This has been one crazy week! First off the wind has been such a crazy
thing out here. We are in a valley surrounded by canyons and the wind just blows
and blows and blows. Being on bike is so hard when you are riding against the
wind! It just doesn't matter how hard you pedal you don't get very far. Grr. At
the same time though it gives us a nice cool breeze when we aren't riding and
keeps us cool. I did get sunburned pretty badly. I am not sure why though. It
has been just as windy and sunny the last 3 days as it was the day I got too
much sun. The members of the ward
noticed fairly quickly and offered to get me some sunscreen. One of the members
said that the UV Rays change so that may be why I got burned. So I will be
lotioning up everyday!!!!!
Yesterday was Stake
Conference and we were blessed to have President and Sister Hall with us. My
favorite talk was from Sister Hall. Our stake is really awesome at missionary
work and each stake conference has several talks just for missionary work. She
said, "Get caught being a Mormon, in fact to a real doozy and get caught reading
the Book of Mormon." It is so true. It would be so much easier for us to resist
temptation if people know who we are. If they knew we were Mormon and don't do
certain things the temptations wouldn't be in front of us as much as they
currently are. It was a great talk. We had 2 families show up for church (in
total 5 investigators)! It was amazing to have so many visitors.
We had interviews with President Hall this week and it was a real life
saver for me. I was struggling so bad the day we had them. President Hall
offered me some very simple advice to being a trainer. He said to stop thinking
like a trainer and think of Sister Peatross and I as 2 missionaries learning
together and working together. He also told me of the sweet experience he had
when assigning me to this new area. He
knew he had to open a new English Sisters area, and then he knew he needed to
place a sister in there who was just coming out of training. He then stopped and
was like, That's crazy!!!!! That would be so hard for the Sister. I don't think
that would be a good idea. President Hall then said the spirit over came him and
told him that "Yes! and it needs to be Sister Cottrell." So here I am opening a
new area, on bike with no clue how to get around and training and fighting the
wind that blows so hard!
(sorry this next part is copied)
We
had a baptism of a recent converts two younger siblings. The reason I say this
is such a miracle is because the Mom almost called off the entire thing earlier
in the week. There was originally to be 3 siblings baptized. However, one of the
girls attitude and behavior hadn't improved with the lessons and coming to
church. Her mom said that it was affecting the other children and causing them
to act up, as hard as they tried to avoid those situations. All the issues had
caused the mom to reconsider her decision. I am so grateful for the spirit. If
it wasn't for the spirit those children wouldn't have gotten baptized. That
night when we were getting the dreadful news I felt an eternal sadness overcome
me. I knew right then and there that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were
mourning for the lose of 2 children not being able to make it "home." Now, the
opportunity would probably have come again if we hadn't been able to come to a
decision with the mom but it still made me sad. The tears I cried that night in
front of their family were not just my own. I felt prompted to share my thoughts
about repentance. I know that through sharing my own experiences of repentance
and the sacrament the spirit was able to soften the mothers heart. When I had
finished sharing those experiences everyone had tears in their eyes. So the
baptism was a miracle last night.
I know that their lives will be blessed for their decisions to enter into the
fold of God.
We also saw a lot of different miracles through out
the week in just trying to contact people and being placed to talk to others
instead. It has been a great week and even though biking is hard I am still
loving it. WHAT A WEEK!!!!! I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for
us this week. I encourage you all to take Sister Halls advice and get caught
being a Mormon. Its the best missionary work you could ever
do!
Have a wonderful week. Until next
time!
HOORAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!
Love,
Sister Cottrell
