Transfers

Hey Family and Friends!

  Man what a week!! Crazy stuff has been happening!! This is the last week of the transfer. It is Elder Fincher's last few days as a missionary and he has taught me a lot. Elder Fincher has been a great missionary and a fantastic companion to me. I'm sad that he is leaving and I will miss him. He will do well with the rest of his life and I know that he will go far in the Gospel.

  Well Transfer Calls came on Saturday... and I've got some big news for you guys. But I'm going to make you wait. haha. So, since Elder Fincher is going home, I knew for sure that I was going to get a new companion. I didn't know if I was going to stay in Marion and get a new companion or move to another area. So, transfer calls are pretty intense stuff. My district got moved around quite a bit. We have 5 missionaries coming into our District. It's going to be a crazy adventure getting to know them. Our District has 5 sets of missionaries and 2 sets of senior missionaries. We have a really big District.

  We've had a crazy past week. Elder Fincher was super "trunky" this past week, but we've stayed pretty focused and we've accomplished quite a bit. We are making progress with quite a bit of our investigators. We are teaching a guy named Seldon. We have really spiritual lessons with him. He just needs time to take all the information that we give him and soak it all in. haha. We've asked him to pray to Heavenly Father and find out for himself. I love going to his house. The Spirit is so strong.

  We are still teaching the girl named Kendra. We had a really great lesson with her and her friend last week. She is reading the Book of Mormon and making a lot of progress. The only thing that's hard with her is we need members to be present. We don't have a ton of members in our Princeton Branch, but we are making a lot of progress. More and more people are coming to Church and it's so cool to see the progress of our little church.

  We are still teaching Jay. He is an older gentleman. He can't see very well, so we go over and read scriptures with him on a weekly basis. He loves having us over.

  I love seeing the progression of so many people. It feels me with joy to see them come closer to Christ. I love sharing the gospel and I love being a missionary. I love it all!! I'm having so much fun. I really am. You guys have helped me so much. I love all the support and I treasure everything that I get from you guys. I am received so many packages and letters!! Elder Fincher is super jealous!! haha. It will take me awhile to write everyone back. Please be patient with me. 

  Okay, I'll finally tell you about my transfer call.  I"M GOING TO TRAIN A NEW MISSIONARY!!!! and I"M GOING TO BE DISTRICT LEADER!!! AHHHHH!!! hahaha. I'm so excited and so privileged to train and be a district leader. I can't wait to get into the swing of things.

  I'll explain more later. Right now I'm at our Transfer Breakfast and we are about to start. Thanks for all the love and support!! I'll talk to you guys soon. Sorry I didn't get to write very many of you. It will be a crazy day today and we won't have a lot of time. I love you guys! I miss you guys. I'll see you soon!!

-Love Elder Cottam

P.S.  I'M STAYING IN MARION!!! Sorry, I forgot to add that!