Wednesday was craziest day of my mission, if not my life!!

Hey Family & Friends!!

This week has gone by so fast! It's insane how fast the days go by out here. Haha. It was a great week though. We had quite a bit of progress throughout the week. We have built up our teaching pool and we are still working with the members. The members don't help out as much as we need, but we are grateful for what they have done. Still trying to gain their trust and work with them.

Tuesday: We had a great Zone Conference. It has probably been the best Zone Conference we've ever had. I learned so much and felt the Spirit so strong. They focused on talking to everyone and teaching with the Restoration pamphlets. They told us some tips on how we can talk to a bunch of people. The Church has also started to have us teach using the pamphlets they give us. They want us to start using this method they taught us and start teaching shorter, but more powerful lessons.

They taught us to teach like the Angels teach in the Scriptures:

-"Look!"

-What do you see?

-We explain and teach the simple Doctrine

-Bear testimony and tie it into the next Doctrine

There's a lot more that goes into it, but it's pretty simple and easy and it really helps the people we are teaching learn and understand the most important parts of the message. It's pretty cool.

Wednesday: This was probably one of the craziest days of my Mission. Oh how I wish you guys could've been there!! Hahaha. So one of our members gave us this guy's phone number and said to give him a call because he needed help moving. So we called him on Sunday and he said that he would need our help Wednesday. So, we met him a this Coffee Shop. We go inside and we see a guy waving at us and he is wearing 2 dress shirts, basketball shorts and a rainbow hat!! He was a total hippie. Haha it was the best. We started talking with him and he is this famous poet. He had the craziest personality. He was all over the place when he was talking to us. Anyways, we waited for the rest of his friends to get there, then we headed to this one guys house. We still weren't sure what we were moving... Haha. We get to the friends house and we meet his friends who were also rich hippies who wrote a bunch of music for some artists. Haha. It was the craziest experience. They had so much energy and they were talking about one subject then moving to a completely different one. Then, we went up stairs to see what we were helping them move and it ended up being these huge mineral rock crystals. They were very rare, but super heavy! Haha. Elder Harris and I moved all of them while they just stood outside watching. I'm thinking to myself the whole time, "What are we doing?? What are these for??" Haha. Then, they decided to drive back, but we had to pick up this giant older generation TV. So, we get back to the main guys apartment and we move all the rocks and the TV again into his place. Turns out he has a bunch of smaller crystals in his apartment that are lined up around his whole place. He says he uses them to write poetry and songs. He also told us how he channels the Archangel, Michael through the crystals... Mind Blown! Like I said, the craziest day of my Mission, if not my life!! Haha. Then, later that day, we met a potential investigator that the Elders had been talking to in the past and he was talking to us about aliens and extraterrestrial beings and it was just too much. He was a nice guy, but just way off topic. Haha. Then, we gave a blessing at the Hospital. By the way, if you didn't already know this, there are so many Hospitals here!! Every other block is a Hospital. Vanderbilt isn't the only Hospital, but it covers most of the area!! Yep, that was my day.

Thursday: We all went over to Nashville and tried to find a bunch of people they were teaching in the past, but we didn't have a ton of success. We did have an awesome Dinner with the Bishop and his wife. They took us to a Southern BBQ place. It was super good! We had a great talk with them about the Ward and what we wanted to do in the area. It went really well. We came back and tracked in the pouring rain. It was awesome! We found this one guy named, Zach. He seemed really interested. We also talked to this guy who was really confused and we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and he gave us 2 bananas!! Haha. We were walking in the rain eating bananas!! Haha. It was the greatest!!

Friday: We had a pretty good weekly planning. Then, around 4:00 we switched with the Bellevue Elders and went on exchanges. I went to Bellevue with Elder Lovell and Elder Randell went with Elder Harris to Green Hills. Elder Lovell is an awesome missionary!! It was so fun to be with him. We had so many people drop our appointments or cancel, but it was a great exchange overall. We had a great lesson with Jerry & his family that night.

Saturday: We had a lot of people fall through, but we had a miracle in the afternoon while tracting some apartments. We met his guy named Andrew. He was this big black guy and he was super friendly. He was telling us that they look up a new Church every Sunday and go to it cause they haven't found one that felt right. It was an awesome experience!! We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and Church. He said that he would come and bring his family.

