Teach People Not Lessons

Dear Family and Friends,

It was all so great to hear from all of you! Congrats to Mom and Dad doing the 10K! Woo hoo! Yea! And lucky ducks! You guys got rain :/ I have been dying in the hot here ha ha! And wow!!!!! Dave and Kelly are really moving!!!!! That is so exciting but at the same time it is so sad to say goodbye to the Macdonald mansion and the Washington berries! Ha ha! And I had no idea that Trevor and Kiersten are going to Boston! What the??? Thanks for the update fam!! Ha ha, just kidding! 

Alright onto my week! This week we had a lot of meetings and other things so it was a bad week for numbers, but at the same time I have really come to learn more about the power of humility. A lot of times this week we were losing a lot of appointments and I was so worried that we weren't going to have great "numbers" for the week. I was getting all stressed out when it just hit me on Saturday that it doesn't matter; we are trying our best and the Lord will provide for the rest! I had to really humble myself and not just go from appointment to appointment just to check it off. I realized more this past week that God has a plan for everything and it is so precise and to the dot! It's crazy how planned out He has it all for us!

And before I begin, yes, I did hit 6 months and I hate it!! Ha ha, I don't want this mission to ever end! Okay, to really quickly explain my week: Tuesday we had a service to do for a hermana who told us that we just need to come to move some clothes and a bed to another hermana.  But she didn't tell us how much clothes and how big the bed was, ha ha. We thought we could get it all done before lunch so we went over with our normal white shirts and ties and then we found a HUGE bag of clothes. Really, I never knew that they made that big of bags before! It was up to my chin and it was thicker then two of us! Ha ha, it was weighed A TON!! And the bed was the frame and all and was a queen bed!! And then she told us that we had to take it to a hermana that lives of the other end of our sector :0!!! ha ha, aww man!  So we each took a corner of the bed frame, threw the heavy bag of clothes of top and started marching to the hermana's house, aww man, it destroyed our shoulders! But the hermana that we gave it to has been struggling a lot and it was so great to see the joy in the eyes of the kids that hardly have anything. I love serving!!!!

As well, on Tuesday we passed by and visited with Alejandro who the last lesson we had with him ended really bad and he felt like God doesn't love him and he is super confused why God permits suffering. We were having a really hard time planning a lesson for him and that is when we read in Preach my Gospel about adapting the lesson to the needs of the person. That was another great experience and a humbling experience for me to not just teach people the four lessons before baptism, but to really teach FOR them and not TO them. We went into the lesson without a game plan and we just had the goal to listen and to ask inspired questions. We just took one question at a time that Alejandro had and helped him to really understand and to help him know the "why" in the gospel. It was an awesome lesson. I know that inspired questions is the way to find the needs of the people. It really makes them open up and really think. After listening and asking for a while, he finally shared with us a dream that he had where is was really sad, but in the dream he saw his grandpa and he touched his shoulder and was wearing just normal clothes. Then in the dream it changed again and his grandpa was in white and the happiest as he could be. It was a powerful dream. We  were able to share with him that this was an experience that proves that God loves him and is with his grandpa. Even though he personally suffered when his grandpa passed away, he has the chance to help his grandpa to literally be in white and to be as happy as he can be and that is through the gospel. It was a very powerful lesson! I know that each and every one of these people I am teaching have problems and doubts, but I know that the Savior and His gospel can help everyone as long as we help them and listen.

