Zone Leader and a new Companion

Hey Family and Friends!!!
   Man!! What a week!! This has been one of the best weeks of my mission. My new companion Elder Shiner is the man and we have such a blast together!! My area is so sweet!! We have 2 Baptisms lined up for this week and the week after that and we will have a high possibility of 2 more!! Our apartment is by far the best apartment I've ever had!! It's 2 stories and it has wifi!! haha. I love being a zone leader! We also have a full time car. We have a solid ward as well. We have almost every night filled with dinners. I've never had this many dinners. This transfer is just too good to be true. I love it!!

Tuesday: We had an awesome transfer meeting. Lots of fun and I got to see a lot of the my friends. I'm getting to know more and more of the missionaries and I love it. I hope that these people will be lifelong friends. Drove to Cookeville after and got to know Elder Shiner and some other Elders in our zone. Got to the apartment and went to the Zitting's house for dinner. Then we went to the Barrett family's house. Megan the daughter is getting baptized this Saturday and her mom is getting baptized next week. They are both super excited for their baptism. The dad is a member and the other daughter is just beginning to take interest in the lessons.


Wednesday: Went up to Livingston to switch with the elders up there. Elder Fisher is the District Leader up there. I got to see him again and talk to him a bunch. Elder Fisher has one transfer left!! CRAZY!! He went with Elder Shiner to Cookeville and I went with his companions, Elder Blackburn and Hansen. We had a good time together. We taught a bunch of investigators and less actives. Livingston just became a Branch. It was awesome.

Thursday: We switched back in the morning. Went and saw a bunch of people throughout the area. We are teaching a bunch of really solid people. It's great!! We went to a part member house and we taught the mom the Plan of Salvation. The daughters are already members and the mom is looking to be baptized really soon. She just has a boyfriend and she needs to get married soon cause he is living with her.

Friday: We had a great weekly planning session. I got to know the area better. We were at the church planning when we got this call from a guy named, Ron. He was super interested and wanted to come by and get a Book of Mormon. We told him that we were at the church and we would love to give him one, so he just came by in like 10 min and we gave him copy and taught him the Restoration and gave him a church tour. It was awesome!! He is going to read it and we are going to set up a time to come teach him and his family. Later that night we had a super solid lesson with a less active family.

Saturday: It was a pretty good day. We tracted some houses and we talked with a bunch of less actives.

Sunday: Had a great first Sunday.  I was able to meet a bunch of the ward members. They are so great. Talked to a bunch of less actives and investigators after Church. It was a pretty great week.

Thank you so much for all that you've done. I love and miss you guys so much!! I love my mission!! Have a great week!!

-Love Elder Cottam

President Andersen's first baptism.

Oh I forgot to tell you that President Andersen baptized Peter!!President's first baptism on the mission. 

We feel special!! Haha

July 14, 2014

Hey Mom!!

I'm doing fantastic!! I'm super excited to be a Zone Leader!! I was so grateful to President for giving me the privilege to serve as a ZL. My new companion is Elder Shiner. I've only met him a little bit, but I've only heard great things about him. I have a really good feeling that this is going to be one of my most favorite areas. I'm not a big fan of Green Hills, but I definitely learned a lot and I'm grateful for the opportunity. I will miss Elder Peterson a lot though. He has been one of the best companions. I talked with the previous missionary today about the area and he said it's pretty solid. I feel that I was here in Green Hills for a good amount of time. For Zone Leaders, the mission has about 8 Zones and 2 ZL's per zone and they have a couple Districts in each Zone. So Elder Shiner and I help the District Leaders and we plan for Zone Meeting and Zone Conference. We work a lot with the Stake President as well. We also go on exchanges with all the District Leaders and the Assistants to President go on exchanges with us. It will be a great learning opportunity and a lot of fun. I'm stoked!!!

Peter's baptism went perfectly!! We were so happy for him. He was confirmed yesterday and you could see a glow in his eyes. It's sad to leave him, but I was grateful to see him be baptized before I left. Peter is such a great guy and he is so funny. He loves the Lord so much and he loves the church. 

So really sad news.... Elder Roney has to go home early... He was doing some service with a member and he got smacked in the head really good. Had to be rushed to the ER. His skull didn't get cracked, but it opened his skin up pretty good. If you go on Facebook to Elder Roney's profile you might be able to see the post about it. I was really bummed to hear about it. He said that he is going to come back for sure though. I said my goodbye today. We needed to go to the mission office in Brentwood to pick up his companion until transfers. He will come back though. 

Thank you so much for all you do mom. I love you so much!! I won't be able to get out that many emails today because we were running around earlier and we have a lot to do for transfers. I also got to write you a letter for your 21st birthday coming up ;) ;) I wish I could be there to party with you momma. I really do love and miss you. You're the bestest. I got the package!! Thank you!! I'll see you soon!!

