Hey! So the libraries are starting to close on mondays now in L.A. county. They might have to change my p-day but for now i'll probably be writing on tuesdays. Pretty good chance it will still be on monday though because there are a few libraries in my area that will be open. Hope you had a happy birthday! Laci's is comin up soon, that should be fun. Thank you for your great letter and everything, I look forward to it all week! You have been so busy with young womens, doesn't sound like much has changed there! You and dad have always dedicated all of your time to serving others; it's been such a good thing for me to work towards being throughout my life. You'll have to send me a picture of the new front steps and all of your new toys. Way to go with the ring and stuff from Tiffany's - sounds pretty fancy. Allllllright lets begin,
Wednesday after I emailed you we went downtown to the famous hot dog place "Pinks". There was such a big line but it was exactly how it was shown on tv - really cool and good food. We did a baptismal interview for one of the sisters' baptisms that was on saturday later that night and the interview-ee passed and is now in the singles ward.
Thursday we did some weekly planning (not my favorite part of the week or day but good none-the-less) and then hopped on our bikes. We were given 900 miles to drive in the month of June and somehow managed to drive 1500. We're blaming pep-boys. Anyway for the month of July they gave us only 500 to compensate for the mile overage in June. So by about July 25th, we were out of miles. The only other option- bike or walk. Which I don't mind too much, I love being outside as you know and you meet so many more people on the sidewalk. We rode over to Wilmington to where we thought our dinner apointment was at. I knocked on the door and a Mexican man answered. We were supposed to be eating with Samoans so I was confused of course. He was so polite and talkative though so we just talked with him for a while. He just moved here from Mexico about 3 weeks ago and has been working day and night since so it was a miracle we caught him at all. I was able to use my small spanish skills to tell him who we were and what we were doing. He was very interested and we set up a return apointment for the spanish elders. I thought that was pretty neat. The Samoan family that we were supposed to eat with, did in fact USED to live in that house but conviniently moved without telling anyone. We finished up with the Ifopo family later that night and set up their baptismal interview for tonight - it's going to be huge. The wife and sister were baptized when they were 18 back in Samoa but haven't gone to church out here. So we sent in for their records to headquarters in Salt Lake. The sisters records came back. But the wife's did NOT. So she will be re-baptized. She couldn't be more excited and neither could her husband. Now it's 4 baptisms instead of 3!
Friday we rode our bikes to the other side of Carson to the Boyer family. Their lives are dominated primarily by softball. 4 girls all under the age of 15 and they all play competitively. They travel all over the place and often on Sundays. They wanted to watch a movie so we pulled out a few DVD's that we had and let them choose. We watched Joy to the World in the middle of summer. It went way better than I thought it would. I never realized how great of a teacher that simple DVD is. It calmed all of the girls down and we were able to teach them the importance of coming to church and partaking of the sacrament. I was able to relate to them alot with the sports of baseball and softball. I explained how the coach of their team is like Heavenly Father and the assistant coach is like our Prophet. We know that they are there for us and want us to succeed. As we follow their advice, we overcome trials and become closer to the goal- eternal life.
Saturday we visited Theo to see how he was doing and remind him about church. While in his garage, all of the sudden he looked at us and said 'Watch this!" he ran to a closet and pulled out this old pellet gun and ran to the end of the garage with it, pointing into the street. I looked to see what he was pointing at - it was a crow. The bird flew away before he shot but I laughing pretty hard just because it was so random. We went to Erica's baptismand talked with Franco some more.
Sunday - big day. Theo came to church again. I was so stinkin excited to see him there. A lady that we have been teaching here and there - Eden Dial from the Philipines also came! She was baptized in the philipines, went through the temple and then got married and moved out here. Her husband is catholic and wont let her go to church. She hasnt been for 7 years. She has 3 young kids and she wants nothing more than for them to be able go to church. We worked it out (her choice) where she was able to get a ride from one of the members and come to church with her kids while her husband was at work. She was more excited to come that anyone i've ever seen. She loved coming and we are still thinking of a way to convince her husband to let her come every week. Elder Sung and I were put on the spot to teach Gospel Principles on Eternal Marriage. That was interesting. Then we took some of the food that the members gave us over to Theo and ate with him in his garage.
Monday- Went to point fermin lighthouse in San Pedro and took a tour of it as a zone and then played soccer down by the marina. Stocked up for the month at Costco and then went to dinner with sister Silva at a brazillian place. We had FHE with the lopez's and Elder Sung gave the message. Then sister Lopez gave me a haircut and we headed for home. I jumped in the shower to wash my hair.. while I was in there I heard a bunch of running around and cupboards shutting inthe apartment. When I got out, Elder Sung was on the couch with a look of relief on his face. He told me that as soon as I got in the shower, he reallllly had to go #2. He was looking for something to go in but couldnt find anything. He ended up calling the zone leaders to ask for permission to leave the apartment to go. He sprinted to our landlords apartment and knocked on the door saying "I reallllly need to use the restroom", Vic looked at him and said 'Huh?' getting the hint they started to walk to where one was. Vic - an older man- said 'would you like me to speed up?' Elder sung said yes and they sprinted to where it was. I guess Elder Sung just barely made it. Well that's my funny story for the week. I laughed ... well, still am laughing.
I love you all, thank you for the support and love.
Elder Cottrell
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