Amazing Week of Miracles

Dear Family,

First off, Mom, you need to learn how to relax. ha ha! Your letter compared to Dad's cracked me up! You stress too much. You know that causes you to age quicker, right? ha ha! Anyway, I have to say that I am on top of the world right now!!! This week has honestly been so much fun in the missionary field!! Elder Borgersen is honestly my favorite companion already! We can finish each other's sentences!! We always say the same things at the exact same time and we both just want to work and have fun as we do it! He's so great! He has no fear to invite people to Christ and when he doesn't, he looks so uncomfortable. He is just dying to tell everyone about the gospel! I love him!! He's from Oklahoma and we always are making fun of each other's states and saying our own is better than the other's. We do some of the funniest things together but the best part is that we see miracles. Miracles everywhere!!! We teach amazingly together and I have never felt the guidance of the spirit so much in my whole mission! I just don't even know where to start with all the stories. Well, here goes nothing . . .

Alright so on Monday we hit it off with a blast. It was like starting a basketball game with a huge slam dunk! We went to contact a reference of a family and found ourselves talking to the family that lives in front of them, Jorge and Sandra. As we talked a little bit about our message at the gate with Sandra, Jorge kept saying to let us in and to open the gate already! ha ha! So she did. We started to teach the whole family. Their two kids, Leonel and Aylén were there and participating a lot too! Sandra is way catholic and her husband is pretty much atheist although he states to believe in God. We taught them about our relationship with our Heavenly Father and the need to apply the Atonement through baptism to be able to cleanse ourselves of everything. They accepted the challenge for the 3rd of November.

Tuesday was pretty great too! We basically got dragged by the spirit into a lesson. SO we were looking for a house of a less active family when my companion looks at one house and says, "Alright, I know that's not the house we need, but it looks so familiar and just right. . ." So we went. We clapped, and this young woman about 25 years-old comes out with a giant smile! I whispered to my companion, "She's too happy to see us. Watch out, she's a snake I'll bet you 20 pesos." I literally ate my own words. She came up and without even asking to come in, she invited us to pass and talk with her and a friend. Still a little shocked by how nice she was, we hesitated and then walked in. We sat down and began to teach Irma, the young lady, and Blanca, her friend. It was amazing! We barely said our names when Blanca starts talking about needing to be baptized and Irma was just eating everything up. We felt such and amazing spirit there! We only were there for fifteen minutes and we left them with pamphlets of the Restoration. It was so cool to find them!

Wednesday's highlights were a meeting with President in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to and contacted a friend of Gretel, this girl in our ward. We found Ayén, another one, and her mom Yesica. They were so great! We taught the first half of the plan of salvation and we took out the baptism dates for the 27th of this month. Aylén already went to church last week and she absolutely loved it! She wants to be baptized ASAP! We taught another investigator named Felecita. She's this old catholic lady and we actually convinced her to go to church on Sunday! She was telling us at the beginning that she wasn't sure if she wanted to keep studying and mix up her beliefs. But it was miraculous and wonderful how we explained testimony and receiving revelation through church attendance.

Thursday was the beginning of one of the most amazing missionary experiences I've had yet. We had gotten a reference from Hermana Barrionuevo on Monday and we finally were able to go with her to teach Ana Nubolí. Ana is one of the most prepared people I've ever met on the mission. Her husband had been in the hospital for the past two months and we felt the impression that he might be moving onto the spirit world soon. We taught the first half of lesson two, the plan of salvation, with her and talked about the importance of the Atonement and how it is the nucleus of this plan. She easily accepted the baptism commitment and is set for the 27th. She seems very worn out and is looking for help from above. She is so willing to do everything. We were way shocked after that lesson. Had it not been for Hermana Barrionuevo, we would never have found her. That's the key of the members in missionary work. They know the people who are more prepared than going door to door and asking people we don't know. I'll get back to the story of Ana on Saturday and Sunday. . . Also we saw Irma and Blanca again today. We first talked with Irma a bit before Blanca got there and she started to tell us how praying and reading the pamphlet had made such a big change in her life. She told us how she normally suffers from too much stress and a bit of depression but when she was reading and praying, she hasn't felt that anymore! She said that she's just been so peaceful and happy since Tuesday when we left her. She just was loving that! Blanca came and we taught about the restoration and invited them to be baptized but Blanca kind of was scared and Irma, being a follower, denied also. She so wants it, though! They both do, they just are scared to make the commitment without knowing enough.

Friday was weekly planning and we got that done in time to go work in the afternoon. We found this less active family, La familia Zorba, and they're great! They're a younger couple and they both have such a desire to get active again. I'm so excited to get them active again. They're way fun and ready! We also got to have dinner that day which was special and we met the Cruz family who are recently married and way too funny! I almost peed my pants and I was crying so hard because Matias was giving funny marriage advise and teasing his wife big time!

Saturday. Wow, we taught Ana again and she is soooo prepared. The first thing she tells us is that her daughter's birthday is on the 27th, the same day as her baptism date. She said that her daughter had invited her over for lunch that day and Ana told her NO!!!! She said that she has something a lot more important and meaningful to do in the morning and in the afternoon she'll go to spend time with her. What a stud! She just turned down her daughter's birthday to be able to get baptized! Her husband was getting better in the hospital and she was just glowing and was a lot more happy. She wanted to learn everything! We taught the second half of the plan of salvation and she understood it way well and wants to make her family eternal. We also went and taught Jorge and Sandra again. They are great and even read a bit from the Book of Mormon. They are going to be hard to teach because they are only available on the weekends and have a lot of birthday parties and things to do. We'll see what happens.

Sunday just topped everything off! Felecita and Ana both came to church! They loved it too! They were able to only go to sacrament meeting but they both were able to feel of the spirit through all the testimonies of the members. There were so many people too! Like 90 or 100!!! It was the complete opposite of Chascomús! I loved it so much! After church, we were teaching the family of Edith and Gustavo, who Gustavo is a member and lived in Salt Lake for five years, but then we got a text message from Hermana Barrionuevo and it said that Ana's husband had passed away. . . Ana asked us to come by and to share a message with her. We dropped the plans we had and we left right away for her house. We got there and Ana was unusually calm. She was definitely stricken with the loss of her husband, but she was being very strong. Elder Borgersen's and mine feelings were right about that. Anyway, we shared a message about the spirit world and about Ether 12 about trials and that they only strengthen us. She even said one of the most beautiful prayers I've ever hear before. We then gave blessings to all of her children and to her to give them strength and peace during this tough time. It was a tender moment but a testimony to know that our Heavenly Father had prepared her with this knowledge just right before the death of her husband and that she is still willing to go through with everything and she is being strong. She's amazing! She's an example of steadfastness and faith. We spent a little extra time there based on the circumstances and we told her to call us for anything even at two in the morning. She is totally looking to the church for the help and answers that she needs in stead of closing up and pushing everyone away.

I honestly can't fit all of the miracles we saw this week in just one letter. It was an amazing week. We were able to find tons of people, get new baptism candidates and were able to increase in our testimonies. I am so grateful for answered prayers. I am so grateful for this area, Nueve de Abril A. I am so grateful and I can't even describe how strongly I feel the Spirit guiding us every minute of every day. It's amazing! I love the mission. I never want to finish it. I just want to stay here for the rest of my life preaching the gospel and helping people change their lives.

I love you all and I am so grateful for you letters. Look for missionary opportunities. They're everywhere. You'll never regret opening your mouth and sharing these truths with anyone. Well, I am over my time limit, but I had to just tell you all of that. Till next week. Chow!

Elder Blake W. Cowan