crazy weather and a wet weekend

So, Florenda got baptized! She was nervous, but she was ready. I have loved watching her simple faith lead her to do what has felt good, to the gospel. She is nervous and excited about becoming a member and everyone has welcomed her love and warmth. Now we just need to find her a "best friend" in the ward who will support her and help her. We have one member of similar circumstances that will be a wonderful help.  

Satan has fought hard against Sis. Kloepfel and I this past week because we were harassing him by helping one of God's daughters get on the right path. We struggled with finding chances to teach our investigators, finding new investigators, and with our own motivation. It's been a tough trip, but the Lord has taught us many things through discussions we had with members, our studies, and the lessons taught in church yesterday. With one of our members who we had dinner with we had a conversation about a couple current events and the signs of the second coming...a little random, but it was good. It helped both me and Sis. Kloepfel realize how short our time here really is. We both only have about a year left to serve the Lord full time...that's nothing!! We have very little time to help as many people as we can. In this light, there is no excuse for moving slowly or not giving our all. THIS WORK IS SO IMPORTANT!!! It deserves every ounce of energy, every nanosecond of thought processes, and every leap of faith to move it forward. It deserves every fiber of our very being. There are countless children of God wandering aimlessly in this world of darkness and confusion. We have the knowledge. We have the directions. We have the light. We have the calling to share it, to find those who want to be found, who want the truth. How great is our calling, whether we are full-time missionaries or members. Sharing the gospel is not easy. It takes courage, a courage that at times I am still trying to have. But we have to remember we are never alone. The Lord is standing behind us to back us up. With the Lord on our side in this great work, there is no need to fear. 

I've been reading in Alma all about the wars in my personal study, but never before have I made such a connection between the physical wars of the Nephites and Lamanites and the spiritual wars we all go through. If we remain faithful and trust in God, Satan will be thwarted in the end. Alma 48:7

I love serving the Lord...it's amazing.

Do good and keep looking up! There is nothing too hard or too difficult to do when the Lord is with us.

Hope you enjoy my ramblings ;)

Love,

Sister Cottam 

Chilli and preparing

So this week has been full of success and frustration... and chilli.

The Gaffney ward had their annual chilli cook off last Friday...and guess who they usually have for judges...yup, the missionaries :) because we're not related to anyone in the ward. The variety was pretty basic, except one. Bro. Sansing (he's less active but gives the missionaries free food at his restaurant in Blacksburg called Papa G's) brought a chilli that always wins spiciest. He informed us afterwards that it has a sauce in it that has peppers such as jalepeno and jabenero(sp?). Even the toughest brethren think twice before putting a spoonful of this stuff in their bowl. Sis. Kloepfel and I both took less than half a spoon full and were dying within 2 seconds of this "devil's swill" touching our tounges. Sis. K spit it out immediately and was begging for milk. I was a little more calm but still suffering. I swallowed it, drank some water, ate a couple of chips, and downed a cup of milk before the heat began to subside...never again will I touch super spicy chilli... Luckily we were in the kitchen while judging, so very few people saw our suffering.

We've been concentrating heavily on three of our investigators this week who we were preparing for baptism. Unfortunately, only one of them came to church, so only one of them will be ready for this next week. The other two will be in the water soon enough though. They aren't prepared at this moment, but the Lord is working with them and we're not going to give up. Florenda is the sister who is preparing right now. She will be baptized on Feb. 25th. She has such simple faith and the sisters in the ward have show her warmth and love. She's a little nervous, but she is also excited to have something positive in her life. I'm excited to watch her continue to grow and progress in the gospel.

A couple weeks ago during fast and testimony meeting, one of the young single adults brothers said during his testimony: "I'm really grateful for missionaries who can serve here (in South Carolina). It takes a special kind of person to teach some of the people here." After church he came up to us and thanked us personally for our work. We were suprised but pleased. You never know how much people are watching you. They notice when you are having a hard day. They notice when you are happy. They even notice when you get a hair cut. The members here love the missionaries and they watch us. It makes me want to be better and do more to help them do missionary work. I love this work, and though it gets frustrating and down right depressing at times, I am so glad I get to be out here serving the Lord and His children. It's all worth it. He has a work for us to do, on this side of the veil and on the other side, and He can't do it without us. 

Love you all lots! Never eat realllllllyyyyy spicy chilli. And have faith in the Lord in everything.

Love,

Sister Cottam

birthday wish and a little faith :)

Here is a birthday wish too all of you with birthdays in the month of February:

" Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."  Mormon 9:21

This is the best birthday gift you could ever have, to know that what ever you ask that is right, He promises to give it to you. May the Lord bless you in all your endevors as you seek for His guidance. Then you can become an instrument in the hands of the Lord in doing His work...you don't have to be a missionary to be His hand tool.

