Hello Family!
Well It is here. I am going to hit my two year mark this week! How do I feel about it?... I feel great and I am really pumped for these next 4 weeks I have to be a missionary and to finish the work I have here. This has been a tough week of work but I have enjoyed trying my best to help others. I really hope I can make a bit more progress in this area before I have to leave this place. I hope to get some momentum... It has been such a struggle for us here to get any energy in the work and get people to get excited for the message. I don't know what the problem is right now but the work seems a little stuck. I have been trying really hard to get it moving again, but it just doesn't seem to want to budge. Let me explain:
We have had lots of people baptized here in Jordan over the past year... Maybe 12- 15... About three of them are still super strong. The others are just struggling. My problem with this situation is I don't feel comfortable with adding to the 15 without fixing the leak. The leak is proving really tough to fix... So that is what I am focusing on. how do I help these people rekindle the fire that they had just in the recent months? There are lots of problems in the lives of our recent converts and it is hard to help them prioritize their lives and to put God above all other things. So now you all know what concerns me about the area I am assigned in right now. I am still trying to find some solutions.
We have had lots of fun though... today was one of the funner p- days I have had on my mission. We went to a cave down in my area that was right on the beach. We had a blast exploring the big old cave and then we payed a guy to let us climb his coconut trees and get some fresh coconuts to eat on the beach! I'm talking we were stuffed from drinking the juice and eating the flesh. The were perfectly ripe and the juice tasted like a funny sprite (which is the best kind). Then Elder Loe remembered that he had brought his football. So we tossed the football around on the beach and then went home. We wanted to play basketball but it started pouring... so we went in frontt of the provincial capital and played football in the pouring rain. People thought it was the craziest thing to have ten missionaries playing football (which they have never sen before) in the pouring rain. We had people videoing us and taking pictures the entire time. Man, we ruined our clothes but had the most fun I've had in a LONG LONG time. We had a blast teaching out Filipino buddies the art of Football. Even they said they hope it rains next week! We got lots of pictures and I can't wait to show them all to you.
They work has been going well with regards to some of our less active families. We are really seeing, slowly but surely, some changes in the lives. We are really striving to help them make more gospel habits and it is slow tedious work.. and tiring. We are working really closely with the Ogaya family wand we have most of the family coming to church every week. They are going through lots of trials right now so it is good to see them draw closer to the church when they are struggling. I know that they will be able to make it through in one piece. We are also seeing some success with Sister Amor and her family. Her daughter Lovellia even came this Sunday and enjoyed her church attendance. I am seeing that she is really getting the gospel fire back in her right now.
We also saw some set backs here with some people we are working with. People here love to hide from missionaries... it doesn't really make sense to me (probably because I am a missionary)... but we are the easiest people to get away if you really don't want to listen to us. Why hide? It just makes me laugh and think how childish people can be sometimes.
We are working hard here in Jordan and I am super excited for this next week of adventures. I am having a blast here and love the work. I know the church is true and this is the Lord's work that I am doing. I hope everything is all well on the homefront and no problems. Graham is getting ready to leave here soon. I am so excited for him to get the mission experience. It has been such a ride and I know he will love it.
I love you all!
Elder Lowry
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Week 103
Hello Family!
This was an AWESOME week here in Jordan for me. I have really enjoyed this last week and I can't believe yet another week has just ran off the calendar and I am here emailing you all again. Where do I even begin telling you all about my week... getting to meet Elder Bednar, transfers, new investigators? There is so much.
