Monday, February 17, 2014

P-Day Picture

I got an email tonight from 
Sis Aherns with this picture she took of 
Elder Cottam emailing us from her house today! 


Hey Family & Friends!!
It's been a crazy week!! haha. I hope you guys have had a good week. I love you guys so much. I can't believe how much support I have from you guys. I love it!

Monday: Last Pday was pretty sweet!! One of the most memorable experiences of my mission!! President Anderson came down to Marion and picked us up and took us down to Princeton to go bowling!! It was so much fun. We had so much trash talk between us!! haha. As you could probably guess, President Anderson kicked our butt!! He got 159 the first game and 158 the second game!! I swear that guy is good at everything!! Elder Roney and I thought we could take him, but we were wrong... haha. Elder Roney got pretty close to him in the second game, but that's because President cheated!! haha. They were cleaning the lanes and the guy knocked the pins down to sweep the lane and it ended up giving President an extra strike!! haha. Of course the time that President comes down is the time that I completely sucked it up. We had a lot of fun though. After bowling, President took us to Subway, then back up to Marion to see a couple of our investigators. We had this really powerful lesson with Seldon!! The Spirit was so strong and we all had really powerful testimonies. After Seldon, we went and saw Bill. Bill wasn't feeling too good, so we gave him a blessing and read some scriptures with him. The Spirit was so strong during the blessing. Bill's daughter Rachel (Less Active Member) was there and she told us that she really felt the Spirit. The whole day went so perfectly! It was amazing!! We had a great time with President and he said that he had a great night as well. We were so shocked when he said he was coming down! It was such a privilege to have him come to Marion. President and Sister Anderson are the best! I love them to death!

Tuesday: We met with a Less Active Member at McDonalds. Her name is Annette. She has lived in Marion for quite some time. She was saying that she wants to come back into the Church. We talked with the branch and we should be getting her some Visiting Teachers soon. Hopefully she can attend church soon. We had a great talk with her. Later that night we went down to Family Home Evening in Princeton and Tim & Trudy came. The little lesson and activity went really well. Tim & Trudy thought it went okay cause they misunderstood what Brother Aherns was saying, but we went back on Thursday and cleared everything up. They were supposed to get baptized this week, but they were really sick yesterday and they couldn't make it to church. Hopefully we can have their baptismal service next week. Everyone is super excited for them. They love having us over and they love the Church. I love it!!

Wednesday: Temple Trip!!! The temple they have in Franklin, TN is so beautiful on the inside and outside. It's a super tiny temple (perfect for my tiny mom ;), but the peace and love you feel inside is still the same and just as powerful. I have missed going to the temple so much and it was so nice to finally go again. We had are District go through together and it was such a neat experience for all of us. I love going to the temple and I'm so grateful that we have so many temples that are so close together in Utah. It was a good 2-2 1/2 hour drive for this one. Most people hear have to make the temple a full day activity. After the temple we went to lunch at Chipolte. It was really good, but it doesn't compare to Cafe Rio. Oh how I miss Cafe Rio... and Panda Express... haha. Then we headed back to Marion. The new Cadiz Elders who used to be the Princeton Elders have been in Fairview, TN for the past 3 weeks. They finally got a replacement companion and they finally got a car for them to use in Cadiz. Their apartment wasn't completely ready in Cadiz, so they stayed with us until Saturday. Let's just say, it's been the longest 3 days of my mission. They are great missionaries, but they need to change some things.

Thursday: It was quite interesting figuring out what to do with Cadiz Elders while we had are normal plans, but we made it work. We went and saw Tim & Trudy and had a great lesson with them. We were so grateful that we could take care of the issue they had at FHE. They feel a lot better right now. We were so grateful that everything went well. Then we went and saw Seldon with the Cadiz Elders. The lesson went really well. We talked about what has been reading. He loves reading and we love talking about what he read. We also talked to him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I found this cool way to explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ by using an egg and sucking it through a bottle. If you don't know what I mean, I'll have to show you sometime because it would take a long time to explain it all. haha. It's pretty cool!!

Friday: We had weekly planning for most of the day. I like to plan really thoroughly for the next week. It makes it so nice when we have most of the planning already done. Every night we have a nightly planning for the next day and it goes so much better when we have most of it already planned. After planning we went to play volleyball with the members of the Marion Baptist. They love having us come and play and we love playing with them. It's really good fellowship.

Saturday: We tried to go down to Eddyville to get our car fixed, but on Saturdays they aren't open for very long, so we had to wait. We went out with Brother Aherns to see a bunch of people in Eddyville and Kuttawa. We ended up having a lot of success. We met with a couple less actives and they were welcoming to us. Then we had dinner with the Walkers. They are the sweetest old couple ever. Then we drove down to Princeton and talked with a bunch of people down there. It was a pretty good day!

Sunday: We had a great Church service. The Princeton Sisters and one of the Cadiz Elders had to give talks in Sacrament Meeting. All 3 of them did very well. Then we had a great missionary correlation after church like we always do. We headed back up to Marion and stopped to see one of our investigators, Tom & Kathy. We gave her a blessing because she has been really sick recently. The Spirit was so strong. Kathy said she was very grateful and that she has never had a blessing before. It was a very cool experience for all of us. 

Today: We still needed to fix our car, so we drove down to Eddyville and put it in the shop while we email and have lunch with the Aherns. After emailing and lunch, we will head back up to Marion and do the normal routine. After we write letters and stuff, we will go over to Seldon's house and play ping pong!! haha!! Super excited.

Thank you so much for all that you guys do. I hope you guys had a great Valentines Day. I enjoyed everything I got from you guys. Especially the food Grandma Heidi! haha. No one can compare to your cooking Grandma. I'm sorry that I haven't sent anything to you guys. I've been super busy. I hope you guys know that I love you and miss you so much. Time is so different while on a mission. Things are flying by! haha! Love ya guys! Have a fantastic week.

-Love Elder Cottam


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