Baptism of Erlipper

Dear Family,

Well this week was ridiculously fast. . . Each week I am having a harder time trying to remember all the things that are happening. Really everything is passing by like a big blur. But as always, it was amazing! :)

Surprisingly, the Lord is blessing us so much with finding new investigators. This whole transfer almost we have been able to find 10 or more investigators each week! Which has been a surprise to me thinking in comparison of how much time I have here. But I'm so grateful to the Lord for helping this sector to continuously progress.

Wednesday we had our go-homer group go to the temple and lunch with Presidente. The temple was really nice and I just love going there so much. I felt a little weird though since I know that won't be the last time I will be there. There were a lot of missionaries crying and all and I imagine it was hard for them. But knowing that I will be here one week more with my family, I didn't really feel like it was my time to rendir mis cuentas al Señor. It was a weird experience but I know it will hit me one day. . .

Right after the mission and lunch, I went on divisiones with a new missionary in Parque O Higgins. I was there from Wednesday afternoon till Friday night. These two missionaries are doing whitewash there and sadly the sector has been dead for some time! It was a little sad to see how negative the other missionary was being during the whole division as he just whined and dragged his feet. But I knew that wasn't going to affect me! Even though he is a greenie, I just went overload on animo and just tried talking to every person in my sight! For every negative comment he made, I would bounce back and make it into a positive situation. He started to check in a little bit later on and right as the two of us started to be positive, we turned the corner, and talked to the first guy in the street that we saw. And he let us in! 

The greenie missionary was so surprised as this nice gentlemen let us into his house and he even stopped washing his car to let us in. We were able to teach him the first lesson and the spirit was really strong. As we left, the missionary that I was with was just stunned, he turned to me and asked, "It's that easy?" As I just smiled and replied, "As long as you're happy, yes!" You could see how it just clicked in his mind and I was able to teach him the importance of our attitude that we show to the Lord. I shared with him the quote that I have kept with me my whole mission which is, "Your attitude determines your altitude." 

I loved seeing the change in this new misisonary as the two of us were able to keep finding news and having lessons. In which for the first 4 weeks of his mission, he has just contacted and walked all day long without having lessons. It was a dramatic change and I can't wait to follow up on him!

I love working side by side by my missioanries! They are so special to me and I know I have this big responsibility to help them make the best of their missions. As I am finishing the misison, all I want is to help my misisonaries to enjoy their misisons to the MAX!

Other than that, I was able to get back into the sector as we had to go straight into divisions with greenies from the CCM again! And it was awesome being with Elder John from Mesa Arizona! That Elder is going to rock it on his mission! He's such a stud!

Then finally came the weekend! We had the baptismal service of Erlipper and wow! It was amazing! Sadly, there weren't a lot of members that came to the service, but all the family of Erlipper came! And wow does he have some prosperity! His famliy is huge and it was awesome to see how this seed that we have now planted and nourished in Erlipper is going to bring more fruits through his family members! His wife has already attended church 3 times now so we are excited to see what more we can do for them!

Then comes the miracle! Gabriel!! We had a lesson with him last night and we read Moroni 8:24-26 We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and were really direct with him. We invited him to get baptized just as we have done a lot of different times. But he started to ignore it. That's what Elder Cowan's patience ran out, I think, and I was really bold with him and told him that if he wants the spirit in his life then he better be humble. We talked a lot about humility and how we need to trust in the Lord. We invited him to get baptized again, and he accepted!!!!!! And he accepted to get baptized next weekend!!!

Awww! IT was so powerful! And the family was so emotional at his response! Truly, all the fast and prayers that we have done have really paid off! Thank you so much for all your help guys! We are just hoping that he can stop smoking this week!

I'm so grateful for this moment to keep baptizing in my mission. It really is a special experience that I will never forget!

Love you all! 

Elder Cowan