Super COLD!!

Hey Family and Friends!!

  Man it's super cold in Kentucky!! haha. The weather was in the single digits yesterday. The library was closed yesterday, so we are emailing today. Thank you for being patient.

 

  We've had a crazy week. We had a fantastic New Year. We got to sleep in for once as well!! A whole 15 extra minutes!! YES!! haha. I know, not that much. We had to get up at 6:45 because we had to drive down to Princeton, then to Hopkinsville for a Zone Pday. We got to play a bunch of games and hang out with a bunch of missionaries. It was a blast!! The best part of the whole day was... PING PONG!!!!! Elder Smith (Senior Missionary) brought the net, some paddles, and some ping pong balls. IT WAS LEGIT!! The stake center already had a table. We need to get a ping pong table at our stake center!! haha. I just want all of you to know, I totally dominated on the field!! We had a ton of missionaries come and none of them could take me. Elder Smith was pretty good himself and he got pretty upset when I beat him. haha. It felt really good to play ping pong. It felt like I was playing grandpa when I was playing Elder Smith. I loved every minute of it.

 

  So most of the day we played games, ate food, and chatted it up. We are allowed one full day off as a missionary and they make New Years that day. It was pretty sweet. We were also allowed to watch one Disney Movie. They gave us 3 choices for all of the zone to pick from. I picked Wreck it Ralph, but the vote went to Monster's University. I was so upset. haha. But I loved watching it anyways.

 

  I also got to give my first baptismal interview as a District Leader!! The Hopkinsville Elders has a guy named Chris. He is super cool. He is has a strong testimony and he just got baptized on Sunday. I wish I could've seen the baptism, but it was too far away for us to drive. I got to talk to him about his reasoning for joining the church and it was such a cool experience. I loved it!!

 

  The rest of the week went okay. Elder Roney and I went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders. That was pretty cool. Elder Laufiso came to Marion and I went with Elder Weed to Clarksville. It was the first time that I have done missionary work outside of Marion. haha. All the other exchanges in the past have been my companion going to another area and I stay in Marion. The work is really different being in an area like Clarksville. Clarksville is really big!! haha. It was definitely a twist. Elder Weed and I had a great time. Elder Weed is so funny. He is a great missionary and a fun Zone Leader. haha.

 

  The next day we switched back and Elder Roney and I had a Trainer/ Trainee meeting in Tennessee. The only problem was, the morning that we were going to switch back and drive to Tennessee, I got super sick. I got this weird bug for the whole day. I couldn't keep anything down. We still drove down, but it wasn't fun. Elder Roney participated, but I just layed down in a classroom in the church. It wasn't a fun day at all. Luckily it only was for a day and I felt better the next day. President and Sister Anderson took such great care of me though. They did all they could to help. Even though they were still helping out with the meeting, when they switched to go to another room, they came and made sure I was doing okay. They are amazing. I love them so much.

 

  The next couple days went pretty good. Yesterday on Pday we wrote a bunch of letters, went to a couple stores, and just relaxed. It was a pretty good day. Cold, but good. haha.

 

  As you guys have seen, I'm a Facebook Missionary. The Church has found a lot of success when obedient missionaries are online. I have had the privilege to be accepted to use it. I hope to be friends with all of you. I can't message you or anything like that while I'm on, but I hope you enjoy my post. The work is really moving forward.

 

  Our investigators are progressing, but slowly. Jay is still working on Baptism, but he doesn't want to quit smoking. He has been coming to church and he loves it, but that's about it. Sheldon loves having us come over. He always feeds us something when we are over. haha. Elder Roney and Elder Laufiso saw him last Thursday and they said they had a great lesson with him. We love going to his house and sharing a message to him. It's a lot for him to take in, but he will understand soon enough. Kendra is still reading the Book of Mormon, but she is pretty busy. She loves having us over and she is learning a lot from the Book of Mormon. She is pretty awesome! I really enjoy her name :D haha. We just started teaching a kid named Dylan. We met his family a couple weeks back. He seems interested. Facebook has allowed me to give him links to Lds.org, MormonChannel.org, and other websites. I love using Facebook. It really helps move the work forward.

 

  Thank you so much for all the letters/emails. Keep them coming!! I love you guys. I'm having a lot of fun!! I'm learning so much about this amazing Gospel. I wish I could show you how much I'm learning. This Gospel is true!! I love being a servant of the Lord. I love having your support. It helps me so much!!! I love and miss all of you so much.

 

-Love Elder Cottam