Last Letter

Dear Family,

I honestly would rather not write this letter because I know it means the end of a great experience. My mission has meant everything to me. I can't believe how blessed I've been. This past week we had a great variety of experiences. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow were shed many a times.

So this week we had a zone conference to meet the new mission president. After an uplifting introduction, they interviewed us all and then we, the zone leaders, were able to take some time to teach our missionaries. My zone is the biggest of the mission. We are now at 20 missionaries! And we're going to receive even more! Anyway, Elder Romero and I taught a very powerful workshop and we got the missionaries very excited to work. After the conference, President Thurgood invited me to have my exit interview. It was quite the experience!! I thought that it was going to be very awkward, but I was wrong. I'm really sad now that I won't have more time to be with him. So in the interview we talked about my mission and about going home. We had a very spiritual experience that seemed as if we had known each other all of our lives. We laughed, cried, and embraced as if we were best friends. It was truly an amazing experience. My favorite advice he gave me was the following: "Now when my son got home from his mission, his stake president told him that after two years of fasting, even a tuna fish sandwich looks delicious! I think he took it too seriously because he's turning 33 next month and he's still not married! SO don't look for a perfect woman because there aren't any!" ha ha! I loved that. Now my comp and I call girls tuna fish sandwiches. :)

Alright, the Montaño family has made me go nuts this week. There were a few nights I honestly couldn't even sleep. On Wednesday, my comp went to teach then during an exchange and it went really well, but when we returned on Friday it seemed as if they had forgotten everything they have ever learned! They didn't remember that their baptism was this coming Saturday. They didn't remember the plan of salvation, nor the restoration very well! We realized it has to do with the money they lent to the man that still hasn't paid them. They were so stressed out with that that they have been forgetting other things. So on Friday we had to start teaching everything over again. Saturday we went and ate with them and then taught them more. They weren't very sure about baptism. . . yesterday, Sunday, only their 13 year old son came to church. He loves everything about the church, but his parents had argued in the morning and didn't come, so in the afternoon we went with our ward mission leader, Hermano Cicilino, and the quorum president, Hermano Choque, to sing a hymn and bear testimonies and express our love for them. We sang “Love at Home” and we started to bear our testimonies and these members that we brought just opened their hearts and emitted a spirit so beautiful that touched the hearts of this family. They could feel the spirit and received a testimony of the uniting power of the gospel in the family. It was amazing! Now we have a family night planned with the quorum president, Hermano Choque, and with the Montaño family today and tomorrow an activity in the church and they're going to go to them both! That's huge! Johny is so shy that it's almost a phobia. But now there is a chance that they can get to baptism on Saturday or at least on Sunday. I was so happy for that! So pray for Johny, Nancy, Braian, and Dilan so that they can be baptized this week! It's the only thing I need to be able to finish the mission happily!

Oh, on Wednesday, after the zone conference, the train service went on strike and there were no trains all day. . . chaos. . . we had to take three buses and use the mission office car to get us back to our area! It was ridiculous! Ha ha! Thankfully it was only one day! But in all, it took us about four hours to do a trip that usually is only an hour and a half and standing up the whole time! It was terrible, ha ha! There's lots of strikes in Argentina. I remember that Hermana Thurgood was really shocked. I sat down with her at lunch and explained to her not to worry because Argentine's are a lot of talk. They bark, but they never bite.

Alright, I'm sorry I didn't share more experiences this week. I'm a little rushed today and I'm trying to answer all of Mom's questions. :) ha ha! But, I'm sure it is sufficient for you all since I'll be seeing you very soon. I love you all! Remember to be missionaries!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Last Mission Birthday

Dear Family,

Ok I don't have much time today, luckily not much happened this past week. Ha ha! It was another one of those meeting weeks. The biggest change is that President Stapley is now at home in Bountiful Utah and President Thurgood is here! I met him on Saturday as we went to help one of our areas pull off an amazing miracle baptism to help with the zone goal. He already speaks decently and is younger than Stapley. He is having a hard time getting used to the Argentine Spanish, though. He couldn't understand my accent the other day, ha ha!

What a bummer that must have been to try and get the carpet dry and everything. I honestly have no clue what I would have done. Wow. the only carpet I've seen in two years is the carpet from the mission home which isn't anything amazing, ha ha! Argentina is all dirt and concrete.

This past week we were only able to visit one family every single day due to the amount of meetings that we've been having. I've been having to get up everyday at five in the morning to get there in time and then we kept getting back to the pench late because we wanted so desperately to work. So I'm exhausted from not sleeping much.

An update with Ovidio. He's a changed man!! We had a family night with him on Saturday and his wife expressed how happy she is to see this man change so much. He's not arguing, he's now cleaning the house, helping in the kitchen, helps with the kids, and is becoming a family man. Now he smiles and laughs and enjoys our visits a lot more! I'm soo happy to see this man change. He still doesn't understand the importance of what he did that day when he got baptized. I'm sure he will when he's ready to enter the temple with his family, though.

We weren't able to see the Montaño family this past week. That scared me. They didn't come to church for some reason, but they are going to explain tonight. I'm sure it had to do with a bad relationship they have with a family that they had lent money to, though. I'm sure they'll make it to their baptism still. They've already come to church three times and they can still come one more time before baptism so they are more than prepared.

My birthday was odd, ha ha! I'm 21 now. The ward celebrated it after an activity Friday night and again last night! Ha ha! I've got some great videos to show when I get home.

Well, I have to go. I only get to write one more time, so make sure you have all your final questions ready. I love you all! I love this work. I'm sure going to miss it, but for now I need to take advantage of the time that I still have. These last two weeks will the best of my whole mission! :)

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Ovidio Baptism

Dear Family,

So the ankle is doing better. It still hurts if I try to twist it or if I push on some spots, but the inflammation finally went down on Thursday. I'm feeling much better now. This past week was miraculous! We had a baptism and a variety of things happening! This week we are hoping for even more! This week is filled with so many events it's ridiculous. First off, we have a zone meeting, then a leadership council, I have my final interview with President Stapley, ward council, President Stapley goes home this week, I turn 21, and hopefully another baptism on Saturday! Wow!

