4 in 1 month baptizer

Mom - Thank you for your letter - I accidentally deleted it after I read it like I did dad's. Whoops. I can remember that you are still way busy though - you'll still be workin in your grave. Geez. It's good that you take a vacation every other week though to somewhere exotic. I'm sure that helps relieve the stress. ;) just bring me along when I get home ok? HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I still don't believe you're turning 50. Go get in the coffin and the hurse... go spend the night at the mortuary. You'll probably be on the road when your package arrives. - hope you like it.  Today we had the opportunity to go to the temple - we got up real early and drove out here to santa monica. Elder Ferrin and I did Initiatory. - we had the whole thing to ourselves - it was awesome. It was so quiet and peaceful - that doesn't happen here in L.A.. I really enjoyed it.  It's been a great week - i'm tired so that's got to be good. We've had 3 baptisms so far this month and have another one this coming sunday - that's the best i've done in my whole mission. Awesome huh? I'm really excited about that and hope that I can continue to find more people to be baptized soon. Yesterday my companion found $140 in the parking lot of the barber shop. He just stood over this wad of money.. looking at it. I ran over and picked it up and counted it. He was just bug-eyed. I could tell he really wanted to just put it in his pocket and leave. So did I. But before I could let myself think about it, I ran inside the shop and gave it to Lourdes as quick as I could and told her what happened. I was glad to have that off of my shoulders - my companion later told me how much of a temptation it was for him to keep it. Whew. Just two days before we taught Lourdes' daughter Brenda about the Holy Ghost and how he can help us, if we will let him. That was a real-life example for her of how it works. She was just confirmed and given the Holy Ghost on Sunday so i'm sure she really appreciated that - I know I did.   Tuesday 7-19-11 Today Lourdes, Brenda's mom, said she wants to be baptized on the 31st. That's so awesome since Brenda was just baptized on the 17th. That'll will be so great to see these two, mother and daughter, united in the Gospel. We saw a referral from a man in the english ward - bless his heart. He's really old and just thought his neighbors might be interested. Poor guy. His intentions were well and you never know, we planted a seed. It was a good day, we spent most of it teaching Lourdes and getting her ready for baptism. Tonight we worked out. Elder Cruz beat my record in the 3.6 mile run - it was 24:00. He made it 23:26. I couldn't handle it so I took off and ran it again. I set a new record - 22:18.. Un-touched. ;) Wednesday My companion and Elder Ferrin's went to a 'departing missionary training' so we were together for a bit in the morning. That was fun. We saw some of his investigators. We went to see the family that owns the restaurant by the barber shop - they fed us dinner. Bonus. Then we taught Lourdes again - we're focusing on daily contact with her to make 100% sure that she is ready for baptism. Thursday We tried to see another referral that wasn't home. We taught Alicia that works next door with Sister Mastache. We finally gave her a B.O.M and an assignment. Hopefully she can progress towards baptism in the near future. We had dinner with our ward mission leader and then went to correllation. We are the leading companionship in the ward and zone. Bonus. Friday We had a really good district meeting today. Elder Ferrin gave a really good thought on Hope - I really learned alot about how we must have hope and faith together - hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. We ate lunch with everyone and then went to the barber shop. Lourdes has a coffee machine out on one of the tables. We decided we'd hide it while she was in the back. We got a phone call from her later tonight - obviously asking where it was at. We'll keep it hidden till she isn't tempted anymore. One of the missionaries that goes home next week just told me that he's been putting laundry detergent in his shampoo bottle because he is all out. He has a huge rash. I gave him some extra... I thought you'd think that was funny. I did. Saturday Today Laura had her interview for her baptism tomorrow and passed. President Baker wanted to come work with us for a couple of hours - so we took him to see Brenda. We taught her about the Holy Ghost and prepared her to be confirmed tomorrow - it went really well. We then taught Laura the same thing and used her recent-convert father to help. That also went really well. Overall, President was really impressed - sooooo bonus. We ate dinner with some other recent converts - the Guerrero's. She's going to teach me how to make salsa. My 'sweet- tooth' has turned into a 'spicy-tooth'. Sunday Eder and Brenda were confirmed and given the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting. They were both really excited and loved the experience. During the next class we printed out programs and got everything ready for Laura's baptism. We taught primary - I taught about the kirtland temple while my companion taught about the Sal Lake one. They were realllllly hard to keep entertained. Laura was baptized after church - i've really never seen anyone more excited than her to be baptized. It was awesome. Her and her father will be great members of the church. We took Lourdes and Brenda to the Visitors Center in Santa Monica with our ward mission leader. We watched the Joseph Smith film and saw the Christus. Lourdes had never been before. She bore her testimony to us that she knows this is the true church and will be baptized in it. Monday We spent a good part of the day doing service in the barber shop for Lourdes. She calls us her ninos (kids). Once again, I can testify of service. I have come to firmly believe that it is the key to this life - serving others. I love doing it and get no greater joy from almost anything else. She cooked for us and we ate dinner there. It's been a great place for fishing as well - she always introduces us to her clients and lets us explain to them what we are about... what are they going to do anyway, leave while a lady is cutting their hair? probably not.   That was the week everyone - it's been a good one. I love you all and keep you in my prayers. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA AND MOM! Love, Elder Cottrell

