Transfers and BBQ

Hello everyone - stop crying about Jimmer - we'll get him in Utah. If he's any good.

Tuesday 6-21-11

Last day of the transfer. Elder Allred and I walked today. Really far. We went all the way to our mission/area boundary deep in compton. We were able to teach Latasha and Lucinda - I really hope they both get baptized soon. They have so much potential. Tonight we found out that due to some changes in the mission, our area is getting 'flushed'. We are both leaving and two new missionaries will come in. I am leaving because the Spanish program just got really small with all of the spanish-speaking missionaries that went home this transfer and they need my help. Elder Allred is leaving because he has been in this area for about 5 months. Sooo yeah. Back to spanish for me. I'm just moving down the road.. again. I'll be in the same zone but a different district. I cover parts of Gardena, Torrance, Lawndale, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach. We'll see how my spanish is after not using it for 6 weeks.

6-22-11

My area is called 'centinela'. Not sure why. My new companion is named Elder Cruz. He's Dominican but lives in Boston. My president put me with him to basically babysit before he goes home at the end of this transfer. I'm being forced to learn the area and the people really quick. And the language. It'll be good though. Elder Cruz is a good guy and I know we'll have alot of success. We visited some investigators at a beauty salon that they own. 2 of them have a baptismal date - July 17th.

6-23-11

We had a good lesson with a recent convert - hermano mueller and his non-member son. It went really well - he has such a strong testimony of the gospel. He's just been baptized for a couple of months. We taught the investigators in the beauty salon again and talked to some members that own a party supply shop next door. We had ward correllation and then ate dinner with our ward mission leader. My spanish is rough. Real rough. Hopefully I get it back soon.

6-24-11

Today we had our district meeting. I'm still in the same zone as I was before so i'm seeing all of the same Elders pretty much. That's been good for me. I'm serving next to Elder Ferrin - my old comp. He's been one of my really good friends out here on the mission. Maybe sara and him will get married or something, I dunno. Our ward mission leader comes with us to most of our appointments. He's really on top of things and a super good guy. We taught this kid that was just handed off to us from some other missionaries. He's from Guatemala and 19 years old. He's been to church twice and wants to be baptized really bad. He has a date for July 17th. Awesome - 3 going down on that date. Elder Cruz and I ran tonight. Before the mission he did triathalons - we ran 10 miles. Nice.

6-25-11

We did some service for a lady in the ward that cant drive. We picked up a food order for her from the bishops store house with hermano mueller and our ward mission leader. We took it to her house and helped unload it. We ate dinner with some recent converts and tried to see some former investigators. It was a good saturday.

6-26-11

Today was my first day in the Hermosa Liahona ward. First day in a new ward is always kind of awkward. It was pretty good though. All of our investigators showed up that are getting baptized on the 17th. One even stayed to watch a baptism after the block meeting. We ate dinner with the 1st counselor and shared a good message with him. My foot is really hurting from our run the other night so I spent a little time icing it tonight.

 

Well it was a crazy change this last week - I definately wasn't expecting this. It's been good so far though. Thank you so much for all of your love support and prayers.

Love, Elder Cottrell

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p.s.s. I ate at Jay-bee's ... the bbq place that was on the food channel a while back. It was right in the middle of my old area. Holy Smoke bbq is better, but this ranked #2 in my best-bbq-experiences... I was very pleased.

- Show quoted text -

Mississippi cookin' & cleanin'- June 20,2011

Mom and dad,

Dad - happy fathers day yesterday - look for something in the mail today or tomorrow - I love you!

Clean apartment award... thats right... :) haha

Im super jealous of your trip - it sounds like you had an amazing time. I'll start right in with my week.

6-14-11 Tuesday

Sister Kershner who just moved into the ward, just moved out. We spent the morning helping her pack her things - there were some complications and she had to go back to Montibello - sad story. We ate lunch with a really rich guy from Palos Verdes - he saw us the other day and set it up. He's LDS and made of money. That was fun. Having a car is way nice, the hills have no effect on us anymore - imagine that. Lucinda got an answer to her prayers while we were there - she felt 'shivers' and will be baptized shortly.. 83yrs old.

6-15-11

We had our first few appointments fell through - I got out my sunglasses, finally to wear them in the car after so long of not having them, and crushed them in the seat. Bummer. We ate dinner with sister smith and talked with the Schillings - they're the really old one's form indonesia and holland. They're really funny. We had a long talk on the phone with Shawn - a truth seeker - I'm learning so much about the bible between her and Jesus The Christ. It's been great.

6-16-11

We watched the restoration again today with Billy. She still doesn't remember everything we've taught her - its a tough situation. We did some planning and wen to eat with the Andrades to the Gourmet Food Trucks. It was really neat - i'll send some pictures soon. We saw T.A. - his talking is coming along. We gave him some tabacco tea to help him quit smoking - hope it works.