Sunday: Had a great time at Church. I stayed with Elder Lovell and went to their Ward because it worked out the best for the all of us. Got to know their ward. Good relaxing day!!

Had a crazy week, but I'm having a lot of fun and learning so much! Thanks for all you guys do! I love you! I miss you! Have a great week!!

-Love Elder Cottam

Week two in Tennessee

March 24, 2014

Hey Family & Friends!!

This week has been a crazy week, but it has been a lot better than the week before. We're still getting used to the area, but we are making progress. We have been focusing on the members a lot and we have been trying to get as many visits as we can with them. This area is still super different than Marion, but I'm learning to love it. We found some really cool people this week and hopefully we can help them progress.

Monday: We had a pretty good Pday last week. We woke up early to go to the Church for the Mission Choir. Elder Harris wanted to be in the choir, so I just emailed the whole time he was doing the choir, so I was happy. I was so glad that I was able to get a lot of emailing done. I'm pretty sure I'm caught up with responding to everyone. If I haven't responded to you, please forgive me and resend your email. Haha. Thank you so much for all the emails you guys send me. I love each and everyone of them. Anyways, after the practice was over, we played volleyball with our District at the Church. We had a lot of fun! We played a couple other games, then we went to lunch. Elder Harris didn't get to email yet, so we went to the library. He broke his iPad already and he supposed to be getting a new one. haha. After the library, we went back home and wrote letters and relaxed. We ended our Pday with dinner. We tried to see a couple members and investigators after dinner, but no one was home. It was a good Pday overall.

Tuesday: We headed up to the north part of Nashville to see a couple of people the previous Elders had seen. We call the north part of Nashville, "The Sticks" or "Ghetto". Haha. It's pretty crazy up there. It's completely different than Brentwood. That's for sure. There's a lot of good people up there. We tried to see a previous investigator, but he wasn't home. So, we started to tract the area. We found two potentials, Margaret & Steve. Not sure how interested they are, but we will see. We spent most of the day up there. We came back for dinner. The Jones Family fed us dinner and we shared a message with them. They are super nice. We had a great lesson with them and we talked a lot about missionary work and how we needed their help. Most of our success in Green Hills comes from, member referrals. Tracting doesn't work as well as it does in Marion. Sometimes it does, but most of the time it doesn't. The whole Mission wants us to focus on member referrals. After the delicious dinner, we tracted some houses around the Jones Family and found a really cool guy named, Neil. After that, we had an exchange with a guy in our ward, Bro Myler. We didn't have a ton of people to see because we are still new to the area, so we helped him with some home teaching. We went to the Westbrook Family (already knew them a little bit because he is the assistant ward mission leader). They are great! They do so much for us. We also saw this less active member. She was wasn't feeling good, so she didn't want us to stay too long, but we got to know her a little bit and invited her to Church. It was a good exchange!

Wednesday: We had a great District Meeting. I like my District a lot. We went to Sweet Cece's after. It's pretty much Yogurt Land. We like to go there because a member owns it and Missionaries eat free!! Haha. Love it! Afterwards, we met one of our progressing investigators, William. He works at Home Depot and he sells newspapers. So, we were heading to the bus and decided to text him and see if he would be in his normal spot of selling newspapers. He was, so we started to talk to him and get to know him better. We talked about what the previous missionaries had taught him. He has pretty much been taught all the lessons, so we asked him if he would be Baptized on April 5th and he said yes!!! We were so excited!! It was awesome. He said he was going to come to Church on Sunday, but we texted him yesterday asking if he was going to come, but he said he had the stomach flu. So, we are probably going to postpone the date. Then, the worst part was after Church, we were heading back to our place and we saw him selling newspapers again!! :P We were really mad that he lied to us, but hopefully we can meet up with him this week and talk about it with him. Hopefully we can get him to have a desire to come to Church and be Baptized when he is ready. Hopefully it goes well. Anyways, we talked with William on Wednesday and after that, we headed back up to see more members by our apartment. We didn't have much success, but we are doing a great job at updating our Ward Member List. We then headed to Cheesecake Factory and had dinner with a member of our ward, Sis Tanner. She is an older lady who is retired and she loves to feed the Missionaries, so she took us to Cheesecake Factory. It was super delicious!! It's so nice to have members that will feed you. That's the only thing that sucked with Marion was the low amount of dinners. We went tracting after and met this really cool guy named, Mark. He is golden!! He had so many questions and so much energy! It was an awesome lesson! He let us inside and we told him more and it went really great.

