Week 39: Transferred to Bangkok

Hey not much for this week! Transfer calls just came and President said that I will be training a new missionary. I am leaving Phuket which means I will be whitewashing a new area in Don Muang. I'm so excited for this experience! Its gonna be way fun! 

In terms of Phuket, the area is doing so good. I remember starting that area with very few investigators and now leaving it we have over 20 with 5 daters. I'm so grateful for my time in Phuket and all the members and people I met there. I love them so much! Sorry I don't have much time this week, but I'll let you know how everything goes next week!

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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Happy Birthday to Elder Robert Lowe

Beautiful family with Robert

Elder Lowe and Robinson looks so very happy

English classes

Elder Robinson and Elder Lowe just before Robert leaves Phuket

The Gavotos family takes them to the airport

Kings of the world - well at least Phuket

Week 38: Birthday week the BIG 20

Well first I want to thank everyone for wishing me a happy birthday! I cant believe I am finally 20 but I guess it had to come eventually. I'm so grateful to be in Thailand surrounded by so many loving people. Also getting to call my family on my birthday was amazing! 

So a little recap of this week...

To start, it was a HOT WEEK! I'm not sure why but in Phuket I was legit just sweating all the time. I'm so tan now that people are going to think that I'm a คนไทย (thai person) soon. 

It was a week of a lot of teaching with many packed days. We have gotten a lot of referrals lately and are teaching so many people. It is so cool to see this place where it is now from where it started. We had very few people and the branch wasn't doing that great, but nowadays the branch is doing way good and we have soooooo many people to teach Miracles!! 

In terms of funny and cool stories this week, I will start with this Russian lady we are teaching. So at church this Russian lady, who is a member, begins talking to me and asks me if my companion and I could teach her friend who is not a member. We bike quite a long time to this lady's house and once we get there we realize that her friend doesn't speak English or thai. We would speak in English and the Russian member would translate everything over. It was so funny and one of the craziest Restoration lessons I have ever taught. I'm not sure how well she will progress but she did come to church yesterday which was way awesome. 

Last week we met this man named พร (pawn) and he is quite the character. So he has gone to church in Bangkok and has read the book of mormon before we met him. We tried to teach him the restoration this week and he said he already knew it all. I asked him if he believed the book of mormon to be true and he said yes. Then I asked if he believed that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and he did. Basically he knows this church is true but doesn't want to be baptized again (with proper authority)...so we are gonna have to work on that! 

Ok last thing for this week is that our mission president gave me and my companion a project. We are supposed to make an English ad that will be used all over Thailand. We don't have any proper equipment to make a good video so I'm just gonna hope and pray that it turns out good haha. 

I love you all!! This week I was able to memorize a 10 min and 30 sec video. It's a video with talks from President Eyring and Elder Holland who are so fire! I love what Elder Holland says about this work: "when we struggle, when we are rejected, when we are spit upon, and cast out, and made a hiss and a byword we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the best life this world has ever known. The only pure and perfect missionary that ever lived." I'm so grateful to be a part of the Lord's glorious work and I know as long as "we are faithful, He is with us."

I hope everyone has a great week. 

Love,

Elder Lowe เอ็ลเดอร์โลว์

1) when teaching brother อาณาจักร (anajag), my companion took a photo. Pretty cool right!

2,4) teaching and playing with the little kids on the streets!

3,5) Branch service project. Picking up trash is the best!!

Video Chat with my family (added by mom)

Week 37: Happy Valentines Day - love you family!

Wow in terms of being a missionary there have been so many changes this week! First missionary emails were changed to end in @missionary.org. So I think my new email will be lowe.robert@missionary.org if you would like to email me anything! Second and the crazier change is that I am now able to contact my family every p day and on holidays and on my parents' birthday. What a huge blessing it was that I got to call and see my family this morning. Love you all so much, you truly are the best family ever. The central message of the gospel is centered on families so I think it is such a wonderful experience that I get to talk with them every week :)

This week was super cool and full of different miracles and cool experiences. To start with the miracles, we had 13 new people we are teaching this week and are constantly teaching and finding at every opportunity. Additionally we had 8 people that we are teaching come to church, but unfortunately only 6 of them came in time to take the sacrament. I believe these miracles came from fervent prayer because me and my companion were just "praying always" this week - never ceasing. In the end น้อง William came to church so he can still be baptized on March 3rd if he comes the next 2 weeks! 

Some cool experiences is that we got 6 new referrals this week. It has been hard to get any referrals in this area but I guess all the members decided to give us more people to teach at the same time haha. 

Another insane experience was that we were out finding on Saturday and we saw one of the people we had taught about 3 months ago. When we approached her she introduced us to her sister and it turns out that her sister happened to be a member of the church who didn't know where the church in Phuket was. Basically this member was baptized in Bangkok and moved to Phuket not too long ago. She has a very strong testimony and she wants her sister to be baptized and go to church. How sweet is that?! 

Also on Valentine's Day night the power went out all over Phuket and so when we got home at 9 that night we couldn't turn on the AC. Me and my companion were just were drenched in sweat until we woke up in the middle of the night and figured out it was back on. Wow am I grateful for electricity!!

All in all, it was a great week. We had the opportunity to give a blessing to one of our investigators' cousins, I had the best โรตี (roti) ever, and so many people came to church. I know the Savior loves each and everyone of you. He continues to bless me and my family as I serve a mission. I know as we turn to the Savior when we have pains or struggles in this life, he will heal us and make our burdens light! 

A few weeks ago I finished reading the Book of Mormon in Thai.  I know this book to be the word of God.  The promises of the Book of Mormon are true and I feel them and see them as I serve as a missionary.  I am now reading the Doctrine and Covenants.  I am so impressed by the modern revelations given to the prophets at the time.  

Love, 

Elder Lowe

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1) me and ไก่ (guy) - he is a christian and loved the message of the gospel. He has so many pictures of Jesus in his house! 

2) Happy Valentine's Day! Love you mom! Love you all too!

3) the awesome Filipinos in our branch that have us a referral this week!!

4) this different version of checkers they have in Thailand which was nuts! I got destroyed by all the คนไทย (thai people)

 5) My boys from the MTC. Love you Elders! 

Elder ?, Elder ?, Robert, Elder Ward, Elder, Elder ? Wilson ??

Week 36: Zone Conference in Bangkok and 10 new People at church

This week was a bit different. To start we flew to Bangkok on Monday night for our zone conference on Tuesday. The missionaries from Myanmar came, and I hadn't seen them since the MTC. Zone conference was very spiritually uplifting and honestly was a nice opportunity to see so many people that I haven't seen in such a long time. I got to talk to my mission president, President Hammonds, for a while and he is full of so much wisdom. He told me that he had been getting calls about the video I posted and that it was wonderful! Thank you to everyone that liked, shared, or viewed it!! 

After zone conference, I stayed in Bangkok for a day on a switch off with the Thonburi Elders. I switched off with a Filipino Elder who is on his 3rd transfer. He was awesome and seemed to open his mouth a lot even though he is a new missionary. He was a great example to me! Later that night we had to catch our flight back to Phuket but we ran into some problems. Since we are in a foreign land, we keep our passports in the office of our mission and we use these cards that kind of "replace" the actual passport. Basically I have flown about 8 times using this card (which is totally not a passport) to fly around this country, but this night they weren't letting anything fly. We had to go to this police station and work something out. All in all, I got back to Phuket that night with my companion and we were all good. It was such a miracle that we even got on that flight and then got home safely!

We are continuing our finding February efforts and this week we actually had miracles. We found 10 people in 4 days! When you are motivated and have the spirit with you, the Lord will just hand you people to teach. Additionally, President Hammond gave my companion and I a referral...they are way elect. They want to be baptized so bad, so I am very excited to continue to teach them. Their name is เปียโน (piano) so that is fun too! 

Last thing I want to share is this crazy experience I had on Saturday. I was out inviting and talking to a bunch of people. Then I come across this guy and I got the feeling that I should talk to him, so I approached him and he acted in a way like we had already known each other. He told me to make myself at home, he got me a glass of water, and he legit seemed as if he knew me from somewhere. Then he starts telling me that he knows that I am a missionary and that I teach about Jesus Christ. I told him that is correct, and then he said that he was the opposite of me. At first I thought he meant that he was Buddhist, but as I talked with him he let me know that he worships Satan. It was the strangest thing but he told me he loves listening to satanic things. However, he did tell me that he had been studying all religions his whole life and wants to learn more. I pulled out the book of mormon and asked if he had ever heard of it. He said he has been looking for it for so long and was practically begging me for it. Overall it was a strange experience but I know the importance of testifying so that's what I began to do. I really hope this man will read the book of mormon and get a witness that it is true!!! 

I love you all so much! Sorry that was a long story and a long email. This week I just finished the book of mormon again for the 6th time. I know that it is true and that God has restored his true church through the prophet Joseph Smith. If anyone is struggling with their faith I suggest 2 things: 1) READ the book of mormon 2) pray to know if it is TRUE. Not very hard but that is all it takes. Just as Moroni promises if we pray with real intent we WILL receive an answer. I love this gospel and I know it brings joy to individuals and families more than anything else in this world. 

Love,

Elder Lowe 

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1) Out finding anyone that will listen to us

2) zone conference

3) Missionaries with birthdays this transfer haha 

4) cutting up some pork for service. The other side is legit the skin of a pig with all its hair still on it. Fun times!

Week 35: Plan of Salvation and 5000 views

So this week was a bit different than usual. For the month of February we are focusing on finding families! So we are calling this month Finding February. We have been finding so much lately so we decided to take a new approach with finding. We drew out a giant plan of salvation and took a video of me explaining what it is and why it is important. We weren't sure how much success it would have, but right now there have been over 3,000 views in just a couple of days! It has been so cool to see the benefits of using technology to share the message of the gospel. All it takes is some chalk and a desire to share the gospel. We actually made 2 other plan of salvation drawings in other locations, and so many people would stop and ask what it is that we were drawing. We left our phone number at the end of the video and I've already had people call me asking questions about the video!!

Another success story from this week has been teaching English. Our English class is really starting to grow. We had about 25 people come on Tuesday which was awesome!! We have also visited some people and have had the opportunity to serve them by teaching English for about 20 minutes. 

Lately I have been given the opportunity to give a lot of blessings in Thai and English which has been awesome. To be able to use my priesthood to help others is just amazing. 

But to be honest, it was a tough week and consisted of so many disappointments. Appointments fell through, we couldn't find anyone that was interested this week, and only 1 person we are teaching came to church this week. 

Elder Lowe 

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Plan of Salvation #1

Plan of Salvation #2

Video of Plan of Salvation #3

Week 33: First Glance of Heaven's Light

Wow so many miracles this week it has been insane! To start today was transfer day and I got the news that I will be staying in Phuket for another transfer with Elder Robinson. This will be my 4th transfer here and I am so excited for the work to keep growing. We have done so much inviting and we have worked so hard, so I hope me and my companion's hard work pays off. 

So far it has payed off big time. This week I got my first baptism in Phuket. She rocked her baptismal interview and then on Sunday Sister อ้อย(oi) was baptized. She is such a wonderful daughter of God and I am so grateful that I had the chance to help her grow a relationship with her father in Heaven. Speaking of that Sunday, I got to translate in church, give the sacrament prayer, give a talk in sacrament meeting, give a talk during the baptism, and I had the opportunity to baptize Sister อ้อย. Such an awesome day and I could feel the spirit so strongly!! I could seriously feel God's love for her so much and I know she got her first glance of heaven's light. 

One of the people we began teaching not too long ago has really progressed. This week we have been able to teach him a good amount. His name is กอล์ฟ (golf), and he has a smoking addiction. He really wants to get over it and this week we have really worked hard on deepening his relationship with Jesus Christ. We have had Sister อ้อย teach กอล์ฟ with us and it is just so cool to see her desire to change and share that change with others. 

We have a couple of cool people that may be pretty good but my favorite person is this young boy named William. He is so fire! He legit tells him mom "tomorrow is Sunday, let's go to church." He is only 8 or 9 and has already begun to read a bunch from the Book of Mormon. All in all, I love this area and the opportunity I have to help it blossom. I feel so blessed every day and I know that the Lord is looking after each and everyone one of you. He knows your sorrows and your trials. If you just turn to him and ask for help, he will ease your burdens. Love you all so much!!! 

Love

Elder Lowe เอ็ลเดอร์โลว์

1) me and my man uwe Baumann

2) me and my boy Golf

4, 9, 10) looking over the city of Phuket

5, 6) baptism of sister อ้อย

7) mini golf

8) English class