Christmas WEEK 12-21 to 12-27-10

Samuel Cottrell

show details 12:52 PM (1 hour ago)

Merry Christmas last week everyone, It was good to see alot of you on Skype! Thank you all for your love, support, cards and gifts. It all means so much to me. Looking forward to a new year here in L.A.

 

Tuesday 12-21-10

Today after Email I went on splits with Elder Bluth over to the same area I was with Elder Weir - Watts/South Central L.A. We tracted quite a bit and had dinner with a member. We taught some odd people in Watts that had questions about "666" and having a micro chip placed inside of you in order to be able to buy or sell things... ? In spanish none the less. That was fun. We went to the South Gate building and had the baptism interviews for Sister Recinos and her daughter. They passed. Bonus!

Wednesday-

After I got home from splits, Elder Ferrin and I went to visit and eat lunch with Sister Rivas. Her two grandkids were there and it started to storm really hard. One of them, Daniel (9), got scared and asked us to make it stop. We told him that we could - and it stopped. He got pretty scared after that. It started up again and once more he asked us, "make it stop please". We asked him if he had faith that he could make it stop. At first he said no, but after teaching him about faith, he agreed and said yes. We told him to pray and ask God to make it stop. He did. It stopped. It was pretty awesome. But the moment that we left the house, it started again. Really really hard. Probably harder than i've ever seen it rain anywhere. We had the joy of riding our bikes home from there. There were rivers in the streets - everyone was looking at us like "what are those two white kids doing in the rain?". We were completely soaked within 20 seconds of being on our bikes. It was fun. We talked to Dennis and then went home to make sure our ceiling wasn't leaking harder than usual.

Thursday-

Today it finally stopped raining. We ate lunch again with Sister Rivas and she gave me a tie for Christmas. That was really nice of her. We talked with Sister Recinos and I bought some new church shoes - mine were completely soaked. We visited a few more people and then ordered a pizza at home. Not alot of people were available today - they all went back to Mexico to visit family for the Holidays.

Friday-

Today we woke up way early and the Sisters came to pick us up. We went to the Westwood building behind the temple for a Christmas devotional with the whole mission. It was all musical numbers and really nice to just listen to. I said goodbye to all of my buddies leaving next week - they'll do good in life. Jennifer cut my hair after . We were riding to our next appointment, running late, and my chain snapped. We had a long ways to go and were going to have to walk. I looked up and right there was a bike shop - open at 6 pm on Christmas Eve - definitely a blessing. I was able to buy a chain and be back on our way in less than 5 minutes. We ate dinner with the Pena's and had ponche - basically what you boil at home to make your house smell good - and then headed to Jave's. Mexicans celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve - so we thought we were eating with them on the 25th... but they meant the 24th. So we had two dinners. It was really good. I called home to set up a time to call tomorrow and Dad answered - they were in a movie. Nice.

Saturday-

Christmas today - I woke up and opened the presents I got in the mail yesterday - I got a good load no doubt! After messing around with it all, we got ready and went downtown to the same place we went for Thanksgiving and sang again. That has been a really good experience both opportunities i've had to do it. We ate lunch with the Sisters at Denny's and saw Maria there. We went to the Arana's next and I was able to use their computer to Skype home with the whole family. It was awesome to see them all! The kids are getting big... it's nuts. After I talked with them for an hour we ate at Jave's again and then headed home so Elder Ferrin could call home.

Sunday-

The day after Christmas is always kind of a bitter sweet - sad that the holiday is over, glad that you're not stressed anymore. Lucky for me, we had two baptisms today that I was focused on. The printer in the church wasn't working so we weren't able to print a program for the baptism - that was a real bummer. We just wrote it on the chalkboard for everyone to see. I baptized Sister Recinos and Elder Ferrin baptized her daughter. It was the first one i've done in Spanish so it was pretty awesome. They were so happy - I can't even describe the feeling you get when you have that experience. Afterwards we ate AGAIN with Jave. Tonight after planning we played table football. I beat Elder Ferrin 102-21. It was really funny.

Monday-

P-day today. We went to Tom's Burgers for lunch so I could get another Colosal burger and then went to Radio Shack. We both bought remote control helicopters. We went home and figured them out until 6. They're way fun. I flew a rude note to Elder Ferrin while he was writing a letter, he read it and was about to say something mean when I turned the helicopter on again from across the room and it flew up, the blade chopped him right on his... chest. I laughed for a good while. We took Joy to the World to a referral that asked for it. He seems like a really nice guy - I hope we have the chance to teach him.

 

Well tomorrow is transfers - guess we'll see what happens. I'm not expecting anything to change. I love you all and hope you have a fun and safe New Year's!

Love, Elder Cottrell

 

Merry Christmas from Elder Cottrell & Elder Ferrin

Elder Cottrell & Joshua! Congratulations!

Quick because it got deleted?!

Wow I just wrote the whole letter and it got deleted. I don't have a lot of time to write so i'll just send you the main points.

12-7-10 Tuesday

I went with Elder Weir to his area in South Central/Watts. He didnt know his area very well so we were just riding around everywhere and did alot of tracting. We chased down one of the many 'nieve men' who go around on their bikes selling ice cream or tamales or whatever. We were eating the ice cream on a curb and taking a break when a bunch of black dudes came outside of the house we were in front of. They were about 40 or 50. They were really nice and gave us water - all except one who said something like "well i'll be, ... Mormons. What are you two doing in an all black neighborhood? do you know where you're at?" ... "no, we're actually kind of lost.." .... "you're in WATTS!". me in my mind 'yeah we're actually just leaving'... he started to talk about the scripture in Nephi thats about the black curse - blah blah blah. He wanted to bash but we wouldnt let him. Within 5 minutes he was thanking us for doing what we do. nice. We ate at the bishops house. I got into a competition with the son - about 30 yrs old - eating chili's. They were super hot. Elder Weir cried when he ate 1. I ate about 15 and called it good. At about 10 pm my stomach hurt so I went to bed - woke up at 3 30 with the same feeling as my 'death sickness'  - Elder Weir gave me a blessing and I sat in the shower for an hour. Finally around 5 am I started feeling a little better and got some sleep. Probably shouldnt have eaten those.

12-8-10

Went to lunch at Sister Rivas' house - I have been calling her sister munoz the last two times I was over that - that was an awkward realization. We taught Jave's family about families - they've been struggling lately - I hope it helped.

12-9-10

Ate at Sister Rivas' house again then helped Sister Rodriguez put up Christmas lights - that was a fun service. We ate with the Penas for dinner - their son Jair is leaving to Indianapolis on wednesday on his mission.

12-10-10

District meeting day - I gave the spritual thought on diligence. I think it went pretty well, I felt the spirit alot. I got a bunch of mail today for christmas and my birthday - that was sweet! Thank you everyone! We went to Denny's for lunch - we're teaching a girl that works there. She only made us pay $10 instead of about $25 - that was sweet. She works on sundays so hasn't been able to be baptized but starts a new job next week so hopefully she'll follow through! Jennifers son Denito said that when he's a missionary he wants to be called "Elder Cottrell' too. he's 5 - funniest kid ever besides Gabe. We met with the Aranas and will go to the Visitors Center with them on sunday.

12-11-10

After corellation we ate with some Elders at a pizza place. We ended up helping Brother Recinos for 4 hours putting up thousands of christmas lights on and around his house. It was like the Griswalds house in christmas vacation haha. It was way fun though. We're working with his wife - trying to get her baptized - we set a date with her for the 26th of this month. Woo hoo!

12-12-10

After church today we went with the Arana's to the V.C.  - we watched the J.S. movie and one on Prophets as well. They really liked it! We were able to see the lights for a minute - it was a nice night but they were in a hurry so we couldn't stay long. That was a bummer.

