July 31st, 2013 He's HOME! Well done Elder Cowley

None of us could be more proud or impressed with what you've accomplished and become. 

We Love You!

LAST LETTER FROM THE MISSION July 22, 2013

FAMILY AND ALL PEOPLE!

        Time is going by way too fast!

     Ive got so many mixed feelings about this next week. Its the biggest happy/sad emotion inside im not sure how to take it.   Not gonna lie, I'm very ready to come home but im not ready to let the mission and the people i love here go! Thats why im just soaking it in while it lasts.

           Such a solid week last week. last monday i got some awesome news! After we used internet we went and visited marcos cause he had been on a work trip for almost 2 weeks, we went and talked and shared what we talked about in church. Hes always wondering if he missed anything important if he misses church on sunday hah. He had some property up north, so he went up their for a while to sell the land and to visit some of his family. Oh yeah so the awesome news! When marcos was on his way home he past by Sabana Perdida and picked up his mom!! Amalia my convert from a year ago!! She came with him to come live out here for now. Wahoo! AMALIA! shes such an awesome lady, being able to see her and talk to her again has been awesome. She updated me about everything and everyone back in Sabana Perdida. Its so rad to know that past converts are still strong and active in the gospel.

      Today we enjoyed my last p-day and went to a way good mexican restaurant in Punta Cana! Wow i havent had mexican food like that since home! Marcos came with us, hes always down for doing whatever with us! hes seriously like our best friend out here. After eating mexican food we ate frosties from wendys hah I guess its not such a good idea to eat food you can eat in america your last week in the DR hah but man, Im getting pretty sick of rice!

      We had a few activities last week, we did a family night in the house of some investigators that live clear out in Via Europa "the boonies", We actually had a good turnout, the house was full. Of course the faithful Brother Elvis shared a way good message about the justice and mercy of God. Your can tell hes been a bishop before and that hes got alot of time in the church, He just knows how to teach a deep doctrine for everyone, so that everyone understands. Hes got so many examples and stories to explain everything. He´d be a great mission companion!

      We had a super busy week last week and were gonna probably have the busiest week of all this next week, to more family nights, to exchanges, to "good-bye elder cowley activity" and to last mission meeting on friday! To many things to do. I only have 3 more days of prosiliting due to all of the activities and meetings this week. Its gonna be hard to teach all the investigators that we have for the last time:(

         Well yes this is my last email! Sorry its a little short we have to get to a family night that we got planned like in 10 minutes!!!  Next monday i gotta go to the capital super super early and President and sister Hernandez talk to us a little and then we have a big testimony meeting with all the missionaries that go home and then we sleep in the MTC. On tuesday we get up super early to get on the PLANE!!! WAHHHH!!!   LOVE YOU GUYS AND SEE Y´ALL TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                                   

    .eldercowley.


 

24 Month Survey

Final Q + A Survey of the Mission - Black is Mike's answers....

 

1. It’s been 24 months into your 2 year mission, How long do you feel like you've been gone?

Only 2 years?  hah By now its felt like ive lived a whole life here in the mission, like another dimension or somethin. BUt at the same time if i think back to the last week at home it feels like it has only been about a month or 2 hah It fells so werid coming to the end of the missionary life. i dont know how to handle myself

2. What is your favorite thing about the DR right now?
 My favorite thing right now is the people and the way of life here in the DR! These last few months ive just been soaking in the way people are, so chill and layed back.

3. What do you think the temperature is where you are, right now?
 A rather chilling 99degrees!

 4. What food do you miss today?
NOt mexican food! WE went and ate at a way legit mexican food restaurant today! BURRITOs!

5. Do you ever dream in english now?
 almost never. I rarly think in english either.

6. What is something you want to remember that has happened recently?
6.and 9. So on wednesday we got invited to eat lunch with the old branch president and his wife, in the morning before going to their house we had some appointments in Via Playbo and Maria, a member, came with us to visit the people. After the visits we got to marias house she had food their waiting for us! We didnt want her to feel bad so we quickly ate a little. Well i ate a little, elder Arias ate alot. Then after we went to the old branch presidents house to eat. Oh man we were already full but we didnt want them to feel bad either, so we ate.. again hah Luckly i didnt eat alot with Maria so i wasnt as bad as Elder Arias. The second we got home elder arias exploded!! Double dragon style hahaha Your always hear of missionaries about their stories about eating too much with members and then throwing up in the street. Well now weve had ours.

