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