PODS

The PODS were delivered on Tuesday - three of them - they take up the whole driveway! 

Holy Cow - this is becoming VERY REAL!!!! 
Tomorrow the people I hired to load the PODS will be here!  Everything we own will either fit in these, be sold, or given away. 

Hang on - it's going to be a bumpy ride.  I still have things that are not boxed up yet.  HELP!!!

Contingent Contract on the HOUSE

YAHOO!!  Mark and I are so excited to finally have a contract on the house!  It is a contingent contract which means it could fall through but at least someone liked the house enough to write one.

So let me go back and explain this interesting prospect:  After I painted the house the realtor invited the above couple to come back to look at the house.

 They loved it so much that they wrote a contingent contract on the house over the weekend.  Now they just need to sell their house and the contract will be final.

Our realtor said it should only take them approximately two weeks to sell their house.  It's so not fair that their house will sell in two weeks and it took us 4-5 months to sell ours.  There are several differences (she explained). 1) our house is over 100,000 over the price of their current home. 2) We listed our house after the school year started and then over the dry "hard to sell months" while they are listing their home just before the "spring" rush on houses.  3) We have a traditional two story house which some people like and others do not.  Typically in Louisville, people prefer a 1 ½ story house (with the master bedroom on the first floor).

Honestly, both Mark and I were thrilled that our house didn't sell until after the new year.  We were very worried about what we would do for Christmas, and Devon's wedding reception if it did sell before then.

*** March comment:  Now looking backwards, we are so blessed that our house didn't sell until now.  IF it had sold any earlier, we would have ended up in Memphis (where many people live happily, however it is now the third highest ranked crime city in America).  Since we had to wait, Mark's boss decided it would be better for us to live in Austin Texas - however he didn't decide that Until March 11th, 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lunch with Maureen

It's hard to believe I have had Maureen as a neighbor for nearly 17 years.  She has been one of my truest friends, longest friends and most respected persons.

I also love that our boys get along so well.  Robert and Aaron did most everything together.

Today Maureen and I went to lunch together.  We walked down memory lane - we laughed - we cried.

She told me that She and Harley are also moving, which in a strange way makes the sting of my move away from Louisville easier to accept.  They are moving to North Carolina.  They have always loved that area of the country.  She is having a magnificent beautiful lake side house built.  They are building it from the ground up.  The photos she showed me look amazing!  I am happy for her.  I would much rather prefer to move to North Carolina over Memphis, but the hope of Dallas stays in my mind.

I shared with her how, at the moment, we don't even know the city we are moving.  It is so strange.  Surprisingly, I am not worried.  I think it is because I am anxious and hopeful that Flex will change their mind and allow us to move to Dallas.

We will have to make an extra effort to get together once we both move away.

Nomads

Mark came back from Mexico with a new idea - why live in Memphis - wouldn't Dallas be better.

Dallas would  be better for Mark's job since he would/is traveling more and more to Mexico and South America (since the tariffs to Asia).  It also is a better place with relation to Finance.

Dallas seems like such a better city.  It's huge!  It has so much to offer - so much more than Memphis.

For Betsy, I was so excited to hear Dallas!  My cousins from my mom's side live there.  Also, Dallas just sounds like such a better location.  In addition, it would be so much closer to the kids.  I'm so excited.

I have to calm down ... it isn't confirmed yet ...

So at the moment - we don't know where we will end up living... To Be Continued.

Mark's office is closing

When we moved to Louisville we prayed to stay in Louisville until our last child graduated from High School.

Well ...

Robert graduated in June 2017, and started college starting September 2017.  Six months after he started college at BYU - Mark finds out that the Flex office in Louisville is closing.

Six months later!!!  That's timing you can't misunderstand.  The Lord clearly answered our prayer to stay in Louisville until our last child graduated. 

Despite not wanting to leave (friendships, schools, work, etc) we are grateful we were able to stay in Louisville for all seventeen years.

Week 56 - 97 degrees

I think I could of melted away this week...it was so hot. But I guess not as hot as Arizona or South America so I got to give those people some credit.