Well let's start with maybe the coolest experience of my life as of yet... I got to talk with and shake Elder Bednar's hand this last week. It was such a cool experience to be around and to talk with an Apostle of the Lord. He was such an cool and smart person to be around and was a fantastic teacher, as you could imagine. He had asked us to read two talks he had given in the recent years. One was Ask in Faith which he gave in 2008 and the other was Seek ye Learning by Faith that he gave to CES educators a couple years ago as well. First of all those two talks were amazing! I really enjoyed the Seek ye Learning by Faith talk... he brought out maybe one of the coolest points I think a teacher can understand. It was from a quote he used. Brigham Young was advising the man who started the Young Men program that he should give time at the beginning of each meeting for the students to bear their testimony. He said that often times testimonies are found while trying to bear it rather than when we are on our knees praying for it. Then he linked that quote to a quote from President Packer that said to have the Holy Ghost bear testimony to you that what someone else has said or done is true is important and a vital part of conversion, but to have the Holy Ghost bear witness in your heart that what you have said or done is true is so much better and has a bigger impact on the learner. I was thinking during the meeting... That is why the church has 19 year old boys going on missions. You receive such a witness that the gospel was restored in these latter days when you are out on your feet, dripping in sweat, and bearing testimony to strangers that what you have taught is true. Not that this is the start of a missionaries testimony but I think this is what seals it for a young man. That is what I have felt on my mission anyways and I am so grateful for it. It also applies to investigators and anyone we are teaching... when we ask those good questions we are really asking them to bear their testimony about something and then the Spirit has an opportunity to witness to them that what THEY said is true and then we witness conversion. So for 1 1/2 hours Elder Bednar asked US questions and then the last part of the meeting we got to ask him questions... about anything. On the panel were Elder and Sister Bednar, Elder and Sister Ardern (of the seventy), and Bishop and Sister Davis (from the presiding bishopric). He explained that getting to ask questions to a panel like this will likely never happen again in our lives... and he was right. We had so much experience and knowledge in that room Tuesday. I asked Elder Bednar what changes he had seen in himself as he accepted the mantle of being an Apostle of Jesus Christ. He gave the time to his wife to explain a bit about what she had seen different in her husband and then he talked about how he had felt that his talents had been magnified by the Lord so that he would be able to fulfill the responsibilities given to him. I have so many cool notes that I will have to share with you all when I get home!
I then got my last companion for my mission. He is Elder Sefeti!! I was actually his first zone leader while I was still in Hamtic. So I knew him a bit. His trainer was Elder Waggoner which is one of my good mission buddies. He is from Fiji... My first and only Fijian companion. He is a way cool guy and loves to work hard and have fun. We were all talking last night hat this 5 weeks are just going to fly by. We have a super fun apartment... which brings me to my other cool news. My trainee Elder Quinantoto did it again and followed me here to Jordan. He is now my Zone leader and lives in the same house as me. I was so glad to have him come here to Guimaras. He has followed me wherever I have gone in the mission and it has been such a blessing to be so close with my trainee throughout the whole mission experience. To see him grow more and more. I am so excited for these last few weeks in the mission. I think they are really going to be special for all of us here.
When Elder Sefeti got here we went straight to work finding new people to teach. We have found two new families that seem to be promising. One is the Delacruz family... when we went to their house to tract they invited us right in let us share and made a return appt. We went back an the whole family wasn't there the second time but we got to teach a couple of them and we have a return appointment for Wednesday. They are really open to the message and super friendly. We will see how that goes. The next family has a much funnier story behind it. It was the same day we were tracting and sort of towards the end of the time we had planned to tact. We had met some really grumpy people and had gotten punted around for a little bit. We went to this one house and called tagbalay! which is what you say at people's doors to let them know they have someone there looking for them. This woman Anabelle peeked her head out and then ran back and hid. So we told her that we saw her and we just wanted to chat. She came out and said she was busy and didn't have time to entertain us. I told her we just wanted to introduce ourselves to her and promised we wouldn't be long. We got to know her situation a bit and she said her husband only comes home Sat and Sundays. So we set up an appointment for Sunday after church and as we were leaving she said. I hope when you come back you will bring a snack for us. I turned around so surprised and laughed and said... well, what do you want? She got really shy and then said I hope you bring the bread of Mormons. hahaha. I just asked what is the bread of Mormons? She said she meant the bread from the bakery right next door to the church. I walked away laughing but completely planning to buy her some bread for the next time. Well Sunday came around and I already had the bread bought for Sister Anabelle and her craving for Mormon bread... but it was raining way hard. We went anyways and it turned out the house we talked with her at wasn't her house... The shack behind that house was her house. She had two cute little boys and is pregnant with the third. We got to meet her husband Orlando and were able to share a really nice message with them. They really appreciated the bread even though they were too shy to eat it in front of us. I was glad that she actually kept the return appointment and now we have another appointment with them this next Saturday. I am excited for them though. They seemed super nice and really into the message. We'll see what happens.
