Bautismo Gratis!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, I can't believe it's already July! Happy 4th of July to everyone!! Woo hoo! The 4th of July here was crazy! And that's because of the Copa America soccer tournament! And guess who won!!! CHILE!!!!!!! Oh YEA!!! CHI! Woo hoo!! It was crazy! Obviously we had to stay in the pension all day that day but after the game ended there was an endless night of celebration here in Chile! Wow! It sounded as if the whole entire country was celebrating! HA Ha it was insane! But it was an awesome experience! I love CHILE!!!! (p.s. sorry Blake about Argentina ha ha). 

So it was awesome to be here in Chile when Chile made some records with experiencing this country winning the cup for this soccer tournament! 

Bueno, this past week was awesome! I love being a missionary! Really the time seems to be going super sonic speed now since this is my last transfer! But I'm trying to give it my all!! And really, I just can't stop testifying about how many miracles there are! Wow! This week the Lord was really merciful with us again and I'm so eternally grateful to be serving in this great work! 

One of the awesome things that we were able to see this past week is how this ward has changed soo much! Really, when I got here it was a little "frio" you could say, but it was awesome to go to the church Tuesday night to have our weekly meeting with our leader misional as there were a lot of members that came to the church to see if Elder Daniel and I had changes or not! And it was nice to see how much love we have been able to develop for this ward! I think every day this past week, members gave us food to bring home to eat in the night, ha ha. Tuesday we were able to receive a bag full of oranges, a 2 liter of Sprite, bread sticks, and 2 boxes of pizza! Ha ha!! I love the members here so much! It's amazing to see the relationship with the members now as Elder Daniel and I both already have a good amount of time here and how they really establish mucho cariño!

Wednesday was just a miracle day or I guess I should say that is when the miracle started. It was the first week of the transfer, so for the weekly meetings that we usually have we wanted to get the zone pumped for this next transfer and month. So we decided to talk a lot about miracles! And how we show our faith to receive these miracles through our obedience. Really, I love being obedient! Aww! I don't know what I'm gonna do after the mission with not having so many rules to obey! I love feeling the spirit and the confidence that one can have with our Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ truly showed the perfect example as he always taught that everything He does is what He had seen by His Father. I love looking up to our Savior's example to be obedient just as He is.

After the meeting ended, I pulled out our phone and realized that we had a missed call from our ward mission leader. We called him and he yelled out, "Elderes! Tengo una referencia de ORO!" Ha ha, we got so pumped as he went on to explain that there was a family from Ecuador that we knew and who are active in the church, but that they still haven't baptized their daughter! So he, taking the initiative (aww, I love seeing members taking the initiative in the work) set an appointment for us to pass by that same day at 4! 

We were so thrilled! We were able to go their house where the Chiza family lives. We had already met this family a long time ago but surprisingly there was some confusion with the bishop and their daughter Liceth still hadn't gotten baptized. We started talking and they told us that Friday, Liceth was going to turn 9 years old and that they wanted her to get baptized that Friday! My comp and I both started at each other just surprised! Knowing that from 9 and above is when the missionaries come in to play! So we talked to Liceth, who is so adorable! And we were able to set up a baptismal service for Friday!

So starting Wednesday in that lesson and the second lesson we had with her Thursday we were able to teach all the lessons! We taught L1-L5 to Liceth! Ha ha, it was amazing! She has been attending church her whole life so she already understood everything! Then right after that lesson we met up with one of our district leaders, had the baptismal interview, we got baptismal clothes and got everything ready for the baptism Friday! WOOO talk about miracles! 

Friday came along and we were able to help Liceth's dad learn the prayer for the baptism and taught him everything he needed to know to be able to baptize his daughter. There were a lot of members that came and we were able to have another beautiful baptismal service! 

My feelings were overwhelmed of gratitude as I realized that we didn't hardly do anything. That was a miracle in itself and I am so grateful that we were just able to help this family receive all the blessings as being members of the Church. Really, It was all so fast and I think that must be a baptism record or something because we met her, taught her, and baptized her in only 3 days! Wow!! It was a miracle!!!

So we were able to have Consejo with President and then Saturday morning we had a zone conference with our zone and it was amazing to be able to testify to them of the power of miracles! We had no idea that we were gonna have a baptism that day. Actually, when it was Monday of last week we realized that the week before we put the goal for 1 baptism but on Monday we realized that there wasn't really a potential of anyone getting baptized so that same day we changed the goal to zero. But wow! Were we wrong! The Lord had other plans for us! 

I'm just so grateful to have been able to be the Lord's instrument in that miracle. It's been a wonderful feeling helping people receive this covenant in their lives. It was another miracle to have been able to have another back to back weekend with baptizing! Aww, I love this Lord and this work soo much!

There was another miracle too! The Family Rañiman were able to get married on Wednesday! And it was a huge celebration! There were about 60 people in the church and it was a big event! I love this family so much! Ever since the first day, helping the mom and her 2 sons to become active now and now to see the dad, Gabriel, get married and is now attending church with us! He is soo close to getting baptized! But during the marriage ceremony, Ana and Gabriel wanted us to take a minute to say a few words. Ha ha, Elder Daniel and I were a little nervous at first to have to go up in front of all these people with most of them not being members of the church, and to give a few words. But we were able to pump each other up as we realized that we had this moment to testify to EVERYONE! Aww, it was incredible! Elder Daniel and I were able to testify in front of everyone about the power of the gospel and how it blesses the families and how the families can become eternal. I put Gabriel on the spot as we were talking about the importance of temples and told him that when one is a member for more than a year then is it possible to get an eternal family. 

I think he got the message that we were talking about because yesterday they invited us over to eat and he offered to say the first prayer! Now that was a miracle! Because he has only prayed twice in front of us and usually we have to have a really spiritual lesson for him to commit to pray. But he willingly offered the first prayer and basically admitted to us that he knows he is going to get baptized but he just wants to make the decision himself.

Woo! IT was an amazing week! And to end it, Sunday we were able to have a mini MTC program with the members of our ward and we got together in the night and we were able to teach them how to do contacts and teach and everything! There was a lot of excitement and it was contagious to everyone! I'm so excited to follow up with our ward members to see how they can do this in their real lives! Woo hoo! 

But another miracle that we were able to see started 2 Sundays ago. The bishop read off a letter from the First Presidencia inviting all the Chilean members to fast this next Sunday specifically for this country to receive rain. This winter has been a really dry one. Especially in comparison to last year, last year it was already raining from May till August. But this year there hasn't been anything.

So as Saturday came my comp and I were able to start our fast as well with all the members as we were united in fasting for this purpose that the prophet had told us. And it was a miracle! With not seeing rain for a long time, we went to our lunch Sunday afternoon, broke our fast, ate lunch, and as we were leaving the house, it started to rain. And it rained almost all day long! Aww, IT was amazing to see!!

I love this work! I know and testify that God is a God of Miracles! He just wants us to show our faith to Him, and we do that by showing our obedience. I love my Savior so much! I love being able to save people and help them come back into His fold. The mission is the best!

Love Elder Cowan