One last time

August 1, 2016

Hello for the very last time! (over email)

Man has the mission been great. Over the course of my mission, I've beaten myself up for times when I would make mistakes and not do everything in my power to be the BEST missionary. When I was praying last night, I kinda stopped feeling the Spirit, because I was talking to our Father in Heaven about how I could have done so much more to be better. I think many of us think that way. We want to do great things and serve and accomplish so many things in the way others do, but making mistakes is how we grow. It's how we become, change, and repent. That is how we can come to know the Savior more, from our weakness. ETHER 12:27. 

One of the sisters has told me recently that I need to stop beating myself up and be happy with the work and effort that I have put into being a missionary. No one can be perfect. Back to my story, as I was thinking about that, and how I need to be happy with what I've done, I felt this overwhelming love from Heavenly Father. I know that I am not perfect and that I cannot be perfect, but I also know that I have served the Lord and that He is happy with my effort. 

Guys, we cannot be perfect. We are called to the work to change. Some of us are called to baptize nations on their missions, but I know that what the Lord needed me to learn and accomplish on my mission, I have done. Just as my dad told me last week, "my mission was the personal foundation of my testimony." The Lord knew what I needed in my life and being called to the California Riverside Mission for 18 months was what I needed. I am so grateful for that and for what I have learned. I have met my best friends on my mission. God really is so good. 

Keep the faith, those that are still serving! God has a plan!!

I'll see the rest of y'all in UTAH!!!!

Love, Sister Cozzens

Sister Cozzens' district. All three sisters were her 

companions during her mission. 

"The sign is great, though I'm pretty sure

 they haven't found Christ's restored Gospel." 

The Sisters caught a baby lizard!

Sister Cozzens' good friend Addisun

The best Ward Mission Leader and his adorable 

family-the Welches

Sister Rodriguez and Sister Cozzens-one last photo!

When your mission ends, you cry ;(

July 25, 2016

Hello everyone!

We had a better week. The last couple of days, the Lord has really blessed us. There is a lady that went to a different ward yesterday, but actually lives in our area. She told them that she loves church and the gospel and wants to be baptized!! We will be meeting with her on Thursday this week! Girls camp was last week for the stake, and a non member went and ended up bearing her testimony about the church, and she wants to get baptized, too!

One of our investigators, Lindsey, is the cutest, haha. She is 26, and we happened to cross paths a couple of weeks ago, and she has the cutest child! He is HUGE, like bigger than a 4-year-old huge, and he turns two in September.  We've taught her a couple of times, and she's so open and wanting to know what to do in her life. Some of the choices she needs to make are things that she needs to pray about. She said the closing prayer yesterday and just plead with God for help. It is so humbling to be a missionary and to have the privilege of helping God's children come unto Christ. 

So good! Missionary work is the best.

We had a zone conference on Tuesday last week, and the outgoing missionaries are able to bare (bear?) their testimonies, that means me. Man, Sister Roberts, Sister Moore, and I were in tears. I had to stop the sob coming.

Lake Elsinore Zone

Four missionaries that came to the California

Riverside Mission together: Sisters Roberts,

Moore, Cozzens and Elder Matau

Sister Cozzens and Elder Michael Thompson,

 a friend from back home, and they leave the 

mission together!

Sister Rasmussen and Sister Cozzens are 

always matching.

God has played such a huge role in my life, and I am so grateful that He prompted me to serve, as I prayed. I am grateful for the strength and help He sent me in making the decision to serve. It has flown by, but I do know that serving a mission was part of God's plan for me. I can't even express to you how grateful I am for the gospel. I am grateful for how merciful the Lord has been to me. I am grateful that I can change. I am grateful for the testimony that I have gained and the foundation that I have built. I am grateful for the instrument that the Lord has molded me into, to bring about His purposes. I just love it. I am excited to see how much I have changed, because apparently you can tell a lot better when you are home.... Ah. But I am excited to take what I have learned and apply it to Gentile life. I know that the Lord has plans for me afterward, and I will continue to be His instrument.