7. What is your favorite thing to teach about the gospel right now?
 well weve actualy been out of restoration pamphlets for like a month now due to all the new missionaries.. boo. so were teaching more the plan of salvation and gospel de jesucristo. I think my favorite thing to do right now is when we visit members we just open the book of mormon and with the page we land on we share a scripture hah

8. Who has made the biggest impression on you recently?
 A way legit member named Brother Elvis! He´s always magnifying his calling, hes the one that has planned and organized every activity that we do. Hes organizing a "good-bye" activity for me on wednesday! wahoo!

9. See #6 :)

10. What is the most important thing you've learned recently?

 "Dont tell God how big your problems are, Tell your problems how big God is."

Letter + Photos July 15th, 2013- 2 MORE WEEKS!!

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS HAYLEESHMAYLEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

              11 years old already?? wow thats crazy! 5 more years and youll be drivin! Thats sweet you got some rollerskate/blades Hay! you better start learnin some tricks to show me.

 Hey erebody! hows life?  Its almost too hot to live here right now. Im so glad i atleast dont have to go through another august here. July's hot but august is the devils fire hot!

          Wow the semana slow wasnt to slow. A slow week in the mission doesn't exist. Especially these last weeks :( im just trying to soak in every moment while it lasts!   So this past week we had 2 meetings, one on tuesday and then on thursday. Out in la Romana, so we got plenty of butt aches.    On tuesday we had interviews with Presdient Hernandez. They told us about the storm/hurrician thing that was coming our way, so he said right after the meeting we had to go straight home and stay in doors untill thursday! YEah we spent all day wednesday in the house, not gonna lie- in a missionaries house its pretty boring hah theres nothing to do! The "big storm" was pretty crazzzzy... NOT! it didnt even rain more than 3 drops of water here in Bávaro. I guess the storm went more toward the middle of the DR and up Haiti. Haiti is really unlucky! They always get the bad end of storms. If it ever rains out here in Bávaro it never lasts more than like 10 minutes cause theres no mountains and the ocean breeze just blows it right over.  So as far as days to proselyte, were only on friday and saturday this week, which means we got alot of work to do this week now just to catch up and visit all the people that we had planned from last week.

       Sunday my tummy wasnt to happy with me. We ate some fish on saturday for lunch and i don't think it was cooked all the way through.. hah ya so that´ll never sit well for too long. We had talks in church so we got up normal to give them. Something really weird,  the second i got up to give my talk i didn't feel sick but all morning and afternoon i felt like poo. Just for those 10 minutes i talked i felt 100% fine. My body just forgot about it for a while, not sure how or why.

     There's a member here named Juan Carlos that's preparing to go on a mission so he´s been leaving with us to get a feel of the mission. He´s like 21, and been a member almost all his life but has been really busy working for a carpentry company that his uncle owns. But you know theres always an excuse. But its true, its just him and his uncle in the shop so they work some crazy hours. He said one day he had to work for 2 days straight hah So we just shared with him thursday night and then he came and visited some investigators with us. At the end of the night he said, "you guys really have helped me alot, as soon as possible im going to turn in my papers to get going on the mission!" We really didnt say or do anything special but he just had a change of view on things and has seen over the past few days that we´ve left visiting with him the great need of his help in the lords work! He said he hopes he comes to the Utah North mission so he can pay back all the visits that we've done with him hah

          Awhh man i only have one more p-day left! Today for pday we went to Higuey and meet up with the zone from San Pedro. We played b-ball and soccer in the church, and a member thats from Columbia made us Arepas (no clue what you call it in english) Its like a tortilla with cheese and some columbian sause. Way legit. Im sure gary ate plenty of them on his mission!

     Yep we did have time to go out to our new areas this week. On saturday afternoon we went out to Via Europa and visited that family with the colmado. Hey guess what! they have the same suburban that you have mom! The same year and color and everything! Made me kinda homesick hah Do you still have that? i cant remember.    But for this family we thought it was gonna be easy for them to come to church cause of their car, but they are really really really busy people, holy cow. They make and sell food for a bunch of employees in some hotels in Bávaro, so the mom gets up early to make food for lunch and then the dad runs to food out to the people in the suburban and 2 hours later the mom is making food again for dinner for the people and they do that errrryday! oh and on top of that they run their colmado. They want to come to church but theyre not sure how theyre gonna make the time. So when all comes to worse, we told them to pray about it hah God doesnt give us commandments that are impossible to keep righht!?