Like I said... this week was busy and it seemed to just fly by. I am super happy I extended so I could have these experiences these last few weeks of my mission. It really is going to be a great memory that I decided to extend. Well I love you all and miss you all like crazy. We are coming up on 104 weeks here next weeks. That is entirely too long to be away from home. But now I can count the weks on one hand. THat is a cool feeling to know that we will be back together in 5 weeks. Until then keep writing me and keep me updated!
Love,
Elder Lowry
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Week 102
Hello Family!
This has been another great week here in Jordan. I am happy here and enjoying my time here on the mission. Just to let you all know how close I am to coming home if I hadn't extended I would've gone to the office today for interviews and departure meeting and would've flown to Manila tonight. This is now the first week of my last transfer on a mission. I'm not being trunky... just accurate. HA. I was in a tripanionship. Elder Doig, Elder Faran and I just combined areas and had a blast working with each other. I have known them ever since the MTC so it has been fun to work with them. In fact Elder Doig will be going home with me in October (he goes home to Cardston). We weren't able to work in my area very much but we got lots done still. The work is still moving really slow here in my area and I am still trying to find out what needs to happen to get things going again. We have been contacting LOTS more less active members these past couple weeks. So I feel like I know the are much better now and I am excited to get my companion here on Thursday.
I am way excited for tomorrow as Elder Bednar will be visiting us here for a day. You cannot even imagine how excited I am to get to learn at the feet of an apostle of the Lord. I am so excited to hear his message. He assigned us to study a couple talks he has given in the past and those talks were just fantastic. I have learned so much about learning and teaching and I am excited to see what his training will be like tomorrow. I will take lots of notes and fill you all in next week. Then when I get home that will be a big part of my report I'm sure. I got my clothes all ready this morning... meaning I literally did laundry for about 4- 5 hours this morning. My hands look like ground beef.. they are rubbed so raw. I was pretty lazy last week and didn't do all my laundry because we were in the city for most of the day. So I had quite a pile of clothes to wash (by hand) and I did it! But it literally took all morning. I will be so grateful for a washing machine in a couple weeks.
The work has been tough and my big focus is just contacting and teaching as many less actives here in the area. There are so many of them and I want them back. I don't care if I don't baptize another person as long as I can have some people come back to activity. That is what the branch really needs right now and so that is what my goal is. I think this last month we contacted 12 less active members for the first time. So that gives us a LOT more people to work with and hopefully through them we can find more investigators that will progress in the gospel. We have taught lots of people but they are still not wanting to act according to the message yet. That is always the tough part... getting people here to do something. They would much rather just listen. I also feel like some people require a visit from the missionaries if they are to go to church. But if you don't visit them... no chance. So that is another thing that needs to be fixed.
Yesterday I had a cool experience with working in the area next to mine... We got to take the sacrament to a woman in the hospital who is going to die of cancer soon. She is pretty old now and the other Elders bring her sacrament and we had a little sacrament meeting with her... it actually reminded me of when Dad and I would bring sacrament to an older woman in the ward. But we administered the sacrament and shared a message. For my part I just had to express thanks that we were members of the church and that no matter what our circumstances are or where we may be when we partake of the sacrament we can enjoy the presence of the Spirit and have that peace that Jesus Christ promised to leave with His Apostles. It was such a testimony to me that I was where I needed to be and doing the right thing as I sat in this hospital room (an over packed noisy place that you don't think could ever be peaceful) and enjoyed the companionship of fellow members and the Spirit of the Lord. Another one of those experiences that mkes you just sit back and thank God that you went on a mission.
