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)

 

This week has been a test of faith and patience for us both. We are enduring it well. We continue to plant many seeds, and through this work we will harvest the elect.

We found an amazing new investigator this past week. Gege is about 15 years old and he has a fire for the gospel. We taught him a couple of times early this week and he has begun to read the Book of Mormon. He loves it. He accepted the invitation to be baptized on Aug. 4th! He wants to come closer to Christ. We are excited to help him enter the waters and continue on.

This week I have been humbled as I have strived to figure out how to improve my efforts. On Saturday I studied some scriptures in the finding section of Preach My Gospel. What does the Lord ask you to do? 3 Nephi 27:21 "...for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do..." That hit me hard. I'm really here as a servant of Jesus Christ. I'm not just a missionary, but a representative of my Savior. I am here to do the things he would do if he were here....those are some pretty big sandles to fill. The more I ponder on it, the more peace comes to my heart, the more love I feel for those I have met and will meet, the more desire fills my soul do serve and minister and testify of the precious truths of the gospel. In sacrement mtg. yesterday, the subject was all about ministering (The Lord really has a sense of humor...), especially to the one. This work isn't about numbers, but about each one soul who comes unto Christ.

Slowly but surely the Lord is shaping Sis. Koeven and me. I know as we work faithfully, dilligently and effectively, being directed by the Spirit, we will see miracles occur here (and with faith they will begin today).

Have a wonderful week! Trust in the Lord and love the work (whatever your work may be)!

Love,

Sister Cottam

I forgot to send a couple of pics from the 4th of July: Our ward activity, the smores we made over the stove, and an awesome sign :)

learning by training

It's amazing how even in the midst of struggles, the Lord teaches us and lets us see his hand in our lives. I've noticed the little miracles each day this week and rejoiced in them from a cooling breeze in the sticky heat to finally getting in contact with an investigator. We found a couple new investigators this week and have been striving to follow up with our other investigators. After about two or three weeks of no contact with one investigator, Krista, we had the miracle of getting in contact with her again this week. She and her family have had a nasty virus going among them and she didn't want to pass it on. She told us that she has been reading the Book of Mormon and has thouroughly enjoyed it! We set up another appointment to see her this week. We are praying that we will be able to help her gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and help her see how the restored gospel will truly bless her family and her life. We have a member coming with us to the lesson.

One of our new investigators this week actually lives in the other ward, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have had to find him. He met with missionaries in the past. We contacted him a week ago as he was outside his mom's apartment building. We invited him to come to church again and to learn more. He promised he would come. We didn't see him that week at church, but the next week, we went over to meet his mom and to teach her and he stopped by as we were leaving. He told us he wanted to talk to us when we had more time. Two days later we were in the same complex for another appointment and he saw us. He told us to come over after the appointment. Our appointment wasn't there, so we went over. He asked us a question about how we stay strong admist all the temptations. We bore frequent testimony as we answered his question, read with him in the Book of Mormon, and committed him to baptism. The Lord has prepared him to receive the gospel again into his life. The elders in the other ward will begin teaching him this week.

I love how the Lord answers prayers. This past week he has answered my pleas to find people to teach by helping me see how we need to improve in order to gain more investigators. We had interviews this week and all of the trainings were exactly what we needed. The Doctrine of Everything has been my theme this week. It means doing everything in your power in every aspect of the work to help people come unto Christ. We have evaluated our efforts and commited to do everything, not just what has been done, to accomplish this work from planning more effectively to working with members. I really feel like true success will come in this area only as we heavily involve the members and work with their friends and family (if only I had come to truly understand this 9 months ago ;) ). I feel that now is the time, that this is what this ward needs.

I'm so grateful for the training program. Sometimes I feel like I learn more that Sis. Koeven does. The Lord is preparing us with the tools to do this work, and we have set goals to work more diligently with members with whom we have meals and with our recent converts to find new investigators through the BRP and other tools to help the work move forward. We're excited to see the results.

I read this quote today that I wanted to share from Elder David F. Evans' talk "Was it worth it?" from this past general conference:

"In addition to the work we will do within our own family...'we labor dilligently to...persuade our...brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God...[2 Nephi 25:23]' ...

"President Thomas S. Monson explained how we can help when he said, 'Our missionary experiences have to be current. It is not enough to sit back and ponder former experiences. To be fulfilled, you have to continue to naturally and normally share the gospel.'

"The work of naturally and normally sharing the gospel with those we care about and love will be the work and joy of our lives...Whenever the gospel is shared, it is never 'just one boy'. Whenever conversion happens or someone returns to the Lord, it is a family that is saved."

Love you lots!!

Love,

Sister Cottam

families can be forever

This week we have still been striving to find new solid investigators. It hasn't neccissarily been a smooth couple of weeks, yet we have been blessed as we have pressed forward with faith. We have had several opportunities arise for service (one for a member refferal that we have struggled to catch at home) and were able to help the Cutrer family share the gospel through the BRP.

We found a new family, the Bicerras! Bro. Bicerra told us that from the first time he saw us, he knew that we were doing God's work. We have worked in the neighborhood over the past few months and have seen them every once in a while. They are so busy. Bro. Bicerra works during the day and then both Bro. and Sis. Bicerra drive ice cream trucks in the evening. We had an opportunity a couple months ago to do a small act of service for Sis. Bicerra (it was raining and we closed her gate as she pulled out in her car). Two weeks ago, it was 9:00p and we were walking back to our car. As we passed their house, Bro. Bicerra and his sons were playing basketball. We stopped and chatted for a minute, then headed to our car so we could be in on time.

Last week, we finally knocked on their side of the street and their oldest son answered. He was warm and inviting. They were busy at the moment, but Bro. Bicerra asked that we come back. The second time we came, they told us the same thing, but set a time for us to come the next day. When we arrived, they said they had about 20 minutes to sit down and talk. We of course took their offer. They have very firm faith in Christ and we could feel the spirit in their home. We talked for several minutes about our work as missionaries and about our beliefs. We testified of the importance of families, which they loved. After about 15 minutes, Bro. Bicerra asked what was the real difference between us and other religions. We testified that the gospel of Christ has been restored in it's fullness and purity again to the earth. The spirit testified of these words to their hearts and Sis. Bicerra said "wow". Though the time they had alloted was over, they asked that we go ahead and share our message. The spirit was strong as we taught and they accepted gratefully the opportunity to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We can't wait to teach this family again tonight and help them progress towards baptism! People are prepared little by little to receive our message. I don't they would have been so warm to us if they hadn't seen us out and about as they had.

Tomorrow, we have an amazing mission fireside planned for investigators, recent converts, and less active members. I'm so excited. Kayla will be coming and we've been inviting people left and right. The spirit's going to be so strong, I'm excited and pray that a couple of people we have invited will come. This is an experience that I think will really help them progress.

All of the things going on back home, the family we found, and the mission's emphasis on finding families has caused me to reflect on the importance of family. I'm so grateful the blessing of having mine forever! I want others to enjoy that same joy!

I love you all!!

Love,

Sis. Cottam