-Love Elder Cottam

10 MONTHS DOWN!

We sure do miss this boy! 

10 MONTHS DOWN!!

Peter was baptized!

We got a text today from a member in Elder Cottam's ward with this picture of Peter and Elder Cottam. The text told us that Peter was baptized today!  It also said that Elder Cottam is being transferred on Tuesday to Cookville, Tennessee.  He is going to be a Zone Leader.  Way to go Elder Cottam!

Timmy

This is Timmy.  A fantastic guy!!

A Better Week!

July 7, 2014

Hey Family & Friends!!!

This week was a lot better than last week!! We were able to teach a bunch of lessons and help a lot of our investigators progress!! Peter is still planning on being baptized this Saturday and we are super pumped!! We had a fantastic lesson with him yesterday!! We had President come with us and be part of the lesson in the last hour of church. We feel that that was the changing lesson for Peter. We talked about Baptism after and we really helped him understand the importance of it and after that we were telling the whole ward and he was excited!! We showed him the font and he really enjoyed it. We still have more lessons to teach him, but hopefully we can get them all covered through the week. Peter is such a great guy and he really loves the Lord.

Monday: We did the normal pday thing and we tried to go out and find some people that night, but we didn't have any success.

Tuesday: I had a leadership training meeting to go to that took up most of the day. It was a fantastic meeting and I learned a lot!! We have solid leaders in our mission and we are really progressing. We have a bunch of goals for the mission for the year and we have been kind of low in the past couple months, but June we had the 3rd highest month in the history of the mission!! We see a lot of progress and potential in the upcoming months!! The only downside to the day was, Elder Peterson had to be with 2 new missionaries and since they didn't have bus passes, they had to tract a bunch of houses for most of the time. They got a lot done and found a lot of people, but it was rough. After dinner, we went up to area 4 and talked to a guy named, James. James has been progressing really well. We've taught him the first 3 lessons and he really likes it. He is just busy and his wife doesn't want to listen, so we have to kind of work around that. Hopefully we can help him come to church with his family. Him and Peter will be the biggest focus in the next transfer.

Wednesday & Thursday: We had a pretty solid District Meeting. I had a new Hermana give a training for the first time and she did a great job. We switched with the zone leaders after that for exchanges. I went to Antioch with Elder Harris (Different Elder Harris, we have about 3 in our mission haha). Elder Loveless came to Green Hills with Elder Peterson. We had a good exchange. It took up most of Wednesday and Thursday. Elder Harris is a great guy. He's from Orem, UT and he loves to play lacrosse. He had a couple mini lacrosse sticks in their apartment and we tossed it around a couple times. I learned a lot from him and I hope I helped him as well. Elder Peterson and Elder Loveless had a pretty good time in Green Hills. Elder Loveless was pretty impressed with how well we ran our area. They were able to have a pretty good lesson with Tyson.

Friday: We helped a member move to start of the day. It was pretty easy because we had a lot of help. We did our weekly planning. Then met some people down by the Green Hills mall. We went in for the night and we tried to see some fireworks, but couldn't see anything. Probably the worst 4th of July ever, but you know... whatever! haha. Elder Peterson and I had a pretty fun night.

Saturday: We went up to the North side of our area and we were able to meet a lot of new people. We met this awesome couple, Anthony and Winoa. We talked to them for a little bit about what we believe and about the Book of Mormon. They said they would use it for some of their personal studies. They also gave us a bottle of water... Thank goodness!! haha. It was pretty hot. Well, it's hot everyday!! haha. After dinner, we went up to area 4 and had a bunch of solid lessons. Met this one funny guy named, Tiger. haha. He changed Elder Peterson's name to Dixter because he thought he was a pretty funny guy. haha.

Sunday: We had an interesting Sunday. haha. Started off kind of rough because one of our members was giving us a ride to pick up Peter and bring him to church and they got a call from their grandson's boyfriend and he broke up with him and then punched him and it was a whole lot of drama... haha. Yeah there is too much to explain, so I hope you enjoyed that sneak peak. haha. Other than that, we had a great lesson with Peter. Met some cool people after church. Had dinner with the Myler Family. Tyson knows Bro Myler, so they invited him over for dinner. Tyson is so cool. We love teaching him. He makes us laugh every time we go over. haha.

Thanks for reading my emails. I hope you guys enjoyed! I love and miss you guys so much!! I hope you have a wonderful week!! Stay classy.

-Love Elder Cottam

Rough Week.....

June 30, 2014

Hey Family and Friends!!
This week has been a rough one, but you have those every once in awhile. Haha. We're all good now!! The Green Hills area is moving forward. We are finally starting to see a lot of progression in the people we teach and we love it!!

