Monday, October 15, 2012
Oct. 2012 New Pictures
 |
| 9 months left of the mish. |
 |
| Finished the Book of Mormon....again! |
 |
| Preparing for Christmas at the VC |
 |
| New Companion, Sister Valladaris from Honduras |
State the fact. 10-15-12
Hello Family,
Today we are start a music fast for a month in the mission... not sure why, but i suppose it'll bring blessings if President thinks it'll be good. This week was pretty good. I had a couple cool experiences! In the VC there was a couple that wanted to hear the Christus so I started talking and introducing it and a tall black guy walked in with a big army backpack and looked like he might be homeless. Sadly, i automatically assumed that he was coming in to ask for money. Shame. But in the middle of my sentence I just stopped and said, "Hey! Do you want to listen to this?" Before he answered I said, "Come over here and listen to this." he came and looked lost but as I started to talk, his face and countenance changed. The spirit was so strong. We had a training at the vc this week about powerful statements. instead of saying "I know and "I believe", leave it out and state fact... because that is what it is! It has made such a difference in my teaching- anyway after the presentation I took the guy (Chris) up to the front desk to show him more. The couple that was listening came up behind him and interupted and said, "have you eaten dinner tonight?" He looked at me and looked back and said he hadn't. She asked if it would be alright if they went and got him food and brought it back and he accepted. Later, Elder Beckstrand told me that the couple said that they had never felt the spirit so strong and that they just felt like they needed to act and give thanks. After they left I brought Chris into a teaching room and started asking questions. He said that something just drew him to the VC and didn't know why. He was curious. I taught the restoration and he said that I had answered his question about why there were so many churches on the earth if Christ just established one. We watched the 20 min restoration movie and then a short clip of when Christ came to the americas. He was crying. He said that he hadn't felt that way in a long time. I gave him a BofM and told him to let it change his life. He asked me why everyone was so happy. I said that we all have hard times too, but that we have the resources to still be happy during those times. I got his information and before he left, I asked him, "what did you learn tonight?" He said... "that I can be happy and there is hope." Missions are sooooo cool! I'm so happy I get to be apart of experiences like that.
I am learnign so much from my little Honduran :) We knocked on a door (Fransisco) his wife answered and didn't want anything to do with us. We said we had an appointment but she was NOT going to let us in. Hermana Valladares stopped and said, "We have agendas and we has an appointment here and we are here because you are important to us and we are really busy and we have a message for you" She stopped practically yelling and said.... "Come in" That's my girl ;) We had a short lesson, sang them a hymn and they accepted to be baptized! Cool.
Anyway, That's the highlights of the week. Hope everyone had a good week too. Love you all!
The chapter this week is 1 NE 17.. especially vs 50 and 51 :)
SFTE
Love,
Hermana Cottrell
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
BIG NEWS 10-9-12
Familyuhhh!!!
So much to write in so little time!! First of all, I hope everyone watched conference! AHHH!! I was freaking out about the age change! I heard rumors last year that they were going to change the woman's age to 20.. but 19?!?! To answer your question dad, YES I would have gone at 19, are you kidding me? I remember when I was 19 and thinking... boys are soooooo lucky! I could have been GONE by now! Wow... It made me cry because we really are in the last days and the Lord is like, okay HERE we go! BAM. Makes me think of the stripling warriors, how they were so young, but all of them SO strong. The more missionaries that come out, the more prepared they are. SPEAKING OF NEW MISSIONARIES!!!!!!
There was a BIG surprise/change in my mission this week! I am training.. again! Starting over in the 12 week program with Hermana Valladaras from Honduras! So Sister Mendoza and I went to the VC to do our shift from 9-3 and right before I went to my station I got a call from President Ellsworth. He scared the crap out of me because when I answered, he was so hesitant to tell me something and seemed so nervous that I thought something had happened to my family! But he said that the missionary that Sister Sordes was starting to train (hna valladaras) just barely got a license like last month, and sister Sordes doesn't have one from france... and bikes wouldn't work, so they had to switch. So Sister Mendoza went with Sister Sordes to finish up her training and I am starting fresh with Sister Valladaras. President came to the vc and sat us all down and told us that when he was figuring out transfers he had it set up that I was going to train again and Sister sordes was going to take sister mendoza but then he thought (no.. I want sister Cottrell to finish up training Sister Mendoza with the 12 week program) But... the way it worked out.. the Lord said, "Nope!" you were right the first time. So we had an emergency transfer last Friday and within an hour I had a new greenie :) She is soooooooooooooooo cute! I love her so much! Like I said before, the Lord is PREPARING his missionaries. She came pre-trained. For real. I am so excited to work with her, she's so sweet. With in these last few days my spanish is so much better too! Although her english is really good, we speak in spanish most of the time. She went to a bilingual school in Honduras. She loves to sing too, so we are already going to sing at a baptism and sacrament. She's so willing to learn and so happy. It's been such a good week!
