Week 4

Kumusta ang pamilya ko

How is everyone doing? I am doing well here at the MTC, no worries. This week just flew right by and I feel like I just wrote about my third week yesterday. I'm really excited because this week is our halfway point here at the MTC and the time only seems to be speeding up. I have my last lesson in English this week and after Thursday our teachers will no longer speak to us in English at all. I have learned as much Tagalog as it took me like two to three years in school to learn Spanish. It truly is remarkable. Wednesday (as part of our weekly district goals) we are all going on an English fast. That means from 9 AM - 9 PM on Wednesday we will not speak a single word of English. So this should be rather interesting. We know how to say what we want to say, for the most part, but thinking about it and actually doing it are completely different.

So yesterday I gave my first talk lahat sa tagalog (all in Tagalog). It was 5 minutes long and I thought I actually did really well. I wrote the talk all by myself and when I got my teacher to proofread it he only changed little things like pronouns. So I felt super accomplished and even my teacher said he was impressed with what I was able to write. I will send my rough draft home so you all can look at it. I will just bear my testimony at the end of the email (because I didn't write it in my talk).

This week should be really interesting also because we start to teach (as a district) an investigator (one of Bro Nordstrom's past investigator) in Tagalog too. So the language is becoming more and more enforced and stressed. I feel pretty comfortable though. This Thursday night we have to teach a volunteer how to pray. So giving instructions has been our main focus this weekend. This last week we had to take our investigator to church on a "jeepney." It wasn't really one, but they are really in the Philippines. They look so cool! They are the public transportation in the Philippines and it is basically a school bus without a back door and people just jump off the back when they are done. Look them up, they really look cool and it will be awesome to ride on them everyday. They remind me of that bus they have at Cali-n-titos (an AMAZING restaurant in Athens).

The new district came in this last week. They are all really cool and they will fit in with the zone really well. Tonight we are having a "zone splits" activity where we all go on splits for a night and teach the first lesson. I am paired up with an elder from one of the older districts. We did it the first week I was here too and I learned a lot from the Elder I was paired up with, so I am excited for these new elders to have the opportunity to work with someone older. And it will be nice to teach the first lesson again since we have been focusing on lesson 2 & 3 for the past two weeks.

I heard about UGA and UT! GO DAWGS! It's about time they get a conference win, eh? I have a really good friend from the other Tagalog zone named Elder Barrett and he is from around Knoxville. His family emailed him and told him. He told me yesterday though that he received revelation and had the impression that Georgia won. You guys would love him. He would fit in with the Crunks. We play basketball together everyday.

Also, I NEED UPDATES ON THE BRAVES, HELLO!?! They are only in the playoffs... GEEZ. I have had to rely on my teachers for these kinda things. But, my teachers cannot tell me what is happening on the blog. So that is a must.

Question answering time:
1. Everyone in my zone is Tagalog speaking so they are going somewhere in the Philippines
2. My district and the distric older are the districts they are using to fill Iloilo and Baccolod mission so practically everyone is going to either of those missions with Naga and Baggio being the exceptions
3. The new temople is nowhere near my mission, it is on the main island of Luzon and just North of Manila. It is in the Baggio mission and the mission will be renamed urdineta? Also everyone in my room is going to Iloilo. So atleast I have three other elders that I have become really close with for our 30+ hours of travel.

I love you all and I will just write my testimony with my talk and you can put it on the blog because I have like 30 seconds left. Sorry

Alam ko na totoo ang simbahan ni JesuKristo ng mga banal sa mga huling araw!

Scott

Elder Lowry

Week 3

HEY EVERYONE! So here we go, embarking on week number four! I only have six weeks left. The older districts all left this morning. So last night was a special night. We sang "God be with You til We Meet again" and "Nearer my God to Thee" two really beautiful hymns. We took alot of pictures and signed each other's journals. It was sad, but very exciting at the same time. I can't wait to meet the new district that comes in on Wednesday. I am also really hoping that we get an apostle for the Devotional tomorrow night because they should all still be in town from conference. Keep your fingers crossed!

