One Month, Hurt Ankle, Great Week!

Dearest Family of Mine!!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT TOMORROW IS MY ONE MONTH MARK!!!???? Anyway, here´s my week. But first, an update on the ankle. Podiatrist told me he thinks it´ll heal fast on it´s own. He´s kind of worried about it. He said if it continues to not get any better, then next week I have to talk to the surgeon . . . So pray for mi tobillo!!!! (for all you Spanish newbies, that´s ankle). I have had quite the week, so buckle up. This will be good!

Friday: This day is known as temple day or P-day. The most stressful and peaceful of the week! I love it! Ja ja! Well, after all the laundry and letter jazz we had class as usual. One of the elders in our district is really struggling with anxiety with the language and everything. I'm not mentioning any names for his sake. Anyway, he was supposed to go to teach one of his progressing investigators and he and his companion didn't come back for about three hours. Elder Herrel, our district leader, had to get involved and there were a lot of lengthy interviews and things. Long story short, he's doing lots better since then. His prayers are finally being answered!! Along with ours! Yay!

Saturday: T.R.C. was awesome this morning! We got to teach this elderly man, Brother Ostler. We taught about prayers and temple work. I testified of specific prayers (Shout out to mi mama!) It was a short lesson, but it was a testimony to me that the spirit only needs a moment to get into someone's heart or into a room. After lunch we taught Pamela again. Elder Letham thought we were going to get dropped like two of the other companioships in our district; however, I had faith! I kept saying, just watch, watch Pamela try to drop us! She won't be able to deny the Spirit of the Lord when it smacks her in the face like a brick! I was trying to be like Ammon, having confidence in the Lord. Needless to say, it worked! Ja ja! Pamela is still our investigator for now. We taught her on prayer, the need of the BoM and about baptism. The Spirit helped her want to be baptized! Yeah baby! After our lesson, Elder Letham asked me what in the world I had said in there. . . I honestly couldn't remember. He showed me a list of words I used in my lesson part and I couldn't tell you what they were! All I said was that was the Spirit taking over the lesson to help someone else (even our teacher acting as an investigator).

Sunday: This was an amazing day. I won't forget this one! In priesthood and sacrament meeting, we had two amazing lessons. One by Brother MacDonald and the other by our District President (equivalent of our stake president). The second was so strong. He shared a story about an elder in Guatemala.This elder was a convert, kicked out of his home, was promised by his parents they would never talk to him ever again, and he was extremely ill. During the last few weeks of his mission he was promised to have another baptism, but he didn't. Long story short, he ended up going home to baptize his mom and all his siblings. He died six weeks after his mission. The Lord's promise that he would have another baptism before his mission was over came true--little did he know that the Lord was talking about his mission on earth. It was a really touching story. Later, we went to the fireside and we were privileged to hear from Elder Allen. He taught us on obedience and not doing anything dumb on our missions like making bombs . . . That was one of his stories he shared. Now, the most memorable thing about Sunday was our farewell testimony meeting to one of our districts going to Mexico City. We sang "Para Siempre Dios Este Con Voz" Or "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." I started tearing up in the song as usual as we get quieter each verse until it's a whisper. But the testimonies of these elders touched my heart way too much. I was sobbing. It was a mix of the Spirit and my emotions of missing these elders. They're going to be amazing missionaries! I seriously cried so long. I didn't end up getting to sleep that night until about one in the morning. Don't worry, I'm trying my best to be obedient. Someday I'll explain, just not now.

Monday: We got to teach a recently returned missionary and new teacher at the MTC from Spain. We taught him like a TRC and it was great! He was amazed at my Spanish! He said with some practice in the field, I'll be talking just as fast as the natives in no time! I love reassurances of the gift of tongues! It's amazing! Later, we learned that Hermana Roerig is not going to be our teacher anymore. She has to go home to Oregon to say bye to her Grandpa. So, we'll be getting a new teacher. And Hermana Tartaglia isn't going to be back from Peru until Friday. So we have zero teachers as of tomorrow! What is up with all these darn goodbye's!?

Tuesday: We said goodbye to Hermana Roerig today. We sang her the song we sing to all our missionaries leaving from the zone. It was really touching. I'm going to miss her! She reminds me of an older version of Bri. She is so fun!ol Kira Roerig! Trevor, this is serious wife material we're talking about. She'll be back soon. Dead serious you would click with her I think! She's 24 though . .  oh well! Moving on! Today we met with the Argentine Consolate. He was really funny and I could understand his Spanish! When we asked about Argentina's relationship with other South American countries he mentioned all of them except Brazil. They sure do hate that country through soccer! Oh and during gym time I busted my ankle. I play soccer to prep for Argentina every so often, duh! Ja ja! Our fireside was by Elder Zirca. He is from Buenos Aires and he talked on a lot of great things! But I'm over time, so I have to move on now.