Thursday: We tried to see a bunch of members that were by our apartment again. (We found all the members that lived in a good 2 mile radius of us and started with them. That's what we've been doing this whole week) We didn't have much success, but we were able to meet the Wright family and get to know them a little better. Then we went to the Westbrook's house for dinner. She fed us a great dinner and we had a great lesson with them. We went out with Bro Westbrook on exchanges and tried to see a couple less active members. We were able to see Bro Joel Hardin and had a great talk with him. He has been inactive for quite some time, but we invited him to Church. He was really cool and super nice to us. It went really well.

Friday: We headed up to the North side again and had a pretty good lesson with a guy named George. We talked about what he has learned from the previous Missionaries and had a great discussion about the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood. We were also supposed to meet this guy named, Don, but we didn't have time, but we called him and we rescheduled for this Wednesday. Don was saying he saw this documentary about Joseph Smith on the History Channel and was really interested, so we are excited to see him. He sounds golden! We came back and had a great lesson with the Perry Family. They are members that lived close to us. Talked about Missionary work and the area. We came back to our place and started Weekly Planning. We pretty much Weekly Planned the rest of the night and Bro Aros cooked us dinner and brought it over. It was super good too! All of the meals that I've had on my Mission, I've loved! Except this one time they just fed us beans :P but other than that, I've loved it all! I'm trying a bunch of new things too. But, NONE of the food taste like Grandma's cooking!! Nothing will ever compare. Haha. It was a pretty good day.

Saturday: We had correlation with our Ward Mission Leader, Bro Rob Smith. (Hahahaha I couldn't believe that his name was that!!) We talked about our area and what we needed and it went really well. He was excited with our progress. We also got to see the Green Hills YSA have Baptism. It went really well. After that, we tracted around the Church and found this awesome lady named, Casey. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said it was on her top list of books to read because she knows a lot of Mormons. It was pretty sweet. We went to the Thomas Family for dinner. It was way good! We had a nice lesson with them about Missionary work and we got to know them really well. We found this really nice guy that lived by the Thomas family. Gave him a Book of Mormon and had a great discussion with him. We also went over to the White Family and had a lesson with them. They are disabled and it's so sad, but they are amazing and they do so much for us.

Sunday: Had a great time at Church! Got to know the Ward a little bit better. Most have them have been gone for the past 2 weeks because of Spring Break. It kind of sucks, but oh well. Haha. We met this girl named, Bonnie while tracting after Church. We also had the Lambert Family drop off dinner. After dinner we tried to see some more members. Had a pretty good chat with a less active member named, Evan. It was a good a Sabbath.

Today we have done laundry and we will go to the Mall with the bellevue Elders after we get done with emailing. It should be a good fun day!

Thank you so much for all that you've done! I love and miss you guys so much!! Have a fantastic week!!

-Love Elder Cottam

First week in the Green Hills area.

March 17, 2014

Hey Family & Friends!!

Oh man this week has probably been one of the craziest weeks of my mission! I'm settled into the Green Hills area now and it is completely different than Marion, Kentucky! Haha that's for sure! My new companion Elder Harris is also completely different than I've ever had. He is 19, from Hawaii, and he is Samoan. He isn't a big guy though.

I'm in a normal ward now and it's so weird when you come from a small branch. Haha. I love the members though! They are so nice! Hopefully we can establish an awesome friendship with them so that we can have them help us out. We have so many Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, Professors and overall millionaires. We also have those who are really struggling financially. They explained it to me by saying, "We have the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor". Any members that feed us in Brentwood are pretty rich. Their houses are insane!! We had dinner with the Clark Family yesterday... Wow! Their house is ridiculous! Even Sis Clark says that it's pretty insane. Haha. They are some of the nicest people and super funny! I was telling Sis Clark that I would have to bring my parents to their house and she said, "Oh for sure!! They can even stay over if they want!! We will totally party with you guys!!" Bro Clark is an Oral Surgeon. They are awesome!

