Robbed twice and rocks thrown at us, but the work goes on!

Dear Family,

I've got worms and robbers!!!! Ja ja! Not literally . . . The worms are what we call the little girls here who fall in love with the elders. Snakes are the teenagers, and dragons are them crazy wicked grandmas that want your bod. Ja ja! But anyway, I have a lot of the primary in love with me. I have them tell me they love me and try to give me kisses and hold my hands. I feel like Justin in our ward almost! Ja ja! Something interesting about this week in church is that I had to speak for a few minutes! The bishop called me up to introduce myself and talk about my family and mission. It was a little nerve wracking, but Elder Vergara said I made sense with my Spanish, though, and it was good.

So, time for the scary news of the week. Ja ja! So on Wednesday, we did a comp exchange for 24 hours. Elder Vergara left to another area and I was supposed to know my way around the area after a few weeks! That's unheard of! And to make it worse, Elder Hoeft, my exchange comp, only has one more transfer than me and in reality, his Spanish is worse than mine. . . SO . . . Two greenies with a brand new area and a short background of the language. Awesome! Anyway, we uh . . . got robbed. TWICE!!! It doesn't help that Elder Hoeft is about 6' 6" and has flaming red hair. He's the Red Beacon, as we all call him. Anyway, the first time four kids came up to us outside the villa. I knew right away they were up to no good, but there was nothing we could have done. I had the pistol drawn on me, one guy checking my pockets, the other grabbing my backpack. Elder Hoeft just had one guy grab his backpack. I ALMOST grabbed the gun and fought back. It was a huge hit to my pride as a human being. I lost all my teaching stuff, my dictionary, all my photos of family and friends. There was more, but still, it's all gone. The second robbery was later that night about three hours later and this guy stopped us with a gun inside his jacket pocket and told us to give him all our money. I told his someone beat him to it and showed him my empty pockets and started to walk away, just ignoring him. Elder Hoeft gave him 65 Argentine cents. (Less than a quarter). So, that one was REALLY successful! Ja ja! Anyway, throughout all of this, I kept my little money bag, my ctr ring from the mtc, and Elder Hoeft's really nice watch wasn't stolen. Weird. . . But both of those robberies didn't benefit them very much. I was only upset to lose my pictures, our cell phone, and my little reminders of my friends (bracelets from Aubree and Carly and the little pocket knife from RJ's dad). So, we now have the mission record for most times robbed in one day. Ja ja! I swear if it happens again, I'm just going to keep walking and ignore them. They aren't very forceful when they try to rob you. They're more scared than anything.


So, enough of all the non relevant stuff. With the missionary work this week, we had some successes and failures. All our baptismal dates for the 5th fell through because nobody came to church. We had one kid (14 years) come to church with us. His name is Alan. We met him outside a store with his cousin who is a return missionary. We went to his house the next day and taught him and his mom the Restoration. They loved it! When Alan went to church he enjoyed it a lot! Especially the girls. Ja ja! And then his mom wants to come next week. But she needs to get married so we can baptize her. That's a missionary's worst nightmare. But they are looking really good!

Mirta, who we taught last week, was really excited to see us again! She fed us home made alfajores (oh so yummy. :)) and we taught her the importance of reading, praying and going to church. She just accepts everything and loves the lessons. She told ALL her friends about us and we keep getting tons of references from her. We might be having a class of people to teach if her friends come to the next lesson! I would love that! Anyway, she's progressing really well!

Juan and Selva are such capos! They are the best! She continues to read a ton and always bears testimony to us. She is working on her husband to get him to do the same things she is. I can see them as future bishop and Relief Society president material. They just have to come to church!

Alejandro and José are doing pretty good too. José has so many doubts and it was hard teaching them without Elder Vergara, but it was a success! The sad part is that we had Hermano Aleveranga come with us to the lesson and he was supposed to pick him up for church yesterday, but he never went cause they didn't settle all the details. And José was waiting for him . . . The members are sometimes really worthless here. They love to tell us how to teach, but never want to help with their own friends coming to church. That's just another part of why it's frustrating in this country. It's just so dang lazy!! Nobody is hard working here besides the missionaries! Ja ja!