New Car and more Baptisms!

Tuesday 7-12-11

Today we traded cars with some other missionaries - ours was getting kind of old so it was time for a newer one. Nice. Today was Lourdes' birthday so a few of us went over to the barber shop and sang to her. We visited the family that dad was able to meet - the in-laws were in town from Clearfield and offered to take some things back to mom and dad so I wont have to send them home later.

7-13-11

Today we taught an employee that works for some members. She had some questions about 'the cross' and why we don't wear one around our necks. She seemed pretty interested and said she will come to church with the member. We went next door to the barber shop - the one that Lourdes owns - she had a friend over that is a messianic-jew. We taught him for about an hour - that was fun. Then we taught Brenda everything else that she needs to know in order to be baptized this coming Sunday. She's had a pretty rough past but is so excited for the change.

7-14-11

We went over some things with our ward mission leader today - we ate dinner with him and had correllation. We're all really excited for the baptisms coming up this sunday. It was a long day of 'ward planning'.

7-15-11

Today we had our district meeting - I got a new suit last monday and was pretty exicted to wear it. We learned alot about our missionary purpose - I have a goal to get 4 referrals between now and sunday.. it will be difficult but i'm pretty sure I can do it. We visited Brenda again and talked with Eder as well. We ate dinner with the Guerrero's and then called it a day.

7-16-11

We went to the barber shop again to do some service - Brenda was having her 18th birthday party there so they wanted everything moved out. We spent most of the day cleaning up the shop and moving everything to the back to make room for everyone. We weren't able to go to the party but we heard it was pretty sweet.

7-17-11

Big day today - Lourdes, Brenda, Eder and Laura all came to church today - Laura is brother muller's daughter - she just got back from a month-long stay in texas and will be getting baptized next week. Church went really well - after the meetings we had the baptisms. I baptized Eder and Elder Cruz baptized Brenda. It was a really spiritual meeting - Lourdes said 'i'm next'. That will be awesome. We ate dinner and then headed to the shop again to eat cake and help clean up from the party. Good day.

 

I'm so grateful for you all - for friends and family that I can turn to and trust. Thank you so much for keeping me and the people i'm teaching in your prayers. Have a good week!

Elder Cottrell

July 11,2011- Barber Shop and 3 P's !

7-6-11 Wednesday

Today we went to the salon at 6 a.m. to paint. 6 of us showed up and painted the barber shop inside until about 1. It was a pretty big job - it looks really good though. AND after we got done, Brenda's mom said that she is going to get baptized after Brenda does on the 17th. That was really good news. Service goes a long way..

7-7-11

Today marks 500 days on my mission. What to do to celebrate... not a lot you CAN do. So we ate at Wing Stop. Woo Hoo. We taught a referral that we got from the member that met Dad. She works for her in her shop. She's from Mexico and has seen missionaries many times but never really knew what we do. It's awesome that she works and is around a member all day every day - that way they can continue to talk about the Gospel and answer any questions she may have right then and there.

