The Name's Lowry. Elder Lowry.: Week 34

Monday, May 9, 2011

Week 34 - His new area

Hello family!

SO I am gonna have to keep this pretty short because I am short on time. But I got transferred this week to an area called Manoling. It is the most primitive area in the mission. So I am getting the full experience here. Like people in Banga live in very simple houses, but it just can't even compare to here. Like I would say a third to one half of the people have electricity. So this area is a very eye opening place for me. It is also very mountainous. Like huge mountians on every side... so we live in this small little valley in literally the middle of nowhere Philippines. The cool thing is that we live with a member family and they are way cool. I really love having other people in the house. The kids are way fun to talk to and they will be my lifeline in learning the language.

This week has been pretty testing of my patience. I am with a very interesting elder. He is pretty bad at English and just doesn't talk in general. He also doesnt know how to speak the local language here so that makes it difficult to adjust to the new area. I am working with it as well. Even though he is much my senior I will have to really step up and take the reins just because he refuses to. We also have not had electricity in the whole town for a good couple of days now. It can be very frustrating when everything is candle lit and there are no fans to keep me cool. We have had a very stormy past couple days and every day so far we have had to cross rivers where you just have to take your socks off. Roll up your slacks to your thighs and wade across. Yesterday we didnt only have to go across the usual river that had risen a good two feet, but the streets were flooded that we had to walk on (like up to my knee). But enough of my whining... it will be good stories for when I get home, eh? That's what I try to keep thinking.

I have also been bombarded with coconuts. I have eaten more coconut in the past week then I had my whole life prior. They are so good though. If you get them right when they are perfectly ripe the juice tastes like a weird kind of sprite and the meat is sweet and just a perfect refreshment. They dont like to give me their water (its river water) so they always just get a coconut for me. It is fine with me because coconut trees here are the most abundant things here. Like all you see here are just pure coconut trees.

I laughed when I read Dad's letter. Just like everyone else he told me of your crazy mother's day present (they sang and danced to weird songs that have to do with mothers... and for the record I laughed out loud when I read that Graham sang Mother by Pink Floyd.... HAHAHAHA.... best one!) But Dad made it sound like it was just everyone else was involved when I know for a fact that he participated. I wouldn't be surprised if he even contributed to the idea of this present.

I love you all so much and sorry this one is short but I will make sure I have more time next week.

Elder Lowry

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Need a little clarification?

Feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comment area! Here are a few things I thought might help, in case you need them:

-Iloilo is pronounced "Ee-low-Ee-low"
-MTC stands for Missionary Training Center. All missionaries report to an MTC before going to their assigned mission to be trained to teach by the Spirit, to answer questions and to rely on the Lord in order to serve the people in their missions.
-District Leader (DL) is just what Scott describes in his 1st letter home, while in the MTC at least! In the MTC DL's are definitely the ones to inspire their district to be the best they can be and achieve and keep all their goals, keep everyone motivated and in line and pretty much just be an amazing example for the others to follow. Scott's got this one in the bag ;) In the mission, it's only a bit different; it's an assignment given in which you are responsible for checking in on the other missionaries in your district and assisting them as needed, as well as gathering information and reporting to the Zone Leaders, who then report to the Assistants to the President, who then report to the Mission President!
-P-Day (Preparation Day) is the 1 day they get in the week to do laundry, write home, exercise, play sports, go grocery shopping, whatever they need to do. They get to wear "street clothes" with their name tag on P-Day and it's of course the day we all look forward to because we get e-mail (looks like his P-Day in the MTC is Mondays)! (At least while he's still in the MTC... we don't know what the situation will be when he gets to the Philippines.)