Week 55

Hello Family!

So this week was really good! Nothing horrible or anything happened. And my foot is doing just great. I am just waiting for the gash to heal up all the way. It doesn't hurt or anything anymore. Anyways, I am way jealous of all of you that got to enjoy your conference weekend a whole week before me. But I am way excited for this weekend coming up. I'm sure it will be just awesome. I really liked getting all of your updates on what you all liked though, it gives me a heads up as to what to look out for.

This week was pretty slow as far as lessons are concerned, but the turn out on Sunday was great. Like the first week I was here we set a goal that by October 2 we wanted 40 people to go to church (the record is 34 people at church). We were all ready to go and meet our goal on Saturday night and had firm commitments from alot of people that they would be at church. Then we wake up on Sunday morning to rain just absolutely pouring from the sky. Just walking to the little tricycle terminal with an umbrella I was SOAKED. Filipinos hate to go outside in the rain if they don't have to and therefore, only 29 went to church. So I was a bit let down yesterday morning why there had to be rain on the day that we goaled for having forty at church and had worked so tirelessly for. Later on in the day I looked back on exactly what happened though. In the past if it was even just sprinkling they would only get like 12 people out. This time it was raining WAY hard and there were 29. Also, we had 4 investigators at church and they are the 4 people that have baptismal dates. So the more I thought about it I wasn't as let down about not reaching the goal and really focused on how much actually did get accomplished. Maybe the most surprising to me was how many Melchizedek priesthood age men were at church. Only 4 of them actually had it, but we had 4 more guys that were either investigators or recent converts that could all potentially get the priesthood in the next year. That has never happened before here either. It used to be ALL girls that went to church, so this was a big step for the Miag-ao group becoming a branch. It will probably happen after I am gone, but it will still be sweet to hear about. Needless to say, the work is moving along just fine here and it is looking bright for the future.

This upcoming week is a week full of travel. We are going to Iloilo four days out of the next 6. So I will be a bit sleep deprived and way tired of travel, but it makes for a very exciting schedule. I am so excited for General Conference. I read an interesting article in an old Liahona I found in our apartment. It was this guy who told a story about how he was doing some member missionary work and told his friend about how we have General Conference in our church. How great it was that God calls living prophets and Apostles in our time and how grateful he was for it. Hwe thought he was doing a pretty good job talking it up until his friend asked, "If you all have prophets in your church what does he say?" Then the guy admits that for the life of him he couldn't remember a single thing of what the prophet said in the last conference. So his opportunity to really teach and testify was quickly brought to an end. I thought of how true that could be sometimes for me. Luckily no one really asks me that, but when I read that I thought of how important it was to really remember and study what our prophet today has to say for us. So that is definitely something I am going to focus on more this week. What are the unique messages our prophet has for us today.

I am really excited now for a new week of adventure and teaching. The language is coming along alot better and I can understand and hear it alot more. It has a really different sound so it is sometimes hard for me to pick out the words they say and then try to translate them. When learning these new languages it is really best to talk to the kids. They are forgiving if you make a mistake and usually they talk slower so you can pick out what they are saying easier. So that is what I use my primary opportunities for... learning the language better. I also am getting way good at their little games. I learned some more games that we will all have to play when I get home. This new one is called Coca Cola... Masarap... Inumin! I will have to just show you when I get home.

I love you all and think of you all so often. Sorry I'm not able to send any pictures. I think something has gone wrong with my card reader. So I am still trying to get those along, but I don't know how right now. I will try to find a computer shop here that has card readers this next week. Anyways thank you all for all the support and love!

Halong kamo

Elder Lowry