No Baptisms :( Still Good Week :)

Well Family,

This morning I sacrificed my p-day to build another floor in this man's house. Yes, I Blake Cowan am now a construction worker and can build houses. Anyway, because I did that for several hours, I didn't have the opportunity to print out emails this morning so when I finally signed on after visiting three cybers to find one open on this holiday (I don't know which, but I think it's fathers day?), I discovered SEVENTEEN emails. Seriously, I about died because I was worried about being disobedient and taking too much time in the cyber. Anyway, luckily it was a bunch of pictures. I love them! But seriously, it scared me.

So all the pictures from the family trip to Utah were great! I was bummed to hear about Kevin's experience. Poor buddy. But I'm glad the rest had fun! Black Friday reminds me of how I snuck out last year to go with RJ and his family . . . Uh . . .Woops. No joke, I really did that. Ha ha! Oh the mysteries from the life of Blake Cowan . . . Some you might never know. Love you Mom!

Dad, sorry to ruin your excitement, but we did not have Elder Christofferson in our mission at all. My mission president did go to the meeting, but just he and his wife, I think. Sorry! I didn't have time to watch the little film yet, so maybe he was in it. I don't know. Oh! Trevor's new room mate is the trainer of one of the missionaries in my zone!!! I can't remember his name but, the missionary here is Elder Smith. I think you talked to his dad the other day about it too. I don't know.

Well, I'll start with the bummer news for you all and then end with all the good things that happened this week. Ok? Well, Mirta and Hilda could not be baptized this week. It was a conflict we had with the ward because there were too many activities going on and there was no time to do it, plus we had a problem with one of those ladies. Hilda is perfect and has passed her baptismal interview and will be baptized for sure next week. But Mirta has this one doubt. Part of question two in the baptismal interview is about the restoration and having profetas ahora. So, she doesn't believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. We had her read his talk from this last conference about his experience in Germany with the temple dedication and we prayed with her to get a testimony of the prophet. Unfortunately some other issues arose with her too. The father of Facu is this extremely angry, lying, evil man. He keeps showing up in our lessons and disturbing the spirit and then we have to leave--like running out of the house. He is threatening to choke, hit, and kill Mirta for many, many dumb reasons. Pray for this sweet lady! She has such a spirit and wants to be baptized so bad! Pray for her testimony to be strengthened from this and also to be able to have a response about Thomas S. Monson.

Well, I'll talk about some really funny stories this week! First, mi amigo. This drunk guy named Julio who is 36 years is now my official drunkard, I mean body guard. Ja ja! We had this pretty long, pointless chat with him and his buddy and he told me that I have a beautiful face and that Elder Vergara isn't that good looking. Ja ja! Then he kept telling us that if we ever need anything we can come to him and he'll help us out. Oh and also, he said that if anyone tries to mess with me, he will go fight them and kill them. He described how, but I won't go into detail. Ja ja! He's a funny guy and we see him everywhere! He absolutely loves me! We're supposed to have dinner with him on Friday. I don't know if we are going for sure . . . We can't teach him because he is so crazy talkative and just tells stories non stop. But I love him! He brightens my day.

We had a successful week with taking out baptismal dates. We had 6 fechas and they're all generally pretty good. I think our zone will break the record this next month in baptisms for the mission. We didn't get our 30 this month. Instead, we had about 17 and ALL except two were from our district. Good work boys! We're having a lot of success! Speaking of our district, I am still the baby, but I speak better then the two others that have two more transfers than me! I did about four comp exchanges this week and I was talking like without having to translate and it was awesome! The worst part is that when Elder Vergara gets back, I can't speak anymore. I don't know what my problem is! Whatevs.

Some amazing experiences this week were our lessons. During an exchange with Elder Saunders, we taught this lady Gladis. She cried the whole time! The second I went with Elder Vergara, she said that she couldn't understand anything Elder Saunders said, she could understand me though. But she said she felt something so different than ever before. She's so getting baptized! I love this lady!

