Time Seems to Slip Right Out of My Fingers

Dear Family,
This week, no...this month, no...this year has just been a blur. Time seems to slip right out of my fingers. I am trying to make the most of it, but it just disappears. Last Monday was crazy because I was preparing things for our zone interviews. I make a report on all the missionaries in the zone, and it's a big deal because President's opinion on missionaries is highly dependent on what we right. And as you know, I am not the greatest at expressing my thoughts or writing. It takes me quite a long time writing the evaluations because I don't want to give the mission president the wrong impression about the elders and sisters in the Lemuel Zone.

Tuesday was interviews, and it was quite interesting, because the assistants called us up Monday night at 10:10 p.m. and asked us to give a training the following day. :P Talk about short notice. We prepared our training, but what was even funnier, I not only gave the 30 minute training with Elder Fitzgerald, but I had to give an impromptu training! There was a gap in between the fleet coordinators words and the time that the assistants came back into the room, so I gave another training to keep the meeting going. :) The scriptures are great.

On to the important stuff. The people of Florence! We taught a great lesson to Sister Selph. The spirit was really strong and she now realizes that it is us, not the bishop, who determines when she gets baptized. Normally we wouldn't teach an investigator about stewardship, but because her husband is also trying to be re-baptized, we had to clarify that the bishop has stewardship over Brother Selph and we have stewardship for her. She is trying really hard to quit smoking. I have never seen someone so miserable. She hates to smoke; it doesn't taste good to her; its nasty, and she feels horrible whenever she smokes. Even with her dislike, she is addicted. We are not just trying to break a habit, but an addiction. I pray for her constantly that she will be able to overcome the addiction.

Samantha was out of town the same time we were down in Columbia, but even while being at Myrtle Beach, she read from the Book of Mormon. She was not going to make it back to Florence till late Sunday night, so she asked us if we could get the address for the Myrtle Beach Ward so she could attend our service while at the Beach (Sunday the 18th). After church we called the missionaries to see if she came and she did not. :( That evening at 10:00 p.m. she called to apologize for missing church. Sunday (18th) morning she was rushed to the emergency room to have an abscess removed. She was drugged up and sounded like death, but she still called us to say she was sorry! She is a very caring girl. We saw her once this week. We reviewed what she learned while she was at basic training for National Guard, and then we watched the Restoration DVD. Afterward, we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted! :D She wants to be baptized as soon as possible! Unfortunately, she was not able to attend church yesterday. We are trying to set up an appointment for Samantha to have dinner over at the Stoddard's house.

I love being a missionary and life is great! I love each of you and I hope to hear from EACH OF YOU (Blake & Justin). I love you!

Love,
Elder Cowan