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

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

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

El Recreo (The Recess)

¡Hola!

Me and Hna Guevara

Well this week was changes, and both me and my companion left MIra Flores, and they closed our sector and now that ward only has one companionship of elders. I was sad to be leaving everyone without either one of us, but I know that the Lord knows what is best for this sector and that He will guide the Elders. I am now in El Recreo, the ward that touched my sector before, so basically I just stepped onto the other side of the line. Here there hasn`t been Hermanas for over 15 years, so the members are probably going to be really excited to see Hermanas here again. And so, as you probably guessed, I am opening a sector with Hermana Guevara. She is from Peru and really nice! She has the same time as me and so it will be really great to just get out and work and get things moving along here. Today we spent a lot of time organizing our house, because elders were here and a elder that just finished his mission was here, so it isn`t very clean. Hopefully by the end of this week we can clean it up and get it all organized. 

We were helping Gabriela alot this week, by sending her chapters every night to read, and she has been reading them all! She really does have a great desire to follow this gospel and to have a strong testimony. I know that with the Elders help she can be guided to baptism to recieve all these blessings. With our other investigator Stanley, I think it is going to be really great that there is going to be elders teaching him now. I am sure they will be able to relate to him more and guide him to baptism. We also found a new investigator this last saturday, Cecilia, and she is really great and really open to hearing this message, she even came to church! She came by herself and on time, it was awesome! The elders should be passing by tonight to visit her, hopefully they don´t forget. We were able to get something rolling along here and I know that the Elders will only be able to keep working and helping this area and this ward. I really fell in love with this ward, the members that come every week are really faithful and really willing to help us missionaries in every aspect of the work. The bishop is really involved and always looking for more ways to help us and everyone just supported us and helped us. I really do love that ward and really appreciated all that they did for us. 

The US beat Ecuador in soccer this week and the day before the game we were joking with our pensionista and her husband that the US will win and then we made a wager with them that the losing team has to buy the others ice cream. So they bought us ice cream!! (Picture included). Everyone was mad with us, but we were happy! haha I was sad and happy at the same time, they are both my homes. 

We tried doing a weekly scripture study class with the ward so they could bring their friends, and only the bishop and his family showed up.. hopefully this week more people will show up to that class. 

Yesterday me and my companion taught the primary class for kids 8 and older, it was a great practice for how to teach really simply and keeping their attention. It was fun!

I am excited to see what this next change will bring, I love being here and being able to work for the Lord, the best job there is! :)

I love you all!

Hermana Cordon

Me and Hna Vicky, she is the president of the primary and she was always willing to go to appointments with us, she is the best! 

My zone last thursday, we are crazy

This is a photo  I took in my last sector and I had taken a picture of my new sector, everything on the other side of the river is my sector now.

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

Zooiogioc

¡Buenas Tardes! 

Today as Hermanas we went to Baños again and went to the zoo there! It was really cool! I especially enjoyed all the monkeys, they had some pretty cool monkeys and a lot of them as well. I enjoyed the morning with the hermanas and getting to know more of this beautiful country where I have the opportunity to live right now. I will include some pictures :) It is also really humid in Baños so my hair was going crazy!

Also it is "summer" here. But, there summer is when it is really cold and rains alot. I am not really quite sure how that works out, but thats what everyone keeps saying. But, it rained like everyday all day for the last 4 days, it rains a lot here, but not that much, and its been so cold!!! The only downside of wearing a skirt all day, is that when it is cold and windy, your legs are cold. But, gratefully I am always warm in my bed, with my 2 blankets, soaks, and sweatpants :) I feel like I am probably not actually in Ecuador.. haha 

