Sounds like you've had a busy week with youth conference! Glad you're safe and had a good time. That rafting job sounds like it's right up my alley - really i'd love to look into that later on. Sorry I didnt email yesterday, we were really busy - you're about to find out why. Alright so we'll start with Wednesday. I finished the book Our Search For Happiness by M. Russel Ballard - i've been reading it here and there since i've been here. If I wasn't born into the Church, after reading that - i'd convert for sure. It really gives such a great understanding as to what we really believe and clears up alot of false things people think about the Church. I had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder Richins later that day - we went to his area in Wilmington. There is a huge Catholic cathedral there that is really old - we stopped by and walked around it for a minute and got a few things from the gift shop there - it was really an amazing building but also really lacked the spirit. You can always tell a huge difference when you're in another church. We went to an apointment after that where the person we were teaching was in the Complex's swimming pool. So we stood by the pool and taught this big samoan kid while he swam around. It wasn't super productive but he's a really good guy. Hopefully next time we go there he isnt swimming. We went to visit a girl that the sisters had passed on to him and his companion. We had never met her before so we didnt know what to expect. When we got to the house the door was wide open. So we rang the doorbell and asked if anyone was home and just sat there for a minute. Of course I got curious because I could hear people inside. I probably made a mistake by stepping into the house. As soon as I did that, a girl came around the corner with a raised voice asking me what I was doing in her house and kind of just yelled at us. We were pretty shocked and told her that we were just looking for mariana and that the missionaries had met with her before. It was really awkward... Then the girl started to laugh at us... She said that she was mariana and was just playing a joke on us. We were relieved ha. We were able to pick up with her where the sisters left off. Elder Richins has high hopes for her. We went contacting later down in Wilmington with little success.. but we did however find another church that has been using an old movie theater as their 'headquarters' for the last 4 years. That was kind of neat. Thursday we had interviews with President Baker and his wife. It was really kind of a 'getting to know you' thing but it went really well. They're both very spiritual people and i'm excited to see what they have to bring to the CLAM. We weekly planned for a couple of hours after that and then we went to our dinner apt. The guy grew up in Boston - Wakefield actually. He went to Lynnfield Highschool thats right across from the wakefield building. Anyway I got that information to see if Dad served there. He wasn't a member back then but knows that is where the church was. We taught the Ifopo family after that - a family of 6 Samoans. 3 have been baptized but it was a really long time ago and in Samoa. We're having trouble finding their records - I hope we can find them. We already set a baptismal date with the other 3 for August 1st. Can you believe that? After only teaching them twice. They are so so eager to be members of the Church. The Dad doesn't speak hardly any English so every time we teach them we have a translator from the Samoan ward come with us. We teach, he translates what we say - he speaks, he translates back. It's really pretty cool. Whenever we pray at that house they make sure to turn the lights off during the prayer and then back on when it's finished - i've never seen that before but it's kind of cool and more peaceful. Anyway they're a really amazing family and i'm so excited for them. They've come to church for 2 weeks now and participate in all of the classes. Friday we had a District meeting that went really well. I'm really taking alot of notes and trying to study more into what we are being taught during my personal studies. Its been very useful during lessons that we teach. I went on splits with Elder Hodell after that meeting until Saturday afternoon. I had made a schedule the night before with Elder Mitillo so we stuck to it and met and taught alot of people. It was a really effective day - he's a zone leader and has been on his mission for quite a while so it's great to see the way he teaches and gets to know people better and then apply some of it in my own teaching. We went to teach the Ifopo's again on saturday but our translator didnt show up. So we kind of struggled through a lesson but it went really good. All of the Samoans out here just want to give us money. Everytime we visit a family the offer us money and often times wont let us leave without taking it. We're not supposed to take it but when we have to we give it to the ward so I guess that's alright. Last month a guy in the ward gave me 2 brand new dress shirts from Nordstrom still in the package. I've just left them in my closet thinking i'll wait till winter or something to use them. Saturday I was grateful that I never opened them. I had the idea to give them to Theo. The guy living in his brothers' garage that hasn't been to church in 10 years, doesnt shower or have many clothes. I stuck them in my backpack and we went to visit him. I ended up giving them to him and bearing him my testimony of church. He started to cry and gave me a big hug. I really hope that the love Elder Mitillo and I are showing for him is making a difference and will make him want to change. It was a great lesson. Elder Carroll got hit by a car on his bike on sunday and had to stay the night in the hospital - he's in my district and so we were responsible for his companion. We picked him up from the hospital at 10 30 pm sunday night and took him to our place. He spent the night with us there. Elder Carroll will be ok, he's just having to wear a neck brace for a while, it's a good thing he was wearing his helmet. So yesterday we had to take care of alot of things for him - getting him clothes and things from his apartment, working out his apointments, etc. We played some soccer at the Carson building for about an hour and then Elder Mitillo and I went with the zone leaders to Hollywood and hiked HollyRidge to the sign. We were right up above the Hollywood sign which was pretty cool, you could see all of L.A. They were filming a segment for a show called "The Bold and the Beautiful" that's on CBS while we were up there. I didnt recognize any of the actors there though. We had FHE with the Lopez's again last night and Kazandra gave the lesson. She talked about service within the family - it was actually a really good lesson and made me think back to what I could have done better service-wise when I was living at home for my family. Last but not least we went to a lady's house to move her Futon (couch/bed thing) up her stairs. Those things are ridiculous to handle. We ended up lifting it from outside of her house up to the balcony to get it in. We finally got home kind of late last night and went to bed. Well I think that about covers it. A lot still happening here and alot of adjusting. Sounds like the other Elders in the family are doing really well.
I love you all, have a good week!
love Elder Cottrell
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