So I wrote Dad back regarding Elder Pilling and I really hope you have gotten it by now because I don't want to ruin the surprise over a email because the letter was much more in depth. But YES! Elder Pillin is Mark Pilling's son and Gaelynd Pilling's grandson. (**From the editor: Mark Pilling was/is my Dad's best friend growing up in Magrath, Alberta Canada. Sounds like he's in the MTC with Scott! Can you say Small World?!!) We both just flipped out when I asked him and we both felt stupid for not connecting the dots. We had both heard stories about our Dad's doing crazy things together. I included Mark's contact info with the letter. I smell a reunion vacation in two years! They have a ranch right outside of Waterton we could visit them during the summer at. Crazy, eh?

How about my MTC choir repping it at the Priesthood session?! Awesome? I think so. They did such a good job and I knew like 15- 20 of them really well. I was so happy that their families were able to see their faces while singing some beautiful hymns to the prophet. I know that ALL of their families burst into tears as soon as they saw them... I know I was about to. It really stinks that I couldn't do it (i got here just a week too late), but all is well. Maybe I will get a chance to sing in general conference a different time. Watching conference here truly was a treat. It was a relaxing weekend of watching all the sessions, taking notes, and having conference reviews after each session. We would just sit in the classroom and talk about what we learned and how it can be applied to making us better missionaries and servants of the Lord.

the most spiritual experience I've had all week has been in a workshop that my district attended. It was just us nine with this guy who served in Rome, Italy. He gave us a lesson how to plan for someone's conversion and then we got to practice on his character Nicolas (who was a real person he taught and all his stories were true). We started teaching him and got him to open up to us. He has honestly had the hardest life I've ever heard. His Dad died when he was little and he told us about all the hard things he has gone through since. We had been focusing on listening all this week so we just let him talk. We were all in tears as he told us about his life over the past decade and how he had given up on God. NO ONE had any idea how to teach this guy. We were all clueless. So after some silence and tears I taught him that God does love him. He knows him personally and wants him to be happy. We can never know why He wants us to go through the trials we go through, but we just need to focus on how we endure them. I told him that he could live with his earthly and heavenly father again one day. I told him that it was possible for him to hug his Dad that he loved so much again. After some more silence I spoke again and felt like he needed to hear about the atonement. So I explained that to him and told him that it was through the atonemnet that he could see his Dad and be with his whole family again. Then I just had the thought to ask him to take advantage of the atonement and to be baptized. So I just did it. He accepted and really seemed to perk up when I told him he could be washed clean of his sins. Afterward the teacher told us to NEVER be afraid to be bold and extend an invitation to be baptized. Baptism is for everyone! It is the gateway to heaven. I know this was just a class, but it was the most real thing I've ever felt in my life. That poor guy was so lost and wanted to do the right thing, but he just didn't know where to find it. If I can have just ONE experience like this in the field my mission will be completely worth it. It really reminded me of the scripture D&C 121: 7- 9 "...and if thou shalt endure it well, behold I will exalt thee on high." Our trials are but for a short time... let's make sure we show God we can endure them well.

Elder Holland's talk really spoke to me this weekend. I cried when he thanked his parents for his mission experience. Everyone did. I cannot even begin to express how I feel to you all for allowing me to experience this. I am so deeply thankful for the sacrifices you all make to allow me to be here. I love you all so very much. The Lord loves you all so very much. I know this to be true. He WILL make this experience worthwhile to all of us. I just hope one day I can really show my gratitude to you for all your support and love. I think and pray for you all everyday and I love every minute I spend thinking about or reading letters from you all. Keep 'em coming! You are the best family a missionary could ask for!

Can't wait to hear back from all of you!

Hugs and Kisses all around.