I guess you don't need to know what goes on in my head, but I know that the gospel is true. The Lord loves you so much. We are literally children of God, and we have divine potential. When we come to see what our potential is, perspective of life and the choices we make, change. 

I'll talk to you next week! Or see you I guess.... uh.... see you later??

Love, Sister Cozzens

The missionaries had a bbq for p-day. "Go LAKE

ELSINORE ZONE!"

Photo with Sister Garlitz, a previous companion

Sisters Rodriguez and Cozzens

"I found a lizard tail, so I took a picture with it."

The house had termites, so they put up a tent

HELLLLOOOOO!!!

July 18, 2016

Hi there!

We had a slow week, not very many people were interested. They were actually kinda rude, but that is okay! It doesn't change my testimony! I'll just tell them "I told you so" during the Millennium. We did walk a lot and talked to 126 people. I also hit my 18 month mark, that was crazy.

We went bowling today!! It was Elder Zeng's first time (he's from China). 

"Happy as a clan!"

Elder Zeng

Though the work is slow, we will keep pressing on. God will bless us and everything will be okay! I am going to finish strong and not get trunky! My focus is to bring the Spirit at every opportunity, so that people can feel it and want us to come back!

I am grateful for the gospel and for the priesthood! Don't be afraid to ask for a priesthood blessing. I was prompted to get one last night. There were a bunch of people in the home, so I got nervous and scared (idk why). I left the home, without acting on the prompting, and as I walked further away from the house, I knew that I needed to go back and ask, so I did. I am so grateful to have the priesthood in my life, and I am grateful that we can receive words and direction, directly from our Heavenly Father.

Have a great week! 

A pitbull that ran at the Sisters, then started 

following them. They had to tract a

couple of houses to find his home.

"He's super cute and nice. His name is Shargy."

A picture with the "Wolfee Donuts" car, where 

Arianna Grande sued them. 

The Sisters decided to get treats from the ice

cream truck.

BAPTISM!!!!!!!

Why, hello there!

So my fourth of July was AWESOME. We have the best zone ever. We all made our own pies as companionships, and we had to test them all out! Whoever won, idk who the winner was, but we got to eat pie. We also played humans vs. zombies (church walking dead version) Monday night. It was the greatest! The humans had Nerf guns, and the zombies chased the humans around the church, don't worry, the chapel and baptismal font were off limits. Not sure how obedient it was, but we had lots of fun. :) 

Making pie and improvising for an apron

The zone eating pies...

Sister Cozzens with Sister Garlitz (previous 

companion)

We had found lots of solid potentials on Friday and Saturday last week, and we were so excited to go see them, yesterday. Then, it turned out that no one wanted to listen to what we had to say and this one guy, Jeff, (pray for him) was trying to teach me the truth. He kept calling us to tell me what was right and that we are being deceived. So, yesterday was a rough day. Satan has been working on me and this area, and I know that it is because I am going home soon, but I refuse to budge. 

Though I got a little discouraged yesterday, I was able to GO BACK TO CANYON CREST IN RIVERSIDE AND GO TO A BAPTISM!!! Sister Garlitz and I picked up Sandra, back in December, when we were companions. She fell off the face of the earth, when Sister Bedingfield and I were companions, and after I left, she showed up to church and got baptized yesterday! It was a nice surprise, and I was able to teach the Restoration with my buddy, Sister Garlitz, while Sandra got ready. 

Sandra's baptism

Sandra with Sister Cozzens

I was able to bear my testimony, through lots of tears, that God has given us families, that we need Christ to be the center of our homes, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Christ lives. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and all of His children. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he restored Christ's church. This gospel is the only way back to our Father's presence. We have the priesthood authority needed to baptize, confirm, administer the sacrament, do work for the dead, and interpret scripture and everything else involved in the church. 

