Last Letter

Dear Family,

I honestly would rather not write this letter because I know it means the end of a great experience. My mission has meant everything to me. I can't believe how blessed I've been. This past week we had a great variety of experiences. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow were shed many a times.

So this week we had a zone conference to meet the new mission president. After an uplifting introduction, they interviewed us all and then we, the zone leaders, were able to take some time to teach our missionaries. My zone is the biggest of the mission. We are now at 20 missionaries! And we're going to receive even more! Anyway, Elder Romero and I taught a very powerful workshop and we got the missionaries very excited to work. After the conference, President Thurgood invited me to have my exit interview. It was quite the experience!! I thought that it was going to be very awkward, but I was wrong. I'm really sad now that I won't have more time to be with him. So in the interview we talked about my mission and about going home. We had a very spiritual experience that seemed as if we had known each other all of our lives. We laughed, cried, and embraced as if we were best friends. It was truly an amazing experience. My favorite advice he gave me was the following: "Now when my son got home from his mission, his stake president told him that after two years of fasting, even a tuna fish sandwich looks delicious! I think he took it too seriously because he's turning 33 next month and he's still not married! SO don't look for a perfect woman because there aren't any!" ha ha! I loved that. Now my comp and I call girls tuna fish sandwiches. :)

Alright, the Montaño family has made me go nuts this week. There were a few nights I honestly couldn't even sleep. On Wednesday, my comp went to teach then during an exchange and it went really well, but when we returned on Friday it seemed as if they had forgotten everything they have ever learned! They didn't remember that their baptism was this coming Saturday. They didn't remember the plan of salvation, nor the restoration very well! We realized it has to do with the money they lent to the man that still hasn't paid them. They were so stressed out with that that they have been forgetting other things. So on Friday we had to start teaching everything over again. Saturday we went and ate with them and then taught them more. They weren't very sure about baptism. . . yesterday, Sunday, only their 13 year old son came to church. He loves everything about the church, but his parents had argued in the morning and didn't come, so in the afternoon we went with our ward mission leader, Hermano Cicilino, and the quorum president, Hermano Choque, to sing a hymn and bear testimonies and express our love for them. We sang “Love at Home” and we started to bear our testimonies and these members that we brought just opened their hearts and emitted a spirit so beautiful that touched the hearts of this family. They could feel the spirit and received a testimony of the uniting power of the gospel in the family. It was amazing! Now we have a family night planned with the quorum president, Hermano Choque, and with the Montaño family today and tomorrow an activity in the church and they're going to go to them both! That's huge! Johny is so shy that it's almost a phobia. But now there is a chance that they can get to baptism on Saturday or at least on Sunday. I was so happy for that! So pray for Johny, Nancy, Braian, and Dilan so that they can be baptized this week! It's the only thing I need to be able to finish the mission happily!

Oh, on Wednesday, after the zone conference, the train service went on strike and there were no trains all day. . . chaos. . . we had to take three buses and use the mission office car to get us back to our area! It was ridiculous! Ha ha! Thankfully it was only one day! But in all, it took us about four hours to do a trip that usually is only an hour and a half and standing up the whole time! It was terrible, ha ha! There's lots of strikes in Argentina. I remember that Hermana Thurgood was really shocked. I sat down with her at lunch and explained to her not to worry because Argentine's are a lot of talk. They bark, but they never bite.

Alright, I'm sorry I didn't share more experiences this week. I'm a little rushed today and I'm trying to answer all of Mom's questions. :) ha ha! But, I'm sure it is sufficient for you all since I'll be seeing you very soon. I love you all! Remember to be missionaries!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Last Mission Birthday

Dear Family,

Ok I don't have much time today, luckily not much happened this past week. Ha ha! It was another one of those meeting weeks. The biggest change is that President Stapley is now at home in Bountiful Utah and President Thurgood is here! I met him on Saturday as we went to help one of our areas pull off an amazing miracle baptism to help with the zone goal. He already speaks decently and is younger than Stapley. He is having a hard time getting used to the Argentine Spanish, though. He couldn't understand my accent the other day, ha ha!

