Hello everyone, stayin safe here in the hood.

 

Tuesday 3-15-11

Today we had interviews with President Baker. The Sisters took us over to the Hunntington Park building. My scheduled time was 12:30 and I didn't get in to see him till about 3. He was really behind. It went pretty well though, we just talked about the area and the work. He's a busy guy - things are good. We had a lesson with Patrice and told her that if she doesn't read the small Restoration pamphlet, we can't come over anymore - so she better read it! We met with Rafaela - her daughter was there and is really interested. She's a new investigator - we've got a ton of work in this area now. Finally people to teach. We ate dinner with Sister Cruz, she's doing really well - really needs to come back to church though. We had a good lesson with Norma Jose and Jennifer - Jose is going to move to Miami for work but he is going to wait around here until after he is confirmed - atleast he knows the importance of receiving the Holy Ghost. 

 

3.-16-11

Today we did our weekly planning session and then visited Ricardo for a bit. He read all of 1 Nephi - he may be drunk most of the time but he is a really smart guy. He broke down the whole book for us to prove that he really read. He just 'hasn't got an answer that it's true' yet. I really think he just needs to commit to change his bad habits. He's doing well though. We had dinner with Sis. Vasquez - we talked about the Atonement for the spiritual thought. We talked to people on the street for the next couple of hours until our appointment with Daryl and Martha at 8. They seem to be having some tough times - in the best way possible, I hope this brings them closer to Christ and His church. 

 

3-17-11

Today after studies we went and saw Esther - she's introduced the B.O.M to her mom and brother - both are really interested. That would be awesome to baptize the whole family. She's only available on thursday's at 11 so it's really hard to keep active contact with her. We just pray that she reads and does the right thing. We ate lunch at Tom's  - finally got some american food in me. I was craving it bad. We went back to the retirement home for St. Patricks Day. We wore green ties. They had us set up some tables and decorations. When one of the old ladies that calls herself 'the witch', that thinks we're 'out to baptize her' said, as we were going to get the decorations, "don't rub your religion on my decorations" haha, she's super funny. I could see her being a strong member in the church actually. There was a short black guy dressed up as a leprachaun (sp?), that was really funny. They had a big word search and whoever won would get a prize. The lady in charge said that we could play too. I started about 3 minutes after all of the 'old' people started... and I won. I'm pretty sure every lady in that room was mad at me for taking the glass flower that was the prize - so I just put it back. Some Irish cloggers came and danced - the crowd wasn't as in to it as I thought they'd be. The main guy was on "Hee - Haw" in 1985... ? Whatever that is. He's from Clearfield actually and has a sister that lives in Kaysville. He was a nice guy. We took tickets for the raffle's and helped clean up while they sang karaoke. It was really fun - I love meeting the people there and hearing their stories. We talked briefly with Teresa, Sonia and Jennifer - and then ate dinner with the Recinos' family. We had an amazing meal of corned beef, cabbage, corn on the cob, squash, and potato's. Yum. When we were at Jennifers', her neighbor came over and told her that her son was sick - we went over and gave him a blessing. It was really spiritual - hopefully they want to learn more.

 

3-18-11

Today we had our district meeting. Afterwards a bird pooped on my shoulder and I asked one of the sisters to clean it off. Nice. I went on splits with Elder McRae - we had a super busy day. We saw Anthony, taught him the restoration. Found a referral and found out he's not interested. Sister Tamayo met us at Rafaela's and we taught her about prayer. We rode to the other end of our area and ate Chile Relleno with sister Flores. Rode back to the other end and read in Alma 36 with the Arana's. We gave Sister Arana a blessing. We met Hector at Jose, Norma and Jennifers' and taught more in depth the Plan of Salvation. The whole day went by super fast - we had appointments every single hour. That doesn't happen too often here so it was a good 'split'.

 

3-19-11

Today after splits, Elder Watkins and I went out to contact a ton of referrals that we received - old ones that need to be updated. We were only able to contact 1 out of about 6. We went to Sister Rodriguez's house and watched some videos on Mormon.org with her. She is going through some really tough times and really missing her husband who passed about a year ago. It was her daughters' birthday so we sang to her to try and lighten the mood. I really wish her daughter would get baptized, but her boyfriend is a deep catholic and doesn't really like her coming to church with us - not too cool. Afterwards I was riding my bike, practicing my wheelies. I turned to Elder Watkins and said 'you watch, i'll be pro before you know it' and then did another wheelie. I leaned too far back so I put my foot down, the peddle came around and hit it - I got caught in the spokes and fell really awkwardly but hard on the asphalt. It was really funny. Guess I had it comin. We met with an inactive family that was baptized not too long ago - sad to see that. We ate dinner with Jennifer and had Chile Relleno - we had kind of a tense lesson on her having the spirit - she kind of yells at her kids. alot. so we thought we'd share about having the spirit in the home. She got a little defensive. Hope something got through to her. We talked with Ricardo again - he's been drinking for 3 days. Not good. We were able to talk with him about the B.O.M for a while - hopefully he changes. Jave is doing alot better.

 

3-20-11

Stake conference - most awkward meeting of my life. People in the crowd opposed the stake presidency instead of sustaining - the stake presidency talked the rest of the time - mentioning names - and basically putting themselves above them. I dunno, it was just super super awkward. Good thing no investigators came. It was an awesome day but I have to go.

I love you all

Elder Cottrell