Last week Sister Mendoza and I were walking to an appointment and it fell through so we started talking to everyone who was out and about. There was a group of teenage girls painting their nails, so I asked them if they could paint mine! They said sure. Before I left I asked one of the girls if she wanted to say a prayer with us and she gladly accepted and gave a really good prayer. At the end, one of the girls shyly said, "i'm a member" I told her I had never seen her at church before and she said that her and her family had been busy. So I asked her if she could introduce us to her parents. I hadn't seen them before either. We set up an appointment and came back a few days later with Hermana Valladaras. We had planned to teach about missionary work, but before I started I had the feeling to talk about the temple. I shared why I was here on a mission, so that they could be with their families forever. We read a few scriptures and at the end, the dad asked if we could sing a hymn. We sang and all of them were sobbing. It started with their little boy crying. His dad just looked up as he was holding him and said, "he's feeling the spirit" The dad couldn't sing anymore because he was so choked up. It was a miracle that we found them.. but God wasn't surprised! I have such a testimony that God is putting people in our path. I could tell 50 stories like that that have happened on my mission. We are just the pieces that God moves around. It's such a cool feeling to look back and know you followed the spirit.
We had an FHE with the ward last night at the park and we had 5 investigators show up with families! It was very successful. The ward fellowshipped (finally!) and we made a lot of progress. Most of our investigators and their families are better than most our members in the ward, we just need to trip them in the water I guess! We had a lesson, food and a game. Sister Valladaras has lots of games because she was an EFY counselor in Honduras.. who knew they had efy there! Cool.
Anyway.. Good week! I will email pictures :) I would have written more about conference, but I watched most of it in spanish with our investigators.. so I want to study it more.
The Chapter this week is 1 nephi 12 and 13.. think of our day and the love that God has for you!
Love you all!
SFTE
Sister Cottrell
So much to write in so little time!! First of all, I hope everyone watched conference! AHHH!! I was freaking out about the age change! I heard rumors last year that they were going to change the woman's age to 20.. but 19?!?! To answer your question dad, YES I would have gone at 19, are you kidding me? I remember when I was 19 and thinking... boys are soooooo lucky! I could have been GONE by now! Wow... It made me cry because we really are in the last days and the Lord is like, okay HERE we go! BAM. Makes me think of the stripling warriors, how they were so young, but all of them SO strong. The more missionaries that come out, the more prepared they are. SPEAKING OF NEW MISSIONARIES!!!!!!
There was a BIG surprise/change in my mission this week! I am training.. again! Starting over in the 12 week program with Hermana Valladaras from Honduras! So Sister Mendoza and I went to the VC to do our shift from 9-3 and right before I went to my station I got a call from President Ellsworth. He scared the crap out of me because when I answered, he was so hesitant to tell me something and seemed so nervous that I thought something had happened to my family! But he said that the missionary that Sister Sordes was starting to train (hna valladaras) just barely got a license like last month, and sister Sordes doesn't have one from france... and bikes wouldn't work, so they had to switch. So Sister Mendoza went with Sister Sordes to finish up her training and I am starting fresh with Sister Valladaras. President came to the vc and sat us all down and told us that when he was figuring out transfers he had it set up that I was going to train again and Sister sordes was going to take sister mendoza but then he thought (no.. I want sister Cottrell to finish up training Sister Mendoza with the 12 week program) But... the way it worked out.. the Lord said, "Nope!" you were right the first time. So we had an emergency transfer last Friday and within an hour I had a new greenie :) She is soooooooooooooooo cute! I love her so much! Like I said before, the Lord is PREPARING his missionaries. She came pre-trained. For real. I am so excited to work with her, she's so sweet. With in these last few days my spanish is so much better too! Although her english is really good, we speak in spanish most of the time. She went to a bilingual school in Honduras. She loves to sing too, so we are already going to sing at a baptism and sacrament. She's so willing to learn and so happy. It's been such a good week!
Last week Sister Mendoza and I were walking to an appointment and it fell through so we started talking to everyone who was out and about. There was a group of teenage girls painting their nails, so I asked them if they could paint mine! They said sure. Before I left I asked one of the girls if she wanted to say a prayer with us and she gladly accepted and gave a really good prayer. At the end, one of the girls shyly said, "i'm a member" I told her I had never seen her at church before and she said that her and her family had been busy. So I asked her if she could introduce us to her parents. I hadn't seen them before either. We set up an appointment and came back a few days later with Hermana Valladaras. We had planned to teach about missionary work, but before I started I had the feeling to talk about the temple. I shared why I was here on a mission, so that they could be with their families forever. We read a few scriptures and at the end, the dad asked if we could sing a hymn. We sang and all of them were sobbing. It started with their little boy crying. His dad just looked up as he was holding him and said, "he's feeling the spirit" The dad couldn't sing anymore because he was so choked up. It was a miracle that we found them.. but God wasn't surprised! I have such a testimony that God is putting people in our path. I could tell 50 stories like that that have happened on my mission. We are just the pieces that God moves around. It's such a cool feeling to look back and know you followed the spirit.
