Hello everyone!
I am so sorry that I have not been doing very good on sending a good big email out..But I promise that I will try to be better! I know that I have a blog to keep going..so I will try and be better;) Sorry Mom! So this last week here in Japan has been one full of Christmas Miracles! We really have seen the Lord's hand in the work so many times this week I really couldn't believe it.
To start I just want to explain how Mito's success has been in the past. Since I have been here, we have had one baptism, but other than that not really teaching very many lessons, and not really finding a crazy amount of people either. Doing a lot of finding, but not great success. It has been difficult to find what we have needed to do to change that! But, this week was definitely a turn around week. We had an amazing week of finding and teaching and numbers wise, we were way higher than I have seen here in Mito, in fact the numbers were higher than anything Mito has seen in months. We were able to find 7 New Investigators and able to teach a lot of lessons! One of the most amazing parts was we had a Ward Christmas Party this last Saturday. There were many members who brought their non-member friends and we were able to talk to them and help the members share the gospel with them! We were able to contact 5 of these referrals and we now have contact information on them and although they aren't new investigators yet, they should be by the end of this week! The member-missionary work is an amazing thing. I have such a strong testimony that this is the new way to do missionary work. The Lord blessed us to see so many amazing miracles through that work, and it really strengthened my testimony to see it! I know that as we strive to work together as members and missionaries, we will be able to successfully bring others unto Christ!
So in the middle of this incredible "dendo'n" week, we were able to have a 3 Zone Conference with President and Sister Budge and the Assistants! It was an amazing conference and I was really able to learn so much! We also had a District Leader Training and that was a little bit humbling! Being the youngest Elder in the room was humbling..but I was so grateful for the opportunity to learn from some experienced missionaries on how they were able to be effective, successful District Leaders. It was also very humbling to hear President Budge tell us that those he calls as District Leader position, are the people he sees leading the mission as Zone Leaders someday. I really hope that I can become a better missionary by them because the thought of that is overwhelming! I really want to become a more profitable servant of the Lord, and I hope that as I strive my hardest to do that I will be worthy of this calling, and callings to come!
I just want to bear my simple testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I have such a strong testimony of his atonement, his love, and his hand in the great work. I KNOW HE LIVES. I know that he suffered in the Garden for us, died on the cross for us, and was resurrected on the third day. I know that he did this. There is no doubt in my mind. I know that because he did this, we too will be able to defeat death, and also be able to, through the atonement, defeat our spiritual death. I am so grateful during this Christmas Season to be able to celebrate the Saviors birth, and how significant of a event that was. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be here in Japan and have the chance to share this message of Jesus Christ, this message of hope, and this message of happiness! I am eternally thankful for my savior, and now that I can never repay what he did for me. However, I know that I can strive my hardest to bring others closer to him.
I so am grateful for all the amazing people I have back home supporting me! I received so much love from so many people through cards and packages and I really can not express how blessed I am, and how grateful I am! Thank you for your love! I love you all so much and I really hope you have a Merry Christmas! Have a great week, and I will talk to you soon!
Love always,
Elder Cottle
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