knocking with faith, hope, and charity

This week has been full of hard work, patience, and building on faith, hope, and charity.

We had a specialized sister's training this past week, and I loved it. They had the first one a month after I entered the field and I'm glad they are continuing to do it twice a year. It is such a strength and source of encouragement to fellowship with all of the sisters in the mission and to be trained by our mission president, his wife, the assisstants, and the traveling sisters. The things taught were exactly what I needed. It was concentrated on being more bold through faith, hope, and charity. I've been struggling with the boldness thing, with being able to just open my mouth and talk even when I'm not sure what to say, and I was so grateful for all of the advice and principles taught. I want to share a few thoughts from it:

Being Bold through Faith, Hope, and Charity (Moroni 7):

It's not about knowing what to say, but about our love for the Lord and His children. Boldness doesn't mean talking loudly or being pushy. It means asking the hard questions straight up and not worrying about the consequences. It means bearing testimony of true doctrine without worrying about what they will think of you. Forget about "me" and "my comfort" and think about the worth of the souls around us. The Savior's life was full of inconveniences because the gospel was more important. Why should ours be any different?

Faith is hoping and believing in something you can't see. Hope in the gospel sense is trusting that God will fulfill his purposes. They are not mere dreams, but expectations that something will happen according to God's will. They lead to action. It's having trust in the Spirit to guide our words and having Christ-like love for the people we talk with. 

The fear of man is what keeps us from talking.

Are we going to let the enemy of our souls bind our tounge? -Pres. Holm

Hermana Cottam sent me a sticky note with a scripture from 1 John that fits perfectly: "Perfect love casteth out all fear..." That perfect love, the love Christ has for us, is charity.

We've had a lot of practice with finding this week. We've been working out our knuckles and testimonies talking to everyone we can. Yesterday we got to see a few fruits of our labors as we met about 7 people in a row who were open and willing to talk to us and to have us come back again to teach more. It's exciting to get new leads and investigators. We are excited to see how they will progress.

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love this gospel, and I love sharing it. I love losing myself in the work. It's amazing how much you learn about yourself when you are trying to lose yourself for the good of others.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Cottam