Monday, July 8, 2013

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

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