The Joys of Whitewashing

Dear Family,

I hope this email reaches you. Today has been the worst I have ever seen myldsmail.net. It has taken me an entire hour to open and read your emails. :) To answer Dad's question: "whitewashed" means that Elder Bjarnson and I are both new to the area. Neither of us knew who was being taught, any of the members, or the location. It also did not help that everyone was out of town Labor Day weekend so our first week was "in the dark." Now things are beginning to pick up. I wish you could see our proselyting area. It is the weirdest shape. We only cover the east side of Simpsonville, a piece of Greenville, Five Forks, Greer, Taylors, (Erin if you read this I do cover a small sliver of your home town. :) and Fountain Inn. I don't know if you can find a map of the Simpsonville 1st Ward, but if you could, you would see that our area looks like a fish. :) I can't remember if I told you or not, but this area is the smallest area in the Greenville East Stake, and 1/5 of the size of the Anderson Ward. Because of its small boundaries, Elder Bjarnson and I have had a difficult time trying to find people who live in our area. Every night when I call the zone leaders, not only do I stand accountable for my district, but I also give them the information for those whom we have found because none of the investigators live in our area, so the zone leaders then give that information to whichever set of Elders in which they live in. We found 3 FAMILIES this week and they all live outside our area. :) Elder Bjarnson and I only found one investigator this week who lives in our area. I know I don't believe in karma, but with all the investigators we give away to other elders, it would be nice to have some investigators given to us. :D I wish I had more to write about. The quote from PMG is true, "nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach." Elder Bjarnson and I are trying to make things happen. In this area, I believe we are going to have to rely on the members more to give us referrals and people to teach. Speaking of members, I met a member and his name is....ugh I can't think of it! Anyways Dad and Mom will know the name. This man served with Dad in the Elders Quorum presidency while at BYU! I think his last name is Barlow. It was really funny. When I went up to introduce myself, he looked at my name tag, and the first thing he said was "Mike Cowan." It really surprised me because I'm 2000 miles away from home. He even remembered Amy Dennis. :) Anyway, I gave him the ma_cowan@cox.net email address. I could not remember Dad's other email addresses. Well this has been a very strange email. I love you all. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and the opportunity that I have to represent Him and be a part of the greatest work on the earth! I hope all is well.

Love Elder Cowan