I think that my goal for this area before I go home is to just get things moving here in Jordan B. I wanna leave this area with a good sized teaching pool and with investigators that are at least progressing. I have had some good weeks here but getting any consistency has been quite the challenge for me here. I am praying way hard that I get a sweet companion that is ready to work hard... he's gonna have a hard time here in Jordan if he isn't ready for that. I am excited to push hard through these last weeks of the mission. I am happy I extended and now I get six more weeks to enjoy on the Philippine islands. I know I can get things going here and get Jordan branch bumping again.
This next week is looking to be quite an exciting one for us here and I am way excited to get through it and report back to you all what all happened. It sure sounds like everyone is having a great time over there and keeping busy. I'm sure the next transfer will fly by and be over in no time. After all we are only talking about 42 days or so until I'm home... get excited!
I love you all and hope you all have an awesome week.
Elder Lowry
This has been another great week here in Jordan. I am happy here and enjoying my time here on the mission. Just to let you all know how close I am to coming home if I hadn't extended I would've gone to the office today for interviews and departure meeting and would've flown to Manila tonight. This is now the first week of my last transfer on a mission. I'm not being trunky... just accurate. HA. I was in a tripanionship. Elder Doig, Elder Faran and I just combined areas and had a blast working with each other. I have known them ever since the MTC so it has been fun to work with them. In fact Elder Doig will be going home with me in October (he goes home to Cardston). We weren't able to work in my area very much but we got lots done still. The work is still moving really slow here in my area and I am still trying to find out what needs to happen to get things going again. We have been contacting LOTS more less active members these past couple weeks. So I feel like I know the are much better now and I am excited to get my companion here on Thursday.
I am way excited for tomorrow as Elder Bednar will be visiting us here for a day. You cannot even imagine how excited I am to get to learn at the feet of an apostle of the Lord. I am so excited to hear his message. He assigned us to study a couple talks he has given in the past and those talks were just fantastic. I have learned so much about learning and teaching and I am excited to see what his training will be like tomorrow. I will take lots of notes and fill you all in next week. Then when I get home that will be a big part of my report I'm sure. I got my clothes all ready this morning... meaning I literally did laundry for about 4- 5 hours this morning. My hands look like ground beef.. they are rubbed so raw. I was pretty lazy last week and didn't do all my laundry because we were in the city for most of the day. So I had quite a pile of clothes to wash (by hand) and I did it! But it literally took all morning. I will be so grateful for a washing machine in a couple weeks.
The work has been tough and my big focus is just contacting and teaching as many less actives here in the area. There are so many of them and I want them back. I don't care if I don't baptize another person as long as I can have some people come back to activity. That is what the branch really needs right now and so that is what my goal is. I think this last month we contacted 12 less active members for the first time. So that gives us a LOT more people to work with and hopefully through them we can find more investigators that will progress in the gospel. We have taught lots of people but they are still not wanting to act according to the message yet. That is always the tough part... getting people here to do something. They would much rather just listen. I also feel like some people require a visit from the missionaries if they are to go to church. But if you don't visit them... no chance. So that is another thing that needs to be fixed.
Yesterday I had a cool experience with working in the area next to mine... We got to take the sacrament to a woman in the hospital who is going to die of cancer soon. She is pretty old now and the other Elders bring her sacrament and we had a little sacrament meeting with her... it actually reminded me of when Dad and I would bring sacrament to an older woman in the ward. But we administered the sacrament and shared a message. For my part I just had to express thanks that we were members of the church and that no matter what our circumstances are or where we may be when we partake of the sacrament we can enjoy the presence of the Spirit and have that peace that Jesus Christ promised to leave with His Apostles. It was such a testimony to me that I was where I needed to be and doing the right thing as I sat in this hospital room (an over packed noisy place that you don't think could ever be peaceful) and enjoyed the companionship of fellow members and the Spirit of the Lord. Another one of those experiences that mkes you just sit back and thank God that you went on a mission.
I think that my goal for this area before I go home is to just get things moving here in Jordan B. I wanna leave this area with a good sized teaching pool and with investigators that are at least progressing. I have had some good weeks here but getting any consistency has been quite the challenge for me here. I am praying way hard that I get a sweet companion that is ready to work hard... he's gonna have a hard time here in Jordan if he isn't ready for that. I am excited to push hard through these last weeks of the mission. I am happy I extended and now I get six more weeks to enjoy on the Philippine islands. I know I can get things going here and get Jordan branch bumping again.
