the heat is on

We got a good taste of summer weather this week. It was hot and muggy and we came home sticky and sweaty...I love humidity ;) I know I'll miss it when I leave. We had almost half of our investigators drop us this week. A couple of them were pretty solid too, but the work moves forward. There are others waiting to receive the fulness of the gospel. When we find them, it is so amazing! Our investigator Chelsea is going strong. Her testimony is growing everyday and she is becoming more and more committed to the gospel. She has been reading the Book of Mormon religiously. She has a goal to finish it before her baptism on June 16th. She has it downloaded on her phone and reads at every spare moment. Sis. Brand and I both have no doubt that she will be baptized. It will be the first time sisters have had a baptism in this area and we're so excited!

This past week we had another awesome meeting: zone conference. The main themes were about using the Book of Mormon more and about being a 4th missionary (as Hna. Cottam has discussed before). Our new favorite contact method is bringing up something we've read in a great book relating to our lives, asking "Do you like to read?", and then explaining the Book of Mormon and inviting them to learn more about it. I've reflected often over our trainings and have striven to apply the principles that were taught. Perhaps the training that has affected me the most this week was one given by our mission president's wife all about our attitude. The more we say to ourselves something, the more we believe ourselves. "Positive affirmations" can give a brighter outlook and actually help us become what we want to become. I've gotten into the habit of saying to myself, "I love being a missionary." and other such phrases, and I've already seen my attitude change. I'm loving the work more. I have greater desire to be more diligent and dedicated to the work and I am happier everyday. The power of the subconscious is powerful. The spirit is powerful.

Love yall lots!

This will be a great week!

Love,
Sister Cottam

mission-wide conference: faith

We have several amazing investigators right now. We had 4 investigators at church!!!!! that's a record! One is Kayla. We met her several weeks ago, but she had some health issues and hadn't been able to make it to church yet. Even though most of her family is anti, she has a strong desire to change her life and live for the Lord so she can raise her children up right. She is so strong! Two of them are friends of members and have already been coming to church for a long while, Hailey and Chelsea. We were finally able to set up appointments with them and teach them. They are both on date! The spirit they have already felt at church has prepared them to take the steps to make covenants with God. Hailey is 11. A couple of young girls in her neighborhood are members and invited her to come with them several months ago. Chelsea works with a soon-to-be-missionary. She's been coming for almost 3 months. We had dinner at the member's home two weeks ago and taught her the plan of salvation (the family had started to discuss it with her the week before). We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. She is already done with 2nd Nephi! I can tell that she has felt the power of this book and sincerely wants it be true and to know that this is Christ's church. She is nervous about baptism, but I can see how the Lord has prepared her!

We had a mission-wide conference this past weekend with Elder Gonzalas and Elder Giddons of the 70's. What was taught there was exactly what we needed. They emphasized faith to act and using the Book of Mormon in every teaching and finding opportunity. Our mission is one of the highest finding missions, but on average, we are having to find twice as many investigators to get our baptisms than other missions are. The key to fixing that ratio: more powerful teaching. The keys to more powerful teaching: faith, the Holy Ghost, and the Book of Mormon.

I was reminded that everything in this work stems on the faith to act, in the missionaries and especially in our investigators. If we never speak up they will never know what God has to offer. If they don't act, they will never receive a witness. The Book of Mormon was saved specifically for OUR day, when we would face challenges no other generation has. It is the evidence we have that Christ has restored His church again to the earth. The church relies on this witness. I felt the power of the Book of Mormon in my own life and am grateful for the guidance to use it in every finding and teaching situation. I didn't fully understand before how key it is to conversion.

I am so grateful for the difficult times I have had in life that refine my heart and make it more ready to accept the Lord's will over my own. There is still more to do, more to learn, more to overcome, and more people to find and teach and baptize. I know these will come with time as I serve the Lord with all my heart, trust in Him, and do all I can to have and follow His Spirit. Without the spirit, ye shall not teach... If you never have the faith of the brother of Jared to ask, you will never see the finger of the Lord...

Have a wonderful week yall!