Another experience we had was with our bishop. I don't know why, but he decided to lay down the law on a lot of members. He called us and the ward mission leader into his office and basically chewed the guy out because we haven't had a single meeting with him and we hardly have lessons with members. But he was so humble and is determined to work with us now. Also, he called a young guy of like twenty to be a ward missionary. We might be able to do divisions now! But Bishop was inspiring all these people! Then our elders quorum president was back for his first Sunday and his lesson totally fired up all the men to start sharing the gospel! I loved Sunday even if none of our investigators came to church. . . But it was awesome to see the change in them. Our bishop is only like 28 years old and he just scolded a bunch of older men. It was AWESOME! Ja ja!


One more experience from this week, I had a lesson with a member this week! We showed up for our lunch cita with Hna. Campera and there was this lady there. We ended up teaching her and she loved it! Her name is Antonia. She understood everything and wanted to read the BoM so badly! She is going to come to church next week! She speaks really fast and likes to talk a lot, but I am keeping up in the lessons pretty good now. Sometimes when I am tired I just don't understand anything cause I'm not paying attention, but I am starting to understand the songs and even the egg man here! When you understand them, you know you have Castillano down awesome!

Ok, I have to go. I don't have near enough time to write everything I wanted to this week. To everyone who has written me, I am sorry I still have not mailed back. I can't find any form of a post office or let alone a place to buy stamps. . . Every other elder tells me that I can email people, but I have no time to do so. I am sorry! I have a stack of written letters for you all!

Mother, sorry I opened those packages. But you don't understand. . . getting mail here is like finding water after wandering in the desert for weeks! You can't help but open it! Ja ja! I will try to wait with the other ones, if they come. But look at the scriptures, did Lehi wait till they got to the promise land to read the brass plates? No. He started to dig in right away! Same with Packages here. Love you!

Good luck with everything going on up there in the US! I miss the cleanness of everything there. I just cleaned like crazy again earlier. It's so dirty here. . . I moss you all and love you all! I am missing an Arizonan winter. Hot humid summers aren't that fun . . . Except being a missionary is! Ja ja! Chow chow everybody!

Love,
Elder Cowan

Alan's Baptism

Dear family,

I'M TURNING INTO MY MOTHER!!!! JA JA JA!!! I spent all day cleaning the pench scrubbing and scrubbing everything! I think it's finally mom-approved now. I still have to mop the floors and clean the stove though. But It has come a long way!

Ok, for this next paragraph, I'd like to dedicate it to the birthday girl . . . Car, Car, Car. . . I finally got your letter this past week through dear elder! I loved it! Thank you so so much! I can't believe that I have missed your birthday TWICE now! But if it makes you feel better, I had a pretty awesome day on your birthday. I baptized someone for you! I will be writing you back later in depth of a lot of things going on her. (Those funny stories I don't tell my family like the dog baptism and the funny things that happen in the streets of Tomás Flores.) Ja ja! Keep being 'fearless' and don't stop smiling! That's why they pay Disney princesses at Disneyland, ya know. . . Anyway, I have to update my family now that you have a dedicated paragraph in my family letter. Feel better? Oh and I've written in my journal every. single. day. I don't break my promises, Car. P.S. I'm counting all the yellow cars down here as well as the yellow houses. Be prepared missy! And tell your mom to stop worrying about me. Ja ja! She probably freaked out the most with the robbery story. You don't even want me to begin with the death threats I get! Ja ja! Just kidding, there's only been like three. . . Hope you had a great week! Love and miss you! Happy birthday Car!