My dad apparently taught yesterday at church about conversion and the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, (I love the Book of Mormon, it's so good) and how we need to DAILY work on our conversion. We need to grow daily, and the Lord will help us and enable us through our trials, as we submit and learn what He needs us to learn. I love this gospel. I love Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary. I love the work of the Lord and what an amazing opportunity I have been blessed with, to be an instrument in our Heavenly Father's hands. Just as Ammon boasts of our God (Alma 26:11-16), I am so grateful for our Father in Heaven. He is so good.

Well, I am a missionary! There's my testimony for you!

Love, 

Sister Cozzens

A member stuck the Sister's card on an investigator's

door on a nail

The biggest flautas of my life

"I found this fun flower thing, in a lady's

yard and snuck a picture. Hopefully she

wasn't home." :)

THE NASTIEST CREATURES BESIDES SPIDERS!

The jade beetles are NASTY....BZZZZZ. They

are huge and green.

Sisters Rodriguez and Cozzens

Sister Cozzens, Sister Moore, and Sister 

Rodriguez...YOMO (You Only Missionary

Once)

"A picture Sister Garlitz sent to me of when 

we went to the temple last transfer. She's the 

greatest."

Happy 4th of July!

July 4, 2016

Hello!

I wanted to tell you a funny story, and you can choose to laugh if you want. I wish Sister Turner were here, because she could tell the story much better than me. Neither Sister Rodriguez or I speak Spanish. There are times, being in California, where you are bound to run into someone that doesn't speak English, which happens quite often. One day, we happened to run into a man, that only spoke Spanish. So, we start our Spanish contact, and don't judge: "Somos representantes de Jesu Cristo, de la iglesia de jesu cristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. We're sharing a dos minuto video de jesu Cristo, can we share with you?" Then he just went off in Spanish, and when I don't know what they are saying, I just smile and look at my companion, even though she doesn't speak either, and he kept talking. I understood a few vocab words, we were trying to communicate, and I was desperate. I was praying for the gift of tongues, but nothing really happened... So, we stood there for a few  minutes, thinking of how to form a sentence and saying "si" every once in a while. Then, he just decided to start speaking English! He knew how to speak, perfectly mind you, the whole time! We laughed, but I really was quite embarrassed. He wasn't interested, but he was nice. and that is my story.... Not sure if it was even funny, but that's okay!

Thursday: We picked up an awesome investigator-Lorena! Sister Rodriguez and I had just gotten out of the car to go seeking with faith (walking around a neighborhood) and there was a lady across the street and a ways down, but I saw her waving, so I waved back. I said, "Let's go talk to her!" We crossed the street and when we got over to her, she said "I was waving to my neighbor, not you." She wasn't rude, but don't we all hate when that happens! It is so awkward! But, we ended up being able to share the followhim.mormon.org video with her. 

Saturday: Sister Rodriguez had a baptism in her old area, so I was able to see Lorena with a young woman from our ward. We were able to teach the Restoration to her. The Spirit was so strong and one thing she told us was that whenever she starts having questions about things, religious people always show up. She was having questions about why there are so many churches, and she smiled more throughout the lesson, as we continued to teach her. She accepted a baptism date for July 31st- my mom's birthday (I think). Hopefully she comes to church, so that she can get baptized! I was also testifying about God and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith, and I said:  "I know that he saw God and Jesus Christ, because I have prayed about it, and I have received an answer from God." She then asked if she could keep the pamphlet, and we invited her to pray about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, and she said "Yes, I will!" 

I invite you to pray about this message, continually. Continue to read the Book of Mormon to strengthen your testimony. Christ's gospel has been restored. Pray to find those that the Lord has prepared for you to share the gospel with. I love this gospel. I love this church. I am so grateful to be a part of it. I was able to go to a child of record baptism on Saturday. They shared a video with everyone, called: The Power of God- it's a Mormon message.  https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/power-of-god-2

Watching that helped me see even more how real this gospel is. This gospel is a life long commitment. God has created a plan, and it needs to be a part of every aspect of our lives. The church is true! :)

Love,

your fellow missionary friend

Sista Cuz

Sister Cozzens and Sister Pielstick "I went

on exchanges with SISTER PIELSTICK. 

