Tuesday 1-31-12
We woke up pretty early for zone conference today - we went to the L.A. stake center and met with a couple of other zones for the meeting. My companion and I trained all zones for 1 1/2 hours - our topic was "having an effective companionship study with lesson plans". It was pretty self - explanitory I think. We got alot of good feedback. 2 Elders came up to me and told me that they met Sara in the MTC. Elder Gunnels and Elder Kuo - they are both pretty fresh. Elder Kuo is being trained within my zone - he was excited when he made the connection that Sara is my sister. We went to Cynthia's restaurant for lunch afterwards - some fancy-pants french place. It was really good! She's so nice for feeding us and watching out for us all the time. We taught Andres a little about the Word of Wisdom - he's doing great. His dad owns a Deli in Ventura - like 2 hours away - and has to go there every weekend. It's been tough for him to get to church weekly.
2-1-12
We did our weekly service again - Erna was waiting for me at the convalescent home, loyal and faithful as ever... just perched in her wheelchair, itchin for me to take her to the market. She's the best. I went on splits with Elder Langi - I took him to my area - we are still focusing on building our teaching pool, so we fished for the most part of the day. He's from Tonga - i've told you about him before - mom and dad have sent him a few things - he really respects me for that I think - I know he is so grateful for mom and dad and their care for him. We gave a lady a blessing in some random projects in Culver City. She isn't in our area, but the missionaries in her area are sisters - so we go the call. She was a super nice lady and even had some food prepared for us. I ate a small chile - it was way hotter than I expected. I enjoyed it however. We were able to find 1 new investigator today - Manuel. I can't tell how solid he is, but atleast he said we can come back.
2-2-12
For every weekly planning session that I have left, i've chosen to go somewhere different. It's a long 3 hours and i'd atleast like to be in a good environment to do it! Last week was the mountains, this week we went down in front of the Santa Monica Pier and sat on a bench over looking the ocean. It was a nice day. We did some more fishing - with alot of success this time! in just over an hour, we found 4 new investigators! I was way happy about that. But tired for sure. We ate with the Barahona's - they reserved me for dinner on my last day available - i'll miss that family for sure - they've been really good to us in the last 6 months that i've been here. We visited the Choto's for a minute and then got a call to go give a blessing to a member in the singles ward. I've really learned to appreciate opportunities I receive to give blessings. It's a great way to excercise the priesthood and grow the testimonies of all who are present.
2-3-12
No district meetings this week - due to the zone conference we had on tuesday. We went to the office and worked out the mileage for the cars in the zone for the month of february - it's a pretty tedious job, but I don't mind it. Mom sent me a great package today with a check-list that i'm to fill out every time I offer service. I'm pretty sure it's a competition between sara and I. Sara doesn't have a chance. Actually, thats all they stinkin do in the MTC - so we'll be looking for more opportunites to serve. We almost set a baptismal date with Hector - he was really really close. He wants us to talk to his wife first though - he doesn't feel comfortable doing it without his wife's consent. I respect that. We ate with the Gonzalez family - one that I haven't gotten to know real well since i've been here - they're way cool though. They all dance this mexican folklore stuff.. I can't even explain it. It's really cool though. They're like.. the osmonds.. or something. Anyway, we talked to Bro. Calderon - it was a perfect teaching opportunity, his whole family was there and his nephew. Things were going great and then the kids started to fight and scream and run all over... it was super frustrating. He said that he needed to go take care of the kids... I was so bummed. We set up an appointment to come back.
2-4-12
I've been with Elder Matheson for 100 days - and we're still getting along. That's good right? I'm happy anyway - it could be bad if it was someone else ha. We started off with a lesson at the Padua's - they got our hopes up and said they'd come to church tomorrow - (they didn't) - bummer. It was a good lesson anyway. We fished for a while and found 2 new investigators... sa-weet. We ate at the Barrios - it was a good saturday lunch! I decided that we try a name on the ward list that we've never been able to contact - the gate is always locked. We walked up there right as a man was walking in. It was the husband of the member that lives there. He happily let us in - we walked up the stairs and the sister saw us coming. She got really excited and let us in. I recognized her from the church, but have never talked to her. She was so happy to see us - she introduced us to her family - two of her daughters have been baptized - she has 2 grandsons that are ready to get baptized. She wants us to come every wednesday and teach them. I was way happy that we decided to visit that member.
2-5-12
Today we had an early coordination meeting - then we went to our monthly stake meeting. I spent a couple hours yesterday talking to all of the missionaries in the zone and getting information about their wards. We met with the stake presidency - erik's roommate was there, pres. Vansweden - I was really tired and have a cold, but it went well anyway. I was mainly just glad to get it over with - those meetings are stressful sometimes. Hector wasnt able to come to church but we had a member bring his son, brian. That was really nice of them. I can already see the ward turning around - they are doing alot better. We had a ton of investigators at church today between the 4 companionships in the ward. We ate with the Ortiz family - it's been a while since we've been over there. They're a great family. We watched their pet snake eat a mouse. That wasn't so awesome. We went to a baptism for some Elders in the ward - it was a huge turn-out! The spanish ward was really excited about it and tons of them showed up. Hua was there - we asked if he would play the hymns for the baptism. He told us that he's set a baptismal date for Feb. 25th! I was so stinkin excited. I hope he makes it...
I love you all, have a good week! Elder Cottrell
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