Week 76: Members #1

So it has been an interesting week for sure. Definitely one that I'll never forget. 

Transfer calls came on Tuesday night and one of the Elders in my house was not too happy about the next transfer coming up. He was completely silent the rest of the night and he decided to walk out of the house around 10:20pm to get some fresh air. He didn't bring his phone or any money either, so we knew he was just going to be right outside the house. He had been out there for a while and we are supposed to go to bed at 10:30pm, so we knew something was up. We then checked on him and he was just outside the house sitting down and thinking about life. We told him he needed to come back in for the night and he said just give him a sec. So we went inside and waited for a couple minutes and he still didn't come in. I was kind of worried something bad was going to happen and so we went back out and he was gone. We looked for him for about an hour after calling the President, but we had no luck. In the end he didn't come back to the house till about 2:00am that night! So yeah kind of a weird start to this transfer. 

Also one of the sisters in my MTC group just finished her mission this week, which is insane! I'm getting so old on the mission :/

We ate at a pizza buffet last week for p day and I ate probably over 30 slices of pizza (it was thin crust though). All in all, I felt way sick afterwards and never wanted to eat pizza again haha. 

We focused on some LA work this week by visiting members with other members. We are gonna make a strong push to meet with as many members as we can this transfer. Specifically bringing members to visit other members! The key to missionary work is the members and there is no way around that. Members trust each other, they understand the culture, the little things that missionaries miss. I can't stress the importance of working with members to strengthen other members and investigators. It is crucial!

On Saturday I got to work in Ubon for a service project. It was a whole zone service project, similar to the one we had last transfer. We got to scrape off paint in this one building, and then repaint it with a better color. It's very exhausting to scrape off paint trust me!!

The next day was Stake Conference in Sisaket, which was awesome! The members in Thailand are so great and have such strong testimonies. 

Lastly I interviewed with President after Stake Conference and he taught me a thing or two about Patience and Charity. I feel like I have become a little impatient lately, but my mission President reminds me that love is the most important thing. I need to have more love for those around me and have more empathy for them. 

Sorry this email was all over the place. I had like no time to write it! 

Love, 

Elder Lowe 

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Elder Depain

Missionary meal

Week 71: Saving one City at a time

It's been another crazy week in Thailand and I love being here. Unfortunately, I haven't been in my area like the entire week besides Sunday. 

On Tuesday night we traveled to Bangkok for MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference) on Wednesday. It's been one of those weeks where I literally got no sleep because I was on buses or trains over night. Also the AC in my room has been broken for the last week and now what I know what it's like to sweat all night. Shoutout to the missionaries in the Philippines! 

MLC was awesome and we talked about the impact we can have on Thailand through social media. We also talked about the importance of following spiritual promptings in all circumstances. After MLC we traveled to Ubon all night for a switch off the next day. 

I switched off with Elder Jensen on Thursday and we taught some really cool people. We taught this one guy named Winay who isn't ready for baptism because he won't give up smoking. Me and my companion ready in 2 Nephi 32 and talked a little bold with him about what he needs to do to be baptized. We made a schedule for him to quit smoking by next month. The lesson was full of the spirit and I'm excited to hear how he progresses in the near future. 

On Friday the entire zone came to Ubon to help clean up the floods from the month before. We literally had 20ish missionaries cleaning the floods up and building roofs, cleaning houses, and pretty much re-boosting the people's lives there. Service is so important and I learned so much about selfless service where we receive absolutely nothing in return. 

I have no time this week and my phone is about to die. love you all!!!

Buddhist Temples are amazingly beautiful.

Week 72 - AJ, CJ and TJ get Baptized - Tyler gets Baptized

Exciting things this week!

First and for most... TYLER WAS BAPTIZED!! Whoot whoot! It was such an amazing baptism. We found Tyler only two weeks ago but he has been prepared by the Holy Ghost and is now the newest member of Jesus Christ's church:)

Also.... AJ, CJ, and TJ were baptized!!! Hallelujah! I've been teaching them for 7 months straight when I was in Nibley and they finally were baptized this week!! I got to go back and speak at their baptism and it was just so great. My heart is full.

Okay so other awesome miracles. We met with Jospeh this week (new investigator) and taught him and he is now on date for baptism for November 4th! Yeet! His daughter passed away last week and we helped serve at the funeral and that's when we first met Joseph and he asked us to teach him more about what we believe about the after life. He seems super interested!

We also met this guy named Gary who came to church with his return missionary best friend and he wants to learn and take the lessons from us. We also tracted into a girl named Hailey who is 17 and she was interested in the missionary lessons and is open to baptism! MIRACLES PEOPLE! The Lord is just blessing us so much! Ahhh it's just so wonderful.

