T is for Temple... and Transfers

So...

My wonderful service in the good old Greenville 1st ward will soon come to an end. I'm being transfered on Wednesday. It's always bitter-sweet to leave an area. I've grown to love the people here, especially several of our investigators who we've been working with for quite some time and my recent converts. But change is part of God's plan, and I'm excited to see where He will send me.

Our zone met their baptism goal this month! I'm sad we were unable to contribute to the goal, but we face the future with faith. Because we met our goal we have the amazing opportunity to go to the temple! We're going Tuesday afternoon to do baptisms for the dead (so we can experience something similar to what our investigators do), staying in Irmo that night, and getting transfered Wednesday morning. It's going to be a crazy and amazing couple of days.

I've been reflecting a lot on our purpose in this life and specifically my purpose here as a missionary and in the future. Over the past couple of weeks our sacrament meetings have been centered around the Plan of Salvation, and our last week of training was concentrated on our purpose as missionaries. These two things run hand and hand. There's more to missionary work than spending all day knocking on doors. We are here to bring souls to Christ through His restored gospel. God really does have a purpose for His children. His ultimate goal is to help His children become like Him. This life is the time of testing and growth during which we can work on developing godly attributes. All of our experiences help us do just that. Many are hard and trying. Others are joyful and fulfilling. All of them are shaping us into our potential. When we look deep within and then high above to our Heavenly Father, we can find there is more there than meets the eye. These people we meet on the street, knocking on doors, in the store; they have the same divine potential that we do. They are all special to God and He loves them dearly. Our purpose is to help them gain faith in Christ unto repentance, to help them make changes in their lives, to help them realize their potential and work towards it.

Love ya lots!!!!

- Sister Cottam

Salvation comes through Christ

Good morning!

Sis. Koeven and I are doing very well this week. She is beginning to truly blossom as she has taken the lead in many things this past week. We've been able to find joy in each little aspect of the work and in improving ourselves. We are striving to work with our current investigators and have had to drop several this week who have stopped progressing, but we know it was the best thing to do at this time. The Lord has blessed us for our efforts. This week we found a new investigator whose name is Sabrina. She has a strong desire to come closer to her Heavenly Father and accepted to be baptized in September! The Lord is shaping her life to prepare her to receive and embrace the fullness of the gospel. I love being able to witness His hand in this work.
We've both been studying the doctrines in chapter 3 this week. I have loved increasing my understanding of these precious truths and applying them to our teaching. This study has also increased my own testimony of the gospel. I love how it just makes sense. I know this gospel is true! One such doctrine we studied was the meaning of "saved". So often we hear and are asked about "being saved". Sabrina also asked us about it. We learned through our studies that in answer to the question "Have you been saved?" we can reply "Yes." and "Yes, but with conditions." We are all saved from physical death through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (as in Alma 11:44), but we are not saved from spiritual death without conditions: we need to have faith in Christ, repent, be baptized(and other ordinances like the sacrament), receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end by keeping all the commandments. As Sis. Koeven and I talked, we realized that as LDS, we don't have one extreme experience where we profess that Christ is our Savior. We do it through partaking in ordinances and keeping covenants throughout our lives as we continually strive to live more like our Savior and seek His will. When we take the sacrement each week, we are taking time to recommit ourselves to our Savior. It's a life long process.

I love being a missionary!


Love,
Sister Cottam

Here's what a southern sunset looks like :D

knock and knock and... faith (from July 30, 2012)

Sis. Koeven and I are doing well. We're striving to work hard and be obedient. We have done a lot of contacting this week...boy my legs are tired. I finally go a little bit of sunburn... and we're "loving" the heat and humidity. Luckily we'll get a two day break with a leadership conference this coming week. I'm excited to learn what more we can be doing to further the work. 

We met a wonderful young mother, Nicole, this week. She has two boys and a girl. I was strongly reminded of teaching Cacey in my first area with her three boys. The kids were loud and rowdy and her husband was trying to keep them occupied in the other room. Admist the chaos, we taught her about the restoration. We floundered in the lesson for the first 15 minutes, and then as we testified of the first vision the spirit entered quietly, not strongly, but it was there. Nicole told us she could relate to Joseph. She has wondered for years what is the right thing to believe. She is eager to read the Book of Mormon and found out if it is true.