We had an FHE with the ward last night at the park and we had 5 investigators show up with families! It was very successful. The ward fellowshipped (finally!) and we made a lot of progress. Most of our investigators and their families are better than most our members in the ward, we just need to trip them in the water I guess! We had a lesson, food and a game. Sister Valladaras has lots of games because she was an EFY counselor in Honduras.. who knew they had efy there! Cool.
Anyway.. Good week! I will email pictures :) I would have written more about conference, but I watched most of it in spanish with our investigators.. so I want to study it more.
The Chapter this week is 1 nephi 12 and 13.. think of our day and the love that God has for you!
Love you all!
SFTE
Sister Cottrell
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Face plants and Bednar Gems 10-2-12
Hello family!
First, Happy Birthday to Gma Crandall in 2 days! 74! yay!
Wow, it sounds like a lot is changing back home! I'm excited for everyone :) This week has been a good one and really busy! First of all Friday was a VERY significant day for me :) It was my 9 month mark, a year ago from friday I had opened my call AND I FINALLY finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish! It felt so good. I have learned soooo much and have grown so much in a year spiritually, mentally and thank goodness NOT physically :) As I was in the last chapter of the Book of MOrmon, I was starting to get excited because I wanted to take Moroni's promise and pray after, but all that was going through my head as I was reading the last couple pages was, "you already know" Almost before I finished, I still had the excitement to pray, but it was more of a falling to my knees in gratitude in knowing that it's true.
We started off the day running. Hermana Mendoza even ran with me!... until she face-planted it. It was really funny. She was falling for like 10 whole seconds and I just sat there and thought, "Is she gonna fall, or not?" It was like slow motion. Her fall was a good 12-15 feet fall if you include her arms stretched out above her head. I was careful not to laugh too hard though because I want her to run with me again!! She was a good sport.
We were able to do another service project for the lights! I can't believe it's October! So crazy. It's going to be huge! They said we get thousands and thousands of people that come and 2500 referrals or something. I'm excited.
I had a cool experience at the vc this week! We had a training at the vc about phonecalls and we did a bunch of roleplays with all the sisters. Every time I would pretend to be the person on the other end I would say that my name was "Maria" but I didn't know why. So when I was on the phones later that day I looked at all my contacts and investigators to see if I had a Maria on there. There was one Maria that I had contacted and taught when I 1st got on my mission but she had moved and I lost contact. Not expecting anything, I called the number, just for kicks and a guy answered. He said he had no idea who Maria was. Awkward. So I said, well.. what's your name? He said Mario. I told him that maybe it wasn't a coincidence that I called him and I started to teach. He said that he was going through a really hard time and actually wanted to try anything to change his life around and do something for his 1 1/2 year old son that he's never even seen before. He told me I could send the missionaries and that he wanted to come into the vc so I could teach him and show him around. Cooooooooool huh??
I took the famous "9-months prego" picture and I was so excited to send it today, but I can't find my camera cord now! So sad. I will have to send it home.
I brought my study journal to share a little more about what Elder Bednar said.. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around everything!
Here are some "gems"
"Apoint and invite the Holy Ghost to be the teacher"
"You are inviting people to act, not to be acted upon"
"When you feel the spirit and are prompted, it's ALWAYS to bless and edify someone else"
"Always use a pattern NOT a method"
"Dont ever "challenge" someone.. that a salesman. Invite"
"It's not power then action.. It's action and THEN power."
"People have to accept the message into their heart, not just unto"Alma 23:5,6,7
"If you're being good, you don't need dramatic answers, if you are always seeking dramatic answers, you'll get them, but not from the right source"
**Watch the patterns of light mormon messages on lds.org
"A belief is a mental acceptance of something.... that's it. To have a testimony is to have evidence that something is true. A testimony is not enough, you need continual conversion"
"You are not an affective parent or missionary unless you help them to be an agent and to not need you. How quickly can you teach them so that they don't need you? It takes a lot more work but don't just answer their questions. Lead them in the direction to find their answers themselves. (that's what heavenly father does for us)
"it's a living church because He lives... the tomb is empty"
Talking about senior couples: "your absence speaks louder than your presence would. "When thou art converted, strengthen your brotheren"
"Because you have heard the doctorine and testimony of a special witness of the Lord, you are more accountable"
Someone asked how he was prepared to become an apostle: "I wasn't! The more experience you have, the more you understand your calling and the more unqualified you feel. You are never prepared." (I understand that as a missionary)
"You can ask the Holy Ghost to show you as you really are, but it will be the hardest, humbling experience you will ever have"
I hope everyone listens intently to conference! Listen as agents, not objects! Don't miss Elder Bednars talk especially!
Pleas pray for all the missionaries! We are gearing up and buckling up for the elections coming up. Especially those that work at the VC.. I expect there will be a lot of interesting things that happen.
The chapter this week is alma 23:5,6,7- this was the answer from elder bednar after someone asked how can we prevent going less active
love you all!
SFTE
Sister Cottrell
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)