         Welp love y´all! "Siga la marcha pa´lante!" (thats dominican, that definitely wont translate in google-translate ha
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Letter from July 9th, 2013

¡¡Holas a todos!!
¿Como están?

                 I officially have more ties than days in the mission now.. wow.  Never in my life have I thought about getting to this point hah. Its a tradition to wear each tie for each of the last days of the mission until all the ties and days are out hah.

   Its really been the best of times, now to be old missionaries, me and Elder Arias, we´re at our full potential as much as we will ever be in the mission so were definitely using the time that we have to keep going strong to the end!! A member from church said in testimony meeting, that.. "even in the eternity that all missionaries will look back to those two years when they served with all their heart,might, mind and strength." Definitely motivates me to keep chuggin to the last day!

     Well this past week went by so fast and so jam pack of lessions i dont even remember what happened! Its a big thought of a successful blur! The new family that we are teaching now has a baptizmal goal set for the 27th of this month! So well see if i get to see them get baptized before i have to take off! They are such cool people. All the kids are awesome, they read everthing we leave for them and theyve come to church 3 times now. The only problem is the mom.. Shes got such a hard heart:( she doesnt want to pray about anything we teach, so we cant promise an answer from God if she doesnt pray. Booo! The kids are a little older so they will be able to make their own choice if they want to get baptized or not. Were pretty much focusing alot on this family so they get all the help that they need.  Weve been finding more and more people in a few different towns.. i swear this area needs at least 20 missionaries to be able to teach all the people!

     Theres another inactive member that we found while we were walking home from Veron like a month ago. He said that he got baptized 3 years ago and then fell out of the church and now he wants to come back to church and he wants to get baptized again haha  We were like, uhh im not so sure about that idea hah. We told him just to start coming to church again and talk to Pres Hyrum and everything would be ok. So hes been visiting every week now. Anyway yesterday we went out to where he lives for the first time to share a message with him. He lives in an area called Via Europa. Its part of Veron but like a 20 minute walk from the main part of veron on a lonely dirt road, weve been out there a few times before but we never actually got to the town part of Via Europa. But when we got there it opened up and the town surrounds this big public park. Its so rad!! THe parks got a volley ball court, basket ball court, a little roofed part to cook, a big birdhouse thing for birds, and a path around the park and bridge over a pond! hah like way legit and out in the middle of no where! So me and Elder Arias were meeting the member in the park so we just hung out for a bit and enjoyed the view. There was a lot of people using it too. It was pleasant while it lasted until a big ugly rain storm came. Me and Arias we just sat there on a bench under this big tree and everyone ran away to their houses cause of the rain and me and Arias were just left sitting there in the rain... hahah A funny sight actually. After a while of wondering what to do we ran to the nearest Colmado and stayed there till the rain past. We talked to the owners of the colmado while we were there, they are cool people so we gave them a pamphlet and they wanted us to come back and teach them too! SCORE!  Funny how were guided into people sometimes. Yeah the member never ended up coming. But it was a fun experience!

        I think all our energy from the busyness of the week gathered up and came right down and smacked us on the heads at the end of the week. Saturday me and arias were completely exhausted! We kept working of course but i swear i felt like i was going to be sleeping walking and teaching!! I guess friday morning we did run 2 miles and then we went to the Sport Activity in Higuey friday night. so that makes sense.

      Well this week that we got coming up is gonna be a ssssllllllloooooowwwww one! hah We have 2 big meetings this week in La Romana (2 hours away)! YEah more sitting on a bus for hours and hours... NOO!  Tomorrow we have interviews, my last interview with president, awhh how sad! At least were gonna get our energy back from last week with all these bus rides!

     Love you guys! thanks for all your emails!! Sorry to those i never have time to write!! yes i always read all the emails i get!

-Elder Cowley

Photo from July 1st

Cave photo from last week that came through late :)

Letter + Photos from Monday July 1st, 2013

Hey guys!ª
     
         Such a rad week this week! Where do I start. I´ll go day by day this time.