So the miracle of the week was Ovidio. I honestly wasn't sure if he was going to make it to his baptism. As of Saturday morning he said that he was only going to go to see his daughter come from the west mission and then he was going to walk out the door and not do it. . . But then we went and ate with his family at lunch time and he started to change a little bit. Then, he came to his baptism at night-time and he was a totally changed man! So he got there before his daughter did and we were talking to him and getting him excited for his baptism when we heard the car of the west mission president, President Carter, show up. We ran out, greeted him, his wife, and the daughter of Ovidio and her companion, then we ran back inside and blocked the doorway so that Ovidio couldn't see anything. When President Carter showed up at the door, we pulled him inside and presented him to Ovidio first and asked Ovidio if he knew who he was. He said, guessing, "My daughter's mission president?" We affirmed his guess and then asked, "do you know what that means?" He looked at us and then said very nervously, "My daughter is here?" Right then we moved out of the doorway and they saw each other for the first time in about 6 months, since she began the mission. This hard, rough Bolivian man just melted when he saw her. He cried, and cried, and cried. He was so happy to see her and he was filled with love and emotion for his daughter. He was finally ready for the baptism now. He got dressed, along with his son, and then we started the service. It was one of the best services I've even seen! When Ovidio came out of the water, he seemed to be a changed man. His son baptized him perfectly in one shot. After the service, there was a small party and a cake. Ovidio was super happy and really enjoyed it! It was so great to see this man change the way he did. I'm so happy for him and his family because now they can go to the temple in a year to be sealed for all time and eternity.

Also, the Montaño family is still going firm. They are amazing also! They are secure baptisms for the 13th of July, my last weekend as a missionary. We've been teaching them very well and focusing on their testimonies. They are growing so much. Also, we are going to cook tacos for them tonight with a recent convert named Esperanza who is just amazing! 

We have a plan to get Maia Parodi baptized this weekend. We need one more for our goal and we have the opportunity! This girl wants to be baptized, but we need to teach her more. Her dad is a less active but he is starting to come to church again and he loves us. So we're going to see how we do this. Pray for Maia and that we can have a miracle!

Well, I'm kind of out of time, but I just want to let you know that I know that this work is true. It is the Work of our heavenly Father. The broadcast last night was absolutely amazing! I love how the brethren can drop the cane on the whole world and still be so loving at the same time! ha ha! I can't wait to see the changes in the mission field after that! SO many members came up to us afterwards and asked forgiveness for not having been more helpful before and many offered to help us with our labor. I hope they keep up with this desire to work with the missionaries!

I love this work. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I love you all and I miss you. Thank you for all the prayers in my behalf and the birthday wishes. Having a companion who is 28 makes me feel really young only turning 21. :) ha ha! Till next week.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Amazing Week

Dear Family,

Alright, so here's the news on my ankle. It's still fat like a balloon and it's bruised up a little bit. I have been taking care of myself, but I haven't let it affect my work. I keep working on it no matter what. I'm not sure what exactly will happen with it, but I'm able to walk. I sometimes get really swollen and I have to put icy hot on it and rub it down and ice it. It's about the same though after a week. ha ha! But better than when it happened last week. But I wanted to thank you all for your prayers. I definitely think the Lord has blessed me to be able to work strong until the end. He knows it's my desire and I feel like he's blessing me on behalf of all the prayers. Thank you.

So this past week was amazing! We got to work a lot more and I loved it! My area is so prepared! So here's an update on Ovidio; he finally made a decision!! He's getting baptized on Saturday by his son. His daughter in the mission will come home for the baptism and then return to her area. It's going to be really special. I'm very excited! It's going to be one of the best I've had yet. He was still uncertain with baptism until yesterday at church. Elder Romero looked at him in the eyes and said, "look, it's not a game, are you getting baptized or not?" He said he wasn't sure and then my comp, who kind of gets mad easily, said, "alright fine! We won't pass by anymore." Ovidio then looked at his wife and she told him, "You're just playing games here. Why don't you be a man and make a decision?" Then he grabbed my comp before he walked away and said, "Fine I'll do it this Saturday, but I want my son to baptize me." It was awesome! For a second I thought we had lost him, but he's super certain now!

We were able to find the Parodi family this week which is a miracle in itself, because they are always super busy with dance. We had an amazing family night and we shared a great story that teaches us that we are all children of a Heavenly King and for that, we have some attributes like him and we should become more and more like Him every day through small actions. Then, to our surprise, they came to church! If we could just have more time to teach them, we would have two, maybe three more baptisms.

President Stapley came to one lesson with us on Saturday. There is a poor lady, Hermana Ramona Montenegro, who is just a lovely person. She has been a member for 36 years and she does so much for the church. She washes our cloths, she is constantly sharing the gospel, and she always offers to help with whatever. She is married to a man who is not a member because he has a severe addiction to alcohol. He's not like other alcoholics though. He doesn't want to drink, in fact, he hates drinking. His body asks for it though, so every so often, he has to go and get a sip so that his body doesn't go into an attack. So this poor sister asked President Stapley about two years ago to give him a blessing and he finally made it around this past week! (We insisted a lot. :) ) It was a really spiritual event and it was really cool watching President in action. He's a very, very calm person, but he is very in tune with the spirit. Now we're going to see what happens with this man. We're praying that he'll be able to overcome this addiction and be baptized.

The Montaño family is amazing. Only they did not come to church yesterday and we think it was because of Fathers Day. We're going by in a few hours to see them. They are just an amazing family. I'm so excited for them. They will be getting married on the 12th of July, baptized on the 13th, and confirmed on the 14th. It's been my dream since the beginning of my mission to finish like that! A whole family, married and baptized on my last week! I'm so happy or them! Keep praying for them. There's still a lot of time left and I want them to make it so bad! They're so prepared, but I know the adversary will always try to get a hold of this type of situation.

So today my companion turns 28 years old!! He's such a funny guy. I honestly don't see the age difference. He and I are so alike! I've come to realize on the mission that adults are just like teenagers still. They just have more responsibilities and that makes them look more serious.

Before I sign off, I wanted to wish my fatty daddy un Feliz Dia del Padre! and a Feliz Cumple for my sister Kiersten! I hope you're still sane, I know Trevor is kind of nuts . .. :) And Felicitaciones Justin with the internship! I'm proud of you!

Well, I better get going. I love you all and I am so grateful for your prayers, but pray more for my investigators! They need more blessings than I do.

Love,

Elder Cowan

Great Area & Ward

Dear Family,

Well, today we were playing soccer as a zone and I was super excited to play! In my last zone I played every p-day with a few professional soccer players and I was getting really good and able to compete with them. So when I got here I was sure that I was going to tear up the field! ha ha! So I was playing really good and making a ton of goals and making people dance when I had the ball, but in the very last game, I went to steal the ball from someone and another elder kicked my foot and I landed on it wrong and I fell to the ground and heard and felt a crunching sound from my right ankle. My comp came over and tried to stabilize my foot and just him touching it made me scream. After keeping it elevated for a bit, I was able to start moving it again. I'm walking, but it is pretty stiff and it bothers me quite a bit. I'll be fine, though.