Can you give a copy to the bishop or something? I got letters from Tim tippett and the Smith family. Please give them a HUGE thanks and hug from me! You all are great!

Love,

Elder Lowry

Week 2

Hey Everyone!

So another week has gone by here at the MTC. This week went by so much faster than last week even though last week was about three days shorter. Now that we are in a regular schedule and we don't have nearly as many meetings the days just seem to move along with a pretty good pace. Although, this week I caught a SUPER bad cold virus. I felt like DEATH. So wednesday morning I went to the health clinic and got permission to go to the pharmacy down the street to grab some medicine. The nurse put me on sudafed, claritin, robitussin, and advil on a regular regiment. I didn't feel sick anymore but I was constantly tired and I could never really focus. Luckily, I got better really soon and by the weekend I was back on my feet and weening myself off all those drugs. Boy, I'm glad to be back.

Another weird thing this week was that the two oldest districts all got their flight plans for the Philippines. They will be leaving a week from today. The zone really isn't going to be the same without those Elders and Sisters. We are all really excited for them, but we will definitely miss them. We may never get to see each other again. It is crazy how fast you become a family here, especially when you all have to learn a crazy language like Tagalog. Elder Conte and Thomas (the ZLs) have been like my older brothers here and have helped me so much with my new assignment. So this fast and testimony was really emotional for everyone and the time just flew by. Sundays here are really the best thing! EVERY missionary loves Sunday. It re-energizes everyone spiritually and physically. Hearing all their testimonies in Tagalog really helped strengthen mine and rededicate myself to study the gospel and language even harder this week. So only seven more weeks for my district! We are all so excited and striving to prepare ourselves for then.

Classes this week have been very fun and confusing. We learned sentence structures and a ton of conjugations (which by the way is NOTHING like spanish... or any other language i've seen). The conjugations will often add things to the beginning and middle of the word. SO to conjugate the verb "bigay- to give" in the present tense would be either nagbibigay or ibinibigay based on where you want the focus to be in the sentence. So to say "I am giving her a message" would be "Nagbibigay ako ng mensahe sa kanya" or to say "i am giving her A MESSAGE" would be "Ibinibigay ko ang mensage sa kanya" See how the accent changes from the actor to the Object in the two different conjugations? It is WAY different from English or Spanish. The great thing is though, is that the conjugations don't change based on who is performing the action.... the only time the verb changes is when the tense of the verb changes. So every verb only has eight conjugations (infinitive, past, present, and future and then whether or not you want is to be actor or object focus) compared to a million conjugations that are possible in spanish. But, now we can basically say whatever we want!

Last night the film they showed after the fireside was that "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" one that we saw at the Washington DC temple visitor's center. It is definitely the best film the church has made. I don't know how anyone could deny that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God after watching that film. It is so inspiring! I love the bagpipes playing Praise to the Man during the credits. My favorite quote is definitely when Joseph says "For such this great of cause shall we not go on?" I just love it and think that line alone defines missionary work.

Mom, I go to the temple on Monday mornings at Seven forty... so I don't think you will be able to go the same time. Sorry! I love all the letters you all are sending me and cherish each one of them! Keep 'em coming! Everything is going great as DL and I love serving the other missionaries and hope to do better all the time.

Remember I love you all and pray for you each day (several times).

For such this great of cause shall we not go on?

I say we do... and never stop until we return to unto His rest.

Elder Lowry

YAAAAY!!!!! 1st letter home!!!!

Hey pamilya!

