Week of Bad Health :/

Dear Family and Friends!

Okay, I am a little stressed out right now because we showed up late to write because the Internet place was closed and we don't have any time and I just wrote my whole letter for the week and then something happened and it got all erased so this is now the second time trying to write you guys :/ But on the positive note, Happy Birthday to Heidi! And it was great to hear of all the blessings you guys have received this passed week! Congrats to Blake and Justin in finding jobs and for Mom finding all the family names! Woo Hoo!

Okay, so this week started off really bad. We had lunch on Monday and we must have eaten something bad because we all got sick in the night. All four of us in the house were fighting for the bathroom because we all needed to crap all night long. I had it the worst during the night and was up till 4 in the morning destroying the toilet. But my comp had it the worst Tuesday and was sick all day so we had to stay in the house all day. But we were able to watch some cool movies. But don't worry we are all better now!

Wednesday we had our meetings for our district and the assistants were there and they pulled me aside to personally congratulate me for my work in our sector and for everything we are doing. Supposedly, we are leading the zone in our works and with our baptism dates and all. They told us that our sector alone is lifting the zone and is an example to the zone and top the mission. Personally, I don't think we deserve such praise, but we are receiving a lot of blessings from the Lord right now. I know we still have a lot to do and a lot more to work with! But it was nice of them to tell us that! One thing that caught my attention during the meeting was how our district leader was describing to us that in all the scriptures the prophets and missionaries were teaching and preaching with all their might about the gospel and Jesus Christ to just prepare the people to reject Him and crucify Him. But now in this time, the prophets and missionaries are teaching and preaching with all their might to prepare the people to accept their Savior. It was a new perspective to see things and to realize how important it is right now to spread the gospel! And I am so grateful I have the chance to for only the next 18 months (yes, I will fulfill 6 months this week :( ) to preach the gospel to the Chilean people.

Thursday we taught Mara and her two kids Marcos and Camila. We are having a hard time with Marcos to attend church. Well, actually that is our biggest struggle right now because yesterday we only had one investigator attend church. So please pray for our investigators to progress and more specifically to attend church! And then we had ward council with the leaders and it is awesome to see the changes in the ward and see the leaders concerned about our work and about the less actives and investigators. But we couldn't enter our house that night until 11:20 because at the end of our street is where all the drugs are dealt and sold, which is normal for us about the drugs. But something went down and there was a big shooting at the end of our street which is only about 3 houses down :0 ha ha we were all walking back from the meeting and were all happy about the ward and the changes when we saw a ton of people running and screaming towards us. But it's okay, we were smart and stayed far away. Eventually the cops came and stopped everything and we were able to enter our house. Right now we are looking for a new house and we actually found a new house today! And it's a lot more calm in that part where it is, so we are hoping we will be able to change houses.

Friday was splits with the DL and he is a stud. He has a profound knowledge of deep doctrine and he was just sharing his knowledge with me the whole time ha ha. It's crazy! Ha ha, but the splits went really bad for my companion because he was in the sector and with the comp of the DL who has been having a lot of problems about obedience and staying in the mission. My comp just didn't know any better, but the other comp broke a lot of rules. I felt bad that my comp had to experience that with his very first splits. I talked with our district leader and actually he came up to me and told me that he needed me. He needs help specifically with his companion. He told me that he knew about my last companion and how hard it was and told me that he needed me to help him because he is overwhelmed and stressed of what he should do. We will wait and see what happens, but when we were starting the splits and exchanging companions my comp kept yelling out in his broken English, ¨No want to leave my papa!¨ Ha ha ha! He cracks me up and we are best friends! I am so grateful for him in my life. And because he is from Argentina you better believe it, Blake, that we are drinking Mate all day long, ha ha! It's awesome! And he is an awesome cook too! I just love him so much! I was able to teach him after the divisions about the importance of obedience and not to follow the example of the other elder.

