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