Reward for Diligence--Gloria Brown

Dear Family,

This week was great. We worked really hard all week trying to see medias, but nothing was resulting from any of the effort that we were putting in, then at 8:00 pm Saturday night, while riding our bikes to a media's house, we rode past a woman putting together a BBQ grill. As we drove by, the lady stopped what she was doing to wave at us as we drove by. I decided to turn back around and see if there was anything we could do to help her. The lady introduced herself as Gloria Brown and she gladly allowed us to put her BBQ together. As we worked, we began to teach her the gospel. We finished the BBQ and then went into the experience Joseph Smith had as he was searching for more truth. The spirit was very strong and the spirit bore witness to me that she knew that what we were teaching her was true. I followed the instruction we received at zone interviews and I told her that I knew that she knew that these things were true. Gloria accepted a baptismal date and really wanted to come to church. As we rode home after the lesson, we simultaneously called everyone from the ward to see if someone could give her a ride. Our efforts did not produce the desired result and we were not able to find anyone on Saturday night to give her a ride to church. On Sunday morning, while conducting the correlation meeting, the Relief Society president volunteered to pick her up. Fifteen minutes before the meeting was to begin, Sister Dew (RS Pres.) left the church to go pick up our investigator. Right as the first verse of the sacrament hymn was being sung, Sister Dew and Gloria Brown entered the chapel. The meeting was great. I love testimony meetings. As soon as the meeting ended, Sister Dew approached Elder Pack and me and told us that she had taught Gloria Brown's children in school! We saw Gloria arise from her pew and then she walked up to another one of the members of our ward and gave her a big hug. To our surprise, she knew several members of the congregation. She loved the rest of the meeting. We have an appointment with her tonight and she is coming to Book of Mormon study on Wednesday, and then on Thursday she is attending enrichment night. I am so excited to see her further progress in the gospel. The goal for this next week is to have Gloria Brown living WOW and LOC in order to add her to accountability. It was a sweet way to end the week after spending so many hours with the medias with no success. I am thankful for the Lord's help in giving me the strength to continue to work and be diligent. I love you!

Love,
Elder Cowan