Mama and everyone,
We have alot of new changes in the mission - it's been a good and busy week - look for pictures soon.
10-18-11 tuesday
Today we drove to venice beach to visit a memeber - he stood us up. We looked at the beach a little anyway. We had 3 appointments fall through after that. We did some fishing and found an awesome family that let us inside. It's a younger couple with 3 kids under the age of 8. We taught about the Book of Mormon - they loved it. They asked if we were anything like J.W.'s - we said not really... they said good because they never let those guys inside ha. We tried visiting a family in beverly hills that weren't home - we had dinner with a member and then called it a night. Levi goes home tomorrow- holy smokes.
10-19-11
We went to the old folks home again today - it was awesome as usual. I took Gene around the market - she really really wanted to buy some grapes - we found her some. She wanted to try some guacamole on a chip from one of the sellers - she sucked the guacamole off the chip and then gave it back to the lady on the other side of the counter- I guess she can't chew.. It was super funny. We spent some time planning next months zone goal - I think we're going to focus on ChristLike attributes.. Our numbers are down as a zone - but the missionaries are doing great - we NEED to find more people to teach. We're doing our best. Levi is home - HOLY SMOKES.
10-20-11
Today we had our weekly planning session - we drove into the MOUNTAINS in malibu to get it done. We walked up a little trail and found a picnic table - it was so so nice. We couldn't hear any cars - only the stream and the breeze - it was just like Utah. We got alot done too! After that we went to Pepperdine - a.k.a Hogwarts... seriously. It's a HUGE campus on the mountain side in Malibu - i'm sure you've all heard of it - it was way way nice. We ate dinner with a member there - he has 3 roommates - one from china, one from the middle east and one from wisconsin - we gave them all a BOM in their own language and had a lesson on it - they loved it and said they would all come to church this sunday. It will be awesome to take the chinese elders up there - they need to build up their chinese teaching pool. We took PCH home - there was a ton of traffic - we rolled down the windows, turned off the music and just drove to the sound of the waves.. it was so nice. We had a lesson at the VC afterwards with a member in the singles ward - it went awesome - good day.
10-21-11
We went to three district meetings today - the A.P.'s went to one of them - it went really bad. We were sort of embarrased for the District Leader.. We got a phone call later tonight telling us how bad it was. Neat. We are going to the district leaders' companionship study tomorrow morning. We should have a pretty good talk... We had a lesson with Andres - he is such a stud. He's only 15, the only active member of his family, and doing everything he can to help others. He needs to be 16 so he can drive himself to church! haha there aren't a ton of available members in his ward to take him - we're working on that.
10-22-11
Today we went to the companionship study of that district leader and had a good talk.. he just wasn't prepared yesterday. At all. That wont happen again. We did some service for a sister in another ward - we helped move some things from a storage unit to another one. It was pretty fun. Then we had lunch with a guy in the singles ward - he was super nice. We had BBQ - I haven't had that in a while - I think it's pretty close to my favorite type of food. This week is 'bring your friend to church' day in the singles ward so we have been challenging all of the singles to find someone to bring, and then let us teach them! We did some more planning this evening for the zone goal.
10-23-11
This morning we had our monthly stake-meeting. We met with Pres. Keeler of the santa monica stake, pres. vansweden and pres baker. Nerve-racking. We gave a 10 minute report on how the stake missionary work is going - it went really well. Our mission president called afterwards and thanked us for how prepared we were. He said it couldn't have been better and it was 'exactly' how the meeting should have been. Bonus. We went to church at La Cienega - it was the primary program - soooo fun. We had pizza afterwards with all of the kids. We went to the singles ward - a lot of people brought friends! it was a good turn-out. We had to leave early to go to Torrance for an emergency zone leader meeting - we found out that they are making 2 new zones in our mission because of the amount of missionaries we currently have. Elder Maddox, my comp, will be helping to open one of those new zones - he is going to be a trainer of 2 new missionaries. I will train a new zone leader here in Marina zone and be with him until I go home i'm sure. We received alot of new information! We had an awesome dinner/lesson with a less active family. We focused on prayer and how key it is that we do it every chance we get. We talked about how keeping a prayer in your heart and mind are vital to staying away from temptation. I've really learned this lesson in my mission - I feel so close to our Heavenly Father. I know that He knows this life is hard. The commandments He has given us are not 'rules' - but a way to receive blessings. He's promised us that as we pray continuosly and keep His commandments, that we will be blessed. We talked to a new member about tithing and the amazing blessings that come with that sacrifice. It was great to think back on my life and the blessings that I personally have received by making this small sacrifice.
I love you all and will talk to you soon!
Love, Elder Cottrell
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