12-13-10

P-day

We went to the Compton Fashion Center for a while - that place is huge. It was pretty cool - they have everything you could think of there. We went to the park and threw the football and bought groceries. It's nuts to see people EVERYWHERE you look out here. 7 million people in my mission. There's always someone outside selling something or going through someone's recycling to try and make some money. It's crazy. I'm so grateful for the quiet in Utah.

Well that was basically it. Sorry it's so short. I love you all so much. Thank you for the birthday wishes, cards, money, etc.! I wouldn't be able to do this without you all.

Love,

Elder Cottrell

Dec. 7 2010

Hey how are you doin everyone? It's been a pretty good week so i'll just jump right in.

Tuesday - 11-30-10

After email today we went into a neighborhood tha reminded me alot of Wilmington. It was a little nicer compared to the rest of the town. One thing about it though is that there were dogs EVERYWHERE. I think we counted 20 on this one street - just wandering around outside. One in particular took interest in my companion - it was a big white dog - my companion just stopped and got behind my bike. It then looked at me so I took off as fast as I could - mistake. It ran after me - peddling as fast as I could it was biting at my heels - ha - terrifying but really funny. It chased me for an entire block down the road and then gave up. After we tried to visit a couple of people there we headed over to Dennis and Jennifer's house. Jennifer was recently baptized but her boyfriend Dennis is not a member. We've been teaching him quite a bit but he has some problems with the W.O.W. We will work through them.

Wednesday-

Today we went back to the South Bay to find out the results of my procedure. Dr. Cohen said the biopsy's all came back negative and so he diagnosed me with Irritable bowel syndrome caused by stress... I don't believe it but I guess you can think what you want. I guess I should be grateful that they didnt find anything but I still feel at a dead end with it all. Today we tried something different besides tracting. We took a big stack of pass along cards and stuck them on every car we saw that was parked on this block. We talked to everyone that was outside as well - it turned out to be allot more effective than regular tracting. We got a bunch of return appointments. We taught a members' friend who was over at their house for the night - i'm sure she wasn't expecting that. She is 21, single with a 2 yr old. There are SO many young single women here with babies. It's so so sad. It makes me miss Utah a whole lot ha. We had a phone-conference lesson with a member and his girlfriend in Hawaii - he'll be moving there this month. Elder Sung called me tonight and told me that Sister Dial in the Carson ward whom Elder Mitillo and I helped reactivate wanted me to come back on saturday and baptize her son Joshua who is almost 9. Sweet!

Thursday-

We spent the morning at the Dr. office in marina del rey for Elder Ferrin's knee. He had an xray done and they found its probably just a bruised bone but if it still hurts in a couple weeks then they will do an MRI - hopefully he didnt tear anything. Afterwards, Jave - a member here - took us to ACE and we bought ourselves a Christmas tree - a real one. It's about 5'6. Our apartment smells really nice now. We went back to teach Dennis about the W.O.W - my spanish was very broken but it was a really spiritual lesson.

Friday-

District meeting today - afterwards we ate at subway and in-n-out and all just talked for a while. I met a guy there that was really interested in the church - too bad he lives out of my area and I had to pass him along to the other Elders. We decided to walk our area today. From 2 to 9 we just walked and talked to everyone we saw. It was very tiring. There was a Christmas parade through our area - we were able to see some of it - that was pretty neat. We decorated our tree - you'd be impressed no doubt.

Saturday-

We had correlation with the zone - afterwards we ate at panda express with the sisters. We visited a less-active family and saw about 50 yard sales. I've never seen anything like it - every other house has a yard sale on saturday. Elder Bluth and Elder Weir picked us up and took us to Carson for the baptism. It was so nice seeing everyone from the ward even though i've only been gone a couple of weeks. As I was sitting with Josh I asked him if he had a middle name - he said no. So we I baptized him and went to change. I changed and then the bishop knocked on the door. Turns out Josh DOES have a middle name. So I got dressed again in wet clothes and baptized him again. It was awesome. Sister Dial was so grateful that I was able to come back and do that for her. Her husband still wont come to church but she was determined to get her son baptized and wanted me to do it since I was the one that helped her get back to church. I was talking to her afterwards and she told me that Josh said after the first time I baptized him "mom, I didnt feel the warm feeling you said I would get when you get baptized"... and then after I did it again with his full name he said "I felt it that time mom". It's so amazing to me how in tune kids are with the spirit. That was such a great experience for me. After the baptism we taught the Arana family and had dinner with them. They haven't been to church in almost 8 years. We committed Carla and Jackie - the two teenage girls - to come to church tomorrow.

Sunday-

Jave picked us up for church and we drove to the Arana's to pick up Jackie and Carla - I didn't really expect them to come. They were there and waiting though! That was awesome. They sat next to us in Sacrament and asked questions about the bread and water, about heaven and the pre-earth life. They're really good investigators - except that they have already been baptized. ha. Jave took us up to the temple and we saw all of the lights there - it was very pretty. We had a lesson with him in the rain outside the temple that was really spiritual. He's a recent convert (name pronounce ha-vee) and is going through some struggles.

Monday-

P-day finally here. We had a zone activity at the church that was kind of lame - a relay that lasted 20 minutes - the church is 20 minutes away. Oh well. Afterwards we printed some pictures and did some grocery shopping. The day went by super fast. At 6 o'clock we went to Jair's missionary farewell party at the church - Elder Ferrin talked and a bunch of us sang 'bring the world His truth'.

That was my week! Hope you enjoyed it. I love you all and am grateful for your example to me. Keep reading, keep praying, keep the faith.

Love,

Elder Cottrell

Senior Companion Adventures 1st Week in Lynwood, CA

Hey everyone, hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! Can't believe tomorrow is December already.

Tuesday 11-23-10

Last night I found out that i'll be leaving Carson and Wilmington and heading to the 'hood'. Lynwood. It may be ghetto but I hear it's the highest baptizing area in the mission - that's something to look forward to. I'm going to miss the people here for sure, but I guess it's just part of the mission. We did alot of packing and saying goodbye to people today. I realized that I have way too much 'stuff' out here and need to get rid of it or send it home.

Wednesday-

Bright and early we helped each other load our stuff into members' cars for the long haul. Brother Holt gave me a ride up to Lynwood - just above Compton. The area didn't look too bad as we drove through it, I was surprised at how nice Compton was actually. He took me to my new apartment on Carlin St. and I met my new companion. Elder Ferrin from Plain City, UTAH. Born and raised on a farm, played basketball in highschool, drove a tractor everyday and graduated from Freemont High in 2009. This is his first area - he's been out about 6 months. We visited a few people after I unpacked - it's all Spanish. Good thing I don't know any... That's alright i'll learn. On our way home from our last appointment we were riding our bikes on Atlantic - going pretty fast- my companion in front of me- a woman opened her car door (that was parked) and Elder Ferrin plowed into it. Somehow he stayed on his bike. The lady was in shock but just glad that he was ok - she was visiting from Oakland for Thanksgiving. Her door is broken - he bent it about 15 degrees the wrong way when he hit it. Everything else is fine - his knee has been bugging him though so we're going to get it checked out on thursday of next week. My new apartment is pretty nice except that we can't get our heater to work and it's been way cold here lately. Good thing we have an oven.

Thursday-

As a zone we went to a convilesent (sp?) home Downtown and sang songs to them for an hour. That was really nice and they were very appreciative. We had a lunch appointment afterwards with a recent convert Sister Rivas - we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I was surprised because she's Mexican - it was a pleasant surprise though. Then we had our weekly planning session for a few hours and headed to another dinner appointment in South Gate. We had beans, rice, (yup), a mexican soup called Pusole and tostadas. It was all very very good. It was a good Thanksgiving but didn't feel like a Holliday at all. Guess that's a good thing while you're on your mission.

