it’s warming up

Hey family!!

How's it going? Thanks for all the e-mails!

This week has been awesome! We are working with a lot of good people. Two of which are set with a baptismal date! Miguel and Cecilia. Miguel's sister is an active member in the ward. He is so prepared! Cecilia is his wife. They are sweet!

So we had an awesome Relief Society dinner this last week. Everyone brought a dish typical of their country. There was so much good food! I was full to the brim by the end. There was tamales, papusas, ribs Mexican style, corn cake, and many that I don't know the name for. 

We had an awesome Zone conference this last week. Elder Duncan of the first quorum of the 70 came and gave us some training. The thing that struck me most was probably when we talked about how to love the people who are hard to love--those who yell at us and say things about us that are wrong to other people. We must look at them as the Savior sees them--children of our Heavenly Father who have great potential. He loves them, and when they revile us, we must share that message of love. Service is one way we show it. There is much good that we can do.

I love you all so much! Take care.

Yours,

Hna. Cottam

a white sabbath

Hey all! not much time so it's going to be super short
We had a baptism! Martin, the brother of Eduardo, got baptized yesterday! It was wonderful. He was so prepared.
We found a lot of new people to teach this week as well which has been good.
I hope you all have a great week!
love,
Hna. Cottam

it's getting warmer:)

Dear family,

I don't have a lot of time so this will be short(er than usual).

It's been a good week. We didn't teach a lot but we got some new investigators and referrals so we should be able to teach a lot more this coming week. I'm excited for good things that will come :)

Hna. Camejo had a great birthday! We had lunch with a member and our recent convert Maricruz. It was fun and the food was delicious!

The weather is getting warmer here for the time being. I was able to go to church without a coat on! It was nice.

Church was beautiful on Sunday. I love going each week and partaking of the sacrament. It's so refreshing and allows us to truly take part in the atonement.

I love this work.

Have a wonderful week!

Yours,

Hna. Cottam

charity: the pure love of Christ

Dearest Family,

First of all, here's an update on our investigators:

Martin is still progressing toward baptism. He came to church with his brother (who got baptized last month) and has been very receptive to the message. He has such a sincere heart. He's awesome.

We got a chance to talk to Antonio on Thursday. We tried to find out what his doubt was. Well, he is stuck on poligamy. It's the only thing he says is keeping him from believing that Joseph Smith was a prophet. We told him to read and to pray with sincerity that he can overcome it. I hope he is able to soon.

It's my companion's birthday tomorrow! She has been practically celebrating it since Saturday :) We went to a great Chinese buffet today and many members want to feed us this week to celebrate.

In my education classes back at BYU I learned that understanding doesn't really come until we gain experience with the thing we are trying to understand. That has been very true for me this week in learning about Charity. "charity, which is the pure love of Christ" I'd heard this countless times but never knew just how to develop it.

Charity is looking at others as the Savior sees them (thanks for sharing this, Mom). It is avoiding negative thoughts about them or judging them. It's not something you gain overnight, but must be developed day by day, with fervant prayer and sometimes fasting. It is one of the sweetest of the attributes of Christ and one of the most important. With out it, we are nothing. It is having patience--the Lord is patient with us; we must be patient too. It is seeking and expecting the best of people. "Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you." 

Make it a great week. I love you all!

Sincerely,
Hna. Cottam

miracles

Dear family,

It has been wonderful to continue to work with Hna. Camejo. As we have strived to strengthen our faith and seek the inspiration of the Lord, He has blessed us with miracles. When our other plans fell through, He made a way for us to still achieve our goals. For example, last night we needed one more new investigator for the week. Both of our earlier appointments had fallen through and we were headed to one more potential. We went to the address to find out that the contact we thought lived there didn't, but the person who did spoke Spanish. So we shared the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ with him at the door and prayed with him, giving him a Book of Mormon and challenging him to read. It was awesome! And we have another appointment with him this week. Ta dah! A new investigator! He is very sincere and prepared. Miracles happen when we have faith!

Well, both of our baptismal dates fell through. We dropped one of them (more like she dropped us) and the other didn't want to do it this week. That one is really sad because he has been investigating the church off and on over the years and his wife is a member. He's had so many baptismal dates already but has never made it into the water. I pray for the Spirit's guidance so that we can help him come to enjoy full membership in the church and the blessings of the gospel. The Spirit has been so strong in our lessons with him, which gives me hope that he will yet make it to those waters.

Another miracle of the week is that we had almost all of the recent converts in church this last Sunday! 6 out of 7! It was incredible to see them all there! I was especially happy that Maricruz came with her son and stayed all three hours! I was thinking in the middle of Sacrament Meeting what a miracle it was and how it is a miracle every time she comes. I'm so grateful for the miracles of the Lord!

Make it a great week, ya'll! I love you!