Now the only other bad news is that this past week we had a lot of meetings and errands to run so I didn't get to work like I wanted to. Other than that, everything is doing just fine! I love my new area! I was absolutely amazed at how the members understand the gospel here! The members want to work! They want to see growth and they love the missionaries! My comp had an assignment to go talk in another ward in our stake. So we had to do a division and I stayed with a member here and I presented myself in sacrament meeting and then gave the lesson in quorum. The members received me amazingly! I could feel the love of the Savior radiating from them. We also had six investigators in sacrament meeting and the members came and became their friends and offered their time and advice. It was amazing to see! Now I understand why President told me that he wants me to just enjoy my time here because I deserve it. I am so glad to have this area as my last.

So first off, I have a golden family!!! :) The Montaño family is my favorite. I'm definitely a fan. They are just so willing to do the commitments and are looking forward to baptism! Johny and Nancy, the parents, need to get married. They said there was no problem and decided to go and take out the turn this morning. Tonight we're going to verify to see if they really did it. The kids, Dilan (12) and Brian (9) are studs! They know all the answers to all of our questions because they read and fill out the questions in the pamphlets. The whole family is amazing. The only weird thing is that Johny is about 40 years old and Nancy is 19. They truly love each other though and it shows in their eyes. It's just an odd age difference. But they are our number one priority.

Another great investigator is Ovidio. He's the husband of one of the sisters in our ward and he has always been a very violent and slightly nuts man. He has a history of drinking, smoking, beating, and cheating. But since the elders have been teaching him he has learned to love and how to be patient. He had dropped everything. He's now a very quiet, humble person. He still has a strong character but he tries to be loving. He now washes the dishes and tries to clean up along with his wife. Tonight he will tell us if he wants to get baptized this coming Saturday or not. The best part about this is that his daughter is serving a mission in the Buenos Aires West mission and if he is going to get baptized, she and her mission president will come to see it!!! What an experience that would be! I'm praying that he'll have a complete change of heart once he's baptized.

We have another baptism coming up. Her name is Micaela. She's the grand daughter of a lonely old widow in our ward and we went to visit her and she decided to invite Micaela to church. She absolutely loved it!!! She wants to be baptized before the month is over. The only problem is that she lives far away and only stays the weekends with her grandma. We will have to shorten our lessons but have more content to see her get baptized.

We have another part-member family, the Parodi family that has been progressing very well too. The only problem is that they are all like professional dancers and have no time to talk with us. The daughter really wants to go to church, but her parents don't wake up on Sundays. . . We're going to see if we can go pick up the whole family and get them to church next week.

We have several other families that we can get baptized too, we just need time to go find them and start teaching. I swear, I've never seen an area so prepared in my whole mission. It's almost too easy to find people here! I'm super excited for this last bit of my mission. I just wish I could have more time here in my area. I would have loved to have been here 3 transfers or even more!

Yup, so that was basically my week. I'm super excited to work this week and have more time to visit more people. I love you all! Pray for my ankle and my foot so I can finish my last month without anything impeding the work.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

New Area: Quilmes

Dear Family,

Well, the biggest surprise of all is that I got transferred!! Yes, For my last transfer, I will now be serving in Quilmes. If you search Quilmes Buenos Aires stadium in google images, you'll see what I see from my window. I live on the eleventh floor of a tower right next to the stadium and I can watch soccer games at night now! :) ha ha! My new companion has been a good friend of mine since day 1 in the mission home, Elder Romero from Mexico City, Mexico! He's 27 years old and got to Buenos Aires the same day as me. He finishes one transfer after me. He is one of the best missionaries we have in this mission and I'm with him for a reason. I felt very consoled by this change. My last area was very tough and I worked extremely hard every day I was there, for example, for the 111 days I was in El Triangulo, I committed 60 people to being baptized. That's better than one every two days, and in the end, I only was able to baptize two in that area. I'm sad to leave the people for this last stretch of my mission, but I'm very excited to be in Quilmes! 

By the way mom, "Quilmes" is pronounced, "Killmes." ha ha! And the phrases you asked me to translate are as follows:

"I am happy to meet you" - "un gusto para conocerle"

"Thank you for helping my son" - "Gracias por ayudar a mi hijo"

"You are wonderful people" - "Ustedes son gente muy buena"

"I am grateful for all that you have done" - "Estoy agradecida por todo lo que han hecho"

"Keep the faith and stay strong and you will have great blessings" - "Tengan fe y sean fuertes y tendrán muchas bendiciones"

And yes, I know that if you try to speak the language just a little bit, they feel much more special. With my last comp, I was learning Portuguese so that he would feel special and it worked really well!!

So this past week was kind of tough. I got sick, again!! I had a cold all week and on Tuesday I was sick with the stomach flu also. I decided to sleep on Tuesday and see if I could sleep it all away and I slept from 2:30 in the afternoon until 9:30 in the morning the next day!!! My companion couldn't believe that I slept that much! I guess the mission just drains you of all your energy sometimes. I think sometimes I might over-push myself as I try to work here. I really just want to give all I have to the Lord so that I bless other people. I just need to realize that I need to take care of myself.

On Wednesday we had a special meeting with Elder Cook of the twelve and Elder Gonzalez of the seventy. It was great to hear their advice. They really helped me understand some things. They decided to shake every one of our hands too! It was kind of a hectic day though. So we originally had planned to have the meeting in capital in the afternoon until they figured out that riots had broken out in capital and they picketed all of the streets and so it was impossible to get there. We made an emergency change and decided to go to the west mission instead and have the meeting with just two of the missions instead of the three and changed the time to noon! SO we were advised last minute and we had to leave running and we barely made it to the meeting. It was a miracle that so many missionaries were able to make all those changes so quickly and were all blessed to be able to hear the words of an apostle of the Lord.

Then the other few days of the week were spent doing exchanges. So I barely got to be in my area this week. I taught several people in other areas, but I was only able to teach a few of my own investigators and now they're not even my investigators anymore! But I'm very, very excited to be where I am now. The missionary I'm replacing, because he just left for home, and my new companion worked very hard and the area is very prepared. My companion told me that we have a very, very good possibility of baptizing 6 people at least this month!! :) I'm way excited. It looks like I'm going to have the opportunity to baptize an entire family too! I've never been able to do that! I'm very excited and I know the Lord has blessed me for my efforts to improve my last area and zone, which I left very well prepared too.