With Rosa, Yesica,  y Romina, they were all there and I taught them about the importance of reading, praying, and going to church. They said they were going to go to the chapel this Sunday but they never showed. It broke my heart. But they have had some family crises with a really sick niece so maybe something happened again. But I hope that we can find them again so we can teach them. They are so accepting of the gospel! I want to see them baptized so badly!

Well, it is hard to watch so many baptismal dates fall through. But, I think we'll be having one this week. Gaston, the ten or eleven year old, should be getting baptized and then maybe the family Medina! They just have to quit smoking and unfortunately we didn't pass by their house this week when they were home so we never found out if they got married on Friday or if they stopped smoking. Bummer! We actually got robbed the first time right after trying to visit them. But anyway, we are working as hard as we are allowed. Elder Vergara got sick this week and we couldn't work very much on Thursday and then Friday we didn't even leave the pench. I read a whole book from the missionary reference library and studied a lot. We slept a lot trying to get Elder Vergara back to health. It's a trying of my patience because I'm doing as much as possible for him to get better and it's a sacrifice on my part. For example, the air conditioner. He is always cold while sick, so i can't turn it on and it is so hot at night! I sleep on top of my sleeping bag and am sweating! But soon enough we'll start turning it on and I hope he'll recover soon.

Oh, one more funny little story from this week. Elder Hoeft and I got stoned! So in one day we were robbed twice, got big stones the size of apples thrown at us, and we still kept working! Eat that Satanás! Ja ja! We wouldn't let anything stop us from the work. Elder Hoeft was really bummed down from the day. He's kind of quiet and shy, so the robberies were a big blow to him. So, I just tried all I could to keep a good attitude and keep talking to as many people as possible to work hard.

Thanks for all the updates from this past week! I love hearing from my family and friends! It helps a lot. Mom, the four pound thing is a recommendation and an estimate weight. It doesn't HAVE to be that heavy or anything. Just listen to the post men and they'll help you out. Oh and before I forget, Kevin, please email me my core work out sheet! I need a set work out so I won't keep gaining weight. I gained ten pounds this past month!!! Yikes! I think I lost five of that in the past few days though by working out again. I just wish I could go running.

So I am three months old on Thursday!!! Can you believe that 1/8 of my mission is already done?! Time really has been flying by when I think about it. I feel like I was just at the airport watching my family cry as I left into the security line. I think you're all a little more Blake-sick than I am home-sick! Ja ja! JK! I love you all and am so glad to be serving a mission. I would love to hear from Trevor and Justin. Especially Justin. You haven't written me in almost two months you booger! Tell me about this Shauna Fuller chika! Ask her if she's related to a senior in high school, Hannah Fuller and her brother Monroe Fuller who is serving a mission right now.

Well, time to go! The work is calling my name and I am eager to go. Thanks for everything! Sorry this letter is all over the place, but that's how my mind has been lately. I'll write you next week! Love and miss you all! Chow, Chow!!

Avellaneda Zone is Amazing!

Wow! Well, I have had quite an interesting week and I know you all did too! Cruises, Six Flags, D-backs games. . . ¡Fwah! ¡Buenisimo! Sin embargo, first I just want to try and fasten all the loose bolts. Uh with packages . . . I have no idea! I've been seeing elders get all shapes and sizes. I've seen flat rate, brown, envelopes, and just plain old letters! So, I have no idea! . . . I think I did a good job answering that one. Then if I wanted a package, probably just easy mac, raman, peanut butter. Those types of easy to fix meals don't exist here. You have to buy a chicken, kill and cut him up if you want a meal! Ja ja! Jk, not quite. It's just everyone uses really fresh things here. Some of the food is really sketchy looking, but tastes pretty good! I think I ate a chicken heart last week . . . I can't recognize what part it comes from. It's just that I could recognize the aorta valve and fatty vein . . . Yummy. ¡Que rico! Sending one picture at a time is completely perfect with me! The computers here are just slow and they take a while to load.

