Media Referrals

Dear Family,

I fooled you! You would have been right about me emailing tomorrow if I was not a zone leader and had to send in reports to the mission president. Also, tomorrow is zone leader council. This week has been quite interesting. President McConkie pulled me aside at zone conference and told me that a local member was going to be joining Elder Pack and me for a week to help him prepare for his mission. On Monday evening Elder Brown from the Myrtle Beach Ward arrived in Florence. On top of the week long member exchange, we received a letter in the mail from the mission office in which they gave us a list 16 pages long of media referrals that had never been contacted in the past. The media's were all from 2007. I think the Lord knew this list was coming because, for some reason, we had a ton of miles left for the month. The past four days we have been driving out in the country to random houses to deliver books, DVD's, and most importantly to give people the opportunity to learn of the restored gospel. We met a lady in Greeleyville which is an hour and a half away, but she is so cool! She told us that she used to drive to Columbia for church, which is two hours away from where she lives, so an hour and a half is no big deal for her to drive to Florence. This lady's name is Laura. Laura was not able to make it to church this week because she had family in town because her nephew was graduating from college. We have an appointment with her on Tuesday.

Bill Smith dropped us. He did not want to change his life to agree with the standards of the church (coffee). Sister Selph has been really busy this week and we did not have the opportunity to see her. She is still smoking, but she has not given up. We are continuing to pray for her.

Another funny story, while in Lake City, we stopped at the McDonalds, and while we were eating, one of the workers came up to us and told us that missionaries had visited her 7 years ago and they helped her quit smoking. She then moved to Florida and lost contact with the church. She recently moved back to Lake City. Her name is Patricia. Patricia really wanted to come to church, but she got called in. :( I am thankful for whoever it was that taught her before because she has the highest respect for the church because of what those missionaries did for her. She is still smoke free to this day.

Dante is a stud. He came to the Book of Mormon class we hold on Wednesday nights. We read from chapters 3 & 4 of 2 Nephi. As we read through, we had a question of "who was Joseph Smith's spokesman?" We were all discussing it and as missionaries we could not agree who it was talking about and then Dante answers, "It was Sidney Rigdon. He was mighty in word and he wrote down what Joseph Smith translated." It blew us all away. This investigator answered the question that us full-time missionaries could not agree on. Dante came to church this Sunday and really enjoyed it. I feel so bad for his situation. He knows the church is true and he wants to join, but his girlfriend does not want to get married. He knows he needs to move out, but he has no money. Business has been slow at the barber shop. He also does not want to abandon his kids by moving out. He is trying to be the best dad he can be. We are praying that we can teach his girlfriend and somehow get her excited in the gospel like he is. Well, I need to go, I've been on the computer way too long. I had a quite a few reports I had to send to President and the stake president. I love you all! Have a great summer!

Love,
Elder Cowan