So Elder Lowry's had the awesome opportunity to talk to us as he lands in the different airports to let us know he's safe.... and to catch up on everyone's life ;)
We talked to him around midnight last night when he got to LA, and then about 6:30pm he called from Taipei, Taiwan! He had a 14 hour flight and said they ran from the sun the whole time. He said the sun had just came up when we were talking to him and so it had been like 21 hours since him and the other 19 elders with him had seen the sun! He also said he only slept 5 hours and played "Pong" the other 9 with other elders on the plane... so he sounded extremely exhausted! (Which was opposite of last night, he was so dang excited!!)
We talked about the language, how religious language is similar to Spanish because Christianity was introduced to the Philippines by Spaniards. I thought that was interesting. He said that in the Philippines they pronounce "P"'s like an "F"-- thus when he says "Pilippines" that's not a typo ;) And he said that because of that, the Filipinos come to America and say "Hey, let's Farty!" Evan thought that sounded pretty excellent. He told us that "po" is an add-on to sentences when you want to show respect. He said the kids love to say "Sorry Po" to the white people over there and they think they're pretty American when they say that! We talked about how much white people are admired and coveted and almost idolized in the Philippines. They would do anything to have white skin (dangerous things even, like skin bleaching)-- and to have a white baby, so he has to be very cautious in his interactions with the young women over there (as does any missionary but this is different because to the girls over there a white husband means a ticket out of poverty, beautiful fair skinned babies, etc etc). I thought that was very interesting and unique as well.
He enjoyed a delicious meal at the airport next to the Hello Kitty terminal, and was proud to say he had eaten a pretty authentic Chinese meal in China. He is the furthest away from home that anyone in our family has ever been! Crazy!
You should have seen and heard Thatcher when he heard Scotty's voice come across the phone! Oh it was priceless. He got all giddy and giggled like he couldn't believe it was really him! He talked and talked to Scotty like they hadn't missed a beat. It was a very sweet experience for us. They talked about pirates and digging to China (when Thatcher heard that Scott was in China he said "I will go dig!" and they decided they could meet half way if they both started digging.) Scott asked Thatcher if he would come visit him sometime in the Philippines and he said, "Yah! We will turn our car into an airplane and fly to the Philippines!" I said, "Wow, I didn't know our car could do that, how can it turn into an airplane?" He told me there was an airplane button and when I told him I had never seen one he said, "Oh, it's around there somewhere!"
Scott told Thatcher how to say yummy! "Masarap!" And a few other words too, but Thatcher kept saying "I can't right now. Maybe later." Scott told us that he had already given away a Book of Mormon and when he asked Thatcher if that made him a good missionary Thatcher said, "no, not yet." Turkey head!
We really loved hearing his voice these past couple days. It is such a treat and a tender experience to talk to him when it happens so rarely. You can tell he is really on fire and super eager to get out there and love those people in the Philippines. Actually, no, he already loves them so much- that was very obvious. He is just so eager to get out there and serve and teach and play and touch as many lives as possible! I sure love him and I am so, supremely proud of him. He will get on another plane soon here (around 8:30pm our time) and fly to Manila, Philippines and then get on yet another plane to Iloilo. I can't imagine how happy he'll be to be off that airplane and out of that airport!! It will be like 7:00pm Wednesday night (local time) when he gets to Iloilo so I'm guessing he sleeps really well when he finally gets to crash for the night.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support! We love you Elder Lowry!! Be safe. Be good. Be awesome.
Krista
(PS- We started Scott's Christmas package today!)
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