Week 2

Hey Family!

This week has sped by! They didn't lie when they said the first week is slow and then everything zooms by.

We got our flight plans this last week! Reality finally really sunk in when I looked at those flight times. We fly out of SLC at 7:30a on the 26th (which means I have to be ready to leave the MTC at 4am. We fly into Detroit and have 50 minutes to get to our connecting fly to Columbia, SC. We'll arrive there in the early afternoon. Mom, be prepared to get a call early Monday morning while I'm still in SLC. I have no idea if I'll have time to call while in Detroit.

I sent a package home late last week. I put a note in it to ask for a couple of things. I won't really need them until I get down to South Carolina, so if you can get here before I leave, that's fine, but if not, send it to my mission home.

This next week is going to be full of music. My district is doing a musical number in sacrement meeting next week(because we're leaving). I'm also working on a musical number with Her. Cottam and our pianist from our trio, Elder Forest Howell who got here on Wednesday, to audition on Thursday. I'm excited to sing with Her. Cottam and to be working on music period. I have loved being in the choir. Tonight we'll sing "Consider the Lillies".

So we heard about the BYU game this last weekend....too bad. I thought our team had more in them. Oh well, I guess they'll have to work harder.

I love the weather down here right now. It doesn't get too hot, so when we have study time in the late morning or afternoon we like going outside. I love being in nature while I study (so much better than being stuck in the classroom all day which averages at about 65 degrees or colder.).

One of the greatest lessons I've learned while here in the MTC is how to invite and listen to the Holy Ghost. The HG is so key to conversion and teaching the gospel. We can do nothing without it. Until the investigator feels the HG, they won't progress. It's been a challenge for me to let myself concentrate on the investigator and the Spirit's promptings rather than worrying about what I'm going to say next or how I'm going to explain a concept. When I let myself see the investigator as a real person, feel God's love for them, and put aside the desire to remember everything we want to teach, I am able to feel the Spirit more clearly and am able to be more personal with the investigator. It will become easier with time and experience, but it's something I've started to learn, and I know the Lord will help me. We learned yesterday in class from a devo. Elder Bednar gave a couple years ago, that a majority of the time we won't recognize that what we feel is a prompting from the HG. If we're being "good boys and good girls" we will be where we are supposed to be to fulfill God's will. Only rarely will we receive strong promptings and confirmations. That was very comforting for me, because I don't often receive those strong promptings, though I get them more often than I did.

In the devotional yesterday the speaker (MTC district pres.) said something powerful at the end of his talk. He said that this is our time. This is our time to make a mark on eternity. I keep hearing that we were fore-ordained to serve missions at this time. It's a powerful idea I never had before. I know the Lord has a purpose for me. There are people only I can touch, and there are things that I learn while I serve that will bless my future generations in ways that I can never imagine.

I love the Lord. I love this work. I am so happy to be here. Next week I'll be writing from SC!

Love Sister Cottam