Saturday we found a new investigator called Javiera who has 13 years and is the hija of a less active member. She is super prepared; it is awesome! She asked us for a blessing because she is going to enter school this week and told us that she has always wanted to learn how to pray! Ha ha, she is awesome! More blessings from the Lord everyday! The Lord is so loving. I know He is always looking over us and putting blessings and miracles in our lives and as long we are obedient we can receive them! 

I dont have any more time to write anything else! I love you all so much! I hope you all have a great week! I will be praying for you all! Feliz Cumpleaños otro vez a Heidi!!!! I love you all soo much!!!! 

Love,

Elder Cowan

My First Son!!

Dear Family and Friends!!!!

WOOO HOO! I am just so pumped again! I love this mission so much!! Everything is just awesome being able to serve others! And, yes Mom, just as Dad told you, I have already come to see how my Spanish has already improved just in these last 7 days! The Lord is truly looking over me and I know He is helping me and guiding me along this journey being a missionary! I want to thank you for the quote from Grandpa. It actually brought tears to my eyes to know that he has had so many experiences in his life and I just hope that I can be half the man that my grandpa is. 

Thank you all for the photos and letters! I am so blessed with so many people that pray and care about me so much! And Happy Valentines Day! I want to express my love to you all! You are all such a huge blessing in my life and I am the man I am today because of each and every one of you! Justin way to go to scare mom with that scorpion sucker thing, ha ha ha, that's so funny!

Okay, now onto the thing you are all waiting for . . . . duh duh duh!!! My son!!! Ha ha! He is  incredible and such a stud. My new companion is Elder Alcaraz from San Juan Argentina! Yep that's right, Blake! I finally have an Argentine as a companion! And he is the best! He is 23 years old and, yes he is older, but he is rock solid in the gospel. Actually, the reason he came out so late on the mission was because he went inactive for a really long time. Before the mission he was a dance teacher! Ha ha, and he has some pretty crazy moves! Ha ha, also when he was inactive he was at a dance and was dancing when the floor fell through and broke. He fell 20 meters and landed on his ankles and knee. Part of the stage of where it fell through landed on him and crushed him. He has some pretty cool scars! Finally, after being in pain and crushed by part of the stage, and being in the darkness for 4 hours, others were finally able to reach him. After that experience he realized how much the Lord blessed him with his life and he decided to go back to church. When he was returning back to the church, he was called as an institute teacher and then after as a ward mission leader! So he basically already came pre-trained! Ha ha. He is such a stud! He looks really young and I still can't believe that he is older than me!

We get a long soo well! Seriously we are already best friends! And after sharing the experiences of how I was in a knee brace and did physical therapy for a long time, I found out that we like all the same things, really! It's crazy! He really is my son! Ha ha ha! Just kidding! But really! We both had periods in our lives where we went to physical therapy for a long time. He used to swim when he was younger and because of his accident he loves studying anatomy and about the body and wants to study it after the mission! Ha Ha, it's just like me!! I love swimming, I went to physical therapy, I love anatomy and want to study it too! Ha ha! We are like twins! Ha ha! It is such a blessing! He is a miracle for me, especially for everything that happened and with all the struggles in the last transfer! The first day I just kept hugging him because I was so happy to have him as my companion! He has such a solid desire to work hard and be obedient which I couldn't have asked for anything better! This past week has been a little stressful with being a trainer and leading the sector and everything, but he really helps me out and really came pre-trained! Ha ha, he is such a stud! And I love him so much! We are going to get soo much done this next transfer!  I am learning so much from him! He is helping me with my Spanish so much too! It is awesome! I miss people helping me with my Spanish. Elder Barazza would just talk to me in English the whole time, which I hated! 

And, yes, he is from Argentina, but he doesn't have the horrible accent from Buenos Aires (ha ha ha, Blake ;) ) San Juan is really close to Chile so he speaks perfectly like a Chilean! Also Elder Hatch, who is a friend in the mission, also received a new missionary as well from California and we all want to work hard. It is awesome! 

