"We are always on the move!"

Dear Family,

I have no idea how or what I should share in this email. Things are just crazy! We are always on the move. 

Monday we filled out reports for the mission and then at 3:00 p.m. we began our Zone Leader Council. The meeting was really good. I hope and pray all the zones will succeed in the month of November. We had a very good month of October: 65 baptisms in the mission. I hope and pray we will be able to be consistent in our missionary efforts!

Tuesday we were able to proselyte! :) We were able to visit some of our investigators. I love being able to teach. These people are great! I love sharing the gospel.

Wednesday we had a specialized Training meeting in Florence. As I arrived, I recognized that the majority of the missionaries who were serving in the district are my posterity! Elder Taylor (my son) is the district leader, he is training Elder Carlisle (my grandson) and there is also another companionship Elder Caldwell (my grandson) who is training Elder Hinckley (my great grandson) :) It was great to visit all of them and give them some training on how to improve as a missionary. After the meeting, Elder Tran and I went on an exchange with the district. I went with Elder Taylor Elder Carlisle while Elder Tran went with Caldwell and Hinckley. The lord blessed us to have much success in the short time we were there. Elder Taylor, Elder Carlisle, and I were able to find a man and put him on date. The lesson was really good. Elder Tran was able to help the other companionship firm up two of their investigators. By the end of their lesson, the man who had been smoking crushed his cigarette's and he and his girlfriend poured out their alcohol and set a date to get married! 

On Thursday morning Elder Tran and I took a missionary to the airport. After serving for 23 months he is now back home. After that, we traveled to Elgin to complete a similar specialized training meeting with that district. We are finding that missionaries are not role playing very often and it is negatively affecting their ability to teach. The meeting was centered around fixing this problem. Thursday night we traveled to Spartanburg to stay the night there in preparation for the SDM (specialized district meeting) we would be having in Greeenville the following day.

On Friday we had two meetings right after the other. One with the Spanish district and then one with the Boiling Springs District. (Random note--Before the Spanish meeting, I realized that one missionary knows Becca and Tara from BYU-Idaho and another Elder knows Cherry. What a small world--to think that all three of us would be in Greenville South Carolina was so weird!) Yesterday evening we traveled down to Columbia and visited with a lady who just got baptized. The sister had been working with her, but the sisters were having a difficult time trying to get the 14 year old son to progress. They asked if we would come to see if he could relate to an elder better. We taught him and he is a very sharp young man. Before we left, he accepted a baptismal date in two weeks. I love this work and I love each of you!

Love ya!
Elder Cowan