3.27.17

This week is transfers, but actually only one Elder from our zone is leaving, and everyone else will stay for at least another 6 weeks!

One of the highlights of this week was of course the Women's Session of General Conference! We watched it at one of our ward mission leader's homes with a few investigators, so that was really great! Yesterday, we gave three different trainings on missionary work using social media! One to a combined Priesthood/Relief Society, then to a combined Young Women's and Young Men's, and finally to some of our ward mission leaders. It's amazing to me how the same general lesson will always be so different. Something that I learned this week, is just what it means to truly desire the welfare of others. We were with this woman who's not an active member, and she started mentioning how if she wasn't a member and if two 18-19 year olds knocked on her door to share a message about the gospel, she would feel like she would brush it aside, since they couldn't possibly have experienced much in the world, especially if they grew up in the church. It got pretty emotional as she talked about some of the trials in her life, and how she ever felt like she got an answer to her prayers before. I felt this overwhelming feeling of just pure love for this woman, and I wanted nothing more than at that moment to have been able to go through some hard things like she had, so I could relate to her and help her. A conference talk from last session came to mind, and I remembered the story of the mother, who said to her daughter going through an incredibly hard time "I would do anything to take this pain away from you." Her daughter's response was "you don't have to, someone already has." I know that Jesus Christ went through all He did for us, and because He did, we can use both the enabling and the healing power of the Atonement. I just gained a deeper testimony of that this week, and I feel so different since. In the end, I really want to help others, and I think I'm slowing starting to understand just how important missionary work truly is, and I think I'm starting to understand just how much Heavenly Father is aware of, and how much He loves all of His children. 

I love you all!

-Sister Cottrell 

"If we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help."

—Thomas S. Monson

Pictures: Some of the leftovers from dinner with Malak and her family! So, I got a taste of some foreign food right here in Idaho! I tried to eat slowly, just in case they would try to give me seconds, but that didn't work. Malak asked for my plate before I even was close to finished, and piled on a ton more food! I have never been so full in my life! 

3.21.13

So, we switched our P-day so that we could go to the temple this morning! We went with my STL companion, Sister Settle, and with Sister Reupena :) 

It is just such a blessing to have a temple so close by! Also, there is just so much excitement with the Idaho Falls temple open house coming up. This is just a huge missionary opportunity for the whole community, and we are thrilled to be a part of it. 

Our mission President came to our district meeting this week, and we were totally spoiled by him! We were able to watch the new video for the Easter initiative (it will come out March 31st, so watch it then!), and he also gave the sisters some more information about the Temple open house! So, he doesn't want to close any of our areas, so we will have this complex schedule, and all of the sisters will get a couple of days to work in the temple, and then a couple of days to be back in our areas. They will have silent tours through the temple, and then there will be a few different stations that us sisters will be at. One of them is in the stake center there, where we will show videos and explain some things before people go on the tour. There will also be some of us at the end of the tour, but we aren't sure exactly what we will be doing yet. The poor Elders can only go if they have investigators, and won't actually be a part of giving the tours, so this is just such a neat opportunity for the sisters in our mission! We also will be able to have a special tour of the temple with President Nelson and Sister Nelson the night before the open house starts, so I'm just incredibly thrilled!

This week, I had exchanges with Sister Reyes who's a Spanish Sister, serving in St. Anthony! It was great, and on Friday, President and Sister Nelson joined us for booth at BYU-I, which was just a ton of fun! Both of them are naturals (of course!) at it, and afterwards they took us out to lunch. It was Sister Reyes' first time on Campus, so that was kind of fun as well!

One miracle that happened this week, was meeting Marisa, a mother of four kids. She had scheduled a time to meet with us and gladly let us in. She, her husband, and her family moved here to Rexburg in November, and she just started telling us all of these things that she likes about the LDS religion, and that she and her husband have questions, and want to learn and know if the Church is true for themselves. We were both blown away! We shared with her a message, and the spirit was incredibly strong. She even was the one who asked when we could meet again, and with the whole family, because her husband also has questions! She is just such a good person, and even mentioned that they would like to try and make the commitment to even at least go to the first hour of church. We are excited to go back and teach the whole family!