Well, I better be going I have to get learning my new area! I'm very excited to get to work now and visit all these new people! I will probably have lots of stories for you next week. I love you all and am grateful for your prayers. I really feel them. I know the Lord answers our prayers and also helps us with our problems. I love this work so much. I'm going to make the best of it I can this last transfer.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Much Better Week!

Dear Family,

Thankfully, this past week was a lot better for us! We were able to find new investigators and invite more people to get baptized. We're trying really hard to maximize the work in our last bit of time in the mission. One bad thing about finishing the mission is that everyone makes fun of you for it and everyone keeps constantly asking how much time is left. Thanks to my whole zone, I know that I only have 49 days left. This morning they sent me text messages telling me that. They just think it's so funny to remind me of that . . . wonderful.

Anyway, I was glad to have worked hard and seen results last week. So we started the week off well by finding Romina. She had listened to the missionaries before but had never gone to church because she used to work on Sundays. She is about eight months pregnant right now and her husband works a lot. We aren't sure if they are truly married, knowing Argentines, probably not. but she was really receptive to the discussion and we are going to pass by again this week.

Also, we found Damian. He is a young kid who is friends with some less actives that went to play soccer with us on Monday. We kind of tricked him into a discussion, though, ha ha! We were sitting at the house of the less active family and we had the mom call him and invite him over so she could give him something. . . it wasn't quite a lie since technically she wanted to give him the gospel. ha ha! But he showed up and we sat him down and began to teach him about the Restoration. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. It was pretty funny!

While I was on an exchange my comp found a whole family!! :) It was a reference from a member and they got in their home and taught the whole family together. He said they really liked it, but it's going to be a challenge since they need to get married and they believe in saints. But that's no problem. We just need to have steady visits with them and they need to come to church and they'll be able to change once the spirit touches their hearts.

We have had a lot of great teaching experiences this past week too. We saw a lot of progress in our investigator, Vicky. We had a great discussion with her when we did a question and answer. We helped her with a lot of her doubts. Another great lesson was with Cintia. We read about Christ's visit to the Americas and she understood really well. She's still not sure about baptism and wants to learn more. She wants to know why we can't worship saints, so we left her with the ten commandments to study from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible. We're going to go by again and teach about idols this week.

So one of my favorite people I've met in Argentina is Vicky, a less active. She's the one who got pregnant and decided to name the baby after me. Anyway, about ten days ago she started to have blood loss. The doctors told her that she needed to be in total rest and do absolutely nothing if she wanted to keep the baby. She was getting a little better and then it happened again. She called us to come give her a blessing on Thursday night. We were really far away, but cut our lesson short with a family and took off running to go give her a blessing. She asked me to give her the blessing and it was one of those moments in my life when I really felt the influence of the Holy Ghost giving me divine revelation. I remember very little of what I said, but I remember that I told her that someday she would feel the joy of being a mother again. I remember the impression came to my mind that that opportunity would be later on, not at this time. In that moment I knew she was going to loose the baby. Two days later we got a text message saying that she was in the hospital, had lost the baby, and had almost died from blood loss. Last night we went to see her and she told us all about what it was like. She said she remembers very little, but she knows she saw the other side for a moment. She told us that she knew the blessing kept her alive and strong so that she can still be here for other purposes. She's a great person and she decided to get completely active now since she doesn't want to be on the bad side of the veil after this life. I was really glad to hear that! 

Well, I better get going. I am excited for another week of work! I am expecting to see even more miracles!! Love you all and thank you for your letters! 

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Working Hard But Not Much Results

Dear Family,

So I just got back from going to the federal capital of Buenos Aires. It was the first time I've gone there in my whole mission because it's actually in the north mission's area. It was crazy seeing big buildings again and taking subways to get places. I went to see the doctor of the area. His name is Doctor Brent. He's from Idaho, I think, and he's a great guy. I went there with Elder Gubler who lives in my pench to get his toe checked out. He had the beginning of a nasty ingrown toenail, but we treated it fine enough so he didn't need to get it cut out. I also brought my xrays from a year ago and asked him to look at my foot. He said that the only things I could do to avoid surgery is to use some type of inserts, or take anti-inflammatories. So there isn't much I can do. But he said that my xray looks fairly normal, but it has a few weird spots in my bone. So I'll just have to get it checked out back home with Dr. C.

So yesterday we didn't have any investigators come to church. We did activate an 18-year-old kid named Sergio. He's a great kid and he expressed his desire to serve a mission once he finishes his studies. We had about 40 people at church. It's so sad to see this little ward struggling so badly. I just don't know how to keep them strong on their own. They depend way too much on the missionaries here. 

This past week we found Victoria, or Vicky. She is one of the grand daughters of one of the women in our ward. She's 21 and is very smart! She has amazing questions and really understands everything we are teaching. She's been reading and praying, but she needs to try a little bit harder on that. She didn't come to church because she had a birthday party to go to. We've been teaching her with her cousin, Nair, who has been inactive since she had a fist fight with another girl in the church. She never really had a testimony, but she is now beginning to understand everything. She's being a good support for Vicky. Tonight we're going to cook tacos for them and their families and we're hoping to gain their confidence so that they come to church on Sunday.

Antonella is still progressing really well. We talked with our bishop on what we could do to get her moved out of the house of her boyfriend and he asked why not get them married!! ha ha! We told him that she's only 15 years old but he said it doesn't matter and he thinks they should just get married! We'll see. . . She's really beginning to trust us a lot more and she asked more questions and participates a lot more in our discussions.

We finally found Cintia and Eduardo again!! They are a great couple. Cintia had asked us a question the last time about why our church is different than the Catholic church and we could never come by again to teach them the Restoration. Finally, we were able to teach them and she understood very well! Eduardo isn't very smart and he has a hard time paying attention. He does say that our visits bring him peace. We invited them to be baptized on the 29th of June and at first they said "no." Eduardo didn't really understand the invitation and Cintia is scared of making a change. We explained to them that what we would like them to do is to pray, read, and come to church and have the date at a goal. They accepted to work toward the goal. Cintia seems very interested. We need to work with Eduardo a little more.

Vicky, a less-active that we've been visiting who's going to name her baby after me, had the beginning of a miscarriage. The pregnancy is still fine, but she needs to take care of herself. I really like this lady. She's got a desire to do what's right, but it's hard for her to go to church because she gets really bored in the classes. Her sister just barely got back from a mission, though, and is helping her out quite a bit.