Hello again family! So, first off, I didn't even remember we had Thanksgiving! I don't think you realize how much you tend to forget about everything back home! So, actually, holidays aren't really all that hard to be away from family. Ja ja! We're always working! And if we're not working, we're sleeping. I LOVE my sleep. It's the best part of the day to lay down at night and just relax and have crazy dreams all night (happens a lot). I keep having dreams that my leg is going to be amputated from some strange bug bite or fungus. Speaking of those eight legged things, I killed the BIGGEST spider in the world in our kitchen a few nights ago! He was about the size of a Droid cell phone! I put his corpse in a clear jar and am keeping it as a trophy of my success. Ja ja! Those things creep me out. Another crazy night story from this past week was last night. We had been in bed for about ten minutes when the pench started to light up and shake! This crazy storm just appeared out of nowhere and flooded our entire street! As we sat and watched the rain for a bit, we saw a door float down the river/street. Ja ja! It was crazy and now it's super muddy everywhere! Oh and Mother, we have a member washing our clothes. There's no stores in our area. There are two pizza places, a few clothing stores, and a bunch of vegi stands/meat stands. And no, I absolutely cannot run at all unless my comp wants to come with me. If we lived in a apartment tower, I am allowed to run the stairs by myself, but not out in the streets. If we work out, we just get to do some push ups and sit ups and that's about it.

Well, thanks to your prayers and much fasting and praying on our behalf as well, the Lord blessed us this week in sacrament! We had a full house and 6 investigators came!!! WOO HOO! Mirta, Hilda, Emanual y su esposa, Alejandro, y Gladis all came to church! And it was thanks to members that three of them came! I don't know what happened during the week, but the ward was inspired to help us out for once! I am so grateful. They all came and it was an amazing day!

Speaking about members, actually we get fed about every day here. Sometimes members forget and we don't get lunch, but that's ok. We tend to have lunch with the same members every week though. It helps to get to know the families a lot! Not like our ward back home when they are eating with a new family every day. The ward here is just one family. They do everything together and they love everyone so much. They're awesome at making investigators feel welcomed. Oh and I spoke in sacrament this week. I spoke of the trial of my state meet race and the surgery and then about Joseph Smith in Liberty and then about the Atonement of Jesus Christ to talk about why we have trials! People really liked it!

So, the answer is yes. Alan was baptized on Saturday! It was another crazy baptismal service! As we went into the hall to go to the font entrance, we discovered the whole church hallway filled with water! Nobody ever turned off the font!!! Ja ja! Elder Vergara got stuck cleaning that because Alan wanted me to baptize him. After Alan was baptized, Crazy George, this hermano in the ward, was baptizing his niece. He's so crazy and couldn't say the prayer right. He dunked the poor girl four or five times! She was so scared by the end! Ja ja! Anyway, it finally got done and I almost had to go do it. After the baptism, Alan and I ran outside to the soccer field and started playing around with the ball as it was raining! This kid is awesome! He's like a little brother and he is so funny! He said that when I get married I have to bring my wife back and show him FIRST out of everyone in Argentina! Ja ja! He is so fun and I love him. I'm giving him my light blue skinny tie because he liked it a lot plus a Preach My Gospel to get him on a mission. His family will be converted really soon too! His little sister who's nine asked Elder Vergara to baptize her! Ja ja! His mom is feeling a lot better too. Virginia is healing from a type of cancer and has completed all the therapy for it. She just has to rest a lot now.

Mirta and Hilda will be baptized this Friday night and it's going to be awesome! We're going to have six baptisms in this area! The next highest for a companionship in this area was four in the past few years. I hope Elder Vergara and I stay together one more transfer. The transfer ends the 19th and we want to spend Christmas together. It's so weird being summer here. It's not all that hot, but it's just wet. It doesn't really bother me all that much though. I just keep working!


Well, we had Christmas in November this week! I got three packages thanks to my beautiful mother! Two Christmas ones for the twelve days and then one that had some peanut butter and sunflower seeds. Ja ja! Thank you so so so much for the packages! We loved them! Anyway, we couldn't wait to do the twelve days stuff and just opened them all! Ja ja! Elder Vergara LOVES you mama! He loves those Hershey's cookies and cream bars and Swedish fish! It made him yelp in excitement!


