Week 50

Hello Everyone!

So another super successful week here in Manoling! I am so excited with how well things went this week. We were scared for a bit that we weren't going to hit our goals... But we relied on the Lord to help us out and it went really well. We only came short on the number of new investigators. But two of our new investigators that we got this week both have baptismal dates for September and they both went to church. Speaking of going to church we set a record for my mission this weekend... we had 9 investigators come to church! We were way busy, but it was so nice to see our investigators at church. They all said they had a great time and they would definitely come back next weekend. I am excited for all of them and hopefully we can get some more people a baptismal date over this next weekend. It was good though because every single investigator that has a goal to be baptized went to church. And all the people that I have baptized here are all going to church every week. I am so happy for them.

Elder and I have been doing really well getting the ward's participation in the work. We didn't teach a single lesson to an investigator without a member present. That is also a record for my mission. We really are doing alot of good work out here. We are really doing quality work here too. Like the ward is getting stronger and the new members are all doing really well. We have a solid four baptisms in September... so this whole next month we can focus on just finding investigators who can also be baptized the next month. We already have one couple lined up to probably be baptized in October. So the work is just progressing so fast here right now. I am going to be really sad to leave this area. I am thinking this is my last full week here. I won't be able to tell you all anything though until Sept 12 (whatever that Monday is) as we find out our transfer status on Wednesdays now. So I will already be in my new area before I can even tell you I'm going to leave. If I leave that is.

I am doing really well right now. I love serving here and all of the little kids here just get cuter and cuter every week. I just can't even get over how lucky I am to get to know them. I have learned a ton from them... I have learned how to play the COOLEST game ever! I have seen them playing it before but I never could figure out the rules just by watching. It is called sodsod. Literally all you need is a patch of dirt and a couple rocks. But the rules are really quite intricate and it is easy to make stupid mistakes. You just draw a big rectangle longways into the dirt and divide it into six blocks inside of it. Then at all intersections down the middle line inside of the rectangle you draw circles. Then you have to kick your rock from square to square with out the rock landing on any of the lines or your feet ever touching the lines... oh and you can only use one foot (so you are hopping one one foot the whole time.) This game is way more intricate than I can try to explain right now. There are a ton more things you have to do after you get through all the squares without hitting any lines. I will have to write it down sometime this week and take some pictures to send to help illustrate it better. I will definitely have a sodsod party with everyone when I get home though. It is so much fun. We play a short game with Eriel and her siblings every time we teach her.

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW TANNER! You old man. Hope everything was good and just don't wish for GT to win this November. It would be such a waste of a good birthday wish.

Other than that I don't really have much to report. I just have more pictures... (i bought an sd card reader... yes it took me a year on my mission to realize it would be more efficient to just buy one here) So I hope you enjoy the pics!

1. Monkey friend in Manoling!

2. Working in Manoling... an everyday occurrence almost. This was the group I was on splits with yesterday.

3.The boy is RJ (bishops son) who will be leaving on his mission soon. The two girls are both from the family we live with. Mary Grace is the older one and Chloebelle is the younger one.
4. Me with two of my pimary kids. Jovilyn and Janiza (sisters) Then the one in the very back is their cousin or something. I forget her name. I just met her yesterday.

Week 49

Wow look at the week. I have been out for almost a year!

So this week was a big success! I was so happy with how everything turned out. I was busy as I've ever been. We had two baptisms in two weekends. We also had a zone conference in Roxas city on Wednesday. So we were stressed on how to get all the teachings done and how to get the interview and how to have the service all ready. Just busy. But I am proud to say that we did ALL that and we got EVERY single one of the mission goals for a single week and for one month. I will just tell you now that it was the first time to have that happen in my mission. Yes, it is pretty tough. We have 4 people with date. We had five investigators at church. We had over 15 lessons this week with a member present. And we had well over 7 new investigators. And for the month of August we had 2 convert baptisms.

So yes, Rimya B Tungala was baptized and confirmed as a member this last weekend. We had well over 60 in attendance with 4 investigators that attended as well. Her husband's cousin came from his mission just on Thursday. His name is TJ Tungala and he had his welcome home party right after the baptism and we actually got him to perform her baptism. The baptism was just perfect. It was so nice to sit there and just relax and enjoy it. Pictures will be attached!

So I am just so happy right now and enjoying my last couple weeks in Manoling. I got tipped off by Sis Pagaduan this last week at the zone conference. I won't bother to translate it... I will just sound like an idiot trying to translate our conversation. But she essentially said that I just might be moving to the city (iloilo) in a couple weeks. So I am way sad to leave Manoling area... Like I will cry the day I leave here. I have been expecting it this whole transfer because Elder Balmeo and I have been together for two transfers. So I am trying to be as optimistic about moving to a city area for my next transfer. Then my first week in my new area I will reach my year mark.