And yes, I know Hilary Owen! She's a sweet heart! I never was too close with her, but I agree, she is definitely a great catch for any man! Ja ja! Hope she doesn't read this and take that in a weird way. Ja ja! Oh well! I love being an awkward missionary.

Well, I don't think I'm going to have time to write Kevy this week, but how in the world did Mango get out?! That's ridiculous! Ja ja! I can't believe she was in the drawer. Carly, thanks for freaking out and making the situation even scarier for Kevy. PS, Car, I have been asked out quite a few times here. I even have a seven year old tell me she loves me. In English too! That's how much she loves me! Good thing we pass by her house everyday . . . woo . . . She's always holding onto me and trying to hold my hand and when I'm sitting in a chair, she'll climbs up behind me and kisses my back. Yeah, her name is Lady. She has a freckle right at the tip of her nose! Ja ja! I'll figure out how to get a picture someday. I think I'll buy a port device for the computadora and put my memory card in it! Anyway, miss you Car and Kevy! Aubree, Camille, Bri, and Jacey, thanks for your letters! I just barely got them and they were dated back in Sept 29th or so! Ja ja! I'll try to respond. Not sure how to mail here.

Well, enough of all that! My week was up and down. This Sunday was Mother's Day in Argentina. No Mom, I didn't get the opportunity to call. But, everyone was either gone, throwing a party, or too busy to listen to us this week. El Dia de La Mamá is a lot more of a big deal down her than in the US. However, we found a lot of new investigators and took out more baptismal dates! We just can't find anyone for second visits! ja ja! The commitment level here is about . . . none. Jaja! It's ok; It just makes us be very persistent! PMG says to visit fechas every day, but we can only find them once a week here. So lots of fechas fall through and sometimes they get baptized super fast! Anyway, I don't have my journal with me so I won't be able to write a lot about each person.

I want to write about Milta, though. We taught this lady last night and it was the prime example of how the Spirit takes control of a lesson and it ceases to be our lesson, but becomes His. Milta was a reference from Yanina. We went by her house but couldn't figure out where the address was (happens a lot, the addresses are used by the same houses at times, they skip by huge bunches of numbers and are all out of order.) So, we asked these two ladies outside if they knew a Milta. And lo and behold, one of them was Milta!! Yay! She let us in because we told her about Yanina and she thinks she's a great person. So, the lesson started very awkwardly. She was a little skeptic of us, didn't quite understand everything, and then she would look at us with a blank stare after we asked a question. Eventually, she started taking a lot more interest in the lesson and was very questioning. She was such a skeptic! She didn't want t believe anything it seemed! She doubted the structure of the church, the modern prophet, Thomas S. Monson and the church. But when we kept answering her questions with exactness and testimonies, she changed. She was softened. She started to accept everything . She wanted to know all about the church meetings and how to get the chapel and everything. Finally, after she had accepted all our challenges and we answered all her questions, we asked her to say the closing prayer. She decided to. During the prayer, the impression came to my mind to say my own prayer in my heart to have her start crying. I have no idea why! But, I quickly asked the Lord in my mind and heart to let this lady, Milta, feel the Spirit in her heart and touch her to start crying. Right as she said amen, she began to cry. She sat there with tears and her hands in her face to catch them. We stayed quiet for what seemed about ten minutes. Eventually she began to control her tears. We told here all we want to do is help her and that if there is any concern or need, we'll do all we can to meet that. She wouldn't tell us why she was crying, but said in time she would. We went outside with her to find her son Facu. She went to him, and they walked back to us. The first thing Facu (six years old) said to me was, "¡Mi mamá me dijo que ustedes son buena gente!" (My mom told me that you (plural) are very good people!) Then, Milta asked us if we would be returning again soon. Of course! Ja ja! Anyway, she is scheduled to be baptized on the 29th of Nov. and she felt the Spirit. I know that. The greatest part of being a missionary is that you have front row seats to watch the miracles of the Lord and watch people change their lives. There is nothing sweeter than to witness that change of heart and the desire to return to our Heavenly Father. I know He loves us so much! If we could see the Plan of Salvation from His eyes, then we would do everything in our power to bring His children, our brothers and sisters, back to His presence. We, as missionaries and members, need to imagine everyone we see dressed in white, preparing to enter the temple and the presence of our Father. It changes your outlook of life. When you can do this, everything else doesn't matter. Your worries and concerns are worth less, far less, than the salvation of your brothers and sisters.

