Week 2

Hey Everyone!

So another week has gone by here at the MTC. This week went by so much faster than last week even though last week was about three days shorter. Now that we are in a regular schedule and we don't have nearly as many meetings the days just seem to move along with a pretty good pace. Although, this week I caught a SUPER bad cold virus. I felt like DEATH. So wednesday morning I went to the health clinic and got permission to go to the pharmacy down the street to grab some medicine. The nurse put me on sudafed, claritin, robitussin, and advil on a regular regiment. I didn't feel sick anymore but I was constantly tired and I could never really focus. Luckily, I got better really soon and by the weekend I was back on my feet and weening myself off all those drugs. Boy, I'm glad to be back.

Another weird thing this week was that the two oldest districts all got their flight plans for the Philippines. They will be leaving a week from today. The zone really isn't going to be the same without those Elders and Sisters. We are all really excited for them, but we will definitely miss them. We may never get to see each other again. It is crazy how fast you become a family here, especially when you all have to learn a crazy language like Tagalog. Elder Conte and Thomas (the ZLs) have been like my older brothers here and have helped me so much with my new assignment. So this fast and testimony was really emotional for everyone and the time just flew by. Sundays here are really the best thing! EVERY missionary loves Sunday. It re-energizes everyone spiritually and physically. Hearing all their testimonies in Tagalog really helped strengthen mine and rededicate myself to study the gospel and language even harder this week. So only seven more weeks for my district! We are all so excited and striving to prepare ourselves for then.

Classes this week have been very fun and confusing. We learned sentence structures and a ton of conjugations (which by the way is NOTHING like spanish... or any other language i've seen). The conjugations will often add things to the beginning and middle of the word. SO to conjugate the verb "bigay- to give" in the present tense would be either nagbibigay or ibinibigay based on where you want the focus to be in the sentence. So to say "I am giving her a message" would be "Nagbibigay ako ng mensahe sa kanya" or to say "i am giving her A MESSAGE" would be "Ibinibigay ko ang mensage sa kanya" See how the accent changes from the actor to the Object in the two different conjugations? It is WAY different from English or Spanish. The great thing is though, is that the conjugations don't change based on who is performing the action.... the only time the verb changes is when the tense of the verb changes. So every verb only has eight conjugations (infinitive, past, present, and future and then whether or not you want is to be actor or object focus) compared to a million conjugations that are possible in spanish. But, now we can basically say whatever we want!

Last night the film they showed after the fireside was that "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" one that we saw at the Washington DC temple visitor's center. It is definitely the best film the church has made. I don't know how anyone could deny that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God after watching that film. It is so inspiring! I love the bagpipes playing Praise to the Man during the credits. My favorite quote is definitely when Joseph says "For such this great of cause shall we not go on?" I just love it and think that line alone defines missionary work.

Mom, I go to the temple on Monday mornings at Seven forty... so I don't think you will be able to go the same time. Sorry! I love all the letters you all are sending me and cherish each one of them! Keep 'em coming! Everything is going great as DL and I love serving the other missionaries and hope to do better all the time.

Remember I love you all and pray for you each day (several times).

For such this great of cause shall we not go on?

I say we do... and never stop until we return to unto His rest.

Elder Lowry

YAAAAY!!!!! 1st letter home!!!!

Hey pamilya!

Kumusta po kayo? That is how you say "How are you doing?" sa Tagalog! The language is really different, but the Spanish is helping the learning process marginally. We have classes for about eight to ten hours a day! We have two teachers named Brother Norstrom and Brother Day. Both are super cool guys and really want us to be the best missionaries we can be before we get out to the field. My companions name is Elder Christensen and this guy is a STUD! He is way cool and he can practically quote any line from Nacho Libre you want. His accent is perfect also. I have literally cried laughing with him. We both have a great time together, but we also both know how to take class and study time seriously. I was so worried about being stuck with some weird kid for nine weeks through all the craziness that happens here at the MTC. But alas, the Lord is watching out for me and gave me an awesome companion. My P days are Monday and I am in a basement doing laundry right now. We went to the temple this morning as a district (and zone) and we had a terrific session. I was able to stay in the celestial room for quite a bit to just read the scriptures and pray. I was praying mainly because I got made District Leader on Thursday night. I have been praying ever since to get help to lead my fellow missionaries and keep the spirit and unity strong. My zone leaders have been invaluable in training me and gave me some great counsil when the said, "We have all left our families, we all miss them. Now we have a new family that we spend ALL our time with. This comes with all the annoyances and miscommunications that typical families have. Your job as district leader is to remind people that we love each other and to always make sure they know you love them." These guys are great. There are nine total missionaries in my district with two of them being sisters. I love all of them and just strive to lead them in a way that would please the Lord.