We did a lot of walking and contacting this week. We contacted several blocks of our area without much results. I've been a little frustrated lately since I've been working so hard and not seeing much results. For example, 51 people here in this area have accepted a baptismal goal and only two have made it to the waters. It's just hard to get people to put these principles into practice in their lives. 

Alright so today while coming back from capital, I was on the train with my good friend Elder Gubler. We were only two or three stations from getting back to our area and all of the sudden this guy came up to us and started asking about where we are from. We told him we were from the states and why we have come to Argentina (to preach the gospel). He asked us what we do as a living and we told him that we don't work to get money. I already knew that he wanted to know if we had money or not, but after a while of talking to us he started telling us that he has a daughter and wife (it was a total lie) that were needing to eat. I could easily discern what he wanted since he had a terrible smell of alcohol and marijuana. I told him that I didn't have any money and he started to get mad at us. He started to say things about how well dressed we were and that all Americans have tons of money and he was getting really mad. After ignoring him for a while, he went and sat down. Then he came back and yelled at us again. He said that he would never listen to missionaries ever because they are all stuck up and what not. Then he went and sat down again. And right before we were getting off, he came back asking when we were getting off and started to threaten us that he was going to come after us once we get off the train and he was going to take everything that we have. I pushed him away from the door as it opened and we got off the train. He didn't follow us, though. I was really trying to keep my cool while he insulted us. Good thing I have my plaque on because if I didn't have the name of Christ on my chest, I would have done something really dumb. But it was all fine.- I just had to accept it and keep my head up. 

So we are desperate to find a golden family. So pray for us that we can find a golden family that we can teach and will progress easily. I love the work of the Lord, but boy is it work! ha ha! Last night I hit the pillow and I was just knocked out! I am really tired when I get to bed at night lately. I think it's a good sign that I'm working hard. I love you all and I'm excited to see you in a few weeks, but I love this work and I am so glad to be a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing better I could be doing.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Araceli Baptized

Dear Family,

Well, I'm not going to lie; it was really hard to talk with you yesterday. I just hope you all understand that my reasons for not wanting to come home are not that I don't love you or that I don't miss you. It's just something very hard for me to accept. I just don't want this to end yet. My mission has meant everything to me. I have never been so happy in my entire life and I really just don't want it to end. 

So this past week we have had a lot of success. We found several investigators and we have been teaching a lot again. The only bummer was that our baptism dates didn't come to church, so they all fell through. We just have to re-fix their goals this week and we'll be doing fine. This past week I can honestly say though that there was nothing else we could have done better. We worked our hardest in every moment possible! We finished the week very tired and ready to sleep. We even did two exchanges this week and had a zone capacitation. 

So I got to opportunity to work with Elder Haynie again this week. I went to his area and we had a great time teaching with each other again. He's changed so much and I love him a whole lot more. I used to think he was a very difficult companion and now he's a great one! We've both changed a lot. Anyway, one lesson that we had was very special. We were teaching this young couple that are both members, but not married. They have had quite the challenging life because of the decisions they have made, but anyway we were talking a lot about prayer and about repentance. Then all of the sudden this example came to my head. Basically I explained that we need to eat to stay alive both physically and spiritually then I said that the real important thing, though, is to enjoy the food! I asked them if they liked eating good food and obviously they agreed. Then I asked them a question, "How can we enjoy our spiritual food then? When is it a joy to be obedient instead of just a duty or an obligation?" They couldn't come up with an answer. Then after explaining a bit about that, the young man expressed that sometimes he feels unworthy to pray because he feels like he just always comes back to the same things and he always repeats and falls short. Then I gave them an example with their son. I asked them how many times in one day that their two year old son just drives them nuts. I asked them why they don't just leave him in the street and forget about him. Then they finally understood. I testified that we have a loving Heavenly Father who will always receive us with open arms and who will always love us despite of the sins we may have committed. They were both crying and committed to being completely active from that moment on. It was a very powerful lesson! I love leaving a home and knowing that I invited the presence of the spirit. It's a great feeling. I'm going to miss that.

We had a lot of other great experiences this week too. I am kind of rushed today. I'll try to write more next week about what happened this week. I'm so glad I still have two months to serve the Lord. These will be the best two months of my entire life! I'm going to make every minute count.

Oh, really quick, we baptized Araceli on Saturday. It was a great service. Short, but powerful! I'll try to send pictures next week.

Love,

Elder Cowan

Feliz Cumple Papa!!!

Dear Family,

Feliz cumple papá!!!! :) Sos un viejo loco pero te quiero muchísimo! Espero que hayas disfrutado de tu tiempo con tus padres y hermana en washington. Nunce te olvides de que sos mi heroe. Te amo!

It was a really fast week. Each week it just gets faster and I just want it to keep slowing down . . . I can't belive it's Mother's Day next week. I will be skyping again. I will have to skype a lot later this time, though, because our church timing is different in this area. I think I will be calling around 3:30 Arizona time, maybe four. Depends because my companion is going to talk first then me. I'm ok if we talk about the end of the mission and the plans for BYU and whatnot. I don't like accepting it, but I know my mission is coming to an end. As of right now, I have 10 weeks left. . . I can count that with my fingers now!! That's wrong! I don't want it to end now. . . I have been stressing about going home a lot lately. I had several dreams this past week and the week before about old memories from before the mission and it's really ironic based on what I've heard from home this week. I dreamed about a lot of my old companions, one about Bri Decker (crazy that she's engaged. I saw a picture of her and the guy. I'm happy for them! Cute couple.), with Carly, Kevy, RJ, Taylor, and Zach Burton! (who wrote me today :)) It was just super odd. It's weird to think that life keeps going on back home while I'm on the mission.

This week was kind of hard because I had meetings Monday through Wednesday and didn't get to work any of those days. Then Thursday I was super excited to work and it rained like crazy!!! There was so much mud and we were so wet and couldn't even walk anymore, that we had to get on the rail road tracks and walk back to our pench dodging trains . . .Then it was weekly planning and we only got to work the afternoon on Friday. Saturday we did a service project all morning until about three o clock. . . So I barely worked at all this past week and I was going nuts! I hate not being able to work and the area suffers big time for it. 

