changes in this beautiful Christmas season!

Dear Family,
William's baptism went really well. (I'll send pics next week) There was a sweet spirit there as he made this covenant with his Heavenly Father. I feel privileged to have been able to help him make the final preparations for his baptism this last week.
We have also been helping Angela with her move a lot. She has very little but her apartment will be a home yet :). We met her grandmother Azucena with whom she is now living. She has some experience with the church already--her sister is a member!. We're excited to start teaching them both!
Transfers are this week. My companion is being transferred up to Kitchener and I will be staying here with Hna. Varley. I've been hoping for the opportunity to work with her more closely after going on an exchange with her a couple of months ago. But I will certainly miss Hna. Ence. It has been wonderful to work with her again the last 6 weeks and I have learned so much from her...again :). She has helped me a lot this last transfer. We have learned a lot about humility and patience and faith, and diligence. Just to keep going when it gets tough and we're not teaching as much as we'd like. (sorry if this doesn't make a lot of grammatical sense, my thoughts are all over the place right now, though nothing like Hna. Ence.)
And with the change, God is so good! On our way to do a little shopping today we ran into one of our investigators with whom we haven't talked all week: Adriana! We didn't know how Hna. Ence would be able to say goodbye. Adriana will be going back to Mexico very soon. We hope to help her continue to progress and to find the missionaries down there. I love her so much and will miss her.
We also met two new investigators who have some promise. One of them is a scientist so it was a very interesting lesson :) He was a little blown away when we taught him that God has a body and that heaven is a place. He's excited to learn more :)
Here's to another wonderful, jolly week in this beautiful Christmas season!
Love,
Hna. Cottam

CHRISTmas

Dear family,
We found someone new to teach! His name is Gelbert, and we found him by calling old street contacts. He is really interested and wants to change his life for the better. He is having to overcome many addictions at this point in his life and wants some extra strength. He accepted to be baptized on Jan 6th :)
Adriana is not doing as well. She had an appointment with immigration and they are sending her back to Mexico. She did come to the primary party but missed church yesterday. She is really stressed and has asked us not to come by this week. We were able to organize so that she could get a blessing of comfort and counsel and she appreciated that. So we will be praying for her very hard.
Angelo had a change of heart. He wants to be baptized now. So we set a date for Jan 6th as well. The Lord works in mysterious ways and he has with Angelo. :)
We've met several in-active and less-active members this week (we are hoping to find investigators through them). So we have started to work with Bro. Ortez and Bro. Espinoza. Each have their challenges, but both seem to have the potential to make it back. Bro. Espinoza has many friends and family we can work with, so it will be good.
Two of the investigators from the Elders are moving into our area so we're excited to work with them. William has a baptismal date for this Sunday. Angela also is very receptive and prepared. We will be helping her move tonight.
I love that Christmas is on the air. It's a wonderful time of year (and a great conversation starter :)) And I know that as we put our trust ever more fully in the Lord, His purposes will be fulfilled. So often this work is hard, but it's like the currant bush and the gardener. Sometimes He cuts us down so we can grow and bear fruit, eternal fruit. I love you all. I love this work. I love the Lord. I will do His will.
Love,
Hna. Cottam

CHRISTmas (continued)

“[President Brown] told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and he thought he heard it say:
“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”
Years later, President Brown was a field officer in the Canadian Army serving in England. When a superior officer became a battle casualty, President Brown was in line to be promoted to general, and he was summoned to London. But even though he was fully qualified for the promotion, it was denied him because he was a Mormon. The commanding general said in essence, “You deserve the appointment, but I cannot give it to you.” What President Brown had spent 10 years hoping, praying, and preparing for slipped through his fingers in that moment because of blatant discrimination. Continuing his story, President Brown remembered: “I got on the train and started back … with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. … When I got to my tent, …I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, ‘How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?’ I was as bitter as gall. “And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, ‘I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’ The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness. … And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to [God] and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.’”God knew what Hugh B. Brown was to become and what was needed for that to happen, and He redirected his course to prepare him for the holy apostleship.”
I love this story! It is so true and applicable to my life many times.
Hna. Cottam

Let it snow :)

Dear family,
We're finally seeing signs of snow. We've been getting a couple flurries here and there, but not much.
Well, it's been a trying week and a week of introspection to find out where we need to improve. We are racking our brains for ways to find new investigators (while starting the live Christmas card project), but amidst the trials there is also light.
We dropped Angelo. He's not showing the fruits of progression, so it's about time we put our focus on others.
But Adriana came to church! She said that when she misses she can feel the difference. And she's planning on coming to the upcoming ward activities and to keep coming to church each week. We got to sit down with her and her boyfriend again this week. We taught them the plan of salvation. Ricardo has an uncle who is on his way out of this life so it was good for him. We invited him to baptism. He said not now, but maybe in the future. We are praying for them. The law of chastity is Adriana's only wall right now. We pray that she might have the strength to make the necessary steps to keep it.
Diego hasn't been answering any of our calls. We hope that all is alright with him.
We taught a couple of potential investigators this week, one being Martin. He gave us our referral present lesson this week by inviting his roommate to sit in. It was a good lesson, but we haven't been able to set up a return appointment.
I think the biggest thing we've been realizing this week is our need to build our faith and to work together and trust in the Lord, to give it all to Him. There are some potential leads looking our way. A couple of investigators from the elders who will be moving into our area, a couple of referrals. As we put our faith in Him and not our selves, we will see miracles. I know it. And I know that this is not our work, but the Lord's.
Love,
Hna. Cottam

It's the Christmas Season! mormon.org/christmas :) (from November 19. 2012)