This area is going to be a lot of work! The missionaries in the past haven't done too great of a job, but we are hoping to change that! We are mainly focusing on the members right now.

Thanks for all you guys do!! I love and miss you guys!! I hope you have a fantastic week!

-Love Elder Cottam

Sent from my iPad

A text from a member of the Green Hills Ward!

On Wednesday March 12th, I got this text from a member of the Green Hills Ward!  

"Hi Sis. Cottam!  We had dinner with your son tonight.  He is wonderful and we are happy he is here! "

I was so excited to see Tyson's cute face and to see what his new companion looks like.  This is Elder Harris.  I can't tell you how fun it is to get random pictures of my son!! 

Success in Marion!

March 10, 2014

Hey Family and Friends,

I'm glad that I'm being Transferred. I get to see what it's like to be in a new area and I already know it will be different. President told me that it is the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. Completely different to Marion! Haha. I also get to ride a bus. Not sure how much, but he said that I'll get a lot of time to find people while on the bus. I'll have a bus pass and everything! Crazy! Haha I'm going to love it!

Elder Roney is staying in Marion. I'm going to miss him. He has been my favorite companion so far. I know that he will do well in Marion.

The baptism went great!! Chris is such an awesome guy. So humble and so nice. The Princeton Sisters have been teaching him. The cool thing about Chris is how we found him. The Princeton Branch went to a fair called, "The Blackpatch Festival" around July of last year. They had a booth and they asked people to fill out surveys to win a picture of Christ and some other things. So, Chris filled it out and he didn't think they were going to contact him because it had been so long. Last Transfer, Elder Lofthouse & Elder Short (At that time, they were the Princeton Elders) gave me a bunch of referrals from the festival. Well for some reason they gave me some Princeton ones. So, we were calling them and asking if they were interested and we weren't having much success. I happened to call Chris and I told him about it and he remembered and I asked if he was still interested and he said yes! About 8 weeks or so later, he is baptized and confirmed!! Miracles!! I love it!

The 5 baptisms that we've had since I've been in the Branch have been,

-Ethan taught by the Princeton Sisters. (I baptized him)

-Judy taught by the Princeton Sisters & Princeton Elders baptized her.

-Trudy taught by us and I baptized her.

-Tim taught by us and Elder Roney baptized him.

-Chris taught by the Princeton Elders & Princeton Sisters baptized him. Elder Roney baptized him.

We are looking to have about 2 more from the Princeton Sisters and hopefully Matt can be baptized by Elder Roney & Elder Openshaw this coming Transfer.

Love- Elder Cottam

Leaving Marion.....

March 10, 2014

Hey Friends and Family!!

It's been a crazy week, but I've loved every minute of it. Especially with Transfers. Haha. I'm moving to Green Hills, TN!! I'm super excited. My new companion will be Elder Harris. I've never met him before, but I look forward or serving with him. It's sad to leave Elder Roney and it's sad to leave Marion, but I know he will do a great job and I know the area of Marion will really move forward. It's been a fun couple months. I'm so grateful that I had so much support from the amazing Princeton Branch. I took lots of pictures with them yesterday and said my goodbyes. I've really come to love each and everyone of them. I'm so excited for the progress their making and I'm so blessed to be apart of moving the work forward. I wish them the best. I would love to come back and see all the progress. I know that I would be blown away!! Anyways, can't explain too much about this week cause I've been slacking on writing to you guys personally and writing letters, so I'll just talk about the main people we visited.

Tim & Trudy: The first converts in the Marion area. I love them to death. They have made so much progress in the Church. They are learning more and more each day and they know that it's true. They're meeting more and more people in the Branch. They love it. Hopefully Elder Roney & Elder Openshaw baptize their son Matt soon. I can't wait to come back in a year and go through the Temple with them!! I'm not sure if I can, but I would love it if I could!!

Bill: We have made a lot of progress with him and he still has such a strong testimony of the Gospel. We love him. He is so kind. We have helped him overcome some fears and he is really progressing. He just got a car, so now he should come to Church pretty regularly. His health isn't that great, but it's slowly getting better.

Seldon: We always have really powerful lessons with him, but he won't pray to know if it's true. He has said to us that he will pray one day, but it's just scared right now. Hopefully Elder Roney can help him understand that this Church is true. Hopefully he prays soon. We love him!