Tuesday Elder Hatch and I got to go to the temple with the other trainers and it was perfect! I have never felt so much peace in my life! I LOVE THE TEMPLE! Actually, they have the new video or the one that was in the temple when I left! It was great! But the most powerful part was not actually in the session for me this time. Before entering I was a little nervous about training and all and for some reason I was just thinking a lot about you guys and that is when we passed by the sealing room in the temple. And I could just feel each and every one of you in that room. It brought tears to my eyes and I just started to cry a little just to feel your guys' love for me and to know that we are truly together for eternity and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father to make that possible for us. I know that temples are the house of the Lord. I know through the priesthood that we are sealed in His temples. I know He is always watching over us and I know and have received so many blessing from your guys' prayers in my behalf. Thank you all so much! 

This past week we focused a lot on the ward. Our zone, Ochogavia, has always had this bad image in comparison of all the other zones. The zone is truly hard, but at the same time there is so much work to be done! We are focusing ten fold on the members! It is awesome! This is truly the time to change the image of this zone especially with my new companion who wants to work hard. We are going to change this sector and zone right now! We know that we are called here from the Lord and have His power and His authority to help this sector! Now is the time!!! I can't wait to give it my all in this sector! 

Sunday was a fun day! It was the confirmation of Mara and she is super happy! I have never seen her so happy before! Also Sunday, I had a really humbling experience. We went to go pass by and visit Jose and Maria. Maria is really against the Book of Mormon and only believes in the Bible. It was really hard to help her understand about the Book of Mormon because she has some really weird beliefs about our church. I started to lose my patience with her and when we both started to argue a little, I realized that the spirit was not there at all and just decided to let my companion take over. And that is when he simply told her, ´´Sister, we don't know the beliefs in your church, just as you don't know the beliefs in our church. So because we don't know what you believe we aren't going to judge you and just how you cant judge us because you don't know our beliefs.´´ Ha ha, it was awesome! After he said that, she just shut up and started to listen to us, ha ha! Just another example of how much of a stud my companion is! 

Sunday night we also taught Alejandro which was a really hard lesson. He doesn't really want to listen to us because he now feels uncomfortable with us and only liked listening to my last companion. :/  So we couldn't really teach him anything. Also, he is mad at God because his sister lost a baby in her pregnancy and he doesn't understand why God permits suffering in this world. And he doesn't believe in agency, which I can't really understand how someone can't believe in agency because we chose and make decisions every single minute of our lives! Tambien. He just believes that God knows all so it doesn't matter what we do. It was really frustrating to teach him, but the next time, hopefully, we can help him. Any advice to help him realize why God permits suffering and pains in the world would be great! But other than that hiccup, the semana was awesome! I am so excited to work with Elder Alcaraz! 

Wish us luck! I love you all!!!! 

Love,

Elder Cowan   

Ward Activity, Baptism & BIG NEWS!

Dear Family and Friends from the good ole USA!!

Woo hoo! I am so pumped right now! This has been an awesome, awesome week jammed packed with blessings and miracles! Heavenly Father is truly helping us in this sector right now! And there is so much stuff to tell you, but I will save the big news till the end! he he :) I'm just so happy right now!!! 

Well first off FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS A TREVOR!!!! WOO HOO!! Way to go bro! I love you so much and you are such a great example to me!!! Have a great week! And also Happy Valentines Day! I cant express my love enough for you guys! I am truly blessed with the best family and friends in the whole world!

Now onto my week! We first started teaching Mara on Monday and we taught the Atonement with her and it was awesome! This week I have truly come to know of my Savior's sacrifice and Atonement for me! I am so indebted to my Redeemer, I love Him so much! The lesson went great and the spirit was SO strong. It was perfect! 

