Baptism of Savka

Dear Family and Friends!

Wooo!!! This week has been one of my favorite weeks here in Republica! It's been Milagroso!! Aww, it's been incredible! I love this work so much!

This week was awesome! There were a lot of things that happened this week and honestly I'm pretty wiped out right now! But It's SO WORTH it! I love it! 

This week the Lord blessed us so much! Really I don't think I have ever been so focused on my mission before! This is the time to show it all off! This past week we were able to enter a lot of new houses and we found a lot of new investigators as well! IT is amazing to see the fruits of this sector and to see it's progress in these past 3 months! Truly, the Lord requires every effort! 

So as you can tell from the title of this email, Savka got baptized! Woo hoo!!! :) BAPTISM! Aww I love baptism soo much! It is one of the most powerful things I have ever experienced seriously! Aw! :) But it wasn't all easy games and all. 

But to start off this week's stories we were able to pass by Savka almost every single day this past week. We were a little rushed trying to teach her all the lessons before hand but she really was excited for her baptism. Finally, I had to go on divisiones and that day Savka had her baptismal interview and it all worked out perfectly. Oh, as well, Savka's mom came down for a visit to see her and we had to present ourselves and it was little weird in the first impression that we had with her telling her that we were going to baptize her daughter. But she was totally fine with it, as well Savka is 19 years old and is an adult now. 

But just as the Book of Mormon explains, there's always in opposition in all things. So Saturday came along and we were pumped because it was our big day! The baptism! Just when we were about to leave the pension we got a call from Savka. . . I answered it and the first thing I heard was someone crying. . . Suddenly my heart froze and I got so nervous. I knew something happened and it took her a while to catch her breath, but after she was able to mumble out the words of how her boyfriend was being really rude to her and kept yelling at her that she shouldn't get baptized. I tried my best to just listen and to follow what the spirit was telling me to say. I was able to calm her down and we were able to have a calm conversation after. But she was too nervous that she couldn't even think straight. She hung up after saying that she didn't want to get baptized that day. . . . 

But the good thing was that Savka gave us the number of her boyfriend because she wanted us to talk with him. . . after she hung up and letting my comp know what happened, none of us wanted to call the boyfriend. But I decided to do it and started to talk with him. He explained his reasoning of why he thinks Savka shouldn't get baptized and kept telling us that she isn't ready for baptism. I kept listening for a long time and I honestly didn't know what to say. I would say a few phrases but then he would keep going on. Truly, it was sad to be able to "feel" literally the contention through a simple phone call. But I still couldn't get myself to say anything. Finally, there was as long pause and I had the impression that I needed to testify to him. I cleared my throat and told him that I was going to explain this simply and clearly that way he couldn't get confused. I called him by name and said, "I'm Elder Cowan, yes, you may look at me as if I'm an American foreigner, but don't get deceived by my last name, but instead look what Elder means . . . I then went on to explain as missionaries we literally take upon ourselves the name of our Savior Jesus Christ and how we are His representative that He sent to save His brothers and sisters. I told him that there was no doubt in my mind that I was called of God. That through a modern day prophet I have been selected to work in Chile to specifically rescue my sister, Savka, and that there were no doubts in my mind that I knew I was going to fulfill that purpose one way or another.

After he apologized and told us that he was sorry for taking things too dramatically. He said he would call Savka to let her know what she should do. Then we had to go start filling up the font and eat lunch and had some other lessons. I had the impression to call Savka again at about 4 (her baptism being planned at 6) to see how she was doing. When she answered she was still confused. She started to doubt and even though her boyfriend told her to go through with the baptism, she still was confused. I honestly tried everything! I told her some stories of past baptisms that have happened, of experiences before the mission, sharing scriptures through a phone call but at the end she still wasn't sure. Finally, I asked, "What can we do for you?!" which she responded asking me a simple question that kinda caught me off guard, mumbling she asked, "What would you do?" . . . . After telling her all the past things that I had already said, I realized none of it was working and that I really needed to answer this question good. So I responded saying, "What would I do? Well, I would choose to be baptized. And you know why? Because I know that if I do, I will be granted the gift of the Holy Ghost and in the end of everything, that's how I want to feel everyday: feeling the Holy Ghost. For me it's the most beautiful feeling we have and I know we can follow the spirit by the way we feel, if we are happy, if have the spirit, if we are confused, those feelings don't come from the spirit."

