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