What a bummer that must have been to try and get the carpet dry and everything. I honestly have no clue what I would have done. Wow. the only carpet I've seen in two years is the carpet from the mission home which isn't anything amazing, ha ha! Argentina is all dirt and concrete.

This past week we were only able to visit one family every single day due to the amount of meetings that we've been having. I've been having to get up everyday at five in the morning to get there in time and then we kept getting back to the pench late because we wanted so desperately to work. So I'm exhausted from not sleeping much.

An update with Ovidio. He's a changed man!! We had a family night with him on Saturday and his wife expressed how happy she is to see this man change so much. He's not arguing, he's now cleaning the house, helping in the kitchen, helps with the kids, and is becoming a family man. Now he smiles and laughs and enjoys our visits a lot more! I'm soo happy to see this man change. He still doesn't understand the importance of what he did that day when he got baptized. I'm sure he will when he's ready to enter the temple with his family, though.

We weren't able to see the Montaño family this past week. That scared me. They didn't come to church for some reason, but they are going to explain tonight. I'm sure it had to do with a bad relationship they have with a family that they had lent money to, though. I'm sure they'll make it to their baptism still. They've already come to church three times and they can still come one more time before baptism so they are more than prepared.

My birthday was odd, ha ha! I'm 21 now. The ward celebrated it after an activity Friday night and again last night! Ha ha! I've got some great videos to show when I get home.

Well, I have to go. I only get to write one more time, so make sure you have all your final questions ready. I love you all! I love this work. I'm sure going to miss it, but for now I need to take advantage of the time that I still have. These last two weeks will the best of my whole mission! :)

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Ovidio Baptism

Dear Family,

So the ankle is doing better. It still hurts if I try to twist it or if I push on some spots, but the inflammation finally went down on Thursday. I'm feeling much better now. This past week was miraculous! We had a baptism and a variety of things happening! This week we are hoping for even more! This week is filled with so many events it's ridiculous. First off, we have a zone meeting, then a leadership council, I have my final interview with President Stapley, ward council, President Stapley goes home this week, I turn 21, and hopefully another baptism on Saturday! Wow!

So the miracle of the week was Ovidio. I honestly wasn't sure if he was going to make it to his baptism. As of Saturday morning he said that he was only going to go to see his daughter come from the west mission and then he was going to walk out the door and not do it. . . But then we went and ate with his family at lunch time and he started to change a little bit. Then, he came to his baptism at night-time and he was a totally changed man! So he got there before his daughter did and we were talking to him and getting him excited for his baptism when we heard the car of the west mission president, President Carter, show up. We ran out, greeted him, his wife, and the daughter of Ovidio and her companion, then we ran back inside and blocked the doorway so that Ovidio couldn't see anything. When President Carter showed up at the door, we pulled him inside and presented him to Ovidio first and asked Ovidio if he knew who he was. He said, guessing, "My daughter's mission president?" We affirmed his guess and then asked, "do you know what that means?" He looked at us and then said very nervously, "My daughter is here?" Right then we moved out of the doorway and they saw each other for the first time in about 6 months, since she began the mission. This hard, rough Bolivian man just melted when he saw her. He cried, and cried, and cried. He was so happy to see her and he was filled with love and emotion for his daughter. He was finally ready for the baptism now. He got dressed, along with his son, and then we started the service. It was one of the best services I've even seen! When Ovidio came out of the water, he seemed to be a changed man. His son baptized him perfectly in one shot. After the service, there was a small party and a cake. Ovidio was super happy and really enjoyed it! It was so great to see this man change the way he did. I'm so happy for him and his family because now they can go to the temple in a year to be sealed for all time and eternity.

Also, the Montaño family is still going firm. They are amazing also! They are secure baptisms for the 13th of July, my last weekend as a missionary. We've been teaching them very well and focusing on their testimonies. They are growing so much. Also, we are going to cook tacos for them tonight with a recent convert named Esperanza who is just amazing! 

We have a plan to get Maia Parodi baptized this weekend. We need one more for our goal and we have the opportunity! This girl wants to be baptized, but we need to teach her more. Her dad is a less active but he is starting to come to church again and he loves us. So we're going to see how we do this. Pray for Maia and that we can have a miracle!

Well, I'm kind of out of time, but I just want to let you know that I know that this work is true. It is the Work of our heavenly Father. The broadcast last night was absolutely amazing! I love how the brethren can drop the cane on the whole world and still be so loving at the same time! ha ha! I can't wait to see the changes in the mission field after that! SO many members came up to us afterwards and asked forgiveness for not having been more helpful before and many offered to help us with our labor. I hope they keep up with this desire to work with the missionaries!

I love this work. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I love you all and I miss you. Thank you for all the prayers in my behalf and the birthday wishes. Having a companion who is 28 makes me feel really young only turning 21. :) ha ha! Till next week.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Amazing Week

Dear Family,

Alright, so here's the news on my ankle. It's still fat like a balloon and it's bruised up a little bit. I have been taking care of myself, but I haven't let it affect my work. I keep working on it no matter what. I'm not sure what exactly will happen with it, but I'm able to walk. I sometimes get really swollen and I have to put icy hot on it and rub it down and ice it. It's about the same though after a week. ha ha! But better than when it happened last week. But I wanted to thank you all for your prayers. I definitely think the Lord has blessed me to be able to work strong until the end. He knows it's my desire and I feel like he's blessing me on behalf of all the prayers. Thank you.

So this past week was amazing! We got to work a lot more and I loved it! My area is so prepared! So here's an update on Ovidio; he finally made a decision!! He's getting baptized on Saturday by his son. His daughter in the mission will come home for the baptism and then return to her area. It's going to be really special. I'm very excited! It's going to be one of the best I've had yet. He was still uncertain with baptism until yesterday at church. Elder Romero looked at him in the eyes and said, "look, it's not a game, are you getting baptized or not?" He said he wasn't sure and then my comp, who kind of gets mad easily, said, "alright fine! We won't pass by anymore." Ovidio then looked at his wife and she told him, "You're just playing games here. Why don't you be a man and make a decision?" Then he grabbed my comp before he walked away and said, "Fine I'll do it this Saturday, but I want my son to baptize me." It was awesome! For a second I thought we had lost him, but he's super certain now!

We were able to find the Parodi family this week which is a miracle in itself, because they are always super busy with dance. We had an amazing family night and we shared a great story that teaches us that we are all children of a Heavenly King and for that, we have some attributes like him and we should become more and more like Him every day through small actions. Then, to our surprise, they came to church! If we could just have more time to teach them, we would have two, maybe three more baptisms.

President Stapley came to one lesson with us on Saturday. There is a poor lady, Hermana Ramona Montenegro, who is just a lovely person. She has been a member for 36 years and she does so much for the church. She washes our cloths, she is constantly sharing the gospel, and she always offers to help with whatever. She is married to a man who is not a member because he has a severe addiction to alcohol. He's not like other alcoholics though. He doesn't want to drink, in fact, he hates drinking. His body asks for it though, so every so often, he has to go and get a sip so that his body doesn't go into an attack. So this poor sister asked President Stapley about two years ago to give him a blessing and he finally made it around this past week! (We insisted a lot. :) ) It was a really spiritual event and it was really cool watching President in action. He's a very, very calm person, but he is very in tune with the spirit. Now we're going to see what happens with this man. We're praying that he'll be able to overcome this addiction and be baptized.

