Dear Family,
What an exciting week. First off, I am not being transfered. I am staying in Spartanburg! It was really funny because the rest of the Elders that I live with were certain I was going to be transfered as an Assistant to the President, but to their surprise, they are all being transfered and I'm the only one staying in Spartanburg! :) I am excited to see where they are all going. On to the events of the week. We found a cool investigator on Monday evening. His name is Douglas. We set up another appointment later during the week, but then he called us and had to cancel on us because he had to go out of town. It's really cool having an investigator who lives close to the church because the church is in a very awkward spot behind houses, but with Douglas living in the neighborhood, he knows right where the church is.
On Tuesday we had a district leader development meeting and a zone development meeting afterwards. The meeting was really great. After the meeting, I went to Greer on an exchange with Elder Puew. We had a great time together. It was really interesting because he was really nervous to be on an exchange with the "zone leaders" and it reminded me of when Elder Merrill came on an exchange with me my first week with Elder Taylor in Anderson. We were able to teach one of their investigators and I am excited to see what happens with him.
While I was on the exchange, Elder Douglas and Elder Hightower went over to Becky's house to teach the Word of Wisdom. On Wednesday when I got back from the exchange, we went over with Sister Baker and set Becky up on the non-smoking packet. Becky was excited to start and to prepare herself for baptism.
On Friday Elder Merrill (our district leader, different Elder Merrill than the one previously mentioned) came and shoulder-angled Becky with Elder Douglas. I thought it would give him a boost to see someone progressing in the gospel since he and his companion do not have much going on in their area. They read from 1 Nephi 3-4 and compared Becky to Nephi and just like Nephi, Becky has been given a commandment. After reading, she was really excited to quit smoking and also to continue to read from the Book of Mormon---two birds with one stone. I can't wait to see her smoke free and reading the scriptures daily. It will be such a great blessing for her and her family for the rest of their lives.
Saturday we had a crazy storm! We came outside after an appointment, and the clouds were moving south really fast. We jumped on our bikes, and as we traveling to our next appointment, I notice the clouds were moving rapidly to the East. I got off my bike to realize that all the clouds in the sky why circling together. Lightning began to abruptly, and then I saw the sky flash green like I had never seen before. I called up the Assistants to see what to do, when I was struck in the back of my calf by a flying object. The sting of the blow startled me and I turned around to see who had thrown something. I could not see anyone within site, when suddenly hail the size of golf balls hurtled toward the earth. Elder Douglas freaked out and ran for shelter. I not being able to do to things at ounce, continued to get hit by the hail as I finished my conversation with the Assistants. When I was done, I ran to shelter. :) As we were sitting on someone's porch waiting for the storm to settle, the tornado alarm started to ring throughout the city. We received a phone call from President Buffington from the mission presidency, and he counseled that all missionaries in the Zone should return to their apartments. It was quite the storm!
Saturday we had a crazy storm! We came outside after an appointment, and the clouds were moving south really fast. We jumped on our bikes, and as we traveling to our next appointment, I notice the clouds were moving rapidly to the East. I got off my bike to realize that all the clouds in the sky why circling together. Lightning began to abruptly, and then I saw the sky flash green like I had never seen before. I called up the Assistants to see what to do, when I was struck in the back of my calf by a flying object. The sting of the blow startled me and I turned around to see who had thrown something. I could not see anyone within site, when suddenly hail the size of golf balls hurtled toward the earth. Elder Douglas freaked out and ran for shelter. I not being able to do to things at ounce, continued to get hit by the hail as I finished my conversation with the Assistants. When I was done, I ran to shelter. :) As we were sitting on someone's porch waiting for the storm to settle, the tornado alarm started to ring throughout the city. We received a phone call from President Buffington from the mission presidency, and he counseled that all missionaries in the Zone should return to their apartments. It was quite the storm!
Saturday morning I received a phone call from President and he informed me that Elder Douglas would be leaving and that Elders Quakenbush and Hightower would be leaving me as well. He also told me who the new Zone Leader is going to be. It is Elder Tran! It is going to be weird to be serving with an Elder who was in the MTC with me! I've never served around him. I've been in the upstate and he has been in the Charleston area his entire mission. We will both be training new missionaries.
Becky and her family invited us over to dinner on Sunday, but they did not come to church :( We found out after church that they were driving home from North Carolina and they hit a deer. They are still stuck in North Carolina. I hope Becky is still strong with the non-smoking. Thank you for all the prayers in my behalf, my companion and our investigators. I love y'all!
Love,Elder Cowan
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