Dylan: Dylan is an awesome guy. He is 18 and lives with his parents. He is very knowledgeable about the Bible and he really finds the Book of Mormon interesting. We have been talking to him about the importance of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. So far he is reading a little bit and likes it. He loves having us over and we love coming over.

This is only 5 out of about 10 main people we are teaching. We love  each and everyone of them. Each one is progressing at their own pace.  Besides the 10 main people, we have a bunch of potentials and a couple  of Less-Active Members we're meeting with. I love it! So many people.  So many wonderful experiences. I wish you could be here with me. I  wish you could experience everything I'm going through. I know that  you would love it! Talking about Jesus Christ is one of the greatest  things anyone could do. I'm having so much fun. I'm learning more than  I ever thought possible. Thank you for all that you've done. Your  support means the world to me. Keep the letters/ emails coming. I'm  doing my best to respond. I love you guys. I miss you. Have a great  week!!

-Love Elder Cottam

Sent from my iPad

Pictures

Elder Cottam and Elder Roney

Elder Roney baptized Chris on Sunday March 8th!

Elder Cottam's iPad mini!

Email on Sunday

I got this email on Sunday from Sister Ahrens.  I love when I get info about my son from the members of Kentucky!

This is the young man Chris who was baptized

 today thanks to Elder Cottam.

Elder Cottam is being Transferred on Tuesday!

We just got a text from one Elder Cottam's branch members.  He is being transferred on Tuesday to Green Hill, Tennessee.  Green Hill is about 19 miles outside of Nashville.  He is sad to leave Marion Kentucky, but as you read in his last letter, he had a feeling it was coming. 

We know the people of Green Hill will LOVE him!

iPad Mini

Hey Family & Friends!!
This week has been a crazy one. We have had a lot of success and a lot of fun!! The weather has been really crazy recently. We have quite a bit of snow and ice right now. The library is closed... luckily I got an iPad mini now!! Haha. Our whole mission received iPad minis to work with. They are awesome!! The Church has this awesome app for us to use that helps us stay organize and move the work forward. We love using them.

Monday: We had a fun District Pday last week. We went down to Hopkinsville. We played volleyball and a couple other games with our District. We also played ping pong and I still dominated. I played Elder Smith (senior couple) and barely lost to him though. Haha. It was a lot of fun. After, we got dinner and headed back to Marion. Elder Roney stayed in Hopkinsville and we went on exchanges with the Elders. Elder Motes came back with me. We went to Tom's house and talked to him for a little bit. We talked to Tom about the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood. He has had some lessons before. He still has a lot to learn, but he doesn't have a ton of time because he works so hard at his job. Then, we went to Seldon's house because we didn't have any set appointments and we were pretty sure he was free to talk.
We stopped by and he was surprised to see us, but he still let us in. We showed him a Mormon Message from Mormon.org. Then we had a great conversation on prayer and receiving revelation through prayer.

Tuesday: We started off by having a great lesson with Bill. We started the lesson with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but it lead us into talking about dealing with adversity. We helped him to have courage and strength to press on with being baptized. Bill is such a nice guy. Then we tried to see a bunch of people, but didn't have much luck. We headed down to Princeton for Family Home Evening. We tried to see a couple people on the way down and in Princeton. Family home evening went really well. The Princeton Sisters had a great lesson on Church, Prayer, Read (CPR). They talked about how we need to have all three in our lives. Tim & Trudy came and had a great time. They are super excited for the Holy Ghost and Confirmation into the Church on Sunday.


Wednesday: We had Interviews with President and the Assistants gave us a training on using the iPads!!! We received the iPads and we were shown the stuff the Church gave us for them. It was awesome! That took most of the day. The iPads get rid of the daily planners, area books, and help us share videos, share messages, and plan easier. We love them!