After sharing my response there was a really long pause. . . sometimes I get a little impatient with those types of long pauses, then I asked her the same question, "What would you do?" Then she sat there pondering over it and told me, "I want to feel the same way you feel when the Spirit is with you . . . I'm going to get baptized." 

WOOOO! It was such a relief to feel that! Truly, it was a day full of stressful phone calls and when she said that it was about 5 o'clock--only an hour before her baptism! HA ha! Aww, it was soo stressful but at the end, I don't even think I can describe my gratitude for the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of the Lord is the only member that truly makes these changes in the hearts of man. Not us. I'm so grateful that Savka could recognize how precious the Holy Ghost is. Later on Elder Daniel was able to baptize her and it was so powerful. It was more powerful the next day as I was able to confirm her and give her this precious gift of the Holy Ghost in her life.

Miracles truly happened. And I don't know how the Lord does it, but I am so grateful for all that He does! He loves these people soo much! And I love working for Him.

I know last week I said that Nicolas was going to get baptized, but we felt that he needed a little bit more time to understand the things that way he can have a stronger testimony. He has his baptismal date for this week.

As well, Shirley, who I cant remember if I wrote about her last week, but she is a cousin of a super active family who was actually present in one of the lessons with Savka that we had in the family's house. We started teaching her and she is incredible! She is sooo prepared! We have already had 3 lessons with her and she, as well, has a baptismal date for the 30th! This weekend. She saw the baptism of Savka and she has been progressing soo much. She has attended twice now and she just wants a confirmation to know that Joseph Smith really was a prophet. Truly, she is a miracle! Even thought it's only been a week that we have known her, she is awesome! She used to be super timid and shy, but now it's amazing to see her smiling in every lesson. If we can help her get her answers to her prayers, she, as well, will be baptized this next week. But if not, for sure the next week! She is so prepared!

Truly, the Lord is blessing us soo much! It looks like we will be baptizing weekly this transfer! Ha ha, which is our goal! Truly, this transfer is going to be legendary! I love this work so much! Thank you all for your prayers in our behalf! Truly, that helps so much with the work! The Lord is our captain and I love being right behind Him and fighting this great battle! I love this mission so much!

Love,

E.C.B.E.Y.P.L.S!!!

Dear Family and Friends!!

Woooo hoooo!!! Awww I'm so pumped right now!! We just barely got back from our transfers meetings, and Elder Daniel and I are staying together and we are soo pumped! Wow, I can't believe how fast the last transfer passed by. Now I am starting my 2nd to last transfer and now it's truly time to take out the trash!! Aww, I love transfer meetings and I love Hermana y Presidente Barreiros! Aww! The Work of Salvation is the best thing in the world! I have learned so much about this work and I love being able work side by side with the Lord! 

So this past week we were able to finish the transfer off with MIRACLES!!! Oh yea!! It was incredible!! Truly the Lord blessed us so much! And we are truly humbled and grateful for all the blessings the Lord made happen in our sector this past week. So to start off, explaining the title of this letter, Elder Daniel and I were realizing that the excitement level in our zone was a little down. So on Wednesday we knew we had to do something to be able to motivate all of them to finish the transfer off strong! So we were reading in DyC 4 one day and we fell upon the phrase that caught both of our attention which was, "El Campo Blanco Esta Ya Para La Siega" or in Ingles it would be something like, "The field is white and already for the harvest." Woo every time I hear that it pumps me up! So we decided to make a title for it, which we did by taking the first letter of every word and putting them together which in the end we got ECBEYPLS! Ha ha this was something that my good friend Elder Lythgoe showed me a while back and we liked the phrase a lot. So in our meeting with the zone we talked about how the Lord is hastening His work and that WE, as HIS missionaries have this blessing to work in such a MARVELOUS work! And we just kept yelling the phrase all over again until everyone caught on and everyone in the zone was yelling it! Ha ha it was awesome to see their excitement to keep going forward in this wonderful work.