This next week is looking to be quite an exciting one for us here and I am way excited to get through it and report back to you all what all happened. It sure sounds like everyone is having a great time over there and keeping busy. I'm sure the next transfer will fly by and be over in no time. After all we are only talking about 42 days or so until I'm home... get excited!
I love you all and hope you all have an awesome week.
Elder Lowry
Monday, August 20, 2012
Week 101
Hello Family!
This has been another good week of hard work here in Jordan! We had some good success and we are still struggling with some of our investigators and members to "choose the better part" when it comes to Sunday activities. I'll talk more about that later. The big news for this week happened yesterday... We were at the church early waiting for a couple more people to show up so we could start our PEC meeting President Pagaduan called. I answered and he had his usual small talk asking how I was doing and stuff and then he asked to talk to my companion. So I called Elder Johnson over and they talked... turns out my companion is going to be an office Elder as the supply manager. So he is leaving TODAY to go be trained as the supply manager. So for the next two weeks I will be on splits here in Jordan until Transfer Day on the 28th. I am excited for him to be an office Elder I think he will learn alot. He is super nervous... mostly because he is just a nervous person and doesn't handle pressure very well. We will just have to see how he does... I am confident he will rise to the task.
I have been thinking about the Sabbath Day alot since that is such a challenge for people in this country. They just get so caught up in the mundane everyday things of life and find it hard to pick what to do on Sundays. I have though lots and it really just comes down to what Jesus said to correct Martha and said, "choose the better part." Out of all the good things she could have been doing for Jesus Christ like cooking food or cleaning the house... Mary had the mentality that the most important thing she ould do at that time was to listen to the words of the Master. And that is what set her apart from Martha. She focused on the best thing to do rather than a million good things she could be making herself busy with. That is such a good and difficult trait for us as people to obtain. That is what I think a big struggle fr alot of people here is... to pick the better par when it comes to Sunday. Some people think it is ok to miss church to go do a service project or to help a friend... but the best thing we can possibly do is to sit and learn from God though his servants. I am still trying to find a good way to helo them actually go from hearing this message to applying it to their lives. It is always pretty tough.
We had another good success with a family this last week. The Ogaya family came to church (with the exception of Brother... still not quite there yet) and they all seemed to really love it. We had a FHE at their house last night and just had a blast. The cool thing about this FHE was that they asked for us to have it. So they are really getting more and more excited for the gospel and we are really seeing some improvements with them. Another one has been this part member family tat we have been working with since I got here. The mother has come to church now twice and is just loving it. We still need to get the rest of the family on board but again... it's progress I'm looking for. The work here really is pretty difficult and for some reason people here have a harder time keeping commitments. I am looking to evaluate my efforts again this week and make some changes.
This next week ought to be fun as I will be in a tripanionship with the Zone leaders. We are excited for it as well. We are going to Iloilo right after this to go drop off Elder Johnson and eat some lunch. Both Elder Faran and Elder Doig are good buddies of mine and we are gonna have a blast working together. I am just excited and making lots of plans for the upcoming weeks. Some of my last in the Philippines... we've got so much to do in so little time!!!!! Man I love this place, but at the same time I am so excited to come home and see everyone again. My mind is one confused place right now. But no worries... I am working hard and loving every minute of it!
I love all of you and can't wait to see all of your faces again in a few weeks!!! It is so close. I love my mission and am doing great. See you all soon
Halong,
Elder Lowry
This has been another good week of hard work here in Jordan! We had some good success and we are still struggling with some of our investigators and members to "choose the better part" when it comes to Sunday activities. I'll talk more about that later. The big news for this week happened yesterday... We were at the church early waiting for a couple more people to show up so we could start our PEC meeting President Pagaduan called. I answered and he had his usual small talk asking how I was doing and stuff and then he asked to talk to my companion. So I called Elder Johnson over and they talked... turns out my companion is going to be an office Elder as the supply manager. So he is leaving TODAY to go be trained as the supply manager. So for the next two weeks I will be on splits here in Jordan until Transfer Day on the 28th. I am excited for him to be an office Elder I think he will learn alot. He is super nervous... mostly because he is just a nervous person and doesn't handle pressure very well. We will just have to see how he does... I am confident he will rise to the task.
