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