Friday-

District meeting today - it all went very well - just got to know each other. We studied most of the day due to Elder Ferrin's knee injury. A member picked us up for dinner at his house. We had Thanksgiving dinner again - we eat alot here.

Saturday-

We had ward correlation in which I understood almost nothing because it was all in spanish. Afterwards we ate lunch at Wingstop and then we went tracting for most of the night. We got 5 return appointments.. 5... I didn't get even close to that many in a week in Carson/Wilmington. I was amazed at how nice the people were at their doors. Very grateful for that. We're working with a recent convert and going over the Christ Like Attributes in PmyG. He's doing good.

Sunday-

We had church at the Huntington Park building - ours is being renovated until the end of the year. There were 2 wards there and it was packed. I didn't understand much - again. But it was very good. It's really cold here with the humidity - not fun. We at lunch with the Morales family. In lessons I try to just jump in and speak what spanish I can - God always helps me out with that. We did some more tracting and received similar results as we did yesterday - more return appointments. We talked with a former investigator and got him interested again - he's an older guy and really excited to learn more about our message.

Monday-

P-day today. Still pretty cold. Went and looked at 'snuggies' at CVS (funny blanket thing) but didnt get one. We're saving up for a Christmas tree. We went to this Mexican shopping mall that was pretty cool, ate some taco's there and then headed to a dinner appointment at the Penas. They're such a cool family. The two youngest kids are the grumpiest little mexican's i've ever seen- 1 and 3. They're super funny. I spoke a ton of spanish tonight - i'm amazed at how much i've learned already.

Well that was my week - i'm safe and loving my new area. Who know's how long i'll be here. I really feel like i've known some of the people here forever - they're so kind and loving to the missionaries. I know that God has really touched and humbled these people. As missionaries we have to learn to love the people - that's not a problem here. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Love, Elder Cottrell

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Transfered to Lynwood, CA- Spanish speaking

Hello family,

I hear you're getting dumped on at home with some serious snow. I miss that, but definitely not shoveling it. Sorry dad. Thanksgiving should be fun this week, give everyone my best. My mission is flying by for me as well - 9 months already. I can't believe it. Well, here we go-

Wednesday 11-17-10 -

We went to the temple as a zone - except our ride was late so we missed our session. We did initatory instead. That's always been such a great experience. I always get such a great feeling when I know i'm doing work for those that have passed. After we went to the temple we went to "The Alley", or The Fashion District in L.A. - I've told you about it before - super cheap things for sale everywhere. It's kind of like China Town. You've actually probably been there. Anyway we just walked around for a couple hours and looked at a few things - sometimes it's fun to see all of the different people there. I started drinking the mixture I was supposed to take for my colonoscopy and endoscopy the next day. I couldn't eat anything today so I'm super hungry. - I can't believe how well that miralax worked ha.

Thursday-

We went to the specialist in Torrance for my procedure. We hate to wait about 45 minutes for me to get in - then once they put the I.V. in me it was another half hour before it was my turn to be 'operated on'. They gave me the anesthesia and I was out like a light. In fact, they woke me up because I was snoring and thought I couldn't breathe. I thought that was pretty funny. Once I was awake I just wanted to leave - they wanted me to lay down and recover but I felt fine and insisted on leaving. The Dr. said he couldnt see anything that didn't look normal but he took biopsy's so i'll get those results in a couple weeks. So I walked out - not even light headed or anything - it was great. We went straight to Five Guys Burgers and Fries and I got a huge hamburger with fries. It was so great. - although I knew i'd probably have to pay for that hurt on my stomach later. Once we got home I got really tired. From the medicine I guess. I took a nap and woke up with a stomach ache. We went to the Teppers for dinner - I couldn't eat anything really besides apple sauce. (sister Tepper told me to tell you to look up an Infectious Disease Doctor - her sister had similar symptoms to mine and had to see one) Sister Tepper gave me a heating pad to use for my stomach at night to help the pain subside.

Friday-

We had a really long training at the Carson building with another zone. It went pretty well.. That's all I have to say about it. Afterwards my companion got a new tube on his bike - it popped yesterday. We rode to the Hannemanns for dinner and had chili and rice - it set pretty well with my stomach. Surprise. It's still pretty sore. I can't believe transfers are next week - this one has flown by.

Saturday-

We helped a guy and his mom move this morning - it didnt take too long, 12 missionaries and the whole singles ward showed up. That made it nice. We had a lunch at the Carson Buffett that canceled last minute on us so we went to our local place Las Palmas for lunch. I heard BYU had a good day-nice. Ant that utah barely edged out sdsu - bummer. The holy war should be a good game - wish I could see it. We went to dinner with Elder Sung and Apo to the Carson Buffett with some people in the ward. Brother Lei likes to really eat for a long time when we go there so we always make sure to save alot of room and pace ourselves.

Sunday-

Today was the primary program in sacrament. It was way funny to see all of these kids i've gotten to know over the past while get up there and talk/sing. My companion and I taught the 12-13 yr olds on Missionary Work. I was pretty impressed with how much they know about the subject. Today has been really cold and rainy - the weather has been nuts recently going from hot to cold. I knew that i'd probably be getting transferred so I said goodbye to alot of people i'm close with today - that was tough but i'll come back and visit. I'm going to miss it here if I leave. We had dinner with the Craigs in ScottsDale tonight. Good old SD. Sister Craig made us enchiladas that were alot like moms - super good. It's getting darker earlier so we need to head for home a little sooner than normal.

Monday-

Today we had our Turkey Bowl with a couple other zones. It was pretty dis-organized but we won 1 game and lost 1. Oh well. We found out about transfers as well - I'll be leaving to LynnWood - the real little Mexico and i'll be spanish speaking. I'll finally learn some spanish. Solid. I'm kind of nervous to leave Carson and Wilmington but it will be good. I hope my new bike doesn't get stolen over there - I might need to buy another lock. We went to the mall and walked around for a while and talked about transfers. We did some laundry and then went to dinner with the Wongs. We went to a Korean BBQ place with them, Elder Sung and Elder Apo - Elder Apo is going home this transfer so it is his 'last meal'. He's pretty excited I think. It was a good day in all - we'll see how I feel next week this time. I'm excited for a little change I guess but i'll for sure miss the people here.

 

Well that was my week. Thank you all for your love and prayers. I'm so grateful for you all. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and give thanks to God for all of your blessings. I know I will.

Love,

Edler Cottrell

Sick of being Sick

Hey family,

Man sounds like dad had a rough couple of days with his neck. Thats way crazy. I'm glad to hear that he was able to get a blessing and feel better quickly though. That doesn't sound very fun at all. How's your new callings going? I'm sure they keep you busy.

Wednesday-

Interesting day. We went to Sister Greens and ate, talked and shared a message. Always a good time. I was pretty sick of Elder Hodell's bike breaking on me so I traded it out for his companion's Elder Poemape's until I can get a new one. We ate dinner with the Suarez family but on our way there I had to deal with a not-so-good driver. I was riding my bike pretty fast because we were running a little late. A car to the left of me was going to turn right, into a gas station. I guess he tried to beat me and turn before I passed him but he ended up turning right in front of me. I pulled my brakes as hard as they would go but it didnt stop me from hitting him. I broke his passenger side mirror and scratched his window. I didn't fall off my bike or break it or get hurt or anything. He rolled down his window and was pretty upset at me. I just told him that there is no way that was my fault and that he needs to watch where he's driving. He pulled into the gas station and got out of his car. A black man came running over that saw it happen and started yelling at the guy and saying that if I was hurt he'd be in alot of trouble with the police. The guy just stood there. As well as my companion. I said thank you to the black guy and just rode away. Fun. Well atleast dinner was good - the Suarez family are characters for sure.