Well I will let my pictures tell the stories for you all.

Week 48

Hello Family!

So this week went exactly according to plan. In fact it was probably even better than I had planned. I am a very happy missionary right now to say the least! I am sending some pictures with this email! Get excited! So to say the least, the baptisms happened and we had a bunch of people to support them. We also have a baptism this weekend. SO we are very happy missionaries... but very busy. We also have a week full of meetings in far away cities. I will be even happier next week when it has all happened and I am not nearly as busy like I am now.

Eriel and Linda's baptism was so nice. We had very strong support from the ward and everyone seemed so happy for them. My favorite part, I think, was an idea that our ward missionary gave to us. We had two primary kids give there testimonies after the talks were done. They spoke so simply and expressed their excitement that these two girls were able to be baptized. The Spirit was so strong as they stood up and, very nervously, spoke about the church. It was such a nice day for a baptism and we all had a little party afterward. I was also really excited as I got to baptize them. I told them how lucky they were that they get to be baptized in a river just like Jesus Christ.

Rimya Tungala is also getting baptized this weekend. She is really excited and she has been wanting to become a member for over 3 years. She has just recently been able to get married to her husband and now she can finally get baptized. We were going to have it on the 27th of August, but there is a stake activity that day and none of the members will be in town if her baptism is also on that day. So we decided sooner rather than later and so we have been scrambling around to get everything for her baptism this weekend. I am making another invitation as week speak.

So Krista asked me some good questions that I will just include here. As for the kids they usually can go to school. They are way small and overcrowded, but the kids LOVE it. But it has a tuition and sometimes the parents just can't afford it. Right now we are teaching a family that none of the kids are able to go to school. School, especially in my area right now, is a privilege to these kids. Very different from my attitude towards school at home. The church organization here is all the same. In fact, the new area president for the Philippines is actually a Filipino now. She also wanted an update on me. I am doing really well right now. I really am loving this area and working here. I never really thought I could love another area as much as Banga... but Manoling is just impossible not to love. I love every minute of talking to the awesome members and teaching new people. The kids are also the most adorable things I have ever laid my eyes on. They are so loving and fun and just awesome. Any time they walk with us anywhere they hold your hand and just talk about anything with you.

Dad also asked me about why my invitation was in English. Most of the church stuff is in English here. The Filipino pride is that they understand English. They always seem to "brag" about that. So it kinda hurts their pride to do official things in Ilonggo or Tagalog. Speaking should most always be in their language, but typing is usually in English. So that's that.

And the last picture is the ugliest chicken I've ever seen in my life. I thought you would agree. I got a good laugh from it.

I love you all so much and appreciate this opportunity I have to be here in the Philippines and experience what I am experiencing. I pray for you all everyday and think of you all often!

Halong kamo

Elder Lowry

Week 47

Hello Family!

How is everyone over there on your side of the world. Things over here are going really smoothly as of right now. Everything is in order for the two baptisms on Saturday so that is really awesome. Both Elder Balmeo and I are super excited for it. But I don't think we come anywhere close to how excited little Eriel is. She always runs up to answer the door and promptly reminds us of how many days are left to her baptism. We went on splits with some members yesterday and I was able to get all the paper work out of the way until the actual baptism occurs. So almost nothing can go wrong with the plan anymore. So that is my best news right now. I am working on the program right now. It will be way sweet.

Th work this week has been alot of fun. We are really trying to find some new people to teach closer to where the church is. Alot of our investigators are good, but it is proving to very tough to get them to church. They just live way out in the middle of nowhere. We hope that if we can find more people to teach that live close to the church that we can get more of them to go to church. We are also really excited for another investigator who will be baptized on August 27th. Her name is Remia Tungala. Her husband is a member but very inactive. It is great to see them all go to church together (they have 3 kids). It is like bringing a whole family back to the church. So we are super excited for her. All of their extended family are also members. She has been talking and inviting all of them to her baptism. So we are just ecstatic about that one as well.

I am just excited about life right about now. We are working hard right now and it sure seems to be paying off right now. Our motto right now for this area is doing anything we can to just leave it better. To leave the apartment better, the members better, and with a new batch of strong members as well. It is a statement that you ALWAYS here on your mission. But Elder Balmeo has really helped me find out how good it feels to just do small thins to leave your lasting impression in an area. It is impossible to make it perfect, but to just improve it however you can. Then my work with the primary helped me realize that I can really make that program better for the next group of missionaries... or even just how much the members appreciate the help and support in their own ward. Which by the way my primary has grown to get about 35 kids. Wow... 35 little Filipino kids it gets loud sometimes. But they all listen pretty well (everyone tells me they are usually more roudy) but it can really wear me out as well.

