Week 86: Count your Blessings

Sorry I didn't get this email out last week! I'm going to send 2 out this week to catch back up. This week I went to a district council in Bangbuathong and we totally surprised them. They talked a lot about the importance of unity as a companionship and loving your companion. It made me think about my relationships with my companions over my mission. I'm grateful for all my awesome comps and the things I learned from them.

So I got to do so me cool switch offs this week with 2 of my close friends on the mission. First, I switched off with my MTC companion, Elder Ward, who is such a good hard working missionary. We saw so many MIRACLES and I just love being on the errand of the Lord. God helped us through having our morning appointment cancel right as we were about to get on bikes and leave from the church, which led to us walking inside and finding that Bishop just so happened to have the day off and was in his office. It was powerful to discuss with him his vision for the ward, commit our service to him, and then invite him and his wife to go help us teach Brother Den, who is a new member of the church. After teaching and Ministering to him with the bishop, wow did he keep the commitments we gave him! We invited him, whenever he had friends who questioned his faith, for him to simply accept these things and say "Hey, let me have two of my friends come to explain more about what I believe".

After going and getting some lunch, we went back to his classroom and immediately two of his friends asked him what it meant that he had received the Aaronic priesthood (as the bishop had just given him his ordination certificate confirming he had been ordained a priest). Immediately we looked at each other, and he turned to us and told his friends to ask us and listen to what we had to say. We had such an amazing conversation and came to find out his two friends, brother Bright and sister Nat, have had a belief in God for a long time now, but now everything makes sense to them. So excited for them to continue to come to know their Heavenly Father and their Savior Jesus Christ as they continue to learn of Him more!

My switch off with Elder Bird was awesome as well! We taught so many people and we just worked. Honestly is the best feeling to just work as hard as you can and then just come home at night drenched in sweat!
I also had the opportunity to switch off with Elder Kearsley and Elder Palmer, while my companion was in a meeting for missionaries that are going home.

We put Arthur on a date for February 23rd on Sunday and he is progressing so well!! Keep praying for miracles here in Thailand.

Lastly, Elder Sunsion and I got to go out with President Hammond to visit Suwat and his family. We taught about the importance of family and we even read the Family Proclamation to the world with him. I love being a missionary and teaching families the good news! I hope everyone has a good week and I hope that everyone will count the blessings in your life.

Love,
Elder Lowe
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Elder Sunsion, Suprakrit, and Robert in Chung Buri

Robert with one of Dad's mission friends, Dave Boland

Farewell for Elder Sunsion

Robert with Elder Palmer and Elder Kearsley and a new member

Robert with Elder Ward, the Bishop and his wife, and the new member

Looks like ice cream - where did they get that in Thailand

Robert, Elder Ward and the group of friends

Robert, Elder Sunsion with Bright and Nat ?

Robert and Elder Sunsion - what a great companionship

Week 83: The Power of the Book of Mormon

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are excited for this new year! For me, I didn't do really anything special for the new year, but I have made some great goals and I'm excited for a new beginning again. I have been in Thailand since 2018, so it's very weird to me that this will be the year that I go home. I'm excited to serve with all my might these last 5 months! 

This new year I'm really excited to focus my studies on the Book of Mormon and just really dive into it. We have been focusing our finding efforts, teaching efforts, and our studying on the Book of Mormon and I've seen so many miracles already. I'll share 2 really quickly...

First, my companion and I were visiting a member and at first he wasn't there because he was a little late to our appointment. However, a man was passing us and we started talking to him. We got to know him and I asked if he got anything cool for Christmas last week. He said he didn't get anything and it just so happened that I had a wrapped Book of Mormon in my hand at that time. I gave it to him and he opened it and we got to talk about the Book of Mormon and how it has completely changed our lives. He loved it and wanted to start reading it with us right then and there. It was such a miracle and it strengthened my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon! 

Second, I was walking down the street and I saw some people lifting some boxes into a truck, so I stopped and helped them out. One of the guys, out of nowhere, asked me what church I'm from. So I told him and he said he loves reading books, including the Bible. I told him I had another book, called the Book of Mormon, that I would give to him the next time we met. He was thrilled and told us that he would meet us at the church! I believe the Book of Mormon opens people's hearts and is such a powerful tool in conversion. 

On Friday, I got to switch off in an old area of mine. I got to go back to Don Muang for a day and switch off with Elder Halversen again! It was so much fun because I got to visit so many people that I taught and show Elder Halversen some of the LAs that I visited while I was there. I saw Sister ซี (See), Brother เพชร (Pet) and Sister กิ๊ก (Gig)! I love that area and the people there so much! 