97 DEGREES!!!!

This week was a little slower because for some reason not many people are home in the summer time, but still lots of things happened. So the Highlights of the week were:

Freddy's getting baptized this Saturday, July 1st!!! We are so excited! He is so prepared and ready to make this covenant with his Father in heaven. Yay for baptism!

Sister Davis, Jackie and Marissa

We had some lessons with Jackie and so far she has been 5 days sober of not drinking coffee. She is doing so great! She get headaches and stuff because of the withdrawal but she always says: "it's for the eternities!" I love her eternal perspective and the faith she has. She came to all 3 hours of church which was a shock! When we first met her, she told us she would never go to relief society because it was too domestic for her, haha, but look at her now! She actually liked relief society, woot! Jackie's baptism date has been pushed back…. She wants her family to fly in and they are flying in July 29th, so she wants to be baptized that day. It is a month away so it's pretty far but I feel good about her date and am happy Jackie feels good about it:) 

I went on exchanges this week in Hyrum with Sister Segura. She is from Guatemala and is learning English right now. This week her companion who has been struggling with health problems was released from our mission and went home. So Sister Segura has been a solo missionary the past week and will be until transfers. So we were in a trio all day Saturday with her and helped her out in her area, it was a fun day! Her English is really coming along!

Visiting with previous converts

We had some lessons with our recent converts Ida and Matthew. They are both doing so great! Matthews families going through some really rough trials right now with his father in law getting cancer but they are still so faithful and using the strength of the Lord to keep going. Ida is still so amazing. She loves church and I love lessons with her:)

It's been a good week. I sure do love Nibley. I love being a missionary here. I've now been out in the mission field for a year now, and it's truly been the best year of my life. So many amazing memories, fun adventures, spiritual experiences, and awesome converts!

I just want to soak it all up and keep going:)

Sister Lowe

Below is the area of Nibley:  the red dot is our new house.  We are way far away from everything!

Week 33 - Transfer week

Hello everyone!

 We had a super busy week this week! This was our last week of the transfer...I can't believe how fast it went by. So first transfer news: So Sister Sharp left me on Sunday and so my new companion is Sister Andrews. I've never met her and I will meet her on Tuesday. I also have been called as a Sister Training Leader (STL)! When I first was called I was a bit scared because I've never been an STL. STLs go on exchanges with other sisters to help them in their area and are there to help out in their area. I know the Lord has called me to this for a reason and as I rely on him I can fulfill this calling. Wish me luck!

 

So last week we were just knocking doors and we came across this family who let us in and talked to us. We asked the mom if she would like to learn more about Jesus Christ and like the missionary lessons. She told us no but said we can ask her kids. So we asked Paige (13), Aspen (11), and Chase (11) if they would like the lessons and they said yes. We had a lesson with all 3 of them and invited them to be baptized and they said yes. Aspen said she had a lot of friends get baptized when she was 8 and always wondered what it would be like. We invited them to church and Aspen was so excited and said yes I will definitely come... The other two said they will try. So Heavenly Father is really looking out for us in this area because we have 3 new investigators!

 We moved this week. So the lady we were living with has housed missionaries for 4 years, but now her grandson is coming to live with her so we had to move. We moved a little further up the mountain and now live with Sister Wilson who has a Down syndrome daughter who is the sweetest girl ever, I already love her. It's an amazing house and we live in her basement. We live super far away from our area now. It takes about an hour to walk to one of the wards we cover, so we now have to rely on members giving us rides a lot more.

Sister Sharp left the Logan Utah mission on Sunday. She is a two transfer missionary and got her new mission call to Modesto, California and will enter the MTC January 25th. I learned a lot being companions with her. She is a great missionary and super obedient. I learned a lot of patience and charity, but I'm glad to have been her companion.

 Well that's all for this week! I really hope I have a good next transfer in Ben Lomond. The members are amazing here, they are so nice and are always trying to help us out. I love being a missionary even in hard areas. I know as I trust in God, anything is possible.

Love you all,

 Sister Lowe