Dear family,
We've had a good building week. A bit of super happy news is that two of our recent converts went to the temple to do baptisms on Saturday!!!! They both loved it :) One of them, Fernando, also blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday :) He's progressing really well. We also got in contact with a couple of our recent converts (there's a lot :)) who we've been trying to meet with for a couple of weeks, so that was awesome.
Unfortunately, neither of our progressing investigators made it to church. Otherwise they are doing well. Diego stopped drinking coffee this week! and has felt better physically. We were able to sit down with Adriana AND her boyfriend! He asked us what we thought about them not being married, since Adriana had told him that she couldn't get baptized until they were married. He doesn't have much desire to get married right now, but it's a step that he asked and we were able to clear up that Adam and Eve were married. And she has been keeping the word of wisdom since she heard it. We are praying hard for her.
We have started to teach a referral from Fernando--Carlos. He's one of Fernando's best friends. We're excited to teach him. His biggest challenge will just be getting up the desire to act. As we taught about how we have a prophet today he said he wanted to look him up, so there's promise! and he is willing to read and pray.
We also have a couple of Christmas finding ideas that we are excited to try out. One is a new sub-page of Mormon.org which will be running from now to Dec. 26th. The other is a Living Christmas Card where we will sing some hymns and recite a few scriptures and give the person a christmas card written by their member friend. I can't wait to try it! It's Christmas caroling to the max! :)
We've got a lot of good things going and as we reach higher and trust deeper and talk to everyone we'll find those in our area who are ready. We're especially hoping to find more families. :)
I love you all so much! And I'm so grateful for my family--you all :)
Love,
Hna. Cottam

miracles happen!

Dear family,

There were some wonderful miracles this week. The two main ones are that Adriana and Diego both came to church!!! When we went to Adriana's to o with her to church she told us she didn't want to come because she had so many other things to do. We were both disheartened as we heard her out. She invited us in for a moment and as we were talking she asked when church ended then started to get her kids ready and came. :) Oh, my heart soared because it's such an important step for her as she strives to make changes in her life. She thanked us as we left and she enjoyed the meetings. Her biggest challenge will be the law of chastity. We had another lesson about it this last week and she hopes to get married to her boyfriend, but separation is an option. She's done it before. So we have high hopes for her. Her date is still the 2nd of December.

Diego hadn't been answering his phone all morning before church so it was also a miracle to see him when we arrived and he highly enjoyed the meetings. I think it helped a lot that our last lesson with him was in the church. We had shown him around and explained the meetings so he had a better idea of what to expect. He likes what he has read of the Book of Mormon and is praying for his date on the 25th of this month.

We had yet another miracle at church. The non-member daughter of a member came to church! Her name is Laura and we've taught her a little here and there as we have helped to activate her mother. So that's an excited step for her and she said she felt good.

We're excited for Fernando the recent convert. There's a temple trip this weekend and he is planning on going to do baptisms. He also had his first experience with FHE yesterday and loved it. He continues to grow in his testimony.

I loved what Sis. Cottam wrote last week about how sometimes we teach and teach and teach but we have to do more. We must create an environment where the Spirit can witness to the person of the truth. The teacher is the Spirit. Something she is working on is depending in the Spirit, and her e-mail touched me so much because I too have been striving to learn that lately. It is critical in this work that we let the Spirit guide us and that we don't just flap the jaws. I am striving to allow the spirit to guide my words in every teaching/finding situation, and I'm struggling with it, but I know as I trust Him and allow Him to help me, I'll be able to do it and learn one of the skills I want most in this life: that of hearkening to the Holy Spirit.

Thanks for the e-mails!

I love you all so much

Love, Hna. Cottam

week 1 in the new area

Dear family,

Hey! first week in Christie! It's been a big adjustment for me with all the new people and new area but it's been great. There are a lot of good things happening here.

For example: we had a baptism! It was a grandmother and her grandson. Three of her children are active members in the church. The grandson had a fear of water so that's why he waited a year to get baptized, but as Hna. Ence and her previous companion came to teach him they found his grandmother. She's been going to the church with her family for many years now but now was finally the time for her to make that step. She let go of her stubborness and knew it was true. It was wonderful to see the fruit of that work.

We have lots of investigators we are currently working with. Some more promising than others, and there are a lot of recent converts to take care of so we are busy every day teaching and finding to keep our teaching pool full.

A little about the area: It a ward of mostly spanish with some portugese members. We are located in downtown Toronto. There are four--yes four--sets of missionaries in this ward! 3 Spanish and one Portugese. We share the building with an English ward.

I'm excited to work here in Christie with Hna. Ence. We may have started out together but we've had two pretty different experiences and I'm excited to learn from her. I think one of the biggest things I'll learn this transfer is faith. Faith that we can and WILL reach our goals. Faith to reach higher than what's been done in the past. Faith to endure to the end and let this mission completely change me. As I have met all these new people I have been working hard to open myself up to them so that I can help them. It's a work in progress, but I'm starting to learn names and faces and getting to know the people here. It's been good. And every once in a while I see someone from Black Creek :) which fills my heart with joy. One family came to the baptism and there's a family that moved from Black Creek to here several months ago that I'll be seeing all the time.  

I love this quote from my mission president today: "“In life we will never achieve 100%, when 90 % is OK". To succeed and find joy in missionary work we have to place everything on the altar. We have to decide that 90% is NOT OK. Would you consider your car reliable if it started only 90% of the time? Would you consider your electricity reliable if the lights in your apartment came on only 90% of the time?  We must align our will with the Father in every aspect of the work. We will be blessed as we discover for ourselves that 90% effort, or 90% obedience, or 90% commitment will not bring us the blessings that we otherwise deserve."

It's so true. This transfer 90% will not be okay. I'm excited. We're excited. and we're working hard.

(and sorry if this sounds kind of all over the place. so are my thoughts with all that's gone on!)

Love you all!

Hna. Cottam