I have no time... Sept 26, 2011

 Highlights:

I kicked it at chelsea hightower's house and got her to commit to bring friends to church,

 i taught Tris Imboden in Malibu (the drummer for Chicago) - he signed a picture for me... super super nice guy.

 He referred to Alice Cooper as 'Al'... he showed us Bob Dylans fridge that he brought over the other week.. and tommy lee jones' doors..

 And walked past Will Smith's and Pamela Anderson's houses.. 

AND we baptized Trey on Saturday.

 it was such a rad week.

 I donated my plants to the Ramos couple - they were taking over my desk. 

We found a really solid new investigator - john. 

William came to church again and even prayed!

 i got sick on sunday and got a blessing from our ward mission leader - then felt better and confirmed trey in sacrament meeting. 

I ate dinner with Hal Posner - the old CFO of Capitol Records (he turned down the Beetles twice before signing with them).

 It was a good week. Wish I had more time to write! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Cottrell

Busy week 9-19-11

9-13-11 Tuesday

Last day of the transfer - I will be starting transfer 13 or 16 tomorrow. Crazy. We had a lesson with a girl from Roy, UT at the visitors center. She's pretty much athiest and just wanted to give us a sales pitch for a pyramid-scheme job to do after our missions because she heard we were going home soon. Bummer. Some peoples children... We said goodbye to all of the missionaries leaving tomorrow - that didn't make me home-sick.. uh.. yeah it did. Oh well, they put in their time - I still gotta do mine - with a happy heart. I can do that. We had an FHE with a less active family and taught them about faith. It was awesome. We called out the transfers to the zone - not a lot of changes this time around.

9-14-11

Old folks home service today - highlight of my week. The lady I took around the farmers market was named Lorraine. She is Jewish and has about 6 teeth - she just turned 93 on monday. Bless her heart. Her grandson is a model for american apparel and told me about it the entire time - it was pretty interesting. She even bought me a strudel and called me handsome. Sugar mama. We ate lunch with a great member family and had a good lesson on prayer. It's time to build our teaching pool.

9-15-11

We didnt leave the apartment today till 4:15 due to weekly planning - that was tough. But we gotta do it. We helped bro. ramos and his wife move a couple of things - they really are the happiest couple I have ever seen in my life. She is pregnant and due in Jan. - they are so excited 'they could bust'. ha, get it? We ate with a member in the singles ward - he's about 30, an ingineer and loaded up to his eyeballs in money. BUT he's single. He sort of reminds me of Erik. He's a really cool guy - just got back from a surfing trip in Beliz. Anyway, he's one of the best members in the ward. We committed him to find someone for us to teach by general conference and he accepted - no questions asked. He's a solid guy.

9-16-11

District meeting day. Everything went well - I trained one of the districts on using the pamphlets affectively in lessons. We found out that one of the sisters in the zone had a sister pass away. She is in a part of her mission that is extended - she would have gone home last transfer - so she decided to go home for the funeral. Really really sad.. Sister Parra - pray for her. We had a lesson with Awah - he went to church last sunday - they talked about Kolob.. that was fun to explain. We had a baptismal interview tonight at the V.C. for a brother the sisters are teaching in the spanish ward - he passed and will be baptized sunday.

9-17-11

We had a mission leadership training today at the office that went super well - i'm becoming immune to long meetings and actually learning things from them. Neat huh? We had an FHE in the spanish ward. Ourselves, the ward mission leader, a recent convert and his mother are the only ones that showed up haha it was embarrassing. We still had the lesson though - we taught on the holy ghost and played a game with them. Funny.

9-18-11

Possibly the craziest sunday of my mission.. We had our 7:30 meeting - some of the sisters didnt show up. I tried to contact them but they wouldnt pick up - they just said that they werent coming. A member came into the room and said that he saw their car on the way over - they got in a wreck. President Baker called us and asked us to help him give a blessing to one of the sisters that was in the crash. We went to the emergency room and did it. She didnt break anything but is badly bruised. Right when we got back to church, before we sat down, a lady asked us for a blessing. She was complaining of chest pain and soreness in her left arm.. I told her to chew an advil and go to the Dr. right then... we gave her a blessing first though. We went to the singles ward and had another guy come ask us for a blessing - just a random guy in another ward. He was having alot of internal problems as well as work problems. We were more than happy to help. Church went great - awah and william both came! Bonus. We went to the baptism later and that was the week!

I love you all and hope you have a great week  - keep reading, keep praying, keep the faith.

Love, Elder Cottrell

Bird Lady songs 9-12-11

Tuesday 9-6-11

Today we had a zone leader council from 9 30 till 1 at the mission home. It was a pretty good meeting - President spoke on the atonement and becoming Gods... it was pretty deep but really cool. We ate with a guy in the singles ward and then had a long lesson at the bishops office with Kyle - emily's fiance. It went pretty well - he's really excited about elders quorum and committed to come check it out this sunday. The weather was way hot today.