Kumusta po kayo? That is how you say "How are you doing?" sa Tagalog! The language is really different, but the Spanish is helping the learning process marginally. We have classes for about eight to ten hours a day! We have two teachers named Brother Norstrom and Brother Day. Both are super cool guys and really want us to be the best missionaries we can be before we get out to the field. My companions name is Elder Christensen and this guy is a STUD! He is way cool and he can practically quote any line from Nacho Libre you want. His accent is perfect also. I have literally cried laughing with him. We both have a great time together, but we also both know how to take class and study time seriously. I was so worried about being stuck with some weird kid for nine weeks through all the craziness that happens here at the MTC. But alas, the Lord is watching out for me and gave me an awesome companion. My P days are Monday and I am in a basement doing laundry right now. We went to the temple this morning as a district (and zone) and we had a terrific session. I was able to stay in the celestial room for quite a bit to just read the scriptures and pray. I was praying mainly because I got made District Leader on Thursday night. I have been praying ever since to get help to lead my fellow missionaries and keep the spirit and unity strong. My zone leaders have been invaluable in training me and gave me some great counsil when the said, "We have all left our families, we all miss them. Now we have a new family that we spend ALL our time with. This comes with all the annoyances and miscommunications that typical families have. Your job as district leader is to remind people that we love each other and to always make sure they know you love them." These guys are great. There are nine total missionaries in my district with two of them being sisters. I love all of them and just strive to lead them in a way that would please the Lord.

About the language... One thing that has really comforted me is something Brother Day taught on the second day. You know I was really intimidated because of all the different dialects in just my area alone. I was not the only one, apparently there are hundreds of different dialects and the only place where the people speak full Tagalog is in Manila. But Brother Day reminded us that our mission calls said we were called to preach the gospel in Tagalog. We will be blessed when we speak Tagalog. Tagalog will touch the hearts of the people even if they do mostly speak another dialect because the Lord promised us it would. Isn't that great? We have a specific purpose and the Lord will bless us to accomplish that as long as we follow the rules, work our butts off, and do as he prompts us. The language will not be an issue. We have leaned how to pray in Tagalog and to bear our testimonies. We have taken the commitment to never say a prayer in English again, personal or public, unless asked specifically to speak in English by a presiding authority. We also sing all our hymns in Tagalog, which is fantastic. It really helps with pronunciation and helps our reading. We may not understand a word of what we are singing, but the spirit ALWAYS just flood the room. We have also had lots of practicing teaching the first lesson: the restoration. All my personal study time has been dedicated to enhancing my understanding and personal testimony of this doctrine, which has just been great. We have our first practice teaching in Tagalog on Thursday so that is pretty nerve racking.

The other two guys in my room are also really cool. Their names are Elder Green (he is from New Zealand and has a terrific accent) and Elder Osborn who is from Ogden. Both guys are really cool and our two companionships do everything together. Elder Osborn has been really homesick though, he was supposed to get married and then decided last minute that he should serve. the first couple days were really rough for him and then on Saturday night he asked us three for a priesthood blessing. We gave hime one and ever since Sunday his attitude has completely changed. He is 10000000X happier and he is handling things so well. The priesthood is real!

Sundays here are so relaxing! They are definitely how missionaries keep there sanity. Sacrament meeting was wonderful and we got to sing all hymns sa Tagalog and we had two musical numbers. One was these sisters who sang "The Olive Tree." It reminded me so much of my farewell and I nearly cried. That would've been embarrassing. We also got to just walk to the temple and hang out outside for a couple hours until dinner. I got to hang out alot with one of the Samoan elders (Elder Panaia) and he taught me to say I love you in Samoan "Alofa tele atu." He is awesome. The way to say that in Tagalog is "Mahal Kita!"

Alam ko na buhay aking manunubos!

Look it up!

mga maha (many love)

Elder Lowry

We have a box number!

From my G-Mail Chat with Evan yesterday...
"me: I want to write Scotty every 5 minutes

like... I want to use DearElder.com as my Gmail Chat for Scotty"

"Evan: haha, there would be a bit of a lag..."

"me: He's going to be so tired of my letters by like... tomorrow"

"Evan: we should write him today though. or have you already?"

"me: I've already written him."

"Evan: how many times?"

"me: Juuuuuust onnnnccce. Sheesh!"

"Evan: sure sure"

"me: But I already have like 5 other things I want to tell him."

Have you written Scott yet?