Lastly, I want to talk about 3 cool individuals and families we are teaching. One, is a little 9 year old boy named น้ำแข็ง (Nahm Keng), who is so ready for the gospel. We gave him the children's Book of Mormon and he had just been reading a ton from it. He was recounting the story of Joseph Smith and Nephi to us better than all the adults that we teach. He loves the gospel and he loves praying! 

Second, we are teaching this one family that has a ton of kids. The dad's name is โกฮัง (Gohang) and the mom's name is แก้ว (Gaew). They have such great faith and want to be baptized, but we haven't got the dad to come to church yet. We hope that the Lord will provide a miracle and help them get to church soon!

Third, สุวัฒน์ (Suwat) and his family. His son พัช (Pat) is actually a recent convert and wants us to teach his family, including his dad, aunt, and sister. The dad is progressing so much and is just the nicest guy, and his sister comes to church and has told us she wants to be baptized. I'm really excited for this family and for their desire to learn more about Jesus Christ and how to follow him. 

I'm so excited for this new year and for all the miracles in store! I hit my 19 month mark today, which is just crazy! I love you all and may God bless you this year. 

Love, 

Elder Lowe 

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Watermelon for the APs:  Elder Sunsion and Elder Lowe

Week 79: It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

It's really beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Believe it or not...Thailand is sooo cold right now. I've been freezing the last several days, no joke. It is usually around 90-100 degrees every day, but this week the weather dropped to the 60s-70s and let's just say I was not ready. My parents told me that Thailand would never get cold so I have no jackets, sweatshirts, coats, etc. Thank you mom and dad, haha, jk!

Right now as I am writing this email I feel completely exhausted. This week has felt so long and has overall been very tiring on me. Needless to say, it was an amazing week full of miracles and cool experiences.

I officially hit my 18 month mark on Friday!!

To start the week we went around to some different members and worked on our member board! We were able to share the wonderful Christmas message with some members in Roi Et before leaving to the other areas this week. As a Zone Leader I get the privilege to travel around the area often and visit other missionaries in different areas. This week I got to go all over the Isaan and I even got to go to Bangkok. I switched off in Ubon on Wednesday, Korat on Thursday, Sisaket on Friday, and Asoke on Saturday. These different areas are pretty far from each other, so yeah it was a week of traveling.

Traveling this week was brutal for 2 reasons. 1) we traveled at night so I probably got about 10 hours of sleep total this week and 2) I was so so cold. However, I am done complaining about this past week and I want to talk about all the cool experiences that happened. 

On Wednesday I switched off with Elder Fushee, who is on his first transfer. We did a lot of service, as we are trying to light the world, and we visited some members in Ubon. I want to talk about 1 member in particular that has been a blessing to me. Her name is Sister Tip (ทิพย์) and she is a recent convert to the church. I had visited her about 2 months ago with another missionary, before she was baptized, and at that time she had no desire to be baptized. She was drinking with her friends and family, and not really paying attention to us. Me and the other missionary decided to love her enough to help her, not JUDGE her. We read the Book of Mormon with her that day and applied every verse into her own life and she was amazed. She couldn't believe how this one book was "written for her." Anyway, fast forward to about a month ago where I got to interview her for baptism. She had changed a lot from that first moment to the day of her baptism and I was so proud of her. Okay fast forward to Wednesday this week when I went with Elder Fushee. We came to teach her follow up lessons about the restoration and she started crying. She had goosebumps and had another witness by the Holy Ghost at that moment that what we were telling her was true. She told us she has quit alcohol for almost 2 months now and that she wanted to help her family to do the same. She also told us that she has a desire to share the gospel with her family and she wants the missionaries to teach and baptize her family as well. Miracles really do exist!

On Thursday I was in Korat on a switch off with Elder Blood, who I first met in the MTC. He came to country about a month after I did, so it was really cool to spend a day with him and see how he is doing. This Elder is solid and is a very social man; he loves talking to people, so we used that skill and decided to talk with everyone we could. We visited a bunch of members and shared the message of Christmas with them. I love asking people what is the meaning of Christmas? Or what is the best gift you could ever receive? And after that asking them how is Jesus Christ a gift in your life? Or what role does He play in your life? I'm truly grateful for my Heavenly Father who gave his Son to us to be our Savior and Redeemer. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ that he did everything for me and allows me to return back to my Heavenly Father again.

On Friday, I was in Sisaket and I switched off with Elder Cruz. I got to interview another lady for baptism who just got baptized yesterday! We basically did the same thing in Sisaket and visited some Less Active members and got them excited for this Christmas season.