Wednesday

The other day we were in a lesson with Awah - elder maddox had a zit or something on his head and was scratching it ... or something... i guess... during the lesson. Anyway, he somehow pulled out a huge chunk of his hair and now has a bald spot the size of a nickel. I don't imagine i'll ever stop laughing at that one. He also broke his watch the other day in a lesson when a fly wouldn't leave him alone - I felt real bad but couldn't stop laughing at that either. Poor kid. He's a really funny guy - purposely and non-purposefully. We did our weekly service at the old folks home - it was awesome. The lady I took was named Erna and acted like a bird the entire time. She kept yelling as I pushed her wheelchair through the market "IIIIIIIIII wanna go HOOOOOOOOMMMMMEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I just smiled as everyone looked at me like 'creep'. I found out that if I sang to her while we walked, she wouldn't yell. So I sang different songs as we walked and she'd comment and say things like 'very good' or 'and another?' it was pretty funny. When we pulled up to the convelescent home I said 'there, youre home now' and she said "oh freak, I hate this place" Oh well, I tried. It was way hot again today - we worked hard to find someone to baptize. I gave out a ton of cards and a couple book of mormon's. We had two dinners tonight - there is a girl going to BYU-I from here that asked if she could come over to the house for thanksgiving since she can't come back to Cali... sooo... I don't know if she'll actually come. Hope you don't mind! Even though I wont be there!

Thursday

Today we had a lesson with Trey at the V.C. - we watched a video and talked about the plan of salvation - he's pretty ready to be baptized on the 24th - it'll be great. As I was leaving, a girl kept waving at me - it was Leah Lunt from highschool haha crazy huh? She is working at disneyland and just so happened to visit the temple while I was there. She took a picture and said she would put it on FB so watch for it. She told me everyone at home is married or pregnat and married... gross. Anyway, She said I didnt look any different than before I left - that's good I guess? We took Leavin - a member- on splits with us for a bit and then had dinner with the Ramos' - they're a young couple, dont have much, and the happiest people ever. I hope my marriage can be as happy as theirs.

Friday

We had our district meetings - i gave everyone a cup, some dirt and a seed to plant inside. We wrote on the cups the name of our zone goal "faith, it's what you do" - they will grow their seed and find out what it turns into and the fruit that it brings forth - (alma 32) i was pretty excited about it ha. Friday's are busy... good... but busy. We had a good lesson with a couple of families - we had dinner at venice beach with some members and then had a lesson with Linda and Miguel - an awesome new family that promised to read and pray this week.

Saturday

We did a ton of fishing today. A guy let us into his apartment - we taught him for about an hour - just about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. His wife came home as we were leaving. At first she seemed kind of upset that we were there but then once she knew we were talking about God she asked us to come back. It was great! We taught anna and miguel - they're an awesome family as well. Miguel is struggling with some doubts but we are confident he'll get through them. Today in my personal study I spent some time writing down 30 goals I want to accomplish in the next 5 years... I have some work to do.

Sunday

Church was awesome - long but great. Allison - who was confirmed last week - got a calling today. She's a new ward missionary haha I can't believe it. She will be awesome! She made us some japanese food for dinner - it was a good day.

That's the week. I love you all and hope you're reading, praying and keeping the faith.

Elder Cottrell

Zone Leader Council Sept 2011

9-4-11 Keep reading, keep praying, keep the faith!

8-30-11 tuesday

Today we woke up and drove to the artesia building for the fundamentals. Elder Maddox and I trained on how to help investigators get to church... for 3 hours... to a grip of new missionaries. It was sort of intimidating and we didnt have alot of time to prepare but the Lord helped us out for sure. It went pretty well. I went on splits with Elder Hsieh (she-ya) - he's one of the missionaries in the chinese program that just started. He came here from Taiwan - he doesnt know much english but he's a really great guy and trying to learn the language as hard as he can. It's been great to go on splits with these missionaries this transfer - I always work my hardest. Thats really the point of exchanges - to show the other missionaries how the work SHOULD be in their area's and to give them support and encouragement in the work. We had a good lesson with Kyle - a fiance of a girl in the singles ward. He's not interested in the church at all but is learning for his girlfriend... it was pretty simple. We pray that he felt the spirit. We talked to alot of people on the street today. - A guy even showed us some pictures he took of aliens. Nice. August 30th... this will always be a memorable day.

8-31-11

Elder Hsieh and I had our interview and discussed things he can work on to improve his area and bring more souls unto Christ - he's doing great. We went to 'Fireside' - the old folks home - to do our weekly service. It's probably my favorite hour of the week. We get to help these great people in a great way. We walked down to the farmers market on 3rd street - right by the beach - and let them buy whatever they'd like. It's great to get to know some of them. Elder Maddox and I sort of planned a zone goal for Sept. - we have to present it to president next tuesday so we gotta get it ready. We have so so much to do in the next few days... companionship interviews, stake reports, mileage allotments, zone goal, exchange reports, get allison confirmed, ... i'm going crazy.

9-1-11

We had a meeting with the 'head sisters' today in the VC to discuss how we can have better communication and accountability with the sisters in our zone - that was fun. They're really great ladies. We planned some more and then picked up reports from the DL's, had dinner with the barahonas and organized our stack of papers.. busy day.

9-2-11

District meeting day - we trained in one of the districts on finding with faith - that went really well I think. It's so so important to talk with everyone regardless of their outward appearance. We had an interview with Elder Riska - a DL, and then went to the next district meeting - Elder Son - the DL was real late so I conducted the meeting and helped it along - he was stuck in traffic in Malibu. The Elders and Sisters in our zone are so great and so on top of things - they're all really great examples to me. We took some time to fill out stake reports and get everything ready for that big meeting.

9-3-11

We had a meeting with all of our district leaders today about the upcoming zone goal. We are working on having faith in the standards of excellence that have been given to us and every companionship baptizing monthly. We feel like it's a stretch, but we know that we can do it. The DL's gave us some positive feedback - so we went to the apartment to finish planning it. It's called "Faith-- It's what you do" Clever huh? I keep having these nightmares where a little girl is hunting me down. I think it's the stress catching up to me.

9-4-11

Church day. Allison got confirmed - awesome! we had a great meeting with SM3 as well as La Cienega. William - the chinese guy that knows NOTHING about God, came to church again today and stayed the whole time. It's SO tough teaching someone that doesnt have a christian background. I can't imagine how tough it is to work where jonson is at. He's doing great though - he said he didn't like sacrament meeting but that he'll be back again next week. Bonus!. I didn't feel very good today - I tried to fast but it made me kind of sick - hopefully I can get over that.

That was it! I love you all! Keep reading, keep praying, keep the faith!

Love, Elder Cottrell

8-29-11 AUGUST IS OVER!

I can't believe august is about over.. time is really flying.

8-23-11 Tuesday

Today we had fundamental trainings for all of the new missionaries for most of the day - it went really well - we are doing those trainings next week so that should be fun. We'll train from 9 - 12. I better know my stuff right? I went on exchanges with Elder Koo - he's in the Korean program. It's his 2nd transfer - he came to the USA straight from Korea. He's such a good guy. We walked the streets for a couple of hours and talked to people - then had dinner with some members in the singles ward. We had a lesson with another family and committed them to invite a friend over next week for a FHE. Sweet! We were a half hour late to our last appointment but showed up to the apartment at the same time as the family. It was perfect! We had a really good lesson with them about the restoration - i've got high hopes for them.

8-24-11

This morning we had our "P.P.I" before splitting back with our companions - we had a training for all of the mission leadership from 10 till 2 at the mission home. We learned how to work with our ward mission leaders more effectively. We had our last lesson with Allison and then she had her baptismal interview - she passed and will be baptized on Sunday!

8-25-11

This morning we did some service for Yvonne - her house has flea's. Lots of them. That was fun. We met Trey at the visitors center and watched the restoration movie - he is getting baptized on the 24th of september. We did some planning and then went to dinner - we set up another FHE for next week with some non members. We had a great lesson with some former investigators... and then they dropped us. Bummer.

8-26-11

We had our district meetings today - they went great - we didnt have to train - bonus. I went on splits with Elder Moli - he's from Tonga and played rugby on their national team. He's a tank. He's really probably the most humble missionary i've ever met though - he's a great guy. We had dinner with a great family and felt the spirit so strong - the father is looking for a job and we talked about that for most of the hour - we are praying hard for him. We drove an hour and a half on the super-busy 405 freeway to the mountains of malibu to meet an investigator.. we got up there - beautiful.. then called the bishop only to find that we were looking at an old ward list and he didnt live anywhere near there. Bummer. SO we walked the streets of south robertson for an hour and talked to everyone we saw - it was awesome!

8-27-11

 This morning Elder Moli bought us some Tamale's from a lady that sells them every saturday morning outside our apartment - they were a great breakfast. We had our "P.P.I" and then met back up with our companions. Elder Maddox and I used some time to plan the up coming training and zone goal for september - busy busy. We helped out at a wedding reception and then talked to everyone in our neighborhood for about an hour. We have so much to do..

8-28-11

Today we went to church ( we go to the La Cienega ward from 7 am till 1, then santa monica 3rd from 1 30 to 5 15) - we had a few meetings - I went to SM3 meetings with Mike Pace while E. Maddox stayed for the classes at La Cienega. We cut out early at SM3 for a baptism in Huntington Park and then headed back to the stake center for Allison's baptism. It went so well. She will be such a solid member of the church!

Love you all,

Elder Cottrell