Then the rest of Monday and Tuesday all of our appointments fell through, but it was actually a tiny blessing because we had a ward activity on Friday and we were able to dedicate Monday and Tuesday to completely inviting people to come to the activity and to motivate the members! It was great! And we had a cool experience Tuesday night where the Lord truly blessed us with one tiny lesson at the end of the night with Emilio who is an old investigator that we dropped because he broke the law of chastity and has a kid now and started doing drugs and he is only 17 years old. But as we were at the church Tuesday night we had about 40 contacts just in that day which is a ton for us! We were a little sad that we didn't have any lessons for that day, and that's when we saw Emilio and his girlfriend walked towards the church crying. . . We hurried to them and brought them into the church and they have been having a ton of problems with everything! But they told us that the only place they thought to go was to the church. It was such a powerful experience to help them realize the peace of the Spirit in the Lord's churches. We helped them calm down and helped them realize that it wasn't a coincidence that they came here to the church because this is where the Lord wants all His children. Then we ended with a prayer and Emilio offered the closing prayer, which before he would never pray. Never!! But Elder Barazza and I bowed our heads and closed our eyes and just waited for him to start. It was silent for about 5 minutes and you could feel the spirit in the room. Just when I was about the open my eyes, he started to pray and it was one of the coolest and sweetest experiences to watch this young teenager pray for the first time in his life, with tears in his eyes, which later made me get teary eyed. The spirit was so strong and I could just feel the Lord's love for him so much! And now he wants to start listening to us again.

Thursday was a little crazy. . . Elder Hatch, who I have gotten really close with, got in a big fight with his disobedient companion and they were yelling and stuff and it was pretty serious. We realized that we couldn't leave them like that so my comp and I played a little Dr. Phil to work it all out and at the end they were all good, but it took some time! And we lost some lessons but I'm glad to have helped them continue in their work in their sector. After, we passed by Teresa and taught the law of chastity, which was pretty funny because she just kept telling us that we don't need to worry about this commandment with her because she is single and planning on being single forever ha ha. We cleared up better what it all contains and right now she is only smoking 2 cigarettes a day! Such a miracle! While before she used to smoke 2 packs a day! And now only 2! God is a God of miracles! I can testify of that! The only problem we have, really, is her memory, which we are working on.

Friday was all dedicated to the ward activity. It was a Family Night with the ward run by the missionaries. And it was AWESOME!! The ward has changed sooooo much! It is a miracle! We invited so many people and actually a lot of people showed up! We had over a 100 people at the activity. And it was all run by us missionaries in the ward. We decided to have it centered on the Atonement and started with an activity where we had treats for every single person, but we had to ask them if they wanted the candy and if they did, Elder Barazza needed to do 4 push ups, and if they didn't want it, Elder Barazza would still have to "pay" for it. With all the people and treats, Elder Barazza did 500 push ups! But near the end, the people didn't want us to have Elder Barazza keep going because he was truly struggling and in pain and some sisters were even crying watching him in pain. But there were still people that would still ask for another candy so he had to pay for everyone. Near the end, when my companion could barely do anything with his body, we turned the lights off and watched a Mormon message from Holland called "Totally Alone" about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It was super powerful. We then read a scripture and shared with them that we all have the blessings in our lives (candies) but someone had to pay for everything. Just as Elder Barraza had to pay for each candy and to do 4 push ups, our Savior paid for every single person and made it possible for all to receive this gift (or candy). It was very spiritual. Afterwards, the sisters in the ward brought cakes and pastries and then we gave tours of the church to the people who weren't members! It was perfect! Seriously. I couldn't have asked for a better activity. The whole week we had been stressing over that activity, but it all paid off in the end and it helped the members so much and motivated them to share the gospel.