beautiful Ambato

Mira Flores just likes to be a challenging area, but we keep going and working and we are giving it our all. It is a good thing we enjoy contacting. :) I am doing good and really a lot less worried about the numbers and that as a gauge of success, I have been starting focusing alot more on what would the Lord think about the effort I gave that day. I am not a perfect missionary and I have a lot to improve still, but I know that the Lord knows my heart and sees that I am trying to do my best. I just got to keep moving forward and doing whatever I can to help the people in my surroundings. We are doing a lot better at contacting every family, it doesn`t matter if we are running for an appointment or not. I had that goal before, but somehow it got pushed down on the list, I have reput it as number one, because that should be our focus finding families to help them to become an eternal family. So that is my goal this week, to talk to EVERY family. Maybe we might be running between every contact so that we can still get to our appointment, but I am really going to focus on this and ask in my prayers for help to really accomplish this goal.

This week we were able to talk to Stanley more about baptism. We committed him to pray about the date of the 18th and asking God for help to prepare himself for that day. He didn`t accept a date, but he is preparing himself, and he is reading in the BOM everyday and he has come to church the last 3 weeks in a row all 3 hours. We just have to teach more clearly repentance so he has a desire to be baptized and be baptized as soon as possible. He just wants to be sure he isn`t going to break a commandment after his baptism, so thats a good thing. 

We were able to visit with a member this week, who we have been wanting to visit since I have got here, we just haven`t been able to get a hold of her to set up an appointment. And she is the greatest! She has 2 years as a member, but has a lot of difficulties and is fighting with a lot of opposition from her kids, they are all grown up. And she said in her prayer after the lesson thanking God for sending us to her, because we were exactly what she needed in this moment. It really made me feel grateful for this calling and time I have to dedicate myself to the Lord, because we are able to be answers to peoples prayers and quite often. Sometimes I don`t think to much about that aspect, and then moments like this remind me that we really are servants and representatives of Jesus Christ in every moment and I can`t take for granted all these moments we have to be answers to peoples prayers. It really is a great blessing we have. 

We had divisions with the Hermana Leaders this week and I was with Hna Peralta. She is a really great missionary and I learned alot from her, one thing that she mentioned was testify more frequently in the contacts. I sometimes find myself wanting to teach the person so bad that I start trying to convince them, but that never works. I have put that in to practice and I always feel good and full of the spirit walking away from a contact, whether they said no or yes. Because, I know that I was teaching with the Spirit helping these people feel something from our message. Hopefully I don`t forget that again. I just love divisions, it is a time to learn something from the Hna Leaders and really reflect about the work that I am doing in my sector. We also were able to find some new investigators for them and they are really great and seem really prepared to hear this message. I was really happy to find them and I hope that the Hna Leaders can help them to progress. 

Also there is a less active here in our sector who has been less active for over 30 years, and we contacted her about a month ago and have been trying to visit with her. At first she didn`t really trust us and always avoided a lot of contact with us, but this last week we were able to visit her and were able to share a message about the importance of keeping the promises we make with God. Then a couple of times this week she thanked me for actually teaching her something and helping her to recognize that if she is going to make a promise with God, she is going to keep it. Hopefully we can help her to realized what kind of promise she made with baptism and help her to have a testimony of our church. 

Also I am on my way to Quito this week to renew my visa.. that means I have been in Ecuador for a year now. How crazy how fast time is flying by! 

I love this sector and I just keep working and doing all I can to help the people all around us. 

I hope you all have an amazing week and realize all the little blessings that the Lord is sending our way.

Muchísimo Amor,

Hermana Cordon

Here is a sign in Baños for all the gringos that are there, I thought it was really funny

Una Semana Buena

¡Hola mis queridos amigos y mi querida familia!

Our Lunch Today

Today we had a relaxing pday, which was nice! We went to our chapel, which is right by our house, and made lunch and cookies! We made a typcial Ecuador meal; rice, egg, maduro, and avocado. But, we are not quite Ecuadorianas and it didn`t really taste that great, mainly the rice, because we didn`t have salt and didn`t want to run over to our house... haha but, it was still good! We also were able to organize our house in a new way which opened it up and makes the place feel better, I hope that will help us to relax more in our house and to not feel so claustrophobic, because our house is really small. But it looks a lot better now!