Yours,

Hna. Cottam

companions and stakes

Dearest Family,

Transfers came around this week. Hna. Camejo and I are staying together here in Blackcreek for another 6 weeks :) I'm glad to get more practice with my Spanish with her. Sadly, Hna. Ence has left us. It's been a lot quieter today without her... She left to open up a new area an hour and a half west of us with Hna. Camejo's trainer :) Small world among the hermanas :) She is needed up there even though we'll be missing her here.

We had a wonderful multistake conference on Sunday. They reorganized four of the stakes in the Toronto area. Our stake has been discontinued and we are part of the Brampton stake--where the temple is :). But they also added a new stake in Barry. We had two visiting authorities: Elders Koelliker and Ellis of the first and second quorums of the 70. (Elder Ellis has an article in the January Ensign which mirrors the talk he gave at the conference--look it up!) They are both from Idaho originally :). They held a meeting with all the missionaries Sunday morning which was awesome! We started by each of us shaking their hands, hands that had shaken the hands of the apostles a few days prior. They gave us some wonderful direction on helping our investigators form a communication line with God that will really help our investigators, especially for the two who have dates for this Sunday but have been struggling to find an answer.

Another of our other investigators is doing very well. He is the brother, Martin, of Eduardo, the recent convert. He reads even faster than Eduardo who read up 1 nephi 11 the first week! Martin had read to 1 Nephi 20 on Sunday. He is very humble and is looking for something more to believe in. He is a clean-living person as well. He is set for March 18th. :)

We are working with another woman named Cristina, also a member-referal. She recently had an infant die--that's how we found out about her. She is open to learning more and we've met with her a few times. She is also set for the 18th at this point. I can't wait to teach her the plan of Salvation :)

It's wierd finally being done with the 12-week training, but I'm excited for the time to go find more people to teach. And I'm excited to continue to work with Hna. Camejo. She's been an awesome missionary to work with so far.

I enjoyed my studies today--Ether 4. It reminded me of how beautiful the gospel is and the temple and the things we learn there. I love this Gospel. It has filled me with such peace and joy and love all my life and especially now that I understand it better. I love this work.

Make it a great week!

Yours,

Hna Cottam

“I’m floating”

Dearest family!

I hope your week has gone well. Happy Belated Birthday to Dad, Mom, Jesse, and Luke! oh, and Julie from last month :)  

We had a wonderful leadership training last Thursday! I took away so much and we are trying to put what we learned into practice. A Brother Watson and anther brother from the missionary department came to help out our mission in the areas that we needed it.  We focused on baptismal invitations, which included how to teach the Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ--it's not just a story about a boy who went into the woods to pray, it's about how the gospel of Jesus Christ which prophets have taught since the beggining is restored today. We also focused on planning and inviting people to pray and one or two other things. Oh, it was jam packed with awesomeness ;)

Eduardo was Confirmed yesterday! It was wonderful to see him complete that covenant. I asked him how he felt after sacrament meeting and he said, "floating, always floating" and we was. He used to be missing something now he's found it and he feels peace and calm. He's been awesome. Yesterday he even paid tithing for the first time! He wants so sincerely to follow the Lord. It's wonderful to see.

On Saturday we met and taught his brother, Martin. They room together, but Martin is seldom home because he has a girlfriend, etc. I hope that he will embrace the gospel as well. So far he hasn't expressed the same desire to know, so we'll see how it goes. He is willing to prepare himself to be baptized, though. And with the Lord, anything is possible :)

We're also working with a "dry mormon". His name is Hno. Cruz. He's the husband of a member and has been coming to church for at least seven years now consistantly. They have a set of twins who are almost 2 years old :) He's been taught many times but has just never entered those waters. We asked him why and he said that he doesn't really have any doubts right now, he's just not sure about it. So we focused on the Book of Mormon and getting answers and plan to continue to do so so that he can be sure. Thinking about it now I wonder if he has some doubts, but then I remember in Preach My Gospel where is says that all doubts really come down to whether Joseph Smith was a prophet and whether the Book of Mormon is true. I feel pretty confidant that this time he will enter those waters. We just have to depend on the spirit to guide us.

I read a talk the other day from conference by Elder Christofferson about repentance. I learned again how the call to repentance is an act of love. The Father calls us to repentance because He loves us and He wants us to be free of all the things that weigh us down. When we invite people to repent, we are also showing that same love because we know there's a better way to live--to live in Christ being free from the burden of sin. That makes me think of Oscar one of our recent converts. He had some trouble with the Word of Wisdom a long while back and met with the bishop back then and so he hasn't taken the sacrament in a very long time. He met with the bishop this week. He got to take the sacrament. And he's set to receive the melchezidek priesthood in July. He was so happy! The atonement works, it's real. The Gospel is real! and it has been restored to the earth once more in it's fulness. I love this work!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Yours,

Hna. Cottam