I have been thinking about the Sabbath Day alot since that is such a challenge for people in this country. They just get so caught up in the mundane everyday things of life and find it hard to pick what to do on Sundays. I have though lots and it really just comes down to what Jesus said to correct Martha and said, "choose the better part." Out of all the good things she could have been doing for Jesus Christ like cooking food or cleaning the house... Mary had the mentality that the most important thing she ould do at that time was to listen to the words of the Master. And that is what set her apart from Martha. She focused on the best thing to do rather than a million good things she could be making herself busy with. That is such a good and difficult trait for us as people to obtain. That is what I think a big struggle fr alot of people here is... to pick the better par when it comes to Sunday. Some people think it is ok to miss church to go do a service project or to help a friend... but the best thing we can possibly do is to sit and learn from God though his servants. I am still trying to find a good way to helo them actually go from hearing this message to applying it to their lives. It is always pretty tough.
We had another good success with a family this last week. The Ogaya family came to church (with the exception of Brother... still not quite there yet) and they all seemed to really love it. We had a FHE at their house last night and just had a blast. The cool thing about this FHE was that they asked for us to have it. So they are really getting more and more excited for the gospel and we are really seeing some improvements with them. Another one has been this part member family tat we have been working with since I got here. The mother has come to church now twice and is just loving it. We still need to get the rest of the family on board but again... it's progress I'm looking for. The work here really is pretty difficult and for some reason people here have a harder time keeping commitments. I am looking to evaluate my efforts again this week and make some changes.
This next week ought to be fun as I will be in a tripanionship with the Zone leaders. We are excited for it as well. We are going to Iloilo right after this to go drop off Elder Johnson and eat some lunch. Both Elder Faran and Elder Doig are good buddies of mine and we are gonna have a blast working together. I am just excited and making lots of plans for the upcoming weeks. Some of my last in the Philippines... we've got so much to do in so little time!!!!! Man I love this place, but at the same time I am so excited to come home and see everyone again. My mind is one confused place right now. But no worries... I am working hard and loving every minute of it!
I love all of you and can't wait to see all of your faces again in a few weeks!!! It is so close. I love my mission and am doing great. See you all soon
Halong,
Elder Lowry
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Week 100
Hello Family!
Well first thing is first... Look up at the title. WHAT THE?!!! How did this happen. It has honestly been 100 weeks since I have been home. We've only got a few more to go! this last week has been fun and has been quite the challenge for us here. It seemed like we were off in our timing all week. We would show up and no one would be home or they would be so busy with something that they couldn't give us any time. It was just tough for us to be able to teach anyone. Like there were two days where we walked around for like 6 hours going between appointments and no one would let us share with them. It was actually quite ridiculous. So things were a little slow moving in the area and I am confused on how we went from such a successful week to nothing it seemed like. We still had a couple people come to church but this was the problem... all the people who came this last week didn't show up yesterday... so we lost that momentum we had built up and I am worried that the people might just fall back into the habit of not coming to church (mostly because they haven't even made it a habit yet to come to church). So now you know the stress and worries of this missionary.
I am not too worried about it though because we really are trying our hardest. I am definitely concerned about the fact that none of the people we made progress on this last week progressed this week, but I feel like with some good follow up this week we will be able to find the problem and make some solutions. I look forward to the challenge and hope I am up for the task. The work here seems to be super inconsistent and I am trying to get things started but it seems like everyone is only willing to hop on board for like a week or two and then they are tired or discouraged or a number of different things may happen so that they can't continue to persevere. This next week will be another one where we are gonna have to work our butts off to see any progression. These people are proving tougher to motivate than some other areas.