Wednesday was an interesting day, one of our investigators, Israel and Kevin kept calling us  during our district meeting and we were so confused of why they wanted to talk with us so badly. We finally called them after the meeting and they told us that they wanted to meet with us at 7 at our church and then hung up! Ha ha but Elder Alcaraz and I were really excited because we thought they might have received an answer or wanted to really progress in the gospel.. . . but ohhh were we wrong!!! Ha ha, we were waiting at the church when Israel and Kevin with two of their friends showed up. . .. all with their Bibles. . . .ha ha ha. Oh, and at that point I was just a little upset that this was the reason they wanted to meet, just to Bible bash. But as we did in the lesson with Alejandro we just listened. I thought of the the phrase,"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" because I was a little upset and I wanted to prove them wrong, but I knew that wouldn't do any good and would not definitely invite the spirit, so I just sat and listened. That is when my machine of a companion went and started asking them questions and maintained the appointment in an orderly manner. Ha ha, it was really a waste of time and they were just shocked that we weren't arguing with them. They are Adventists and I am almost positive that they were sent to battle with us because their preacher told them to do it. But we just testified of everything and responded to every single thing using the Book of Mormon, which is the big problem with them. We will probably have to not visit with them anymore. It's sad to see that their spiritual eyes are soo blinded from the truth, but I know and am so grateful for the restoration of the gospel. Because of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, we have EVERYTHING! Everything for salvation--joy, happiness, help! Todo! I know the gospel is restored and I am so grateful for it!

Thursday there was a meeting for the new missionaries in the field so we had to go to Maipu for the meeting at the mission office. They told us it would go from 10 to 1, but it ended going from 10 to 6 at night. . . so basically we had no lessons or anything that day. It was still a really good meeting. It was the exact meeting the assistants gave for my group when we were new in the field. I felt so weird and old. We all had interviews with Presidente and in my interview it was a very special moment. I know my president is called of God! He shared a scripture with me and then we started to talk about how I hit my 6 months and I just shared with him that it's not something to congratulate and shared with him how much my mission means to me and how this is the best time in my life right now and I don't want it to end. As I was testifying about the mission, I couldn't help but to burst into tears for the joy in the mission. We both ended the meeting crying. This mission means EVERYTHING to me!!! 

Friday we had our planning for the week, which was a couple of hours, and then after we taught English class, so once again another day with no work. But then Saturday was AWESOME!! We had a conference with Elder David F. Evans from the seventy who is the head director of Missionary work and it was with all 4 missions in Santiago! So I got to see all my good buddies form the CCM like Elder Ogden and also some good buddies from Mesa!!! Elder Isaac Strong and Elder Joe Sherman!!!!! Wooo hooo!! It was so awesome! Elder Strong is in Santiago East and Elder Sherman is in Santiago North! It was awesome to see them!

For this conference we woke up at 4 in the morning because I knew there would be a ton of missionaries and I wanted to get good seats . . . and we got really good seats right in front! It was awesome! Elder Evans talked for 4 hours about missionary work and about the Doctrine of Christ! I learned soo many things and I wished I could share it all with you, but mostly he talked about how missionaries aren't to just baptize, but to strengthen the ward where they serve. It changed my mindset completely on a lot of different things! After the meeting, Elder Alcaraz and I were soo pumped! The Lord is truly hastening His work. The time is close, we need to prepare now!! It is such a privilege to serve during this time of the Lord really hastening His work because I know the "field is white and ready for harvest." This is the last time the Lord is hastening His work! We have his gospel in our lives, but there are millions who still don't know and that's why we are here! All of us! To all work in the work! It saddens my heart to know that there are soo many people that don't have this gospel in their lives! Please! To all that our reading this! Share the gospel! And to those who aren't members who are reading this, go to the missionaries!!!! IF you want all the blessing and happiness that this world has provided for you, it is in this gospel!!! Really it's just the obvious and smart thing to do!!! If you think you have other things to do that our more important, change your mindset and get on your knees till you have the desire!! Because this work is about the salvation and eternal life of our brothers and sisters!!! This is the most important thing!!!!  And if you don't agree with me, I would love to talk with you face to face and to help you to see why what I am saying is true!!! Get that all in your heads!

Alright, I'm sorry for the rant! I get a little too pumped up sometimes when I talk about missionary work! I know this gospel is true without a doubt. I know Jesus Christ LIVES! He is always with us! He answers prayers; He wants the best for us and He loves us! This is His gospel! I know if we are obedient to his commandments we can receive true happiness in this life and eternal life in the life to come! I love my Savior and this Gospel. I love the Book of Mormon and I know it is the key to all of our questions and doubts and problems we have in this life! I love you all so much! I wish and pray for the best! Have a great week!!!

Love,

Elder Cowan