We taught Heather again. She was eager to learn more, but her work is keeping her really busy...and keeping her from coming to church. We're praying that she'll be able to come next week.

This week I was reading in Alma 32 and the last few verses really stuck out to me. Alma urges us to nourish the word by faith, diligence, and patience, "looking forward to the fruit thereof". As we do this, the tree will take root and spring "up unto everlasting life". I realized these are key characteristics for missionaries. In every aspect of the work we need to have faith, be diligent in work and obedience, and be patient for the Lord's timing. We have to have faith that He is preparing people and that as we're obedient and diligent he will lead us to them. The "fruit" is bringing these precious souls to the waters of baptism and then on to the temple. I know this is a sacred work, and though I am not a perfect servant, I know he gives us the qualities we need to fulfill His work. I know there are precious souls waiting to be found, and we are striving to build our faith to find them.

Love ya lots! Good luck with all the house renovations and the wedding :)

Love,

Sister Cottam

seeds...then harvest (from July 23, 2012…I’m sorry these are late - Jesse)

We've done a lot of seed harvesting this week. We pray that they will take root and bloom so that we or others will be able to harvest later. We've taught several lessons to people this week that were mainly planting seeds. Because of this I've thought a lot about something our mission president told us last month, "You can accomplish anything if you don't care who gets the credit." I feel like sometimes I get selfish and want to be recognized for baptisms in my area, but this work isn't about who gets the numbers, or who finds the people, it's about doing everything in our power to help the children of God come unto Christ. We have a wonderful investigator Corvan who we found a couple weeks ago. We taught him again this week and found out he'll be moving in with his dad (who lives outside our area) in a couple weeks. This teen wants to know the truth and loves the restored gospel. Though I'm sad we won't be able to see him get baptized, I know where he is going, there are other amazing servants of God waiting to help him take that step.

We have planted seeds that are beginning to sprout. We met Heather this past Thursday. She is amazing! She's 19 and has such sweet faith. We taught her on her doorstep and she felt the spirit strongly as we shared the first vision. On Friday we taught her the plan of salvation and she had so many amazing questions. She has been confused by several doctrines of her church (like the godhead and the afterlife) and is so happy to gain a better understanding. I'm excited to continue teaching her. She's on date for Aug. 11! 

We had an FHE last night for our investigators. We had two families come. One was Brian and his wife and her daughter. The other was Gege and his mom (who actually know several members of the ward!). It was a great opportunity for them to feel the spirit, learn more about the gospel (from members, not just us), and to fellowship. We loved it. I hope we do another one soon.

I found out about an amazing miracle this week through a miracle moment voicemail. My last companion in Gaffney was Sis. Kloepfel. She's now down in Charleston. She met my first convert, Thomas, before I left the area and her heart yearned to do everything she could to get him back to church. This week she found out from the current missionaries in Gaffney, that he moved down to Charleston within the last couple of weeks, but they didn't know his address. Sis. Kloepfel knew it was a huge area, but she prayed that they would be able to find him. Three days after they found out he moved there, she looked over at a park as they passed, and there, sitting by the fountain was Thomas...my companion Sis. Koeven could tell you that when I heard the message, tears filled my eyes. I've been feeling like I should write him recently, but I had no idea where he was living. Now I know. And now I know he is in the watchful eyes of my dear fellow sister Sis. Kloepfel. God truly moves in mysterious ways. He's not letting Thomas out of His watchful care.

This morning I was studying on the gospel of Jesus Christ. A deep principle stood out to me: 3 Nephi 9:13 "...will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?" As we excersise faith in Christ, repent, make and keep covenants, follow the Holy Ghost, and keep the commandments, our souls will be healed. That's what the gospel is all about, spiritual and physical healing from our pains, temptations, sins, tribulations, etc. through the Atonement of Christ--that act that He performed as He took the penalties for our sins upon Himself. If we will live the gospel, if we will put our trust in Christ, we will be healed, we will receive mercy, we will find true peace and joy in this life and eternal life in the world to come.

I'm so grateful for the restored gospel.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Cottam

becoming our best (from August 13, 2012)

Hey ya'll,

We had Zone conference this past week. We learned more about how to improve our teaching and becoming our best selves. President asked us "Has your best come out of you yet?" We watched a video about a high school football coach and his lead player. During practice, the player was sharing in the doubts of the team that they'd be able to beat their rival team that season. The coach pulled him out and had him do his best death crawl (crawling on hands and feet with another player on their back) blindfolded. When the player wanted to give up the coach got down near him and constantly encouraged him, shouting: "Give me your best; you promised to give me your best!" The player made it all the way across the field from inzone to inzone.