We did have one BIG family come to church that we have been working hard with since before I got here and this is only the second time that they have come to church as a family. They are the Ogaya family and they are the ones that made me my birthday dinner. They are such a cute family and all the kids are just like little brothers and sisters to me. They have 6 kids and they are all still young. The oldest is 14 I think. But they are just so special and I love them already. I love going over there and teaching them as a family. They also just LOVE the missionaries and it is jus a fun place to be after a day of hard work and you are just exhausted. They usually have food for us and always know how to lift my spirits. So I was so happy that they all showed up and last night we shared the Restoration video again with them. They all said that they really enjoyed church and I really hope they can keep this momentum and keep going strong.
Overall I am happy and doing well here in jordan. I enjoyed my pizza this last week even though it was Pizza Hut. I am well aware that it is the bottom of the pizza chain at home but in the Philippines it is a sit down fancy restaurant. Fancier than anywhere else I have been here. So I will be more than happy when I get home and I get to eat Pizza joint and Mellow Mushroom an Dominoes. Ahhh... my mouth is watering already. Like you don't even know how excited I am t eat pizza and dad's hamburgers, mexican food, and Miyabi's. I will eat SO much rice at Miyabi's. I am a rice eating machine here!!!! I will challenge anyone to a rice eating contest at Miyabi's when I am home. BRING IT ON!
I love you all and miss you all so much. 100 weeks, MAN! That is so long. But I can count the weeks left without even taking off my shoes... so you know we are close. I can't wait!
Halong,
Elder Lowry
Well first thing is first... Look up at the title. WHAT THE?!!! How did this happen. It has honestly been 100 weeks since I have been home. We've only got a few more to go! this last week has been fun and has been quite the challenge for us here. It seemed like we were off in our timing all week. We would show up and no one would be home or they would be so busy with something that they couldn't give us any time. It was just tough for us to be able to teach anyone. Like there were two days where we walked around for like 6 hours going between appointments and no one would let us share with them. It was actually quite ridiculous. So things were a little slow moving in the area and I am confused on how we went from such a successful week to nothing it seemed like. We still had a couple people come to church but this was the problem... all the people who came this last week didn't show up yesterday... so we lost that momentum we had built up and I am worried that the people might just fall back into the habit of not coming to church (mostly because they haven't even made it a habit yet to come to church). So now you know the stress and worries of this missionary.
I am not too worried about it though because we really are trying our hardest. I am definitely concerned about the fact that none of the people we made progress on this last week progressed this week, but I feel like with some good follow up this week we will be able to find the problem and make some solutions. I look forward to the challenge and hope I am up for the task. The work here seems to be super inconsistent and I am trying to get things started but it seems like everyone is only willing to hop on board for like a week or two and then they are tired or discouraged or a number of different things may happen so that they can't continue to persevere. This next week will be another one where we are gonna have to work our butts off to see any progression. These people are proving tougher to motivate than some other areas.
We did have one BIG family come to church that we have been working hard with since before I got here and this is only the second time that they have come to church as a family. They are the Ogaya family and they are the ones that made me my birthday dinner. They are such a cute family and all the kids are just like little brothers and sisters to me. They have 6 kids and they are all still young. The oldest is 14 I think. But they are just so special and I love them already. I love going over there and teaching them as a family. They also just LOVE the missionaries and it is jus a fun place to be after a day of hard work and you are just exhausted. They usually have food for us and always know how to lift my spirits. So I was so happy that they all showed up and last night we shared the Restoration video again with them. They all said that they really enjoyed church and I really hope they can keep this momentum and keep going strong.
Overall I am happy and doing well here in jordan. I enjoyed my pizza this last week even though it was Pizza Hut. I am well aware that it is the bottom of the pizza chain at home but in the Philippines it is a sit down fancy restaurant. Fancier than anywhere else I have been here. So I will be more than happy when I get home and I get to eat Pizza joint and Mellow Mushroom an Dominoes. Ahhh... my mouth is watering already. Like you don't even know how excited I am t eat pizza and dad's hamburgers, mexican food, and Miyabi's. I will eat SO much rice at Miyabi's. I am a rice eating machine here!!!! I will challenge anyone to a rice eating contest at Miyabi's when I am home. BRING IT ON!