Saturday was another miracle! We had a planned trip to go to the temple with Mara and her whole family this time but we woke up that morning and the members who were going to drive us couldn't and when we passed by Mara´s house she told us that she couldn't. We were really disappointed but decided to go back to the house and continue to study when we started our studies with a prayer and let me tell you guys it was just like in the "Best Two Years" movie! HA ha, we started to pray and I asked if it would be possible to go to the temple with Mara and someone in her family and immediately when I said that, the phone rang! HA Ha Hallelujah!!! HA ha we yelled out "Amen" and ran to the phone and it was Camila, Mara´s daughter, to tell us that she could go now! It was such a answer to our prayers! I know Heavenly Father answers and is always listening! We had a great time at the temple. We got to pass by the CCM and I saw my teachers and all the new missionaries and they just all were staring at me, ha ha, it was pretty funny!

Sunday we had a baptism!!! WOO HOOO!! My 1st baptism!!! It was awesome!! Elder Barazza baptized Mara and it was sooo awesome! She had the biggest smile on her face! I have never seen her so happy before! It was a great experience! But just as it happened in Padre Hurtado in my last sector, the baptism font started to overflow! HA ha so while everyone was in the classes, we saw water out in the halls and we ran and realized that it was overflowing! Ha ha it was good that it happened during church and that no one really noticed. We shut the water off, but we still needed to take out the drain to drain water out. So I had the same idea when we had to do this in my last sector. . . so I threw a table in the font and stepped on it to reach down and pull the plug. But this time the water was so high that the desk just went completely submerged in the water and there was no way to reach down and pull the drain with the water level so high and to do it with clothes. . . . ha ha ha soo. . I took of all my clothes except for my bottoms and climbed over and reached out head first into the water and pulled the drain out, ha ha ha. Oh! the memories you get in the mission, ha ha, it was really funny! My comp has the pics on his camera so he will have to send them to me. HA ha, it was really funny. But we got it all worked out and the baptism went great!!! Then the rest of the day was dedicated for my comp to say his goodbyes because Saturday night we got the news that he was leaving and same with the comp of Elder Hatch.

Which now brings me to the BIG NEWS! The transfers!! Wooo hoo! I was really not expecting what happened today!! I am still surprised right now! But guess what!!? I'm training a new missionary!!!!! HA ha only after 5 months! Ha ha! Everyone in the transfers meeting were all surprised by it when President called out, ´´Elder Cowan to become a trainer¨ Ha ha actually this meeting was all in English, ha ha, it was pretty funny! It's because President wants all the Latinos to learn English. But when he announced it I just couldn't believe it! I stood up and walked over to the designated ´´Trainers´´ row and when I stood up the whole mission was just like ´´ohhhhh!!! Nooo way!!!!´´ ha ha. I was freaking out a little, but I know that the Lord trusts me and this is part of His plan! The trainers get to go to the temple tomorrow, which I am so excited for and then tomorrow night I will get my new missionary! Awww, I have no idea if he´s going to be Latino or American or what! I did not see this coming at all! And it is really rare for this to happen with only an elder with 5 months to train a newbie! I am a little nervous because my Spanish isn't perfect and I don't know my sector completely, but I am also super excited to train another missionary and to help him start his mission! HA ha, tomorrow I will be a dad! Ha ha, my first son in the mission! After the meetings, President came up to me and just told me really calmly, ´´This is revelation, and I know you can do it and that the Lord knows you and knows you can do this. Put your trust in Him and you will be able to have a great time training.´´ I am so excited! I know my president is called of God. I have this new calling and I am so excited. It may be a little hard, but I cant wait to help a missionary to start his mission and realize this happiness that I have for the mission! Wish me the best of luck!!!!

Thanks for all the letters! Love you all!!!

Love, 
Elder Cowan

Line Upon Line, Precept Upon Precept. Conversion

Dear Mom, Family and Friends,

Well, Mom, you nailed it right on the head about the conversion! It really does come down to conversion! And the scripture in 2 Nephi 28:30 and D&C 98:12-13 have really helped me this past transfer. I know that the Lord is helping me with this hard time, line upon line, precept upon precept. That phrase always was a phrase that I would just pass by in the scriptures, but it really has had an effect on me--those two scriptures. I know the Lord is helping me a little here and a little there, and blessing me with tiny miracles and blessings which I need to focus more on. 

