Pray for Missionary Experiences

Dear Family,

I can't believe Careena is having a child! Do you know what gender it is? I can't believe Cherry and James are at BYU! I am so involved in the work that I forget every one's lives continue even when I'm not there. :) When does James turn 19? I still think of him as being in high school! Yes, the flu is bad here. Last week 7 of our investigators had the flu. This past week one family that we are teaching had their five month old twin die from the swine flu. Elder Andersen and I are trying to be as precautious as possible by using hand sanitizer multiple times throughout the day.

I am sorry Blake was injured while he was running. Daniel Throckmorton injured his knee while he was running in a cross country race. I received your package and the memory card. I really appreciate the talks. If this is a short letter, I apologize. The computer shut down on me! :)

On to this weeks activities. Yes we are still working with Stephanie and Vonda. We are not working with Melissa Rhodes. "The seed was eaten by the flows of the air before it could take root." She decided that she is going to go to the church down the street from her instead of driving 45-55 minutes to our church. Stephanie had a bad experience with some of her previous friends. They came over to her house drunk and making a mess everywhere. The experience strengthened her testimony of the gospel and how important it is that we associate with those who have high standards. We had an appointment with Vonda on Wednesday in which we brought Brother Newburger with us. Vonda was really busy so we a had a quick lesson/follow up on the commitment we had extended to her. Vonda has not read from the Book of Mormon or the pamphlet we left her, but her children have. :) The children are excited to learn more about the gospel. We now need to have Vonda get excited.

The highlight of this week was Brandon. The first week here Elder Andersen and I ate dinner with the Conners. We promised them that there was one person they knew who was ready for the gospel and that in order to know who that one individual is, they needed to pray and ask Heavenly Father. Sister Conner took our invitation and she prayed for missionary experiences and also she prayed that the Lord would present a situation in which she could invite her former student Brandon to receive the missionary discussions. This last week we received a phone call from sister Conner and she explained that she had been praying every day since our visit, and on Tuesday night Brandon called up Sister Conner and asked if she would teach him more about religion and Jesus Christ! We taught Brandon at the Conner's house and the spirit was so strong. Brandon was crying for the majority of the lesson. He accepted a baptismal date of December the 5th. (I can't believe we are almost into December!!!) His biggest difficulty is that he has a girlfriend in North Carolina and he visits her on the weekends. I wish I had more time to explain more of what happened this week but I must go. I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I am eternally indebted to him. I love each of you!

Elder Cowan