Week 55: Baptism of Sister See

So to start, last p-day I got to play some tennis and I'm way rusty. I haven't played sports in a year and I honestly feel so uncoordinated now but it's all good. Today for p-day we went with some members to this really strange but cool place. It was called บทเรียนในความมืด which means "A lesson in the dark". Basically we went through this maze in the dark with walking sticks for over an hour and it was actually way cool. It was pitch black and I was really confused by the end of the maze haha. 

This was such a wonderful week as I got to see another person enter the waters of baptism and start on the covenant path. Sister See was straight fire and without a doubt prepared by God. She was baptized yesterday and has such a strong testimony already!! Literally right after her interview she came into a lesson with another person we are teaching and began to help us teach! 

This week we have really been trying to prepare some more people for baptism. We are teaching this guy named brother Q. He has been to church so many times and a bunch of other activities. He is friends with everyone in the ward and will get baptized for sure. He just wants to wait a little longer because he doesn't feel ready. He is such a beast though and is way ready!!! 

Another person we are teaching is this lady named Rose. We have been teaching her for a while and she is progressing. She has been baptized twice already and doesn't want to be baptized again though. She really wants to follow Jesus Christ and says she just needs some time to really study everything out. I'm really excited to see her continue to progress and learn. 

Cool experience:

We went to visit Brother Min, our RC.  When we went to leave there were no taxis around. Brother Min lives in the back of his neighborhood (a long way back) and it was already 8pm. With no taxis or tuk-tuks around, my companion and I started walking to the front of the neighborhood, once we made it out there were still no taxis in sight. Again, we began to just walk hoping to find a taxi even though we were miles away ... and out of nowhere this ตุ๊กๆ tug tug picked us up and dropped us off at the main road. He didn't even want to take any money for the ride.  It was a miracle and such an answer to our prayers! 

Last thing...on Sunday this family of five walked into the church and they are so sick (awesome)! We invited them to attend sister See's baptism and they did. I have wanted to baptize a family for so long, so I'm really excited to start teaching this family!!  Families are the most important in our society.  Helping a whole family come closer to Christ will be a great joy.

Ok love you all!! Talk to you next week. 

Elder Lowe 

เอ็ลเดอร์โลว์

ประเทศไทย

1) brother Q and me

2, 5) The car wash

3) Tennis

4) Elder Khanakam and sister Pu

6) P day - บทเรียนในความมืด

7) The boys (Elders) 

8) One of our investigators started telling us about his job and gave my foot the strangest massage haha

Week 18: New church building in Phuket

Wow, another great week on the mission. Although progression is coming slow with our investigators, the progression is just about to ระเบิด (explode) here in Phuket. I seriously couldn't have asked for a better area to serve in and I think I have already figured out the reason why the Lord has decided to put me in Phuket. 

On Tuesday we had another lesson with หนึ่ง, the guy who sees ghosts. The ghosts tell him not to pray or go to church. I asked him how he feels when he prays and he says the ghosts go away for about 3 hours and then come back. We taught him the gospel and promised him that the ghosts will go away every time he shows faith in Christ. I extended him the invitation to be baptized and he said he will pray about it, so we will just have to wait for his answer. 

After the lesson with หนึ่ง I was blessed with a miracle. Me and my companion were on our way to English class. While riding my bike I was stopped at a ไฟแดง (stoplight). I always like talking to the people next to me, but for some reason at that moment I didn't really want to because it seemed so pointless. I feel like I talk to so many people on these stoplights and no result comes from it. Well in the end someone pulled up behind me and I changed my mind and I decided to open my mouth and ask her about what she did today and where she was going. She asked me where I was going and I told her I was about to go teach an English class. She literally freaked out and then started speaking English to me and said how much she wanted to learn. She pulled over and then started to follow me to the church. After the class she told me how much she loved it. This was our first English class ever in Phuket and after the class she said she would invite her friends! What a blessing! We had about 8 people for the first class and I know it will just continue to get bigger and bigger! 