And, Mom, no problema about the pictures. I try every week. I don't have much time, so I will send pictures next week probably not sure. But I hope that I am taking enough. It sounds like Blake took a ton. But I'm just trying to take pictures that mean something to me and not just random stuff. And, Mom, Teresa is one of our investigators not a less active, but I will talk about her more later.

So Monday we taught Israel and Kevin and they are two teenagers just looking for the truth, ha ha, they are studs! They have a lot of questions of why we need the Book of Mormon, which has been a struggle with a lot of people this week, but I love being able to share with them the power and great miracle of that book!!! Tuesday we had a service to do for a sister in the ward. It was to clean her pool. . .  ha ha, it was a little ridiculous, but it was fun! Ha ha, we didn't go swimming, but it sure reminded me a lot of the good old swim days ha ha! Then we taught Maria who is a new investigator who, as well, has doubts about the Book of Mormon and the Bible working together. But we were able to resolve most of her questions and she knows a lot about religion and knows her Bible well, ha ha. It was funny to show her that the Bible actually talks about baptisms for the dead (that's how we met her because she had a question about our belief in it). She told us that it wasn't in the Bible but it was funny to read with her 1 Corinthians 15, ha ha, she was just shocked and after she then started to have a desire to know more about our beliefs!

Tuesday we met with Mara and she is amazing! Seriously! She is studying the scriptures daily and is praying and is studying the baptism questions personally. One of her sons told us that he woke up once in the night around 4 and she was reading the Book of Mormon all night, ha ha! She is super prepared! And in that lesson we put baptism dates for her son and her daughter-in-law! It was awesome!! 

Wednesday we tried teaching Kyle who is the recent convert in the ward. We played a little game with him, but he really just doesn't want anything to do with the church and just wants to skate and hang with his friends all day. It's sometimes annoying, but I know Ulisses, the recent convert in my first sector, was the same and now he is assisting [attending] every Sunday. So there is a way! Ha ha. Some ideas to help catch his attention during lessons would be great! Thanks! Also Wednesday I almost got robbed! Ha ha, first time in the mission! Ha ha, we were walking and there was a car driving along side of us really slow and then when I looked the other way a guy jumped out and tried to rob my watch, ha ha, actually, it was pretty funny because I thought it was my companion trying to hold my hand and I was thinking what the?! Ha ha, but he kept yelling at me to give him my watch, but then I looked down at him and he was only like 5 feet barely, ha ha, so I just got really close to him, looked down at him, and simply and bluntly said No. Ha ha, once he realized that I tower over him he got in the car and left ha ha! Oh Chile! :)

Thursday we visited Barbara who is the less active and we went with Mara actually because they are friends and we started to read the Book of Mormon with her from the beginning, but then she started to whine saying that it is too hard to read every day. Then Mara started to talk to her about the importance of reading every day and actually gave the whole lesson ha ha ha! She is awesome! The funny thing is that Mara is a reference from Barbara and now she is helping Barbara with her conversion. Thursday we taught Teresa the Word of Wisdom duh duh duh! This women smokes like none other and smokes like a volcano! Ha ha, but she really wants to stop smoking! It will be really hard, but I know it is possible! But the problem we have with her is that she has no memory. Every time we pass by we try to help her recall the last lesson, but she never remembers anything! We have taught her the Restoration twice already and she still doesn't remember who Joseph Smith is! Aww it's a little problem because she wants to be baptized and goes to church every week and loves it! But she just cant remember our lessons. We are praying that once she stops smoking she will recall her memory because I know that smoking is destroying her brain and everything else! Please pray for her!

