Week 18

Hello family and friends!

So this week has been a different one! I went to Altavas to work this week. It is about a 45 minute bus ride away from our house. Elder Ordeniza had training again in Iloilo so I went there again. It was a lot of fun and the area there is just beautiful! I got ALOT of mail from home this week. It was so nice! Thank you all so much! I got the letter from the primary, I am thankful for all of them! It was so nice to read all of their testimonies and good wishes. I even got a request to get home quickly and babysit them. Unfortunately I heard that the Ainesworth's are moving. So Abigail maybe I will have to pay a visit to your new house after the mission, haha. Thank you so much for the letters! I got Michael Ryan's letter. It was great to hear from him as well! I need to know if your address is the same this semester though. I have as letter already written so the quicker the better, eh?

So the work in Banga was slow this week because the first art of the week we weren't here and then when we got back EVERYONE was in the neighboring town of Kalibo for the humongous festival called Ati-Atihan. So we were pretty bummed. We only had 1 investigator at church. It also flooded like crazy on Sunday and a lot of streets were flooded. Sheila Mae Rofino went to church though and she will be baptized this Saturday. So get excited. She is reading the Book of Mormon all the way through and is almost done with 1st Nephi. Jessa didn't go to church and so we had no 6 o'clock investigators. They were all at the festival.

While in Altavas we worked with the members. Brother Marco and Resty. They are awesome. They are really good at English so everytime I get to work over there I get Aklanon 101 lessons. This last week I got like three lessons so I can really understand it now. I test out all of my Aklanon on Devine. She doesn't laugh at me when I completely botch it. Haha. Like to say what are you doing is "Alin ro ginaobra mo?" and in Tagalog it is "Ano ang ginagawa mo?" So it is quite different. But I understand and I am starting to incorporate it more in my speech. Elder Ordeniza and I are practicing more and we are now starting to go to a member's tindahan for language study. We ask questions for half an hour and then practice teaching her in Aklanon. I think in about 2 weeks we should be able to teach a lesson in Aklanon. People are super impressed when I respond in their local language. They love it.

Dexter and Merlinda have an interview with President on Jan 26. No guarantee that he will be able to do anything but I sure hope he can. Dexter shared with us some of his reading. He is just awesome. His scriptures are marked. He truly just loves to learn more. So we really just hoe they can get baptized. It would make my mission to be able to baptize this family. So we are working our hardest to prepare them. But honestly. I would have Pres. Monson interview these people and I wouldn't worry.

Dad, I withdrew some money because I made some pants. Some of my pants are not holding up too well with this intense mud. It is ridiculous. I am also buying rain boots for this season because my shoes will just be ruined if they have to endure these conditions much longer. It should help to save some pants as well. I ordered two pairs of pants and in all it was 1000 P (~$20) so no worries here for money. Thank you so much! I will send you a picture when I get the pants next week... They are really good looking!

Devyn! Im so glad you got the letters. They are as old as dust now! Disclaimer for all letter recipients. Expect 4- 6 weeks. Sorry!

Marie and Joseph. Sending the letter today! Get excited (or rather postpone the excitement for a couple weeks). I just looked the two names again... haha. I didn't mean to make it look like you are a couple. Another Disclaimer Marie and Joseph are not a couple.

I pray for you all everyday. Mom... don't test my prayers for your safety anymore please! Thank you. Take care of yourself lady! I hope you get some answers to all your tests. {Mom had a stroke scare that ended up being complex migraines this week. Yuck! We could ALL do without that kind of drama from our mama. Get well Mama Lowry!}

Go Dawgs! Basketball might just be better than football this year. haha.

Elder Lowry!