Wednesday was an unfortunate day for my comp, but kind of hilarious to me. While on our way to an early morning appointment my companions bike tire lost its air so he began pumping it up. After pumping air into it for no longer than a second, the tire exploded. We ended up fixing it, however we had to explain to all of our investigators why we were late to appointments. I learned like 50 ways to say a flat tire such as ยางเสีย, ยางรั่ว, ยางแบน, ยางระเบิด, and more. Also, all the Thai people always tell my companion that he is really fat and eats too much. But after I told them his bike tire was flat they were straight up savage. They all said "โอออเพราะว่าเขาอ้วนใช่ไหมเขาหนักเกินไป"(ohhh because he is fat, right? He eats way too much). I just sat there laughing my butt off!! The Thai people are so funny and so brutal. They literally just say it how it is. Anyways, this week was Zone conference so I flew back to Bangkok again.

During Zone Conference, the mission President talked to me and my companion about having a party in Phuket. The idea is to just gather everyone in the city to see the new church building. Having an open house and a lot of people gathered together will be so great for the progression of the work down here in Phuket. I really want to change this area and get the members excited to do missionary work and to get the investigators to come to church. I suggested starting up sports night, a scripture study night, or even a board game night to get members and investigators together in a comfortable environment. The branch president loved it! He says to คิดนอกกรอบ or think outside the box! Those activities will begin this week!!

While I was in Bangkok I went on a switch off with a third transfer Elder, Elder Schindler, and we were actually totally fine. It's awesome how much we were able to speak and understand! The Lord knows our potential and what we are capable of. When we think we are better than we are, He humbles us, and when we become discouraged He lifts us up. I find myself constantly being humbled and lifted up on this mission. 

Overall this week has been a little rough mainly because I was only in my area for about half of it. But, I truly believe that next week things will really begin to shape up. The activities are starting this week and this next week will be the first time we won't be having church in a hotel! I love my area, the people, this language, the miracles and blessings, and God's pure love for me and the people I serve! Stay in tune for what's coming here in Phuket! Keep it real everyone :)

I love you all so much and I am grateful for all the support you have given me!

จะสู้ๆต่อไป

Love

Elder Lowe

1) The church is almost done

เกือบเสร็จแล้ว

The new church building in Phuket

Week 52 - Got to drive a Truck

Can I just start with saying how much I love Nibley! Holy molly this week was just another great week filled with miracles. It's a great time to be a missionary!

So highlights of this week:

We had MLC (mission leadership council) this week and it was so good. We got to do role plays with people and they brought some of the cache central missionaries up to be our investigators. So I got to see Sister Brunt and I got to role play with her which I haven't done in like 10 months, so it was so much fun!

We had ADTM (all district meeting) and Sister Davis and I had to give a training on our purpose as missionaries. I always hate giving Trainings because you have to prepare for them and you have to get in front of everyone but I'm starting to feel better each time I do them. The mission sure does stretch you.

Okay super MIRACLE! So on Wednesday we were walking in 9th Ward and trying to contact people. All of the sudden it started pouring down rain and we are just in short sleeve shirts. So we run up to this door which we had knocked before about a month ago. It was actually April 11th when we knocked this door and the lady was super nice but told us she wasn't interested. Well we knocked on the door to see how she was doing and we had heard she came to a family history activity in the Ward a few weeks back. So when she opened the door she said “I've actually been thinking of you girls lately, I think I'm ready to take the lessons now." We were in shock!!! All I could say was “awesome!" She then invited us in and said "I'm really really close to baptism.” Like I about jumped I was so excited. She then said she wants to do lessons Tuesday and Thursday at 1pm and we asked her to come to church and she said "yep I'll even pick you up!" She came and loved the speakers and was so happy to be there. It was so amazing. The Lord is truly preparing people here in his vineyard in Nibley. Another miracle. On Monday after our recent convert lesson with Matthew we got a phone call from his guy named hector. We had actually met him about two weeks ago and gave him our number. Well he called us and set up a time to come and teach him and his two teenagers. We are so excited. The Lord is blessing us so much I just can't thank him enough.

Marissa was recorded for the District videos

We had two lessons with Ida this week. She told us she put her coffee maker in the cupboard and is going to give it to her friend. Ida’s faith is so strong! She's been drinking it for like 80 years and simply just puts it away like no big deal! She's so great. We taught the law of tithing and she was just like oh yeah I'll definitely do that. She is so amazing! I love her so much and she's already picked a time (10am) to be baptized on June 17th.

Service activity

Okay last miracle...well I would say it's a miracle. So the APs called us on Friday and asked for a huge favor. So apparently some sisters are getting ET (emergency transferred) in the mission and the APs need someone to drive them to their new locations. They told us we get to drive the truck on Saturday!!!! We were like YES YES YES! We will do it! 

So you ready for this...

We drove from Nibley to Tremonton picked up Sister Vincent and Segura. 

Drove from Tremonton to Brigham city dropped off Sister Vincent and picked up Sister Andrews. 

Drove from Brigham city to Hyrum and dropped off Sister Segura and picked up Sister Schell. 

Drove from Hyrum to Tremonton dropped off both Sister Andrews and Schell. 

And then drove back to Nibley! We were on the road from 4-9 it was so amazing! I miss driving so much so it was a treat!

This week has been a blast. I can't describe in words the joy you feel helping others come unto Christ. I felt so much joy this week just seeing all the miracles the Lord has blessed us with. I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I’m so happy to be one of the Lord missionaries, the work is so great!

Sister Lowe

Week 34 - Blizzard Conditions and a Priesthood Miracle

Hello Everyone!

 So this week was a bit crazy... For one the weather has been insane!

 It has been a blizzard here in Ben Lomond every day this week!!! I can't tell you how many driveways I've shoveled or how many times I have slipped and fallen. One night Sister Andrews and I were just walking home at 9 and she slipped and then 2 seconds later I slipped. We just sat there on the ground laughing for a while, haha. Everyone is telling us that they haven't seen a winter this bad since 2005, and of course it's the year I'm on mission haha, but nah it's all good, I love the snow!

 

 

 So Sister Andrews is my new comp. She is from a military family, so has lived all over (Idaho, Utah, Louisiana, Nebraska) but she is currently from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She is 20 and has always been home schooled. She is really nice and I think we are gonna work well together.

 So this week I saw some miracles. So on transfer day, all the missionaries who are training or are becoming a leader (DL,ZL, or STL) had to go to Logan for some meetings. So we all met in a parking lot in North Ogden and we're waiting for everyone to get there when all the sudden Elder Sagmeister (he's from Germany) just collapses. At first we thought he was joking because he does that a lot, but thankfully Elder Woolwine caught him before he hit the ground. They then carried him into the van and laid him down. He still wasn't waking up and we were trying to see if he was breathing. So then Elder Jones and Elder Boyd gave him a priesthood blessing and no joke right after they finished the blessing, Elder Sagmeister's chest rose and his eyes opened in confusion. Like WOAH! Power of the priesthood right before my eyes! It was Amazing!

 So for some reason whenever a seventy comes to Ward conference something awesome always happens! So Elder Peterson of the seventy spoke in our sacrament and then afterwards he sought us out and gave us a referral which was sweet! And then said "what can I do for you

 sisters?" So I just thought Hmmm "you could pray for us" and so he then says "okay, let's go do that together." So we followed him into the bishop’s office and Sister Andrews said a prayer, then I said a prayer, and then he said a prayer. It was the most amazing prayer ever, I can definitely tell he is a man of God. In the prayer he blessed our families at home and our future families that we will have. He blessed us with miracles in the Ben Lomond Stake and blessed that we will have the Holy Ghost with us always. Afterwards he told us he sees the light of Christ in our eyes and to NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER get discouraged. He was crying in his prayer and so were Sister Andrews and I. I wish I could remember the whole prayer because it was amazing. This week the 3 kids we were teaching, mom called us and told us she doesn't want them to have lessons anymore and that they just want to go to activities. I have been really discouraged this week because I feel like everyone we meet just decides to drop us. When Elder Peterson said "never get discouraged for it drives the spirit away," I felt like that was what God was trying to tell me. So my new goal is to not get discouraged and to find joy in any circumstance.

