Rain, Tracting and Contacting

Well this week was just a hectic week but actually a very fast week! (which is good) So this week started out with us getting some new investigators! That was nice some of the people we met last week on the street were able to see us and we were able to teach them! Their names were Hazel and Sarah and they were a mother and daughter! Hazel is a mother of one and a adopted mother of two more who are her sisters kids! Sarah is her mom and she is a old GoGo! We taught them about the Book of Mormon and they accepted a copy and committed to read it! We will follow up on them tomorrow as we visit them tomorrow! Also we met this new investigator this week whose name is Mirranda! He is a really good kid and willing to change his life! He had a lot of questions on baptism and all that it means and can mean in our lives so he asked those! By the end of the discussion we were able to put him on date April 23rd! So hopefully he will be ready for that! This week we did a lot of tracting and contacting due to down time and nothing to do! Nothing really came from it though just some nice people we met on the road! So not the most success on that side of the work! Honestly the best thing is working through the members of the church if not there is no progress! So whatever we are working and sweating which is good! This week it was raining a lot so it ward hard! On Tuesday it literally did not stop! It was a little depressing not seeing the sky but it is out now which is good!! Anyways I am alive!!! I love you all!!!

Elder Cowan

CONTACTING, CONTACTING, AND MORE CONTACTING!

Well this week was a pretty eventful week in a few ways!! To start this week we had the South Africa Johannesburg Mission Summit! It was basically a zone conference but we had guest speakers and a lot of cool things to do! We had Lee den Hond who was the third South African women to ever summit and climb Mount Everest! She was really cool and such a awesome women! She went through a lot to get where she is at now and she is still continuing in doing extreme things!! But that was a real treat!! We also had some of the Dunns friends come and talk to us as well which was also really inspiring! Then we went up onto the hill that we were at and did a short little hike which was really fun! It was about a hour or so long but yeah it was still nice! Anyways on the area side of things we are surviving!! It is rough but we are learning a lot at this time in the mission!! So yeah lots of fun and games in our flat at night which is always a plus!! This week though we contacted so much!! Which we needed to do but it still is not as nice as just teaching all day! We got a couple of new potential investigators and we will be giving them some calls this week to see them! Hopefully they will turn out and we will be able to get some new investigators. We are enjoying though and the members in the area are awesome!! They are really nice and willing to work with us to bring the work of salvation to the people of South Africa! Anyways I am alive and beating! I hope you all stay well and I love You!!! 

Elder Cowan

New area same flat (I am now a midget)

Well this week was probably the Hardest week I have faced on mission!!! Honestly it was rough but also very rewarding and exciting! So that is very weird but it was good as well! So we had transfers this week Tuesday and yeah I went and picked up my companion Elder Palkki from South Ogden! Also I knew Elder Wolfgramm was a big guy but we did not know about his greenie Elder Shepardson. So it turns out that Elder Palkki = 6'5" Elder Shepardson = 6'6" Elder Wolfgramm = 6'3" and lastly I Elder Cowan = 6'0" and we all live together in the same Flat and are in the same district.... SO I am a midget now. It is quite sad actually I thought I was tall but nope!!! But yeah this week was hard!! We had literally like 4 lessons which is awful compared to the 30 we were getting in my last area. So yeah it is rough but this week is looking up!! This week we contacted a lot and helped out the Randburg elders for potential investigators so it was cool as well! OOOO I got a new car this week it is called a Toyota Etios and it is sweet!! not really but it is hahah it is a stick but has like no features but oh well I really enjoy it!! It honestly is a tin can with wheels but it is pretty cool I think. Next week maybe we will have some sweet action photos of it!! Anyways all is well!! I am just tired we worked really hard this week so yeah that is a good sign all wee need to do is keep working and success will come!! I love you guys!! 

Elder Cowan

Oh... I Forgot...So a guy in our ward that we are serving in is the member of the church that was paralyzed and just finished the Dakar race in southern america! So yeah super cool story!

Transfers and Baptisms

So this week was really eventful!! Basically it started out pretty normal then went different! But lets see we got some new investigators this week which was actually really cool! They were pretty powerful and 3 of them are from one family! That family does not speak much English! I may have mentioned them last week but we started to teach more of them! They were cool and had some really powerful questions! Most of which we were able to answer swimmingly! So the week went on though and Saturday rolled around as normal and we were expecting transfer news as normal as well! So around 4 o'clock, I got a call from President. As we talked he asked if I would be able to Open Weltevreden and Ruimsig (both of which have been closed for at least 15 months). Of course some other areas covered them but still they are rough areas. I said yes of course and he proceeded to ask if I would Train as well! So I said yes again because that is like saying NO to the Lord. So I will be going to some of the Hardest areas in the mission to open and train! It will be a adventure for sure! The coolest part is that it is Right next to Randburg and I will be staying in a four man flat with the missionaries who are opening Randburg! So I am going back home in a way! It will be the same Flat that I started my mission in and yeah! The Randburg Elders one will also be training a new missionary! So that will be really cool and I am excited!! My new Companions name is Elder Palkki and I heard that he is from Ogden. So I will fill you in later cause I get him tomorrow! But yeah! This weeks as well we had Two baptisms! It was a really good meeting as well! Sibusiso who was the man who was baptized invited his mother and she really enjoyed! We have never taught her and I think the Elders will start to! So yeah it was a great week and a bit of a sad one! I had to say goodbye to all of these people that I have grown so close to! It will be hard to leave but I have to! Anyways I love you all and I wish yall the best!! 

Elder Cowan

Interviews

This weeks was awesome!! We had 8 new investigators throughout the whole week!! SO that was awesome!!!! But yeah as the title to this wonderful email states we had two interviews for two of our investigators!!! They PASSED!!! So they will be baptized on the 5th of February! I am really excited to see that happen and participate in those!! This week as well I had a ingrown toenail taken out which was just awesome! Not really my toe still kinda hurts!! But that is fine it will feel a lot better!! So yeah we had some really powerful lessons this week! We got these two new people that are just outstanding! They want to learn really bad but one of them hardly at all speaks English! But we will work with her as well with some one who speaks Zulu as well!! But yeah life is basically the same here as it was 7 months ago when I got to this place!! But that is a good thing! we had stake conference this week as well. It was good we heard from our mission president as well as a newly called mission president for the Ghana Accra mission! It was a good conference! So yeah we found out President Dunn is leaving early to a Job at BYU. So we get our new President on the 21st of March instead of July!! That will be interesting! anyways I love you guys!!! 

Elder Cowan