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Monday, February 4, 2013

Just Another Week in Chatsworth

Hello all!
Its been a little bit of a slow week but we have found lots of people to teach. Unfortunately more than half of these people are not in our area so we keep giving referrals to our Elders in the Zone. Sister Haws and I have been praying to find families to teach and to see miracles. We have definitely been blessed with both. The families have been the referrals we keep giving away and the miracles come with our ability to hand out the Book of Mormon. Sister Haws says that this week she has handed out more of them than she has in the last five months. Its been crazy!!!! I told Sister Haws that regarding families we should start praying for us to find a family that is ready to hear the gospel instead of just finding families. She laughed and then agreed. Some of the individuals we have found this week have come from an experiment we tried. One day when we were tracting we found a Jehovah Witness pamphlet. Sister Haws replaced it with one of our pass-a-long cards. A couple minutes later she opened it and started reading it out loud. I didn't think it was appropriate for her to be doing that and stopped walking. I asked if we could say a prayer before continuing to invite to spirit to be with us once again. I felt as if I had been totally abandoned when she had started reading the literature. So we prayed. The next house was an amazing contact. Her name is Victoria and we are actually going to be stopping by again tonight once tracting hours start again. Another person we found was an 80 year old man named Bruce. He is a Bio-Physist (?) who is working on creating an artificial pancreas to help those who have Type 1 diabetes. He didn't wish to discuss religion but told us how much he admired our church for the family values it teaches. We thought of The Family Proclamation and gave a copy to him along with a Book of Mormon. We told him that he would enjoy the pamphlet and gave our number. I don't know if he will ever call us but I know that the seed has been planted for a second time in his heart. I have no doubt he will eventually accept the gospel. We had another lesson with a man named Simon. I can't remember if I have told you about him. He is a less-active member and is fighting us tooth and nail to come back to church. He has been afraid of going and then falling away again. He has been through the temple and I am sure that he remembers the consequences of not keeping covenants. He is an amazing man. We asked him to meet us at the church during the week and had a lesson in the chapel on recognizing the spirit. He definitely softened a lot during our lesson and we see progress each week inch by inch. He knows what he needs to do. He is just extremely reluctant and slow to make the decision to just do it. He also is worried what his siblings will do if he leaves the 'family day" for an hour or two to come to church. So we keep praying for him. In California there are doors we call Holy Ghost doors. They are a metal screen which has a bunch of holes in it. Yes, I know all screens have holes but its not mesh. Anyway, the person behind the door can see out but the people looking in cant see in, hence the name the Holy Ghost doors. They are super frustrating because you never know where to look when the door is actually answered. It makes things a little awkward. I found out a little more about Sister Haws she has had stitches 3 times and has had her chin super glued shut once. She is usually quiet but can really be sassy. Which works out because I'll just sass her right back. We have discovered that we do have our up's and down's with each other especially after being together 24/7. We just talk openly and things usually work out. The weather has been absolutely lovely. However people in LA county are getting nervous. The sudden changes in weather of extreme to extreme are earthquake symptoms. This county usually has an earthquake every 20 years. And right now we are on year 19 since the last one. The last one was pretty bad and took down a lot of the city and freeways. So if you are getting ready for emergency's and live in an earthquake zone. Definitely start thinking ahead. I hear the weather has been kind of crazy everywhere lately. Today is so clear! My zone is going to a place called the Rock. Its a large rock which allows you to see the ocean from here. I have been told that if its a really clear day you can see a island which is 120 miles away!!! So I am excited. Well I think that is about it. It has been great to train with Sister Haws and I am improving each day. The 12 week training program is really just a long review of everything they cram into the MTC. Each day has its challenges and I just keep working through them. I love you and hope that as you go from day to day you remember Christ our Savior and think of the Sacrifice he has made for us. I challenge each one of you to think of someone you know who could benefit from the blessings of the gospel in their lives. It could be a member or a non-member and then think of something you can do to introduce or re-introduce the gospel in their lives. It can be a simple invite to dinner or to an activity. We do this with our members out here and have promised them that if they apply themselves to missionary work their ward with double by the end of the year, and we are already seeing the results. Let me know of who you think of!!! I love you!

Hoorah for Israel!

Love,

Sister Cottrell


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