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