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