I'm starting to really like the area. Still trying to learn it all… it's HUGE! The thing is about down here is the people are really nice but they talk your ear off. People just love to talk. We will be walking and then stop someone on the street and they will just talk forever... like we talked to this non-member this week who literally talked to us for an hour on the street about stories in his life. He would not get to the point. My feet were dying and My legs were real tired after that conversation... and he wasn't interested...sadly:(

Okay so over the course of my mission I meet a lot of people who ask "has your mission changed you. Are you a changed person because of the mission?" And the answer is no. My mission hasn't changed me. I'm not a changed person because of my mission. On my mission I have come to know how to draw unto Christ. Am I changed? Yes. But it is Christ who has changed me. Christ has changed my life not my mission. Christ has made me want to become more like him and change for the better. In the scriptures it says "Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word" Alma 5:7

Mighty change comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ - Simple obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Change is about becoming. It is what we have become not who we were. We need to become one with Christ, have his doctrine embedded in our hearts, and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ changes us for the better:)

Love you all!!

Sister Lowe

Lots of pics!

1-3. Tyler's baptism

 4-5. AJ, CJ, TJs baptism

 6. Got to see Jackie and Bryan!!! Oh how I miss them!!!

7-8. Zone service project

Holy Cow - look at the size of that fallen tree

9-11. On our way back from the baptism we got to see the Brigham city temple!

 12. District meeting pic with Sister Coakley

Week 55 - Father's Day

So to start....

HAPPY LATE FATHERS DAY! All of the talks on Sunday were on fathers and I go to three different sacrament meetings so it really got me thinking. So I just want to say how amazing my dad is and how much I miss and love him! You're the best dad! 

Okay so I thought last week went by fast, but this week was like a second long. I feel like yesterday was last Pday, but I guess this means I'm losing myself in the work since time goes by so fast, We've been so busy this week, that the last time I got to do personal or companion study was last Tuesday! I love being busy though it keeps me going, but I miss my study time, haha. Okay so this week lots happened, but here are some few highlights:

I went on exchanges with Sister Chesley this week which was so awesome! We came out together in the MTC, so it was cool to see how much we have progressed since the MTC. We had so many miracles happen and it was just a fun day all together. Every door we knocked let us in and we got to share our message with them. It was crazy and we found a new investigator from it and a couple potentials also. Exchanges always bring miracles, for real! Also Sister Chesely is an amazing missionary and I'm pretty sure I learned more from the exchange than her even though I'm her STL, haha. 

Sewing project

The next day we got to go to USU campus for a service project. We had to learn how to sew and we sewed a bunch of felt together for like 4 hours (My mom would be so proud)! I got the hang of it after a while. It was so awesome to be on campus again. It was my first area and I haven't been there since. There were students who would stop me and be like "no way are you back on campus" I'd have to tell them no but it was cool that they remembered me!

We've had a couple lessons with Jackie this week. And she's been really struggling with giving up coffee. Well we told her to put a picture of Jesus in her coffee maker to help her not drink. So then the next lesson she said "look at my counter" so we looked and her coffee maker was gone! She told us that the Jesus picture really got to her and eventually she just put the coffee maker away to not be tempted. She also poured out all of her coffee beans in the trash can.... So. Much. Faith. She's now down to one cup of coffee a day, and is trying her hardest to give it up. She's having withdrawal symptoms with headaches and stuff but she is determined to give it up.

We had some lessons with Freddy and he is doing so awesome! He is so prepared and wants to be baptized on July 1st, so he is pretty solid!  YAY!

This week we had a Mission Tour and Elder Nattess from the seventy came and spoke to us. It was an amazing conference and I learned so much. At the end he had the missionaries that are going home this transfer bear their testimonies and man are those powerful. These missionaries just poured out their soul of how much they've love the mission and how they wish they could stay. I just love being on the mission so much, it'll be so hard when I have to leave (but I still got lots of time, so no worries!)

Okay so now for the best part of my week... IDA GOT BAPTIZED!!! Also today is her birthday and she's turning 87! Man her baptism was so spiritual. Her two grandsons spoke and both of their talks made my eyes water. They talked about how they've waited a long time for this day and that this is the happiest day of their life. Her son who is a convert got to baptize her and he said in a year from now we can be sealed as a family. How special!! Ida had to be dunked twice because her feet came up on the first dunk, but it all went good. Rachel (Ida's daughter in law) told us we are now officially apart of their family and told us how much we mean to them. It was such a special moment and I got to bear my testimony (yes I did cry) of how much I've loved teaching Ida. She was the first person we met in Nibley on February 29th and we just knocked her door and now she is baptized!! Miracles do happen.

Marissa so happy for Ida!
Marissa, Ida's baptism day and Sister Davis

The whole group with Ida on her baptism day

Such an amazing week. Something that's really been on my mind lately is the importance of a missionaries calling. This is the only time we get to serve our Heavenly Father for 24 hours each day non stop with no worldly distractions. This will be the only time that I can be most like the Savior. He was a missionary his whole life, and I've got 18 months to be just like him and serve with everything I've got. This will be the only time in my life so I've got to really make it count. I don't want to have any regrets, I just want to give it my all here. I will give everything and anything I have on this mission because the gospel has given me everything. I am just going to live it up and be happy:)

Sister Lowe

Lots of pics this week, sorry!

Marissa and Sister Schultz together again!  

Sister Brunt and Marissa together again!  

MTC Companions reunited:

Overlooking Logan with the temple in the back ground

Logan Heritage Days!

Beautiful Marissa

Sisters!