Four Baptisms!

Dear Family,

Be ready for another really short letter. I'm sorry, but I honestly have about five minutes to write today because it is a holiday here in Argentina and we couldn't find any computer stores to write our families. But thanks for the amazing letters this week! Honestly, they were the best letters I've had in a while! :)

Anyway, I'll start with some bad news first. So on Friday night I get a phone call and Elder De Oliveira tells me that his companion, Elder Albornoz, had a seizure. It was almost 9:00 pm but we talked to President Stapley and we got permission and took off for the hospital in Monte Grande. It results out to be that he had it while in the bus and it was very violent. On top of the bad situation, a woman came up trying to give him water to drink cause she was freaking out and that is the exact opposite of what you should do while having a seizure!! Anyway, the bus driver took him directly to the hospital. When we got there, he was a mess. He had dirt all over him and was having a lot of pain in his head. We took care of him until his companion and one of the couple missionaries could come to the hospital. We got home really late, around 11:30 that night. Elder Albornoz only asked for one thing though. He asked that we pray so that he can stay in the mission. . . I already had a bad feeling about it though. With further investigation, we find out that this is not the first in the mission, but the ninth!! President called church headquarters and they ordered him to send him home immediately. It's a miracle he could even stay on the mission this long. Church policy is if it happens one time, the missionary is sent home. End of story. So, he finished his mission today with five months. He was so sad. President gave us permission to go see him off at his pench. We said bye to him and watched him leave. He should be home in Kordoba, Arg already. It was really hard on all of us. Meanwhile his comp will be in a trio.

Well, the good news is that all of the ares in our zone are working hard and having success and Elder Borgersen and I had an amazing baptism! I'll sent pictures next week though. I don't have time today. It was so spiritual and it was great to see all four of them go through such an amazing experience. I love seeing the change happen when they are baptized. Ana said she felt renewed and the boys all said they felt so great! I can see them as future missionaries someday. I'm so happy for them. 

Alright, well, I have to go now. Thanks for the great letters! I love you all! Take care!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Taught 141 Lessons in Six Weeks!

Dear Family,

Thanks for sending the Christmas package! I'm not sure when I'll get it, but it'll get here. I'm slightly worried about the holidays, though, because I feel as if I might not be in the same area.

With this transfer, we only had a few changes in our zone. Elder Ramos, a young buck who's baptizing tons already, will be coming to help our situation with one elder and the biggest change was that we are taking the elders out of Monte Grande and putting in Hermanas! And guess which two are coming! Hermana Widerburg and Hermana Rodriguez!!! The same ones from my old district! I'm so excited for them!! They'll be doing a white wash, meaning, they both don't know the area and will be starting from nothing! I'm way excited for them and I hope that they can get that area fired up now!

So we will be having four baptisms this Saturday. Ana and her three youngest boys will be getting baptized. We only have to explain tithing and do the interviews. We're really excited for them! We have been working really hard! In six weeks guess how many lessons we taught . . . 141!!! We were teaching a ton!! I knew that we gave it a great effort and now this transfer we have a goal to teach around 190! We're already almost leading the mission as it is, but we want to make sure that we are doing the best and are the best missionaries that we can be and we know we are capable of teaching that many lessons. It'll be a lot to prepare for, though! Sometimes I'm amazed at what we missionaries do day to day and week to week. When you start to add up all the numbers, there's a lot of stuff!!

Alright, this past week was tough getting help from the members. We taught a ton of lessons without their help. We need to get better at that. It really helps us so much to have a member there. Anyway, we were able to have a lot of lessons and to be busy working our buts off! We also have been trying to do a lot more contacts. We decided to make it a goal and we talked to over 60 people this week inviting them to come unto Christ. We are aiming for about 140 in a week. That's a big number, but they say one of every 200 contacts gets baptized and if we are doing that many, I'm sure that we can start baptizing once a week. We need more references, though, from the members. 

So a few investigators that are progressing really well would be Ana and her family, obviously since they're getting baptized. The kids are a bit lazy. The other day they didn't want to wake up from their already two hour long nap and I just went into their rooms (with permission from their mom) and I picked them right out of bed and sat them at the table. Ha ha! I'm not messing around here!!! I know this message is a lot more important than anything else they can be doing. But they come to church and participate when they're not sleeping. Ha ha! Plus their mom is so great! Ana works so hard to get them to church. Pray that they'll remember everything for the interview.