We weren't able to teach many lessons this week so we lost contact with a lot of investigators and lots of people's baptismal goals fell through because they didn't come to church. But it's alright. We did have one highlight of the week, though! Her name is Clara. She's an elderly lady that we contacted the other day and she is super prepared!!! I love finding prepared people! And the best news of all is that she has money to go to church and lives right next to a bus stop! I'm super excited to keep teaching her! She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and doesn't go to any church. She listens to the radio and reads a lot of the Bible so we gave her a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon to read and to think about Jesus while she reads. She accepted to be baptized on the 25th and asked where the church is and really wants to come! She said that she couldn't go yesterday because she went out of town, but really wants to come this next week. Just pray it stops raining! The rain here stops everything! It's terrible. But it's pretty! I always tell people here about Arizona and how it barely rains and how dry it is and the people can't even imagine it! Buenos Aires is a wet place. I just hope it isn't raining and muddy when you come to pick me up. That'd be a bummer.

Well, I don't have much to say this week. We didn't have many experiences this week because it was all in meetings and inside the pench. I'm very excited for this week, though! It should be a good one. Till next week!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

More Investigators than Ward Members

Dear Family,

Don't worry, I'm not going to extend, even though I would love to! I think I'm needed back home more than I am needed here. Plus many missionaries should be getting here once the school year ends in the states. So this past week was kind of long and slow. There were many moments when we just had all of our lessons canceled and we walked around contacting and trying to just find someone. There were some great moments during this week. Many of our investigators made huge improvements. 

First off, Araceli came to church with her mom yesterday and she will be baptized really soon now. She is a super fun girl and just LOVES coming to church and participating in Primary. Her sister and two cousins came too. We filled up the primary with just investigators and less actives! ha ha! It hasn't been too hard to fill up any class recently because every week we have less and less members it seems . . . We were around twenty yesterday in sacrament meeting. 

So Elder Cruz and I have been very worried these past few weeks about our ward. Our bishop is kind of discouraged and the members too. We've had several activities and no members showed up! Sometimes we have activities with just investigators now! So we were praying and studying the scriptures to find an answer and it came in a really interesting way! SO we were walking through the villa (the sketchy parts) when a lady starts screaming in English "Oh my! oh my! Hello! Hello!" We look over and Elder Cruz mutters, "This can't be real! are you kidding me?" The lady was one of the members in his last ward in Avellaneda! She came up and told us that 6 families from that ward will be moving into our area!!! We went to go see the land they had bought and there is a lot of service to be done till they can live there, but it's going to be amazing to have some new members in our ward that is struggling so much! Within these 6 families we have the bishop, the Elder's Quorum president, first and second counselors of the relief society, the secretary of the Elder's quorum, a member of the high coucil, a future missionary, and other members! I'm so excited!! But in order for them to move into their property, we have to clear the land of the waste high weeds, build the houses, put up a fence, and install the plumbing system and the electricity. Then we have to move everything from Avellaneda to here! It's going to be quite the process! But it's going to be worth it in the end. My only worry is what is going to happen with the Avellaneda 2nd ward. ha ha!

We found a great investigator this week with the help of a member. Her name is Alicia. She is a quiet woman who has serious back problems. She needs an operation but doesn't have the means to get it done. Her only true desire is that her family is happy and safe and she is willing to do everything to do that. We talked a bit about the will of God and told her about the blessings of obedience. She accepted the invitation to be baptized. We will be going back on Wednesday to see what she has read and how she's felt while reading the Book of Mormon. 

This week we found an 19 year old kid named Jorge who has had his own house since he was 16. He is very calm and really down to earth. We believe that he may have had some serious family problems and that's why he moved out so early. He was really anxious to come to church and to learn more about our message. He said that he would be baptized after he learns a little more. We gave him a goal to be baptized on the 18th. We haven't been able to talk to him again yet.

The Ugarte family is a part member family that we had dropped a few weeks ago until Claudio, the father, showed up late for church the other day. He came yesterday again too! We have been visiting them again and telling them the importance of being an eternal family, but his wife is against the church. She's quite Evangelista (don't know the translation) and doesn't support the idea too much. We are trying to see if Claudio can bring the children to church because he has a 9 year old son who isn't baptized. We'll see what happens.

Our investigator, Melisa who we found a few weeks ago has been reading quite a bit of the Book of Mormon and she really likes the story of Nephi. She said that it amazes her how he can just keep going when all the odds are against him. I love the story about Nephi and his brothers because it applies to so many of the people here. Many people are suffering so much because of their trails and they often don't think there's a way to keep on going. Melisa said that it gave her more strength to keep moving forward and to not let the circumstances of her life get the best of her. She has about 6 children all under the age of 8 and is 7 months pregnant. Her ex had beaten her and he showed up this past week asking to stay with her again. Being desperate for money to be able to feed her children, she let him back in. She told us that he was beaten up by the Argentine police and sent home after a few days in jail to take care of his family. She said that he's been a better man since he's been back. We're a little nervous to have him there, but he seems to have been humbled quite a bit. We pray for Melisa a lot.

Alright, I'm out of time. there was so much to write about and I couldn't finish. We just have so many investigators it's hard sometimes to talk about all of them. I think my mission is quite different from Trevor's because we teach a lot more people. Having people to teach isn't a problem. It's finding people who progress that is the real trick. Kevin's mission will be more of a challenge to find people. I was talking to a Chilean elder the other day and he said that Santiago Oeste is a rich area and they baptize less, but the members work really hard to try and find investigators. I think we'll have three missions very different from each other.

Well, I have to go. I honestly am so grateful for my mission. It's sad to know that I've got so little time left. My advice to any missionaries in the field or getting prepared to leave is to not waste a single second! Just hit the ground running and don't look back!

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Stressful Week

Dear Family,

Alright, I'm a little rushed today because I had to send a lot of documents and things to missionaries and I spent some time writing my mission president, but I'll do my best to write a good letter with the time that is left. So this past week was very stressful. We as a mission have had a really low month in baptisms and our zone has a history of being one of the lower zones as it is. So Elder Cruz and I have been doing everything possible to get the missionaries excited to work and to have success. We have a zone goal of baptizing nine people this month and we had seven confirmations yesterday! SO we were really excited for that, but now we have to get two more next week and the candidates aren't looking too well. So Cruz and I went to the areas in our zone and decided to teach those investigators that could make it to baptism next week. We're praying for a miracle to get the zone goal now. 

Another stressful event was last night. Two of our elders were robbed and we had to go to their pench and look for them to make sure they were ok last night. We got to their pench really late and when we were on our way back, the train was canceled and no buses were coming by. And on top of that, there wasn't any taxi services!!! So we started walking back . . . One guy tried to rob us and we blew him off and kept going and then finally found a security guard who helped us find a bus stop that doesn't stop at night and we were able to get back to the pench safely. We finally arrived at almost two in the morning . . . all just to go get the numbers of two elders and to see if they were ok.  It was a little stressful.

