Story of Jefferson

Dear Family,

This week has been another trying one. It was a definitely growing time for me though. I was able to have a great talk with my companion about what we want to improve with and we are taking things really seriously here in Chascomús. I really didn't want to go another month without baptizing, but it seems like August will also be a "dry" month even though it's rained a TON!!!! So, the Lord saw it needful that I spend another transfer with Elder Haynie in Chascomús. We have lots of goals and expectations of this transfer. I'm expecting to see a lot of success!!!

So I don't know where to start with this past week. Let's just say I can't wait for the new bikes to get here!!! The bikes have been breaking down every single day, several times a day. From flat tires to breaking spokes, we've seen the works happen in the bicycle shop recently. Also, the rain and mud endure to bother us. I watched a lovely scene when my companion, while I was fixing my bike, tried turning around in the road and the bike slipped out from under him and her crashed into a ditch. And knowing me, the kind and helpful person that I am, I just laughed!! ha ha! Oh I haven't laughed that hard in weeks!! He's totally fine, but it sure cheered me up that day! 

Yes, Mother, when you come, it'll be very cold, wet, muddy, and don't forget, in Spanish!! ha ha! By the way, I've heard of a few parents that wanted to come pick up their sons and weren't able to because of flights and such. Make sure you plan well if you really do intend on coming here.

Anyway, I'm going to tell the coolest story of the week. So I don't remember if I've mentioned anything about Jefferson, but he is was the ray of sun light in our dark week. So I have been praying fervently for a miracle; or rather, a person to cause a difference. I believe the Lord is answering my prayers through Jefferson. So he is 23-years-old and as of seven or eight months, he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. This is a summary of his story:

Jefferson is from Paraguay. There, he lived a wonderfully blessed life. He owned about five companies, had secretaries, assistants, and employees of all types. He drove a a new 2012 Toyota sports car, a big home, and lots of money. He was not the type of person to reach out to others. Very closed. Didn't like average people nor the richer class. He preferred to stay indoors and to work. He was dating the governor's daughter and dumped her because she complained that he wouldn't leave his house. He had only one best friend and he didn't tend to see him very often.

So one day while working at his office, he sees the missionaries walking by and curious, went outside and asked them to come into his office to talk for a moment. There, they chatted for a while, the missionaries explained their purpose and taught him the first lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After the lesson, he asked the missionaries for a Book of Mormon and offered to take them to their next lesson several kilometers away.

As time goes by, Jefferson reads the whole book. He attends church. Does service. Gives references. Even threw a surprise party for one of the elders. He tried to buy them a car even!! He was generous with the members with his abundance and he would buy food, rent a bus on Sunday mornings to go pick up members to go to church and many other activities. He realized that in that time, he was happier giving what he had than keeping it for himself. 

He loved being there with the saints and wanted to join with them, but couldn't. His mother, infuriated by his decision to join a church, began to complain and when he didn't listen, she took away his businesses, his cars, and his money. She left him on the street with nothing to do and all of this because he wouldn't deny his testimony. So he gathered his things, bought a plane ticket and left to Argentina to get baptized. 

Now he has no money. Keeps getting robbed by his job, the house where he's staying and anything bad that could happen, is happening to this poor kid. He's got ten pesos to his name and has gotten to the point of house hopping, sleeping outside in the cold, and even begging for bits of food. He came to church on Sunday and saw that we were a total of 16 people. He then told me of why he chose to come to the small city of Chascomús. He said that when he was praying to know where to go so he could bless someone's life with his testimony, he looked up at the map of Buenos Aires, Argentina and saw the name of Chascomús. He felt prompted to come here to help. 

Well, he came and is already contacting the people and wants to prepare himself to serve a mission. He has a grandfather in Brazil with the money to serve and he wants to get as prepared as possible! So now he'll study and work with us! Meanwhile, we store his money in our pench so it doesn't get stolen any more and we keep praying and looking for a possible home for him.