 Tuesday: Start the new week off with running in the morning. Our new goal is to at least go running two times a week. Tuesday and Friday. I was suprized we actually did it tuesday too, Because on monday we played soccer in the burnning sun for 4 hours! Im sure we ran at least 6 miles each that day! The english class was a success. People actually came this time, 4 whole people yah! Its actually better like that. Its not such a headache. I get overwelmed if theres a bunch of people. I´ll never be a school teacher :(

Wednesday: (who invented the spelling of >Wednesday< what a tard.) We tracted the morning away in Via Playbo! We didnt have as much luck this time as the last but we did meet some funny people. One dude just sitting on his porch playing some sad blues guitar songs, we talked to him cause he looked a little down but he didnt speak much spanish cause he moved form haiti not long ago. We invited him to church and then he let me jam on his guitar a little so its all good. In the night we had a Family night at Marcos´s house. Even tho we and everyone got there late, running on dom.rep. time, it was a great night. After the spiritual message we played a game where you have to pass a pen around in a circle to one another and talk in a crying voice then in a laughing voice hah Im not sure how to explain it, but it was way funny.

Thursday: Un Dia muy lluvioso. A very rainy day. Every thursday we go to higuey for district meeting, we left the house at 9 to be there at 10 and whlie we were waiting for the bus there on the side of the road at 9 it was blue clear skies but as soon as we got to Higuey the clouds came rolling in! After district meeting we ran ourselfs in the rain to the B.K. lounge. They had a special 2 for 1 wopper deal so we couldn't miss that! "you crassy?"

Friday: Temple trip!¡!¡!  4pm we left from the chruch. There were 8 of us in total. 3 going for their first time Marcos, James and jeanEder! wahoo. 2 members went to get their endowments out. It was a really fruitful trip! One family from our branch was going to get sealed but they werent able to make it. Our Branch President, Pres Hyrum is doing work! Hes helped so many members go to the temple. He was a super missionary when he was in the mission, he baptized like over 100 people. And now hes going strong helping the branch progress.  We had to make a few stops on the way so we didnt get to the Temple grounds until like 9! We stayed in the MTC right there on temple grounds. Everyone that travels from far to the temple stay in the MTC for 100 pesos a night hah thats like $3.50!  Its a bummer the MTC doesnt sell their food to the visiters, i loved the food when i was there! Its only for the new missionaries that are in the MTC. But its cool cause we went and bought pizza at a supermarket and cooked it there. Everone was so hungry that we took the pizza out of the oven way too early, it was soo doughy! hah

Saturday: Our session was at 10 and i had to renew my temple recommend before hand so we got up early and ate some leftover dough pizza! ahh yea! Right when we left the MTC when we were walking to the temple, Jean Eder ran in to us right in time to go in the temple. Hes living in the captial so he just met up with us saturday so he could come. WOW going to the temple saturday here in the D.R. its quit a big deal! There was wayy too many people!!! Me and Arias went and did baptizms with marcos,james and jeanEder while the other members from our branch did a session. There was 2 wards that were in front of us to do baptizms, like around 50 kids! So i talked to some of the temple workers and got us in front of all of them! hah Everything went perfectly. Marcos, james and jean loved it, couldnt stop talking about it after.  We left the temple like at 2, ate some Pica Pollo and got on the road quick. Pica Pollo never sits well in the stomach. If you guys have forgotten, pica pollo is dominican fast food rice, beans and fried chicken. The owners are always chinese! hah its so weird, i still havent figured out why the chinese come here to make dominican food. they do a pretty good job tho. We got home around 6. Its very draining two days of more than hours in a car traveling. Its strange that we get more tired sitting in a car all day than walking around in the hot sun.

Sunday: Holy Cow!!! Church was so awesome!! We were even more blessed than last week this week! We had 12 investigators in church! Marcos brought two of his kids that we are going to start teaching. Marcos wants all his 7 kids to get baptized so whenever they come and visit he takes advantage of us and tell us to teach and baptized them hah. Marcos is such a good guy, he just wants the best for his kids and doesnt want them to go through what he´s been through. Also Tereza, the lady that were teaching in Via Playbo came to church. Shes got faith for sure, she lives two buses away!  The new family that were teaching came. Its a single mom and her 4 kids and cousin. The kids are awesome theyve come 2 times to the church and they were the 4 that came to the english class. The moms just got a few doubts about José Smith. When we talked to them yesterday we watched the restoration video and told her to pray about it, thats all we can do. And it always works:)    So in total in church we had 86 people!!!!!! 86! thats like since never. There was like 15 americans visiting but still thats like 70 local people; members, the less active folk and investigaters. President Hyrum was so happy with us that he invited us to eat with him. Wooot! we eat like kings in presidents house!