6-17-11

We had our trainings today with the Zone on How to begin teaching. It went pretty well - they seem to be getting shorter and I seem to be getting more out of them. We met with Lucinda again today - we read in 3 Nephi and she promised to come to church this week. We got kicked off some property as well, that was a treat.

6-18-11

Yes, It is true, I and my companion were chosen to receive the Good House Keeping Award. We drove down to Santa Monica and ate lunch with President and Sister Baker. Be proud ya'll; this Elders' a clean one. We mananged to contact a referral afterwards and then saw Miss Auberry - she gave us her homemade fried chicken and some "green". plus some corn bread. It was just like being in Mississippi again. We visited a man that was baptized and has amnesia - he doesnt' ever remember going to church. It's really sad, but he does recognize the spirit.

6-19-11

Happy Fathers Day!

We had a great lesson/dinner with the Parkes family - they're getting ready to serve a mission soon and had a lot of information for us. We talked to a less active member and set up a solid appointment with her - she really wants to come back to church.

 

Well it was a pretty good week - we're getting alot more done now that we have a car. Eddie has a baptismal date for July 10th and we've almost got Lucinda... keep prayin for her. I love you all

Elder Cottrell

Me and the police....June 13, 2011

Samuel Cottrell to me

show details Jun 13 (7 days ago)

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while. Look for more pictures in the next couple of weeks - it's been a good one:

Tuesday 6-7-11

Today I went on splits with Elder Western. He's from Denton, TX - he's a pretty cool guy and we get along for sure. Today was my walking day - he's been in a car his whole mission - lets just say he was pretty sore when we got through with 'the route'. On our way to meet a referral we were stopped by a man outside of an industrious building - he brought us inside a maze of a factory - turns out he is LDS and wants to take us to lunch next tuesday. It was awesome to talk to another member of the church that we hadn't met. We talked to a ton of people today - quite a few of them where referrals I had to give to the Spanish Elders. Bummer - atleast they're getting taught. We talked to my bro Joseph Tanuvasa - he's officially engaged now - not that anyone cares ha. He's a good friend though. We walked into compton to see Latonya after we had a good talk with a lady at the bus stop. We watched Reflections of Christ with her - twice. Her house is crazy - her mother-in-law has alsheimers and her daughter is handicapped. I really felt for her, she was struggling pretty bad - but finally could relax and just watch the slideshow. I could tell that it brought her alot of peace. We started for the apartment at about 9:15 - it would have taken us an hour to get back but a police officer pulled us over and called us crazy - he told us to hop in. That was fun to get a ride back to the apartment in a police car. I can only imagine what the people thought that saw us get out.

6-8-11

Elder Allred and I saw a less-active member in Carson today - we have tried to set aside two days a week to go into Carson for the whole day - since it's so far away. We watched the slideshow with her as well - it didn't go as well as last night did - she was in a big rush. She hasn't been to church in the last couple of years and we haven't had a chance to find out why. We met with Levi - who just came back from his mission early - we're really working with him to get him back out asap. He's in much of the same situation I was. The thing I seem to be telling him most is 'get close to your parents, they are smarter than you'. Truth. We visited some other members and then rode the long ride to the church for correllation.

6-9-11

Today I woke up sick. I have a head cold - I think i'm not eating healthy enough ha. I'm definately eating - just not healthily. We met with a member that just moved here from Montibelo - she was baptized 2 months ago and is looking for work. She has the sweetest 2 year old - (besides my neices) that i've ever honestly seen - her name is Telula. I'll send some pictures. Sister Kershner - she is who just moved - made us some pusole (basically a mexican stew) that I reallllly enjoyed after not eating it for so long. She's got some trials for sure and sounds like she had a rough time in her old ward but she's excited to be here with us now. We taught Keiara - a new referral - on her porch. She's 18 and hasn't been to church her whole life. Her grandma is a hardcore J.W. and that's all she knows about the bible, God, etc. She's very interested though and seems to really embrace what we teach. We ate dinner at Rascals with the Tauefa's - game 5 was on in the restraunt - that was a temptation to watch. The food was good haha.

6-10-11

Still have my cold but we went to the trainings anyway. They went pretty alright - we went to Johnny Rockets' afterwards for lunch. I tried to get some rest before our appointment later that night. We were meeting with a guy that I have seen at church every week since i've been here - but I just found out he isn't a member. We had a great lesson with him - he PROMISED he is going to get baptized. We have a mission-wide goal of every companionship baptizing this month. I think we just found ours. I'm really excited about that. I've been praying super hard for that blessing. On our way to the appointment I got a phone call saying that I was about to receive a vehicle. As mom would say "praise the Lord".