I honestly believe he is the answer to my prayers! He's so excited to work and I feel like he will be the way to talk to the people easier and to baptize more! He wants to baptize SO badly! But I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father that he hears and answers my prayers. I have been blessed with His love so many times when I didn't deserve it and now more than ever!

Anyway, some other investigators that are still progressing really well are Zoe and Marisa (who's nickname is Nona) are so excited to get baptized!! Every time we go over, they are singing about going to church and getting baptized! It's amazing! Although they are only 10 and 8 years old, they are so smart! They know so much of the Bible and of our lessons. That's thanks to Zoe's mom who reads with them and helps them learn. Marisa comes from a very dysfunctional family. Her father in a drunkard and they have no job. They live in a tin house with dirt as floor. She lives basically at Zoe's to escape her reality at home. It's sad. But hopefully we'll be able to teach her parents and change their lives. Marisa's brother Carlitos is now studying with us too and he really likes it! Hopefully we can baptize him too!

Well, I'm out of time. It was a hard week for all of the trials we faced. One being the epidemic that is hitting Chascomús. Everyone is sick with the fever and chills except me and now my companion now that he's better. Well, family and friends, I love you all! I miss you but I'm so happy here in the mission field. My mission means everything to me. It changed my life and continues to do so as I help others change theirs. The Redeemer of the world lives and he directs this work. I hope you have an amazing week! 

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Rain, Rain and More Rain!

Dear Family,

I'll admit now, this letter will be really short. I spent a lot of time writing my president this week. I am very excited for this new start of a week! I got to wake up early, go on a run, clear my head a bit and I have done a lot of praying lately. I have been falling asleep on my knees lately. Ouch . . . I have been growing up a lot in this area. Chascomús has tried me in a lot of ways. I am taking advantage to refine myself and make the necessary changes to reach my true potential as a missionary.

Congrats to Kiki! You survived the Dennis reunion!!! ha ha! Those are always so much fun! I miss the old cabin! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!! :) 90 year-old and younger looking too!! Well, I honestly don't know. I haven't seen you in a year and a few months. I love you though! I hope it was everything and more than you had wished for. For your birthday, I'm just going to keep serving the Lord and help in the strengthening of the Kingdom of God. I know that's what you'd really want from each of us, your grandchildren.

Anyway, I loved hearing from Justin this week! It was one of the biggest highlights I've had in a while! Some of the best news I've received from home besides the crazy changes like an engagement.

Well, let's start talking about the week a little bit before I have to go. So we weren't having too much luck with our investigators this week. The rain causes problems. It has rained non stop ALL week! There are flooded houses, streets, and anything that can hold water is overflowing! SO that means that everyone's schedules were ruined and they all weren't home, or wanted to refix the lessons we had fixed previously. SO we didn't get to teach many this week.

We did get to teach Zoe and Marisa! These two girls are so much fun! They're about 10 and they are the cutest little best friends and have the grandest desire to learn more about our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Zoe's mom is a member and she is very supportive of them learning and getting baptized. They are so fun to teach because they love it so much and just eat up any information that we can give them. My companion is pretty happy teaching them too because he always understanding better what we are talking about and contributes more to the lessons. They will be baptized in September easily! We are going to try and baptize the girls and try to invite the father, who is very kind, to listen to everything and go to the baptism so he can feel the spirit and have a desire to do the same! :)

SO we all need to pray for Ludmila this week! We are trying to get her baptized this weekend and she has only had a few short lessons and it's all very complicated lately! Since she lives in the orphanage, it'll be hard to do the interview with her. I really want to see her get baptized so that we can end August on a real high note! Plus, I have been feeling like I'm leaving in the middle of training. Next week is the transfer meeting and I have been impressed to really focus on preparing my companion a lot so that he can know the area and get along just fine here. We'll see what happens. 

