Crazy Adventures of First Few Days as Assistant

Dear Family,
I forgot to inform you last week that with the new assignment to be President McConkie's Assistant, I have a different preparation day than the rest of the mission! My preparation day is on Saturdays. Thus this is the reason you are receiving a letter from me today! I have no idea where to begin. This has been the craziest adventure! I've enjoyed every moment of it, but I'm on my toes because I am not sure what is going to happen next. There is never a dull moment when assisting in the upkeep of a mission.

It all began on Wednesday. At transfer meeting, President McConkie was up at the stand and he announced at the pulpit that two missionaries would be serving together. The only problem was that one of those missionaries was not informed that he was being transferred, so he was still in Greenville--two hours away. I knew right away that this was going to cause a problem, which I will discuss further later. At the end of the transfer meeting, President announced that Elder Poll was being released as his assistant to train a new missionary and that I would be Elder Tran's new companion. I was shocked by the amount of people in the audience who were so excited by this news. Throughout the transfer meeting everyone is relatively quiet, but when the President announced my new responsibility, there were many who voiced there opinions with "Yes," "Elder Cowan!" and other comments. I was nervous for my new assignment, but it was a relief to hear the sounds of so many missionaries who will support me in this assignment.

After the meeting, all the missionaries left except the departing missionaries and the two companionships who were waiting for the companionship from Greenville to drive down to transfers. We all drove over to the mission office so President McConkie could conduct his departing interviews. Two of the missionaries, while waiting, decided that they were going to send their packages off that they had carelessly "forgotten" to send home on their preparation day. These two missionaries were only supposed to be gone for one hour, but they were gone for three. The rest of the departing missionaries had to leave for the mission home to quickly eat dinner and prepare for the temple. I was left at the mission office to wait for the two missionaries who were mailing packages home. Anyways, the day got all messed up and Elder Tran ended up taking the departing missionaries to the temple, while President and Sister McConkie drove to the airport to pick up a sister missionary who has been serving at the Salt Lake Temple Square mission for the past year. While they were doing their activities, I was left at the mission home with the two missionaries who were supposed to drive back up to Greenville.

Wednesday evening: The departing missionaries came back from the temple and President gave them all some advice about returning home. Then we watched the departure video which is a slide show of pictures from all the missionaries going home. Afterward, the missionaries were all nervous about going home that next day, so they stayed up late and then we finally went to bed. The next morning we drove them to the airport and there was a 12 passenger pileup on the freeway, so the departing missionaries missed their flight. :( This is the first time that departing missionaries have missed their flight. :S They put them on a new flight which was supposed to leave 10 hours later. We watched them go through security and then we left. Elder Tran and I had to gather up a bike for the Salt Lake Temple square missionary and then we went to the office to do some paper work, but then we received a call from President that we needed to pick up the departing missionaries because they missed their second flight as well! We picked them up and stayed another night at the mission home with the departing missionaries. We woke up at 4:00 in the morning yesterday to help the missionaries leave and this time they made it on the plane. :) We then drove the mission van and trailer back to the mission office to pick up our car. During the night, someone broke into our car! :) We had to leave our car there, call the senior couple in the office and tell them to fill out the police report, and Elder Tran and I drove up to Camden with the Fullmers (senior couple who serves at the Ft. Jackson base) for our Post Development Meeting. Following that meeting, we got in the car with President and Sister McConkie and drove to Myrtle Beach where we had a Specialized District Development Meeting. Then we drove to Conway and had another Specialized DDM and then we drove back to Columbia! It was great spending five hours in the car with President and Sister McConkie. I am able to get to know them personally. It's such a great blessing to be around them. They truly are spiritual giants.

Today We woke up and spent all our day working on President computer. It works now and we now have to find an apartment to move into! Life is an adventure! I love the gospel and I love each of you!

Love,
Elder Cowan

Assistant to President McConkie

Dear Family,

What a week. I am not sure what to think. Many things have occurred this past week and I received transfer information, but I will tell everything in sequential order. Last Monday was extremely busy because we had to fill out a sheet from the missionaries in our zone. This report was necessary for our zone interviews which took place on Friday. The forms took up the entire day.