Anyway, sorry this letter has been all over the place. I'm having a hard time remembering this past week. They all tend to blend together. I lose track of the days so easily here. I freaked out when a member asked me if I'm excited to call home in about a month! It shocked me so much! I feel like I was just saying bye to my crying mother on the telephone in NY. The time flies. So, I can't remember any more exciting moments this past week. It's just gone too fast. Well, I love you all, as always! I look forward to emailing every week!

Love,
Elder Blake W. Cowan

Wife Point Week

Dear Family,

It was a wife point earning week, I'll say that. Ja ja! There were a lot of ups and downs and no matter what I always take Elder Holland's advice and think of the Atonement and Christ when things turn for the worse. Then it makes me feel like I'm ungrateful and start working even harder contacting as many people as possible! (We do a lot of that with all the fall through appointments.)

Anyway, to take care of some of the other stuff, no Mom, I did not wash my suit pants. I am simply growing taller or the slacks are shrinking cause they are clear over my shoes now. Also, my waist is growing. Not going to lie, I like being the skinny guy. But yes, I realized that my top racing shape is going to be put on pause for a while. I talked to Elder Zapata this week and he's gained 30 pounds and has only been out for 6 months! Oh and Mom, Elder Jameson Jarvis IS in my mission. I heard he got robbed recently. And I have talked to his comps. He's gained 20 plus pounds too. I don't want to be a fatty!!! It is so hard to work out on my own and without running! I miss that A LOT. . . It makes me even more determined to never let myself get fat. JA ja!

Also, thank you for sending the packages! Some elders are receiving their Christmas packages already and you start to feel left out! Ja ja! I am so grateful for hearing from home. I look forward to it all week long! I hope I write enough and to satisfy your curiosity to my world out here in Argentina. I can definitely tell you it is something different. On P days we are sometimes able to watch Disney movies! Today I got to watch Tangled and it made me think of back home when I had watched it. Then when we left all the other missionaries and went back into the real world, it was a weird sensation. I had just been with a bunch of spiritual studs, watching a magical Disney movie, and in a stake center. It was all very tranquil and when I left, I felt the lack of the Spirit in the world out on the street. I can't describe that lack. I see all the people on the street and it makes me so sad to know they don't have the gospel, the truth to their eternal happiness in their lives. I can only do so much since they have agency to choose. But it made me rededicate myself to the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If every member in the church could have a desire to share the gospel to SAVE their friends and families and then ACT on it, the missionary work would triple. It would accelerate so much.

It is so hard to be a member here in Tomás Flores, though. In church, we had a total of about fifteen people come. It must break the heart of our young bishop to watch his ward family act so lackadaisical. I am so grateful to have grown up in the Groves Ward where we function properly and have a youth program and scouts. There is nothing of that sort here. It is pure faith driven. I am amazed at these faithful saints. They have a life 10 times as hard as we can imagine, yet they know the gospel is true and that Christ lives. They are so humble. I wish every member from our ward back home could come here for a week and see the blessings of our ward. It is amazing. Also, I have to speak in Sacrament next week. Scary, but it is on trials and I think I apply really well with the trail of the language, and the general missionary work which is quite discouraging at times. But I will do my best to show these saints the blessings that come through hard times. It is to help us remember our roots and blessing. It is to humble us and grant us power beyond our comprehension in the life to come.

