Busy Week! 8-16-2011

Tuesday 8-9-11

(yesterday on p-day we went to Bertha's BBQ in Inglewood with some members in Malibu - they own Elvis's Roll's Royce... We didn't ride in it.. but it was still awesome.)

Today we went to the mission home for the zone leader council. We gave a training on working with the ward mission leader in our coordination meetings - I think it went pretty well. We ate lunch and had more trainings for a couple of hours. It was a good meeting. People here are very forward with us - while going to an appointment in an apartment complex, a man came up behind us and said "hey, would you mind skipping my door please? I don't want to talk to you. Thanks" - gentleman.

8-10-11

At 9:30 today a lady came to clean our carpet - we left and did some interviews with the district leaders - just to see how the zone is doing. We went to the promenade - in front of the Santa Monica Pier - every wednesday we have the opportunity to push people around in their wheelchairs along the big farmers market there for an hour or so. It was an awesome experience - alot of random people thanked us for helping out. They were filming something there as well .. for 'celebrity vs. chef' or something like that - that was cool. We organized a whole bunch of stuff afterwards - handing out mileage allotments for the month and telling missionaries that they owe the mission money (traffic tickets, etc.) That was fun. We had a good lesson with Mary and Awah - it went well. Awah is really excited about the church... and knows that if he wants to mary Mary, then he's going to have to be baptized.

8-11-11

We had more interviews with the rest of the District Leaders today at the visitors center. We met with the korean program and the chinese program - it was really cool. They're all top-notch guys. We were going to do weekly planning but got a call to give a blessing at Cedars Sinai - the big fancy jewish hospital in Beverly Hills. We went in and found the room of the guy requesting the blessing. He was about 27 and was involved in a motorcycle accident - he works out here but his parents live in Sandy, UT. They had flown out and given us the call. He was in critical care.. I wont go into detail but he needed alot of work done. His dad talked to us for a while and then we gave the blessing. Cody - the guy in the accident - wasn't really conscious, but he moved his hand to let us know he was there. It was really hard - I can't imagine how the parents were feeling.. It was a great experience however and I felt the spirit really strong.

8-12-11

Today was the district meetings - we did our training on working with the ward mission leader in all 3 of the meetings. The zone seemed to like it for the most part - we are really focusing on bringing the ward/members into this work. We ate lunch and distributed mail afterwards. We helped Mary move down the street - we carried her couches to her new place. We had a good lesson on the plan of salvation with the Calderon family - 4 little kids under the age of 8. That was really fun. The family is really looking for help - and i'm pretty sure they just found it.

8-13-11

We talked to Andres about being confirmed this sunday - he's really excited and already planning on doing baptisms for the dead next month. He will be an awesome member. While we were planning for tomorrow I had a pair of scissors in my hand - I was acting like I was going to cut off the little 'nub' on my right ear.. I accidentally cut it. I didn't cut it off but I left myself a good mark - it was pretty funny other than blood being everywhere. I should have just cut it all the way off.

8-14-11

Church day. Church went awesome and Andres got confirmed - we had a lesson with Alison right after the singles ward meeting. She told us right after we prayed that after we had met last week she was sort of upset. She felt pressured when we asked her to be baptized on the 28th. She spent a long time praying and asking God what to do. She wasn't going to meet with us anymore. She had a talk with her mom about what she's learned in the church (her mom is chinese and doesn't know about the church) - later that night her mom emailed her and said 'i've never seen you light up and be so excited about anything. I will support you in whatever you choose to do with this church.' She told us that she knew satan was trying to get her to stop meeting with us - and so to counter-act that, she is going to be baptized on the 28th! it was so awesome to hear that story.. the spirit was so strong.

8-15-11

Today we had our zone conference with Elder Duncan of the 70. It went really well. He met with all of the leadership before the meeting and gave us some ideas for boosting the confidence of the missionaries and helping them fulfil their purpose with excitment. We found 2 families later on! It was a great day.

I"m out of time and have to go, but I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Cottrell