Another transfer

Today starts another transfer! Start of number 4. It's scary to think my mission will only consist of 16 or 17. :O Oh well. I have to make the most of what I got.
I was looking at a calendar and Ammon Opie, Josh Boehme, and Nik Crawford should all have or be receiving their mission calls very soon. I would love to hear where they are going.

With the start of the new transfer, I also start a new planner and Elder Taylor can testify that my planner is my brain. So with a blank planner my mind also is blank...
Steve and Lisa are not getting baptized. Lisa was the one who was dragging the rest of the family along, and when we taught the Word of Wisdom, her response was, "I know smoking is bad, but I have no desire to quit. I'm not even going to try." Since she does not have a desire, there really is nothing Elder Taylor and I can do.

Brother Trotter joined the church a little over a year ago. He has a really cool story. From a very young age, Brother Trotter knew there was a God. He had answered his prayers on numerous occasions. Brother Trotter, however, did not know which church to join. He searched and searched. He could not find God's church. He then had an experience, dream, or vision. I'm not sure what you would call it, but in this experience he walked with God and He told Brother Trotter about His church and the characteristics of it (prophets, revelation, temples...). After the experience Brother Trotter continued to look for a church that fit the description he had received. He could not find the church, and while he was praying and asking God if he was supposed to organize the church he had been told about, the missionaries knocked on his door. Anyways it's a really cool story and he's a really good guy. He came out on exchanges with Elder Taylor and me and he wanted us to stop by his nephew's house. We went over and taught Kent and Holly a great first lesson, and then we went by the next day as well, and they came to church this Sunday! :D I love when members give us referrals! I'm excited to see what happens with them. The only problem is that Kent has a 3rd grade reading level. He has a difficult time with the Book of Mormon, but we received the Book of Mormon Stories book and we are going to give it to him so he can read it to his kids and hopefully he will understand it as well. We will have to go slow with them but with Brother Trotter's help, I feel there is a lot in store with them.

Another cool story this week. On Friday Elder Taylor and I were looking for less actives, and while we were going down the street we stopped at a house and we met a lady named Laura. We taught her a first lesson, which I did not think had gone well at all because there were disruptions all throughout, but when we invited her to ask Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith was a prophet her response was, "I do not need to ask. The spirit has already borne witness of the truthfulness of your message." :O!!!!!!! What? I've never had that response before. We invited her to be baptized the 15th of August and she accepted, we then invited her to church, and she accepted and when we asked when we could come by for a return appointment, she responded, "How about you come over after church and I'll feed you lunch?" I truly think my jaw hit the ground. You must remember we just met this lady, and she committed to church, baptism and feeding us. Laura has kept her commitments thus far. She attended church, and she fed us afterward. Talk about elect! Well I know this is not a very long email but you will have to survive. :) I love you all and I would love to hear from all of you (Justin and Blake) :) I know the Church is true and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Redeemer of the World.

Love,
Elder Cowan