I love you all and miss you all so much. 100 weeks, MAN! That is so long. But I can count the weeks left without even taking off my shoes... so you know we are close. I can't wait!
Halong,
Elder Lowry
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Week 99
Hello Family!
Another great week here in Jordan! We actually did see lots of progression in the area and it made me really excited for the work. A lot of people we have been working with the past transfer all decided to come to church yesterday... so that was awesome to see. I really felt like yesterday was a big step for a lot of people in our area. I think we had five people in attendance yesterday that hadn't been to church in YEARS. So I was just happy all day yesterday that they finally took that first step. We have been waiting for this to happen for a good 5 or 6 weeks now.
I feel like Elder Johnson and I made a lot of adjustments this last week and it really payed off for us. We saw lots of good results and so I am just excited to continue adjusting and getting better. This is just the beginning... these people are still far from hanging their lives. SO I am happy that we have started and these people have taking those first steps forward, but they have still got a long ways to go. I think that is what I have been thinking about the most this last week. How we can never be satisfied with where we are. We always have to be hungry and looking for more. I think that might be one of the main problems with some attitudes here in the Philippines. They are satisfied with the changes they have made in their life and see no more reason to work for more. They are content and don't feel the need to continue on to bigger and better things. I think that has been a big challenge on my mission... to get people to be excited for moving on in the gospel. For preparing for the temple or for getting ready for moving on in the gospel. Baptism is not even close to the end of our journey. If you think about it any great story consists of a person of group of people that would never be satisfied with how far they had gone... they still have things they want and they never stop working to get them. Every one wants to have a great life story but I don't think many of us actually want to work for it. So I have just been thinking on how to get people excited for the work they have to put into the gospel and then at the end they will have that great life story that everyone is praying for. So this is something I have been wanting to work on for myself. To get rid of the laziness and other bad qualities so that I am never satisfied with my accomplishments in life and always be looking for more. More to learn more to study and more to do. I think that is what makes a person great.
It has been fun trying to pass this along to other members and investigators. It has really lifted their vision and you can see that they get a bit of inspiration. They catch that vision of what their life could be and then they have that desire to work and sacrifice in order to achieve their goals. It is quite contagious and I have seen a bit of a morale increase among the members we work with. It is tough sometimes being the missionary because they have to catch that fire from someone and if you don' have it you can't expect to give it to them. So it has been a trial for me sometimes to have that excitement... even when they don't keep commitments or even when you are dead tired at the end of the day. That has been my goal this last week to walk into every lesson as if that lesson was going to be the one to reactivate them or to convince them the message is true... it is pretty tiring I have found, but completely worth it.
We had one less active family come to church that was just a miracle. We have been visiting them for probably about three weeks now and they really are poor and live really far from the church. So we just decided to focus on the basics before we tried to focus on getting them to the church right away. We decided to focus on scripture study. We kinda did a family scripture study with them one afternoon and made sure it was super fun and they just loved it. So then we would give them assigned chapters to read and the kids have really been reading their scriptures everyday for like two weeks now, and that is when the changes happened. Every time now when we leave they pray that they can afford to go to church that weekend. They pray that the weather will be ok so that they can walk the kilometer or two out to the main highway and catch a ride... So we really saw their desire to go to church even though we weren't necessarily committing them to every visit. It was awesome to have them come to church and the kids just had a blast. I was super happy for them and hope that they will continue to have that excitement and desire to draw closer to Heavenly Father.
I am way excited for this next week! I can't wait to get out there and work super hard. I love the work and can't believe yet another week has flown by. I don't mean to get anyone worked up but I think I only have 9 more of these to write to you all after this one. That is so hard to believe! I am way excited to finish strong... a lot of my batch goes home here in the next three weeks. SO that will be interesting to be one of the few oldest missionaries in the mission. I love you all and I'm sorry I can't write a longer letter. I have to get going to iloilo city to withdraw my support and eat my pizza hut! I am excited. I am also going to get the belts for Dad, Matthew, and Graham ordered. We are kinda packed in our schedule today. I love you all so much though and can't wait to get your emails next week!
Love,
Elder Lowry
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