We had an amazingly spiritual zone conference the other day and it was all about reaching our potential individually as missionaries. It was exactly what I needed in the moment! I am so excited and ready to give my all! The bummer of the zone conference was that we went so late that I couldn't get to the bus or get a distance taxi in time. Neither did the elders and hermanas in Dolores. SO we all had to stay the night in the Plata! Elder Armstrong, Elder Brown, Elder Haynie, and I had to share two tiny mattresses Friday night and it was the worst night of my life! I didn't sleep just about anything. Then we had to travel back to Chascomús and we almost missed the stop because I was sleeping and then we crashed in the pench for a few hours because we hadn't slept the night before and then we went out to work and the bikes broke, then we had to go help clean the church. SO, we didn't get much done. 

Sunday was pretty good! We had 33 in sacrament meeting. We had a few lessons and then finished the day cutting our hair with Paola and she told me all the drama in her life and we had so much laughing about things. She's like one of my bestest friends and she's 33 years old and I only met her about three months ago!

Well, I'm out of time. I got to go! I love you all so much! Thanks for all the letters! I am so happy being a missionary! It's the best. I had a dream that Mom and Dad came to get me and I cried thinking about finishing the mission. I am no where ready to start the count down yet. I can't believe it's more than half way over. 

Till next week,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Temple Open House

Dear Family,

Well, here goes another letter. I swear I was just here about two days ago writing. This past week went by all too fast! I can't believe how the time goes on the mission. This past week was the first week of the temple open house and I was blessed enough to go twice this past week! And holy cow . . . It's amazing! It is HUGE!!!! It made Mesa look like a McDonald's play ground! ha ha! I was surprised by the immense size of it! I'll send some pictures. So that was basically the theme of this week.

Starting with Monday night, we were blessed to find two more candidates for baptism. The brother of Alejandra, Luis and his wife, Constanza are now taking the lessons and want to learn a lot! We only were able to do a quick overview of the Restoration with them but Luis is pretty determined to become closer to God and they just had a baby girl only two weeks previously! Her name is Kiera. She's adorable!!! But anyway, we did a rough overview of the Restoration with them and they liked it a lot! They just need to start reading and praying. That same night we saw Gabriel and he said that Alejandra was sick from her pregnancy. But he said that he had been reading and loves the Book of Mormon and wants us to give him a few days to read more! So we gave him till Friday. Unfortunately, the past two or three times we have gone by to teach them, they have been sleeping, working, or not there. We haven't been able to teach them this past week. I REALLY want to find them this week! They need more spiritual food! ha ha!

Continuing on, Tuesday was an odd district meeting. The hermanas weren't there because they were at the temple open house working and so it was only the elders of Dolores and us. It was also a review meeting over one of the principles of PMG so it was kind of short. Afterward, we went to the pench of the elders and we all helped make lunch and then played cards for a while till our bus came and it was time for the elders to go out and work. It was great bonding time and super fun! At night, we tried to go find a few new investigators but nobody was home. We ended up going to Adrian's house late and spending time with his son, Jonathon, trying to convince him to go to the open house with us on Wednesday. He didn't budge. Then Adrian and Paola showed up accompanied by Ezekiel, the one kid who had gotten drunk the last time we went there. Anyway, we talked a lot about what we do in temples and why they are important and I shared my personal conversion story with them. It was great! Adrian was listening to every word and he always has such a desire to learn more about it. When I began to talk about the idea of eternal families. Ezekiel, whose sister has recently passed away, ripped out some paper and started to take notes on what I was saying. He decided that he wanted to come with us to the temple on Wednesday! Perfect.

So, Wednesday morning, Adrian went to pick up Paola and the others and came to get us last of all. They came late and I was dying wanting to get going! I was waiting by the window and going crazy with excitement! I couldn't wait to go! ha ha! Well, they finally came and we headed out on the journey. On the way, we saw an accident. A truck driver had fallen asleep and rolled his truck off the road. He wasn't hurt at all, but the whole truck was smashed and upside down. Unfortunately, the Argentine people are very disrespectful of things and in a matter of minutes, the people had scrambled onto the scene and started to take whatever they could manage to load into their trucks or in their hands. Everything was gone in a matter of minutes. And the poor driver still shocked couldn't do anything. It was so sad and I wanted to go out and help the man, but I couldn't. Anyway, we kept driving and stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. We didn't eat anything, but we sat and talked with Adrian for a while as he talked about how the problem of Argentina is the people and the corruptness of the government. Back in the car we headed off to the temple. After about a two hour drive of lots of laughs and fun stories, we made it. I will always remember Paola when she saw the angel Moroni for the first time in her life. She had never been to the temple before. She saw the temple and began to cry.

