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