Well, I'll bring this back to my week now. Avellaneda, my zone, has twice the number of baptism dates and baptisms than any other zone right now! I have the most amazing zone leaders and they are pushing to make a miracle happen. The mission goal for baptisms this year is to have 120. My zone believes and wants to have 80 by the end of the year. We're on track right now. We have to take three baptismal dates every week and our zone needs to baptize forty each month. We have 66 baptismal fechas right now. We can do it! Miracles happen when you put your faith in the Lord! Anyway, President Stapley is REALLY happy with our zone. He had us come to the mission home today for a pday party! Free food and everything! I love Argentine steak. Then, we got to play fútbol all we wanted! Yeah! Ja ja! I love it! Right before we left, President told us how proud he is of us, but we still aren't doing enough! He wants to double everything this next month! He says if we do this, the other zones will start picking up the slack and we'll be baptizing a ton! I love President Stapley! He's so funny. Well, right before I left, Sister Stapley knew I liked avocados, so she pointed out that this GIANT tree had avocados growing on it and if I could hit one with a ball, I could have one. I threw a basketball up about 40 feet and got me the fattest avocado of my life!!! It's bigger than my hand! Ok, on the key board, if you put the avocado on it, it'll measure from "A" to the start of the "enter" button! Fwah! Gotta love it. In two days it'll be perfect ripeness and I'm going to be eating some dang good avocado!

Well, some weird things that happened this week was that I discovered breast feeding is totally socially acceptable here. Anywhere. . . I saw a lady on the bus, ladies in the front yards of their houses, and even in the middle of a lesson!!! This lady, Celeste, wow, we were teaching her and all of the sudden, as I was telling the Restoration story of J.S., she just whipped out one of the girls and started giving her baby boy a little snack! It took ALL concentration to keep talking and not just freak out! Weirdest experience of my life! Ja ja! Oh my heart!

Well, I've spent long enough on the computer, gotta go! Thanks for all the letters/emails! I look forward to them so much. P.S. I got a little teary eyed reading my parents letters this week. Thank you so much. PS, in the field there is a lot more time for writing. Don't feel bad for long emails. I have plenty of time. Well, I love you so much! Thanks for all you do, including running a 5k for me! That touched me a lot, believe it or not. Miss you all!

Till next week,
Elder Blake William Cowan
(or how the Argentine's try o spell it, "Bleík Gulliermo Cowán")

PS, Kevy, the language isn't Spanish. It's Castillano! They believe that it is a different language her because it's so distinct. They use different word and sounds. ja ja! Such a prideful country . . .

Eleven Baptismal Dates Accepted!

Dear Family,

Well, first off, the computer doesn't recognize my camera program or something? So, I can't send pictures. . . Bummer! I wish I could send you pictures of the week but it won't let me. Sorry! Maybe I can figure something out next p day. Anyway, I don't go to any giant grocery store. We use the small hole in the wall type places. PS, the prices here are so cheap! I bought a ton of groceries and it only amounted to 20 US dollars!  Hopefully I don't get fat . . .especially since I never work out. Elder Vergara can't really.



Anyway, here's my week! So, on Tuesday I had an interesting experience. We had this lesson with this lady named Carolina and right behind her she had the TV on. The shows here are a lot less censored than in the US . . . We'll just say that. Ja ja! At one point she had to go into the other room to go help her kid start a movie and when she was gone Elder Vergara turned off the TV! She didn't even notice. Anyway, this lady talks SO much!! The lesson, which normally takes us about forty minutes to do, took over two hours!!! She just sits and tells us everything about her life! She loved everything but we didn't invite her to be baptized because she is living with another man other than the man she's married to. They had separated a few years ago but never divorced. So, she has to figure out all of that before we can baptize her. Speaking of baptismal invitations . . . Guess how many baptismal dates were accepted this week with just Elder Vergara and me. . . ELEVEN!!!!! Ja ja!! This week was awesome! We now have somewhere around seventeen baptismal dates.

