Week 69: The Character of Christ

From Mark's Mom:  As you read Robert's email he will talk about his new companion, just FYI one of Mark's (Elder Lowe back in 1982) was Elder DeSpain.  NO WAY!!!!

From Robert:  Developing and emulating the character of Christ is the purpose of this life. I feel like I have been able to Draw closer and become more like my Savior, Jesus Christ, as a missionary. This week we had a wonderful district council about Christlike attributes. We talked about the character of Christ and what that really entails. One of the missionaries in my district shared a sentence from the talk entitled, "The Character of Christ." It says, "There would have been no Atonement except for the Character of Christ." I'm making an effort to become more like the Savior everyday in my thoughts, words, and deeds. I encourage everyone to do the same as well! If you are feeling down, sad, angry, stressed or anything I encourage you to turn outward like the Savior, not inward. Following the Savior brings pure joy and happiness!!

I just wanted to share that because sometimes in life we get so caught up on the little things. But what's most important is that we are becoming more like Christ and remembering Him at all times. 

This week has been a long one but way way good! I had 2 switch offs this week, but luckily they were both in my area! First, I switched off with Elder Sarabia, who is a Filipino. So many times I get stressed and I overreact to little things, but he would always say "don't worry, be happy." I like that type of mindset...just be happy!

I also switched off with Elder Freeze who is an older missionary than I am. He is a big dude and I mean like a big dude, but he was very good at making relationships with people. It turns out he has done 7 switch off with the Zone Leaders here and half of the time he would come to this area. So it turns out he knows the area pretty much as well as I know it! With both switch off days, I took these Elders to visit some recent converts and less active members and we took videos of their testimony. Like I said we are working on making a bunch of different videos and one of them will be centered on the members' testimony! We are so excited. 

In terms of new people that we will be teaching, we met this guy named Leon. He is way cool and we took him out to dinner on Monday. We had a casual conversation at first and then he switched it to religion. He mentioned the Bible and the Book of Mormon and asked what is the difference. We taught him such a fire restoration lesson and related everything to his own life. He says he is searching for the truth and we were able to bear powerful testimonies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! Overall, he has a ton of potential!

The family we are teaching (Giad, Nid, and Ingfaa) are doing so so good! They came to church and we are able to meet with them every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. We have sent them the basic belief videos and the restoration video and they watched them all. We gave them the pamphlet to read and they read it! We are focusing this week on having them read the Book of Mormon. I have such a strong testimony that deep conversion comes through diligent studying in the Book of Mormon! 

Lastly, we are teaching this one person named ตุ้ย (Tui). He is doing way good and we have been reading the Book of Mormon with him lately. Recently he wanted to dress us up. He said I looked like a prince and wanted us to come back on Halloween so he could dress us up like the King. Haha what a guy!

  

  

Oh yeah, this was transfer week. I will be staying in my area, but my companion will be leaving. My new companion is Elder Despain who is way cool! I've met him before and we are pretty close. He is 3 transfers older than me on the mission just like Elder Ratelle. It's gonna be such a good transfer. I'm so excited!! Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Lowe

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Eating Thai style

Great district and zone!!!

Week 68: Consecration

Hey everybody! This week I almost had an entire week in my area. Last week p day was on a Tuesday and we went to a waterfall. It was way big, but we couldn't go in the water and swim. Regardless it was a ton of fun and we got a couple of really cool pics. 

Wednesday I got to do a "switch off" with elder Halversen again. We both had to renew our visas in Bangkok because we have been in Thailand for a while. I actually got to see my whole group from the MTC again which is always a good time! 

Our mission President came to our area and gave a training about the importance of using technology. He told us that Thailand is the country that uses social media/technology the most(85% of the population). Even all the old people are on social media, so we need to utilize technology to preach the gospel. As a result, me and my comp came up with a ton of ideas of videos we can make. You all are about to see a good amount of videos on my Facebook sometime soon. Hope you like them!!

Sunday was miracle day like usual! I continue to see the Lord bless us on his blessed Sabbath Day. We got more people back to church this week! When I first came to this area we had about 55 people going to church. I made a goal to try and get the church attendance to be 100 consistently.  Guess what? Yesterday there were 94 people so we are almost there already! On top of that we had 8 people we are teaching there as well!! What a miracle :) This family of 3 walked into the church and there are so cool! I'll let you know how their progression is in the coming weeks. 

As a missionary I serve for a period of 2 years. I am more than half way done and I took some time this week to reflect on how my time has been. I read a talk called "The fourth missionary", which talks about 4 different kind of missionaries. The 3rd missionary is the average missionary, but the difference between him and the 4th missionary is consecration. What I mean by that is to give yourself to the Lord. Align your will with His! I have made the decision this week to become a more consecrated missionary/servant of the Lord. I have about 8 months left and I want to give it all to the Lord! 

I love you all so much. The mission is the best thing ever!!

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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MTC reunion in Bangkok to update Visas

Great P-day at a Thai Waterfall

Standing for something

At the waterfall

Free lemonade at English Classes

Week 67: Exchanges and Transfers

Hey everybody. I wanted to start off this email by saying thank you to all of you. I want to work on gratitude this week and see the tender mercies of the Lord more easily in my life. You all are wonderful and are such a blessing to my life. Thank you for being so supportive of me and looking out for me. 

This week I had 3 switch offs (1 in my area and 2 outside my area). On Thursday I went to Ubon and I got to switch off with Elder Maat. He is on his 6th transfer so he is a relatively new missionary. We were able to just do service the entire day because the place is flooded. All the water that was in my area and all the water around us flowed to Ubon and so that place is completely wrecked. There is water completely covering houses in Ubon it was insane! 

On Friday we went to Sisaket and I switched off with Elder Meyer who is on his 13th transfer. We visited a couple people and we taught one person at a Buddhist temple (like right outside of one). Elder Meyer is a very experienced missionary and all of our lessons had such a powerful spirit there. I also did a baptismal interview on that day for someone they are teaching and he just got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! 

On Sunday we saw some major miracles. We have been working with a bunch of returning members because it is something that our mission President asked us to do. He has said, "getting a returning member back to church is equivalent to baptizing." Anyways we got 24 returning members back to church this last Sunday!! IT WAS AWESOME! When I first got to the area we were having about 55 people each week at church, but this last week we hit 88!! MIRACLES! 

On Monday I did exchanges with the APs. I got to switch off with Elder Walker who is a living legend. He goes home in 2 weeks, but still has such a determination to serve the Lord to the end. I learned so much from him about just being a better person. What I mean by that is I felt like he emulates the character of Christ better than any missionary I have seen. Being around him makes me want to be better and become more like my Savior, Jesus Christ! We taught a bunch of people that day and even got to eat lunch with my the mission President!

 President Hammond came to the area and took us to lunch.

For P day we went to a sweet waterfall. Pictures will be coming next week!

Love you all so so much! Trust in the Lord...and he will direct thy path :)

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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Sunday Walks with Nature

Mark and I like to go for a nice long walk on Sunday afternoons.  We typically come home from church, eat lunch, write Robert, relax and talk to the kids on our group chat, then go for a walk between the time the group chat ends and we expect to hear from Robert.  We go to several different places to walk.  We walk around Georgetown Lake (nature trails), Brushy Creek (smooth trail), and Georgetown city trails.  The photos below are from the Georgetown City trails - they are in nature but also cut through a neighborhood where we always see tons of deer (super close).  Usually our walks are between 5-6 miles long.  We love the peaceful environment and the cooler temperatures at this time of the day. 

Deer Everywhere  

Reminded me of my home in California