The Montaño family is amazing. Only they did not come to church yesterday and we think it was because of Fathers Day. We're going by in a few hours to see them. They are just an amazing family. I'm so excited for them. They will be getting married on the 12th of July, baptized on the 13th, and confirmed on the 14th. It's been my dream since the beginning of my mission to finish like that! A whole family, married and baptized on my last week! I'm so happy or them! Keep praying for them. There's still a lot of time left and I want them to make it so bad! They're so prepared, but I know the adversary will always try to get a hold of this type of situation.

So today my companion turns 28 years old!! He's such a funny guy. I honestly don't see the age difference. He and I are so alike! I've come to realize on the mission that adults are just like teenagers still. They just have more responsibilities and that makes them look more serious.

Before I sign off, I wanted to wish my fatty daddy un Feliz Dia del Padre! and a Feliz Cumple for my sister Kiersten! I hope you're still sane, I know Trevor is kind of nuts . .. :) And Felicitaciones Justin with the internship! I'm proud of you!

Well, I better get going. I love you all and I am so grateful for your prayers, but pray more for my investigators! They need more blessings than I do.

Love,

Elder Cowan

Great Area & Ward

Dear Family,

Well, today we were playing soccer as a zone and I was super excited to play! In my last zone I played every p-day with a few professional soccer players and I was getting really good and able to compete with them. So when I got here I was sure that I was going to tear up the field! ha ha! So I was playing really good and making a ton of goals and making people dance when I had the ball, but in the very last game, I went to steal the ball from someone and another elder kicked my foot and I landed on it wrong and I fell to the ground and heard and felt a crunching sound from my right ankle. My comp came over and tried to stabilize my foot and just him touching it made me scream. After keeping it elevated for a bit, I was able to start moving it again. I'm walking, but it is pretty stiff and it bothers me quite a bit. I'll be fine, though.

Now the only other bad news is that this past week we had a lot of meetings and errands to run so I didn't get to work like I wanted to. Other than that, everything is doing just fine! I love my new area! I was absolutely amazed at how the members understand the gospel here! The members want to work! They want to see growth and they love the missionaries! My comp had an assignment to go talk in another ward in our stake. So we had to do a division and I stayed with a member here and I presented myself in sacrament meeting and then gave the lesson in quorum. The members received me amazingly! I could feel the love of the Savior radiating from them. We also had six investigators in sacrament meeting and the members came and became their friends and offered their time and advice. It was amazing to see! Now I understand why President told me that he wants me to just enjoy my time here because I deserve it. I am so glad to have this area as my last.

So first off, I have a golden family!!! :) The Montaño family is my favorite. I'm definitely a fan. They are just so willing to do the commitments and are looking forward to baptism! Johny and Nancy, the parents, need to get married. They said there was no problem and decided to go and take out the turn this morning. Tonight we're going to verify to see if they really did it. The kids, Dilan (12) and Brian (9) are studs! They know all the answers to all of our questions because they read and fill out the questions in the pamphlets. The whole family is amazing. The only weird thing is that Johny is about 40 years old and Nancy is 19. They truly love each other though and it shows in their eyes. It's just an odd age difference. But they are our number one priority.

Another great investigator is Ovidio. He's the husband of one of the sisters in our ward and he has always been a very violent and slightly nuts man. He has a history of drinking, smoking, beating, and cheating. But since the elders have been teaching him he has learned to love and how to be patient. He had dropped everything. He's now a very quiet, humble person. He still has a strong character but he tries to be loving. He now washes the dishes and tries to clean up along with his wife. Tonight he will tell us if he wants to get baptized this coming Saturday or not. The best part about this is that his daughter is serving a mission in the Buenos Aires West mission and if he is going to get baptized, she and her mission president will come to see it!!! What an experience that would be! I'm praying that he'll have a complete change of heart once he's baptized.

We have another baptism coming up. Her name is Micaela. She's the grand daughter of a lonely old widow in our ward and we went to visit her and she decided to invite Micaela to church. She absolutely loved it!!! She wants to be baptized before the month is over. The only problem is that she lives far away and only stays the weekends with her grandma. We will have to shorten our lessons but have more content to see her get baptized.