So, Maira, a daughter of a less active sister (whom we reactivated this week), was the start of our fechas this week! She's such a capa! (a stud, but ladylike) ja ja! She had a lot of doubts but eventually accepted everything and she was going to come to church, bring friends, and she wanted us to return again in two days! But. . .Satan had a hand in this this week. For some reason, we got a message through a chain of people that Maira doesn't want to continue with the lessons and doesn't like the Book of Mormon. SO, we decided to call her because we didn't understand since she was so excited the other day. Anyway, she refuses to talk to us but her mother said she is kind of like this. I don't know what we can do to help her. Pray for Maira to have a softened heart!

The second fecha was with Hna. Romoa's grandson, ALexis, yeah it's a girl name in the US but here it's for guys. So, the first thing he said was basically, I want to get baptized! Ha ha! We asked him why he thinks it's important to be baptized and he said because he knows he has to do it. I love this kid! He's only like ten years old! Anyway, he is buddies with Gaston and Matin and they can hopefully all be baptized together. During our lesson, we watched the Restoration and he really liked it.

The third and fourth fechas were with Hilda and Romina. Hilda is this spunky old lady. I love her! She reminds me of an older Abbey Tucker. Ja ja! She has that style and swag. Anyway, Romina is dating her son and the first thing we said was that we wanted to pass by Hilda to see how she was doing and then explained to Romina that we share a message about Jesus Christ and his prophets with everyone. She responded by saying, why don't you ever pass by my house!? Well . . .uh . . . Yeah, we were so surprised by this. As missionaries, always experiencing people denying us, it catches you off guard when they want the lessons! Ja ja! Anyway, They both accepted the baptismal invite and we are going to teach the family of Romina later in the week.

The fifth fecha was with Yanina. She reminds me of Emily Blair (Smith). She's super excited and willing to do anything basically! She had wanted to learn about every religion before she makes a decision, but then we told her that's not how she'll learn to know. We taught her that she needs to pray and ask her Heavenly Father because he's the only one who can answer to her what church to join. She has to quit smoking though. She got close once with previous missionaries, but she wants to stop. We grabbed her cigarettes, had her son rip them up, and then we put the packet under her bed so she has to kneel down to get them if she ever has a temptation. That way, she's all ready to pray and ask for help!  Ja ja! I love that!

The sixth and seventh fechas were miracles! So, it started to POUR!!! The rain was crazy and we had no umbrellas and coats. We were running to a less active members house when I decided to stop under a tree. There was this couple on the porch there and they felt bad for us an invited us in. They were really nice! They gave us hot chocolate, cookies and let us teach them! The man, Juan, is a little skeptical of the message, but accepted to be baptized when he comes to know for himself that this is true. His wife, Selba, really enjoyed it! She'll be baptized with no problem. Juan has an issue with prayer. He feels that faith is to have a knowledge, or proof. He says we have to pray with faith. It is kind of confusing to explain. He basically doesn't want to pray unless it's a dire circumstance where you have to totally depend on the lord. I can't wait to teach them again!

The eighth and ninth fechas were with Romina's family. Rosa and Jessica accepted everything we taught! They had little girls coming in and out of the lesson the whole time, but we're going to extend two more fechas to two of them that are old enough the next time. They're all golden in this family!" Hopefully everything follows through!

Ten and eleven were on Sunday with Allejandro and Juan Jose. They were a reference from a man in the ward. Allejandro is pretty open to the idea of the gospel and is willing to pray and read. Jose is a little harder. He has investigated many churches and has a lot of knowledge of religious things. He has always wanted to have someone answer his one question. Why should I believe in your church? We told him to not take our word but ask God and pray about it like Joseph Smith did. That's the only way he can know for himself. But they both accepted to be baptized if they know it is right.

