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