Monday: We had a great exchange. We went on splits with Bro Aros and Bro Myler. Bro Aros was the only one we were supposed to go out with, but since we had a set appointment with a guy named, Tyson, we had Bro Myler come with us because he knew Tyson from work. Great connection!! Elder Peterson went with Bro Myler to see Tyson and they had a great lesson with him. I went all over Nashville with Bro Aros. Too many people weren't home of course, but we were able to have two lessons with Fred and Victor. Victor and Bro Aros really connected because they are both Hispanic. It was a good day. On the way home, I asked Bro Aros if he had ate at the "Mellow Mushroom" (pizza place) and he said he hadn't, but then he was like, "Should we grab a pizza??" I was like sure!! Haha. So we came back to Elder Peterson and Bro Myler with a giant pizza. It was pretty great.

Tuesday: We met this awesome lady named, Ellie. (Wow!! I'm finding a bunch of people with similar names) We went to the bus stop and she was sitting there. We start talking to her and it turns out that she had a bunch of Mormon friends and she had 2 copies of the Book of Mormon. We start talking with her and getting to know her. She is really sweet. She speaks English perfectly, but she is Hispanic.  She is just super busy with work because she is a nurse at Vanderbilt. We got her information and we told her about the awesome Spanish Sister missionaries. She was super excited. The sisters called us yesterday and said they set up an appointment with her and they are excited. After dinner, we had a super powerful lesson with Andrea. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. It went really well!! She really enjoyed it and she said that it makes sense.

Wednesday: We had a really great District Meeting! Elder Peterson gave a fantastic training on using the scriptures when we teach. It was so funny!! Then the rest of the day was pretty slow. We had an interesting lesson with Peter. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went well, but then he had a struggle with understanding Adam and Eve and God's plan for them. He wanted to move his baptismal date to he 12th of July. Hopefully everything will iron out.

Thursday: We met this really cool guy named, Jacob. (God is pretty funny with all the people I met). Jacob is in his 20's and he is a gamer. Elder Peterson really connected well because Elder Peterson loves video games. Elder Peterson needed to go to the dentist, but that was a bad situation because he guy was a jerk and they couldn't really help him. Then we went to California pizza with a couple members. It was pretty good, but super expensive. Lucky we had the member with us. Haha. We had a good exchange with Bro Lambert. Saw some cool people and taught James the Plan of Salvation

Friday: Worst day ever. So the past couple days, Elder Peterson an I have been getting these red bites on our legs. We didn't know if they were mosquito bites, or spider bites, or bed bug bites, or what. We talked to Sis Andersen the night before and she told us to call Sis Johnson. We called her Friday morning after we got done with our service project. She we thinking it was most likely bed bugs. So she had us go home and clean the place and take all our sheets and clothes and put them in a bag. Elder and Sister Johnson went to Walmart and got a bunch of stuff and grabbed a couple things and then came over to evaluate the situation. We spent most of the day cleaning and washing laundry, and getting supplies and all that junk. The Johnson's were so nice to us though. They helped us with everything. We've been watching closely and we haven't really had more bites. We weren't even sure if they were bed but bites. They looked like them, b we looked really closely on our mattress and couldn't find any. It was just a mess of a situation.

Saturday: We did our Weekly Planning session since we had to run around all day. We found a lot of new people and had some decent lessons later that night.

Sunday: We had a good Church service. We spent the last hour of Church with Peter and a member. We showed him the Restoration video. He enjoyed it, but he is still trying to figure out some things.

Crazy week, but we made it through it. Thanks for reading my emails and for supporting me. I hope all of you are well. I love and miss you so much. Have an awesome week!

-Love Elder Cottam

Pictures of Nashville

June 23, 2014

Hey Family & Friends!!

This week has been fantastic!! It flew by!! We had a lot of help from our members to go out with us on exchanges and we saw a bunch of people. Peter is still progressing towards baptism. We are figuring out a place to meet him, so that it's easier to teach him.​ Elder Peterson is a lot of fun and we always have a blast together.

 

Monday: We had a fun Pday.  Just the normal stuff. It's always relaxing. We went out with a member to see a couple people. Bro Denny has only been a member for about a year now, but he is solid!! We had a couple lessons here and there, but we'll take it. Exchanges never go as planned. haha.

Tuesday: We went downtown to have a lesson with Peter. Met a cool guy named Loyd on the bus and talked to him on the bus. We met Peter outside this little business. We got to know him better and just talked about his life. We tried to teach him about the Plan of Salvation, but the lesson was all over the place. haha. We went up to the North part of Nashville and met up with Beverly & Paulette. They are just these two nice older ladies. We sat outside and taught them the Restoration. Some guy passed by the fenced and asked for some money because he was really hungry, so Beverly offered two pieces of bread and a piece of bologna, but then he turned his story into needing money for his brother to get a slice of pizza... What?! He probably just wanted money for drugs. We had a good lesson and committed them to read and pray. Beverly seemed really interested, but Paulette was a little distracted. haha. Later that night we went out with Bro Spencer. We saw this guy named, Tyson. haha. Crazy stuff. Anyways, he reminds me of Chet Mauchley and someone else, but I can't figure it out. haha. We had a great lesson with him on the Restoration. He is a doctor at Vanderbilt, so he's pretty busy, but hopefully our next lesson goes well. We also had a solid lesson with Steven & Breea. We mainly talked about Apostles because Steven doesn't think we need Apostles today. It went really well. He is basically stuck on that because he thought there was a scripture that says no more Apostles after Christ, but we will figure that out tomorrow because we are going back. 

