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