I always seem to find myself on mondays feeling like I did so much, but not being able to remember anything that we did.. but, it was a good week! We kept contacting and enjoying the work. I am doing good, and I was not stressed this week, I have been able to once again put my trust in the Lord that if we are doing all that we can, He will put the people in our path that need to hear our message. Maybe we are not finding any families right now, or a lot of our appointments fall through, but I know that I am putting in my effort and this week I remembered to really pray for guidance and to seek the Lord in all that I do. It is easy once you get in the routine of things to just do it and forget what source you should be doing it through, but this week I was able to remind myself to seek His guidance and to really stop and ponder on what we should be doing next. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel as though I am making progress, which is always a good thing. 

This week, like I said above, a lot of our appointments fell through. I feel like everyday we have planned like 5 contacts from other days, and then they all fall through. I just know that we just have to keep working and it will all work out in the end. One thing that happened this week was with Stanley, our investigator, we had an appointment planned for saturday night at 7. We had called and confirmed in the morning and then we called at 6:50 to tell him we are going to be there in 10 minutes, and he said that he was going to be another 30 minutes, we changed to 8. We had a member with us and she agreed to join us for 2 hours, so great! So we went and visited a less active close by where we were, which was awesome cause we hadn`t been able to get an appointment with her all week! Then we went back to Stanley´s house at 8, and he wasn`t there. And he also didn`t answer his phone. It was a little weird and we didn`t know what happened. But, we walked the member home and then we ended up sharing a message with her to animate her more. We then tried calling him again sunday morning to verify if he remembered about the church and if he was going to come. And he didn`t answer, so we figured that he wasn`t going to come to church. But, about 2 minutes after sacrament started, he showed up! And without us asking, the member that we have as his friend went and sat by him and everything! It was awesome, he doesn`t have a baptism date right now, because the last appointment we had he wanted more time, and he wouldn`t commit to a new date. We have an appointment tonight so hopefully we can help him to accept a new baptism date for the 18th. We also finally were able to have an appointment with a less active that we contacted awhile ago, but every time we passed by she could never visit with us, but this last saturday she was able to visit with us which was great! We have a lot more confidence with her and hopefully we can help her to feel the spirit and to come back to church, she has been inactive for over 20 years. I do love this work! :)

We also had a ward activity this week focused on families, trying to get people excited to get to the temple and to become an eternal family. It was a lot of success and there were alot of investigators there as well! It was great! Me and my companion helped our pensionista family with a sketch that they put on, because they are one of the families that are sealed in the temple. They put on a sketch about there life before they became members and how the gospel had changed their lives. The Hno was always drunk before he became a member, so they acted that and it was hilarious! And it was sad to see what their family was like, but with the gospel they have changed so much, and now they are an eternal family!! I seriously love this about the gospel, it doesn`t matter where we are at in life, what problems we have, what kind of people we are, we can change and we can become better people, we can become the person God wants us to be.  No one is a lost cause, which is thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I know that this is the work of the Lord, and it is not easy for us, because it was never ever easy for Him. I know that He is with us every step of the way when we are obedient and trust in Him and try to do His will. I love my Savior and all that He did for me, and I am so grateful for this short time I have to offer to Him and to invite and help my brothers and sisters here in Ecuador come closer to Him. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the true church of God. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all and thank you all for you love and support!! Have an absolutely amazing week and don`t forget to keep your thoughts centered on Christ!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Cordon

P.S. Here is a REALLY COOL VIDEO you will LOVE IT!

Close up of the Crab

 Me with a crab that my pensionistas granddaughter had 

 Me with a crab that my pensionistas granddaughter had 

Here in Ecuador with creamier soup, we put popcorn in our soup. It actually is really good. 

Cool Pants we bought!