 So as you see it was yet another unforgettable week in the mission. Its sad to think that i only have 4 more of them!

Hey also today for pday we went to some rad cave and to the beach with marcos! I´ll send pictures to explain it, my fingers are tired..

I got a bunch of pics coming at ya so get ready!
   ¡LES AMO!

-Elder Cowley

Pix.
1. Beautiful temple of the Domincan Republic
2. Marcos, jeanEder and james first time at the temple!
3. Rep the dom rep!

4. chillin'

5. Beach in MACAU!

Letter from Tuesday June 25th, 2013

hola!FAM&FRIES

     So im writing today cause yesterday we went out to San Pedro(2hours away) to a zone activity and we got home too late. we played some mad fútbol! I totally scored the opening goal again too!! way sick!

   Anyway, What up everybody! Just like the famous singer from the D.R. Omega says, "¿¿Como está mi gente??"(in a low flat voice) Wow the people have been going Omega crazy lately. Every colmado in the street and every car that passes has him playing, he's probably one of the worst singers ever hah. Theres no LOUD music law in this country, so everyone blasts their music. But its all good cause we get our fair share of MoTab jams blastin from the house. hah the other day our neighbor told us," hey you guys got good music, can you make me a cd?" hah

       We definitely had a FULL week this past week. Yes, we were able to go to some other areas to work. On tuesday we went over to an area called Via Playbo. Its about 20 minutes from the house, kinda a pain cause we have to take two buses. Theres 1 whole member there, Maria, and she works alot tho. Im pretty sure were the first missionaries in history to start working there, everyone looks at us like theyve never seen the mormons before its quite odd. And all the kids yell, hey americano give me 5 pesos. hah I havent heard that for a while!  We started out just knocking on a few random doors and the first two people that we contacted let us in and let us share with them. So ya, the people are pretty desprate to hear a message about God from anyone other than the crazy yelling evangelic pastors hah!  We met a way cool lady named Tereza, shes pregnant with 8 months so shes about to blow. But she had muchas questions and she wanted to come to church on sunday but she didnt have money, so we gave her money to come.   Via Playbo is full of alot cool people so were gonna start going there 2 days a week.

     Sunday was a pretty solid day! I got some AWESOME news!!!! Ill tell ya in a sec. First off, on sunday for church last week we pretty much didnt have any investigators in church, so we were all bummed out from that but this sunday we were blessed. We had a bunch of investigaters and a bunch of new ones that came for their first time. Keidy came to church, she´s the one that weve been visiting since forever, and we washed her dog last week so that was good that she came to church to pay back the favor hah. A few new investigators that we found from the activity last week came to church for their first time. And Marcos brought a few friends to church too. The church was full, we had 55 in church! Thats 5 away from being able to build our own chapel!! As soon as we get an average of 60 going every week we can build it. The stake president told us that its our job while were walking around to find were theyre gonna build the church!   Later on sunday we watched the missionary conference in the church. Did you guys get to watch that? or maybe it was just for missionaries. I thought it was for all church leaders too. not sure. But it was way good. They mixed it up a bit and made it a different meeting. One of the apostles would talk and then in between each talk they showed missionary videos. The new videos are pretty cool, theyre kinda like missionary music videos hah.       Alright heres the awesome news, later when we got home after we planned i just got a random feeling that i needed to call one of my past converts but i wasnt sure who yet, so i looked in my preach my gospel where i have all the names and dates of baptizms of all my converts and i saw Lilians name and i saw that exactly a year ago she got baptized the 23 of june! Remember lilian? A way cool 50ish yr old lady we contacted, taught and baptized out in my area in the captial.  So i gave her a call and she was more than happy to talk to me! i havent talked to her since i left that area almost a year ago. Shes doing awesome in the church shes way strong and has a calling and teaching classes already. But the GREAT NEWS is that this thursday shes going to enter the temple to get her endowments out!!!! wahooooo!!!! I wanted to explode with happiness when she told me that!! ahh thats one of the best feelings you can have in the mission! We were thinking me and elder arias were going to be able to go but Pres. Hernandez said, no.... booooo! Kinda sad about that. Missionaries can only go if theyre getting sealed or if its the first time going.  It would have worked out perfect cause our branch is doing a temple trip on friday till saturday. We actually have permision to go with our branch on friday with the branch cause James and JeanEder are going to come to do baptizms! So that made things a little better. Temple trip friday yeah!

