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