Jesus and Magda are doing alright. We're worried because we can't get them to come to church again. They both are trying so hard to find an answer to their prayers, but they don't understand that they are lacking a key part for them to get that revelation and that is the attendance in church. I know that if they go this week, then they will be baptized in no time. They just haven't been able to see the restored church in action. Last week was Magda's sixteenth birthday and we weren't able to teach them as much as we'd like. But now that seminary is over, we are starting this week to bring a few of the youth with us to the lessons and today we are going to invite Jesus to go play soccer with us and the other missionaries. Hopefully that'll help them out.

So we have had a few crazy experiences with Claudia. She is kind of nuts, but she has been progressing better than any other investigator recently! We invited her to come to the baptism of the other elders in our ward and she came. We invited her to church and she came. We started her on a plan to stop smoking and she is going to struggle big time. I was joking with her that I was going to break all her cigarettes and she went crazy crying and screaming! She only let me break five of the 19 she had though once we delegated it out. She's really nervous and only trusts us two. We don't quite know what to do with her, but if she can stop smoking completely, for a week or two straight, we'll be forced to baptize her. I have no problem baptizing her, we just want her to stay active if we do it. We were looking at some statistics and it's bad. . . this ward here has over 700 members and only 12% are considered active and to be considered active, you have to go to church once within three months! So we're pretty worried about each one of our baptisms trying to make sure they stay active.

Dario and Pricila came to church this week! In all, we had 7 investigators at church. That's a great number! Anyway, their baby stayed quiet the whole time and they really liked it! Dario said that he found the documents and it's possible that they could take out a marriage date this week!!! That would be a miracle. They need a job, though, SOON! They have a big debt and are really worried about it. They are such a great little family, though. They're in one of the pictures I sent this week.

So that's basically the best news from the investigators. We found some new ones and we need time to teach and see if they will progress now. 

Elder Borgersen and I started to do push ups every day again and I am sooo weak! I have been wondering what I'll do when I get home from the mission and I have officially decided I will be working out to get in shape again. Ha ha! I feel so out of shape all the time now! I just imagine what coach Alexander would say and I'm embarrassed! Ha ha! So anyway, we are working out quite a bit now!

Alright, well since today is Carly's birthday, I have to wish her happy birthday from my email! Feliz Cumple!!!! :) Missionary age now!! Hope it's a great day!

Well, that's all I got for this week. We'll be busy with lots of meetings and lessons. Elder Arnold will be coming to drop the cane on us in a bit and we want to have a good looking zone before he gets here. Ha ha! Thanks for all you do! Good luck with all the wedding stuff! I'm excited to see pictures! :)

Love you all!!!

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Be Bold and Expect Miracles

Dear Family,

Well, this past week (and month, and year) have flown by! I can't believe I'm already writing you again. Before I know it, I'll be talking with you all by skype. So, this past week we taught even more lessons, we didn't find many people, but we are getting ready for some baptisms. Our zone is struggling. We have the goal of 10 confirmations and it looks like we'll only have three. Elder Borgersen and I have looked at our investigators and have come up with a plan. We may be able to baptize 7 in two weeks on the 24th. It'd take a miracle for the seventh though. It could be Jesús, Magda, Ana, Emanual, Daniel, Kevin, and Aylén. Aylén would be our miracle baptism. But we need them all to attend church this next week or none can get baptized. . . We need miracles. Elder Borgersen and I are going to sacrifice Pdays, language study time, and maybe even fast three times a week to pull this off. We don't want our zone to not make the goal. And President expects a ton from us too. Pray for these people and for us. Our motto is "Be Bold and Expect Miracles."

So, last week on Monday, Irma wasn't there, but we passed by later and she treated us quite hostile. We dropped her. We're going to pass by some other time to see if she notices the difference in her life without the spirit from our lessons. Later, we went over to Jesús's and Magda wasn't able to come. So we taught him the Word of Wisdom and he totally liked it! He later went to Magda's and he taught it to her. She liked it too!! And then the rest of the day we walked around trying to find someone without luck. But it was only an hour, so no worries there.