We have another part-member family, the Parodi family that has been progressing very well too. The only problem is that they are all like professional dancers and have no time to talk with us. The daughter really wants to go to church, but her parents don't wake up on Sundays. . . We're going to see if we can go pick up the whole family and get them to church next week.

We have several other families that we can get baptized too, we just need time to go find them and start teaching. I swear, I've never seen an area so prepared in my whole mission. It's almost too easy to find people here! I'm super excited for this last bit of my mission. I just wish I could have more time here in my area. I would have loved to have been here 3 transfers or even more!

Yup, so that was basically my week. I'm super excited to work this week and have more time to visit more people. I love you all! Pray for my ankle and my foot so I can finish my last month without anything impeding the work.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

New Area: Quilmes

Dear Family,

Well, the biggest surprise of all is that I got transferred!! Yes, For my last transfer, I will now be serving in Quilmes. If you search Quilmes Buenos Aires stadium in google images, you'll see what I see from my window. I live on the eleventh floor of a tower right next to the stadium and I can watch soccer games at night now! :) ha ha! My new companion has been a good friend of mine since day 1 in the mission home, Elder Romero from Mexico City, Mexico! He's 27 years old and got to Buenos Aires the same day as me. He finishes one transfer after me. He is one of the best missionaries we have in this mission and I'm with him for a reason. I felt very consoled by this change. My last area was very tough and I worked extremely hard every day I was there, for example, for the 111 days I was in El Triangulo, I committed 60 people to being baptized. That's better than one every two days, and in the end, I only was able to baptize two in that area. I'm sad to leave the people for this last stretch of my mission, but I'm very excited to be in Quilmes! 

By the way mom, "Quilmes" is pronounced, "Killmes." ha ha! And the phrases you asked me to translate are as follows:

"I am happy to meet you" - "un gusto para conocerle"

"Thank you for helping my son" - "Gracias por ayudar a mi hijo"

"You are wonderful people" - "Ustedes son gente muy buena"

"I am grateful for all that you have done" - "Estoy agradecida por todo lo que han hecho"

"Keep the faith and stay strong and you will have great blessings" - "Tengan fe y sean fuertes y tendrán muchas bendiciones"

And yes, I know that if you try to speak the language just a little bit, they feel much more special. With my last comp, I was learning Portuguese so that he would feel special and it worked really well!!

So this past week was kind of tough. I got sick, again!! I had a cold all week and on Tuesday I was sick with the stomach flu also. I decided to sleep on Tuesday and see if I could sleep it all away and I slept from 2:30 in the afternoon until 9:30 in the morning the next day!!! My companion couldn't believe that I slept that much! I guess the mission just drains you of all your energy sometimes. I think sometimes I might over-push myself as I try to work here. I really just want to give all I have to the Lord so that I bless other people. I just need to realize that I need to take care of myself.

On Wednesday we had a special meeting with Elder Cook of the twelve and Elder Gonzalez of the seventy. It was great to hear their advice. They really helped me understand some things. They decided to shake every one of our hands too! It was kind of a hectic day though. So we originally had planned to have the meeting in capital in the afternoon until they figured out that riots had broken out in capital and they picketed all of the streets and so it was impossible to get there. We made an emergency change and decided to go to the west mission instead and have the meeting with just two of the missions instead of the three and changed the time to noon! SO we were advised last minute and we had to leave running and we barely made it to the meeting. It was a miracle that so many missionaries were able to make all those changes so quickly and were all blessed to be able to hear the words of an apostle of the Lord.

