Week 25

Hello Everyone!

Things are going pretty well here on my end. I'm glad most people liked my letter last week because this week isn't nearly exciting... sorry. I did get to experience leadership training for the first time! It was alot of fun! SO Tuesday morning I left to Iloilo again on the dreaded 4 hr bumpy bus ride. With stops and stuff like that it really takes half the day to just travel from my apartment to the place to get to the apartments in Iloilo. It isn't so bad (there is Air conditioning and movies playing). We stayed in the AP's apartments and had air conditioning for all our meetings and when we slept. I never knew how much I missed that stuff. PHEW. It has been getting pretty hot here lately and any moment we can get inside of air con is like heaven. The training itself was pretty fantastic as well. I learned alot of things that I am excited to use in my area. We are doing a TON more tracting this next week so I'm thinking the training will really help with that. We are getting slim on investigators again about now and so we need to really find those people who will accept our message. We struggle sometimes with very poor people. We have two families like that right now that say they can't progress. They love to hear our message and keep other commitments to read and pray. But they say that they cannot go to church. He says that if he goes to church they will have nothing to eat. So we are praying to help them find a way to really go to church and to help them progress. I try to help them realize that they will be safer if they follow God's commandments, but it is still just way tough.

We got some pretty good news on the new apartment. We turned in our thirty days notice. So in early April we should be able to move! We are way excited and the owners took the news really well and didn't get angry (we all thought they would be super offended). So I've been getting calls from the office and we are working things out for that right now. We are actually starting to pack and get things situated. So that is VERY good news. Also at training it was a lot of fun because people have just gotten used to the idea that the American Elders don't speak Tagalog. So when I got there and spoke Tagalog to them they were all taken aback. I think that is why Sister Pagaduan likes me. She isn't nearly as comfortable in English as President, so it is always nice for her to just speak Tagalog. I am glad I got sent to a place where I could get my roots in Tagalog and hopefully I will be blessed with native companions throughout my mission in order to keep up my speaking abilities. As for Ilonggo I can understand it really really well, but to speak is still no good for me.

Angielyn is definitely getting baptized next weekend. She has been to church 4 times now (in a row too). It is great. We are so blessed to have met her. We still have a ton more to teach to her, but we have recommitted her like twice or three times now to be baptized and she says she really wants to. Even though she is 20 we got her to talk to her parents (they live far away) and they were way fine with her being baptized. I borrowed The Restoration video to show her and On the Lord's Errand (a movie about Thomas S Monson) so our next lesson about prophets should be great. I haven't seen On the Lord's Errand yet so I am really excited! So keep her in your prayers. She is going to make a great member one day. She has got some way good roots in the church.

We are also excited to teach this one family that was referred to us later on tonight. We are taking some of their older sons to play basketball too. They are the one with the little girl named Twinky. She is like exactly like Liam. Except a girl. Just this crazy little girl. She was born WAY premature and is just this tiny little thing. She loves to watch TV. She has the schedule memorized and if you ask her what will come on next she performs this little thing where she has all the show taglines memorized and will put on her TV announcer voice and even completes it with hand motions. I literally almost fell off my chair laughing the last time. She takes so fast and speaks wonderful Tagalog (her mom is from Luzon and doesn't know Aklanon).

Thank you all for the wonderful emails! I love hearing from you all and knowing what is going on in good ol' Georgia and Idaho for that matter. I am way jealous of you all for picking the year of my mission to finally go see Gen Conf. Typical, eh? Well that is just fine. I will watch it two or three weeks later when it finally gets here to the Philippines. I think they just make DVD's and send them over here our something. So I won't get to see it until way after you all! Oh well. Have fun and enjoy being in the presence of all those people. naseselos na ako sa inyo! grabe naman! pupunta kayo sa General Conference at wala na ako. Kapag uuwi ako bugbugin ko kayong lahat! Ano ba yan?!

Marie- did you ever get my letter?

I love you all!

Elder Lowry

EXTRA: I got a little response to my own letter this week (he answered the questions I asked) and I thought I'd share! He says, (I asked him how often he eats with the members and to tell us a companion story):

Well being head cook we try to get dinner appointments. But it is like once or twice a week only. I feel bad when we eat at members homes too much. They like skip eating themselves sometimes just to give us food. I just try to only go if it is like a celebration and if the Elders aren't the only ones going. Then I know they will have enough food. I made some DELICIOUS fried rice with pork though last night. Man... I will have to show you all how to cook like a Pinoy when I get home.

Companion story. So everyone gets really confused here when I introduce him. His name is kinda awkward in Tagalog. If you leave out the last o and make it quinantot it means rape in Tagalog. So it took me a while to find that out but that is why EVERYONE gets these big eyes and asks me to repeat myself. SO it is funny. People always just say "oy, akala ko bastos yan" or MAn, I thought you said something rude. Then we just laugh.

Love this boy!!