Thursday-

I had a headache all day and nothing seemed to get rid of it. We visited the Nickels and talked about their grandson serving in iraq. I told them what we learned in sacrament the week before and we talked about that. Again we tried to contact recent referrals but had no luck getting in touch with them.

Friday-

Woke up with what developed into a migraine. Not very fun. We did our studies and rode to Grand World Buffett to use some certificates a lady in the ward gave us. We ate there and then went to visit a recent convert, Brandon - he was actually the first baptism I went to see on my mission. He is doing very well and about to get a calling in the Elders Quorum. We had correlation at the church and then rode to the fuiavas. One of the family members is less active so we talked to him and challenged him to come to church on sunday.

Saturday-

I got a haircut from Ampelia and bought some flan to support Kazandra's fundraiser for dance. You probably don't know what flan is... or maybe you do. Anyway it was really good. We went with Elder Sung and Elder Apo to help move a piano from the Grovers' house to the Holts'. It wasn't much of a hard time - they rented a moving truck so it took a whole 10 minutes to do. Then the Holt's took us out to Black Angus for lunch. That was nice. We visited Rick and found out that his brother had died the night before. He was on business in France. Rick is the last member of his immediate family and had never had to deal with anything like this. He is out of work and just doesnt know what to do. I talked to the Bishop and arranged a day that a service could be done at the church and then talked to the ward career services lady about finding Rick a job. He was so grateful for the help. I hope things work out for him.

Sunday-

Went to church, things were pretty well. Nothing too exciting happened. When we got home, Ronald from next door asked us to help him move a couple of things down to his truck. I noticed some cramping in my stomach and got really nervous that I was getting my infamous death sickness so I laid down. Long story short I ended up in the emergency room sunday night. Not fun. They did an ultrasound but didnt find anything. I'm going to see a specialist soon I hope.

Monday-

Woke up still not feeling too well after not getting much sleep and being in the hospital. I got feeling a little better and went to nordstrom rack with the zone leaders. We went to a cafe rio - there's only a couple of those in the mission. That was sweet - a member was there and paid for our food. Even sweeter. I was still sick and couldnt eat very much - not so sweet. We went to the Saunders' for dinner. They're a fun family. Brother Saunders gave us a ride home and I tried to get some much needed rest.

Tuesday-

Had a super long night last night, my feet were cold, my hands and my head were on fire. Didnt get almost any sleep. Finally I was able to fall asleep for a little while. When I woke up I had a terrible soreness in my eyes that i've never felt before. It hurt to open or move them. Pretty odd. Dr. Lyman told me to take it easy so I did some studying and went to the Hannemanns later on. We visited with them and I tried to eat some food. The weather has been so strange lately - hot and sunny for a week - raining and cold for a week - now its hot again.

 

Well sounds like i'm dying. Just kidding i'm fine - just getting adjusted im sure. Thank you for your prayers and letters - I love you all

Elder Cottrell

Sam's 4th Transfer Photos

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Oct. 19, 2010 - Little Cat, Big Dog

Hey family!

Things have been good this last week - didn't get transferred - baptism went really well - things have been good. Glad you had a good trip to Chicago and got to see everyone out there - stake conference also sounds like it was pretty good. Intense maybe? You sure sound busy driving all over the place. I've learned how important it is to stay busy - good things happen when you're doing all you can. Shoot I hope dad's neck feels better soon, that doesn't sound like a good time at all. Dunk his head in the tub or something - maybe use a rolling pin ha.

Tuesday- 10-12-10

After email we tried to visit a couple of referrals we received. They weren't home but a thrift shop was near by so we decided to check it out. It ended up being alot like a D.I.. We talked to the owner for a good while and found out that she is a Christian and this was her way of helping God's children. She was taking lightly used things and helping out the poor in the area. We told her who we are and how we also help Gods children. It was a great experience. I gave her a pass along card and she asked us to come tell her more another day. We ate with the Teppers - they have a few CATS. I don't like cats. One of them was pretty alright though - kept coming to me and sitting in my lap. So I started to pet it and play with it (I carry around a laser to mess with animals whenever I have the chance).. It was sitting in my lap again and I was just petting it when suddenly it flipped and scratched the crap out of my arm. It was actually really really funny but scared me to death. I dont like cats. Again. I see quite a few coins on the ground as we're walking so far everyday - so I remembered that was how I used to make money when I was little - I pick up everyone I see now and put it in a plastic bag. We'll see how much I can save over these next 16 months.

Wednesday-

Today we went to Sister Greens. We got there and had forgotten that the week before we told her we'd help to set up her halloween stuff. We told her we would come back tomorrow in different clothes but she still wanted to feed us. So we ate and talked with her for a while - she's always fun to visit. We rode our bikes to Franco's after that and he worked on my back a little bit. We read in the Book of Mormon and talked about it. Then we made our new planners for the transfer - BYU/Utah ones. They're pretty funny. I'm sending you the pictures today so you'll see.

Thursday-

Peanut people day. They live out of our area so we can't go and visit them any other time than thursdays at the farmers maket. I hope we can help them out more. We walked to sister Greens and set up her halloween stuff - she has a ton. We planted some flowers for her and cleaned up her yard a little bit as well. We rode our bikes to Chris's house to get Elder H. a cut. My bike tire popped on the way there. I'm not fixing it this time.. I'm going to give it back to Elder Hodell and take my beach cruiser on monday to a place that trades bikes - hopefully I can get something better. We went to the Nickels home later and watched a church movie with them. Brother Nickel just had back surgery so he wasn't doing too well. It was good to see them though, I think they really enjoyed the movie.

Friday-

District meeting day. First one of the transfer. It went pretty well, I didn't train or anything. We went to Chipotle afterwards and a lady paid for about 8 missionaries to eat there. Elder H. and I were going to lunch with Franco later so we didnt eat but it was still very nice of the lady to offer - that hadn't happened to me yet on my mission. Franco took us to Chili's. While we were waiting for our food he pulled over a waitress and said in spanish "do you guys sing for birthdays? It's my friends' birthday." Obviously not knowing that we speak spanish. As soon as she left we said "who's birthday is it Franco?" he got red and started laughing. He was really embarrased that we understood him. He made us promise not to tell him that he lied. They came out and gave me ice cream and cake and sang to me. Nice. Franco got a kick out of it. It was a late lunch and right after was dinner time. We went to a mexican restraunt with a filipino lady and her family in Wilmington. I was so stinkin full. We walked from there to Gene's house - who we did service for a couple weeks back - crazy, he told us that he woke up at 2 in the morning the day we came over and was BLIND in his right eye. He went to the doctors and they said there was a clot in his optic nerve or something and that its pretty much permanent. That was really crazy to hear.. He's doing good though and handling it ok. He told us some funny stories - a panther pee'd on him once at the zoo when he was younger. And he also saw a UFO with his buddies in New York. We read in the Book of Mormon and tried to relate some of the things back to the gospel. He's a lonely guy and enjoys our company i'm sure.

Saturday-

Organized our new ward list and walked the whole day finding people (less active and in active). We walked all over a part of Wilmington called "ghost town". It's really quiet and sort of eery. The most ghetto part no doubt. It was pretty successful though, we were able to meet and contact alot of people that have not been affiliated with the church any time as of late. Plus a cat with fleas followed us home for about a mile when we were done so that was nice.

Sunday-

President Baker and the stake president showed up at our church for the confirmation of the Wongs and Javier and Levi's mission farewell talk. It was a really great thing to see and hear. I think Javier will go on a mission - it was awesome for him to see someone leaving and be so excited about serving the Lord. We did alot of walking and visiting today. My legs are getting strong and my shoes are wearing out.

