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