Wednesday: We had a crazy sub today. Hermano Jimenez. He was like hardcore missionary and maybe a little too strong willed. . . I didn't quite agree with everything he said. . . Whatever, we all teach differently. The rest of the day was kind of average. I saw the trainers a few times for my ankle. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow.

Thursday: Another long day at the doctors. I missed a lot of class and study time today with the doctors. I got to leave the MTC to get some x-rays done.

Friday: Well, this is today. So, I went to the specialist guy and they gave me a week to try to heal my ankle and if not then I have to talk with a surgeon to see what they can do to help my ankle. Oh what fun! trials+faith=blessings! well, I also missed the temple this week because of that. Anyway, I got to go. Talk to you next week!

P.S. Thanks for the package and it was nice to hear your voice mom!

Firesides, Devotionals and a Musical Number

Dear Family,

Well, first off, please don't email me a lot of long letters. I am a slow typer and I can't even get on to print some of the letters and I waste my time reading them. Please use Dear Elder!!!:) Love you! Anyway, this letter will be short since I have seventeen minutes to write this one. I hope you got the one I mailed from last week. I couldn't use myldsmail last week cause it was down everywhere we went til late that night. So, I just mailed it. And Justin, I just put your letter in the mail box. Sorry, you have to wait a few days longer to hear from me. :(

So, here's what happened this week:

Friday I got a dear elder from Carly and I was so happy to hear from her; however, dear elder uses as much space as possible to preserve paper, so Dad's was also attached. It was a big of a downer to hear about J. But definitely a happy thing after I thought about it! He's doing the right thing and that is better than anything! Good job J. I admire your courage and I love you.

Saturday I fasted for Justin and Dad in specific. I know how tough things will be for both of them. Also, I spent some of my personal study time practicing for the musical number I had in sacrament meeting. Elder Letham played violin and I sang, "Come Thou Fount." It was fun learning that with him! It brought us a lot closer together! Also, we had our first TRC, Teaching Resource Center. We go to teach two RM's and help their faith grow even more! It was awesome to get some advice from them because they were still "fresh" off the mission.

Sunday was great! We did the musical number and people loved it! President Nally's wife is going to make us try out for a fireside or devotional musical number. She said if we do it, we'll have it. Ha ha! That's so scary! Trevor said he's sneak in if I was to do that! I think we are Crazzzzzzyyyyy!!!!!! Also, our fireside tonight was by Richard I. Heaton. He taught on missionary work success and the different types of success you can have and the outlook we need to have. It was awesome!!! I love firesides and devotionals!

Monday was kind of just a normal day. The highlight was getting to talk to Elder Reid Hiatt before he left for the DR MTC this week. During our talk it kind of shocked us how we're actually growing up! I am so glad he's out on his mission though. I love that Kid! oops Elder. :)

Tuesday was by far the funniest day in the MTC!!! Elder Letham fell asleep with his mouth open. We started making little paper balls and trying to make them into his mouth. He woke up with a million paper balls all around and on him! And not once in that fifteen to twenty minutes did we make a single shot. We got a lot of rims though! But is was so funny! I am the only person who has not fallen asleep at the MTC in our district yet. The devotional tonight was by Elder David F. Evans. He taught on what we know about our Heavenly Father. It was perfect! I wished Justin could have been there for that talk. I used a bit of it in my letter to him.

Wednesday was kind of boring. ha ha! Nothing special happened. I read A LOT.

Thursday was a disappointment. I tried to break the mile record here . . .I got like 5:08. Ha ha! I was 20 seconds slow!!!!

Well, that's all I have time for today. I am out of time. Sorry for all the typos. This keyboard has nothing on it. It is just a bunch of black buttons. Well, the computer just notified me that I'm out of time. So, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you family!

PS For a package, seriously, any type of food is welcomed. Or maybe some new pens? I'm out of ink and maybe one more work out shirt that isn't white so I can wear the white shorts I brought. Thanks! Love ya!!!

