Week 30: Happy New Year!! 2019 - Here We Come!

Heyyyyy everyone!! So this week has been such an interesting week! First of all, my phone hasn't worked at all this whole week. It has been super frustrating especially when I want to contact members and all the people we teach. It has taught me a lot about being patient and it has actually made me way more focused on just working. I cant spend anytime on my phone, so more time for working and finding people. 

Basically this week has been soooo much finding. My comp and I made the decision that we need to get more people to teach. We have found 10 people this week, and we continue to just find, find, and teach. It is funny I have this guy this week who didn't seem too interested at first, but we came back and invited him to church and he and his daughter came. What a miracle! Overall, I have learned so much this week. My companion and I both talk to about 30 people everyday (60 people in total) and we get rejected a ton. But it is so amazing to testify of Jesus Christ. That he came to this earth to atone for our sins and has given us the opportunity to have eternal happiness if we will just follow him. I got to testify about Jesus Christ's birth on Christmas day to so many people. I was able to share the video "he is the gift" to about 5 people, and I could feel God's love for the people. But that is pretty much all I did on Christmas.

Specifically to my family (you can skip this part)

Oh wait...yeah I video called my family too!!!! It was soo amazing to see you all. Shoutout to my family for being the best family ever. I seriously have the best mom, dad, and siblings. Mom, you light my world and have always been my biggest fan. I can't begin to tell you how grateful i am for your unconditional love. No matter how many mistakes I have made in this life, you always pick me up with loving arms! I love you mom. Dad, you are the person I look up to most in this world. You are so Chirst-like and have always been my best friend. I miss shooting hoops with you, watching sports, playing tennis, and so much more. You are my greatest example and I cant wait to see you again. One day we will be speaking Thai together and no one will no what we are saying...gonna be so fun!!! Jessica and Tate, I love you both soo much. Jessica being my oldest sister, we have such a great bond and have way way too many inside jokes! LOVE you chunky ;) So grateful for you and the greatest brother in law ever. Tell Cayson I love him too! Devon and Sierra, Love you bro! I look up to you and your wonderful testimony. You are such a great disciple of Christ and push me to be better. I am so glad you and Sierra are eternally sealed and are beyond happy. Sierra welcome to the family!! Marissa, I love you so much and am so grateful for our amazing friendship! You have such an amazing personality and literally one of the funniest people ever. I am so grateful to have you as my sister!! By the way, you don't have to wait for me to get home to get married. Haha love you Maria :))

Love you family, you all rock and I feel so blessed to be able to be with my family for all time and eternity.

So yeah I got to Skype call my family for an hour and right when I saw my sister and mom's face I started crying. LOL I couldn't control myself, but I guess and I just miss and love them so much! Also thank you family for all the wonderful presents! Love you!!

This next week is going to be very interesting because everyone is so busy during the new year. I am guessing a lot of people will cancel on us, but I am excited to see what happens. The mission president came down to Phuket this week and fired me up again. I am ready to fire this place up and start baptizing! That is about all I have for this week. Sorry it is such a choppy email. I promise next week will be better! Again no pictures, but probably next week there will be a lot! 

I love you all and Happy NEW Year! 2019 is already here...so crazy. You all are the best!

Love, 

Elder Lowe 

(No photos again - next week for sure)

Over Christmas Break

What an amazing Christmas Break we had --- It started with Jessica and Tate's arrival in Cincinnati.  I drove up there on Thursday evening so I could get them in the early morning - they took a red eye here.  We slept in, then Tate had a phone interview at noon.  While he was on the interview call, Jessica and I drove to find a McDonald's for breakfast.  YUM!

From the hotel, I took the kids to the Newport Aquarium - we had a blast - there is a separate post for this.

Unfortunately it took Devon a few days to get here.  He was due in Friday evening at 10 pm, but his flight was canceled out of Denver so he was stuck there for the night.  Then his only option was to fly into Indianapolis Saturday at midnight.  We had to put him up in a hotel there too, because the weather was so bad that night.  I drove up early Sunday morning to get Devon and then we drove back and immediately went to church so we could take the sacrament.  I'm so grateful to have a child that completely and utterly understands and appreciates the atoning gift of our Savior so much that he wanted nothing more than to get to church to partake of the sacrament.  While there, Devon was also able to see Steven Saxey (he spoke in church for returning home from his mission).

The whole break was filled with wonderful, funny, precious moments with Jessica, Tate, Devon, Robert and Mark and I.

Monday we took the whole family to see Rogue One - the next Star Wars movie - we all LOVED it!!!