Tuesday and Wednesday were normal work days up until we received a phone call Wednesday night from the assistants. They told us to be down in Irmo the next day with enough room for two missionaries and all their luggage. I was so confused because transfers were happening the next week. Elder Ernst and I discussed the situation and we both felt like the missionaries that would be coming to Camden were brand new missionaries. We discussed how to train them to be the best missionaries. The next morning, Brother Dent brought Elder Ernst and I down to Irmo and there were 12 other missionaries who had no idea why they were there as well. President brought us in and told us that there were 12 missionaries who were called to serve in Brazil who do not have their visas yet, so they have been re-assigned here until their visas arrive. From Thursday afternoon until now, I have been serving with Elder Earl. Elder Earl is from San Diego and he is a great missionary. He and Elder Riggs (Elder Ernst's companion) are having culture shock. They have just spent nine weeks in the MTC learning Portuguese and now they are fighting anti preachers instead of fighting the jungle of Brazil. :)

On Saturday we received transfer calls. Elder Ernst was on the phone and I heard him say, "Oh Elder Cowan is leaving as well?" After that Elder Ernst passed me the phone and it was President McConkie. President asked me about my extension. He said he was going to do everything in his power to help me receive an extension. He then asked me to be his Assistant. I am shocked. President McConkie never calls someone to be an Assistant when they only have three transfers left. I am humbled and very, very nervous. I will do my best to fulfill those serious responsibilities. I need to go. With four missionaries now using the same computer, we run out of time in half the time! Thanks for all the support. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Cowan

Meetings, Exchanges, Teaching

Dear Family,

I don't have time to write. I had to fill out information about the missionaries serving in the Ishmael Zone. I will have to be very brief. Monday was preparation day. Tuesday we attended the Windsor Lake District Development Meeting. President also surprised us and came with the assistants. It was a great meeting. After the meeting, Elder Ernst and I blitzed the Spanish Elders area for the day.

Wednesday, we attended the Elgin District Development Meeting. We had a great meeting and then we went on a mini exchange with the Elgin Elders, Elder Hightower, and Elder Hancock. I went to Elgin and worked with Elder Hightower. It was great to be with him again. It reminded me of Spartanburg.

On Thursday, we had an exchange with the assistants. I went to Columbia with Elder Tran. I helped President and Elder Tran conduct a District Development Meeting similar to the one that I was at on Monday and then we proselyted for the rest of the day. Elder Tran is an amazing teacher. We found many new investigators. One came to church and also attended a baptism this weekend. It was a great experience because the lady was depressed when we first met her and Elder Tran told us today that she wants to be baptized and that she never has felt as happy as she did attending church and the baptism which was immediately afterward.

Friday, we taught a lot of people. Saturday was a little slower day, but we worked all day to get someone to church. At the end of the day, we turned it over to the Lord. We had worked hard. Sunday, Elder Tran and Elder Poll had two baptisms at the Base. I taught the first lesson to the large group who are attending for the first time. I still feel like Dan Jones when I'm up there declaring that the Restoration has occurred. :) Unfortunately, none of the soldiers raised their hands to be baptized at the end. But there was one soldier who came up to me immediately after the meeting and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. I wrote him a letter this week; hopefully, he will ponder on the things that I have shared with him and that he will be baptized in the up coming weeks!

When we got to Camden, we did not have any of our investigators to church, but right before the sacrament began, Debra walked into the chapel and sat down in the row in front of us! She really enjoyed it, but she came to our service immediately after her services. She was tired of sitting for so long, so she was not able to attend Sunday School or Relief Society. We will continue to work with her.

There's our week! I hope you all have a great week and that everything will go well with all of the activities! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Cowan

Sister Roper's Baptism

Dear Family,
Another preparation day! Wahoo! (Not) Time seems to just go and go. I need to find somehow to slow time down. I can't believe we are almost half way through the month of October. Before we know it, it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day....Enough with that thought.

This week we had some interesting experiences. One man we met this week told us that he did not want to discuss religion and I made the mistake by asking him, "Why are there so many churches?" This man was crazy! :) He referred to me as "slim" and he told me over and over that I know too much. After following us down the street and repeating the same sentence repeatedly, "Slim over here knows too much," he then proceeded to invite me to join the armed services, go over to Iraq, and when the guns start firing at me, I should not duck and lie down, I should stand there and take it like a man. In his mind he thought I knew everything about the gospel and that I should speed up my death day because this man knew I was going to heaven. It made me laugh, initially, because I had never heard anything like that before, but then the thought made me very sad for that crazy old man for he knows no concept of "enduring to the end." I hope the Lord will enlighten that man's understanding someday.