 

Wednesday: Pretty slow day. We had a great District Meeting. We tracted around Vanderbilt. Super hot!!! Went to dinner with Sister Tanner. She took us to Cheesecake Factory. Delicious!! Then, we tracted some more. Found this awesome girl named, Fantashia. Elder Peterson started talking to her on the bus and taught her the Restoration. It went really well.

 

Thursday: Most of the day was spent in Franklin at Zone Conference. It was great. Had awesome training's and talked with a lot of missionaries. Went out with Bro Booker and saw Andrea. We had a great lesson with her on the Priesthood and the Restoration. She really enjoys learning and she loves having us stop by. Hopefully we can have the YSA sister missionaries really connect with her.

 

Friday: Oh man... Friday was a crazy day!! How do I even explain what happened... haha. We started off the day like normal and we did some weekly planning, but we had to go up to the north side because we met this girl named, Clemmie. She wanted us to come back and listen in on her class. She said it was with some teenagers that were struggling/ going down the wrong path. She wanted us to come and listen, then give our message to them. So, we go down there and we knock on the door and no one answers, so we knock 2 more times and a guy finally answers. He wasn't sure what we were doing, but he called Clemmie and she told him to take us out to the back. We went through the house to the backyard and they had this mini house. We went inside and there's a bunch of teenagers sitting in a circle. We were like, "what is this?" Then, we go further in the room and realize that there is a camera and a guy with a big microphone!! We asked the guy, "What is this? Why is there a camera??" He said, "Oh this is for Clemmie's documentary" It was weird, but we were like, "Okay!!" haha. So we sit down and start to realize it's like a "recovery program". These kids needed some motivational boost and they were trying to keep them out of trouble. We basically went around and answered questions like, "How does it make you feel when you are put in a situation where you can't be yourself" or "How does someone need to gain your respect". It was pretty great!! It was a fun experience for us. Later that night we got caught up in a confusing funeral, but I'll have to explain that one later!! haha!

 

Saturday: We finished weekly planning. We also tracted a bunch of houses for most of the day and saw a bunch of people that lived by them.

 

Sunday: We had a great lesson with Peter after Church. We taught him the Plan of Salvation with Bro Smith in an empty classroom. We talked with Zack and Connie after that and had a really powerful Plan of Salvation with them as well. We had an awkward dinner with the Estevez family because we mis-communicated and ended up interrupting their soccer game. haha.

Good crazy week!!

Thanks for everything!! I love ya!! I miss ya!! Thanks for being patient. Have an awesome week!!

 

-Love Elder Cottam

Mid week Text!

June 16, 2014

Hey Family & Friends!!!

We had a pretty solid week!! We had a bunch of lessons and we found a lot of new people to teach. We are focusing on having a lot of them attending church. Hopefully it all works out. We have been having a big boost in the member help and hopefully we can start to move things forward. Elder Peterson is a fantastic companion. He has such a strong testimony and he really works hard.

Monday: We did the normal stuff for the morning and emailing. Went to Noodles and Company for lunch. Then, we went to the Green Hills Mall and looked around the stores. I bought this really cool "Fusion" watch. I love it. I still have my old one, but I was looking for something a little different. Then, we tried to find some iPad cases, but they just had rip off cases at the stands and the Apple store is way too expensive. We weren't looking too hard. We went and bought some groceries and headed back up to the apartment. We went out to the Middle Vanderbilt area and tracted for the rest of the day. We contacted this nice girl named, Molly. She was pretty interested and we passed her off to the Young Single Adult Sister Missionaries. Hopefully it goes well. We also contacted Peter by phone to set up an appointment. He was pretty busy throughout the week, but we just said that we would have a lesson with him after church. We talked with him for a little bit and found that he had been reading the Book of Mormon and really enjoyed it.

 

Tuesday: We had a pretty successful day. We went up to the North Side and met a bunch of new people to teach. We came back and had dinner and went to the North part of Vanderbilt. We taught a couple people there and we found this really cool guy named James. It was a pretty good day.