Well, that is all there really is about this week. I can't believe school is about to start again over there. I remember this time last year as well when everyone was leaving off to school, but I stayed home waiting for Sept 15 when I would leave to Utah. I can't believe that is almost a year ago. I couldn't've even come close to imagining my experiences over here in the Philippines. I can't wait to go home and share them all. We will have to go to that Filipina lady's restaurant and I will get her to cook all my favorites. We will eat so much rice that you all will just explode. Like you all don't even know how much rice I can eat now. Like even if it has nothing on it... Im good to go. So you have that to look forward for the next year.

I love you all so much and pray for you all. I miss you all so much and know this next year and a month will just absolutely fly by for me. So lets keep working hard so we can party even harder in a year's time.

Halong kamo

Elder Lowry

Week 46

Hello Eveyone!

So this week was pretty awesome. Tranfer day went just how it should have and both Elder and I are staying right here for the next six weeks. The strangest thing occured to me this transfer day.... after this transfer I will hit my 1 year mark. Phew. It has been a good 11 months now that I haven't seen Augusta Georgia. That is such a weird thing to think about. Especially considering the fact that my freshman year of college I struggled to get through the one month that I forced myself to stay in Athens. And that was with calling my mom or dad whenever I wanted. Now it has been 11 months of emailing and 9 months of being on the other side of the world. Needless to say it has been a very long time since I have been home and I am very excited for that day when I do go home and see how much everything and everyone has changed.

This week was a very special week on my mission and I don't think I will ever really forget it. I had my birthday celebrations and then we also had ward conference this Sunday. For one of my birthday parties we had chop suey at the house I live in. We just had a fun little Family Home Evening with alot of food. The Chop Suey they made was absolutely fantastic. Then on Wednesday night I went up in to the mountains for my main party. One of my primary girls had her birthday that day so I asked if we could just combine parties. SO we had cake we had BBQ chicken. We had Afritadas and Adobo. We had bukho juice. Man... I could hardly walk home that night.

The work this week also went super well. We have two people that will be baptized this month. One is one of my primary girls that is just so excited to get baptized... I don't know if I have told you all about Eriel Bool, but she is awesome. She is the one that asked me to baptize her one Sunday. None of her immediate family is a member, but all of her extended family is. Her parents are very supportive and have actually said they might get baptized someday.... but Eriel will be first they said. She is the best little investigator you could dream of. She really knows her stuff. We were teaching her yesterday and when she said her prayer it was just so cute. It went something like this "Nagapasalamat ako nga nakakadto naman ang mga Elder sa akon balay at nakashare sila sa akon man. Salamat na mabunyagan ako sa August thirteen kag.... basta EXCITED ako. Sa ngalan ni JesuCristo Amen." or "I am thankful that the Elders were able to come to my house again and were able to share a message with me. I am thankful for my baptism on August thirteen and ... well Im just so excited. In the name of Jesus Christ amen." We also are working hard with a family. The dad is inactive and the Mom wants to become a member. They went to church as a family this last week and they seemed to really enjoy it. Sister has a baptismal date for August 27. She has a really strong testimony of the message and seems very committed to baptism.

The ward conference here was a blast. They really know how to put on their conferences here if you ask me. We had a humongous attendance and were packeds like sardines in the church, but it was a ton of fun. We had some visitors from Manila as well. I made best friends with the lady that ran the family history training but spent the rest of Sunday helping me with primary. She took a ton of pictures and said she would look me up on facebook and tag me in them. So keep your eyes out for those. But seriously, she reminded me so much of my Mom. She loved to tell stories and just to laugh. She was very thankful that I knew how to speak Tagalog as she couldn't speak very much Ilonggo at all. She was good at understanding it, but understanding and speaking are very far apart. She said her house in Luzon was open for me to use if I ever come back to the Philippines. She told me abut all the good food and all the good scenery too. We exchanged information and left on the see-you-in-a-couple-years note. She just seems like she would fit in with the Lowry-Crunk clan... haha. Anyways, after the conference there was this delicious buffet feast of fantastic food. I think I must've put on a good 20 pounds this week.

I love you all and hope all is well in the good ol USA. Thank you all so much for the birthday emails. They were all very appreciated. I am doing really well here in the Philippines. I fall in love with the country all over again every week. This area is seriously growing on me. It is way scary to think I have a 95% chance of leaving in September. It will be so tough to pack up and leave again. This primary has grown too much on me.

Halong kamo!

Elder Lowry