I haven't even started to write about my investigators. Well, two of our very secure investigators didn't show up on Sunday. Hilda and Mirta. It has been an interesting week with these women. First, Hilda is amazing. This woman continues to testify of how she knows it is the gospel that has brought her this peace she has been looking for her whole life. She is so excited to keep going through with all the discussions and get baptized. She's even had to sacrifice sleep to go to church and hear our discussions. She only sleeps four hours a night. Think of that, would we be willing to do that for church or to talk to some odd young men? She is so faithful. Unfortunately, Satan knows that too. Her grand daughter had some emergency and she had to leave Saturday night to go help the family. She will not be baptized now this Saturday but the next. Second, with Mirta, oh, bless that woman. She is so dear to my heart. I absolutely look forward to our lessons with her. She knows without a doubt that these things are true. We had a very interesting day with her the other day. We went with her to her friend, Maria's house and watched Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration. It was great! These women accept him as a prophet and are willing to live their lives in accordance with the gospel and the commandments of God. After that long lesson, we were walking Mirta home with her son Facu. Then the saddest thing happened. There in the street, was her dog, dead. Facu's longest life friend was gone. He began to ball and try to wake up his friend. Mirta's repeated phrase, 'oh mi perro,' added to the commotion. We took the dog back to their house and Mirta began digging the grave. We took the shovel from her and finished the project. Then, she disappeared on Sunday. She didn't come to church, she wasn't at our lesson appointment that night, and nobody knew were they were. We passed by three different times in the day and she was never there. Then the thought came to me. If she has been gone all day, who's taking care of her bed ridden father? Her dad had told her the day the dog died that he dreamt that something was going to die. Ironically, the dog had. But now we are worried that maybe her father has passed away. We need to find her. At least she now has the gospel in her life. We will teach her about temples if that did happen.

Well, those are two of my favorite investigators right now. Satan is trying to discourage them. But we have another family that is great too! Alan and his family. I love this exciting family! They are always so excited to see us and are always willing to follow through with their commitments. Virginia, the mother is even making the kids pray and take things seriously because she knows their family needs a change for the better. She is improving in her health too. We are going to be baptizing Alan this Saturday and the rest of his family later when we have worked everything out. Alan is definitely an answer to my prayers though. One day, it was pouring rain. Everyone was turning us down and nobody would let us in for hours. Without coats or umbrellas, we just got soaked and continued on. Elder Vergara doubts a bit in these times and I try to tell him how much the people back home love the rain to cheer him up. But after hours, I saw someone stalking me really close. As I looked, Alan scared me half to death! He asked us to come over and teach them right then. I love that kid. I just wanted to hug him when he saved us from a terrible day!

Let's see, I can't think of much more I really wanted to share this week. We got invited to go to a Jehovah Witness church and some Evangelic church. We might actually pass by to make those people come to ours. I'm not entirely fond of it, but it could be a possibility. I only want to see how their church functions so I can understand their beliefs and help change their point of view a bit into the way of the Lord's church. But it is a slim possibility. We read all their pamphlets and even a book this new guy gave us and then go back to see if they read the BoM. It's hard to teach people who have partial testimonies. They have had witnesses to the partial truths of their churches, but it is difficult to help them understand that there is more to their knowledge that they can have too.

Well, thank you for all the updates! I am always so grateful to hear from home! Congrats Aubree on signing with the Cougars! Kevy, glad you had a fun day activity! It pays to be yourself, huh? Justin, good luck in Utah and I am so proud of you. Hearing about you this week was the highlight of my week. Keep up the good work. If you ever need help or have a question about mission life, please write me and I would love to answer! If anyone else has questions, I would love to answer those too!

I love you all! Especially my parents. You two are amazing and the most dynamic couple. I am so blessed to have been raised in your home. You don't understand all the blessings I have received from you two. I know we don't thank you often or appreciate all you do for us all the time, but we love you. I love you and I miss my family every day. I have to get back to work now. As Dad says to me, 'serve Him well, Dad, Mom, Justin, Trevor, and Kevin.'

Con Amor.
Elder Blake W. Cowan

Working with Lots of Investigators

Dear Family,

Well, it feels weird that I'm already writing you again. I only have a few days I need to tell you about. But first just detail stuff. My foot. It is the bone that points out of everyone's foot on top. Ya know? ja ja! I don't know. It only hurts without my little thing that I tape onto my foot. Don't worry about it! I figured it might be kind of what Cory Breinholt had with his foot. He had a nerve going over the top of his foot and when his shoes pushed on it, it hurt him. But I fixed it with my little invention thing! No big deal. And no, I didn't end up getting sick. Sleeping in that one day nipped it in the bud and I am totally fine!