Knowing Heavenly Father's Love

Dear Family,

Well, my ldsmail wasn’t working during my usual writing time, so I am hand writing this letter for the week. (Sorry Mom, you’ll have to type this one up). Well, anyway I’ll write this letter more in two halves, rather than a day-by-day review. So my week went as follows:

First Half: My teacher (who I thought to be Isabel Segura) is Hermana Tartaglia. She is an amazing teacher! I love her so much! She knows exactly how to keep us in line and working hard! Not all of our district is rowdy. Some of us actually really work hard all of the time.

Fast Sunday was a different experience here. I actually 100% enjoyed it. We got extra study time during our usual meal times and we also had mission conference! President Brow spoke on the Holy Ghost and it was AMAZING! I loved it so much!

We got a new investigator—Pamela. Hermana Roerig is acting to be her. She is a TOUGH COOKIE! She wouldn’t be very accepting to our teachings at all. However, when I recited the first vision, you could see her lighten up. The spirit finally took over the lesson at that point. Too bad it was in the last five minutes…Anyway, she agreed to see us again sometime soon. So we have a return appointment! Yeah! J I haven’t been able to teach her at all this week since the first lesson, though.

Anyway, I’ve been feeling sick lately, and I’m just about feeling better. Just some nose and cough type deal. Glad to be able to return 100% to the work healthy.

Second Half: Our devotional speaker was Elder Samuelson. He spoke very briefly on being and “example of the believers.” In fact, I think his talk was so short that the closing prayer might have been longer! This sister prayed for over five minutes!!! Every time she sounded like she was going to close, she’d start praying about something else. The whole MTC population was laughing during the prayer!

On another note, our district had a meeting after the devotional with Brother Boewan (counselor in our branch). He didn’t say much, but the Spirit did. Each missionary took his turn describing his favorite part of the devotional and a big of his own feelings. I was last to go. When I stood up to speak, I felt impressed to do something completely different than I intended. I grabbed my triple and opened the D&C to give a 4-5 scripture chain about not being afraid. I testified to the elders in that room that it’s the Lord’s work. He will provide a way for us like he did to Nephi. After I was done speaking, I looked around the room and could see the Spirit among their countenances. I told them that the feeling in the room right then and there was the Holy Ghost. It was a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to help others feel that in Argentina!

Hermana Tartaglia went to visit her mission in Peru so we will be having a lot of subs the next two weeks. So Far we’ve had Hermana Arcos (from Buenos Aires), Hermano Goodman, and Hermano Young. They are all amazing at what they do. I got to teach Hermana Arcos once and now Hermano Goodman is my new official investigator. His name is Braulio so I get to teach two investigators for a long period of time now! Lovely! I’m so excited! Teaching is my favorite part of the MTC. Hermana Arcos told us of an interesting promise. If you read the Book of Mormon in another language out loud and look up every word you don’t know along the way, you will know the language by the end. That’s how she learned English! I started right away. I’m so “thirsty” to read more in Spanish!

           

Thursday night is one of the most memorable moments of my life. I got to know our Heavenly Father on a more personal level. We had three questions to pray about individually, one-at-a-time. They were:

1.  How does God feel about Jesus Christ?

2.  How does God feel about your investigators in Argentina?

3.  How does God feel about you and your service as a missionary?

The latter two were great experiences, but I want to focus on the first. I knelt down and simply asked the Father how he felt towards Jesus Christ. Immediately, I felt a type of weight put on my heart. I even felt it hard to hold myself up. Heavenly Father told me how he feels terrible for what He put Him through, yet it was necessary. I then thought of how it feels to willingly sacrifice someone I love so much. Kevin came to mind. If I had to give Kevin to suffer the most painful and difficult thing ever known, I could never forgive myself. I love him so much that I don’t think I could ever consider that. That made me think of how much the Lord loves us. He gave His only Begotten Son, the person He loves most of all, for me, for us all. How undeserving I am of that type of love. For what I have and will yet do that the Savior has felt and experienced makes me feel undeserving. I cannot comprehend the love the Savior and our Heavenly Father have for me. It is absolutely amazing.

I shared this with my testimony and two scriptures (Isaiah 53:3-5 and Alma 7:11-13) with our district in an unexpected testimony meeting. The Spirit was so strong I could hardly look at each of those elders in the eye. When I finally had the strength to look up and around, I saw each and every person in that room with tears streaming down their faces. We could hardly even close that meeting/class. We grew a lot from that amazing lesson and activity. My testimony was strengthened so much. I can’t even describe how amazing that was.

I love it here in the MTC. I can’t wait to get out into the field in Argentina. It’ll be the greatest adventure I will have yet to take. I love this work with all my heart. I love my family. I love my Savior and Heavenly Father. I hope all is well back home! And Justin, I’ll be writing you personally soon. Give me some time, bud. Be strong!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Week 2 at MTC

Dear Cowan Family,

 

So the second week was awesome! There's so much to tell and I'm not sure if half an hour is long enough to tell you all about it! I'll do my best though. Oh and ps, I heard they're taking the time limits off in the near future. :) Anyway, I'm just going to write day by day starting with last Saturday, the 30th. Here it goes:

 

Saturday: We taught Isabel again and she's really progressing well! She said she would go to church with our teacher, Hermana Roerig on Sunday. I'm really beginning to love her as an investigator, a seeker of the divine truth of the gospel. I feel the Spirit so strong every time we teach. It's the highlight of my day! I always look forward to using Spanish and teaching her. Later that night, I learned something. . . TIE RAIDS!!! Ha ha! I introduced my tie collection to the rest of the zone and floor and HOLY COW! They. Want. My. Ties. BAD! They were all offering to trade or even buy my ties. I knew I had an alright collection but when you have 20 plus elders in your room all asking for them, I kind of realized they were pretty sweet! I made one trade that wasn't all that great cause I was a bit hustled into it but then I made one trade that I got two great ties for just one of my ok ones! I love my ties. You can always send me them. :) Preferably skinnier/modern fit and brighter colors.

 

Sunday: We had tons of study time so I got to a lot of review on Spanish and prep for some lessons. Also, I have to write a sacrament talk every week in Spanish so I wrote a talk on the Atonement. Today and yesterday I learned a lot about my companion. I'm sending a separate letter about that. I want some of Dad's advice. Later, after the fireside, we watched the Joesph Smith movie. Justin was there and I was almost going to sit by him, but then I had to sit with my district. During the movie I was reminded a lot of friends and most importantly, Kevin. When Joesph is leaving Emma to go to Carthage, you can see the pain in Emma's face as he leaves willingly. That was the hardest part of leaving on my mission. I could distinctly remember Kevin's face at the airport and R.J. tearing up on our couch in the loft. I worry about the people I left back home. Mostly Kevin. He's on my mind most of the time when I have time to think. Which is like ten minutes at the end of the day . . . Ha ha! I just love them all.

 

Monday: During gym I found some elders who are willing to run everyday! Elder Carrol and Elder Tenny. Elder Carrol was one of DV's varsity and graduated 2010. I love him! Ha ha! Also today, Aubree's grandparents reported and are going to Hawaii . . . what a mission. More like vacation!! Ha ha! They brought pictures and letters from Aubree. :) When we taught Isabel tonight, she committed to be BAPTIZED!!! Only if she could feel the Spirit again but that's a duh . . . One week in and we have a baptism date! District 22-B rocks. End. Of. Story! But we can't take credit for the Spirit working through us. :) Oh and to celebrate, my neighbor, Elder Metcalf, got an interesting package tonight. Ice-cream!!!! His mom custom made a package to have 12 Ben and Jerry's! I was in heaven!

 

Tuesday: Today flew by! We had our first devotional and the speaker was Gerald N. Lund!! It was so good. He taught about how the witness doesn't come till AFTER the trial or better, the exercising of our faith. Great Devo! Later that night we sang to two elders leaving as phase trainers to the Peru MTC. I didn't even know them but the lyrics of "God BE With Us Till We Meet Again" just hit me so hard and I started to tear up from the Spirit's presence.

 

Wednesday: We taught Isabel on the Atonement and the Spirit was so thick I could have used a gas mask, I swear. Great lesson! Best yet! Back at the residence hall we had an extra half our due to our gym schedule. So, Elder Taylor went and talked on the far side of the floor and we bonded so much. I really am going to miss him when he leaves in a few weeks. He's probably my closest friend here at the MTC. We have a lot of similarities and we are always laughing!

 

Thursday: Well today was hard. Hermana Roerig and everyone else has been lying to us. Isabel Segura is not a real investigator. She's our other teacher . . . I wasn't mad from it, but I felt just heart broken. I had grown to love her as our investigator so much and I loved watching her progress! It's hard to know it wasn't real. I wonder if this is what it's like when an investigator drops you. I can see why it's so hard to come home from your mission now. I just want to help people so much!!

 

Friday (today): I have one more minute! AHHH! Anyway, we got to go to the temple today. We got breakfast there and it was the best food we've had yet! Lovely! :) MTC food is alright and gives everyone super gas. It's terrible!

 

Well, I love you all! Mom, I'm glad you had a great birthday! Till next week! HastaKLuego!