       The power of God is so incredibly big. Last week on saturday in the morning we got a call from the member that organized the activity and he said he was on his way to our house because his brother Juan was having really bad kidney pains and hadnt been able to work for a few days so he wanted a blessing. It was still about 9am so were still in the house, when they got there we had to go out to the car to give the blessing cause Juan couldnt even stand up or walk due to the intensity of the pains. We climbed in the back of the car and gave the blessing from the back seat. Immediately as we ended the prayer "Amen" Juan sat up and looked back up at us and said "Muchisimas gracias!" His face just brightened up and he was completely relieved from all pain after the blessing. It all happened so fast and it was so suprizing that we dont even remember what we said or did. Later that day he was able to got to work. Milagro for sure.   One of the many reasons why the mission is awesome, to really be a witness of the power of God.   

    Welp we got an appointment right now in good ol Barrio Nuevo! yippy! We have such a busy week this week today weve started english class again every tuesday at 7. Tomorrow were going to Via Playbo to work and then at 7 theres a Activity family night thing at Marcos´s house. Thursday district meeting then we might go clear out to Macau again. Then friday were off to the captial to the temple! and then were coming home saturday in the afternoon just in time for a bunch of visits. ¡Ya tu sabes! 

Love you guys! Try not to think about 35 days from today...   SEE YA!!!

   Elder Cowley

Letter + Photos from June 17th, 2013

Hola familia!

Hey y´all! whats up! MOm and dad your still in alaska?? wow are you gonna move there? hah You guys are in Alaska freezin, im here in the DR sweating my face off! Its seriously getting way to hot, were half way through june and it somehow gets hotter in july.. aghh! well at least the ocean breeze is nice when it comes.

Transfers are up! We got the call ohh so special last night. Well ill just say that ill be enjoying the ocean breeze for another 6 weeks! Im staying in BAVARO until the end of the mission road! Elder Arias is staying too! Ive already been with him more time than any other companion and by the time we finish this next transfer we will have had 5 months together. Thats way too much! hah but whateve all is good. Were getting a little sick of Pueblo Bávaro and Veron so this next transfer were gonna start visiting the other towns that we havent been to in our area. Its a little tough in new areas cause we just have to start from scratch and start by knocking them doors. ¡Knock knock! We were also thinking of doing some gran theft auto so we dont have to walk and take so many buses! If we steal a car for the missions progress is that bad?

The activity was so rad! There was a bunch of people that showed up! Members brought their friends and they were able to listen a little about the church and about the restoration and then we set up appointments with them so everything went smoothly as planned. Got some new peps to teach. References are always so much better to. We started the activity with a family that bore there testimonies, we then followed them by singing our special rehearsed song "Que es la verdad" i forget what song that is in english hah. Me and elder arias and 4 other members sang, It went alright.. lets just say that some dominicans are a little tone deaf.. haha. After the song full of a few sharps and flats we watched the movie about the great apostasy with Wilfford woodruff. And then a member gave a talk about the restoration, hes a way cool member, he just got released from being a bishop in the captial. A few months before he got called as bishop he was the member that helped start this branch out here in Bávaro. After his talk we ended and ate ham and cheese sandwiches. such a simple thing never tasted so good, i cant even remember that last time I made a basic ham and cheese sandwich. It always reminds me of lake powell! hah. BUT all in all it was a solid activity!

On saturday we went and visited Anas famliy. Ana is the little old lady that we baptized like a month ago. Ana moved up north to her hometown but her daughter and grandchildren stayed. Everytime we visited them they would always make us fresh fruit smoothies and so we felt like we needed to give back somehow. Saturday in the morning we ordered a pizza from the local pizza pueblo bávaro and we surprized them with it! We always talked about bringing a pizza for them since forever ago so we were finaly able to do it! I still think that theyre all gonna get baptized. The daughter, Ana maria is super strong in her church but the other day we shared a scripture from the BOM and she loved it and had a few questions about it, her heart is softening for sure.

Welp me and Elder arias are just getting ready to go wild this next transfer, for right now we dont have many investigaters that look like there going to get baptized soon so were gonna go contact crazy these next few week to try and find a bunch of new people. hope all is well with you all back at home! your all in my prayers always! LOB YA!!