I'm so glad to hear you had an enjoyable family party. I hope you all enjoyed a piece of cake for me ;) . I thought once the holidays were over I wouldn't have to worry about sweets, but I've been bombarded from multiple sides by valentines day candy...I'll take chocolate any day...especially when it's free. I can't say that this ward doesn't love it's missionaries.

This week we've been concentrating heavily on helping our investigators on baptismal date progress amongst the finding efforts. It has been wonderful seeing the spirit work in their lives. We are sad two of our investigators did not come to church this week even after we called them. One of them was scheduled to be baptized this next week, but now she'll have to wait another week. With the Lord's help we will be bold this week and help them understand the importance. David came though! He's that member refferal that's been looking into the church for a couple of years. His wife Shelly was sick :( . But it was wonderful seeing David taking the next step. We had a powerful lesson with him and the elders(our district leader and one zone leader who were following us around that day) with just David, and I've seen the affects of the spirit really touch him.

We've been working a lot with the BRP this week contacting. It has definitely been a learning experience and I know I have areas in which I can still improve. As of yet, none have been sincerely interested in learning more, but we have faith that as we improve our contacting that will change. It is amazing at this point to see how their hearts are soft, compared to a random knock on their door. They are willing to ask questions and listen to our words.

We have had to exercise a lot of faith this week and are happy to see a few blessings beginning to blossom. We still have a lot of work to do this month, and I am grateful for this opportunity to give my all to the Lord. I have never been so dedicated to this work as I have been over the last couple of weeks, and I want it to be the pattern for the rest of my mission. I've learned a little more about what faith can really do when coupled with action. There is nothing stronger.

Love you all lots!!!

Love,

Sister Cottam

struggling, but not letting go of faith

So, we have struggled a lot this week.

Along with the mission struggling (December and January have been the lowest baptizing months in our recient history), I've been battling the tail end of a cold which has drained me of energy and we lost one of our investigators...he quit his job (in home care provider--he was living with the man he was taking care of) and left his phone there, so we have no way to contact him right now...and he was really close to baptism. We haven't had any new investigators this week and didn't get to teach as much as we wanted. We were able to do a lot of work with the Best Relationships proselyting though. A sister in the ward is moving and she was trying to figure out how to share her testimony with her business collegues before she left. We mentioned this concept and she begged us to do it. She gave us 27 names and we have been uber busy getting it all organized.

Through the struggles of the week though, it has been a huge growing experience. Because of my frustration in our lack of progression this week, I took time to reevaluate what I was doing and how I could improve. Along with that, Sister Kloepfel and I have set a goal of 3 baptisms for this month. This is a really high goal but we both felt that that was what it needed to be. Right now we don't have a very big teaching pool so this goal seems really out there and almost impossible. We've been discussing together what we need to do to achieve this goal. We've decided we are going to have to adjust how we go about doing everything from studying to planning to contacting to teaching. Pres. Holm talked last week in a mission wide conference call about doing everything with faith from our studies to our work. We are striving to implement that. He also spoke about how this time is precious. Our zone leaders talked to us about how this work is an emergency. The captian is calling "All hands on deck!" We need to be urgent in all we do. As we've re-evaluated this weekend I feel now like I have more purpose. I have so much to do and so many ways to improve. Now, I have to start implementing the changes I want to make. No more going with the flow. That doesn't get anything done. It is time to be bold. Time to let everyone I talk with know how important this gospel really is. There is no time to waste.

In studies this morning Sis. Kloepfel found this scripture:

"Do this thing which I have commanded you and you shall prosper. Be faithful and yield to no temptation. Stand fast in the work where with I have called you, and a hair of your head shall not be lost, and you shall be lifted up at the last day. Amen." D&C 9:13-14

We have a large goal to meet. The Lord inspired us to set that goal. He asked us to do it, so He will help us accomplish it, but only if we are doing everything in our power to accomplish. For the Lord gives us no commandment without making a way that we can accomplish it. I want to lose myself in the work of the Lord. I want to give all my heart to Him. Only as I totally surrender(4th missionary...yeah, we were taught it too) will the Lord be able to use me as His tool in bringing about the exhaultation of His children.

I am so grateful for what I have learned this week and I have faith that as I give my all, the Lord will do the rest.

Love you all!

Sister Cottam

P.S. Can you mail me Grandma Stewart's white chili recipe? They're having a chili cook off in my ward on the 17th and I was thinking I might make it. Thanks :)

P.P.S. Sister Porr from the ward would like to befriend any of you on facebook. Her name is Mickie Porr if you want to find her.