Tuesday started out with a zone training meeting. Elder Borgersen and I decided to reteach some of the things that Pres had shared with us at the leadership council. It went over pretty well except for when one of our district leaders, Elder Ayala, started complaining about something. It set a terrible example for the other missionaries in the zone. We talked to him about it later on that night and he felt bad for having done so. He's a great missionary though. He only has a month and a half left on the mission. In the afternoon we were able to teach some great lessons to Ana, Pricila, and some other people. Pricila is progressing soooo well!!! Ana too!!!

So, on Wednesday we were able to teach Jesús again. Magda had to leave to buy something and we didn't teach her again. But she sends us texts asking for when we are going to come by and when church is. She's way interested still. We taught him the law of chastity and he loved it! We taught him how to pray to overcome temptations too. Those two are so great! Future missionaries! :) We also did an exchange that day. I stayed in my area with Elder De Oliveira from Brazil, but he speaks way good Spanish for a Brazilian, though. He and his companion are struggling quite a bit in their area. We were trying to help them find and to have courage as they do contacts and when they teach.

Thursday was a crazy day! We had to do another exchange to be able to do an interview for Elder Anderson and Elder Bradshaw. So I left to their area with Elder Bradshaw. We taught some great lessons, but the highlight was definitely when I was doing the interview. Elio and Magali were the candidates. Elio had taken the decision and wanted to be baptized. Magali was a little wishy washy still. I still decided to interview her, though. In our talk, I showed her that she was extremely prepared. Long story made short, I promised her right then and there that if she prayed then she would get an answer from God in that very instant. She did. As she asked our Heavenly Father for an answer, she was overcome with emotion and felt the truth of the message. It was an amazing moment and how my calling has given me so much authority and power. I know that the Lord works though his missionaries to bring to pass miracles.

Friday was a little more tough. We had a lot of walking to do. Luckily we had a huge drop in temperature though! It's been REALLY hot lately with 100% humidity and it dropped about thirty degrees on Friday. :) Love it! Anyway, the greatest part of the day was with our neighbor Pricila. We taught her and her boyfriend, Dario and we taught them about the plan of salvation and the importance of our families. Pricila earlier was telling us how she's never going to get married, but now we have her thinking about it. Dario is all for it! For the past few days we keep leaving them jokes, and notes telling them to get married and they are seriously talking about it now, until last night when they decided that maybe today they'll go to the registro civil and take out a turn to go get married within a month! woo!!!! Such a big change and it might actually happen. More baptisms. :)

Saturday was great too! We have three couples getting married soon. Juan and Jazmin, Pricila and Dario, and last Sol and Diego. They're all surprising us and they are all trying to get it done! More baptisms! More eternal families! More happiness!! Nothing is better than uniting complete families. :) 

Sunday we had five investigators in sacrament meeting. The afternoon was great also! I'm out of time, but I hope you understand how much I love each of you. I have had such a warmth in my heart lately that goes out to my family and friends. I may be far away, but you're all still close in my heart. Love and miss you!

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Busy Week--Taught 25 Lessons!

Dear Family,

Real short letter, Mom . . .NOT! Ha ha! I love how you say that you're only going to write a little bit and then you end up writing a novel every single time! I love it. :) And Mom, Dad, stop calling Kevy when he's with that cutie!! Just let him get that kiss!!! ha ha! Poor kid. . . Anyway, sounds like you all never stop traveling. Every week someone is out of town!! Well, this is the start of Elder Borgersen's six months to sexy/six months to sanctified. He just turned 18 months yesterday in the mission and we are dedicated to getting him slimmer to go home in six months! ha ha! SO we went out to run this morning. :) Nothing better than starting the day with a good run! I need to start to do ab work outs and squats because I need to get a head start on mine. . . ha ha! Well, anyway, this week we taught twenty five lessons. . . I don't think I'll be able to tell you them all. But that was also with a big zone leader meeting on Wednesday and doing two exchanges. Needless to say, we're REALLY busy here! In fact, last night Elder Borgersen and I just crashed because we were so tired. We were so wiped out!

Alright, last Monday was way fun being with the zone playing soccer and all, but then in the night we were walking around quite a bit just trying to find someone to teach. But we did have a pretty decent lesson with Irma. She had a friend over and we taught the first lesson over again. It was a good review for her. 