All I know is that the 22nd, 29th, and 5th will be busy days if all these fechas follow through! We have to get them to come to church! They're always forgetting that. Nine in the morning is too early for them . . .blah. Anyway, this week was interesting. The storm made all our dirt roads into giant mud slides! So much for trying to keep my shoes and even my pants clean! There is no way to avoid it. We just truck right through it all and now our shoes are always covered in mud! My pants have mud all over them too. I took a picture but, I can't figure out how to make this computer work. Another interesting thing is that the drunk people never cease to love me! ja ja! Yesterday, this guy grabbed my arm and kissed my cheek a few times. He called me Polaco! Which means Swedish guy basically! It's what they call any blonde, blue eyed, white guy. Since my hair isn't either dark brown or black, I guess I qualify! It's always so funny to meet people who actually love me here! They're always so excited to see a white guy!

Well, the only other thing I have to tell you is that we tied for MVP comp. of the mission this week!!! That's what happens when you have the hand of the Lord in your life. The only other campanionship that had eleven fechas and as many new investigators as us were our own zone leaders. They're great! Our zone goal is to have 14 baptisms this month, but they said, why not go for thirty! So, they said if our zone could invite 80 people to be baptized in one month, we'll average above thirty! Anyway, President is very happy with us. We have interviews this Friday coming up. I'm excited! But yeah, we're working our hardest out here! The language is getting easier and easier every day. It's hard for me to tell stories still, but I managed to tell this one family I'm from Columbia and they believed me! ja ja! And I joked with some people that I'm the favorite child in our family.  Ja ja! Who am I kidding, you all know I am!!! JK!!!! I'm not. But thanks for all you do! I miss you all and love you even more! But the people are calling and I need to go baptize them! Chow! Chow!

First Letter from Argentina

Dear Family!

Wow this week has been quit the experience! Mother, just so you know, I haven't been mugged/robbed yet! ha ha! I am just having so much fun each day experiencing the culture here! It reminds me a lot of Mexico when I would go into town with RJ. So first off, I get letters every three weeks and they actually usually do come. So please encourage everyone to still write me! I have like an hour to write my emails and it's about four in the afternoon here so hopefully it's a good time in the day for you there. I think it's a five hour difference but I lost track through all my travels!

I don't have my journal with me cause we were running late so I won't be able to give you a day by day experience of my week. However, I'm going to share some stories! First, I want to tell you all the funny things happening here in Argentina! So apparently drunk people like me. Elder Vergara, my companion, says that he has never had any problems with drunk people until I was his companion and now it's a daily experience to get an encounter with a drunk guy. My favorite two were at the train station and on the bus. On Thursday we went to the office for some zone conference thing I think and while waiting for our train, this guy came up to me and started telling me how he is an assassin! He was like, 'I've killed more than 17 people in my life!' But he didn't want to kill me because I introduced myself as a representative of Jesus Christ in His church. So the next thing I knew, this drunk crazy guy was mesmerized by my eyes! Ja ja! He said that if he could find a woman with my eyes he would fall in love with her forever. I forgot how different it is to have blue eyes here. The other experience, on the bus, was on Sunday on our way to conference We had about a forty minute bus ride to get to the stake center to watch conference. Anyway, these pack of drunks were on their way to a futbol game! They were singing crazy songs and banging on the bus seats, walls, and ceiling! We were all laughing! The Bishop and some other people in the ward were there too and they couldn't help laughing. When we got up to leave the bus, this guy with a raspy voice said, ' Ellos se van al matrimonio!' Or something like that! He said Hey! They're going to the wedding! ha ha! It was so funny!

Anyway, about conference, I watched the first session on Saturday and the first few talks on Sunday in Spanish and the rest in English. There's like twelve elders in this stake so they have an English room. Although I understood pretty much everything in the Spanish conferencia, it's just not the same experience because you don't get the emotion of the speakers. So don't worry I watched all of conference! Well, except for priesthood session. It started at like nine at night and we wouldn't be back to our pension till about midnight so we're not allowed to go to priesthood! Which is terrible because I didn't get to hear Holland's talk! Well, I guess I did get to listen to him a few weeks ago, so I can wait for the Liahona to come out next month.

