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!!