Monday-

We played volleyball and basketball with the zone at the Carson building. We played a game of basketball to 11 that lasted about an hour. My team was down 10 - 4. We played really hard and came back to win 11 - 10. That was sweet. We went to San Pedro afterwards and did some grocery shopping. Elder Hirshberg and I were outside of their apartment and this HUGE greyhound came running up to us. I thought for sure it was about to tear us apart. Turned out it was really nice. We told Elder Hodell to come outside while his companion was in the bathroom. We let the dog in their apartment and watched through the screen door as Elder Poemape came out of the bathroom and was greeted by a huge dog facing him in his apartment. I laughed for a good while. We let the dog out and it ran away - no harm done to anyone. I was sitting in the stairwell later that night, studying the scriptures and waiting for my laundry. I could hear through the wall two people yelling and arguing. After a while a man came outside. I had seen him before. A tall, older, african american man. As he walked past me down the stairs I said "how's it goin?" he said "it's alright" and kept on his way. He got to the bottom of the stairs, turned around and said, "who are you? what do you do?" I told him that I am a missionary and am here to help God's children. He paused for a minute and walked back up the stairs towards me and sat down. His name is Ronald - he works for a motion picture company as a mover - is renting a room from a renter and has a 14 year old daughter. We talked about life and our purpose for about an hour. I was able to bear my testimony of family, faith and trials - how we become stronger with each of those things. I gave him a Book of Mormon with Morgans testimony in it (from the young women) and a Restoration pamphlet. I truly hope things work out for him.

Today it's been raining really hard - I don't have a jacket but was lucky enough to find a winny - the  - poo umbrella on my balcony. Hope it lightens up a bit.

I love you and will talk to you soon! Thank you for everything. Be safe and hold to the rod.

General Conference Week

Dear family,

Conference was way good! It was so nice to be able to clear my mind of everything else and just sit and watch. My favorite talk came from a guy who's name I can't remember and dont have my notes here to tell you. He talked about stepping on a scorpion and having to go to the hospital all because he didn't follow the counsel of his parents. I really like how he related that to us - God's children and following His commandments.That's too bad you weren't able to go! I was lookin for ya. Did you watch inbetween conference on Sunday where they showed the Mormon Helping Hands here in L.A. ? I was apart of that but at a different location so I wasn't on the show.. They also showed our new Visitors Center and some of the Sisters there, etc., that was pretty cool. Sounds like you'll have a good time in Michigan, tell them hello for me. Thanks for the Theo advice... I'll pass it on to him - that means a lot.

Wednesday - 9-29-10

We biked a whole bunch. We've tried to stick to walking mostly but actually had some appointments we needed to be at so we'd need to bike to get to them on time. Did I tell you how hot it has been? Broke the record in L.A. with 113. Solid. Not. Sister Green fed us some sloppy joes (not quite as good as yours or grandma's but still pretty darn good). We visited Theo and asked him about Sunday. He apologized and asked if I was mad that he showed up drunk. I told him no... just disapointed. He got quiet and looked at me and sincerely said "i'm sorry. It wont happen again Elder Cottrell". We'll see. Hopefully he was able to get something out of church that day. We visited the fuifelau's and went to wendy's with them. That was a treat - did I tell you that there are only like 2 wendy's in the mission? 1 Arbys, 1 krispy kream, no arctic circles, 1 dairy queen - all of the places here are local. Which I like.. it was just nice to feel kind of 'utah' for a minute. I'd say this day we put about 50 or 60 miles on the bikes.

Thursday

Went to our farmers market down the road and met up with the peanut people. I swear they're Mormon.. but they aren't. We had a good talk with them, they gave us a huge bag of peanuts and then we grabbed some lunch. Get this - I got a bacon wrapped hot dog with mayonaise, onions, mustard, ketchup and jalepenos. Thought you'd like that. Elder Hodell picked us up to take me to my doctors apt. in San Pedro. We did another xray and found that my finger is doin really well but that I did in fact break the bone AND the tendon but things are healing well. I still have to wear this little brace for a few more weeks just to hold it in place. My companion loved the Utah shirt... I don't know how your hands didnt melt when you touched it. Shame. He told me to tell you that 'you're the coolest ever' so there you go. My BYU shirt is hanging on the wall by my bed and his utah shirt is by his bed. Funny. Later that night I got in an argument with some guys outside our apartment about the church. I was really really frustrated .. it was bad. We ended up leaving - i'm sure you could see the steem coming out of my ears. I walked to the room, sat in my desk and looked up. There was a picture of Christ there. The thought came to my mind "How did you represent me today?" As you can imagine I felt really bad for what had just happened. I wrote our number on a pass along card and walked back outside. I apologized for the dispute and told them that if they ever really wanted to know about the church to call that number. Afterall, we're all just trying to get closer to the same person - Christ. Their attitude changed, we talked a little more and then I left. I felt a lot better this time.

Friday

District Meeting day. I gave a spiritual thought on Love and shared the experience I had the night before with the guys outside my apartment. I went on splits with my best bro Elder Hodell in san pedro. We went to a Chilean house and had 'completos' (bacon wrapped hot dogs with guacamole) -man it sounds like i've been eating really bad lately. We talked with them for a good while along with some other Elders. Elder Hodell and I did a lot of tracting in his area and visited some people that him and his companion are teaching. Elder Hodell said that his aunt told him that she used to babysit ME when I was little... she babysat a Sam Cottrell in Layton, UT.  .. does that last name ring a bell?

Saturday

We went to conference at the Palos Verdes building. It was us, about 8 other Elders and maybe 5 other people. I hope everyone else was watching it on tv! We stayed there the whole day and then after priesthood we all went to a pizza place in San Pedro called Niko's. I missed the Crown Burger tradition but it was still really good.

Sunday

Went to conference all day at the Carson building and again there was almost no one there! Crazy to me but I guess people have other ways of watching or listening to conference at home - hope that's what they were doing. We walked to the Romo's for dinner afterwards and had taquito's (real taquito's ;)) and then tracted on the way home.

Monday

We did laundry and relaxed at the apartment until about 1 and then Elder Hodell came and picked us up. We went to the mall and ate and walked around for a little while. Got some groceries and then had them drop us off at our dinner apointment (Elder Poemape broke my bike when I was on splits with Elder Hodell. I fixed it today.) We ate with the Bishop and his family - he's been bishop for close to a year now. It's been really fun to see him take on all different sorts of challenges and interesting people that just show up at church off the street. He's a really good guy and will continue to do well in his calling. Then Bishop Adams drove us over to Franco's. We read some scriptures with him and had a good talk. He STILL talks about that ring. Jeez. Told me to tell you and dad thank you AGAIN. Thanks. We plugged in my ipod to his computer to update it and somehow conviniently lost all of the pictures you had on there and just about everything else. We got most of the stuff back but not the pictures. BUMMER.

Well that was my week - today a man came to do some re-bath in our apartment and we had to stay the whole time. That was boring but I got some really good studying in. Thank you so so much for your letters and everything you do for me. Talk to you next week!

Love you

Elder Cottrell

Zone Conference Sept 2010 Peninsula Zone

Hot September!

Hows it goin? Thanks for your letter, it's always so good to hear from you. Sounds like you've had a fun week with Cami and the kids. I hear you're headed to Michigan soon too maybe? I haven't had any appoinments to see about my stomach but I go back to the Dr. on thursday for my finger. It feels alot better so hopefully I wont have to wear this thing for a whole 3 to 5 weeks longer. How was the relief society conference? I haven't heard anything about it other than the Prophet spoke and did really well.... Saw Sinbad again eh? I'm sure you and dad have even MORE of his material memorized and just sit there in the car on your long drives and repeat it to each other and laugh... good times. I'll be watching conference at the stake center. It's technically my 2nd conference in my mission but you're right, the first one in the field. I hit 7 months the other day - crazy crazy. P day is still on mondays but all of the libraries are closed so they gave us permission to mail on tuesdays. I'm sure our pday will change sooner or later but for now expect emails on tuesdays.

