First Week with Trainee

Dear Family,

Life sure is crazy trying to take care of a zone and my new missionary. You asked me how I do it, and honestly, I have no idea. I know I am supposed to get to bed my 10:30 every night, but with planning with my "newborn son" it takes a little longer. Then I have the opportunity to talk to two of the four district leaders in our zone to give them encouragement and have them stand accountable for the activities they performed throughout the day. Anyways, after all that, and trying to grab some dinner and my nightly prayer, I have no time and I get to bed much later than 10:30. My son's name is Elder Douglas. He is from Cotton Wood Heights Utah. I think he lives close to LaDonne, I'm not sure he lives at 7155S Treasure Ridge Circle (1495 East) I have no idea.  I told him I don't know where my family lives, but I know how to get there. :) I do it all by sight. Mother, I'm glad you were able to talk to Edna. You should continue to keep her excited about going to the temple in May. Edna was my first "actual" baptism, actually my only baptism, all the rest I have either had a member or my companion baptize. Elder Bowles became an assistant to the President at transfers and Elder Taylor became a Zone Leader in the Columbia West Zone. It's so exciting to see what they will accomplish. I learned so much from serving with both of them.

On to the news of the week. Wednesday morning we drove our car to Roebuck and then Brother Jordan gave us a ride to transfers. When we got back to Roebuck, we decided to leave the luggage at Brother Jordan's house and work Woodruff. We had a great time. Elder Douglas and I found two families. One, the Bennett's, is a mother (Kortorsha) and her Son (Coran). They are really cool and we will be seeing them again on Saturday. We also found the Fortner family. Sister Fortner has four children and we had a great lesson with them. We are seeing them later today. We also found a couple, the Davis', and they are looking for a church. They have visited temple square and loved it. We are seeing the Davis' on Wednesday, well Elder Douglas is, I am going on an exchange to Greer. It is way hectic trying to teach Elder Douglas and going on exchanges with the district leaders in our zone. What an exciting time. Oh, I didn't finish my story from the first day. After going to Woodruff, on our way back to Roebuck we got a flat tire, and at the same time, Elder Seamons (one of our district leaders) called us and needed us to do a baptismal interview that evening. So we put on the donut tire and, in order to not kill the spare tire, we drove to Greenville going 25 mph. After doing the baptismal interview, it was too late to go home, so on their first day on the mission, Elder Douglas and Elder Hightower slept on couches in the Greer apartment. They did not even have their luggage, it was still at Brother Jordan's house. :) What a crazy introduction to mission life. Well I have to send a ton of emails to the assistants so I must go. I love you!

Elder Cowan