We got lost trying to figure out how to get off the freeway for a while, but then we got into the parking lot and we got out to start our adventure. Paola cried the whole time. When we watched the preview video of the temple and the explanation of the ordinances. Adrian and Ezekiel were sitting next to me and they were locked into the video! After the video, we got our guides and started our way onto the tour. The guide was this sweet older man. He bore his testimony throughout the whole visit. It was amazing. Paola was having such an amazing experience and it showed. Everyone kept asking me if she was an investigator and they were really happy to see her have such a great experience. For me, the best part was when we walked into the celestial room and there was such a feeling of peace. We weren't rushed on our tour so we were able to sit and enjoy the spirit of the temple. The last room we visited was the sealing room. There, we paused for a moment and the guide bore the sweetest testimony of the sealing power and of his family and wife. He had each person look into the mirrors to see the infinite amount of images and explained that the plan of our Heavenly Father is like that. Eternal. At that moment, Ezekiel felt the spirit and he began to try and hold back his tears.

After the tour, we went to the commentary tent were they were able to talk to many missionaries and fill out cards and get a few refreshments. I found myself there with President and Sister Gulbrandsen, the mission president of the north mission, and we talked all about their mission so far and about our families. It was super fun to see some people from back home! I tried to get a picture with them but they had already left to lunch by the time I had my camera. I had a great talk with Paola and with Adrian in the tent about the temple and they both could feel the spirit so much! Outside with Ezekiel, I was able to talk to him about baptism and about his sister and how she's waiting for him to go and do her work. It really hit him. Now, we need to sit him down and help him understand a bit more and to put his life in order. Too bad he lives in my FIRST AREA!!! He is from the area of Tomás Flores!!! I was kicking myself because I know exactly where he worked and everything! I don't know if you remember, but back in Tomás Flores, we were on the bus one day when all these kids came from behind a magazine rack and boarded onto the bus for free. Well, Ezekiel runs that magazine booth! He remembered when that happened too! ha ha! Crazy. I wish I could go teach him there too and not only when he is here in Chascomús to work during the week. Anyway, the whole temple experience was amazing! We had a blast and everyone who went felt the spirit!

Thursday and Friday, we taught a few families about the temple. They were kind of average days. On Saturday we went to the temple with the ward and it was PACKED! And raining! It wasn't near as special this time but it was fun to be with the branch and to bring Pte. Cignoli's little sister with us and teach her about the temple. She's 12 and isn't a member. We'll see what happens with her.

On Sunday, we were a grand total of 29. Went down again. . . I had to teach the elders quorum and give a talk and unfortunately, my companion was throwing up all the day before and he felt terrible. After church, we stayed in the pench and we weren't able to work. I read a lot of Jesus the Christ, watched a worldwide leadership broadcast dvd that I found cleaning the other day, and I did the datos and announcements till bed time. I was pretty bored, though, after a while.

My comp feels a lot better now and we are excited to be in our area and ready to work! I really want to teach our baptism fechas and to find new people this week. We are going to focus a lot on the goals this week. I'm super excited to work this week! 

Well, I honestly loved all the letters and emails that I got this week. RJ finally has his mission call and Dallin is really close to his! Whew!! ha ha! I am so happy! I can't wait to talk to RJ in Spanish!! It'll be super fun! I'm going to be away from him for a long long time, though! We'll be overlapping badly! Also, I loved hearing from Trevor and Kevin. I'm still waiting for Justin though. I'm sorry about all the misfortunes that happened this past week though! I hope things get better! I'm praying for you.