Wednesday-

We had interviews with President Baker. He's got a lot of missionaries to visit with so he kept them to about 5 minutes each. We didn't talk about a whole lot, just how my area is and how me and my companion are doing. He's a really good guy for sure. We had lunch at Sister Greens' and had beef stew with pineapple cake - both a first for me on my mission thus far but reminded me of home for sure. Then we went to dinner with Sister Hurst to the Carson buffett. She lives in an 'old folks home' so she called a taxi to come get us from there. I thought that was interesting. We visited Theo later on and then Franco. Both of them are going through some hard times so i'm sure we'll be over there more this week.

Thursday-

We found a nice farmers market down the road from our apartment and had some lunch there. There was a couple selling different kinds of peanuts - and they were white - so we thought we'd see what they were up to here in Wilmington... selling peanuts. Turns out they had a couple of missionaries about 3 years ago helping them set up their tent and prepare for the business day once a week. SO we've got a new apointment on thursday afternoon's. They aren't members but they were very friendly and open to us - plus they gave us each a free bag of peanuts. Nice. We had dinner at a members' house - one of my favorite. I don't think i've mentioned them before though? The fuilefau's. Anyway, it's always nice to see them - they've always been close with the missionaries. We're trying to get Elder Hirshberg in shape - he weighs a good 250 lbs but has already lost 30 in the last 6 months or so. So we're running 2.6 miles every day - he wants to surprise his mom when he gets off the plane in april - so that's keeping all that food I eat off of my muscle ha.

Friday-

District meeting today. The weather was really really hot - we went to In N Out for lunch and couldn't even stand to sit outside. We met with Tony - a guy that came up to us on the street to ask us what we're all about. He's more curious about different religions than anything else but I have some high hopes for him.

Saturday-

We had the district come over to our area to do a 'blitz' in hopes of finding people that are interested that speak ENGLISH. Tough luck - we got 3 names. Better than nothing though so I can't complain. We actually ran into a girl that seems really interested in the church. We went back to see her today but she had just got her wisdom teeth out so we couldn't talk much. The weather was even hotter than the day before. Everyone is sayin that it's time for an earthquake. It hasn't been this hot all summer long and now that its fall it is blazin.

Sunday-

Guess who came to church... drunk... Theo. Not so cool. Church is at 9 a.m. . what in the world was he doin drinking that early? Why was he drinking at all? Anyway I was pretty upset with him but didn't tell him off. He was being kind of loud in sacrament and I had to keep telling him to be quiet.. Theo Theo.. If you have any advice let me know. When we got home from church a big accident happened outside our window so I watched that unfold while we ate lunch. Interesting. We went to the Bishops' for dinner and taste-tested his wife's brownies. They are really feeding us well out here so don't ever think i'm not getting fed ha. We visited the Hannemanns and talked with them for a while about the ward. Layne isn't our ward mission leader anymore - kinda bummed about that but they need him in the young mens.

Monday-

Didn't do a whole lot - Went to President Chen's again. The one with the huge huge house. We bowled there and played some ping pong. We 'chilled' at Elder Hodell's apartment and tried to stay out of the heat. We had F.H.E with the Lopez's, you know how much I love going over there. I gave the lesson on the atonement. I can't tell you how grateful I am to even be able to teach that as you know that I couldn't when I was in the mtc. I used an object lesson with some rusty pennies and a nail - I won't explain the whole thing but the rust from the pennies comes on to the nail. I'm sure you can figure out how I related that to the atonement.

Today we rode to a members' house to give a blessing, then we walked. A lot. It's not AS hot today so we're taking advantage of it and trying to see as many people as we can. I love you and hope you have a good week!

Love,

Elder Cottrell

Broken finger! Sept. 21, 2010

Hey hows it goin? 

Wednesday-

We walked over to sister Green's house - i'm sure i've mentioned her before- oldest and only white lady in Wilmington and has been feeding the missionaries for the last 20 years. We always love going over there, sharing a message and listening to the stories she has for us about other missionaries, her family or the history of the city. I called every member that lives in Wilmington to try and get some kind of help - maybe a referral, a visit or anything. Only 2 of the 20 answered and they were busy. Bummer. The Samoan kid 'guppy' that cut my hair real nice a few months back cut my hair again so I look like his samoan buddies. Nice. Later he invited us to a bbq at one of his friends' churches. It was just a bunch of highschool kids so it was a good chance to clear up anything they might have heard about the church - and it was free food. Good day.

Thursday-

One of Elder Hirshbergs converts called him to ask us if we'd help him move a lady out of his house up in palos verdes. We got permission and he came to pick us up. We helped him for a couple hours and then he took us out to lunch - score. While we were walking I found a pair of Dockers on the sidewalk.. tags on and everything, just my size. They weren't dirty either.. curious right? I decided that if I washed them they'd be ok. I'm pretty happy about scoring a free pair of pants. We ate dinner at the Hannemanns - they're way sweet, i'm pretty sure i've mentioned them as well.

Friday-

District meeting - fun fun. We went to visit 3 referalls that we got from headquarters and none of them were home - bummer. We had dinner and correlation with our new ward mission leader. He just got off his mission about a year ago so he should be on top of things. We did a whole lot of walking today. It may not look like we're having much success but I know the Lord is looking out for us.

Saturday-

Walked about 5 miles to a members' house and talked with them about obeying the commandments. They have a 5 year old son that had just gotten in trouble for not cleaning his room so it was perfect ha. We tried to visit another member that we thought was close to this other house but ended up getting really really lost and far from home. We finally got back around our neck of the woods and just visited a family close by for a few minutes.

Sunday-

I talked in church on keeping covenants (I sent the talk home to you today so look for it), I thought it went pretty well but I realized I was going to have much more time to speak than they told me so I added to my talk while I was on the stand. Turned out a.o.k. We ate lunch at the apartment and then did some studying. We didn't have dinner so we went tracting. I had a few people ask me about what we were up to and was able to place a Book of Mormon. (Thank you for sending me all of those, they'll be a big help and i'll be sure to update you on who I give them to)

Monday-

p-day... We went to play football with some of the zone down by the docs. I've been wanting to play for a while really bad so I was pretty excited. After about a half hour I threw an interception- I grabbed the kid's shirt, aiming for his flags... It felt like I jammed my left ring finger a little bit but I'd still be able to play... until I looked down at it. I couldn't move it and it was bent really weird at my knuckle. All I said was 'oh dang, I broke my finger' ... it didn't hurt very bad, I was just really shocked. Elder Hodell took me to the hospital and we couldnt see a doctor for 2 hours so we just waited. I finally got in and took some xrays - they looked crazy - I took some pictures so you'll know what I mean. They gave me some shots and numbed my finger up, we filmed the doctor resetting my finger (snapping the bone back into place) -it was reallllly gross, it hurt and I almost passed out. Anyway I have to wear a little brace for the next 6 to 8 weeks. He said however that I am very lucky - that in almost every injury he's seen like this the patient had to get surgery. Luckily some of my tendon is still intact and he doesnt think i'll need surgery - that it'll just grow back. I'll go see him again on the 30th so hopefully it's still good. It's super stiff and swollen but i'm just grateful I didnt have to get the surgery. Crazy huh? We rode our bikes to the Romo's and they fed us 'real mexican food'... like I haven't had that yet.. ? Anyway it was really good but hard on my stomach since I had been pretty stressed all day and hadn't been able to eat. We had FHE and then called it a night. Fun times on the mission. I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Love, Elder Cottrell

Sept. 13,2010 and new photos!

