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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