Well, I better get going. Time's up. I miss you all even though I don't want to finish the mission! I am sad that I'm coming up on my 13th month in just two weeks! I just wish the time would slow down! Les amo a todos!!! Cuídense mucho! Chow!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Miracles Happen

Dear Family,

Well, I still haven't heard from Trevor yet. I understand he's all lovey dovey with Kiki right now though. Woo!!! I had an interesting week. It was full of funny moments, tough moments, and really spiritual moments and all the hard work paid off! But first, to answer a few questions, first, no I didn't know that Emily Blair has a baby!! And Taylor's getting married?! So weird. We have had to spend a lot of time teaching less actives and the active members to strengthen the branch. President told me that if I couldn't raise the asistance [attendance] of this area, he was going to close it. So we have gone from 12 to 36 in two months. Pretty good. Could be better though . . . But I'm grateful! We recently have started to teach more investigators this week. We found a few and they are amazing! I'll talk about them later. But it is a trial every day and it is currently the most difficult area in our mission according to the president. The area is a small city by a lagoon that is mainly a tourist pass by or a spend the night and keep traveling type place. It reminds me of where we stayed in Canada a bit. Very calm and there's not much around. In about fifteen minutes we can already be out of the city and into the giant plains. It's a big cattle farming area too. It's fairly cold too because of the moisture we get from the lagoon that is about five blocks from our apartment. We can go several days without seeing the sun and in the mornings and at night the fog is so thick you can't see the other side of the street! It isn't a poor area although there are poor families. The general living standard here is way above that of Tomás Flores closer to Buenos Aires. We aren't even considered the providence of Buenos Aires I don't think. . . People regard Chascomús as it's own place. It's great though! the people are a little proud though. They don't as readily accept the message like the humble people in the villas.

Alright, enough about the area. It's time to talk about some events this past week and about the investigators/members we've taught. So starting with Yolanda and Javier. Recent converts as of about a year ago, they are struggling a lot with money and just trying to feed their children. We have been humbled by them and seeing their strong testimonies. The trial we had this week with them is that on Javier was mad for a few things he sees in the branch that are wrong and he was discouraged, not sure if he was going to keep going to church. We visited them and resolved all problems and doubts and ended up laughing together. Their kids can't pronounce my name so they call me Elder Escoba! ha ha! That means broom in catellano and it's cute! These kids are so loving! Their daughter is unbelievably cute and I want to steal her! The saddest thing is that when we leave she cries so hard because I have to leave! It breaks my heart every time. Well, anyway, Javier has a daughter living in an orphan home because they can't afford her. Sad, huh? but she is now able to come with them to church on Sundays and we are teaching her. Her name is Ludmila. She's going to be baptized in about two weeks and we have only one time to teach her!!! I'm not sure how we're going to be able to do that. . . Anyway, she is very smart and has a desire to be sealed to her family and she's only 9!!!! What an example! I love her! She's super fun and loves us a lot. She ran over in the middle of testimony meeting to come sit by us and she was showing us the pictures she likes of Jesus and the prophets. Isn't she great? She'll be baptized, the family will get out of poverty, they'll be able to go to the temple and be sealed and it's just an adorable story all around. I'll send pictures of them soon! And this is the family that Elder Narvaez didn't want to visit because he said it was a waste of our time. . . Sure. ha ha!

So the other baptism we're hoping for would be Matias. He's very hard to teach. He's 10 and loses interest very fast. I'm not sure what we can do to help him. We told him on Saturday we were going to pick him up for church and then he slept in at his grandmas house and couldn't make it. It was a bummer, but we'll try to get him more excited to go to church and to listen more reverently. His mother isn't the best example, though, either. She does want to go to church, but she would rather stay with her boyfriend on Sundays. We're trying really hard to help them.