7-8-11

Today we had our district meeting and I gave a training on dilligence. I read some out of preach my gospel and came up with a plan/slogan called "persistently plan and pray" - the 3 P's. I talked about how dilligence is doing things without being asked and related my history of mom and dad always having to ask me to take out the trash - for years. I read a story that mom sent me from the YW manual about Hugh B. Brown's experience as a missionary in England and how his dilligence paid off - the story is actually about fasting and prayer - but without being dilligent, he wouldn't have seen the success that he did. It went pretty well - we went and ate and then went to the barber shop to talk to Brenda and her mom. They really have grown close to us - Lourdes (brenda's mom) calls us her 'hijos' or sons. It's been great to show that through serving others, you represent the gospel and what we as members of the Church are all about.

7-9-11

Today we woke up to go and do another service for an older lady. We went to her storage space and moved some things from there into her new place. It was great - she was so grateful and even bought us In N Out. Bonus. We went on splits for the rest of the day - I was with a new Elder. We did some fishing and went to our dinner appointment. He's from Brazil and is a super good kid.

7-10-11

Sunday - we had 3 investigators at church today. 2 of them had their baptismal interview and passed. It was a really great day - we had dinner with the 1st counselor in the bishopric - I got kind of sick - just dizzy and had a migraine so I rested a bit. We visited a couple of members and then called it a day.

 

Another good week with really good weather here on the beach - thank you all for your prayers, love and support. I'll talk to you all next week

Love,

Elder Cottrell

 

July 5 2011- Happy 4th of July

Tuesday 6-28-11

Today was really hot - I was glad to be in a car. We visited Lourdes, Brenda and Jennifer at the salon today. They're all doing really well - Brenda is stil scheduled to be baptized on the 17th of July. Today is the day that Eddie promised he would quit smoking. He is in my old area so I have no way of keeping track of that, but I sure hope he's doing it. We ate dinner with the Guerrero's - they are recent converts and really really solid. Brother Guerrero is ... speedy Gonzalez. No lie.

Wednesday 6-29-11

Elder Cruz and I wrote a song to help get Jennifer - the investigator that works at the salon - to pray and come to church. We played it for everyone in the shop and they all loved it. We are trying to get more creative in our teaching - I think it's helping alot. She prayed and said she would come to church. We talked tot he Mastache family - they are in Utah and visited Dad! Jealous

6-30-11

We had a good lesson with Brother Muller today - he really reminds me of a couple people I have taught in my old area's - one of them being Franco - whom you are familiar with. He's very spiritual and very nice. He's been such a great help in getting our investigators to church or the visitors center or anywhere we need them to go. We answered some good questions he had about Alma 33 - this man has REALLY turned his life around. We had dinner with Brother Romero and then had our ward correllation.

7-1-11

We had our district meeting today and then went to eat. We visited with Edar - he is also being baptized on the 17th of this month. We did some fishing and met a few promising people. It's funny to look back on my old area's and realize that all the area's ive served in, touch each other. I've stayed in basically the same spot throughout my whole mission so far. I've really enjoyed it though, so no complaints here.

7-2-11

This morning we had our interviews with President Baker. It was really great to be able to talk to him - he's such a busy guy. I didn't get in trouble for anything... so that's good haha ;). We just looked at my progress from when I started and to where I am now - sitting with close to 6 months left. It was a good talk. We ate lunch and then went to work. I really hope I can learn this area before the transfer is over.

7-3-11

Sunday- Lourdes and Brenda came to church. It was a great fast and testimony meeting. A kid in the ward just got home from his mission so it was pretty much a homecoming for him in testimony form... It was good though. After church we ate dinner with Bro. Guerero and went hunting for a referral we received from the MTC. Her address is T.J. Max. . . c'mon.

7-4-11

Happy fourth of july. We had a bbq with President and a few other zones. We played sports and ate lunch. I went to the mall and bought a new shirt and some sunglasses and then we went out for a bit. I didn't see as many fireworks as I did last year but it was still really cool. My companion , being from Boston , really missed the big show out there. He's really close to being done with his mission.

 

Well that was the week - it's really warming up out here. I heard Utah is stinkin hot right now so be grateful you have good drinking water... and drink it.

Love,

Elder Cottrell