A quick update on David! He told us in our last discussion, that he's at "war with himself", for he has felt something while reading the Book of Mormon, and he believes that Joseph Smith had the first vision, but he's not sure we have the full truth. He is just a really neat person, and he's just going to continue to learn. At our last discussion, he even offered to even say the closing prayer. Malak also went to church with us this last Sunday, and told us that from what she's read of the Book of Mormon, she knows that it's true! She was telling us of the peace and the calm that she feels while reading it, and she just loved church. Malak also explained that her one problem is with Jesus Christ, because she doesn't know if he really was the Savior, or just a great prophet. I've never had an investigator with their concern on if Christ died and brought about the redemption before. It was a great lesson to be able to focus on Christ, and I just am so thankful for all that He has done for us.

 “For many of us, conversion is an ongoing process and not a onetime event that results from a powerful or dramatic experience. Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds become aligned with the will of God. Conversion unto the Lord requires both persistence and patience.” -Elder David A. Bednar 

In  Alma 5:26, Alma the younger asks if we have felt the song of redeeming love in our lives, if we feel so now? Conversion really is something that is on going, and something that we need to be constantly nourishing. We meet a lot of people here who have fallen away because they don't keep feeding their testimonies. That is why CPR (Church, Pray, Read the scriptures) is so important. It's those little, everyday things that makes a huge difference. 

I love you all,

-Sister Cottrell  

3.13.17

Oh my goodness, this week! So Monday evening till Tuesday evening I had exchanges with Sister Reupena from Samoa! She's just a sweetheart! Okay, so some background information on this experience I had while on exchanges. about a few weeks ago, some members at a dinner appointment tried to give us this referral, but they are actually not in our area. I had even seen them before while on exchanges, funny enough. But I just felt this strong impression about them, but I knew that they weren't even in my area and since they weren't investigating, I thought the chances would be slim that I would seem them while even on exchanges. Well, that Monday evening, the sisters planned to see them, and they don't do so often. They are this super sweet non-member couple, who have LDS children who have even served missions. They go to church every week, but they just aren't actually baptized members. It's funny, because on exchanges before we had visited, and they always seem to change the subject when religion is brought up. After we shared a message, all of the sudden they started to both ask questions, and we were able to teach a lot about the plan of salvation. They admitted that their main hold up is the whole priesthood authority issue, and so we were able to reschedule an appointment for us to discuss (well, for Sister Reupena and Sister Settle to discuss!) the whole Restoration. The spirit was incredibly strong, and it was an amazing testimony builder to me to see their reactions to it. 

Thursday I went with Sister Settle to the Missionary Department Leadership Meeting, where two members from the MTC came and trained us, and I just learned so much! It seriously took me back to the MTC, where I felt like I was learning things that was taught there before I came out, but it was just so incredible to learn more of it, and how to improve. They discussed a lot about really using the members here, and to help them with their missionary efforts. We also learned a lot about how to improve our teaching skills, and how to better set effect goals. It was just wonderful, even though it was a very long meeting!!

Just a quick update on Malak! We taught them a few times this week, and both times it went great! The whole family joined for our second appointment, and President Vickery brought along a young man who just returned from serving his mission in Texas, and is originally from Syria. He was able to translate a bit for the rest of the family there. Malak even asked us if she could have an Arabic Book of Mormon, and said that she would go to church! She unfortunately became ill, so she couldn't go yesterday, but she said she would next time.

In Mosiah 21:33-35, it talks about how the people of King Limhi change after some time in being in bondage to the Lamanites, and have that desire to be baptized and follow Christ. I just started to compare them to the people of Alma the Elder, in Mosiah 24 when they were in bondage, and have to submit to the will of the Lord. Both people cry unto God, and they are both able to escape the hands of the Lamanites. For the people of Alma the Elder, they escape because God put the guards under a deep sleep. For the people of King Limhi, they give the guards strong wine, and are able to flee that way. In the videos "Patterns of Light," Elder Bednar talks about how when you have spiritual promptings, you might not need an angel to appear to you to remind you to say your prayers, when all the Spirit needs is to remind you of your angel mother asking you if you have said your prayers. I've learned a lot about promptings of the Spirit, and I just thought about the escape of both of the people, and how they both thanked Heavenly Father for their escape. In Alma 1:8, it even mentions that Gideon, who was the one who suggested that they give the Lamanites wine to drink, served as a "instrument in the hands of God in delivering the people.. out of bondage." I can just testify that you can receive revelation in many different ways, and if it's good, it is from God. 

