot of fun! It has been a year since we had all been together, so it was fun seeing the change and reflecting back on the year that has passed behind us. I have learned a lot and grown alot as well, and hopefully I can just keep growing and improving for these next couple of months. 

My group with there companions

This week we had a cool experience. There is a girlfriend of a member in our ward, and no one ever told us that she wasn`t a member and we saw her a lot at church, so we both figured she was a member. Until we were talking to her and we asked her and she wasn`t a member.. and she lives in our area! So last sunday we set up an appointment with her to visit and talk with her. She has come to church 4 times, is reading the book of mormon, thinks it is the true church, and just loves anything and everything about the church. She is so awesome and has a ton of faith. We have had some cool experiences with her this week as well. The first lesson with her, we talked about baptism, to gage what she was feeling and where she was at, and she said she didn`t feel ready yet, because she wanted to know more. So I thought to share Ether 12: 4,6 and she was really touched by the scripture, she said that she had read it before, but it never really caught her attention, but she knew that it was a testimony that she only needed to believe. I knew that the spirit guided me to share that scripture, and I know that the spirit taught her more than our words could have taught her. Then the next day we met with her again, and we were talking about the prayer that she did the night before, about Joseph Smith, and she said that she had doubts of prophets, but as we kept talking to her we got out that her real doubt/fear was that she was scared of telling her parents that she wants to be baptized, so she was searching for a doubt to have to keep pushing back her baptism. As we testified to her that she will find true happiness in this gospel and that you need to choose God over family, the spirit entered the room testifying. We also shared with her Mosiah 2:41 and she really felt super happy by that scripture and commited to talk to her family on sunday about her desire to be baptized. She did talk to them yesterday, and they reacted really badly, she got annoyed with their reactions. But when we called her to talk about how it went, she sounded like she had a really big desire still to be baptized and to follow through with her decision to be an example to her family. She is a really great example to me and I am so grateful for this chance to help her progress to baptism and to have this happiness with her. We are going to put the date of baptism for the 25th, I am so excited for her!

Then this thursday, President Christensen had a meeting with our stake, so Hermana Christensen had called us and asked if she could go to an appointment with us that night. We were a little bit surprised, but grateful for her help, because the member who was going to go with us, wasn`t able to anymore. It was fun going with Hna Christensen and we were able to visit with her a little bit while going to the appointment. She is awesome and she was a great help with all the questions she did to get to know our investigator, we were able to learn some new things.

The trees look like pineapples here

We also had a mini-conference with our zone this week. We did an activity with a game and the object was to win as much as you could. A lot of companionships were going against everyone else trying to win as much as they could, but in the end we would have won more if we would have worked together. (For record me and my companion were trying that technique the whole time, so we were losing the whole time.. haha) But one thing that I really learned and struck me was the our personal gain doesn`t mean anything if everyone around us is losing. In the mission we have to work in unity with a lot of people; our district, zone, the ward, and most importantly our companion. I also learned alot about the importance of personal integrity and the importance of always telling the truth. Everyone is always watching us, as members and as missionaries, and we need to be true to ourselves and true to God, and hopefully that is the same thing. That was just some insight from what I learned.

I truly love this Gospel, I am so so grateful for this time I have to completely devout myself to the Lord and His work and the testimony I am gaining from it, will be a lifelong blessing. The people I am meeting are so important to me, and this beautiful little country is my home. I am so grateful that I still have a lot of time left to keep learning and growing and devoting myself to the Lord.

I love you all and I hope you have an absolutely fantastic week!! I invite you all to look for ways that you can help others to win so that in the end you all will win!! 

Muchísimo Amor,

Hermana Cordon

La Casa

¡Hola! 

Well after 5 days in the house I was going a bit stir crazy and really excited to get out and finally work, but we ended up only having 1 full day of work, because we would work and then went back to the house so my companion could rest, because of the walking she started to hurt. But, I just was happy to work!

We kept ourselves busy by watching movies, reading Jesus the Christ, playing uno, and making cookies. We made no bake cookies, which were delicious! I did get a little sick though from the amount that I ate... oops. I just didn`t have much else to do so I ate a lot :) haha which was bad, because we weren`t doing anything either... but so worth it :). We also made the cookies again and took it to our zone meeting and now all of the missionaries love us, because they said that they were delicious. One funny story is that I still don`t have good spanish so during the days that we were in the house we were talking and I said "It smells like cangrejo (crab)" when I wanted to say cangill (popcorn). And my companion died laughing and this was monday night and she still had a lot of pain and so laughing really hurt so she was laughing and crying at the same time. And then she was getting mad at me for making her laugh, and I didn`t mean to do anything I just don`t know spanish and she finds it funny... it got pretty complicated because this same thing happened several other times and she always ended up crying from pain and me sitting their confused how I had made her die laughing. It was an interesting week :)

We had set up an appointment with an old investigator this week and he had told us his address, but we had never heard of the street that he lives on before. And there are a lot of little random streets here in Ecuador that they don`t even show up on google maps and this street was one of them, because our mission leader couldn´t find the street on google maps for us. So we were a little worried about finding this street and all the references he gave us were other things that we had never heard of as well.. but as we were contacting saturday morning (and our appointment was scheduled for saturday evening with him) we walked by a street and I remembered to look at the street sign and it was the street we were looking for!! We were so happy that we were able to find the street! We then ended up contacting this street and found a new investigator from contacting doors! It was a good morning and we know that the Lord guided us to find this street and we still have like 50  more houses on this street to contact so we might find even more new investigators!