What a girl, I love her. My old companion--

of 5 days."

Sisters Cozzens and Rodriguez

#LYFEISGREAT

June 27, 2016

Hello there!

We had such a great week! We picked up 7 new investigators, and I know that it was because we were walking around the areas that we had planned to try people. The Lord will provide finding opportunities for us, as we seek for those opportunities. We also walked for 11.2 hours last week. Man, is my body tired. Ah. Haha, but the work is great! Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven! 

One of the investigators that we picked up, Devahn, is so cool. We walked over to him and said "hi" and right away, he pulled out two chairs, opened up the trunk to his car, and we began talking about the gospel. He has been wanting to find the truth. He told us yesterday that he is searching to find it. We were talking about The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and he looked up from reading it, and said, "but what if people don't want to have kids?" He has 3, but I began teaching him about how God needs his Spirit children to gain bodies, and he interrupted and said "Wait, spirit children, spirit bodies??" He looked so excited. Then, I said "Oh yeah! We share another message about where we were before this life, why we are here today, and where we will be going." He wanted to hear about it right then, but due to shortage of time, we had to go. But, the Spirit was so strong, and I know that that is something he needs to be taught. I'm so excited for Wednesday! He is also going to feed us. I also love this ward. We brought a great member with us, who is great at fellowshipping. Go out and help the missionaries!!

We found a few families this last week, the Lord is blessing us so much. Cathy's mom will be attending our church this upcoming Sunday, fast Sunday, and I think Cathy wants to bear her testimony!

I also had my outgoing/exit interview with my mission president. I love him. He is so great. I was so nervous before the interview. My stomach was so tight, and I was nervous, because that was my interview where we talk about dating and the future. Ah. I still don't know what to think about all of this. I'm going to need to rely on the Lord for this one. 

I've been reflecting on my mission lately. Do you ever reflect on your life and see the attributes (whether good or bad) that you've developed over the years? I know that I have changed, in a good way. I have turned towards my Savior, Jesus Christ and become His disciple. I know that I am not perfect, and I make plenty of mistakes, but I am so grateful for this gospel, for the sacrament and the Atonement, that we are able to apply it in our lives and become what the Lord needs us to become to be a greater instrument in His hands. So, I invite you to become! Turn to the Lord and ask what you need to work on, to further help Him in His work. The Lord loves you. He will enable you to do more than you are even capable of. It is amazing to see His hand in my life, and I am beyond grateful for that!

I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Cozzens

"It was 117 degrees last Monday, talk about HOT!"

Sister Cozzens' new companion, Sister Rodriguez

The missionaries went to the beach at Lake Elsinore

for p-day

"I promise I didn't put my feet in the water"

TRANSFERS!!!

June 20, 2016

Aloha!!

Speaking of Polynesians, we had THE BEST dinner (physically and spiritually) with a couple on Saturday. #BESTFOODEVER

Also, it was REALLY hot yesterday, and it is going to be hot again today!! WOO! #sweat

Anyway, transfers! So my companion's name is Sister Rodriguez! She is from Texas! GO TEXANS!! She has been out for 4 1/2 months, and I am really excited to be with her and work and serve with everything we have!

Cathy's mom made her go to a different church, yesterday, but afterward, she text me and said "they were welcoming and friendly, but the Spirit wasn't there like it is in our church." She said OUR!!! She is the cutest!! She convinced her mom to come to church with us in a couple of weeks. So that'll be great! 

Sorry, limited time! I sent Sarah (my mini) off today with her grandma, but I love her. She is so amazing, and I am so excited for her to serve her own mission. She has helped me so much, and I know that the Lord has great things in store for her. 

I know that Christ lives, and I have come to know Him even more as I've read the Book of Mormon. No, as I have feasted. It is the word of God, and I am so grateful for the power it brings into my life. I invite you to sacrifice time EVERYDAY to feast. It will bless you.

Have a great week!

Sister Cozzens

Sister Cozzens and Sarah, her mini-missionary

Check out the tan on Sister Cozzens' feet!