Tuesday was better. We taught a great lesson with a recent convert, Miriam and we cheered her up big time. She had been crying a lot and we helped her feel the spirit again. We got to see Ana and taught her about the ten commandments and the Word of Wisdom. She smoked a little bit and didn't want to give it up, but by the end she decided it was the right thing to do. We talked to her son-in-law and he smokes sometimes up to three packs a day. That's 60 cigarettes a day!! That's sooo much money, time, and health just wasted. I don't think he's willing to give it up. He doesn't have the will to even try. We also saw some other members and invited them to go to the stake conference this past weekend, one being Jazmin. She just had her baby two weeks ago and is sooo great! We're getting her and her boyfriend married within the next month or two and we'll baptize her husband, Juan Andino.

Wednesday we had Consejo de Lideres. All the zone leaders went to the mission home and we had a council to discuss things about the mission and to plan things and receive guidance from the pres and the assistants. It was an awesome meeting!! They paid for breakfast and lunch and an afternoon snack for us! SOO cool! I love President Stapley. He has such a sweet spirit about him and is such a kind and loving man. He is the most involved man I've ever met in the plan of salvation. Everything he does is to be an example and to help people come unto Christ. Anyway, I learned a lot and it makes me feel weird to be one of the leaders. That means I'm getting old. And what scared me even more is that I could only have two more comps and then be done with the mission!!! Or even one! It's going by too fast. I can't believe I've already been here in this area for a month. Oh well, I just have to make the best of the time I have left.

Well, we had a lesson with Jesus y Magda on Wednesday in the afternoon. We had prayed a lot for them and we started off just explaining that that was a weird Sunday and we begged them for one chance more at church so that they can see what a real Sunday is like. They accepted!!!!! Yeah, we were pretty relieved after that. We taught them and they're still really excited to keep learning more! 

On Thursday we attempted to cook an original Argentine BBQ with a family by ourselves and we failed miserably. The dad left and it was us and the daughters and we ended up throwing it all into the oven to finish cooking it. ha ha! But it was fun! We've been eating lots of asados (BBQ's) lately. They're soo good though!! :) I sent a good picture of the meat on the grill! In the afternoon we were able to start an exchange and I left to Monte Grande to help out Elder Davidson who is comps with Elder Narvaez right now. We did planning together and worked our butts off. It was great! It really helped him quite a bit. I was excited to see him grow. He's fairly new in the mission and is going to be an amazing missionary. 

On Friday we did another exchange with the Elder's de Luis Guillòn! That's my boy Elder Anderson and Elder Bradshaw. I went back to my area in 9 de Abril and worked with Bradshaw. He's got 11 months in the mission and still hasn't baptized yet. . . He's been with some tough companions who weren't really obedient, but he really wants to be a successful elder! He just never was given the opportunity to be so. But he learned a lot and we were working super hard together. We had some tough lessons with Felecita and with Irma. They're being stubborn and don't want to change. We are giving them one week more and then dumping them.

On Saturday I was finally reunited with my comp. We missed each other. I honestly love Elder Borgersen so much! He's my favorite companion I've had yet! He's taught me a ton and we have had so many great miracles and experiences together. Saturday we had another one. While looking for another family, we did a contact and we found Graciela and two of her kids, Pricila and Lautaro. We taught an amazing lesson! She was just soaking it up like a sponge and accepted everything! We took out the baptismal commitment and she wants to try out Moroni's Promise soo badly. It was an amazing experience! 

On Sunday we had stake conference and the building was soo full that the missionaries all lost their seats! We had to stand the whole time and we missed a few talks. But it was amazing! a general authority came and spoke for 45 minutes about members helping in missionary work! It was awesome! None of our investigators came to church, though. They all chickened out going alone, or were too busy doing other things. We're really praying for next week, though. We need a miracle with Church attendance.

Well, we had a very busy week and this week should be even MORE busy. We are going to be working all week and we're going to try and teach more lessons than any other companionship in the mission!! We're thinking about 35 - 40! :) That's a ton! In one month we have now taught 89 lessons. We're averaging like 22 or something like that. 

Pray for your own missionary experiences. Talk about temples when buying wedding stuff. That's a great contact tool! Well, I'm out of time. I'll talk to you all next week! Love you!! 

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan