Week 77: SICK SICK week

So to be honest this week wasn't super productive like I wish it would have been. My companion has been sick for a while, but he took a real hit this week, especially on Tuesday. We have this thing called a district council every Tuesday and he had to lay on the floor the entire time due to his poor health. 

On top of that we had to go to MLC in Bangkok on Wednesday, but Elder Despain did not look good physically. In the end, I went to MLC with Elder Laurence, who is on his second transfer haha. Which totally caught President Hammond by surprise.

Bad news...I got pretty sick while I was in Bangkok just like Elder DeSpain. However, we had already scheduled a switch off with the Buriram Elders so I just had to push through it. I got to switch off with Elder Sugabo, who is on his 1st transfer and it was a lot of fun. I got to be like a trainer for a day which was so fun. I honestly miss being a trainer because it teaches you so much and you develop as a person as well. 

By the time I got back to my area I felt like death and honestly was the most sick I have ever been on my mission. Needless to say, we were still able to visit many members. Goals this week...get new people to teach. We are still teaching some people, but we want some new ones that may progress. 

Love you all so much. Next week I will hit my 18th month mark and it will be Thanksgiving! HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I'm grateful for all of you, for my parents my siblings, my friends, and everyone that has influenced me in my life. You all are the best!!

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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Dynamic Duo:  Elder DeSpain and Elder Lowe (background)

Week 74: Halloween and the New Prince of Thailand

To everyone back home...HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I can't believe it was Halloween week and now November! I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and got a ton of candy. For me I had been planning this Halloween for a while since it will be my last Halloween in Thailand. We are teaching this guy named Tui (ตุ้ย) and he has a ton of clothing at his house for his work. He let me borrow a prince outfit, so Elder Tu and I dressed up as princes haha. Needless to say, it was a really good Halloween and I had a ton of fun. 

Me and Elder Laurence finally finished editing the video we made and we are excited to post it soon! It looks pretty good, but it is a little long!!

On Wednesday, we had zone conference and it went really well! Elder Despain and I gave a training about following the spirit and how we can become more successful missionaries. It was way awesome!!! It was full of the spirit and President Hammond gave a strong training on prophets. I know that we have a living prophet today to guide the true church of Jesus Christ! I'm thankful for a prophet or a mouthpiece of the Lord that allows us to communicate with our Heavenly Father. We can hear the words of the Lord through his prophet. 

President Hammond also interviewed me and has inspired me to continue to find and teach families!!

Speaking of families, the one we are teaching is so good. They are so close to being baptized and they really know the things we teach to be true. We are planning for them to be baptized very soon! I'm so excited. 

I also got to do a switch off with Elder Robley and Elder Halversen from Korat! They are way cool and it's always fun to go on splits with Elder Halversen cause he is in my group from the MTC. 

Lastly, we went around on Saturday visiting a ton of members. Me and my companion probably visited 15 different houses of families or individuals! We gave them some fruit and chocolate milk just to let them know we are here to serve them and help them develop a stronger relationship with us. 

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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P.S. My house has been filthy, like absolutely disgusting. No missionaries have cleaned it for so so long. So we decided to clean the house and it looks really good - good as new!!

Halloween Activity:

Sister ?, Sister Nielson, Robert and Elder Despain

Delicious

Week 73: Bad Decisions 101

This last week has been one of the most memorable weeks on my mission. I learned a ton about what loving others means and why being empathetic is so much more important than being sympathetic. I have so much love for the people we are teaching especially this wonderful family that we have been teaching for the last 6 weeks. 

The family we are teaching is still progressing and have really developed individual testimonies of the things we are teaching. We visited another person we are teaching, and the family wanted to come and help us teach. I feel like true conversion happens when you want to share the joy and blessings of the gospel with others. By the time Sunday came around the family brought that investigator that we taught together to church! What a blessing and miracle!

On Wednesday, me and Elder Laurence switched off and made a video about sharing joy and the gospel with others. We still have to edit it, but we hope to get it out soon!

On Thursday, I did a switch off with Elder Tu in Yasothorn. If you can remember from last week, me and Elder Despain, and Elder Tu ate 40 peppers in our Somtam. It was so hot that I had started shaking and I drank like 30 glasses of ice water. Anyways, a couple days after that we heard that the record for missionaries in Thailand was 80 peppers. Elder Tu said we needed to beat that and he knew a member that could make Somtam with as many peppers as we wanted. Since we are serving in Roi Et, which literally means 101 in Thai, we told the member to prepare 3 plates of 101 peppers. We got to Yasothorn and we counted out the peppers ourselves twice to confirm there were 101 peppers. The member started making the Somtam and we knew that we were gonna be in trouble. It was just a plate full of peppers and to be honest I was really nervous to eat this. I bought two big water bottles, a bag of ice, a cup, and said a prayer for our health. Elder Tu, Elder Despain, and me started eating this insanely spicy plate and it was bad news from the beginning. Our mouths were on fire and my stomach felt like someone kept hitting it with a baseball bat. Elder Tu and Elder Despain gave up halfway because they couldn't take it anymore; Elder Tu ended up throwing up from the spice. But, I finished the whole thing after like an hour of eating and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. My body shut down and I thought I was going to pass out. I promise mom I won't do that again, but at least I got the new record for the Thailand Bangkok Mission (The land of the spice).

On Friday, the Ubon Elders came up and switched off with us in Roi Et. The Elders in Ubon are very good at making videos, so we decided to make a ton of more videos about our Free English Class! 

Lastly, today for p day we went pretty close to the Lao border and me and Elder Laurence bought a ton of Thai and Lao fabric. In Thailand we can buy a bunch of cool fabric and make them into pretty cool ties. I love the Thai culture and the people here! Zone conference is coming up next week and I'm excited to share a lot of the things I've learned on the mission with younger missionaries. 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Lowe

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All the Fabric 

Robert with 101 hot peppers that will be made into Somtom

My favorite picture of Robert in Roi Et

Eating somtom with 101 peppers - WHAT!!!!

Week 72: Marco's Spicy Wedding

Another week in paradise! I love Thailand so much and all the people here! It's been a wonderful week with teaching interested people, members, switch offs, and we made some cool videos! 

So this week I got to do something I never have done before. I ate this dish called Somtam (ส้มตำ) which is a famous Thai dish. It is basically papaya salad with peppers and it's always spicy. They usually put 2-3 smashed up peppers on a regular dish. But, I decided to get 40 peppers with 2 other missionaries. Me and Elder Tu just ate it as fast as we could and then practically died afterwards. The cook brought us a tub of ice afterwards because she could see that I was actually shaking and crying. Elder Despain, my companion, took one bite and was done. But he actually ended up finishing it like 30 minutes later. What a champ!

I had a ton of switch offs this week and got to work with Elder Laurence, a brand new missionary, a lot this week! We actually went to a Thai wedding and I got to sing a Thai song for the couple. Attached is me practicing the song before hand. 

Additionally, I switched off with Elder Cruz and we taught that one fire family. The dad's name is Giad, mom is Nid, and their daughter is Ingfaa. They are progressing so much and they all have baptismal dates for November 5th! I'm so excited for them and their desire to follow the Savior by being baptized! 

Lastly, I met this one guy named Mod (ant) about 2 months ago during the floods. He is a member who hasn't been to church for over 10 years. He was actually grown up in the church and he showed us a picture album of the day he was baptized and some of the missionaries that were around in his day. He told us he misses the Holy Ghost in his life! I'm excited to reactivate this 30 year old man and help him to feel the spirit again in his life!!

I love you all so much! I love being a missionary! I love the Thai people! I love the gospel! I love God

Love, 

Elder Lowe 

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Elder Tu, Elder DeSpain, and Robert with the cook that made them Somtom with 40 peppers

40 peppers - who is brave enough to eat them?

Elder Lowe :)

Elder Despain and Elder Lowe