We have taught a lot of lessons lately and have several progressing investigators with a baptismal dates too. May is looking quite promising. We had a dry April, though. I've only had four months of my mission when I didn't baptize. Bummer. May should be a good one though! I'm expecting at least five baptisms! 

The Chilean man, Hugo, is a little crazy but has a huge desire to learn about God and to improve his life. He is kind of deaf and I have to talk fairly loud to teach him. My companion has a soft voice and loses patience with him. ha ha!

We have a bunch of young kids from part member families taking the discussions. This is one of my favorite ways to baptize. We can activate people, improve sacrament attendance, and we still baptize all in one! 

Oh, and I'm going to be a grandpa in the mission! Elder Haynie is going to be training in my zone! I'm super excited for him! We're going to start a genealogy book and pass it on from missionary to missionary. It's going to be sweet! 

Also a member who just found out that she is pregnant decided she's going to name her child Blake if it is a boy after me. I felt honored! This will be the second baby to carry one of my names. ha ha!

Well, I'm out of ideas this week. I'm too rushed to think straight. But I love you all and I know this is the Lord's work. You have to do it how He wants it done. I love my Savior and I feel so much closer to him now than ever. It's a start of a new transfer today and it's the second to last. Just two transfers left. . . I plan to apply myself to the maximum now to be able to be the best missionary that the Lord sees that I can be.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

SOOO Excited for Kevy!!

Dear Family,

Wow I am SOOO excited for Kevy!!!! He's going to be such a great missionary! I can't wait to write him on the mission like he writes me and to talk to him in Spanish when he skypes home and all that great stuff! It's just so exciting to hear! I'm so proud of him for making that decision to go on the mission. I already wrote my trainer (ex-Elder José Vergara) who lives in the Santiago east mission and told him to write Kevy a quick letter about the culture and the people there. He's going to love the Chilean people! They're great. I've met several people from Chile and I have met several ex missionaries who have served there too. Chile is a lot more advanced than Argentina is. It recently changed their monetary unit and I have a few bills from there along with an original soccer jersey that my trainer's mom sent me for my first Christmas here in Argentina. The Argentine's and the Chileans have a rough history. Well, actually, they kind of hate each other. ha ha! They had a war years back and they never really learned to forgive one another. ha ha! I'll just have to start hating Kevin now. ;) ha ha! jk! But seriously, he's going to love it and I'm so happy for him and his call! One more quick thing. The thing that Chileans do to Spanish is instead of saying ¿como estas? sometimes, if you're really close with someone, they'll say ¿como estaí? They have other words that mean different things too. But it's more normal than Argentina Spanish. We're really Italian out here. :)

Anyway, back to my mission. ha ha! So this past week was a bit nuts. We had a lot of success in some ways, a lot of let-downs, and a lot of crazy stuff too! So after general conference, we all left ready and filled with the spirit to share the gospel with everyone! (catch the wave, wink wink ;)) We had a zone meeting planned for Tuesday morning and Elder Cruz and I had a great lesson planned out using an example from the Book of Mormon to really excite the missionaries in our zone. We got in their faces just like Elder Holland does and we got all of them even more pumped and excited to go baptize the world! And they will too. This next week in our zone we have 9 baptisms planned and that's more than this zone has seen in a long, long time! President has told me that Adrogue, my zone, is the zone that has suffered the most and has never really found a way to get some real success going. We now look like we're going to make our goal for this month and it'll just make president sing for joy; I know it! Anyway, the meeting on Tuesday was great and we had really good feedback from the missionaries. 

That afternoon we did an exchange with the elders of Claypole. I was partnered up with Elder Smoot who returns home in just one week. He's one of my district leaders and I love the kid! He's a spaz and a great motivator. So we went and taught a bunch of lessons, took out some baptismal commitments and found some new investigators. One of which is Melisa. She's a poor single mother with several children and six months pregnant. No father in sight. It appears that all the children are not from the same father either. She was beaten by her last boyfriend and he broke a brick over her head once and now she has a bit of a memory problem. But she wants to learn about the gospel and how she can receive help from her Savior. It's amazing the amount of faith these humble people have. Even though she lives in a tin house with a dirt floor, she still has more than most people have, and that's faith. We went and taught her another time with the help of a member and it really helped. The young recently activated mother member shared a sweet testimony that touched Melisa's heart and it was a great opportunity to see the growth there.

We also were able to find a recent convert and her family who are not members. Noelia is a cute little nine year old and was baptized with the help of a member family that lives near her. She has such a desire to go to church and now that we've activated that family that used to bring her to church, now she can go again. Her two older sisters, Daniela (11) and Ayelen (12) both want to be baptized too. Their parents are kind of negligent and don't worry too much about their children, so obviously, they have no problem in letting them get baptized either. Ayelen was the only one who came to church yesterday and I think she enjoyed herself. Anyway, we should be seeing a few baptisms through them in just a few weeks. Also, their aunt, Veronica, and her son, Rodrigo, decided that they want to listen to our discussions also! The only bad part there is that Veronica started sending me text messages saying that she fell in love with me and is obsessed with my blue eyes. Great . . . more snakes. Anyway, we'll see what happens there. She's like 35 too. ha ha! It's amazing how people can be so daring. 

We have been teaching this one part member family from Paraguay, the Correa family, and they've been progressing really well and we were expecting them to come to church, but then they pulled a no show on us. They gave us a bunch of excuses and it was kind of disappointing, but we'll bring other members to their house now to try and get them excited to go to church so we can baptize their daughter Araceli. Maybe we'll plan that baptism along with the other girls' baptisms.

So I've been pretty sick this past week with a terrible cold/virus thing. I still went out to work in the cold every day though and we taught a ton of lessons! :) But for some reason my wind breaker is missing . . . I have no clue what happened to it. It's just gone. So I've just been using sweaters cause it's still not cold enough for my huge winter coat. So I might need to go buy myself a jacket so I can actually get batter and protect myself from all the rain and the cold. Oh speaking of rain, all of the city of Plata got extremely flooded and the capital. I'm right in between the two and many people died and missionaries said that the water got up to two meters at one point!!! It was crazy. Poor people.

