Service!

Dear Family and Friends,

Holy cow! I can't believe that I am already writing again! The time is ticking like crazy! It really feels like yesterday that I was here on the same computer writing you guys! I am literally at a loss of what I should write this week, ha ha, so this weekly letter will be a little shorter, sorry everyone! First off, I want to express my gratitude for Dad! Holy cow, you workhorse!! I hope you will be able to rest soon! And Mom and Justin I loved your guys' experience about the power of prayer and the locked car!

And another shout out to Ian Cresar who is one of my best friends and was only baptized a year ago and got his call to the best country in the whole world!! That's right baby! CHILE!!! Wooo hooo! You are going to be an awesome missionary!!!

Well, this week was dedicated to a lot of service! I know my whole mission is serving, ha ha, but we had a lot of voluntary moments to offer service. It was basically all centered on our presentation musical that our mission is putting on and it's a choir of 24 missionaries singing about the Passover and everything with the new Bible videos in between. It might sound like a low down event, but our mission is putting all efforts into it! And this week the group was traveling to our zone so we had to prepare a lot for it to have the stake center FILLED  with people! And that's exactly what we did! The assistants called us earlier in the week and asked us if we could go out two days and pass out fliers for the concert. So basically, that's what we did all day long on the two biggest streets in the zone and just offered about 1500 fliers, ha ha! And then the third day we volunteered to help the assistants clean the stake center and we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! HA ha. But it was great because I really do love cleaning . . . because I now understand that if I clean the Spirit will be more able to come. And it was great to do that for the church! It is a little sad how much members take for granted in the church and how many little things can make things into a big mess.

Then the next day our own bishop called us to see if we could clean our church building too! Ha ha, so we accepted and cleaned our church which REALLY needed it, but it took twice as long because it was only Elder Alcaraz and me. But it was actually really fun! Ha ha. He cracks me up so much! And he loves dancing and singing, it is hilarious! We had a mini high school musical break down session in the young women's room. And then a Motab session in the Relief Society and much much more! Ha ha, he always keeps me laughing and smiling! 

And then the day after that, the assistants called us again to know if we could help set up all the chairs for the concert and pass out more fliers for a couple hours right before the concert. They really put a lot of effort in for this concert and a lot of money too, ha ha. But we did that and finally were able to wait for the concert to actually happen, which was awesome! Those new Bible videos are SOOO AWESOME!! It was an awesome event and the church was filled! We lost a lot of time not working in our sector, but it was great to help with this great activity! And it was great to get to know the assistants better and to hang out with them!

But the crappy part of my week was when we had splits with our district leader and I went over to his sector which they are really struggling and their sector is super tiny and so the companion of the district leader and I walked and walked and walked the whole entire day! I know we walk a lot as missionaries, but I have never walked so much in one day. And what made it worse was that my knee pain came back again. That's been the first time in all of my mission. I was praying so hard that it wouldn't last forever. The pain only lasted that day and I haven't felt it since, which I am really glad because I was really nervous. But the worse part was during the splits I got this pain in my left eye and it was bugging me all day, then Friday I had a headache only on the left side of my head, and then Saturday I had a headache all day again but in my whole head. And then Sunday, the day of the concert, I just felt like crap and felt like throwing up and was really sick. What started with my eye spread to the left side of my head, to then my whole head, and then my spine and then eventually my whole body. So I was doing all those services with this pain. It was horrible. I felt so bad last night, but I asked Elder Alcaraz and Elder Hatch to give me a blessing and it was such a neat experience. And I know the power of the priesthood is real!  Right when they started the blessing, I could already feel the headache going away and my companion specifically said in the prayer that I would feel better Monday morning. And it's true! I fell asleep last night at about 11:10 and didn't wake up till 11:30 today! Ha ha, they decided to turn off all the alarms and let me sleep. I was a little mad because I know that's not following the rules exactly, but I am actually really grateful for that! And now I feel all better!! It's great!

Alright, I know this letter is really lame, but I can't really think of anything that happened this past week! I know the priesthood is real! I know that I hold the higher priesthood and it amazes me that our Heavenly Father lets only 18-year-olds hold this great power! After the blessing from my comp I just had tears in my eyes!  I love this gospel and the  chances of service I was able to give this past week whether I was sick or not. I know I was serving my God just as it says in Mosiah 2:17. I love my Savior so much! I am so grateful to serve during this month of His Resurrection and Passover! I love Him and am so grateful for what He did for me! I wouldn't be here on my mission if it wasn't for Him! I love His gospel and all of you guys! Thanks for the letters! Have a great week! Serve others with Love!

Love,

Elder Cowan