Love,

-Sister Cottrell 

Pictures: So, Sister Ganbold and Sister Taperseria attempted to make "cookies"..... We all laughed so much, it just came out as a one giant, gooey, round mess. Sister Ganbold was like "see?! We needed more floor!" They also put in chocolate milk, of all things, haha! I love them tons!! Also, Sister Deuel had a Birthday!

7 months out! 03.06.17

So, this week!

Poor Sister Deuel was sick with the flu for most of the week, so I ended up going on a lot of splits with people from the stake/students. It made this week feel extra long for some reason, but it's all good. For exchanges, I went out with Sister Tapeseira, one of our room mates who covers the other half of BYU-I. I just love her tons! She's actually been out for just a bit longer than me, since she served in the Philippines (her home) for a bit before she came out to Idaho. Since they cover the YSA student stakes, I got to teach some non-member students with her. It is just so neat to teach with all of these return missionaries, who really care and want to help their friends learn how to recognize promptings. It made me thing about what kind of person I want to be when I return home. Missionary work is a responsibility we all have, and I want to be able to continue to share the gospel always. 

One thing that I don't believe that I mentioned yet, is that as missionaries over BYU-I, we go twice a week in the mornings, and have a booth. We let the students know about the skype lessons that we teach, and then commit them to invite their friends to learn more, and have a lesson with us over skype. It's seriously really neat, and we can teach anyone around the world! We just teach them the first two discussions, and then if they want to learn more, the missionaries who cover their area will continue to teach them. Over 43 baptisms from just last March to November have resulted in the skype lessons, and those are just the numbers that make it back to us. It's a little bit strange, being a missionary on campus, but the work really goes on! I did booth a few times on exchanges when I first came out, so it's not completely strange to me. 

Saturday we were invited to a dinner with all of the ward mission leaders in one of our married student stakes, some of the stake leadership, and President and Sister Nelson. It was really neat just to be able to get to know everyone, and our mission president and his wife . After the dinner was the evening session of Stake Conference, and the whole theme was missionary work. President and Sister Nelson got to talk as well. A few things that stood out to me was just how this work must go forth, and one of the greatest tools we have is technology. I love Elder Oaks talk this last General Conference, and I would just like to invite everyone to prayerfully think about what they can do to use social media as a missionary tool.

D&C 58:64 "For, verily, the sound must go forth from this place into all the world, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth—the gospel must be preached unto every creature, with signs following them that believe."

(The Scripture that President Nelson used). 

One thing I thought I would share in particular this week, is a girl we met named Malak. Malak is a 19-year-old girl from Libya, of the Muslim faith. Her mother, younger sister, and her are living with some of their family members here in one of our Stakes, because it became dangerous for the girls to live back at their home. She's just super sweet, and is decently good at speaking English. Malak said that she would like to learn more, so a member from our mission presidency will come to our next lesson to see if it would be safe for them to take the discussions, because they still have family back at home, and in case they are to return back to Libya. So we will see how that goes!

Also, some of the missionaries in our mission have been invited to attend a Missionary Department Tour Leadership Meeting, which will last pretty much all day (8am-4pm!) this coming Thursday. It will be interesting to see what they're going to talk about! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Know that I love each and everyone of you!

-Sister Cottrell 

I've been able to learn a lot over the past few weeks, one being just how much Heavenly Father "rebuilds" us to help us be what He needs us to be. This quote made me think a lot about "The Refiner's Fire" video, that can be found on Mormon channel. I may have not have those kinds of trials, but everyone has difficulties that are unique and challenging to them. I've been having my fair share, but at the same time, I have never changed just this fast either. I just want to leave with my testimony that we can each be strengthened through the enabling power of the Atonement through any afflictions that we have! All things truly will work together for our good! Things might not change or get better, but "if we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as

the easiest times in life can be a blessing" (President Eyring).