We also visited some investigators that we have and this week we discovered that the wife really doesn`t want to change her religion, because she loves the Catholic church. So as we were talking and explaining to her that God isn`t religion, but He has a specific way for us to return to Him and that´s only through His true church that he established through a prophet that has His authority. And we asked "If God told you that this is the true church, would you accept it?" And she replied "I don`t know...". It is so easy for us to put our fear of change or are fear of something different in the way of the path of God. We need to always be very careful that we are not putting anything in this life before God, even if that means choosing God over your family. She ended the lesson with a little bit more willingness to pray and ask God what the truth is. Hopefully we can help her to see that this will of God is the best thing that can happen to us.

We also taught some members yesterday to ask for some references and we shared with them a promise of 21 days. And this promise is that by writing down the names of some friends or family that they want to share the gospel and then for the next 21 days include them in all of their prayers and start inviting, by giving pamphlets, pass along cards, and a book of mormon. By inviting them to a FHE and introducing us and a bunch of other stuff. They also have a list of scriptures for 21 days that they read one a day that they can find help from the Lord. And the promise is by doing this effort that at least one of the names that they have on the list will accept the invitation to listen to the missionary discussions. THey got super excited to try this new thing, because they have been sharing and no one had been accepting their offer to listen. So through if they have faith the Lord can help them, they will finally have the opportunity to have someone accept the invitation to listen to us missionaries. It was cool to see how excited they were and hopefully we can help them to keep up this excitement and help bring their friends to the gospel :)

It truly is a blessing to be able to share my testimony day after day to many different people, and though many people reject the opportunity to listen. We have people that accept and listen to us and pray and read and really do all they can to know the truth. And when that happens it is such a cool experience and a blessing to invite people to accept the blessings of this gospel into their lives. I invite you all to just keep opening your mouths and keep sharing and praying for your loved ones and you will all have this opportunity as well.

I love you all and I hope all is well in all of your endeavors!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

1- we were really happy with our cookies

2- the main street by my house in conocoto

3 -We found a random horse tied up in the middle of the street, and it is like the only dirt road here in concoto. 

4- Purple coal that we had for a salad for lunch. It was delicious!

Temples!

Hola!

Okay, so this week was great! We had a member of the seventy, Elder Waddell, come and talk to us on friday in a multi-zone conference. It was such a powerful and wonderful talk! He stressed the importance of temples and how with missionary work, we are not working to get the people to baptism we are working to get the people to the temple. And baptism is an important step in that process. He also was saying that you need to get converts on the mission, that's the numbers you should be looking to. Not the number of baptisms you have. Because there is a lot of less-active work to be done and if you help bring these people back and get them to the temple then that's a convert and the same with a baptism. But, if through your work none of the people you baptize go to the temple than you didn't baptize a convert you baptized a person you convinced. Because, if a person is truly converted to the gospel their goal, along with yours, will be the temple. It was a great talk and I am truly grateful for that opportunity!

We also have been working with an investigator family, Flia Bagui, and they are awesome! They all came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it! They all left with huge smiles and feeling like they had a lot of friends in the ward. We truly have a great ward here in Solanda, because everyone is very aware of the less-actives and investigators that come and strive to make sure that they all feel very included in the church, which is truly awesome! But this family is really excited to learn more about the church and progress, we just have to lead them to marriage before baptism. Everyone here is not married, which makes mission work hard, but if we are bringing the spirit in the lesson they will feel the truthfulness and desire to do anything to accept the gospel. Which is what we are striving to do with this family. We are hoping they can get married by the end of this month so that they can be baptized on September 5th! Then we will make sure that they immediately start looking to going to the temple on September 5, 2016. :)

Ecuador truly is a wonderful place with some really wonderful and kind people :) I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here teaching these people the gospel that can truly bring them true happiness and MANY blessings big and small. Mission work is truly a wonderful thing, so don't hesitate to share the gospel with whoever you can! And if you can't seem to find an opportunity to share the gospel, pray and the Lord will bless you with an opportunity if you truly desire to share the gospel. So find an opportunity this week and share your testimony, it will bring you blessings! :)

Love you all so much! Thank you for the emails and the support! And for those I told that I can't email, I can email friends so send me an email if you would like! :) 

Have a fabulous week!
Love, Hermana Cordon