My little nickname of 'King Killer' just refers to 4-square. One of the positions is the King and I kept getting the king out every time I played. Not much. Just ask Kevin. He'll know what that means. I think. . . And thank you for putting those packages together! That makes me feel very loved out here in Argentina! Ja ja! I am excited to see if they will come or not! And yes the razors you bought are the right ones. I can just buy them down here if you'd like? No sé.

Well, this is what happened in the past couple days--We did another intercambio with Elder Livingston and Elder Hoeft (my robbed buddy). They're both red heads and from Colorado. The funny thing is that Colorado here means red head! Ja ja! So when people ask what part of the states they are from, it is such a crack up! Anyway, I stayed in my area with Elder Livingston. We had a great day! We took out two more fechas with this lady Gloria and her 10 year old granddaughter, Lourdes. I love her name! It's so cool! But they can´t come to church this Sunday but will try and want to go next week. Also, we taught Mirta. This time she brought a friend, Maria. She's so capa too! We explained to her the Book of Mormon and what it means and how key it is in our religion. When she read the part about José Smith in the introducción, she asked who he was. Then, Mirta gave lesson one to her in full! Ja ja! I love Mirta! Anyway, they both said they would be coming to church this Sunday and just loved the lessons.

When Elder Vergara got back, we went to Alen and his family. We asked them to get baptized and they said yes! The problem is that his mom, Virginia can't because she's not married and her man doesn't want to. SO sad! I hate it when people aren't able to progress because of others! The same happened with Silvia and Claudio. He won't get married and she wants to continue so bad! There's just not much we can do with investigators like that. Also, Yamila wants to continue, but her mom was such a jerk (Claudia). She is afraid to say anything because she doesn't want to upset her mom. All these upsets kept happening this weekend and it was really depressing! Also, we went to Juan and Selva where Juan told us that he has no desire to keep the commitments and then Selva told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that all the doctrine and things we've taught her is true, but she has no desire to go to church because she knows she'll be obligated to go every Sunday if she gets baptized. Major bummer. We have invested a lot of time in them and now we might have to drop them. . . We're dropping people all over the place lately because they're either too lazy, won't come to church, or are impossible to find. We'll just focus on the ones who want it really bad and just get them baptized!

But, we are still finding new people! We took out two more fechas con Gastón y pedro Pablo. Ellos son rebuenos y muy inteligentes! Darn! I always write in Spanish and have to go back and erase and rewrite it. I'm leaving that one for an example. Ja ja! Anyway, Gastón has read the whole Bible and understands things a lot. He has talked to the Jehovah Witnesses a lot but doesn't really like them. Another person described them as being nauseous. But he said he would read and go to church and be baptized. I love willing and SMART investigators! There's a lot of uneducated people that believe but don't do anything. So we're going to play fútbol with him sometime soon and we're going to church with him! With Pedro Pable, we showed up at his house and started to help him paint this grill thing. Through our conversation we mixed it perfectly into the gospel and taught him about the Restoration and The Book of Mormon. He then told us that he had talked to missionaries once before and it really interests him. We told him how prayer is key in this process. He told us how he's wasted his past few years then because he never prayed about the missionaries and decided he was going to read and pray that night! Then, we are supposed to go back the next day (today)! Ja ja! We'll see how that goes. Both those two will be future priesthood holders.

I skipped our church experience. Oops. So we had four investigators come to church! Mirta, Maria, Rosa, and Hilda! They loved the testimony meeting and one man in the ward got up and addressed each of them and testified that if they do what the missionaries ask, they will have a response to their oraciónes instantly! It made some of those women cry! After sacrament, Mirta and Maria had to leave because Mirta's father needed some assistance back at home. Oh and Facu came! Mirta's six year old son! He was so hilarious during the meeting! He asked why we used little cups with water and I told him it represents the blood of Jesus and how we can love him basically. Then, he said that he doesn't want a little cup but a BIG one! Ja ja! He said he was going to bring a big cup next time! Ja ja! Also, he kept raising his hand because he wanted to ask the speakers questions like in school. He is such a punk and so funny! I love him. Anyway, they left after sacrament, but Rosa and Hilda stayed. They were taught in Gospel principles about temples and family history work. For Rosa it was like getting hit by a fire house cause we haven't taught her much. But Hilda was enjoying it so much! She kept talking about how she's had all the material goods in life but it wasn't until she started investigating the church that she has had the peace and purpose to her life that she has had missing for so many years and that the other churches couldn't give her. They're neighbors and friends so I hope it will help them grow and progress together. So church this week was a success! Fasting works! PMG says to fast for special blessings and that's what we're doing!

