Week 97

Hello family!

This week has gone by just about as fast as the others have... man the time seems to just be absolutely flying now.  We had a good week of work here in Jordan and I feel like we got a good amount done.  We are still not quite seeing everything we would like to see happen but I think we are closer than we were last week.  It was awesome getting everyone's letters.  If you don't know how much I LOVE getting letters and emails let me explain... it is what keeps me excited during the week.  I love reading letters after a good hard week of work here in the Philippines.  Such a treat.  So keep 'em coming.  You time is almost up to write me on a mission.  Before too long I won't be a missionary anymore.  It is never to late to drop me an email.  I will respond and love you forever. 

We are working super hard here in Jordan.  I am still really trying to find more people to teach, but this week we got a LOT more new investigators.  We got a cool new family we are teaching... The Enriques family.  They are still brand new and we have only taught them once but it was a very nice lesson and they seemed super interested in what we were sharing with them.  We will be back to visit them again on Wednesday... MY BIRTHDAY (I will talk about this more later).  We have also had a lot of people we have just contacted and invited to hear the message.  Some turn out ok and let us at least share a message... some just tell us to come back and then never are home at that time.  We will find the golden ones sooner or later.  That has been the big story of this last week.  We did our one hour of tracting everyday and just got kicked around by all the people here.  It was tough but I think we are doing better about getting more investigators and not focusing on members nearly as much.  We have the same goal this week and I think it will really get some momentum for us in the work here.  We really need someone to progress and get some momentum here in the area.  It seems like nothing has really happened for 3 months so it is tough to get things rolling again.  We can do it though.  

We do have one really cool investigator that has shown some really promising signs.  His name is Joetay... the name is funny here because "Diutay" (pronounced the same as Joetay) is the Ilonggo word for small.  He is a way cool guy and seems really sincere and loves to have us over at his house.  He prays really sincerely and does all of his reading assignments.  We just taught im about the Book of Mormon the other day and we are going to follow up his reading on Tuesday.  We got to stop by his house yesterday and he said he has been reading and he likes it so I am excited to get to talk to him more about it on Tuesday.  I am hoping that we can get some more people we have been working with at church this next week.  yesterday was a nasty rainy stormy day and not a whole lot of people showed up at church for us.  It always stinks to wake up on Sunday morning and here rain pouring down.  You immediately think... Ah crap... no one is gonna go to church in rain like this.   I have only been proved wrong once with that and it was one Sunday in Molo when even though it was raining we had like 8 investigators at church.  I have faith that this next week will be fair weather and we will have lots more people attend church!

In other news... I turn 21 this Wednesday.  How did this happen?!  I feel like I am just a kid but now I am really an adult (or on Wednesday I am).  I would say that this would mean I have to act like an adult.  Like that'll ever happen.  I have a dinner appointment set for Wednesday and I am bringing candy from my birthday packages I got to share with the Ogaya family.  Mom and Krista are AWESOME and sent everything I could want for my birthday... I love you all so much! Anyways the Ogaya family is a less active family we are working with and they are super nice.  They are gonna make me a dinner on Wednesday and I will bring the water guns that Mom sent me and some of the candies and it will just be a super fun little birthday party.  I am super excited for it and it will be a good time with the less active family that needs some help.  Sister has 6 kids and her husband just doesn't help too much with anything around the house.  So she has a tough time especially with her husband wanting her to work as well.  So I think this will be a good time for them and maybe we can talk to Brother Ogaya a little bit more since he runs from missionaries like the plague. Maybe if food is involved he will stick around and we can get him to like us a bit more (even though he is a member he doesn't want to be taught by the missionaries).  Hopefully this will be a good opportunity for us to bond with them and help them become active again.  Don't worry I will have my camera and we will take lots of pictures.  Then there is an active family that has a birthday this Saturday and they invited us over to the birthday meal since my birthday is just  couple days before... So don't worry about me... I'll get my birthday fun.  

Well I am going to wrap this letter up.  I love you all and I am having a great time here in Jordan.  I am working hard and doing my best.  I am excited to see you all again and we can tell each other stories about what has happened over the last two years.  Take Care and know that I love and miss you all!

Halong,

Elder Lowry