Our pension is actually pretty nice compared to others, but definitely a piece of dump compared to any of Trevor's! I was gong to send pictures, but we weren't able to go back to get my camera so I could send them. But I'll tell you some of my favorite parts. First, all the dirt. I swept the floor the other day and there was like three cups worth of dirt on our floors! Can you imagine that! I keep telling Elder Vergara that you would die here, Mom! The walls are a faded white/pink with stains all over. It's such a dump but I love it! It's way better than the villas around here . . . The villas are basically tin houses made from scraps and trash. People live in them and it looks like a concentration camp from the outside. The area we are called to is Tomás Flores. Google it and maybe you'll see my dog infested, poor home for at least the next eleven weeks! Quilmes Oeste is the name of the city so that might work better. We're the farthest north mission area in Buenos Aires South. Yeah, I'll never be in the giant city! ja ja!

Now about Elder Vergara. First off, in my first interview with President Stapley, I couldn't forget the words of Trevor from months ago! Ask your presidente for his best trainer. SO, that's what I did! ja ja! I can't believe I had the nerve to do so but he really took it into thought and consideration with the Lord. Elder Vergara, according to others' opinions, should be the next zone leader and a lot say he'll be an assistant soon. He's our district leader right now. He's an amazing missionary and we work! I am so glad to have him! He's from Chile but assisted a bilingual school for ten years, I think, so he basically knows perfect English! His Spanish is ridiculously fast too! I have a harder time understanding his fast Chilean Spanish for the Castillano accent of the Argentinos here. Oh speaking of which, It is SO weird! It is a whole different form of Spanish. It has different conjugations, saying, words, accents, and even sounds. It's the hardest part of understanding people here other than a lack of vocabulary words. Anyway, Elder Vergara is awesome! He's so paranoid all the time and I do anything possible to tease him. Lovingly of course! We get along so great! We laugh at things all the time!

Now about the work in our area. We have six baptismal dates already! Hopefully they'll all come through! I helped make one of those, though. His name is Juan. We don't know his last name. We stopped by his house and he let us in without a second though. Well, he doesn't really have a house, more like a shack with concrete walls and a dirt floor, anyway, he let us in and we went to the backyardish kind of area. We taught him the Restoration, and YES I actually was speaking to him! Ha ha! He hurt his back from falling on a rock and I think he might have really hurt himself, but he accepted everything we taught. He in scheduled to be baptized on the 29th of this month. I have so much faith in him! When we went to pick him up for conference on Sunday, he couldn't go. Satan doesn't want this man to be baptized. He tried to ride his bike to the health clinic but fell and hurt his back even more! I think we might go give him a blessing when we visit him tomorrow. I hope he's alright.

Other investigators are going really well. Everyone needs to come to church more regularly and remember when we're coming to teach though. Nobody makes a commitment for a date here because they don't have a sense of a time schedule. They just do things however they want whenever they want and when they are supposed to work, they get called in. It's impossible to have a consistent investigator!

Anyway, Trevor, I have a picture for you that is going to make your hair stand on end. It's of our Area Book . . . Oh wow. . . There isn't want. There are two empty folders and a giant stack of crumpled, ripped and even burnt pages! I am trying to organize it and put it together, but there's so much stuff unlabeled and it's almost impossible!

Kevin, I don't have time to write you back, but thank you for your letter! I love hearing from my brothers . . . hint hiNT HINT !!!! Write me please J and Trev. Trevor, you're not off the hook now that I don't live at your work. ja ja! So, the pictures did come through and thank you for them!