About the language... One thing that has really comforted me is something Brother Day taught on the second day. You know I was really intimidated because of all the different dialects in just my area alone. I was not the only one, apparently there are hundreds of different dialects and the only place where the people speak full Tagalog is in Manila. But Brother Day reminded us that our mission calls said we were called to preach the gospel in Tagalog. We will be blessed when we speak Tagalog. Tagalog will touch the hearts of the people even if they do mostly speak another dialect because the Lord promised us it would. Isn't that great? We have a specific purpose and the Lord will bless us to accomplish that as long as we follow the rules, work our butts off, and do as he prompts us. The language will not be an issue. We have leaned how to pray in Tagalog and to bear our testimonies. We have taken the commitment to never say a prayer in English again, personal or public, unless asked specifically to speak in English by a presiding authority. We also sing all our hymns in Tagalog, which is fantastic. It really helps with pronunciation and helps our reading. We may not understand a word of what we are singing, but the spirit ALWAYS just flood the room. We have also had lots of practicing teaching the first lesson: the restoration. All my personal study time has been dedicated to enhancing my understanding and personal testimony of this doctrine, which has just been great. We have our first practice teaching in Tagalog on Thursday so that is pretty nerve racking.

The other two guys in my room are also really cool. Their names are Elder Green (he is from New Zealand and has a terrific accent) and Elder Osborn who is from Ogden. Both guys are really cool and our two companionships do everything together. Elder Osborn has been really homesick though, he was supposed to get married and then decided last minute that he should serve. the first couple days were really rough for him and then on Saturday night he asked us three for a priesthood blessing. We gave hime one and ever since Sunday his attitude has completely changed. He is 10000000X happier and he is handling things so well. The priesthood is real!

Sundays here are so relaxing! They are definitely how missionaries keep there sanity. Sacrament meeting was wonderful and we got to sing all hymns sa Tagalog and we had two musical numbers. One was these sisters who sang "The Olive Tree." It reminded me so much of my farewell and I nearly cried. That would've been embarrassing. We also got to just walk to the temple and hang out outside for a couple hours until dinner. I got to hang out alot with one of the Samoan elders (Elder Panaia) and he taught me to say I love you in Samoan "Alofa tele atu." He is awesome. The way to say that in Tagalog is "Mahal Kita!"

Alam ko na buhay aking manunubos!

Look it up!

mga maha (many love)

Elder Lowry

We have a box number!

From my G-Mail Chat with Evan yesterday...
"me: I want to write Scotty every 5 minutes

like... I want to use DearElder.com as my Gmail Chat for Scotty"

"Evan: haha, there would be a bit of a lag..."

"me: He's going to be so tired of my letters by like... tomorrow"

"Evan: we should write him today though. or have you already?"

"me: I've already written him."

"Evan: how many times?"

"me: Juuuuuust onnnnccce. Sheesh!"

"Evan: sure sure"

"me: But I already have like 5 other things I want to tell him."

Have you written Scott yet?

Gotta love DearElder.com... however I just know I'm going to start getting letters from Scott saying "dude. chill with the letters." because all throughout the day I just want to sit down and write him another letter and tell him something funny, and it's so stinking easy with DearElder.com!!! I know, they should be paying me to do this... I just think it's such a blessing to have such an easy, free way to keep in touch with our missionary!

Anyways. I came to bring you an MTC Mailbox number, and the number is: 129

So when you fill out the envelope on DearElder.com, you {select Provo MTC, then} put:

Elder Scott Lowry
129 {MTC Mailbox number}, Philippines IloIlo {Mission}, November 15th {estimated departure from the MTC}

Or, if you want to send a package {packages ROCK and NOW- meaning while he is in the MTC- is the time to send Scott packages as it is risky to send packages to him once he is in the Philippines} you can send it to this address:

Elder Scott Lowry
Philippines Iloilo Mission Provo MTC Box 129
2005N 900E
Provo Utah
84604

You guys are the best! Thanks for loving our Scotty Potty!

And he's off!

So, he's said goodbye to the Nursery kids.

He took a trip to the zoo with Mom, Krista and the boys.

Where Thatcher got to pet a Wallaby, among other things.

And Scott loved taking pictures with his new, sweet camera.

Took the boys to see the Columbia, SC temple.
And then around 7:30pm Tuesday night, he was set apart as a missionary!
{He and his Stake President, Pres. MacArthur}

He came home, said a few last goodbyes.
{And apologized to Grandpa for stealing his pajamas. Is he not going to get ripped for those bad boys??? Good heavens. He is such an old man trapped inside a 19 year old body.}Packed a few last minute items.
Oh dear.
Then it was up dark and early, 3:45am to be exact, and off to the airport.
More goodbyes...Lots of smiles.
Lots of snuggles.
Lots of peeling Krista off of Scott.
Lots of good laughs.
Lots of train talk.
Lots of family.
And lots of love.
Then, when the time came, we hugged our missionary for dear life...
And then we watched him walk away.
He passed through security.
We waved one last time. {Sorry about that hand there.}
And then he was gone.
We walked around outside so we could watch.
As his plane took off.
And now he's off to change lives forever. For the better.
He's already started in fact.
He changed us all this morning.

Well... I guess this is Goodbye!

Alright! I guess it is time to say my last goodbye to everyone. So Hasta La Vista Baby! See you all in two years. Thank you all again for your continuing support, whether you have helped me get ready for my mission or you continue to help my family throughout my mission, I cannot thank you all enough for all you do! There are way too many people to thank and I could not even begin to name names in fear of leaving too many important people out. I will miss Evans, GA dearly and I am eager to return! If you ever have an afternoon where you are wondering what elder Lowry is up to feel free to use dearelder.com and drop me a little note. It is easy and free, and any encouraging tag lines are much appreciated as well. Directions to use this website are below in one of the earlier posts (if you need further assistance just call the house).

I am so excited to have the opportunity to share the wonderful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to my brothers and sisters in the Philippines! I have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon that I feel can help people who need that special feeling that the Holy ghost supplies while reading this book. This gospel is full of wonderful doctrine that can enhance and uplift any individual's spirit and well-being. It can provide guidance in this confusing world, structure in this world of chaos, and sanctuary from this bleak and cold world. This gospel can lead us to true happiness that can only be found in the footsteps of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the way to heaven and the perfect example of what we can strive to become. This gospel also can make our families become one in purpose and provide peace, love, and happiness in the home. I have seen this in my own home and I have observed that when our families are closer to the Lord we are all happier.

I love my family so very much and the thought of being away from therm for two whole years is daunting. But! The Lord is in control and I know only great things can happen now. I know time will fly by and I will be reunited with them before I know it. We have all of eternity anyway, right?

I love you all.
I love the Gospel.
I love my family.
I love the Lord.

God Speed my brothers and sisters and farewell!

A note from the Madre.

Can you believe it! My Scott is ready and excited to go on his mission!

So... what has been going on these last 4 months... well, we got together for the opening of his call and we were ALL surprised and very excited to read the call to the Philippines Iloilo Mission! Now... here it is one week away!

This has been a sweet time...with some tears but a WHOLE lot of smiles! This is the time we prepared for, for 19 years, a time we talked about, taught for and hoped and prayed would happen. Then reality sets in, and I realized it would be two whole years till I see him again. I do get to talk to him 4 times..(ok maybe 5... once as he flies out!) and I was so excited to hear from a friend that she and her son use skype to "talk" to her missionary in the same mission! (Elder Stokes was moved from the mission Iloilo was split from)

Can anyone say SHOPPING! This has been a ongoing pursuit! We started in Florida shortly after getting his call! We hit the outlets and found the greatest sale on...sandals! Scott was sooo excited when he read he got to wear sandals on his mission! We hit a store which had a buy 1 get TWO free sale! BLESSINGS!!! Today I think we finally finished getting him what he needs. We found his suit for a STEAL as well...BLESSINGS!!!

One other very special time was when Mark, Scott and I went to Canada to go through the Cardston Alberta Temple! We had the opportunity to have his living grandparents join us along with aunts, uncle, and cousins too! It truly was a special day! It was a truly special trip! We got to see more family and friends than we usually do! We did REALLY miss having others from GA that could not join us.

As we have watched Scott grow, we have noticed many unique qualities about him. He has a GREAT capacity to love others. Especially young children. There is not a family reunion or church or other activity when Scott is not surrounded by children...in his arms, on his legs and following close behind. Friends who knew him as a baby described him as having a special spirit about him. He is a joy to have around and a great opportunity to be his momma! I love my Scotty Boy!

Another important quality found in Scott is patience! So much like his father, he is very even tempered, a true gift from his Heavenly Father!

So, we are now finished shopping... I hope, and now he gets to pack up and soon leave to find new horizons, learn MANY new and important things and we will get back a man in two years!

Go forth and serve valiantly! Return with honor and do NOT forget we LOVE you!

Love, Mom

The countdown has already started...

... and we are down to 8 Days before Scott reports to the MTC in Provo, Utah where he will be trained to become an instrument in the Lord's hands for the people in the Iloilo City Mission in the Philippines.

Amazing.

We are making this blog as an easy way to see what we've heard from Scott, and to find ways to contact him! If you want to leave a comment, I will be sure to send them to Scott in a letter!

Right away, I want you all to know about DearElder.com -- this is a wonderful, FREE service that is offered to help us keep in touch with our missionary friends! Simply go to http://dearelder.com, and select "Write a Letter". You will need to open an account. Then it will prompt you to select the mission you are writing to, and at FIRST you want to write to the "Provo MTC" (where he will train for 9 weeks). You will then fill out a virtual envelope, so enter your information in the top left corner, and then for Scott's information you'll enter:

Elder Scott Lowry
MTC Box #: (actually, we don't have this yet) Mission code: (don't have this yet) Estimated MTC Departure Date: November

Then scroll down and you'll see a blank box, and that's where you can write your letter to Scott! You can even do a spell-check when you're done, and then you hit "Send Letter" and there you go! They print the letter for you and deliver it to his mailbox THAT DAY if sent before 12pm MST, or the NEXT DAY if after that time. It's the fastest and cheapest way to contact Scott and at least for me, it's also the easiest! So I hope a few of you will take advantage of that wonderful service!

To missionaries, mail is like candy. It's like Christmas morning every time they open their mailbox and find letters from loved ones! And with something as easy as DearElder.com you can even just drop him a one line, "Hey, how's it going? Just want you to know I'm thinking of you today. Rock it today dude!" and let him know you're thinking of him!

So anyways. There's that. We'll get you his MTC address and box number as soon as we get that! Now, because his mission is so far, he is in what is called a POUCH mission. That just means that you do not write to his physical address, but to an address in Salt Lake City, UT where they will send a pouch of all the letters for missionaries in, let's say, Scott's mission that they have recieved. They do this only because the mail system in that part of the world is not reliable. They do not read your mail or infringe upon your privacy in any way. It's just the safest, most reliable way to do this!

DearElder.com offers a free mail delivery service called "pouch mail" for letters to missionaries serving in countries where regular mail services are not reliable. Every week, they send one packet of letters to each pouch mission office, with the goal of more successful, timely letter delivery.
Pouch mail is sent out every Monday, but letters must be submitted by midnight on Sundays (technically 12am on Monday) to be included in that batch.
We print the pouch letters that you write through our site for free, and send them weekly to the Church's pouch mail department. They, then, are responsible for sending the letters to your missionary.
This service is for letters only, and does not apply to packages.

Scott's POUCH address is this:

Elder Scott Lowry
Philippines Iloilo Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City UT
84130-0150
(This is the address you will use after his 9 weeks in the MTC- we'll keep you posted!)

So there you have it. It's even free to write to him the whole 2 years through Dear Elder.com! Get ready to support our missionary! We are so proud of him and can't wait to share all the neat pictures and stories and experiences he'll have in the Philippines!

Much love.