 

Wednesday: We had a pretty good District Meeting. I haven't been doing to well with the training's I've been giving. I've kind of been in a slump, but I think the next couple meetings will go well. We went to Facebook after. We did a lot of back and forth between where we wanted to go. We were picked up for dinner by President Andersen. Sister Andersen made us a wonderful dinner and we had a great Plan of Salvation lesson with them. I was so grateful to Sister Andersen for taking our picture and sending it to you guys. We went out with President Andersen after to see a couple of our investigators. Of course when President was with us, not too many people answered. We were able to talk to this guy named, Jay and set up a return appointment. We talked with a couple other people that night.

 

Thursday: We had a solid day on Thursday!! We went up to the North Side and contacted a bunch of people and set up a bunch of return appointments. It went really well. We came back and had dinner. We went to a different area and tried to see a couple people, but not too many were home.

Friday: We helped the Little Pantry that Could. They needed a lot of help this time because they got a large supply of food. We helped carry the food from the truck to the room and we helped them put the food on the shelf and get it ready for Saturday when the homeless come get it. Came back and weekly planned. That night we met a bunch of new people and set up a couple return appoitments.

 

Saturday: It wasn't too great of a day. We tried to go up to the North-West Side and see a bunch of people, but most of them weren't home. Tried to got to a different area after dinner, but not much success.

 

Sunday: Peter came to church!! He wants to come every Sunday, but sometimes we have a hard time getting him a ride. Hopefully we can work out a good system. After church, we taught Peter the Restoration and committed him to being baptized on July 5th!!! It was a super powerful lesson and Peter really enjoyed it. We are teaching him tomorrow and hopefully we can have more amazing lessons with him. Had dinner with the Thompson Family. They are so incredible. They are super nice and they want to be involved with missionary work. Went out with Bro Estevez after that to see some people, but of course, a ton of people weren't home. We were able to have an interesting lesson with a guy named, Johnny. He just likes to talk though. haha. Oh Johnny...

 

It was a great week. Thanks for reading my emails and supporting me in all that I do. I love and miss all of you!! Have a great week!! See ya soon!!

 

-Love Elder Cottam

We got this text from Tyson's mission president! 

Along with these Pictures!

Elder Peterson

June 9, 2014

​Hey Mom!!

I'm doing fantastic!! My new companion is way legit!! He is so funny and such a strong missionary. He has gone through a lot in his life and in the mission, but he is a fighter. He is already one of my most favorite companions. He is a little crazy sometimes, but he is cool. We get a long really well. He is exactly obedient as well and that helps a bunch!! He is from Afton, Wyoming. He is a character. He wants to go into graphic design or computer programming when he is done with his mission. He came out with Elder Harris. He was in the same MTC room as him.

I better go.  Enjoy all the pictures!

Love, Elder Cottam

 

Transfer week

June 2, 2014

Elder Cottam didn't have time to write a friends and family email today so I thought I would let you know what he told me in my email.

He is staying in Green Hills and getting a new companion tomorrow. Elder Peterson. All he said about him was "he is going to be an interesting companion."  I'm not sure what that means. He said he has only talked to him a few times.

He said they had a busy week and taught 15 lessons.

Well, that's about it. He said they were running a ton of errands today because of of transfers tomorrow. Hopefully I will get more info about his new companion and a picture soon!

Elder Cottam's Mom

A Baptism through Skype!

 May 26, 2014

     Hey Family & Friends!!

This week has been a really good week. We are finally starting to make some progress. Hopefully we can keep it going and make this area amazing. Transfers are coming up soon! This coming Saturday is our transfer call 5-31. I can't believe that this transfer is almost over! I wasn't able to get on he computers today, but I was able to slowly write this throughout the day. I hope you understand. I'll write you guys tomorrow.

Monday: We did the normal routine in the morning, then went to the library to email. Elder Harris needed to get some new pants so we went and got some. We came back and wrote some letters and took a nap. haha. It was a pretty good pday. haha. After dinner we went out and talked with a referral we received from the Bellevue Sisters. We met him at work. He works at an old fashioned diner. We met with him for a little bit and got to know him. He has some potential, but he is just super busy. The day went by too fast.

Tuesday: We helped out one of our members, Sis Rowe. We helped her move a bunch of furniture in these super fancy and expensive apartments. Her dad or someone in her family owns the whole building. It's pretty ridiculous. Haha. After dinner, we went up to the north part of Vanderbilt. We found this one area up there that's pretty golden. We were able to have 5 solid lessons with some of our investigators. We are finally starting to see some success. We are coming back to a lot of the potentials and teaching them again and making return appointments. It's still slow, but we're making progress.

Wednesday: We started the day off with Zone Meeting. We had some really good trainings for the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. We switched with the Zone Leaders for an exchange. Elder Fore went with me to Green Hills and Elder Harris went with a Elder Loveless to Antioch. Elder Fore and I had a great time. We work really well together. We had 3 solid lessons with return appointments in the north-west side of our ward. After dinner, we went to the north part of Vanderbilt again and had 2 more lessons and follow up appointments. We found 5 new investigators that day!