Thursday: We had a miracle today. We were working this particular area in Marion trying to contact some potential investigators. We didn't have much luck, so we started tracting the houses around us. We knocked this one door and this nice woman answered. We started to explain who we are and the Book of Mormon and she says, "Oh, I know who you are. I was baptized a couple years ago in Utah. I've lived in Marion for about a year, but I came from West Jordan, Utah." WHAT?!?  Are you kidding me?? I'm like, "No way!! I'm from West Jordan, Utah!!" We high fived each other and had a good laugh about it. We started talking to her. She's from the actual West Jordan though not the Copper Hills West Jordan. It was still awesome to find a recent convert in Marion!! Her name is Maria. She is a single mother
that has 3 kids. She is super nice. She was recently diagnosed with cancer though. We hope to get her active again and get her help from the Branch. After that crazy miracle, we went to Tim & Trudy's house. We had a great lesson with them. We talked about being confirmed on Sunday and they were still excited for that. We also talked about reviewing the lessons again throughout the weeks. Now we are focusing on their son, Matt. We went to Seldon's house next. Had a really cool lesson on the scriptures he's reading. He just finished 1 Nephi and he had read 2 Nephi 1-6. He loved it. He is learning so much and he loves reading the stories in the Book of Mormon. We stopped by Bill's house after that. Talked to him about adversity again. We also helped him protect his Facebook so that he has good people on Facebook. Good day!

Friday: We spent most of the day putting all our area book information into the iPads. The iPad's sync with Salt Lake, so that if we get transferred, the iPads already update the information that the previous missionaries had put in. It's a really cool system! We took a break and went out with Brother Ahrens to see a couple people. We had a great lesson with a guy named, John. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. It went really well. After that, we went by Kendra's house and talked to her about her reading. She loves reading. Kendra also had some cousins over, so we were able to talk to them about the Book of Mormon and give them one. Brother Ahrens took us to a fish fry in Kuttawa again. It was pretty good. Cat fish is pretty good. Can't have too much though! Haha it's an all you can eat fish fry. It was pretty good, we also got to meet a lot of people that live in Kuttawa. We went back and continued to put people in the iPad.

Saturday: We helped a family move. They are a nice family that have lived in the Branch for quite awhile. It sucks that they are leaving, but they have a big family and they need a bigger house. We then went to a funeral. We met a lot of nice people and had a good talk with them. The person that died was a lady in our ward, Sylvia. Then we headed back up and went out with Brother Ahrens. We went to Maria's house and had her meet Brother Ahrens. Had a good little meeting with her. Finished off the night with Bill. Brother Ahrens helped Bill have courage.

Sunday: This is when the weather started to get pretty bad. Luckily we were able to go down and have Church and have Tim and Trudy confirmed. We only had sacrament because they wanted everyone to get home safely. We came back and had studies. Then, we had to stay in because the weather was too bad. Luckily we had iPads!! We were still productive even while being trapped inside. Haha

Today: We are going to do our best with this crappy weather. Haha. We were able to get out and find wifi so that we can email you guys. It's starting to warm up a little bit.

Well guys, thanks for all you do! I'm having so much fun! I love my mission and I'm learning so much. I hope your week goes well. I can't believe I've almost been out 6 months!! Crazy! I love you! I miss you!

-Love Elder Cottam

Sent from my iPad (that's right!!)

Baptism of Tim and Trudy

Hey Family and Friends!!

I have had a fantastic week!! I love watching the work move forward. Especially in the area that I started. Transfers are coming soon and I think I might get transferred, but I want to stay for at least one more transfer. I'm not sure what the Lord has in store for me, but I'll go where He wants me to go. I'm still loving my mission and I continue to love it more and more each day!! You guys give me so much support and it really helps me to do my very best!!

 

Now for the week:

 

Monday: We started off by fixing the car in Eddyville (just some regular maintenance and the air system). We emailed at the Ahrens place while the car was being fixed. Then we headed back up to Marion and wrote letters and did some normal cleaning. We headed over to Seldon's place after all that and played a couple games of ping pong with him. haha. It went pretty good. I dominated everyone and I only lost to Seldon one time. After dinner, we went to Dylan's house and taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went excellent!! Dylan is a very nice guy. He knows the Bible really well and he believes very similar to some of the things we believe. Hopefully we can have an awesome lesson with him tonight. We also went over to Bill's house and told him about the plan for him to be baptized and taught the lessons again. He has been having a lot of health problems recently, but he is making progress. He is an awesome guy and he is full of love.