The food here is pretty good and everything is relatively cheap! It's just a constant risk of getting robbed. The weather is surprisingly still cold. We've been wearing suits and sweaters a lot. We even had to break the rain jackets because my second day was a complete downpour! That shoe polish is never going to be used again, Mom. My shoes are either muddy, dusty, or some other color than plain black! ja ja! It's a dirty place here. Trash everywhere, wild dogs in the streets that I like to talk to, and crazy people of all kinds! I like the craziness of Argentina! It's really my favorite part. I like going into the villas and into the ghetto parts of our lower class area. There are the most humble and interesting people there. I love everyone! Even if they call me Yankee. They don't say gringo here, they say yankee, but in their accent it's pronouced 'shjan-key' yeah, with all those letters. I didn't misspell it. Dad, isn't that completely different than you would have pronounced it? Anyway, this country is SO different! It's weird kissing guys on the cheek to say hello and even hand shakes are different here!! Sometimes I freak out cause it looks like some guy is going in to kiss another and I think they're homosexual but it's just a different culture here. I can't wait to take you here, Mom. You are going to freak out in the villas, the buses, the regular streets, the random perros and everything! Oh and coins are worth more than paper bills here. Everyone wants moneras (coins) because it's the only way to ride the buses. You can't ask for change here. You have to ask for 93 peso coins and pay 100 so you lose six pesos! The coins are really cool here! I love them! I know the end of my mission is far away, but I can't wait to take you here, Mom, to experience this culture. It's so different than what we're so used to! Our house is big enough to house at least twelve families here! Our back yard alone could fit eleven houses easily. It's so humbling and makes you appreciate everything you have back home. I know I'm going to miss the food here, though. I really like it! Melanisa is the best so far and alfajors! Dulce de leche is like a caramely creamy spread and it is amazing! Go to the World Market and see if they have any. Then put it on just about everything and you'll know some of the things I'm eating. ja ja!

Well, in case the letter I sent on Tuesday never gets to you, I'm supposed to tell you how the mail actually does work and I do still get dear elders! It's just every three weeks when we pick up mail! packages work too! If they are brown small packages under four pounds, they're about 85-90 percent certain to get to me. Don't use flat rate boxes! It'll cost me about 100 American dollars to pick it up! If you send anything important, don't write it on the package slip and hide it in some of the food, like Pringles work really good. You open them and put things like memory cards and important things inside so people can't see it. Always write candy or missionary supplies on the package slips. Put pictures of Mary and Jesus on the seals. Keep it four pounds or under. One elder received like five small brown packages for his birthday from his mom at one time. So mail works! It's just kind of corrupt. . . If you do send anything, send a guitar pick package. I have a guitar in my pench! And anything else food related, just like one liter stir in packages of soup, or like easy-to-make ramen packages or cups of noodles or easy mac. There's no such thing here. And if Kevin wants to, have a bunch of my friends all write on a card or paper and put it in the package or something. I miss my friends a lot!

In fact, it was such a highlight to get pictures of Taylor and Levy. T's mission call is sweet! I loved the Filipino missionaries in the MTC. They're the second largest population of language spoken there, besides Spanish. Tagalog is a SWEET language 'mubooti!' That's about all the Tagalog I know. It means good I think. I think it's spelled horribly wrong too. T, you'll get an English name tag because of fake churches in the Philippines though. The language looks as if you just punched every key on the keyboard and put random space. ha ha! It sounds way cool though. I want to learn it someday maybe. I didn't get to hear Holland's talk, but I but it was great! The mission is definitely very hard mentally, physically, and spiritually, but is a lot of fun! You meet some awesome people out here. Good luck and keep me posted! I will write you as much as possible.

Well family, I thinks it's time for me to go now. I have to write an email to the president and then I need to go get ready to get to work again tonight. P-days are pretty fun! I love you all and miss you! I'll admit, I cried after I hung up with my sweety mother after our last phone call. Elder Neal came over in the airport and gave me one of his famous hugs and helped me out. I miss you all so much. I love my mission, but I still can't wait to see you all again afterward! This work is true. There is no doubt in my mind and heart. I couldn't ever deny this gospel.  I know that my Savior died for me and He now lives to help me bring others unto him. A mission is the best thing that can ever happen to anyone. There is nothing more sweet and satisfying than spreading the gospel of joy and love. I love my Heavenly Father and his Son. Make sure to have a relationship with your Father in Heaven. Love Him as I love you and you love each other and I know that all things will come through in the end in the right way. May God be with you till we meet again.

Con Amor.
Elder Blake Guillermo Cowan

P.S. The people have a hard time pronouncing my name. We need an accent mark on the A in Cowan. Like this, 'Cowán' that would help a lot! Ja ja!