Gotta love DearElder.com... however I just know I'm going to start getting letters from Scott saying "dude. chill with the letters." because all throughout the day I just want to sit down and write him another letter and tell him something funny, and it's so stinking easy with DearElder.com!!! I know, they should be paying me to do this... I just think it's such a blessing to have such an easy, free way to keep in touch with our missionary!

Anyways. I came to bring you an MTC Mailbox number, and the number is: 129

So when you fill out the envelope on DearElder.com, you {select Provo MTC, then} put:

Elder Scott Lowry
129 {MTC Mailbox number}, Philippines IloIlo {Mission}, November 15th {estimated departure from the MTC}

Or, if you want to send a package {packages ROCK and NOW- meaning while he is in the MTC- is the time to send Scott packages as it is risky to send packages to him once he is in the Philippines} you can send it to this address:

Elder Scott Lowry
Philippines Iloilo Mission Provo MTC Box 129
2005N 900E
Provo Utah
84604

You guys are the best! Thanks for loving our Scotty Potty!

And he's off!

So, he's said goodbye to the Nursery kids.

He took a trip to the zoo with Mom, Krista and the boys.

Where Thatcher got to pet a Wallaby, among other things.

And Scott loved taking pictures with his new, sweet camera.

Took the boys to see the Columbia, SC temple.
And then around 7:30pm Tuesday night, he was set apart as a missionary!
{He and his Stake President, Pres. MacArthur}

He came home, said a few last goodbyes.
{And apologized to Grandpa for stealing his pajamas. Is he not going to get ripped for those bad boys??? Good heavens. He is such an old man trapped inside a 19 year old body.}Packed a few last minute items.
Oh dear.
Then it was up dark and early, 3:45am to be exact, and off to the airport.
More goodbyes...Lots of smiles.
Lots of snuggles.
Lots of peeling Krista off of Scott.
Lots of good laughs.
Lots of train talk.
Lots of family.
And lots of love.
Then, when the time came, we hugged our missionary for dear life...
And then we watched him walk away.
He passed through security.
We waved one last time. {Sorry about that hand there.}
And then he was gone.
We walked around outside so we could watch.
As his plane took off.
And now he's off to change lives forever. For the better.
He's already started in fact.
He changed us all this morning.

Well... I guess this is Goodbye!

Alright! I guess it is time to say my last goodbye to everyone. So Hasta La Vista Baby! See you all in two years. Thank you all again for your continuing support, whether you have helped me get ready for my mission or you continue to help my family throughout my mission, I cannot thank you all enough for all you do! There are way too many people to thank and I could not even begin to name names in fear of leaving too many important people out. I will miss Evans, GA dearly and I am eager to return! If you ever have an afternoon where you are wondering what elder Lowry is up to feel free to use dearelder.com and drop me a little note. It is easy and free, and any encouraging tag lines are much appreciated as well. Directions to use this website are below in one of the earlier posts (if you need further assistance just call the house).

I am so excited to have the opportunity to share the wonderful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to my brothers and sisters in the Philippines! I have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon that I feel can help people who need that special feeling that the Holy ghost supplies while reading this book. This gospel is full of wonderful doctrine that can enhance and uplift any individual's spirit and well-being. It can provide guidance in this confusing world, structure in this world of chaos, and sanctuary from this bleak and cold world. This gospel can lead us to true happiness that can only be found in the footsteps of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the way to heaven and the perfect example of what we can strive to become. This gospel also can make our families become one in purpose and provide peace, love, and happiness in the home. I have seen this in my own home and I have observed that when our families are closer to the Lord we are all happier.

I love my family so very much and the thought of being away from therm for two whole years is daunting. But! The Lord is in control and I know only great things can happen now. I know time will fly by and I will be reunited with them before I know it. We have all of eternity anyway, right?

I love you all.
I love the Gospel.
I love my family.
I love the Lord.

God Speed my brothers and sisters and farewell!