 

Tuesday: We went down to the Clothing Bank and helped them out for a little bit. Then we tried to see a couple people through the area, but not a lot of people were home. We started to head down to family home evening and we stopped on the way down to talk with a couple people. We also had a dinner appointment with some members in Princeton. The Hale's fed us spaghetti. It was delicious! We had a great talk with them and got to know them a little better. They are a great family! Tony and his son Cody have been converts for about 2 years now! They are so funny and they really help us and the Branch out a lot. Then we had a fantastic family home evening lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Quite a bit of people showed up and enjoyed it. Tim & Trudy really enjoyed it as well.

 

Wednesday: We had a fantastic District Meeting to start off the day. Full of great training's and spiritual thoughts. We had District lunch at Arby's and it was so good!! haha. Then we headed back to Princeton. We just worked the area of Princeton because later that night we had a Valentine Party at the Church. We went out with the Hale's again to see a bunch of people in Princeton. Not a lot of people were home, so Brother Hale dropped us off at a random corner and we took Cody tracting with us. It went really well, we contacted 3 families. They all have really good potential. Cody really enjoyed coming with us and seeing what we do. Cody is 18 years old and he is about to graduate. He is thinking about a mission, but he wants to go into the Army soon too. After that, we went to the Party and we had 4 of our investigators show up! We were also able to explain to Tim & Trudy about being baptized. We needed to have a couple more lessons with them and have them interviewed by the Zone Leaders. We explained that if everything went well they could be Baptized on Sunday!!

 

Thursday: Had a great lesson with Bill to start off the day. We re-taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went pretty well. The Spirit was really strong. Bill still has a strong testimony of the Gospel. It was a great lesson. Then we went to Tim & Trudy's house and finished up the commandments. We also answered some of their questions and told them about the baptismal questions. Everything was going well for them to be baptized on Sunday. After dinner, we went to Seldon's house and had a powerful lesson with him. His hardest thing is prayer. He doesn't want to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true yet. He has been reading a lot, but he hasn't prayed yet.The lesson went really well though.

 

Friday: We had a great weekly planning for the next week. Then we went to Tim & Trudy's house and had the Zone Leaders come over and give them their baptismal interviews. They both passed the interview!! We knew that it would be easy for them. Everything was ready for them to be baptized on Sunday!! We went over the program for the service and went over the specifics of the baptism all together. Everyone was excited and ready to go! After, we went to play volleyball again with the Marion Baptist Church. Elder Roney and I dominated!! haha. They are such a great group of people.

 

Saturday: We went out with Brother Ahrens to see a bunch of people in Marion and Crayne. We contacted quite a bit and gave out quite a bit of Sister Ahrens fresh bread. haha. We also got in contact with a less active member in Crayne. She was moving out of Crayne into Marion (4 miles away from each other). We got her phone number and address so that we can visit with her sometime and get her some visiting teachers. After dinner we, tried to contact some people in Marion, but we didn't have much success.

 

Sunday: We had a great Church service. We had 3 investigators at Church. We were able to explain sacrament to Tim & Trudy a little better as well. After Church we had Tim & Trudy's Baptism!!! It was so amazing!! Everything went perfectly. I gave a talk on baptism. Then, I was privileged to baptize Trudy. Elder Roney baptized Tim. We were so happy when they asked us to baptize them!! The baptisms went perfectly. Then, Elder Roney gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a great day!! They had the biggest smiles on their faces!! Well, we did too. haha. It was a glorious day!! Next Sunday, they will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! It was our first of many baptisms for the Marion Area.

 

Today: We will finish up emailing, write some letters, do some basic Pday stuff, then head down to Hopkinsville for a District Pday!! Elder Roney and I are going on exchanges with the Hopkinsville Elders. Elder Motes is coming to Marion with me and Elder Roney is going to Hopkinsville with Elder Smith. This is Elder Roney's first time being out of Marion, so hopefully he had fun. haha.

 

Everything is going well for us. Elder Roney is an awesome companion!! We have so much fun together and we work really hard. The Marion area is really moving along and we love it!! Thank you so much for all your love and support! Thanks for being patient with my responses. I love and miss you guys so much!! I've almost been out for 6 months!! 1/4 of my mission!! Crazy!! I love this work. I love being a missionary. I know this Church is true. Have a great week family!!

 

-Love Elder Cottam

 

P.S. Enjoy the photos!!