Then we had divisions or splits with the assistants and I was able to be with Elder Hatch! Ha ha! My good old buddy from Clara Estrella from when we lived 6 months together! Aww, I love that guy so much! It was awesome that day as well! WE were able to find 4 new investigators and had 8 lessons! We were running all over the place and we helped soo many people that day! Aww, I loved it! We were able to pass by Nicolas who originally had his baptism date for the 16th, but with the time and the situation that was passing with his family he couldn't get baptized that day. So we visited him and we were able to teach just about everything and then postponed his baptism date. We weren't really sure what to do because we knew we would have to have his parent's permission, who we taught about a week ago and they were a little mas or menos no mas. But we kept visiting him a lot this past week and Nicolas is such a stud! After a few visits this past week we were able to pass by his house last night. This was it . . . we had been teaching Nicolas in the church and now we were gonna return back to his house to be able to see how his parents were gonna take the news of him getting baptized. So we first started talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and as we approached the topic of baptism we turned to one another, then looked at the dad and were a little nervous and scared but at the same time, showing our faith, we told them that Nicolas has taken the decision to get baptized. Then there was a pause of silence. . . . . it felt pretty long to me, but after a few seconds, the dad told us that he respected his son's decision and that his son has showed through his actions that he really wants this. Then the mom later on agreed as well, as well as his grandparents and uncle that were there. Woo!! We were pretty nervous, but we are so grateful that Nicolas's family accepted this decision. So we were able to put a real baptism date right then and there! And Nicolas accepted the baptismal date for the 23rd! Woo hoo this Saturday!! So we are going to be baptizing this weekend! Woo hoo!!! It was a miracle!

Then we had even more miracles with Savka who we also visited with Elder Hatch and she has come to church so many times and has received almost all the lessons but just hasn't accepted a date to get baptized. So we just went in and I think I had lost my patience a little bit with her and I didn't want to waste any more time so I started rolling off the baptismal interview questions and she truly expressed how she knew the Book of Mormon was true and that she knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It was amazing to see her bear her testimony to us as you could see she had learned to love that book. As well do I! I love the Book of Mormon so much! It is one of the most powerful things we have. Then after, Elder Daniel started talking about what baptism is and the reason behind it all is for the desire to have the remission of our sins. He then turned to her and asked, "Savka, you have gone to church, have read the Book of Mormon, have received almost all the missionary lessons. . . . So what would be limiting you from not receiving the remission of your sins?" OHH!! That question was so powerful when he asked her. Savka sat there thinking and finally responded, "Nothing!." So we were able to put a baptism date for the 23rd as well! WOOO HOOO! What a miracle! We will be baptizing 2 it looks like this weekend! Yea!!!

Then on Sunday the family that we were going to have lunch with as well invited Savka over to eat and we were able to teach her a little more, but even more amazing was to see how the entire family just fellowshipped her soo well! It was awesome! 

Truly, the Lord blessed us so much this past week. We had so many lessons this past week, almost 30 which was something that we had never achieved in this sector. As well, we were able to find 13 new investigators this past week!! Holy cow!! Ha ha! And one was a family that we found on my birthday and they are Muslim! Ha ha, I have never taught Muslims before, but they are so incredibly nice! 

Then to finish off, I had my birthday. Honestly, I don't like birthdays in the mission. I don't like people focusing on me when I'm trying to focus on them! Ha ha! But it was great as well! I was able to pass by the Rañiman family and Reginas family. The two families that I probably love most here in this sector and they both had some food, gifts, and cake for me. As well in the morning half the zone went with Elder Kimball and showed up at our apartment building ready to sing me happy birthday and they made me a lemon pie cake! Ha ha, I love my missionaries! They are great!

Every single week, I have been feeling so much of the love that our Heavenly Father has for His children. Whether they may be missionaries in my zone or new investigators that I am teaching. The Lord has been so merciful in letting me feel love for those around me and has poured out His love so much for me personally and in my mission. I love this mission. I love all missionaries and being a missionary, and I love my Savior Jesus Christ. And I know he loves each and every one of you too!

Love you all!!

Elder Cowan

Mother's Day Letter

Dear Family and Friends!