Hello,
This last week has been a challenging one. New area, no teaching pool, no english speakers = alot of tracting.
Tuesday-
Started to really get to know the area better. Elder Hirshberg and I did a whole lot of walking since my front tire had a leak. We looked for people to teach that spoke english EVERYWHERE. In ghetto little stores, parks, street corners, apartment complex's and restaurants. We were fortunate enough to find 3 people on a street reffered to us as english speaking. None of them had alot of time but they said we could come back. I really hope something comes of it.
Wednesday-
Got me a new bike tire and went over to good 'ol sister Greens' house. She's been having the missionaries over for lunch for almost 20 years every tuesday or wednesday. Now that we're in her area, that should be fun. I've mentioned her before - a couple months ago we'd go pick plums there. We made a huge loop from Wilmington blvd, up PCH to banning park to look for people there. A samoan lady pulled over just as we were getting to the park and gave us each a couple of water bottles. Im always so grateful for people helping us out. While we were walking, I had my head down and was talking to Elder Hirshberg - I almost peed my pants when a HUGE dog stuck it's head over a fence and barked at me. Seriously almost fell over. The mexican man that was sitting on his porch and watching all of this had a good laugh. We visited a couple of inactives (tried to visit) but none of them were home. It's rough going but atleast it was overcast. First time it's even sprkinkled since I got here in April.
Thursday-
Zone leaders came over at 9 to do companionship study with Elder Hirshberg and I. We studied in Preach My Gospel about teaching people and not lessons. I've mentioned this before but they've really changed the way that we teach since dad went on his mission. It's all by the spirit. Then we got my new tire on my bike because somehow I managed to pop a new one I had put on the day before and went on a nice ride to the bishops house. Everyone that we eat with lives pretty far out of our area so we've got to get a good head start. We talked with him about people he knows we could visit in our area and ate some food. He's been bishop for almost a year now and is getting adjusted. I always like saying "my dad was a bishop"
Friday-
Another tracting day. We tracted from 12 to about 5. We got a whole lot of refferals to give to the SPANISH speaking elders but only 2 for us to actually teach. 2 is better than none so i'll take it. We've run into alot of interesting people knocking doors. It's pretty fun. They're actually thinking about getting rid of tracting in my mission. Can you believe that? They want us to focus more on member work and getting refferals.. We'll see what happens. We went to the church for dinner. It was Elder Faase's homecoming party. He just got home from Guatamala. He is a Samoan and was really really big before his mission I guess but lost a whole ton of weight while he was out. It didn't make me as home sick as I thought it would. I was more focused on how good the food was I suppose. I only had a minute to talk to him - didn't give me much advice - just said he missed the mish.
Saturday-
There is a fair going on down our street and so we decided to go do some tracting there. We actually met a few people that have some potential! We were only there for about a half hour but people were coming up to us and asking who we were, etc. It was a great opportunity to share the Gospel and let people know what 'us Mormons' are all about. Today was my 200 day mark. Crusin right along. Another tracting day... ran into someone that told me BYU lost. . to airforce.. first time since 2003. My heart broke... I was pretty disgusted ha. Good thing i'm on my mission and don't need to worry about that jazz.
Sunday-
Went to church.. I'm only in the carson ward now but the samoan ward and the carson ward meet at the same time. The building out here is stinkin huge. Two chapels, two levels, just huge. Anwyay, since this Elder that just got home is a Samoan, the whole samoan ward was at his homecoming and there was really almost no one in the samoan ward, it was pretty funny. We met with the bishop and talked with him more about who we can visit and he gave us a couple of names. We went to the Saunders' for dinner and I felt my stomach start to hurt how it sometimes does when i'm getting my death sickness. I ate really quick and then hopped in my bike - immediately finding out that I was gonna be sick. We rode home and I jumped on the scale - knowing that I would be losing alot of weight in the coming hours. I was terribly sick from 6 pm to 6 am.. getting no sleep thanks to this sickness. Mom i'm kind of scared about what this is. No one can diagnose me and it's the worst pain in the world. Should I go to the doctor? I've talked to the mission doctor a few times and he just says to wait it out. I don't think he knows just how miserable it is.. I never had this before I was 18 - why do I get it so often now? Any advice would be really appreciated - it's death.
Monday-
I weighed myself to find I lost 5 lbs in the night and then finally got a couple hours of sleep. Fun. We went to the mall so that Elder Hirshberg could buy a couple of suits - I took it really easy to make sure I wouldn't get sick again. At 6 o'clock we had dinner with sister Meyers - meatloaf and costco potatoes. I wanted to eat a lot but I really couldnt fit hardly anything in my stomach. Everytime this happens I get so weak for a couple of days following. We finally got in touch with Rick - a less active in Wilmington. His wife has been in the hospital - we really hope we can help him and his family out. It's a part member family and we have an appointment with them later on.
Today -
If I had all of the money in the world, i'd bring it here to help all of the homeless. They break my heart. I always carry a snack in my backpack to give to them but I just wish I could do more. We were eating at Subway and I for some reason got a footlong... not thinking obviously that my stomach wouldn't hold it after being sick. I ate half of it just as a deaf homeless lady walked in. I don't understand sign but my companion does a little bit. She left without me knowing what was said. He said she was looking for food. I ran out of Subway but wasnt able to find her. I packed up the other half of my sandwich anyway and we left for the library. I prayed that I'd run into her or someone that I could give it to. Oddly enough, I found her and was able to give it to her. She, in sign language, said thank you with a smile. I'm so glad I have opportunities like those to help other people in this world. I know this Gospel is the truth and i'm doing what the Lord would have me do. I love you all,
Elder Cottrell

Sam's 3rd CD

Customize your own photo album

Please Pray for us all!

On Foot....IN Wilmington.....

Hello mother and everyone,
Did I already tell you that I got transferred? Well, kinda. My old
area just got split because it was way too big. We were over south
carson and wilmington and now i'm just over wilmington. Elder sung
stayed in the old apartment and I moved to a different one in
wilmington. Elder Hirshberg is my companion, he's been out for about
17 months and is from Holliday UT. He's a really funny guy. So we're
over 'little mexico' english speaking. It's considered a new area and
we're the first elders to open it up. Hard stuff to find people
speaking our language out here. We move by bike and foot - hard not to
have a car anymore but i'll get used to it.

Monday - went to Macaroni Grill with the Lopez's for Gerardo's
birthday. I don't know if I told you but i'm pretty close with that
family - my home away from home. Later that night back at their home I
was asked to give a blessing to Kazandra who will be starting up
school again here shortly. I was brought back to the memory of Dad
giving us all blessings before school started and then how he'd always
give you one as well so I explained that to Ampelia and gave her one.
It was such a good experience.. Not very describable.

Tuesday- Elder Sung and I went to visit Daniel in Scottsdale.. good
old scottsdale. Something always interesting happens when we're in
there. This time, as we were leaving Daniels place, 4 sherriffs came
speeding around the corner and jumped the speed bumps. The all went to
different spots on the street but surrounded a couple of houses. We,
being the curious kids that we are, went over to check it out and I
snuck a picture of a guy getting arrested - nice. There was a huge
drug bust. Guess it's not too uncommon there because they were
throwing 'brotha's' in the cop cars like candy in a basket. We were
walking back to the car and saw a middle aged latino poke his head
around the corner of a house and say 'oh nooo they are coming again!'
and then sort of scurried off with a limp to tell his buddies. We
turned around to see more cops coming our way. That was a good laugh.
I wish people would just NOT do drugs or illegal things. That'd be
nice.