Love,

Sister Cottam

prayer...s​imple

I loved getting to talk to ya'll yesterday. At first, I was nervous to call, but I am so grateful for the spirit I felt as we talked and the love and support I felt from all of you. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers! This is a hard work, but it is a work worth doing and I am so grateful to make this small sacrifice for the Lord and His children.

We've had several investigators drop us this week, and others who are not keeping commitments. "We love agency, except when it's our children or our investigators". We are pressing forward in faith, looking for those who want the fulness of the gospel and are willing to do what it takes to get it. There is a miracle waiting just around the corner for us to find. Satan always works the hardest when something amazing is about to happen.

For those who were not a part of the phone call, I want to share a story. Though it is a little silly, it's meaning goes very deep.

Sister Brand and I had just finished a lesson and were walked down the street back to our car. We stopped to talk to a couple of women about the gospel. As we were talked with them, we heard some rustling in the tree next to us and heard something fall and thump on the ground. We didn't see anything immediately out of the ordinary, so we kept talking. At the end of our brief conversation with these sisters, we walked over to the tree to see what had fallen. We discovered a squirrel laying in the shallow ditch under the tree. At first Sis. Brand thought it was dead, but we noticed that it was still breathing. The closer we got the faster it breathed, but it couldn't move. We stepped away from it. Sis. Brand questioned why the squirrel fell out of the tree. They spend their whole lives climbing around trees without falling. It seemed against nature. I offered the idea that it got bitten by something. I said it was just nature's way and it would work out the way it was supposed to. Sis. Brand couldn't leave the poor creature. For some reason she felt sick in her heart. We weren't sure what we could do for it, so we decided to pray. Sis. Brand offered the prayer. She pleaded for the squirrel to have peace and to be able to die quickly so everything would be all right. When she finished the prayer, we both looked up, fully expecting the squirrel to breathe its last breath and die in peace. After staring with bated breath for about 5-10 seconds, we were surprised as the squirrel popped up to its feet, leaped over to the trunk of the tree, looked at us for a few seconds, and then darted up the tree. We stood dumbfounded. We were surprised by the quick recovery.

Now maybe this is a normal circumstance, that squirrels sometimes slip out of trees, are paralized for a few minutes, and then are able to get back up and continue living their lives again, but to us it was a sacred experience. These "tree rats" as the locals call them, are reviled by many as annoying and disgusting creatures (to us as well, on many occasions), but for some reason, on that day, in that instance, we felt compassion for this common squirrel. For some reason we felt the desire to pray, to plea for its welfare, and with such faith expected an answer. The answer we received, was not was we expected. We learned that day that our prayers are answered, and often times not in the way we expect them to be, but always in a way that is better than we could have ever imagined. We learned that faith is an expectation, it truly is. It is not a dormant hope, but the courage to act on whatever answer we receive. We learned that God is VERY aware of us. He watches over everything, even the overpopulous "tree rats". He loves us, even the vilest of sinners. Christ prayed for us and died for our sakes. The gospel, in a nutshell, is very simple: love. Christ loved us. He set the example for us. If we will love Him, follow His example, and change our hearts to be more in harmony with His loving will, we will receive the greatest gift of eternal life. It's that simple.

Love ya lots! Trust in the Lord. Love Him. Pray often with faith. He will direct you.

Love,

Sister Cottam

unity and goals

Hey ya'll!

Sorry this will be a short email today, but I'll get to talk to ya'll
soon anyway ;)

We've had set backs with some of our investigators, the miracles from
last weekend. We've struggled to get in contact with them to teach
them, but we have trust that the Lord will continue to work with them
as we strive to do His work with faith. We had a couple steps forward
with other investigators though. Our lesson with a long-time
investigator Brian went really well yesterday. He told us he is ready
to do anything to do God's will for him. We invited him again to be
baptized, and he accepted! The Lord taught me this week that things
happen His way, not ours.

Our mission has been struggling that last little while. We've been
lacking faith. This transfer they have begun the "Big Lift". A couple
sets of elders and a set of sisters received special assignment to
come on exchanges with every companionship in the mission, one zone at
a time. Our zone had it's exchange this past weekend. It was exactly
what our companionship needed. We learned so much about how to improve
ourselves, our companionship, and how to help the work move forward.
Great things are going to happen!

Love you all lots!

Sister Cottam