WOW, was that the best Mothers Day or what!!? AWW seriously, I can't get over how amazing yesterday was! It was weird, I will be honest and I can't believe that was the last skype session forever! Or at least in this Cowan generation! The time is flying by WAY too fast. It's literally scaring me now a little! Aww! But whatevs! You guys are the best! I love you all!!

Well, I guess this will be a little repass of the same things that I talked about in the skype session yesterday! But to start off the week we were able to have a FHE with the Aguilar Family, who are from Ecuador (There are about 150 members from Ecuador in this ward). And the Aguilar family is a family of 10! We were able to motivate their son and the father to reactivate and come back to church! IT was amazing sharing the gospel and doing little games with this big lovely family in their humble home! They are so great!

Then on Tuesday we were able to have another training leadership meeting with President and then we were able to find some new investigators to teach. Truly, it was a tender mercy because by the time we got back we only had about 2 hours to work. But we found Luis Panama and Etson! Etson was a reference we got from a ward family that had brought Etson and his family to one of our weekly FHE's that we are having in the church every Sunday night. We passed by and he let us in right away! It was awesome! We are excited to see how this family progresses because the ward family lives almost next door to them and they are really good friends! So we are stoked about that!

Wednesday we had our district meetings and it was a day dedicated to the office because there was a big demand and pressure for us to finish off the projects that President wanted us to finish. And Thursday was a full day in the office as well. We were a little brain fried when it came to Thursday night and it was 9 p.m. and we still hadn't finished off everything. After staring at the screen for so long I just had to have some personal time and went and took a quick 20 min cat nap on the ground ha ha! But por fin! We were able to pull everything off! And to finish it off we were able to go to the temple this Saturday to bring the recent converts to the temple! IT was awesome! A lot came and it was amazing to help all these new converts progress in their steps in this new life as members!

Saturday night was pretty awesome as well! We went and visited Savka who we have been teaching and she has come to church a lot of times and she has accepted baptism, but she has just been scared about a lot of things. We went and planned to read Alma 36 with her. But after reading the whole chapter my comp and I didn't feel anything. So we just started asking a lot of questions to her trying to dig a little deeper to she her need. I remember asking her what importance would it have to her if she had a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She was kinda hitting around the bushes a little bit with her answer when we found out at the end that she didn't even knew what the word testimony meant! Sometimes it amazes me at how comfortable we get in the gospel language! Just as Br. Allison always taught us in mission prep, we are to teach it as if a little kid can understand!

We went on to share with her our personal experiences of when we gained our own testimonies. I explained the experience I had on the Enos Journey as a priest on the Encampment and told her how powerful I felt the Book of Mormon was as I read Enos on that cold and miserable night. As I finished telling my experience, tears came to her eyes as she explained how beautiful that must have been for me. I even got emotional as I nodded in agreement and told her that, that is the reason we are here. Because we have FELT it. The spirit was so strong and at that point she was balling her eyes out. She finally understand why we have been talking about baptism so much and she truly recognized the spirit for the first time in her life! What a powerful experience that was! She begged us to help her have an experience as we did and to have that same feeling that she was feeling in that moment. It was awesome to see how as her understanding grew, her desires grew as well! I could see the hunger for the Holy Ghost in her life. 

Truly, the Holy Ghost is one of the most precious gifts that the Lord has given us! I felt that same spirit yesterday as it was probably one of my favorite days in my whole life! Yes, my life! I don't think I have ever felt so much love before in my life other than yesterday! Starting it off with seeing my favorite sector again and being surrounded with all the people I love soo much. President was there, Elder Smith, Elder Goates, and our converts: Loreto, Rodolfo, Benjamin and Francisca. I was surrounded by them and it brought the most powerful love I have ever felt before for another person. It was such an incredible experience! I can't wait till you guys get to see these lovely people! I literally love them to death! 

And then to top of the day with love, I was able to see ALL of you in skype! What a blessing! Seriously! To top it off with my wonderful family that I love sooo much! It was amazing! I love you guys soo much! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father as He poured out His love to me yesterday. Something that I just needed and it came just in time! That is what I love about this work, it is all about love. Love for our Savior, our Heavenly Father, our families, and for these amazing people here in Chile. This love in infinite and unbreakable! I love my mission so much! 