Wednesday-
Went to my new apartment and got cleaning. It was a big mess for sure
but after a few hours we made it look alright. We went to Costco and
bought some groceries for the week , made some goals and planned out
the week. Elder Hirshberg and I have alot in common - all except for
one thing. He's a U of U fan... lame. We'll work through our
differences im sure. It was nice to hear that both byu and utah won
their season openers.

Thursday-
We ate lunch at the Hannemans and worked out a new plan to attack
wilmington and smoke out all of the inactive english speakers in the
area. We're doing our best. We went to visit Theo one last time and
had him tune up my bike - in return we bought him an ice cream from
Fosters Freeze down the road. I really hope Elder Sung keeps on him
about Church and quitting all his bad habits. Elder Hirshberg and I
have a balcony that looks over the street - we play guitar after
planning at night and 'howl at the moon' - it's real nice.

Friday-
I got up from saying my prayers and turned around only to see Elder
Hirshberg wearing a sombrero, a mexican shirt and holding a baseball
bat - standing behind me. He's a morning person - as you know, i'm
not. We'll see how that goes. I got a good laugh out of that random
act though. We did alot of tracting that day and turned out with some
luck. 2 new investigators i'm pretty excited about. Hopefully they
pull through.

Saturday-
We watched "Together Forever" with the Nickel family and talked about
being united with one another. We did some more tracting without as
much luck as we had the day before. We went over to the Lopez's and
cut their grass again with a weed wacker. That's a tough job if you
haven't done it before. Kazandra made us some super good chile relleno
while we were working - I was real happy about that as you know how
much I like food. You'll definitely have to meet this family after my
mission - they mean alot to me.

Sunday -
We had a family show up at church, it was way good to see them there.
All of the testimonies were just what they needed to hear. Elder Sung
is teaching that family now so I hope they keep on it. We went with
Ampelia, Kazandra and Gerardo to the new visitors center at the
temple. It was way way good. There is so much to do there and so many
things to help people that don't know about the church to understand
what it's really about. You should do some research on it, its
amazing. We had dinner with the romos later and had tamales that were
way good, they're such a cool family.
Monday-
I'm out of time so I'll tell you next week. Love you!
Elder cottrell

Sam and Pres. & Sister Baker

Aug. 23, 2010

Hellooooo how's it goin? You wrote 3 talks eh? Not really that surprised, way to go! I want to write a letter to "other elder" and tell him to get a clue. Think that'd be appropriate? I cannot believe Kyle gets home tomorrow, that's so crazy - I bet he'll be sad, I heard he has really really been into the mission. That email address is Rachel Povey's - she was over at the house the day before I left and is getting ready for her mission - just said she wanted to get my weekly letters - I have no time to write during the week. Or you could just forward her the address to your blog that you have for me.. that'd probably work. Thanks for sending letters to sister Dakay. I really wish I had time to email her. I send stinkin long emails to you though so I cannot dang it. Oh well it's good to hear she's doing well.

Alrighty then,

Tuesday -

We began the training that will change the missions world-wide. We started everyday from 8:00 and went to 3:30 for 4 days at the Carson Chapel. To sum up everything we learned - rely on the spirit in your teaching. Basically it. Ask more questions and LISTEN. You know that I really don't like meetings too much but they were really good. After training on tuesday we went and saw Richard and Chere and watched... Legacy.. yup you guessed it. He's super obsessed with that movie. There were a lot of distractions ... his 2 year old wanting to jump on the tramp and throwing things, people coming in and out, the dog tinklin on the floor - it was pretty amazing. BUT he dis still feel the spirit and committed to come to church. Oh before I forget, last weekend was the ward campout - friday to saturday - well on sunday only half of the ward showed up to church. Guess why? The other half was still on the campout. Including the elders quorum advisor and the ward mission leader. I was amazed and the Bishop was steeming to say the least. I thought you'd get a kick out of that - that was for the other ward i'm in - not the samoan one.

Wednesday-

I did not baptize anyone. I did not convert anyone. But I felt and taught by the spirit. I fulfilled my purpose as a servant of the Lord. After training a member surprised us with groceries - that was such a cool deal - I couldn't have been happier with it being the end of the month and being low on dough. She also made us cocoa rice (stinkin good - white rice mixed with... cocoa.) We went to teach a part member family. The man went to Italy for 8 years to school to become a catholic priest but his wife and kids are all members. He didnt end up finishing school and came home early - I don't know the whole story. When we went inside he wasn't too interested in talking to us so he went to the other room and got his wife. He went around the corner into the kitchen while we talked to her and her kids. I don't remember exactlly what we brought up but it caught his attention. He poked his head around the corner and joined in the conversation. As we continued to talk he came into the room and sat down. We were able to address a lot of his concerns about the church. He actually knows it to be true but is afraid of what his parents would do if he joined. We were amazed at how much he opened up to us - he ended up coming to church on sunday and wants to meet with us regularly. Nice. I also made Franco sign in my planner that he'd come to church this next sunday. Double nice.

Thursday -

After training Elder Sung and I visited a family very similar to the one I mentioned above. The husband blames things on his health instead of his parents though. The missionaries have been working with him for a long time now and he's just been off and on about what he wants to do. We read with him in the Book of Mormon. One of his concerns with his health was his memory - he can't remember the stuff he reads and learns - so we told him to take notes. We're hoping that works. He's a really good guy, just needs a little push by the spirit. The guy I gave a blessing to in the hospital last week walked out the doors on thursday. Can you believe that? I couldn't believe it when I got the phone call. He wasn't supposed to make it another week but ended up walking out instead. Amazing how the Priesthood works.

Friday-

After training we went to dinner with Joseph's parents (the tanuvasa's). They're very very nice and interested in what we're up to. After that we went to Theo's and gave him some things for his birthday. A watermellon, some soda, a razor and some cake. He was really excited but kind of sick so we didnt stay long. I committed our filipino friend Felix to be baptized... but.... he doesnt seem to understand. I'd ask him to be baptized and he'd say 'yes but I don't see why I need to be - i've already been baptized twice' then we'd explain the apostasy, and restoration. Well we went through this about 3 times before I finally just said "so will you be baptized by someone holding the proper authority of God?' and when he said 'yes', I cut him off before he could say 'but' and ended with a prayer. I'm sure we'll have to address that again soon.

Saturday-

We went to a members' house in the carson ward for dinner - they had a little dog that was sniffing Elder Sung. When the little girl (maybe 3 years old) saw that, she said "oh, he only sniffs things that are stinky". That made me laugh pretty good. We had a crazy experience where I felt like we needed to go to our ward mission leaders' house. We got there and there was an animal control car parked out front. We asked the guy what was going on and all of his dogs were outside. 2 little ones and a big german shepherd that isn't right in the head. No one was home and they wouldnt answer their phone. Sooo we ended up spending an hour in the dark rounding up these dogs, trying not to get bitten. We got them in the house and shut the door - everything turned out ok.

Sunday -

Went to church - an inactive family that we've been visiting for a good while finally came to church today for the first time in years. The Bishop of the ward said that he's never seen them there before. That was realllllllly good. We visited Theo and I told him that there is a good chance I might be getting transferred next wednesday - he thanked me and gave me a big hug and said what he said before "i've seen a lot of missionaries over the years and you were the only one that I could connect with. You're the only one that ever got through to me. You better come back" That made my day. The rest of the day was spent taking sacrament to a couple of families and having FHE and the Lopez's. Good week.

I have 7 minutes left on the computer and you're the only one i've emailed. Sheesh. I'm really sorry I wasn't able to reply to anyone elses emails (sara, cami, laci, dad) but i'll try to type and read faster next week. I really appreciate all of you peoples' letters and support. 6 months tomorrow - nuts. I love you all so so much.

Love you,

Elder Cottrell