Another interesting experience was when Elder Ernst and I went to a less-active members home to teach her four unbaptized children. The children are ages 14 (twin girls) and 11 (girl) and 9 (boy). To begin teaching, I asked one of the 14 year old girls "everyone has a different mindset of what and who the missionaries are. When you think of missionaries, what do you think of?" The young lady responded, "You really want an honest answer, when I think of missionaries, I think GO AWAY!" That was the beautiful opening to one of the hardest lessons I have had on my mission. The less-active mother grew up very strong in the church and she assumes her daughters already know everything (when in reality they do not) and then on top of that, it was like pulling teeth to have the children participate. I don't know what is going to come from this, but we are going to go back over and try again. I could really use some help knowing how to get 14 year old girls to open up. I think if we get the oldest kids to open up, then the two younger children will open up as well.

While at the base, a member pulled me aside and said, "I think my friend wants to join the church, but I'm not sure." I walked straight over to his friend and said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by one holding the priesthood authority of God?" He responded immediately with "YES!" I think I surprised the member. He was in shock that the first words I would say to this soldier would be the invitation to be baptized. That member had an amazing experience, this is his second week at basic and yesterday he had the opportunity of baptizing two of his battle buddies. We are now going to get the three of them to work on the rest of their company! :) Also, Sister Roper, is stuck in Basic because she got injured (you would think you get out of basic sooner if you are injured, but with her they had to do all types of tests to see if she had the problem before she entered basic, or if it was something that happened while she was in basic training which would mean the army would have to pay for the surgery to get it fixed). As Sister Roper was waiting in basic for four months, we have been teaching her the gospel. Yesterday, Sister Roper was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a great privilege to witness that conversion. We had four baptisms at the Ft. Jackson Base.

At church yesterday Sister Connell came up to us and said, "you are coming to our cottage meeting tonight right?" I had completely forgotten about the cottage meeting. Every second Sunday of the month, the Connells open up their home and all members are welcome to bring their friends and neighbors over to have a gospel discussion. It's a great missionary tool that they use and we try to use it as well by getting our investigators over there as well. We did not have any investigators attend church, so after church we were praying and trying to find someone who would come with us to the cottage meeting. Elder Ernst received revelation to go and see a lady we met two and a half weeks ago. (How he remembered that far back, I don't know. I can't even remember what I had for breakfast.:) We stopped twenty minutes before the fireside and she welcomed us right in and we invited her to the fireside. She responded, "well then get out of my house so I can get ready!" We left and tried to invite another individual to the fireside and within 15 minutes this lady had washed her hair, changed her clothes and was all ready to go! She came to the fireside/cottage meeting and she really enjoyed it. The only difficult thing is that she works down in Columbia and it is hard to catch her here in Camden. We will continue to work with her and I know that if we follow the spirit throughout the teaching experience, just like Elder Ernst listened to know that she would come yesterday night, that she will accept the truths of the restored gospel.

Thank you for everything y'all do! I love the gospel and I will close until next week!
Love,
Elder Cowan

Temple Session and General Conference

Dear Family,

Wow! This week has been crazy! On Monday we had Zone Leader Council which was great to talk to the other Zone Leaders to plan out this upcoming month and determine what we can do to better help our Zones fulfill their potential. It is interesting now with the new meeting schedule, we no longer have Zone Development meetings. We do not have many opportunities to train our missionaries, so our focus is on the District Leaders. I am relying more and more on my District Leaders to take what I tell them to their districts. I hope I can continue to fulfill my responsibility with full purpose of heart.

Tuesday began the leadership training meeting. It was a great meeting, and at the end of the day, President McConkie informed us that the next morning we would begin our meeting at the South Carolina Columbia Temple! We met at 6:00 in the morning and we as the leaders of the mission were able to attend an endowment session! It was an amazing experience. I learned so much from being in the temple. I went fasting and praying about a specific question that I had and the miracle was that not only was it answered, but I also learned two others truths that I need to apply to follow the example of Jesus Christ in my leadership responsibilities.

We continued to have leadership training meetings throughout the week. We ended Friday night. We had General Conference on Saturday :) and then we went to the Base on Sunday. The Soldiers in basic training are not allowed to leave the base, so they missed out on General Conference (which was amazing.) but they were able to partake of the sacrament. I was blessed to have the best of both worlds. We attended the branch at the post in the morning and, because of the time difference, we were still able to make it up to Camden in time for General Conference. We had four baptisms this week. An extra special event was Sister Roper, who has been struggling her entire time on post, (she actually got injured and has had to stay for four months) was interviewed yesterday and she is getting baptized next week! I am so excited for her. I had the opportunity to interview her. Well, we had General Conference on Sunday, and here we are on Monday! Time keep going by way to quickly. I love this work. I love each of you! I HOPE AND PRAY YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Love,
Elder Cowan