And I love you all too! Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Cowan

Pure Love of Christ

Dear Family and Friends,

Woo hoo!! It's MAY!! Holy cow I can't believe it! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST DAD IN THE WORLD TOMORROW!!!! WOOO HOOO! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Wow and I can't believe that we will already be seeing each other again this Sunday! Where is the time going!? Wow! But I'm excited!!!

A quick update. Yesterday Elder Kimball just went into the hospital for appendicitis and he is about to hit one year. It's a little ironic because I was in his same exact situation when I was about to hit one year and I had my hernia operation. But If you could all keep Elder Kimball in your prayers that would be great!

But this past week has been awesome! Each week in this sector has been getting better and better it's awesome!! Truly, this past week my companion and I decided to focus a lot on the importance of love and charity. That has been our goal from the beginning in trying to develop a stronger love to our brothers and sisters here in Chile. 

To start off, the Lord truly blessed us this past week! There were a few days that we lost because of some problems we had with the office projects and the computers soaked up most of our time those days. But on the other days of the week where we didn't have to go into the office, truly, the Lord blessed us so much! 

For example, on Tuesday we had a dia llena! We had a lot of citas fijado and we didn't know what to do with so many appointments. So we ended up calling the Vedovi who are a matrimonio couple from Brazil and we threw them into a random new investigator's house and told them to teach lesson 1 ha ha! They have only been here for one month or so and still haven't learned Spanish, but it was awesome working as a team in one sector and dividing and conquering! Ha ha, in the end the lesson went great for them!

While they were teaching, we ran to Savka who is a investigator that has come to church about 3 times. Her boyfriend is a return missionary and is progressing really well. On Tuesday we had a super powerful lesson with her in which she accepted a baptismal date. But we went by again on Thursday and she was too nervous and scared because her family is really Catholic that the date dropped. But she still came to church yesterday! Aww, I know she is going to get baptized this month!

Then Friday was a holiday here in Chile which I just love working on holidays! There are so many people in their homes! Especially in our sector since normally they are out working all week long! So we were able to have a lot of success this past weekend in finding and getting into a lot of new houses! I love finding new investigators! It's an excitement that runs through me! I love it! And it just makes me to want to find even more new investigators! IT truly was a blessing to have that holiday for us to find all these new investigators because the past 2 weeks we haven't really been able to find anyone!

Then Saturday was amazing! First off, we got a reference from our ward mission leader of a teenager that is friends with all the young men in the ward that had come to church a week ago. We passed by his house and he was so excited to share with us. His name is Nicolas and is about 14 or 15 years old! His neighbor is a teenager who is super active in the church. We taught him the Restoration and he already knew everything! He told us that he believes that this is the true church and wants to get baptized! IT was awesome! We put a baptism date for the 16th!! Woo hoo :) Double bonus ;) He is an awesome kid! We have passed by to get to know his family even better and they are super nice as well! I love getting references from the members!!! I know Nicolas is going to get baptized!!

Then Saturday night we were invited to the Rañiman family who is a family who aren't all members. And it has been amazing to see the change in this family. When I found them over 2 months ago the two sons Gabriel and Seba weren't really interested in getting to know the missionaries and the mom was pretty cold hearted again the members and leaders of the church from some ugly things that have happened in the past. And her husband Gabriel, as well, isn't a member and never wanted to share with us. But it has been amazing to see the transformation of this family as the sons and mom have reactivated and now they are going to get married and Gabriel is sooo chill with us! He even came to church yesterday! We had a fun little party Saturday night as they had their whole family over for a celebration on their decision to get married. Then on Sunday they invited us over to eat lunch and as we finished eating lunch the family one by one shared their testimonies to us and thanked us for the happiness that they have found again in the gospel.

I love this gospel soo much! It truly is for the happiness of the family! I know Heavenly Father wants the best for each and every one of our families and that He established each one soo perfectly! This gospel is the key to everything! Even unto bringing the eternal life to each family! I love it I love it I love it!!!

I am so grateful for my family that have seen the numberless blessings of this gospel! I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that takes care of us soo well! I love you all soo much!}

Can't wait to see you all Sunday!

Love Elder Cowan