I've reflected often, "Have I given my best? Am I willing to give it? to work hard? to do what it takes, even when I'm tired or hurting? Am I willing to think a little deeper, listen a little harder, trust a little more?" Throughout each day I have asked myself: "Are we using this time well?", "Is this going to help the work move forward?", "Am I keeping my thoughts focused on our investigators?", "Is what I'm saying going to encourage them to make changes?", "Am I being bold with the Spirit?" etc. As I have reflected, I have recognized many ways in which I need to improve, here a little and there a little, and I am praying that the Lord will help me repent and make the changes I need to. I am grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the opportunities we are given in this life to constantly make changes to improve ourselves.

We met a sweet mother and son who we have started to teach this past week, Jacilla and Chris. Chris told us after we related the first vision that he felt similar to Joseph. There have been times when he has wondered what is right. We committed him to find out for himself through reading, praying, and coming to church. True to his 20 year old age, he has been pretty busy this past week, but we hope to teach him again early this week. Jacilla is strong in her current church, yet she is willing to listen. When we went over to try to catch Chris before he went to work last Thursday afternoon, she was home. We could tell she was not in a good mood at first. She told us she had had a rough week. As we asked a couple of questions and shared a scripture, her heart softened. She let us come in and we taught her the plan of salvation, adjusting the lesson to her needs. The spirit was strong and she felt the truth of our words. She loved it. We had planned to see her later that day, but we found out she wouldn't have been there. I'm grateful that the Spirit directs us to be where we need to be when we need to be there! Because we listened, we were able to make a difference in Jacilla's day.

We are excited to be working with one of our BRP referrals. Annetta was busy for quite some time after she received her letter, but these past couple of weeks we had the opportunity to serve her and teach her about the Book of Mormon. This week we are planning on having her join us for dinner with the referring member. We love her so much and are excited to teach her more.

In the Lord's timing the work is progressing.

Have a wonderful week ya'll!

Love,
Sister Cottam

Why, how, what.... (from August 6, 2012)

Family!

I am glad to hear the weeks events went well! I'm excited to see the pictures :)

This week we had the amazing opportunity to attend a two day leadership training meeting on Thursday and Friday. I love how the Lord answers prayers. During the week before the meeting we prayerfully thought about everything that we wanted to improve, and every single thing was addressed at the training! Sis. Koeven and I learned so much, and I'm excited to implement the things we learned. The first day we learned a lot about being a good leader and a good missionary. At the end of that day's meeting, Pres. Holm had us listen to "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd" sung during this last Priesthood session of General Conference (I would urge you to listen to it!). I was deeply touched. He particularly pointed out the final verse and the way that the choir sang/shouted "Yes, blessed master we will!" It caused me to reflect deeply on my own desires and to recommit myself to willing and gladly do the Lord's will in His way. I needed this especially. With all the exciting things going on back home, sometimes I've found myself dwelling on them and distracting me from the work here, but after all that we learned this week, I was finally able to refocus my personal efforts, and can now set these wonderful things up on the shelf, so I can concentrate on the important work of which I am a part.

During the second day, we had members come and be investigators for us. We learned how to improve our teaching and got to practice on them. We also learned an amazing concept: We often communicate by saying what it is, how we do it, and why we do it, but our conscious(instinct/spirit/etc) actually works better the other way around. When we understand the "why" first, we are much more willing to follow through with the rest of it. They applied this to contacting. "Because we have a profound love for our Savior and our fellowmen, we chose to come on a mission and share a message that can bring peace and joy. It's a message that has blessed many lives..." This method allows you to bare testimony from the very beginning. I love it! We've already begun testing the "Why, How, What" method of contacting. I have felt the spirit much more often as we have talked with people, and I can tell from their expressions that they can see that we do love the gospel, even when they decline our invitation. We're still working out kinks in our personal approaches. 

Have an amazing week! Love ya!

Love,

Sister Cottam

P.S. I attached a pic of all the sisters at the meeting with Sis. Holm and Sis. Continey (the mission home cook who feed us lunch each day)