6-11-11

I took a series of hot and cold baths/showers to try and rid myself of this cold. I got in some more studying and am super close to finishing Jesus The Christ. We had a great lesson with 83 yr old Lucinda - she's awesome. She has been taught for over a year - we've just got to get her to commit. After the lesson she told us how she was born in 1928 and everything that's happened since. Some people don't enjoy that, but I really find it fascinating. We had Lumpia with the Vilalon's - and Balut... I dunno if grandma and grandpa ever had balut, but I sure wont have it again. It is, in essence, a baby chick inside of an egg. And you eat it. All of it. Look it up on the net or wait for my video and pictures - mom will have a fit. The lumpia was great though ha.

6-12-11

Today at church sister kershner came, and even brought a friend. They are both from Beliz - very humble and kind people. They really enjoyed the service. Myself and the 3 other missionaries taught the Gospel Principles class. We each took ten minutes and taught one of the standard works. I taught about the Doctrine and Covenants. I didn't know that at first it was called "The book of Commandments" - that makes perfect sense. It was interesting to study more about D&C - I really enjoyed it. We ate dinner with the White's and had a good message with them. I can't remember if I ever wrote this, but a couple of weeks ago I saw a homeless lady and wanted to help her out. I offered her an un-opened bottle of water I was carrying in my backpack. She looked at it and said "I don't drink Sparklett's" ... 'uhh... have a nice day then!' haha I couldnt' believe it. Oh well.

 

That was the week - pray for Eddie and Lucinda! Thank you for your love and prayers - i'm definately feeling them. Have a good week! 

Love,

Elder Cottrell 

Letter/Testimony 6-6-11

The week was really good - lots and lots of fishing but some very cool experiences. Thank you for bearing your testimony to me - it means alot. Like I said before - sometimes its tough with all of the oppostition here - but I know I have a strong foundation.

I have a testimony of conversion. Not only a testimony that it is possible, but that it effects everyone around us - if we let it. I know that we are all converts. Some of us converted when we were baptized at 8, some of us later in life - but at some point, we all received direct revelation from God that this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is His one and only true church. Here in L.A. if you drive 3 blocks in any direction, you're bound to pass a few different churches. Which one is true? Any of them? All of them? There is only one way to know. Part of 'praying with real intent', as stated in Moroni, is promising God that once you receive that answer - that this is His true church - you will do everything in your power to build His kingdom here on the earth. The phrase "every member a missionary" did not come out of the air - it came straight from the scriptures - straight from the Lord. Part of our duty as members of the ONE TRUE CHURCH ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH is to share our testimony with others and give "every ear" a chance to hear this life-changing message. I promise you that as we reach out to the less fortunate, the less privelaged people in our daily lives, we will be blessed beyond comprehension. The Lord has promised it; and He cannot lie - but "if ye do not what I say, ye have no promise". "Let us all stand a little taller" and share this amazing light that has been given to us. You will never regret, nor will I, taking the time out of your busy life to lift someone higher than they have ever been before. I know the Lord has sent us all to the earth at this point and time for a purpose. We are the elect; we are the special souls capable of spreading this message. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Not alot of time again this week - sorry. I do want to share an experience I had yesterday though. As we were riding our bikes to an appointment I was going over all of the cool experiences i've had so far on my mission and those of other missionaries - at that exact moment, a guy rode his bike up to the side of me. He was probably about 40. He said "you guys just getting off of work? what are you doing?" I told him that we are missionaries - he asked "oh no, not missionaries of God are you?" I said yes "what do you get from that?" he asked - I told him that there is no greater joy than helping those around us - I asked him if he felt good when he helped others too. "I dont know man, but i'm drunk and heading to meet up with the dope man. I just got paid and have a few days off so this is what i'm going to do to relax. I don't want to do it though, can you tell me something that will make me stop?" We pulled over to the curb at this point. I asked him about his family - he said he has 3 kids. He told me that he just got out of rehab and felt like he was about to relapse. I explained why I was serving a mission. The drug dealer called while we were talking - he put the phone on speaker phone - "where you at?" the dealer said - "i'm right here, give me a few minutes" - he hung up the phone and swore - I could see him fighting the angels and devils inside him - one telling him to go buy the dope, one telling him to listen to us. He wouldn't admit that he was addicted, but wouldn't turn away from the idea of doing it. We talked with him about families - about the example he is setting to his children everyday - whether they know what he's doing, or not. He asked for our information and turned around. He wants us to come back next week. He recognized that God put us in his path for a reason. I know that God is watching over us all - He knows what we need and will take care of us as we turn to Him for help - not things of the world. I love you all - have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cottrell

p.s. The other day I had the rare opportunity to go on splits with an Elder in the ASL program - sign language. He can hear, but with an artaficial aid. Their area is the whole mission + long beach. It was such a crazy experience. I just sat there in the appointments and observed. I didnt learn much - but I could feel the spirit. It's amazing to meet these people that are deaf - but are still members of the church. The spirit testifies to them that this is the true church. That was another neat experience I had this last week. Hopefully next week I'll have time to write my usual letter and tell you all about the week. I love you

Elder Cottrell