A talk with Der.

I took some notes from our conversation with Der Lowry on Christmas morning and thought I'd share them here!

• We spent a lot of time talking about the language-- which makes sense because he spends a LOT of his time and energy and focus just trying to figure out the language. He said he learned Tagalog (He pronounced it ti-ga-LOWg) in the MTC but where he is, the dialect is SO DIFFERENT from Tagalog that it's like starting all over again. He's figured out though that the 3 most important words in the language are I think Ang (implying the next word is the focus) Ng ("nung"-non focus) Sa (the next word implies location) and they are placed before every noun (which makes for a lot more words-- for example, the Book of Mormon there is over 700 pages, and here it's only 531). If you can figure out how to use those 3 words, the rest makes a lot more sense, but until you do you're lost and probably talk a lot of nonsense.

• He said he heard that a lot of missionaries that serve in his area usually stay there for 6-8 months before getting transferred somewhere else, so he expects to be there a while still. Which is good because the Aklanon dialect is SUPER tricky!
• They call him el-DER LO-ry and that people always say, "Like LOry LOry Allelujah!" Haha, that was awesome. I told him he just needed to teach them "LOry LOry to Ole Georgia! And to HECK WITH GEORGIA TECH!"
• He said the kids there love to play a flip flop (“tsinellas”-- pronounced ‘chinillas’) game- lean flip flops on each other, 2 teams, another flip flop is used to throw at the 2 flip flops and try to knock them down. Once knocked down, someone grabs one and takes off running while the others chase them and the goal is to get back and stand them up again to win.
• Canadians = "Cana-jens"- all the Filipinos are related to someone in or have themselves lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! Must be a huge Filipino population there!
• Basketball is the sport they love to play, but they play a much different style of basketball-- waiting and waiting until they have the most clean, perfect, open shot before shooting (takes a long time to get a shot up). And he said he was the biggest guy on the court every single time!
• He talked about the most interesting food experience he had had up to date was duck embryo, "Balut". Apparently it's a delicacy. It is a duck egg that the put in the incubator like they wanted to hatch it and then take it out just a couple days before it would've hatched. Then they hard boil it. So it sort of resembles hard boiled eggs. "Overdone" is when you get a beak or feathers or something like that... YUMMAY!!
• He suggested that simple medicine would be a very much appreciated gift to the Filipino people in his area-- they don't have easy access to things like Tylenol or Hydrocortisone and it's much needed.
• We talked about the Jeepneys and he said the saying there is, "how many people can you fit on a Jeepney? One more!"
• I asked him if he got around mostly on Jeepneys and he said no, that they saw more "tricycles"-- with a seat in front that fit 3 Filipinos up front, the driver, and then 4-5 on the back.
• He said when you go to someone's house there, there's no knocking, you just announce that you're there "there's people here!" He said that people always have time or will happily allow you to sit and talk to them as long as you like. So they teach like 9 discussions a day! But the challenge there is not finding people to listen, it's finding people who will actually commit enough to KEEP commitments.
• He said they're mostly Catholics there, non practicing because they work all day, every day and then when they get home from a 10 hour work day they stay up all night weaving coconut hair making things out of it.
• Like Dexter- his most awesome investigator so far- Dexter works construction 7 days a week, 10 hours a day and gets paid the equivalent of $5 American/day. Even there, that's not much. So he gets home and weaves coconut hair and makes things to sell. But Dexter's story is pretty awesome, and has been a huge inspiration to Scott and "El-DER or-den-i-ZA" because the day they found them they woke up after crazy torrential typhoon rains, everything was flooded up to at least their shins, and they had an appointment with some potential investigators in a town pretty far away. They knew they'd have to walk/wade the whole way because transportation wouldn't work that day so they were SO close to just calling it off and staying in I guess, but something one of Scott's MTC teachers told him came to mind, pretty much 'You gotta do what you gotta do/There's things to do and you have to do it" so they decided they would just go and do the work they're there to do. Well they got there, drenched and tired, and their appointment fell through. No one wanted to talk, so they were a bit frustrated but they figured they were already out and so they might as well find someone to talk to. So they trekked through this SUPER thick Jungle area and came to a creek that was flooded up to his chest or up to a Filipino's neck and this lady (Dexter's wife) saw him from the other side. She kind of wondered what these 2 guys in white shirts were doing out and got Dexter's brother to help them find a better way to get across. Here Scott said, "you see they are TOO nice here!" Because Dexter's brother happily waded through the neck-high water to come show them a better way to cross the flooded creek. They got across and talked to Dexter and his wife and their weeks old baby girl and they just lit up. Said it was true, they felt it, and since then they've read all their reading assignments over and over before their next appointment, they are solid and are the nicest, most wonderful investigators ever. He said when Dexter heard about the Plan of Salvation he looked at his brand new baby girl and just beamed with joy that they were a family before they came here and could be a family for all eternity. He is very proud of his baby girl! Dexter is a young (25ish) husband and father. So anyways. That's the story of Dexter. He says whenever he visits Dexter he'll ask, "How are you?" And Dexter will answer, "I'm good now that you're here!" I love him already :)
• Dexter's story brings me to something else I thought was funny-- he said the Filipinos love to name their girls names like "Princess"-something or "Lady"- something. Or sometimes just Lady or just Princess. Dexter's daughter is Princess Linsy. Another one is "Lady Christine."
• He talked about his ward's Christmas party that made his Christmas for him. He said Christmas Eve was really hard for him, but the Christmas party was just the best. He said that it turned into a ward talent show and the Primary all got up and performed (like, it was rehearsed) the dance for Shakira's "waka waka"! I can just see all the little Filipino kiddos shaking their hips and dancing like crazy-- he siad they love love love to dance! He also said they sang Justin Bieber songs and I thought that was too funny.
• Oh yah and he said their ward clerk, a guy he's always just kind of thought was strange, played a dancing game like Musical Chairs except for the guys stand in a circle with their hand on their hip and the girls have to link arms with them when the music stops or something. So anyways, he was the last guy left in the middle and busted out a "raise the roof" which also happens to be my Dad's signature dance move and it's ridiculous, but it reminded Scott SO MUCH of Dad that he fell to the floor dying laughing! I loved hearing that story. My dad is a special guy ;) Haha, I can just see that TOTALLY making Scott's day!!
• He said that for the ward party they had a bunch of games where only couples could participate. And so they thought it would be funny to consider the missionaries a couple. So we played the newly wed game and they forced us to enter the dance competition.
  
• He also said that they have NO concept of personal space and that it was VERY common to hold hands or hips or waists with the person you're talking to and it makes him super uncomfortable still! I'm sure he'll get used to it but it was funny hearing about it. He said a drunk guy heard him outside talking to us and came up and wanted to hold his hand and talk. Definitely a different culture there!
• He said that there's no shame in asking someone you see walking on the street, "Hey, where are you going/coming from?" He said that it just blows his mind because in America people would think that is so weird and rude and too personal, but it's like second nature there, nothing odd at all. Or asking someone how old they are, or how much money they make-- none of that is too personal or strange, it's very open and common there. Funny, huh?
• "Kaya ko" = I can do it! (He talked about Divine, his 2 year old Filipino girlfriend, taking his watch off at the ward party and she kept saying "Kaya ko"-- that SHE could put it on him). "Kaya mo" = You can do it!

So good to hear his voice!!

Week 15

Hello Family and Friends!

Thank you all so much for the Christmas wishes. It truly was different to be on the opposite side of the world for Christmas. But as my family can attest to I had a good one. I was able to finally talk to them late Christmas night for me and 4 in the morning for them... haha! But we finally were able to talk and it truly was wonderful! It was so nice to hear their voices and know they were doing well!

Christmas here is very different. There really isn't a Santa Claus tradition here in the Philippines. So that was different and people just give small very simple gifts. Due, most likely, to obvious circumstances (money). But it was a happy time for sure. We had our ward party on Christmas day. That is just what all the members wanted to do. It was like a big talent show where EVERYONE participated and we also played a lot of games! For some reason Elder Ordeniza and I were forced to participate in all the couples games so they thought that was a hoot. They laughed a lot and just had a good time. We also had a feast afterwards. Here in the Philippines they have party that say "BYOR" Bring your own rice... I at least thought it was hilarious. But the main course was Litson Baboy. Roasted Pig. They had it delivered and it was literally just two humongous pigs that were tied to a bamboo shoot and slow cooked over a fire. SO two high priests carved the pigs all night and they were devoured. Man it was good! Like I said, the party was just a big talent show. SO the primary performed a dance to Waka Waka, the song that Shakira recorded for the world cup! The Primary President was in the front doing the dance as well. It might have been my favorite. All the children danced and had the best time doing it. No one was shy and they were just adorable. Two of the primary girls also did a dance to the Justin Bieber song "First Love" or something like that (actually it's "baby"... and I'm alright with the fact that he didn't know that). (All Filipinos love that song) And right as they started another three year old little girl ran right in front of them and just jammed the entire song by herself. The most adorable thing ever! So needless to say, after this party I felt right at home and had a great night.

Dexter Alvares is just flourishing as an investigator. We love going over there and teaching to them and we gave his wife the same baptismal date as him. The only problem is we found out that they have not been married yet because Sister has a former husband that she is not divorced from yet. He is in Manila too. So now we are contacting president to get paperwork started... exciting no? Jokes, but this family is worth it and I really am excited to get it going so we can baptize them and prepare them for the temple. We are excited to teach the rest of his extended family. I think they will accept our message as well. And again, all from the day we went tracting with our slacks rolled up to our knees and tsinelas. We found a jackpot for sure. They came to church though and when we asked him about it he just replied again "Magaan sa loob" or my insides are lifted. That is how most people explain to us when they feel good about our message. I gave him a Liahona and he is reading Elder Bednar's last conference talk about receiving the Holy Ghost. He loves reading from the book of Mormon and so now we are really excited to have his wife join him.

The work is really moving along here and I feel like we will only keep progressing. Our goal for this next transfer is 30 teachings a week plus 5 more lessons taught to recent converts or less active families. SO that really makes for some busy days. But we are ready for it. We had 27 teachings this week and we didn't even get to proselyte on Christmas. I think that is one of the best indicators of the progressing work. I am done with my first transfer! I am not going anywhere, but my companion is District Leader so that will add a bit more work in a week... haha. We are definitely excited though. Transfers are fun here. The ZL conducts of course and then the two companions (before the are tole what will happen) have to take turns saying something to the other companion. Then the ZL writes on the board Transfer, Stay, DL, Train, etc and everyone claps. SO it is a fun time. I've heard that people stay in the Kalibo zone for a long time. Like 6- 8 months. So Im not nervous to leave for a while. The local dialect (Aklanon) is the toughest on the island so we get to stay here to try to learn it. I love it here in Banga though so I don't mind one bit.

The language is starting to take off a little bit. Things are moving faster and faster as I have the startings of a foundation. Things don't take me as long to learn and I can even understand a bit of Aklanon. I spend more time understanding then being lost. So I am not freaking out as much. I actually was able to give the baptismal commitment to Dexter's wife. SO I was really happy that she understood and said yes! I was so happy. That was my first time to give the commitment!

I am doing really well here. I love the people. I love the food. I am starting to get used to being the ONLY person with white skin and who speaks English. The stares don't bother me anymore and usually I use it to talk to them.

Fun story: We were walking home last night and these little kids just ran right up to us and new our names. It was dark so we didn't really recognize them but they were the cute little 7 yr old girls and their friends that live next door. They asked to walk home with us because it was dark and their parents didn't go to church with them. So, of course, we did. SO I had 4 little girls that all fought to hold my hand as we walked home. We also asked them if they wanted us to come to their house tomorrow and visit them and share a message with them. Of course they wanted us to... so tonight we are taking some visits to our neighbors to see if they want to hear our message. But it was just a fun walk home with these cute little girls who were very talented in Tagalog. So we could communicate very well (most little kids only speak Aklanon). I'm telling you, the little kids are beyond adorable here.

Marie: Send me that address ASAP because I need you to be the middle woman for me to send a letter to Joseph. I feel bad because I got his letter the day I left the MTC and wasn't able to write him back yet.

Devyn: It is weird seeing all that snow. It sounds like you are having a blast. Did you get my second letter? Congrats on your exams! What is your new address?

Mom: No package yet. It is just taking its own time I guess.

Dad: I expect a detailed report on UGA's bowl game. Don't let me down old man! Hopefully it will be a good game and you will be raising the roof!

I love you all so much!

Elder Lowry!

Week 14

Hey family!

How is everyone doing over there? Things are going quite well over here. It still doesn't feel like Christmas, but it is getting here, eh? I am excited for the holiday and to be able to call home. I worked things out to have a phone. I will let you all call me so that I know you will all be there. You will have to call pretty early in the morning so I can receive the call that night. I am way excited for it! Have all you questions prepared for the culture and I will try my best to prepare good things to talk about. Just remember that if you are scared what the answer might be it just might be better to leave it alone. This is a very different place and they do things a lot differently here. So some questions might be best to leave until after the mission. Ha. Oh, and ask me to tell you the crazy story and I will know what you are talking about. I forgot to include it in my email a couple weeks ago and I will just tell you all about it over the phone. It is a food story so get excited!

So this past week... I bought my Christmas present! I bought a music player. So like I said EVERYTHING is different here so of course there are no plain CD players. So I had to buy this little thing that just reads music off of a little USB player. Trouble is getting music on to the USB... But no worries... I have it all figured out as long as Evan can help me out. So if you could please Evan put a load of MoTab (Christmas stuff too) on to the dropbox I can access it here. You are the best!

Work wise, it is progressing so well right now. We have 6 investigators with a date that are all really good investigators. This family that we are teaching right now is just dynamite! We met them while tracting the day of the big flood. We were walking along this path in the middle of jungle and we were pretty down cause we hit a dead end. All the sudden we hear this person yelling "Hello!" and this big family just waving at us and smiling. So me, being fairly new to the area, said, "Der, sino sanda?" (who are they, assuming they were members) He said "Indi ko alam der... perro mabait na mabait sanda, di ba?" (I dunno but they are really nice. eh?) But the river separating us has overflowed and the bridge washed out. So we started to talk to them and they were just so nice. So one guy waded across the river just to show us a different way to their house. They read all the time. One of the sons Dexter has a wife and a cute 1 month old baby and he is just the best investigator ever. He LOVED the plan of salvation. He reads the pamphlets not just once and reads from the BoM everynight. We hope to baptize his wife as well. It could be my own Turbyfield story, right? They are just awesome and I look forward to our visits everytime. So their date is Jan 29 2011.

Tayson is keeping up his commitment to quit smoking and does his reading as well. We are so happy for him and Jessa as they are steadily progressing. He showed us his homemade fireworks... ask in the phone call about them. They are insane and pretty dangerous. But I liked it because it is just simple chemistry... ha. We gave a date to one of investigators named Ellen Redison as well. She is nineteen and her sister-in-law and mother are also beginning the discussions. We have had the hardest time getting her to really work for her answer but she finally got it and we are good to go! This week has flown by and it seems like we are always playing catch up. We are walking everywhere and by the end of the day I just zonk out. I get so tired!

I am really excited for this one new investigator we got this week. We have barely been able to teach her because she is ALWAYS working at market. But I am super hopeful. She loves to have us around because her 3 yr old loves me. I am excited for this family because I am kind of in charge of it. We met at market when her three year old daughter saw and just climbed on to my lap. No words no prior acquaintance. We were at a members tindahan and she walked over. Gave me the BIGGEST CUTEST smile and climbed on my lap. She is literally the cutest little thing I've ever seen. Get me to tell you about little miss Devine in the phone call. She is the best. So since that is how we made the connection with her mom, I take control of building that relationship with her mom. Like we were stuck at market last night because the rain was horrible. So we went to their shop and I played with Devine and just talked about life with her Mom. I spoke Tagalog too... so that is good. So I hope I can help them. Funny story about Devine. The first day we played together I saw another little boy and told him to come give me a high 5. So he did and then ran to his mom just giggling. Devine stopped immediately and looked at me with the most serious face ever and just said "Indi." (No) So I of course asked "Haman indi?" (Why not?) So she just said "Indi... Indi Puwede. Ako- lang. (No you can't, just me) Haha. I am excited to tell you about my adventures here.

I am doing well and the language is inching along. I can teach lesson one by myself, but lesson 2 is way difficult still. People like me here and I like them. They are funny and just easy going. I am so excited to hear from you all on Saturday. Use the calling card to call me! I am beyond excited!

Blogs work great Krista thanks! And thanks so much for the card Shauna. I love you Paige Rafe and Olivia! And yes, consider it Terry and I's date to hit the slopes upon my return. Tayt and Zach are invited as well. I can be a double date. Thank you all for the continued support. You are all the best!

Marie! If you read this I need your new address for next semester.

Devyn! Thanks for the letter. I sent my letter last week to your house in Kansas so I hope you get it there.

Luke! Email me... How is the Peru planning going?

I love you all!

Elder Lowry

Week 13

Hello Family!

How is everyone doing? I am adjusting still and getting to used to this very different place. The language is still tough and the people are still poor. I think and hope I am improving. I have been looking forward to being able to send this email. I am so thankful for all your support. Thank you so much for believing in me. I have been studying the conference ensign this last week. It has been so nice to reacquaint myself with all of those talks. Jeffrey R Holland's talk really spoke volumes to me. More then it did when I heard it in the MTC. I have had many struggles here and I have been a bit selfish I think. I want you all to know how much I am in debt to you all. It is my family at home that has the real faith here. I am a far way from my home in a very different culture and country. But it is my family at home that I admire for their faith. To let me leave, to sacrifice so much for me to be here. I am so very thankful for all the sacrifices they make to make this mission possible. I get to be here and enjoy the experience of seeing these people and help them make big changes in their lives. But this would not be possible without my family. They are showing their faith in a miraculous way right now. To send off their son and provide for him even though he does not live in their house or even get to talk to them but twice a year. So I ask a favor, in my absence, in their behalf. That you give to them a double portion of hugs and warm welcomes for me. I love them so much and thank you in advance for your support to them.

Things here are moving right along. I can't believe my first transfer is about over. The work is wonderful and Elder Ordeniza and I are trying our best to improve every week. We examine our progress closely and try to always find more ways to be more efficient. We confirmed JeckyLynn and Georlyn yesterday. It was awesome. So I have two names in the front of my Preach My Gospel. I hope to get a couple more before I return home. We committed their brother and sister this week so their potential date is Jan 22 2011. The sister's name is Jessa. Their brother's story is amazing right now. So he has listened to many lessons but is a typical teenager and never wanted anything to do with religion. He likes to talk to me though and then asked if I could teach him. So I taught him lesson 1. I come back to teach two days later and he skips on me. So I try again the next time I come back and his sister (the other one who has a date) says that he doesn't want to listen to me anymore. So later that day we find him and ask why he doesn't want to listen. He doesn't answer and just walks away. Later on he comes up to Elder and I and starts quizzing us on being a missionary. Asks how we become one so on and so forth... 1/2 an hour later he basically says he wants to become a missionary someday, he wants to see the application and invited us to his house to finish teaching him about the BoM. We teach again the next day. He had read the assignment, prayed, and we gave him a date. He is progressing more than any investigator we had and has the beginnings of a testimony. It was amazing. His name is Tayson (pronounced Tyson) and he is a hoot. If there was one person that would fit in with the Crunks, it would be Tayson. We are having FHE at their house tonight and watching the Testaments with them. Keep them in your prayers!

This family is so amazing and I am very concerned for them. Their father is never home as he is a fisher and when he is home he just drinks. Their mother is so busy trying to support her family as well. She has expressed concerns to us about the welfare of her children. And she has just said that she is going to have to move to Manila to find work to support her children through school. Tayson is the oldest, he is almost 15. Their are 5 kids that will be living there with no parents. Keep them in your prayers that they will find some other way. Tayson is a tough kid but he is not ready for this.

We are working our hardest. I was really excited to watch the Christmas Devotional last night it was so beautiful. It just does not feel like Christmas. I am sweating all the time. It is literally the same temp every day. So I catch myself thinking what a nice summer's day. I feel like I am excited for my birthday, not for Christmas. My mind is still adjusting. The toughest part this week was the daily flooding. And I'm not kidding. Everyday this week except Friday, we waded through water to get to town. Wednesday was the worst. I got to proselyte in tsinelas (flip flops). Interesting experience. I rolled up my slacks to my knees and it was still not enough in some places. Rivers overflowed and there is no such thing as draining systems here. So the roads had anywhere from an inch to a foot of water on them. People's dirt floors were washed out and made into mudpits. But, people don't stop here. they just keep going on no matter what... so we did too. My skin grafts got pretty beat up though, oh well.

Thank you all. SO much. I am loving the work. It is progressing. I have been thinking about what you said Dad. Our progress is not a linear function. It will curve and plateau (so the engineer, haha, love you Dad!). I am learning how to get through those as well. I read President Uchtdorf's talk this last conference. I needed that one so much. So I heeded his counsel and just went back to the basics. I read my scriptures every chance I got (partly because they are in English) and I have loved it. I started over the BoM this last week. I am already in Alma. Everything has improved. My teaching, my testimony, and I can speak so much better. I found myself talking to this man who sat me next on the bus. We just made small talk about his cute 3 yr old daughter that somehow fell asleep on the bumpiest ride ever. We laughed and then I realized that I had a conversation in Tagalog with someone that I had never met. He even threw in some Aklanon words that I was able to understand. I said a prayer right after and thanked the Lord.

p.s- I can't wait to talk to you all soon. We can use skype. I will show you how Aklanon sounds so different. They don't have the L sound. So it is really spelled Akeanon and instead of Salamat it is saeamat. So hard to pronounce. Their tongue twister is "Ro anwang nag eogaeog sa eogan eogon." It is super tough to say. HAHA. But Aklanon is supposed to be the toughest dialect to learn. So it just gets better from here.

You are all great. I love you!

Elder Lowry

Week 12

Hello Family and Friends!

So another week as gone by. I am doing well and I have had no further health impediments. I am so grateful for that. The language is still struggling, but it is progressing. Thanks Uncle Trevor for the note, we all need a good reminder every once and a while. I just wish it would come faster, you know? The progress was a big step. I finally got to bond a bit with the girls that we baptized. I am finally able to understand and speak enough to hold small conversations with them. They have also been more patient with my speaking ability. But yes, they were baptized! It was awesome and I am so excited for them. Probably the biggest sign of improvement for me was when I got asked to speak about 10 minutes before the service started. Man, I was praying my heart out to be able to communicate this important important subject matter in a language that was very foreign to me. The bishop had his two daughters getting baptized as well so the pressure to really perform well was on. But I gave the whole talk in Tagalog and no one laughed, out loud at least. I spoke about the Holy Ghost. I thought I did really well and people told me they enjoyed it.

So ya, this week we were really focusing on JeckieLynn and Jorlyn. I am so happy they went through with the baptism. I'm so happy that we got the chance to become friends this week. It will be tough to leave this area just because of them now. I look forward to seeing their family and talking with them. So here is your Filipino 101 lesson for the day: They love pictures. I don't know what it is, but they are the most photogenic people Ive ever seen. The girls would fight over who got the camera. All I would ever hear was "Der Der Der Der... Pahiram ang kamera mo!" So I had to establish the five minute rule. Haha. I was so hoping that this internet cafe would have an SM card reader so I could attach pics, but it doesn't. I know one of them does around here. I will definitely send some next week. these kids are just hilarious. I love it.

Thank you so much for all of the supporting letters and notes. I really look forward to reading them every week. It is so nice to hear from everyone. It is so strange to be so far away from American things. Filipinos try to imitate American things, but it just isn't the same. So it is just difficult. I am getting more used to things here. I'm really trying my hardest to work hard all the time and get better. I think I will just have to learn more patience with this. I got Aunt Donna's letter and Karsyn's letter today! I was so happy to receive those! Thank you so much. I would write back everyone for all the little notes, but to send a letter to America is SO expensive here. (Devyn you should get a letter this week, I sent it through like a UPS and it was SO expensive so I will just send from the normal post office from now on). I apologize. I really am so thankful for them.

I really like the food here. I think that is the most popular question Ive gotten. We eat rice three times a day. Ive only eaten parts of a fish head (not telling which). They call the stuff you put on top of the rice Ulam. That is probably the biggest difference. It can literally be anything. They just call it Ulam. I will always ask my companion "Ano ang ulam natin mamayang gabi?" Or what will be our ulam tonight? And it can be pork chicken, anything. Here it is a privilege to have ulam. One kid asked me if it was true that in America you could have ulam three times a day. Natives can usually only afford ulam for dinner, if that. Just rice and whatever is growing on the nearby trees. It was really a testament of how poor they are here... We can eat whatever we want three times a day. It just boggles my mind sometimes. A lot of people also ask me what kind of ulam my mom likes to make at home. This culture is just SO different. How can I answer that question? I truly am on the other side of the earth.

Other news: We will probably moving to a really actually nice house. It isn't finished yet, but we will probably move right around the new year. So exciting. It is right in the middle of ton and should make our traveling expenses go way down and give us a lot more time to teach. The lady that owns it is a member in a different area. One night while walking home, she saw my companion and I walking and offered us a ride. She told us about this house she was building and offered us a sweet deal on it. The ZL's told we will be able to buy it today. We have to get a new apartment because the mission it growing so much and we will probably have 4 elders in Banga soon. So it is pretty exciting. It is way nicer than our haunted house out in the woods. Pictures to come soon. It literally looks haunted and I can't wait for you all to understand what I mean. So I am way grateful that she passed us that night and gave us a ride. It makes the looking process way easier when it is just given to you.

I am doing well over here. It is so strange to think just how far away from home I am. I can't quite wrap my head around it. Maybe someday I will. A sister and I were talking today (she came in the same time as me) and we discussed that. We also talked about how Filipinos, when they see a white person, just stare. They will literally stop what they are doing and stare at you. It is uncomfortable. Especially for her because she is as tall as I am and very fair skinned. And her companion probably comes up to her belly. It is funny to watch.

Wow, It is hard to believe that college football is already over. Man! Go Auburn! What a quick turn around for their program. they were horrible last year. Even we beat them. And I'm so hoping for a good basketball season for the Dawgs. Keep me updated Dad! We will handle GT nicely, I'm sure. And of course we had better beat UCF. If not... I don't know what I'll do but it will be something to express my anger!

Oh. You wanted to know about Filipinos Christmas. They started celebrating in September. So I have heard Christmas music a lot. As far as trees and other stuff. Not really. They are just too poor. They don't have money to waste on the electricity. They are always happy so I don't think the season has anything to do with it. But They do cook a lot for Christmas. I have been teasing our neighbors that I'm gonna kill one of their roosters that always wakes me up and eat it. They said for Christmas we would eat one. Haha. And the Christmas party got announced and everyone asked me what they should bring so we are having a Filipino Feast (nice alliteration, eh?). So I'm excited!

Thanks again for all the support and love. I pray for you all often and miss you all dearly. Have a great Christmas season! I will be thinking of home and wondering how everyone is! Pictures and more stories to come soon. Can't wait to talk to you all at the end of the month!

Elder Lowry