Mon. April 17, 2012

Hola Familia!

This week has been really eventful to say the least! It's transfer week so we had the opportunity to go to the temple. It was my first time at the Mesa temple even though I work 50 yards away from it! It is soooooooo pretty. I loved it. I was lucky because later that day I wasn't feeling well but during the temple I was fine. I continued to not feel well and got really really sick. We didn't want to cancel our appointments though so we told our investigators meet us at the visitors center so I could lay on the couch in the break room while Sister Fors taught them. Dedicated, right? Well finally I spoke up and said I needed to go home because I kept throwing up in the bathroom (TMI? sorry) But I couldn't hold anything down all night. I lost almost 10 lbs in two days. The flu has been going around the mission.. ugh...I'm good now though. My ward mission leader gave me a blessing and that helped a lot, we have the best ward mission leader in the United States.

"Cry and then open the first box" Mom taught me a very valuable lesson when she said this. She was talking about the basement and how she organizes it and arrange it every other month. I thought about how overwhelming it might be to get started not knowing where to start, but knowing that it is a project that could take days and it's a project where it's hard to see the end. I remember asking, "How do you even start?" She said, "I cry first and then start to open the first box and then before you know it, you see how it's possible." I've applied this soooooooooooo much on my mission. Everything seems so impossible sometimes, but everyday you just gotta get up the courage and open that first box! Sister Fors and I say that almost everyday, "cry, and open the first box sister!"

Saturday I had a really cool experience. A girl walked in the VC looking for a movie on Eternal families. I asked her what interested her in that. She said her dad died recently and it didn't end well and she wanted to make sure she could make things right with him. She said she was driving passed the temple and something told her to go in the VC. She had prayed before and asked God to tell her where to go. She said she drives passed the temple everyday but something just told her to go in. All I did was smile and say, "I can help you" I took her through "Gods Plan for His Family" She cried through the whole thing. At the end I just waited her to talk. She said that the grandpa that died in the movie looked just like her dad and she had talked to pastors of all churches and she had "never felt like this in her whole life." She kept saying, "Now I know" I told her that she would see her dad again and explained a little bit about the temple and how that is what makes it possible. She said she wanted to prepare for the temple and that is what she wanted. She said she was going to come back to talk to me after she went to church :)

Ramiro is getting baptized this week! YAY! He told us as he was getting off of work and said he wanted to get baptized soon like it was no big deal. We were jumping up and down in the street! He's pretty solid. We also have two 12 year olds that are dying to be baptized that came to church with us yesterday but we want to get their parents to listen to us too. We're workin on it.

The chapter I want everyone to read this week is Moroni 7. I just finished the Book of Mormon again and Moroni 7 is definitely one of my favorite chapters!  I was thinking about everyone at home when I read Moroni 8:3 "I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end."

Love you all! I will be finishing up the 12 week training program with Sister Fors in the same area. We were hoping to go full field this transfer because there is a lot of work to do in our area, but we find that out later today. 

Sister Fors showed me a poem that explains exactly how the mission is for me! It says:

A mission is a strange experience. It's a trial and a test.
A mission throws at you the worst yet teaches you the best.
They told me this would be the best period of my life.
But I guess they didn't explain it all too clear.
I came out looking for a bed of roses, I just wasn't expecting all the thorns I've found out here.
Since I've been out i've never been so happy
I've never been so depressed
I've never felt so forsaken. I've never felt so blessed.
I've never been so confused. My mind has never been so clear.
I've never felt my Heavenly Father so distant.
I've never felt Him so near.
I've never been so full of hope
I've never been so discouraged
I feel like I can go on forever
I think i'm at the end of my rope
I've never had it so easy. I've never had it so tough
things have never gone so smoothly. Thisngs have never been so rough
I've never traveled through more valleys
i've never ascended so many peaks
I've never met so many neat people, i've never met so many geeks
I've never has so many ups, I've never had so many downs.
I've never worn so many smiles, I've never worn so many frowns.
I've never been so lonely, I've never had so many friends
Man, I hope this is all over with soon. Gosh, I hope it never ends!


I feel so bipolar out here! This poem is seriously how it is!
Anyway, hope everyone had a good week! Thanks for all your love and support!

Love,
Sister Cottrell