Lastly, on Saturday I was in Bangkok and I switched off with the Assistants. I switched off with Elder Sumsion who goes home in less than 2 months. He is a very talented guy and way humble about it too. He is by far the best Thai speaker on the mission, it is literally insane. But, what I learned from him is the importance of getting less active more involved in missionary work. We had an appointment with this one less active named เจดน์ (jade), and we got to show him a Christmas video. He felt uplifted and bore his testimony of the Savior. We were so impressed that we asked him to come with us to our next appointment and share his testimony again. He agreed and brought such a strong spirit with him into the next lesson!

We got back to Roi Et on Sunday morning, showered, and then immediately went to church! I have had absolutely 0 breaks this weeks haha. But, we had a miracle at church this week with one of the people we are teaching. We have been teaching this guy named Ping (ปิง) for a long time (he has been am investigator for about 2 years). He has been to church a billion times, received the missionary lessons all the way through 4 times, and has wanted to be baptized for such a long time. However, he is 17 and he told us that his mom didn't give him permission to be baptized. That changed today when she walked into the church and my companion and I got to meet her for the first time. We gave her a church tour with another member at our side and she immediately gave permission for her son to be baptized. I'm honestly so excited for him and his eternal progression. He is set to be baptized on Sunday, December 22nd, which is in 2 weeks! Yayyy!

Again so sorry this was so long, but I just have felt so blessed this week. I love you all so much and I hope everyone is doing good. I invite you all to remember the true meaning of Christmas this Christmas season. Take some time to think of all the things that your Savior has done does you!! Trust me there's a lot.

Love,
Elder Lowe
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PUPPIES!

On the Road again!

Christmas Tree in Thailand!

Week 73: Bad Decisions 101

This last week has been one of the most memorable weeks on my mission. I learned a ton about what loving others means and why being empathetic is so much more important than being sympathetic. I have so much love for the people we are teaching especially this wonderful family that we have been teaching for the last 6 weeks. 

The family we are teaching is still progressing and have really developed individual testimonies of the things we are teaching. We visited another person we are teaching, and the family wanted to come and help us teach. I feel like true conversion happens when you want to share the joy and blessings of the gospel with others. By the time Sunday came around the family brought that investigator that we taught together to church! What a blessing and miracle!

On Wednesday, me and Elder Laurence switched off and made a video about sharing joy and the gospel with others. We still have to edit it, but we hope to get it out soon!

On Thursday, I did a switch off with Elder Tu in Yasothorn. If you can remember from last week, me and Elder Despain, and Elder Tu ate 40 peppers in our Somtam. It was so hot that I had started shaking and I drank like 30 glasses of ice water. Anyways, a couple days after that we heard that the record for missionaries in Thailand was 80 peppers. Elder Tu said we needed to beat that and he knew a member that could make Somtam with as many peppers as we wanted. Since we are serving in Roi Et, which literally means 101 in Thai, we told the member to prepare 3 plates of 101 peppers. We got to Yasothorn and we counted out the peppers ourselves twice to confirm there were 101 peppers. The member started making the Somtam and we knew that we were gonna be in trouble. It was just a plate full of peppers and to be honest I was really nervous to eat this. I bought two big water bottles, a bag of ice, a cup, and said a prayer for our health. Elder Tu, Elder Despain, and me started eating this insanely spicy plate and it was bad news from the beginning. Our mouths were on fire and my stomach felt like someone kept hitting it with a baseball bat. Elder Tu and Elder Despain gave up halfway because they couldn't take it anymore; Elder Tu ended up throwing up from the spice. But, I finished the whole thing after like an hour of eating and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. My body shut down and I thought I was going to pass out. I promise mom I won't do that again, but at least I got the new record for the Thailand Bangkok Mission (The land of the spice).

On Friday, the Ubon Elders came up and switched off with us in Roi Et. The Elders in Ubon are very good at making videos, so we decided to make a ton of more videos about our Free English Class! 

Lastly, today for p day we went pretty close to the Lao border and me and Elder Laurence bought a ton of Thai and Lao fabric. In Thailand we can buy a bunch of cool fabric and make them into pretty cool ties. I love the Thai culture and the people here! Zone conference is coming up next week and I'm excited to share a lot of the things I've learned on the mission with younger missionaries. 

I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Lowe

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All the Fabric 

Robert with 101 hot peppers that will be made into Somtom

My favorite picture of Robert in Roi Et

Eating somtom with 101 peppers - WHAT!!!!