Oh by the way I almost forgot to tell you the funniest story of the week. So when Elder Cruz and I were crossing a big field, this guy comes walking out to us as we are reaching the street again. He was acting really weird and was really nervous. I walked passed him but my comp stayed back and tried to give him a pamphlet. He started talking to him and then I go back and when I get there, the guy looks around, looks at me, and then puts his hand underneath his shirt in the shape of a gun and asks for our stuff. I said "you got to be kidding me" and just shoulder pushed past the guy, but Elder Cruz got super excited and then runs and shoves the guy with all of his strength! ha ha. Then I had to back up my companion and I started running at the man who is like eight inches shorter then me and he took off running sooo fast! ha ha! I ran him down for a few yards and scared him off. ha ha! It was such a crazy moment! I couldn't believe my comp pushed him so hard, though! The guy almost face planted the ground! It was quite the table turn on the poor robber. ha ha! 

Anyway, I have to go. My comp is waiting on me and I'm over my time. Love you and miss you! See you in three months from today! 

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

General Conference is like Christmas!

Dear Family,

I'm so glad that I was able to listen and learn from servants of the Lord this past weekend. General Conference is like Christmas for me. . . I'm not sure which one I get more excited for anymore! They're definitely tied, I think. I love the spirit that conference brings into our lives. It helps the members want to be better and it helps the missionaries be more focused in an eternal cause instead of just getting through the time. I particularly like the themes of obedience, faith, family, and many others. I had many questions answered and I could feel a large relief from finding many answers to my many questions.

This past week was another meeting week. We didn't get to work all that much, but with the time we had in our area, we took advantage and used our time to find new investigators and to active less-active members. We had one family come to the conference after having been inactive for quite some time--the Cuevas family. They have been progressing fairly well lately! We enjoy visiting them and we have helped them take action in their desire to become closer to their Heavenly Father. I know that the Lord will bless them as they strive to live worthily to receive promised priesthood blessings in their home.

Another great family we have found is the Correa family that has come from Paraguay. They speak on and off Spanish and Guarani. They have a little nine year old girl, Araceli, who was baptized in Paraguay but was never confirmed, so we are going to have to baptize her again and do the confirmation right this time. They are a great family! Their family is large and has a great base of knowledge of the Church. I am glad that we can help them come back to church and help their progression to being an eternal family.

We have had the privilege to work with the members more. We are continually getting comments like, "I'm so glad we have hard-working missionaries now" and "It's been a while since we've had missionaries with such excitement to do the work!" It's great to hear that the members are feeling that way. We have been trying really hard to get this ward excited and wake them up from the routine of things and do a little bit more, to go the second mile, and to help others come unto Christ! It's been quite fun visiting the members, getting to know them, and helping them with their individual/family challenges with the restored truths of the gospel of Christ.

We had our zone leader meeting this Wednesday and we finished by hearing the testimonies of those that are going home in two weeks. Of those, includes Elder Borgersen, Elder Jarvis, Elder Griffin, Elder Lem, and Elder Creager. They are all really great friends of mine in the mission. It was really touching to listen to their powerful testimonies. They truly are great missionaries and will be highly blessed for their service. It was really special to see Elder Borgersen's testimony. It was the first time he has cried in his entire mission and in several years. It touched the hearts of all of us. He was pretty embarrassed though, ha ha! I'm going to miss him, though. He was my favorite companion.

Elder Ruz and I have been getting along really well lately! He's such a funny kid! I'm going to miss him when we part. He's such a punk and I love it. He likes graffiti, skate boarding, and loves my type of music. We have fun teaching each other English and Portuguese also. He's such a hard worker too. He always has good ideas and works hard. His girlfriend will be leaving on her mission really soon to temple square! He's kind of bummed about that. We both have about the same amount of time, but we are both focused and working till the end. Thanks to other missionaries, I found out that on Saturday I hit my 100 days left mark on the mission. I'm in double-digits now. Scary. I don't want to finish the mission. It makes me sick to think about.

Well, I have to go now. I've got a lot to do and little time to do it! I love you and I miss you. Thanks for the constant letters and prayers.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan

Testimony of Our Savior

Dear Family,

I'm sorry that I didn't write yesterday. The truth about that is that here in Argentina, a country fairly Catholic, had the weekend off for Pascua. Today also is a holiday to remember those who died in the war of Malvinas (Faulkin Islands), so they decided to just put it all together and make it a week of holiday! So, because of that, I could not find any cyber, or computer shop that was open to be able to email. Right now I am at the offices of the mission and I was given permission to write a quick email to explain that.

This past week was not that amazing work wise. We got a lot of help from the members, though! We went out to work with the bishop, and a few other members this week, but unfortunately, the plans we had didn't come through. I think it has to do with the fact that it was a long holiday weekend and everyone went out of town or had family in town. Needless to say, we didn't find many quality investigators although we did challenge about 10 people to be baptized.

I'll finish by leaving you with my testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that He lives. There is nothing that gives me more joy than knowing that He overcame the fall. He has paid the price of sin and has suffered for all of us so that we don't have to be miserable. He did everything that He did because He loves us. I know that we can have a personal relationship with our Savior and our Heavenly Father. The interesting thing about a relationship is that it is two sided. Each person has to do something to make it work. One can't take upon himself all the load. The same with this divine relationship. Christ teaches us, He loves us, and He died and resurrected for us. He's done his part and keeps doing more and more. Our heavenly Father has organized this great plan of happiness and has done so much to bring to pass our own existence. He's done his part and keeps doing more. Now it depends on us if we want this relationship to work. We need to keep the commandments and be diligent in our effort to become more like them. We have to do everything we can now to love like the Savior does. As a missionary I do everything I can to teach as he taught. As children of God, we must do all we can to serve our brothers and sisters as He would desire. It's a divine relationship that we have. It's special to me and I can testify to all that I know my Savior and I know my Heavenly Father. And this is eternal life, to know God the Eternal Father and his son Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for what Christ did for us about 2000 years ago around this time. I know that He atoned for our sins and that He lives. Now I invite you all to be more worthy of His love and mercy. We could all improve in one way or another.

I love you all so much. I feel the blessing from your consistent prayers. I miss you all, but I couldn't ask for a better gift than to be a missionary of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm happy where I am. I'm happy as I serve my brothers and sisters in Argentina. These people are so amazing. They're absolutely beautiful. It will be very hard for me to say bye to them some day. A part of my heart will always remain here among these people. I know this gospel is true and that this is the great work of our Father. Let's remember to do our part to keep this relationship working with our Heavenly Father and our beloved brother, Jesus.

Love,

Elder Blake W. Cowan