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

yup, it was white :)

Dear family,

We had a baptism! The baptism went really well. Many from the ward and my zone leaders came. It was a sweet experience. His name is Eduardo from Mexico. It's been amazing to see him come to this point of baptism. He is bright and just takes it all in. He read up to 1 Nephi 11 in the first week that we knew him and was at page 60 yesterday. It is wonderful to his progression. I think he will become a strong member. It's been good for his friend Oscar as well who is a recent convert who has been struggling of late. To see his friend progress in the gospel has been a great strength for him.

Our next potential is Magdalena. She wants to understand and she's taking many of the steps to do so. She just has a hard time leaving behind her habits from her Catholic religion, but she's trying. She's starting to build a friend base in the ward which is good.

Maricruz, our other recent convert, came to church yesterday after not going for a couple of weeks. It's been hard for her because since she got baptized her husband, who is already a member, has not been supportive at all and is gone most of the time. We've been striving to help her build her faith and she came! It was a joyous sacrament meeting :)

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week! The weather has been getting warmer here so the little snow we had is gone. As soon as I can figure out sending pictures from my camera I will! Chau!

Love,

Hna. Cottam

From Left to Right: Sister Cottam, Sister Ence, Eduardo, ?, Sister Camejo

the snow is finicky, but Sunday will still be white :)

Dear Family,

We had a neat experience with a potential investigator this week. His name is Fernando Polar. He spent a couple weeks in Salt Lake a while back and called to have the missionaries teach him more. We've been trying to figure out how to meet with him for quite some time and finally sat down with him in the church this last week. He is awesome! He is prepared :). We weren't able to make another appointment with him because he is going on a business trip to China this week. He'll be gone for about a month. But we are super excited to teach him after that. We had a member couple with us during the lesson as well and he was asking them questions and talking with them so he's got a really good start!

Eduardo is continuing to progress. He is set for baptism this next Sunday! He is feeling more and more ready for baptism as he sees how much good it will bring to his life. He just wants to know and his humility is incredible. For example we were finishing up the plan a salvation and he asked, "What do I need to do to get to the Celestial Kingdom?" And we went right into the doctrine of Christ. He's awesome!

His progress has also been really good for his friend Oscar, a recent convert. He's been coming to our lessons with him and coming to church with him and you can just see the light in him. It's great to see. He was struggling for a while. I hope that they will continue to be a strength to eachother.

We're also working with a woman named Magdalena. She feels good about what we are teaching her but doesn't fully understand the implications of the Restoration so she'll take a little more time.

I forgot to tell you all about how we had interviews with the president last Wednesday. It was good to sit down with him and his wife. He gave each of us a chart about the fourth missionary that is really neat. He got it from a member of the 70. It's a chart showing the different types of missionaries out there. The first is one who is disobediant and ends up going home. The second is disobediant--his companions and those around him know it, but he slips by to the end of his mission and comes home unchanged. The third is a hard working missionary who is obediant and does good, but comes back only a little changed. The fourth missionary is described as total surrender, his greatest desire is to do the Lord's work. He is completely changed by the mission. Pres. Scott encouraged us to be the fourth missionary. This is also my zone's focus this month, to master the fundamentals of being this fourth missionary. I hope I can become like that. :) One step at a time.

I love you all!

Yours,

Hna. Cottam

it was snowy, now it’s rainy

Dearest family!

We've had a some good things happen this week. Magdalena, who we found the week before, came to church! She wasn't able to come the week before and she's not very set on getting baptized at this point but she's giving it a shot and got along very well with the members. She really wants her step-son to get involved with the youth so that he can get closer to Christ. We'll see where it goes.

We had an awesome lesson last night with one of our investigators. His name is Eduardo and he is the friend of one of our recent converts--Oscar. He sat in on the last half of a lesson with Oscar and his roommate Julio the Saturday before and came to church with them. We challenged him to read the book of mormon and pray to find out if it was true. He didn't come to church yesterday because he didn't want to come without Oscar and Julio. We tried to get ahold of the other two to set up an appointment but they didn't answer, but Eduardo did so we saw him last night with a member. He's up to about 1 nephi 4 and has a good grasp of what's it is saying already. He's been very receptive so far. We set him for baptism for next month. He has been prepared :)

The weather's been pretty good here. A bit of snow and then rain today. It makes life interesting :)

So today was Chinese New Year. A few of the sisters in my zone are from China so we all went over to China Town to celebrate. It was fun.

Have a great week everyone! I hope it's a great one!

Love,

Hna. Cottam

the weather's getting colder but the work is getting hotter!

This week's been a 'hot' one. Sunday especially was amazing. We had 3 investigators at church! Even better was that Maricruz was confirmed. It was a bit of a mission to get her to church but she got there! It was a beautiful experience. I felt almost more joy that she was confirmed than baptized because receiving the gift of the holy ghost is the second, essential part of baptism. Now she needs to just endure to the end (including getting to the temple!).

We found several new investigators this week and are continuing to work with Julio towards his baptismal date in February. He is still reading and praying. We've had a couple of really powerful lessons with him. I know the Spirit is working through us to help him recognize the truthfulness of this gospel and his desire to know is growing.

One our new investigators we found while passing by old contacts in the area book--Rayo. She had been taught a time or two by the missionaries a year ago but was too busy at the time. Now she has a little son and is not working so she can take care of him so she has more time to meet with us. She came to sacrament meeting yesterday with her husband and we saw her again last night. She has potential :)

I had a really good study this morning. I read about the sons of Mosiah and how they couldn't bear the thought that anyone would have to endure endless torment (Mosiah 28:3). What love they had for all people! That is something I could develop more. My purpose as a missionary is to help others come unto Christ, and to do that I must forget myself and love as did the sons of Mosiah, to get lost in the work. Time is so precious out here in the mission field. I've been waiting my whole life to come and do this, and I can't waste it.

We have interviews with the mission president this Wednesday and our new district leader is great. They actually split up our district into two since it was getting so big!

Oh, and it finally snowed some more here! it has stuck for a couple of days now because it's been pretty cold. I love it!

Have a great week ya'll!

Yours,
Hna. Cottam

From left to right: Sister Cottam, Sister Ence, Maricruz, Sister Scott, President Scott, Sister Camejo