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