Thursday: I was still with Elder Fore and it happened to be his birthday on Thursday! After studies and Facebook, I bought him lunch and this little sub shop. It was pretty good. We went to sweet Cece's after that. We headed up to the north part of Nashville and found a bunch of new people to teach and taught a lot of Restoration lessons on their front porch. We committed a black guy named Robert Smith (;) haha) to be baptized after he came to know the Book of Mormon was true. We haven't set a baptismal date yet, but he has a lot of potential. After dinner, we went to the north part of Vanderbilt again!! Haha. We were able to have 3 more solid lessons and follow up appointments that night as well. I loved working with Elder Fore. He is a really good missionary and he works hard. Together in the 2 days, we had 11 other lessons and 10 new Investigators!! That's a ton in 2 days. Thursday night, President gave me a call and told me that Matt was going to be baptized on Sunday!!!! I was so happy. Matt is Tim & Trudy's son. He is 17 and just finished his Junior year of High School. President told me that it would be after Church on Sunday and that I get to Skype in!! I was so happy to hear this!!

Friday: We had a normal Friday with Weekly Planning. We planned for the first part of the day, then tried to go out and teach people in the area where we live, but not too many people were home. After dinner, we tried to see a couple people, but they were busy. We headed to the Church because the Green Hills Sisters had a lady named, Janice being baptized. I interviewed her for baptism and got to know her better. She is a great lady and she has gone through a lot. Her daughter was just baptized about a year or less ago. It was a great story overall.

Saturday: We tried to see some people before we went to Janice's baptism, but we didn't have much luck. We attended her baptism and it went perfectly. It was a great services. We had dinner after that and tried to see some people that night.

Sunday: We had a good time at Church. Not too many people because a lot had graduated and were off on vacation for the memorial weekend. After Church, I skyped in to see Matt's baptism!! It was so fantastic!! He has become a different person and I could see this amazing glow about him. I was able to take some screen shots before and after the baptism and I was able to talk with him before and after. I also talked with a lot of the old Princeton members. It was so wonderful. I miss them dearly. They are family to me. Matt was so happy after his baptism and it was just so wonderful to go through this process with him and his family. It made my week!!! We came back and studied after Church. After dinner, we went to the patriotic concert held at the Church. It was a good way to finish the night. What a day!

Today: Well I wasn't able to get on the computers because it's a holiday, but I was able to type this up as Elder Harris and I have been going back and forth to Bellevue. We went up this morning and went bowling with them. It was pretty fun. We got to relax a little bit and have some fun. We are heading back to the apartment to write some letters and have dinner. It's been a pretty good day. I'm getting on the computer to email you guys tomorrow, so I'll talk to you guys then.

Thanks for being patient and thanks for your support. I love and miss you guys so very much! I'm having a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot. Thanks for all your prayers and thanks for your letters/emails. Have a great week!

-Love Elder Cottam

Elder Cottam got to Skype with Elder Roney who was also watching the baptism through Skype.  

LOVE IT!!

I love missionary work!

May 19, 2014

Hey Friends & Family!!!
This week was a pretty good week. We are finally starting to have some success with following up with the people we've met. We have a pretty good teaching pool and we are adding to it each and everyday. If everyone was home when we come by, we would have a million baptisms, but people are gone so much! haha. We understand though. I love missionary work. It's not the easiest process, but it sure is the most rewarding. I'm so grateful for all the tools and supplies to help us with the missionary work.

Monday: We did the usual with getting all the basic needs done. We also got a call from President and he told us that we needed to give a blessing at the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. We headed up there and gave the little boy a blessing. We emailed, then headed to the Church to play some basketball with the Bellevue Elders. We had a good time with them. It was a lot of fun. We came back to the apartment and wrote some letters. We left to have dinner with the Haglund Family. They are super nice! They live in a normal size home, finally! haha. We had dinner with them and Sis Haglund's parents. It was kind of interesting, Sis Haglund's dad was a Mission President for the Brasilia Brazil Mission. His name is Bro Babbel. (or something like that) I was like, "No way!! My uncle, Robert Smith served there!!". Rob, what was your Mission President's name?? haha. That would be a small world if it was the same guy. Anyways, they made this interesting "Thai" food for us to eat. After dinner, we share a message with them and set a date to come back and have dinner with one of their friends. We then went to a referral's house, Russell and started talking with his dad, Russ. Russ has had a lot of experience with our Church before. We left him with a Book of Mormon because Russell wanted one. Russ didn't really want to learn more, but he was a super nice guy and gave us a ride back to our apartment. We then finished off the night with having a message with the White family. They are kind of less active because Sis White is disabled and Bro White had surgery on his foot. We committed them to come to Church this Sunday and we would help them get around. They came to Church this Sunday and had a great time.

