Dear Friends and Family!
How's everyone doing? It sounds like some crazy stuff is happening and that's incredible to hear! I love you guys so much!
Well. . . .onto this week. . . well, I don't know what "title" to put for this week. I'm trying to recall my thoughts of what exactly happened. We were in a lot of different places this past week. But one of the things that we realized at the beginning of last week is that like half of our zone is training so there are a lot of newby missionaries here in the zone. And just like a normal greenie they are sometimes scared to take the initiative in the things and are still learning a lot. But we wanted to take advantage of our trio and go on a lot of divisions with the newby missionaries to help them out.
So we were able to go on divisions with Elder Palacios, Elder De Barebari, Elder De St. Jeor, and Elder Mendoza. Well, the last two elders we did the week before, but I never wrote you about those divisions, I think. But I just LOVE being with new missionaries! I think that's why President has had me been a trainer almost the whole year of 2014 except for this transfer, ha ha! So to start off, the first division was with Elder Mendoza, a little chubbier Chilean in our zone. He isn't like a fresh off the bake missionaries like the others, but we really wanted to help him out with his confidence and everything. So he came to our sector while Elder Alonso went with his companion to his sector. So it was Elder Mendoza, Elder Brady and I together. And we took out the trash that day! Ha ha! That is our goal we want to be able to work a butt load to be able to show the new missionaries on how to take the handles on everything and for them to receive the same excitement to go and do it in their sector. We were able to find two new investigators and had about 5 lessons that day. At the end of the day, Elder Mendoza was dead tired! Ha ha. I felt a little bad for the little guy, but when we were getting into bed he turned to us and said, "Even though I have never worked like that, and I'm super tired, you guys are great examples and now I'm super pumped to go do it with my companion."
It was nice to see the excitement of these new missionaries and to experience that from the get go they can achieve these things. It doesn't matter if you have 23 months or 2 months in the mission. It doesn't matter if you talk the language or not. What we focused on in our studies while we were with all the new missionaries is that none of that matters but the only thing that matters is our faith in Jesus Christ. If we believe we can. . . then we CAN! Thats all to it! That's all the secret to the work, that's all it takes! We really wanted to drill into their heads that we are here, as Dad taught me, "To make more leaders, not followers!" We challenged them to lead their sectors and not to just trust on their trainers. Really the greenies have a special greenie power, I'm being dead serious and it's contagious! Haha!
Another division was with Elder Palacio who actually has more time in the mission than me, but he is one of our district leaders and his companion was the one being instructed in our sector by Elder Alonso and Elder Brady. When we started the divisions off I just sat Elder Palacios down and asked him a lot of questions on how is sector is doing and his new missionaries and everything. He told me that there wasn't a lot of excitement between them and they really don't have any investigators progressing and their sector hasn't had a baptism for over a year and a half. That part stuck to me and bothered me to know that there hasn't been a lot of success. I really just wanted to show that the Lord is leading us and we have been chosen from the premortal life to come at this glorious time in the Lord's vineyard just as it says in D&C 138. And I explained to him that if we are the chosen, we find, teach, and baptize the chosen ones that He gives us. I got him pumped up for the day and we went to work. I felt like we needed to go to the apartment sections and we started to knock doors. We were there for only an hour and a half. But I can truly say that we saw the Lord's hand blessing that sector. He saw our faith and our attitude change and during that hour and a half we were there we were able to have 3 lessons, 2 new investigators, set up 8 appointments for the next two days, and put 2 baptism dates! Woo hoo! It was a miracle! Elder Palacios was on his bike (yes his sector is a biking sector) and just stopped in the street and looked like he had seen a ghost or something. I stopped as well and asked him what happened, he took off his helmet, put his arm on my shoulder and said thank you over and over again.
It was a pretty emotional moment for both of us. He was just overwhelmed because he had never worked like that before, and so he kept thanking me over and over again until I told him, "Elder. . . please don't thank me, I'm a missionary, and you're a missionary, you have been set apart, just as I have set apart, and we are both disciples of Christ and this is His work." He realized that as well, so we got off the bikes and in a grass field we both knelt down and offered a prayer of gratitude for the Lord's tender mercies over His missionaries.
I know and have a strong testimony and conversion about the setting apart of my calling. I have been called of Him just as the other 85000 missionaries in the world. How marvelous is that calling. Even though I don't have time to write down all the experiences with our divisions, it truly was a great experience to see the faith of these new missionaries grow. At the beginning of the divisions I was lead in what to teach and what to say, but to be able to train and show these missionaries how to work in this beautiful calling we have was awesome to see. It was great to see some of these new, timid, missionaries at the beginning and then see them after the splits excited, taking the initiative, and really proclaiming this gospel with a voice of a trumpet as the scriptures say.
So that's what we have been doing in the past two weeks with the new misisonaries in their first of second transfers here. Now they all call me, "Older brother, Elder Cowan." I love being their leader, truly the Lord has given a batch full of wonderful and dedicated missionaries that are ready to hit the ground running now! Now that we have shown and motivated the new missionaries on how to work hard and be diligent, now my companions and I really have to step it up in our sector because this will be the last full week we will have because after that it's just full of go-homer stuff for my companions with the goodbye meetings and classes and all. So now I have to show my companions that now is the time! NOW is the time for miracles, not to think about going home! Ha ha! Wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers that we will be able to finish this transfer hard! I know there is still is a LOT to do and the transfer is flying by! But at the same time I know the Lord is with us, I know He loves us and loves the people in our sector even more. I love being under His command, ready to respond to the call. The mission is the best!
Love Elder Cowan
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