The Name's Lowry. Elder Lowry.: Week 44

Monday, July 18, 2011

Week 44

Wow...

This was a fantastic week. I really love this area. We had a really busy week and the work is really going at a swift pace. Elder and I are in for a trip this next month just to keep up with everything. we have eight people with a baptismal date and so it will be a busy couple weeks to try to help them follow through with those dates. We had 5 people at church this last week so it is going well for right now. The attendance for church is also steadily climbing right now. When I got here it was avg just below 100 in attendance. Now we are getting close to 150. We also have ward conference in two weeks. My goal is 200 in attendance. It is more than possible.

My cute primary story for this week was when one of the cute little girls came up to me and asked if I could baptize her. She is a niece of our bishop, but her parents aren't members. I promised we would talk to her parents and talk to them if they would allow her. She has been going to church for longer then I have been here. Her parents are very friendly to the church and said it would be fine if she became a member. So on August 13 Eriel Bool will get baptized. She is such a cute little girl. I will try to send a picture to you all. We are also trying to be able to teach her parents with her. They are way nice, but they know that they will have to make alot of changes in their life to get baptized and they just don't want to.

As for the Malunes family (Julie and Manuel aka bossy lady) they are doing really well. They need to get married before they can get baptized. They oth want to join the church. They just need to go to church more. Their kids love the missionaries. We always ask the older one if he will sell his little brother to us. He always tries to get us to just buy his dad... sometimes it is a good deal too. This week we are going to focus on getting them to church again (brother has never actually been). But they love to listen and they say they believe in the message.

I also got way brown this week. The sun has been intense. Im glad this isn't my last area or I would come home with a way intense missionary tan. I show my tan line at my wrist watch and people laugh way hard. Like I am as tan as I've ever been... on my arms and face only. Im such a missionarY!

I really love this place out here in the middle of the mountains on Panay Island. The people love just to be alive and it is such a blessing to just have the opportunity to talk about life and God with them. It is honestly such a learning experience everyday. I just want you all to know how much I love you all and miss you all. And I am jealous of all of your success and adventures you are making at home. I am especially jealous of all the partying that was done at MY house without me. haha. I definitely felt a bit trunky reading about all the fun you all had. It will be such a treat to come back and see how much we have all grown.

Love you all!

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.)