Tuesday: We went up to the North side of Nashville and tried to see a bunch of potential investigators and members up there. Not very many were home. It's hard because a lot of them are at work during the day. We headed to a different area to see a referral. This guy wasn't home, but we called him and set up a time to come by that night. This guys wasn't in it for the right reasons though. He just wanted money and it didn't go the way we hoped it would. We were able to get him a ride for Church, but it didn't go very well because he just wanted money. After Dinner, we went out with Bro Booker. He is a recent convert! He's been a member for about a year. We went out and saw a bunch of our investigators. We stopped by one of our top investigators, Steven. His wife, Bree answered and said that he wasn't home. She was really nice. We just explained who we were and what we do as missionaries. She said that she would tell him that we stopped by. It was a good night. We were able to see a couple people and talk with them on the door step and talk with the referral.

 

Wednesday: We had a really good District Meeting. We really felt the Spirit strong with the different trainings and messages. I personally learned a lot. After District Meeting, we went to the Hospital to give another blessing for this lady's little boy. After dinner, we went out on exchanges with Bro Gould. We had a lot of success with him. We came back to Steven. He said that he has been reading the Book of Mormon again (This will be his 3rd time reading it) and that he has a lot of questions. He was busy that night, but we got his number and we said that we would call and set up a time to meet up with him. He is a really nice guy. He has an awesome family too. We also tried to see our other top investigator, William. He wasn't home, but we were able to meet his sister, Erica. Talked about who we are and what we do as missionaries. We gave her a copy as well and committed her to read it. They are just an awesome family. We also had a pretty cool lesson with Markwood. We haven't been able to see Markwood in a long time. Bro Gould bore a really powerful testimony. It was great!! We had to hand Markwood off to the YSA though. Hopefully they can make an impact on his life. We also talked with a girl named, Angel. She is a girlfriend of one of our potential investigators. We told her about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy as well as Chester. Good day!

 

Thursday: We had interviews with President. It went really well. President and Sister Andersen are so amazing. They have so much love and kindness. They are such hard workers and they are making our mission amazing. President even polished my shoes while we were talking!! He is doing that for every Elder in the Mission!! After, we switched with the Bellevue Elders and went on exchanges. Elder Randall and I stayed in Green Hills and Elder Harris went with Elder Leavitt to Bellevue. Elder Randall and I had a pretty good time. We went up to the North-West side of our area and contacted some of our investigators up there. We had a really good lesson with Jay. He hadn't had a chance to read the Book of Mormon yet because he is super busy working at Vanderbilt, but he says that he really wants to read it. We had a great little lesson with him. We also tracted around his house a met a bunch of his neighbours. We met a girl named Katie & Jenny. Who would have guessed that? haha. Jenny's mom is a member and Jenny remembers going sometimes and said she really likes it. It was really successful. We came back for dinner. We headed out to the area that was by us and tracted a bunch down there and met a bunch of really cool people. We gave away a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon. It was a really good exchange.

 

Friday: We had crazy day!! We started by going to the service project that we go to every week, "The Little Pantry that could". We switched back with the Bellevue Elders then did the service project. We then came back and got a call to go to the hospital for another blessing. After waiting a long time for them to do some tests on the little boy, we finally gave the blessing and left to go weekly plan. On the way back, we received another call from the Zone Leaders to go up to a different hospital to give another blessing. So, we headed up there and waited for the person to be ready. We headed back for dinner. After dinner, we went up to the North Part of Vanderbilt and tracted around there. We have most of our top investigators there. We found two ladies, Raven and Sea-Enna (Not sure on the spelling haha). Told them about the Book of Mormon and gave them a copy. We didn't get to Weekly Plan.

 

Saturday: We had breakfast at our Ward Mission Leader's house. We ate a delicious breakfast, then had a small correlation meeting. We headed back to the place and waited for a member to pick us up for a service project she had for us for one of her friends. She has a non-member friend that was moving and needed help. We drove with them to her house, but got lost because Brentwood is so massive and has so many houses. haha. Her friend ended up living right next to our Ward Mission Leader's house!! We were like "what?!?!" We were here just a couple minutes ago!! hahaha. Everyone here doesn't really know their neighbours and they have friends, but they usually don't know where they live.... Sad life... I'm so glad it's different in Utah!! haha. I had a good time texting our Ward Mission Leader and telling him that we were helping his neighbour move!! haha. We were able to talk to a bunch of her friends that were helping her move about our Church and about missionary work. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and explained it. We came back and weekly planned. After dinner, we went and saw a guy named, Jay. We met Jay at "The Little Pantry that could". He is a super cool guy. The only problem is he lives in kind of a "Half-way House or Penitentiary House". It's not hard to get into and teach him a lesson, but it was just difficult to figure out the situation and figure out where he lives. We finally got inside and taught him the Restoration. It went so well!! He loved it! We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We also asked him if he came to know that it was true, would he be baptized and he said he would!! Now, we just have to continue teaching him and have him come to church. We asked if he wanted to come to church and he said he would love to come, but he has to get it approved first. They have to check in and out everytime they leave or go somewhere. Hopefully we can make it work cause he is such a cool guy.