On Tuesday evening Betsy brought Chinese food home for everyone to enjoy before we had a special family outing.  Betsy and Mark treated the family to go see "A Christmas Carrol" by Charles Dickens at Actors theater.  Tickets were $80 each, but they were so worth it.  We were third row back, slightly to the right of center stage!!!  Every dressed up the the evening - it was magical!!!

Wednesday, Tate and Jessica celebrated an early Christmas with us because they had to leave around 5:00 to catch their flight to spend the rest of Christmas break with Tate's family, but as we were on the road (not far) for Cincinnati, Tate received a message that their flight had been canceled.  Oh my Gosh!!!  No way.  And to make it worse - Frontier Airlines had no flights until Friday.  CRAZY!!! We felt bad for them because they are going to miss so fun times with Tate's family, but it was out gain!  We got to have two more days with them.

Since Jessica and Tate were with us an extra day, we took the family to Longhorn Stakehouse on Thursday night.  It is Betsy's favorite restaurant because it has the most delicious Ribeye stake.  Our dinner was delayed and delayed.  We had a fun time waiting for the food, but it was poor service.  The manager and waiter felt so bad, they gave us everything at 1/2 price.  What a great deal for us.  The whole meal only came to $45 dollars.

Friday, we drove Tate and Jessica up to Cincinnati and said our goodbye.  We sure love them and will miss them.  They are the cutest couple!  So full of love and appreciation for each other.

We did all our traditional Christmas activities - baking and decorating cookies and ginger bread houses!!!  We also had our traditional shepherd's dinner by candle light on the family room floor and watched the Polar Express (well 1/2 of it because Devon didn't want to be up after midnight so that Santa could come).  LOVE HIM!!!

Christmas was awesome!!!  Everyone had a wonderful time opening their presents and being filled with the love that everyone has for each other!  It's a special time.  We really miss Marissa which made it all the sweeter to get to SKYPE with her Christmas afternoon!!  She looks great and sounds fantastic.  Devon and Robert had a great time talking with her, so did Mark and I.  It was so hard to say goodbye but we eventually had to let her go.

After Christmas Devon, and Robert had fun playing games with each other - it was so wonderful to have the family home for a while.  Devon had to leave Saturday for BYU, so he could get settled in, get his books and  to leave with time incase he wad delayed again...

Devon's Skype - Week 80

Devon Skyped just a little after 1:00 our time on Christmas day.  It was perfect timing.  Mark, Robert, Jessica, Tate and Marissa were just about to leave to go play basketball but were delayed - and that is exactly when Devon called.

We Skyped with him for an hour.  Everyone was there and we all talked to him at the same time.  It was so great to hear him talk and see his face, his smile, his laugh!!!

I was so happy!  This was the highlight of my Christmas this year.  I have really  missed knowing all that goes on in his life and I love him so much - it was wonderful to see him, hear him and express my love for him.

He said the closing prayer with us and it made us all cry - it was so heartfelt and the spirit was so strong.  He prayed for all of us by name.  He prayed with gratitude and love.

Mother's Day SKYPE with DEVON

It's Mother's Day - it's actually a holiday that I don't like - I don't like the attention or the disappointment.  BUT TODAY is different, I can't wait to hear from my son, Devon!!!  

I have missed him so much!  He has now been serving a mission for 11 months - almost a whole year!

I have been looking forward to this SKYPE for months.  This photo is what it is all about - look at that smile - that's what I live for!  To see his joy!!!

This is another photo that just captures the pure joy of the moment (hour) ... it shows the smile on my face and his!!!

All day long I waited to hear from DEVON for my Mother's Day Skype!!!

It was the best hour and 15 minutes with him.  We had such a great talk - all of us were gathered around the laptop to talk to him. 

Christmas Skype

Oh my gosh!!!!  It was soo good to see this amazing face!

Devon was so confident and mature.  He was in complete control.  He was so composed and collected!  I have always been impressed by Devon, rising to the occasion, but you can so evidently see how much he has grown and developed by being on his mission.  I know this has always been the Lord's plan for him.  He has been prepared through a long 19 years with multiple experiences that would teach him what he needed to know to be prepared for his mission!  I am so proud of him.  It just makes my heart soar and my eyes leak (if you know what I mean).

On a more jovial note ... when Jessica and I were shopping in Tokyo we saw this Picachu pen and knew we had to buy it for Devon.  He just opened it - he loves it!!!

Devon waited to open his Christmas presents with us, which was something I wasn't expecting because Jessica didn't do that - but she had to go to an internet cafe to skype us while Devon is living with a member, so he has access to the internet at their house.  It was so great to see him and hear his voice!

Devon shared some special experiences - it was just so wonderful to hear him and see him.  We talked for just over an hour.  Oops!