Friday! which was Rachaels birthday (woo hoo) was actually a really hard day. We started the day off going to the church with the other elders to offer tours of the chapel. But once we got there my comp didn't want to do anything. This past week went really, really well! Starting from last Monday we had been working all day long and having a great time together and then Friday he just snapped. He got mad at me that I have been focusing too much on being obedient and other things. We had a little fight and then went to lunch, so we really didn't have time to talk it out. We only had one lesson that day because he went and slept all day. But in the night we talked for a long time and it's just as you said, Mom. It really depends on the conversion. I know I have been focusing and stressing on the obedience part a lot with him, but to have the desire to be obedient we need to have a firm conversion. We talked about that Friday night and to help him with his conversion he has to want to be here and not to just need to be here. Friday was really crappy, but after our talk it went really well for our companionship. Also the other thing that happened Friday was English Class which was like teaching the Primary, ha ha. We only had 5 students that were all under the age of 10, ha ha. so it was a wreck, ha ha. But they only know a tiny bit of English and of course the only phrase they know really well is the F word. Ha ha, but we told them a new word that is even better to say. Once we said that they got all excited! And we wrote it on the board and they all repeated, ¨Baptize Me!" Ha ha, it was so funny! These kids thought it was such a cool phrase and when we left they were all just screaming "Baptize ME!!" HA ha.

Saturday was an awesome day! We worked all day long and had a ton of success! It was great! Just another testimony builder to me about the importance of unity in companionships. There was another funny thing that happened. There was a biker that kept riding his bike back and forth next to us acting like he was going to hit us. We just ignored him completely and then he turned around and started to come at us again acting like he was going to hit us when out of no where he just biffed it soo hard! HA ha, it was sad but hilarious tambien. My comp walked by and told him that that is the reason you don't mess with the Lords servants and with whom have the priesthood, ha ha. Saturday was a miracle to work all day long. I loved it! But it was also a little scary because we had the Feria which is like when everyone goes and has their little stands to sell things and the Feria was just one street behind us when we were leaving and I wanted to go buy some fruit before we went to lunch, but we were a little rushed for time and I just got this feeling that I shouldn't that day. And I am glad that the Holy Ghost let me know because just as we walked through the Feria and were leaving there was a gun fight in the middle of the Feria and two crazy guys running through the Feria firing away. I am so glad that we were able to go directly to our lunch and to not pass through and buy our fruit. I know that the Lord really is looking over me.

Sunday was a day of gratitude. The youth had a stake camp out last week so they were all bearing their testimonies about their experiences and I just felt so old because I remember sharing my testimony after each Encampment. And I realized how blessed I was with my leaders and the camp outs and all the activities that we did. And they dedicated so much time and money and just for me, a little youth in the ward. I love my leaders and I'm so grateful for them and for the Groves Ward. Send them my love! In the night we taught Camile and Tomas who are less actives and have a baby. We shared with them the Family Proclamation and it just hit me during the lesson of how much I already know of how to raise a good family. And obviously it is centered in the gospel. I have seen so many families here and have seen how so many have problems, but I have also seen the change when they put the Savior's teachings in their lives and are examples for their children. I know that my future family will be centered in Christ because that is the only way to be happy. And I want to thank you guys for strengthening my testimony all of my life and having a Christ centered home! I love you guys SOOO much! 

We ended the day with Alejandro and shared with him the Plan of Salvation. It was a lot for him to understand, but he really has a lot of desires to learn more and we are just waiting for him to receive an answer to see if this is all true! Please pray for him to receive a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true! It was also a little funny because as we were leaving the lesson Alejandro asked us if it really is true that Mormons can teleport, ha ha ha, and we were just like WHAT? Ha ha, I guess there was a rumor that he heard that Mormons believe in teleporting, ha ha, I was laughing so hard! Ha ha!

But that is my week for ya! This is the last week of this transfer, the next conference of transfers is next Monday so we will see what happens! Thanks for all the help and prayers and for the letters! And congrats to Justin with your new callings woo hoo!!! Way to go! You're a stud! I love you all so much!! God speed!

Love,

Elder Cowan