 

Sunday: We had the most interesting Sunday ever!!! First the referral came and that was just a mess. I'll have to explain it in person sometime. haha. On the good side, we had this guy call us in the morning and he said that missionaries talked with him awhile back and he wanted to come to church. He came and brought a friend, but his friend was from Vietnam and couldn't speak any English... haha. It was a good day after that. We went over to the Gawry's for lunch and to the Moore's for dinner. We were able to really connect with the families really well.

 

Crazy week, but I love it. Thanks for all your support!! I love and miss you guys so much!!

 

-Love Elder Cottam

Skype on Mother's Day

May 11, 2014

We had an amazing time talking to 

Elder Cottam on Mother's Day!!

He looked and sounded so good.  

He is LOVING his mission!

 8 MONTHS DOWN!!

Slow week??

May 5, 2014

Hey Family & Friends!!
This week was a pretty slow week, but that tends to happen sometimes.  I hope you enjoy hearing about my week.

Monday: We had a pretty good Pday. Got a lot done and had some fun. We went to a dinner appointment with the Tolk family and had a lessonwith their friends, Jean & John. The lesson was kind of all over the place and I was trying to bring it back to the basics. It turned out fine, but it's hard sometimes when others try to understand the College or High School level of our religion before understanding Elementary level. All of it is true, it just doesn't make sense unless you know the basics first. That's what I love about Heavenly Father and this Church. It's a Church of personal learning and personal progress. We all learn at our own level.

Tuesday: We went out to find some less active members in area 6 of our ward, but we didn't have a lot of luck or time. People are never home!! haha. I understand though. For dinner the Barton Family have us over. It just so happens that Bro Keith Barton used to be the famous attorney in Utah!! He was the, "One call, that's all" guy!! haha. I used to see his ads all the time when I was younger. haha. We meet a lot of famous people in the Green Hills Ward. Bro Tolk is a famous Physics Professor at Vanderbilt and he has a, "I'm a Mormon" video on mormon.org. It's just crazy!! Anyways, Bro Barton and his family are super nice, they have a ridiculously nice home that even has an elevator inside!! We had a good short lesson with them. Then, we saw some less actives in the area.

Wednesday: We had a pretty good District Meeting. It didn't go as I planned it would, but that never happens. haha. We tracked a bunch of houses around the Church afterwards and found this one older lady named, Beth. She was super nice and really willing to talk to us on her porch. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration and how our Church is ran and organized. It went really well. She was grateful to talk to us that day. After dinner, we took a long bus ride up to the North-West side of our area and tried to see a couple people, but didn't have a lot of success. The bus really kills us sometimes on time.

Thursday: This was a day full of tracting. haha. We found this one really good area and we tried to see them, but most of them weren't home. We had a set appointment with Danielle, but she wasn't home. So,we tracked the area around and found about 5 potential Investigators. It went really well. After dinner, we tried to see some people we talked to before, but they weren't home either, so we ended up tracking around them and found some potentials again.

Friday: Some of the members of our District found this really cool service opportunity and told us about it, so in the morning we headed up there and helped them stock up on some supplies. They are called, "The Little Pantry That Could". They give some food and clothing to the homeless/ less fortunate. It went well. We were able to talk to quite a bit of people and give a couple a Book of Mormon. After that, we had a set appointment with a guy named, Marco, but he also wasn't home when he said to come by. We headed back to the place to weekly plan. For dinner, we went over to one of the Green Hills Sister's Investigator's house. His name is Jason. He is a nice guy, but he isn't progressing very much. We had a decent lesson with him and we focused on having him pray about Prophets. We followed up the next day and said that he had prayed and that he had a lot to talk about, so we should be meeting with him again this week. Hopefully it goes well.

Saturday: We did a ton of Service Saturday. We were asked by the Library to help them move a bunch of books around and set up for their book fair. Then, a single lady in the Ward need help with a bunch of work around her house. We moved some cabinets to her shed, cleaned off her back porch, take a bunch of trash to the dump, and fixed her mud room. Luckily we had a bunch of other men from the Ward, so it went pretty quickly. We tracked after dinner and found a couple people.

Sunday: We had a pretty good Sunday. Good testimonies. Tracked after we had studies after Church and talked with this guy about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. It went well. The Thompson's came and picked us up for dinner. It was really good. We had a solid lesson with them. Came back and looked for more people to see.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my week!! Thanks for everything!! I love and miss you guys so much!! I hope you guys have a great week!!!

-Love Elder Cottam