Well, that's about all I have to write about this week! Thanks for all the letters and emails! It makes all the difference! Read Proverbs 25:25 and that's what letters mean to a missionary. Ja ja! Thanks so much! Dad, I like to hear that you've been running/walking! Try to make it all running! It causes such a difference in calorie burning. Mom, how's the Spanish coming along? One of these days I'll write in all Spanish and nobody will help you translate it! Ja ja! You'll have to do it on your own! Thanks for everything! I love you all! Give references to the missionaries. It helps a lot with planning and everything!

Con amor,
Elder Cowán

October & November Baptism Goals

Dear Family,

Well, honestly I don't remember any of your questions really and I don't have a lot of time. I'll try to catch you up on a lot from the past week and a half! First off, the kids who robbed me got caught robbing two motorcycles and are now in jail. The Lord allows bad things to happen to good people to bring about his judgement on the wicked! Ja! But I actually got one thing back from the robbery. I was given my cool cardboard scripture case and cheap economy teaching triple in perfect condition by some kid! This time I will take a picture of it! And with Elder Vergara being sick, it started to catch up to me the past few days. I woke up today  feeling terrible so I told Vergara I would sleep in another two hours to try and stop it from getting me down all day. And now, I barely feel sick! So I am glad I won't be missing out on all the fun of the mission life! Pray that I won't continue to get sick later or anything. Also for my foot. I have no idea what's happening, but I have this crazy large bone on top of my foot that is poking out and is killing me if I don't wrap it up with this foam thing I made to distribute the pain. But it goes away at times and comes back. It's weird. Don't worry though! Nothing can stop 'The King Killer' from working his hardest! Yeah, I gained a nickname out here. I was baller at four square the other day and it's kind of sticking. ja ja! Oh and I took out personal money with my debit card the other day because I need it in the pench for emergencies and personal shopping items which I haven't bought yet. But I want to buy a new pillow and things like that because I don't really have them. . .

Elder Cowan, Leo, Mara, Gaston, Elder Vergara

Well, enough of all that. I'll try to update you all on the work I've done with my investigators. First with the really REALLY good news! Our zone made this past month's baptismal goal of 14! Elder Vergara and I baptized three last Saturday. I baptized Leo Medina and Mara Medina. The mother, Marcela, backed out at the last moment because she said she was only doing it for Leo and she didn't have an answer yet. I know we can baptize her, though, really soon. Also, Elder Vergara baptized Gastón! The little chubby kid that we love! So we had a good weekend! But the baptism was crazy! Right before we went to go change, we entered the restroom and Leo was telling us to be careful. He pointed to the floor and there was a giant pile of nasty poo! He said some kid had an accident. We were thinking some little kid, but from the stall came the voice of Alen, our 14 year old investigator. He has an allergic reaction to gum and one of the youth had given him a sucker with a gum center that he didn't know of . . . and then it came to pass. . . ja ja! Oh goodness! Elder Vergara had to clean it up while I was changing for the first baptism! It was ridiculous. . . That kid better get baptized now! Which he will. :) I'll try to send pictures of the baptism for you all!