Alright now here's the best part of the week. Alejandra and Gabriel!!!! They're so amazing! SOOO prepared it is great. Ok, here we go. So on Wednesday we had plans to go find a bunch of old investigators and we were looking for Alejandra's brother, Luis. But we found them instead because Luis was working. So we go in without much insisting at all and we began to talk to them about their knowledge of the church. It turns out that Alejandra grew up in the house next door to the church and she used to go often as a little girl and played soccer on the field we have. For some problems, they had to move a little farther away. Anyway, we began teaching a lesson about how much our Heavenly Father really loves us. We were using the pamphlets and teaching, trying to apply every principle to them! At first they were confused as to why we were there and we explained why and, using some of the points from Preach my Gospel, we were able to show them how our message is important, centered in Christ and how to improve their lives. The TV was on and they were paying attention to it and us about equally in the beginning, but then we started asking some questions to get their interest. The inspired question that changed EVERYTHING was, "Have you ever felt the love of God in your life before? No, not really. Would you like to feel that? . . . silence . . ." Wow! The atmosphere changed. Their eyes were locked onto us. The television was obsolete. They listened, feasted on the words we began to share with them. Skillfully, we only gave them a portion of what they wanted to have them want more and more of this message. We explained how God loves us and how he gave His only begotten Son for each of us to be able to live with him again. And for that reason, we also have to Gospel - the things that Jesus Christ wants us to do in this life period. The questions touched their hearts and the room was filled with that amazing sweet spirit that speaks peace to the soul. We committed them to read the pamphlets and that we were going to come back on Friday. Gabriel offered his first prayer in his life to end the lesson and it brought a choking sensation and a tear to his eye. He was touched already by that amazing spirit, the Holy Ghost. We left the house speechless. Our excitement burst out after a few short moments and turning around the block. We were hugging each other and praising the Lord as the Sons of Mosiah had! It was awesome! 

Thursday was all too long. We didn't enter into a single home. It rained all day and we got unbelievably muddy. The bikes broke down. Elder Haynie's chain popped off 7 times. It was great though for our companionship and we quoted a talk we read the other day, "How lucky are we! We get to suffer in behalf of our Lord and King!" 

Friday came. Unfortunately, they weren't there. They left to a family member's house and partly worked too. Thursday repeated itself.

Saturday was filled with visits to members and trying to help them go to church. 

Sunday rolled around as it usually does with it's fasting hunger pains and nervous stomachs wondering if we would have success that day. The fasting payed off and the blessing poured through! We had 36, a new record here, in sacrament meeting! Rebekah came. Paola came. Slightly made amends, enough to keep assisting [attending] and not fight, and we had a wonderful lesson with Ludmila and her family after the sacrament service. We ate lunch with the branch president, President Cignoli, and we ended up spending a long time their helping him feel better because he was very heavy hearted with several things. He has had such a hard life lately and is exhausted. After some uplifting words, we parted to find Alejandra and Gabriel one more time. We went, we entered in, we taught, the Spirit returned instantly, and lo and behold, two more baptismal commitments! 

The lesson consisted in reviewing a bit of what they had read, talking to a few members of the family, and then teaching about the Apostasy and Restoration. We had planned to use the DVD, but for some reason, it failed. We taught the Joseph Smith Story with such clarity that it made so much sense to them! The need for a prophet and the power and authority of god - they could see the essential necessity of the two. We asked them to be baptized on the first of September and they accepted with joy! Alejandra recounted her desire when she was nine to be baptized in the church, but her parents, being Catholic of descent, denied her plea. Gabriel's enthusiasm also was apparent. He told us of how he's searched through other churches and never found what he looked for. He thinks that he has found it. They are going to read and pray from the Book of Mormon. 

Miracles happen. When the Spirit takes the lead in the lessons, that's when to earth begins to shake and the lighting strikes with deafening thunder, according to Elder Holland. Angels are on the Earth. They prepare the hearts of men to here this grand, restored message of hope of a Saviour. The Atonement works. A young boy really did see God the Father and His Son in a vision. The truth is back. 

As you have read, you can see we're happily working away. The Lord is comforting us in our afflictions and we have been able to use the tools the Lord has provided to work this part of His vineyard. I love you all and am thankful for the great example my family has shown to me and in helping me discover my personal testimony of this work. Stay strong, remember the Redeeming One, and serve others. Charity never faileth. Have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan