MyEgyptian friend from the old folks home
My Russian friend from the old folks home.
The needy.
The homeless like music too.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Photos Dec. 12, 2011
Happy Birthday Elder Cottrell
Tuesday 12-13-11
Today we went to Santa Monica College to try our new finding idea - we set up our table and put some material on it. We were able to talk to a ton of kids - it was a really good success I think! I talkted to one kid that said he was in a rehab home - he was going down the wrong path and was just trying to figure out what God wants for him. His parents are buddhist - he felt that if the Christian religion was true, that it wouldn't be just for his parents to be sent to hell - he was super happy to hear about the plan of salvation. We will have a hard time contacting him because he is in the home and can't have visitors - but I know that one day he will get baptized. We helped brother Ramos install a washer - that was fun to learn about. We ate with some members from the singles ward. - they put a giant '2' candle in my ice cream for my birthday tomorrow. Bonus.
12-14-11
Today we did some service down by the beach for the old folks - always a rewarding experience. Some of the sisters made me a cake for my birthday - that was really nice of them. They all gave me a card signed by all of the visitors center sisters. They're pretty awesome. We went to Baby Blues bbq for my birthday lunch. It was really good - but still nothing beats Holy Smoke from Layton... We met Abel at the V.C. and he took us for some frozen yogurt. - We watched Mr. Krugers Christmas with Hua at the V.C. - he kind of liked it. We ate with some members in the spanish ward - they took us to a Thai place to eat and then to get more frozen yogurt. It was a long day of eating. I got some awesome things from home - Grandma and Grandpa sent me some things including a famous red velvet cake - holy smokes that was awesome to get. Mom and dad sent me some great stuff to last me the last couple months of my mission - i've got a great family. 22 years old ...
12-15-11
The day after your birthday is always kind of depressing - you've got a whole year before your next one. Good thing we celebrate Jesus's birthday alot sooner than that. We went to the Santa Monica Institute for finals week and ate lunch - then we did some weekly planning. We tried to see a referral that lives at 100 California Ave - right on the beach. She wasn't home but there was a rainstorm so we took a few pictures of the sunset by the ocean - it was pretty cool. We spent the next hour in traffic on Santa Monica blvd - trying to head east. Pretty impossible around 5 pm. We drove 2 miles in an hour and got to our dinner - then we taught Hua at the church. It was an awesome lesson. We helped him realize his testimony of the B.O.M - which in turn gives him a testimony of God - it was awesome. He was super excited. He said that he would pray about being baptized - that's such a big step with him.
12-16-11
District meeting day - I went on splits with Elder Hall in my area. We went to the district meetings and they both went well. We have so much mail for the zone - we have 0 space in our car for anything. We ate with a member in the singles ward - we made breakfast - it was pretty good. We taught Israel at the V.C. - we watched the restoration. He's sort of struggling.
12-17-11
Today was fun - we went to the hospital to give Austin another blessing. He is getting ANOTHER heart surgery. He's really having a hard time. We went into the hospital room - he was on the bed with a ton of tubes and things going inside of him. I was fine for a couple minutes, then sat down because I got light headed.. then passed out. That was sweet. I woke up to nurses yelling in my face and asking me what my name was, if I had medical issues and yelling at doctors to take me to the ER. All I could say was 'no, don't, i'm fine' - I am such a girl. I sat there for a few minutes to catch my breath - we gave the blessing and then left. I got super sick about an hour later and had to go back to the apartment and rest - I had a huge headache and just felt super nausiated. Bummer. We went to the La Cienega christmas party for a while and ate dinner there - that was fun. Then we went to dinner with a member in the singles ward - he got off his mission 2 years ago but still has a ton of fire - he spilt everything he knows about missionary work in about an hour - it was way funny and pretty useful.
12-18-11
Church today - another day of meetings. We weren't able to take the sacrament because of all the meetings we had. We had the stake report meeting with Pres. Vansweeden, the stake pres., pres. baker and ourselves. It's a stressful one. I spent the last week getting a ton of information from the missionaries in the zone - got there and found out that it was basically useless. There was some mis-communication and we didnt' get the right form for the meeting - I was super frustrated with the A.P.'s because we didnt have the information we were supposed to - oh well, nothing we can do. They seemed to understand. I did everything I could. Hua WROTE a rendition of Jingle Bells in a day and played it in sacrament - it was amazing. That guy is a genius. We went to the hospital again to give Austin the sacrament - we were able to take it there. It worked out perfectly. And I didnt faint.
I love you all and will talk to you this Sunday! Merry Christmas!
Elder Cottrell
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Christmas is coming!
11-29-11 Tuesday
Today we had our zone leader council down in torrance - we talked about a new Standard of Excellence for 2012. We discussed certain goals we would like to achieve personally and as a mission. We decided a baptismal goal as well for the year of 2012. It was a pretty good meeting over-all - but i'm sure we need to really pray about the standards and goals we have set before we put them in stone. We taught Hua at the visitors center tonight - he hates testimony meeting, so we talked to him about that. We watched Elder Hollands testimony about the B.O.M he gave in conference a while ago - it is so powerful. After explaining what it is, Hua gained a new appreciation for testimony and said he will stay for the meeting now every fast sunday. I interviewed one of the sisters investigators for baptism this coming saturday. There were some things that I didn't feel very good about and asked for a second interview. She passed and will be baptized. She really has an amazing story - she is from the phillipines and is what you call 'golden' when it comes to investigator status. She has a great testimony.
11-30-11
Service today went great - I took Gwynn around - she was just happy to be outside. We ate lunch near venice beach afterwards and had a good time getting yelled at by some people over there - I guess we kind of asked for it... going into their territory 'n all. Oh well - good experience. We planned for some trainings that we found out we will be doing on thursday and friday and then ate with the Ramos's. I'm gonna have to invite them back to Utah for sure - they are awesome.
12-1-11
We trained the westwood zone today on 'listen, discern and teach' - they seemed to enjoy it and I felt the spirit - so i'll give that a 'bonus'. We weekly planned for an hour and then taught Hector and his mother the first couple steps of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He really wants to get baptized but he wants to wait for his wife to do it as well - we haven't even been able to meet her yet because she works all during the day. He is confident that she will accept it though. Elder Matheson burnt his mouth on some soup we ate monday... like really really bad. The top of his mouth is charred... the skin is peeling and its super nasty. He doesnt have any taste buds or something so he didnt recognize how hot it was when we were eating it.. he's in some pain. We had a good lesson with Hua and helped him to realize that he HAS FELT THE SPIRIT. It was awesome! He still is not convinced completely though.. He's getting there.
12-2-11
We taught fundamentals again today for 3 hours. I think it went a little better than yesterday - it was our zone and another one. We ate with the Gonzalez family and Pres. Baker called for some advice on what to do for transfers next week with some of the missionaries in the zone. We taught Marianna, her mom and her dad. We watched the Restoration - they didnt have the remote for their dvd player so we had to watch it in english - but they retold the story to us in spanish pretty well. They liked it and said they would watch it again - we want to get them to the V.C. while the lights are up. They have alot of potential.
12-3-11
Saturdays are so stinkin long some times - we never seem to have many appointments. We ate breakfast with some members - that was rare but really fun. Then we got asked to go give a blessing at the UCLA medical center - there is a boy there from Utah that has had over 10 surgeries on his heart since he was born - he's 16. I got kind of light-headed and had to sit down.. I hate that I can't handle that stuff. Anyway, this is supposed to be his last surgery until he is well over 50. He was asleep but we talked with his parents for a while - they are from spanish fork and were really kind. I could tell that they have a great spirit in their family. He is a wrestling coach and had heard of Johnson - his last name is Span. We went to Gabrielle's baptism today - it went great. She is happy as can be. We helped bro and sister ramos make a cake and shoveled some more mulch for them. They really are the happiest couple in the world - I asked brother ramos what the key is to his happy marriage as I was shoveling manure.. He shared some really great insight and advice that i'll hold close to me as I go throughout life.
12-4-11
Church started off early again today - Hector and Brian came - they loved it ! Hector enrolled Brian in scouts and he has already been twice. They are doing great and the ward is really helping and making them feel comfortable. Hua came to church as well and even bore his testimony in elders quorum - I was not expecting that. It was so awesome. He told us later that he really enjoyed it and he felt something 'different' as he did it. He took us to the departing missionary fireside later on - there are a couple of my good friends going home this transfer and I was able to see some people i've really come to love over the past time in my mission - from different area's of my mission. It was good, but hard at the same time. The zone did really well this week as far as numbers are concerned - we are hoping for alot of success during the holiday's!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Keep reading, keep praying, keep the faith
Love, Elder Cottrell
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