Gaston's Baptism

Oh, so I've been doing intercambios like crazy lately. I went with Elder Chance Pratley, one of our zone leaders last week and it changed my life as a missionary! I learned so much from him and it's amazing! He's such a great guy! Any of my lady friends, you'll want to look this guy up! He's a stud and an amazing missionary! He's only got about eightish months left. ja ja! Anyway, in Avellaneda, they have the coolest apartment and everything! We taught some amazing lessons and even convinced people to get married ASAP like in a week or two. I also went with Elder Reyes-Cairo in my area for a day and it was pretty fun! A lot of our appointments fell through but we talked with a lot of people! And tomorrow I'm going to go with Elder Livingston who is new to our district as of today! I've heard he's kind of trucho, meaning, he doesn't really work that hard and puts up a false image. I'm going to whip this kid into shape for the day and maybe he can finish his mission for the last two months honorably.

Leo & Mara Baptism

Oh so as a zone we have a goal of THIRTY baptisms this next month. We're going to be going all out to get it! We are taking out fechas everywhere and teaching anyone and everyone! We are doing a zone baptismal service on the 19th and we want to have like fifty people dressed in white for one picture! To do it, we're doing a lot of sacrifices, service, and my favorite . . . FASTING!! Yay! We're going to fast once to twice a week to get this goal! We're also in a competition with Bonfield Zone and we're going to kill them! We are the best zone in all BAS!!! ¡Y yo creo! We're stepping up everything. Planning, study, language, helping others, and just every aspect of missionary work. There won't be a single slacker in our zone for Nov! We're so pumped! We talk to every person we meet and I even walk up to people and ask them to be baptized right off the spot! ¡Hola! ¿Todo bien? ¿Quierre ser bautisado? I love doing that! They're so stunned and then we testify and sometimes they actually want to listen! Anyway, we're going all out this month to break a mission record!

Back to investigators, these two women, Mirta and Hilda are such capas! With Hilda, she has read so much in the Book of Mormon and has even answered the questions in the back of the pamphlets which NOBODY in the history of this mission has ever done, according to Elder Vergara! She told us how she wants to be baptized the 19th! So we're going to church with her to make her go. With Mirta, I asked her if she remembered our goal for her baptism and she came out so quick with, 'Yeah the 19th and I'm planning on making it there!' BOOYA! I love these women. They're the two I'm most confident in besides Alan.

With Juan and Selva, we are having a hard time finding them and we NEED them to come to church. We want them to be baptized the 19th of Nov so bad! They need it so much in their lives.

We found the biggest family in the world!!! There are like fifty people and they all want to listen. Thanks to Rosa for having kids and having them all live there with their kids. Romina, Yesica, Erica, Claudia, Yamila, Alan, Sergio, 9 little girls I can't remember, the head man of the house, the drunk guy that we carried in from the taxi, and more!!! I hope we can baptize them all! It's so hard to find a time to be able to teach ALL of them, so we might be able to teach them bit by bit. Also, they all want to learn English, so we're going to try to teach English down at the capilla (chapel) on Fridays. I have no idea what I'm going to do! But they are all very promising! This is all the family members of the Romina who asked us why we never passed by her house before.

There are so many investigators, I can't talk about all of them. We have about 40 investigators. My life is hectic. Ja ja! I love it though! Every day something funny and exciting happens! And as always, the drunk men are the funniest. I always tell them I'm from Spain or from some Spanish speaking country and they believe me! I wish the regular citizens would believe that!

Well, I have officially made it through one transfer and I am staying with Vergara. We probably will change in December right before Christmas! How sad! ja ja! But yeah, my week was crazy and I am running around everywhere. I have to get my pants changed again. I think I'm growing taller because I have high waters now! ja ja! I love you all so much! I'm sorry to Bri, Jacey, Aubree, and Aubrey because I haven't been able to write back yet. I don't even know how to mail here . . . But I will try someday! Thanks Abby and Kami for talking to Kevy! That makes be so grateful and happy! I love you girls! Everyone else, well, I haven't heard from you much! But I wish you all luck with everything and I still continue to pray for my friends. Thanks again for everything! I'll write next Monday!

Con Amor.
Elder Blake William Cowan