 It's been a hard but good week. We are constantly tracting and knocking doors and for some reason not to many people are interested, but we don't let that get to us. We've done a lot of service this week and are teaching a lot of inactive people. 2 of the inactives we teach (Rainey and Bonnie) came to church for all 3 hours so we were super happy!

 Well that was this week! I've been reading the New Testament for the past month and I'm really coming to know how to become more like Jesus Christ. He himself was a missionary and as I look to him and his example I can become a master teacher like he was and still is. I love my savior Jesus Christ, he has blessed me in so many ways. I love this gospel and I know I can find joy in any circumstance!

 Love y'all!

 Sister Lowe

Marissa - Week 7

Hi everyone!

This week has been so great. My companion and I have seen so many miracles this week, it has been crazy. Zach, one of the 33 ward mission leaders that we have, asked us and the bishop and his wife to all fast for Lansing, who is our investigator. She has been really pondering on the things we have taught her. She has a lot of questions about who Jesus Christ is, why he died for us, and why baptism is essential. My companion and I went without water and food from 5pm one day to 5pm the next day. It was the hardest thing ever! Especially since we walk everywhere in the hot sun, so we were so thirsty. At a point we even gargled water and then spit it out because our mouth was so dry. I'm am so happy we fasted though because we had a great discussion with Lansing and Zach. She said she still has a desire to be baptized and that she can see now how she can rely on Jesus Christ for comfort. I love Lansing and I've seen her faith grow so much, it is amazing. But sometimes she is so stubborn, haha. 

Fun stories of the week:

- We had 6 lessons with a member present last week and this week we had 19 lessons with a member present!! By Tuesday we already beat all of last week. The lord works miracles, and I have seen it so much this week.

- My companion is a quarter Tongan/samoan/Fujian and she heard some Tongan construction workers talking and went over with me and began to talk to them. They both were so nice and friendly and then pulled out $20 bucks each and handed them to us. We both said no, that is too

much, but the Tongans didn't budge and gave it to us. They were so nice and they said they loved the missionaries here.

- We went to the Logan temple this week! It was so peaceful and I felt the spirit so strongly there. I know that the temple is a holy place and the house of the lord.

- Our lesson with Andy was amazing this week. We had him role play what he was going to say to his mom who is Korean Buddhist. He began by telling her he wants to be baptized because he knows this church is true and that he knows it will bless his family. He was sobbing

through the whole thing and couldn't stop crying. The spirit was so strong there and I'm so happy for him.

- I learned this week to never judge. We met this guy named Pablo last week who is a member,  he kind of gave us a hard time and was testing us as missionaries. We shared a scripture and he said he would write a thankful note to someone everyday that week if we would follow up next week. On this Saturday, I really didn't want to go because he kind of gave me the creeps and was weird. We went anyways because we did tell him we would come back. He did our challenge and then handed us some treats which had a card on it. We read the card and he put $10 in saying "treat yourself to a treat," once I read the card I knew never to judge again because you never know who people are really inside. Well a lot more happened this week but I don't have much time to write about it. I love this gospel so much. It brings so much happiness and joy to me and I would be nothing without it. I love all the emails I read throughout the week and love you all:)

Sister Lowe

Small but Amazing Miracle

Well, today is Mark's last day at Flextronics - or so we thought.

Mark had his exit interview with the HR director at 2:30.  At the conclusion of the meeting he decided to return the laptop, instead of keep it, so he ask for a few minutes to remove some personal files.  Mark went to his office and started to remove files when the HR director appeared and asked him if she could speak with him again.  Once they got back to her office, she said that after further review and consideration, they would like to extend his exit date out for 30 more day.  Could he stay on until 3/23?

WOW!  That's great.  Another 30 days to find a job.  Another 30 days pay.  Another 30 days to take care of our financial needs.

What a wonderful blessing and miracle!