Some Good News...Some Bad News

Hello,

This week was actually very good and very bad in some ways. Ill start with the bad so we can end on a bit of a happy note. Anyways we had a solid progressing investigator and a fresh brand new one we taught once. Basically the progressing Investigator decided that she didn't want us to teach her anymore. I didn't know her at all due to her being gone since i have been here. But basically with her being gone for a month made her decide it wasn't for her. The other, completely didn't know what we were there to do and just thought we were there to study the bible with him. So that one didn't work out either. On a more happy note Tanya passed her baptismal interview and will actually be baptized this Sunday!! I am super excited that she has made this commitment! Matias is still wanting to get baptized but he will have to be pushed back a week or so due to him not being able to attend church. It is quite weird, people just pack up and leave to Zimbabwe, Zambia, and or their other home lands for weeks at a time. It makes teaching kind of hard. We also this we started teaching a girl named Ganor. She is super willing to learn the gospel and has already gone to church 4 times on her own. We met her through Sis Lee and Br Matthew Herbert. They really help with referrals and missionary work. She has been going to a different ward but she thinks she will start going to ours cause it her actual ward due to boundaries. I'm a super excited to see her progress in the gospel. Anyways that is about all that happened this week!! I love you all!

Elder Cowan

Visit to the zoo and Baptisms!

Hello Everyone!

How goes it back home!? Hopefully everyone is good. This week was a great week so much has happened since i last wrote. Last Monday we went to the zoo and had a great time. We went with basically all of our zone! I still think i like our zoo more but i think i am a bit bias. We had a lot of great lessons this week with Investigators as well as members! On the 31st of January it will be the first baptism of an investigator i will be apart of. She has been taught for awhile now an finally is back home from holiday so she can get baptized. She was actually supposed to get baptized in November but she had a dream where she would be in January and thats what she wanted to do! We also have had some lessons with Matias and we committed him to being baptized finally! We scheduled him for about the middle of February so hopefully that will stay good. I also went on exchanges this week with another missionary name Elder Mkwizu. It was awful... We biked all day back and forth from the same place. All i will say is that it was the most planned out day. All i know is that i am thankful for having a car. On Saturday we had a "mini-mission" were we took priest aged young men with us for thee whole day. It was a stake wide activity an very awesome. Our priest was named Gilbert and he was from the Jo-burg 2 ward. It was a great experience for him and he enjoyed it. The thing is we usually take the priests out teaching with us so for our ward it was kind of normal. Lastly transfers were this week so it was a very stressful Saturday as well. But my companion and I are staying here. The biggest news that is happening is that they re Re-Opening Jo-burg area. It has been closed for like 15 months. Our zone leaders are actually the ones opening it up so hopefully i will get to ere there i have heard the teaching is good. Anyways that is about all that happened this week see y'all next week.  

Elder Cowan

Better Week!

Hello!

Hello all! This week was a pretty good week we had a lot more lessons then what has been going on due to everyone finally returning home. I finally met two of the progressing investigators that have been gone! One whose name is Tanya is getting baptized this month which is awesome! The other is Matias he wants to get baptized but just has to go to church for five weeks out of seven which he started on sunday! His wife was a member and she died in a house fire with their child. He has another kid as well that he takes care of. He had no want of becoming a member until after his wife has passed away. But now he has a great testimony and will be baptized very soon hopefully next month. We had a meeting as a zone and discussed the goals for 2016 for the whole mission. We as a mission are striving for 750 Baptisms, 1000 Reengaged members, and 120 people getting endowments. So per companionship we need to baptize one person each month which is very due able! My companion and I are still getting along very well so that is good! Transfers are next Tuesday and i dont think either of us will get transfered so that is good as well! This area is grewat and i am glad to hopefully stay here for at least one more transfer! I did take a driving test so i am able to drive and passed with flying colors!!! I have found that i have grown a lot already as i have been on mission. I am excited to see how much i will grow in the next 23ish months! I love you all and wish you the best! I hope the new year is going well for everyone as well! I know it has for me so that is good!

Love, Elder Cowan

Oops I forgot to mention that i gave a talk on Sunday..... It actually went very well a bit shorter then i was hoping but oh well it ended up alright. I got to choose what i would speak on and i picked trials! I basically got up there and read some scriptures and talked about the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5 and just explained how prophets and praying can help us over come our trials! Also I have been reading Jesus the Christ! It is a very good book and it really helps you know more about the life of Christ. I have read almost 200 pages of it it in less than a week and a half! Anyway i think that is it now! Love you all!

Elder Cowan

January 4, 2016 LLLLLOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG WWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!

Hello All,

This week was a very long week sadly. Everyone and their dog is still out of town which really sucks. I still haven't met any of the progressing investigators in this area after 4 weeks. This week is looking good though. We have a few returning home this week so we have them down on the schedule. During this week was New Years and New Years Eve. On New Years Eve all of our zone except one companionship went to the four ways chapel at 6 p.m. We all brought our own meat and had a nice big Braai. We also played a lot of Basketball as well as some Hacky Sack. We stayed at The chapel till about 12:30 at night and watched the fireworks in the whole area we were. We had a great view of the cities around so it was quite nice. The next day which was New Years Day we were not allowed to teach... so we got three of the Zones around us and went and played sports and had another Braai. We played a ton of rugby and also a ton of basketball with some soccer thrown in here and there and some volleyball at the end. After we left we went and played sports at the chapel with the ward. It was fun we played some soccer as well as some ultimate Frisbee and more basketball. All i can say i was super sore that night as well as the next day. I also got super burnt on my arms and my neck and face. The arms are already tan my face started pealing a bit today and same with my neck! It doesnt hurt anymore so that is nice. The picture is of my arm after that long and painful day. OHHHHH yeah today a huge prawn (a bug) was in our apartment it scared the living crap out of my companion and I and we trapped it in some Tupperware. We left it until we grabbed the missionaries in north riding and had them get it out and kill it for us (they are from Tanzania so they deal with big ol bugs a lot). This thing was as long as my Finger and a bit fatter than it as well it was gross.. Anyway that was the highlight of the weeks so i cant tell if thats a good thing or a bad thing. Anyways hopefully this week will be a bit better with lessons and what not. 

Love, Elder Cowan