Hello Family!
I was surprised that no one asked me what happened for transfer then I realized that you all saw the comment one of the members left on my blog. Ah well... I did indeed leave Miag-ao last Friday. I knew since Wednesday morning though when President called me and asked me to become a District Leader. So I said my goodbyes and was left wondering how fast four months seemed to just pass me by! I was also left to think of which district I would soon be leading. I was really hoping to go back to the Aklan... but I ended staying in Iloilo. Now I am in an area called Molo and I am in the first ward. There is also another companionship that serves in this same ward and it is none other than Elder Quinantoto... my trainee in the mission! My district is the biggest in the mission with 12 missionaries. I have the office Elders, the APs, and two other areas other than mine. SO I am smack dab in the heart of Iloilo City and loving the city life. I have been in really mountainous the middle-of-nowhere areas and I was excited to hear that now I get to see what life is like in a Filipino City.
This week was really interesting saying goodbye to a little group and walking in to a thriving ward. The work right now in my area is still rebuilding after a really strong harvest over the last few months. So we have lots of investigators that are still really new and they seem to be progressing really well. I am now with Elder Faran... he is in the batch right behind me. Again, I knew him in the MTC. He is from Buffalo New York and is a really cool guy. He is actually going to be an engineer as well one day... so he is a Math genius. We were able to give an investigator a baptismal date just yesterday for March 3. Her name is Olivia and even though it was the first time I met her I felt like she will really progress in the gospel. We also had a baptism on Saturday! Ya... my 2nd day here I had a baptism... this area is gonna be a cake walk for me. haha. It was a part member little kid who bore wonderful testimony after he was dunked. Last night I was able to teach him for the first time and he really has a big capacity to retain the gospel. He is one smart little kid. Outside of the lessons he is wild and doing annoying little kid things (he is 11) but when we sit down to teach him he is like a completely different little kid. He gets on to all of his sisters for being loud or disruptive and answers questions as well as the adults do. SO I feel really good about him and I am glad he got to join the rest of his family in the church. I had some meetings that evening and every thing was so rushed neither Elder nor I brought cameras! I was so upset! But it was a wonderful meeting and it was so good to see lots of members out there to support little Jerick Gahe!
Life here in the city seems like it will really suit me and I will really like this area. We also live in one of the biggest apartments with two other Elders. It is my first time to live in a four Elder apartment. The other companionship is Elder Hadfield from New Zealand and Elder Lacsi from Mindanao. It is also really nice to live in the city because we actually have a grocery store. We live less than half a km from it as well. So I can actually get nice groceries from a reliable source. Never had THAT happen on my mission before. So I am just soaking everything up right now. I know the city is sometimes smelly and hot... but so is the rest of the island than. I am only seeing positive things so far about this area. It is like it's too good to be true.
So tomorrow I have to teach my first district meeting and it can be about anything. SO I am a bit nervous on what to teach in order to get the district excited for this transfer and setting some good goals for steady improvement. I have been crunching some numbers and have made some good graphs to help us see sort of where the district is at right now so we can make some realistic goals on where we can be by March. I am stealing all my idea from my District Leader while I was in Manoling. He really got all of us excited for the work and for helping not just our areas progress, but the entire district progress. Those were some awesome weeks of missionary work. So my goal is to get that happening here in Molo district.
Well. I think that is about all I have to report right now. The ELders and I from the district have a bowling appointment before too long. I love you all and appreciate everything you all do for me. I really hope you all know of my love for you all. But, as you all already know, I only have eight more months til I get to see you all again!
Halong kamo
Elder Lowry
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