Then the other few days of the week were spent doing exchanges. So I barely got to be in my area this week. I taught several people in other areas, but I was only able to teach a few of my own investigators and now they're not even my investigators anymore! But I'm very, very excited to be where I am now. The missionary I'm replacing, because he just left for home, and my new companion worked very hard and the area is very prepared. My companion told me that we have a very, very good possibility of baptizing 6 people at least this month!! :) I'm way excited. It looks like I'm going to have the opportunity to baptize an entire family too! I've never been able to do that! I'm very excited and I know the Lord has blessed me for my efforts to improve my last area and zone, which I left very well prepared too.

Well, I better be going I have to get learning my new area! I'm very excited to get to work now and visit all these new people! I will probably have lots of stories for you next week. I love you all and am grateful for your prayers. I really feel them. I know the Lord answers our prayers and also helps us with our problems. I love this work so much. I'm going to make the best of it I can this last transfer.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Much Better Week!

Dear Family,

Thankfully, this past week was a lot better for us! We were able to find new investigators and invite more people to get baptized. We're trying really hard to maximize the work in our last bit of time in the mission. One bad thing about finishing the mission is that everyone makes fun of you for it and everyone keeps constantly asking how much time is left. Thanks to my whole zone, I know that I only have 49 days left. This morning they sent me text messages telling me that. They just think it's so funny to remind me of that . . . wonderful.

Anyway, I was glad to have worked hard and seen results last week. So we started the week off well by finding Romina. She had listened to the missionaries before but had never gone to church because she used to work on Sundays. She is about eight months pregnant right now and her husband works a lot. We aren't sure if they are truly married, knowing Argentines, probably not. but she was really receptive to the discussion and we are going to pass by again this week.

Also, we found Damian. He is a young kid who is friends with some less actives that went to play soccer with us on Monday. We kind of tricked him into a discussion, though, ha ha! We were sitting at the house of the less active family and we had the mom call him and invite him over so she could give him something. . . it wasn't quite a lie since technically she wanted to give him the gospel. ha ha! But he showed up and we sat him down and began to teach him about the Restoration. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. It was pretty funny!

While I was on an exchange my comp found a whole family!! :) It was a reference from a member and they got in their home and taught the whole family together. He said they really liked it, but it's going to be a challenge since they need to get married and they believe in saints. But that's no problem. We just need to have steady visits with them and they need to come to church and they'll be able to change once the spirit touches their hearts.

We have had a lot of great teaching experiences this past week too. We saw a lot of progress in our investigator, Vicky. We had a great discussion with her when we did a question and answer. We helped her with a lot of her doubts. Another great lesson was with Cintia. We read about Christ's visit to the Americas and she understood really well. She's still not sure about baptism and wants to learn more. She wants to know why we can't worship saints, so we left her with the ten commandments to study from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible. We're going to go by again and teach about idols this week.

So one of my favorite people I've met in Argentina is Vicky, a less active. She's the one who got pregnant and decided to name the baby after me. Anyway, about ten days ago she started to have blood loss. The doctors told her that she needed to be in total rest and do absolutely nothing if she wanted to keep the baby. She was getting a little better and then it happened again. She called us to come give her a blessing on Thursday night. We were really far away, but cut our lesson short with a family and took off running to go give her a blessing. She asked me to give her the blessing and it was one of those moments in my life when I really felt the influence of the Holy Ghost giving me divine revelation. I remember very little of what I said, but I remember that I told her that someday she would feel the joy of being a mother again. I remember the impression came to my mind that that opportunity would be later on, not at this time. In that moment I knew she was going to loose the baby. Two days later we got a text message saying that she was in the hospital, had lost the baby, and had almost died from blood loss. Last night we went to see her and she told us all about what it was like. She said she remembers very little, but she knows she saw the other side for a moment. She told us that she knew the blessing kept her alive and strong so that she can still be here for other purposes. She's a great person and she decided to get completely active now since she doesn't want to be on the bad side of the veil after this life. I was really glad to hear that! 

Well, I better get going. I am excited for another week of work! I am expecting to see even more miracles!! Love you all and thank you for your letters! 

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan