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