Elder Cowley

Pix

1. Activity night!

2. Pizza with Ana´s fam!

 

 

Letter + Photos from June 10th, 2013

Hey family fri-ends!

THanks for all the birthday wishs guys! you make me feel very important:) haha Also thank you very mucho for the package!!! Yes it got here in one piece, and my card works great! Flip im 21 years old... oLd! Im proud to say ive once again had an amazing Dia de cumpleaños! woop!

 Here it is for ya:

Yesterday for my birthday we first off has a great turn out in church. A few less active members and investigators came so it was pretty full. I had a suprise talk that i had to give! hah About 10 minutes before sacerment started president Hyrum, our branch president, came up to my and was like "ya so, the lady that was gonna talk last didnt show up so uhh your up, thanks!" hah He said it was my birthday present from him! The two that talked before me totally didnt talk up like any time so i had to talk the time up but whateve it wasnt to bad tho. I talked about sacrifice. After sacerment president Hyrum invited us to eat lunch at his house! We ate Lobsterrrrr!! SOOO delish! Rice lobster and pork! Solid meal. Im not sure how we made it through the afternoon working without poopin our pants cause we were so full! Pretty much everyone we visited gave us something like juice or cookies. Elder Arias just was telling everyone that it was my birthday cause he was loving all the free food! We visited our investigator that weve been talking to forever named Keidi, when we got there she said she couldnt talk cause she had to wash her dog, so we offerd to help and she let us! hah So we washed a dog for my birthday too. In the night we went to an investigators house and they had a suprize dinner all ready for us!! Holy totes it was amazing. We had chicken fajitas, fried plateno, with yuka mashed like mashed potatoes but made with yuka. and to top it all off they bought me a birthday cake!! People are so rad here!! When we left they gave us a big bag of cookies and a tie. hah And they didnt want the cake so they made us take it home too. Theres still half of that puppy left! I think all this food along with the package you guys sent me im set on food untill the end of my mish!

On thrusday after district meeting we also celebrated my birthday and we went to the B.K. lounge(burgerking) that just got built in Higuey. Its pretty much the same here as it is in the states. After we ate we had an adventure, me and Elder Arias got a reference of a lady that wants to get baptized but she lives way far away. By a little town called Macau, its up on the north east coast a little farther up than the Hard Rock Cafe hotel. Its part of our endless area so we got to go clear out there! We left from Higuey like at 4 and it was about a hour and a half ride through up and down hilly fields of green! Such a cool view. Bummer i didnt have my camera. We got off the bus where the lady told us to get off, a little before Macau. When we got off, from the main road we looked into a little dirt trail that disappeared into the trees... sketchy! we werent even sure where we were! So we gave her a call. when called the lady she said she just had left her house!! ahhh We went clear out there just to visit her and she left. We got there a little late cause we didnt know that it was so far away, but we figured we were just running on Dominican time! hah So we walked around and contacted a few people selling fruit there on the main street. The poor people in the country-side and always so cool! They had no clue what the mormons were, so that was a first. hah We talked to them for a bit while waited for the next bus to pass. It was about an hour wait so we just hung out and ate mangos. We ended up getting home like at 8!! It took up the whole day but it was fun. If i stay here in this area were hoping they send two more missionaries so we can go out to these little towns more often!

Firday night we went to Higuey to their very cool sports night activity! We played soccer in the night lights at the church with a bunch of members and investigators. While we were playing it rained like crazy! We were all falling and slipping all over the place. We took Gustav the less active and his friend were teaching Fafa. Such a fun night, we luckly caught the last bus at like 9:30, we soaked the bus seats! hah

This saturday we have a big activity here in our Branch, so this next week were gonna be getting it all prepared. Its for investigators and visiters. Every member is supposed to bring atleast one friend each! We have a few people that are gonna talk, a recent member family that is gonna bare their testimonies, some performed songs, and a movie of the restoration and to top it off some food. We gotta figure out what food is going down. i think president Hyrum is making the food so it should be pretty legit! Were hoping a good turn out, atleast 25 members and 25 visiters. ¡¡Tenemos fe!!

Welp thanks for all you guys do!! I love you all!! see you in 51 days.. cough cough :):)

Con amor de Elder Cowley


Fotos!
1. Dinner with pres!
2. birthday cake!
3. Investigators! Antoni´s family, he wasnt there. That little box to the left is their shower!
4. The kids attanking me! haha