Thanksgiving Trip to Provo, Logan and Broise

We are so excited to go to Provo and Boise for Thanksgiving.  We were able to get Robert out of school for two days, and Betsy has the whole week off!  We arrived into Provo on Saturday in the afternoon and headed to Cafe Rio in Springvale so avoid the line in Provo, but it also had a long line.  Long line or not, it was delicious.  Devon had to work so we are meeting him at the Marriott Center for the BYU basketball game. 

Thumbs up from Mark

Since Devon couldn't eat with us, we brought him food

The game

So awesome:  Mark, Devon, Robert, Jessica and Tate at the game

Buds back together again

 BYU won the game - YEA!!!  It was so exciting.  Jessica was able get us seats down in the student section for the second half!  IT was awesome.  We are so close!!!

After the game, we were on our way out and we saw Cosmo!!!  Awesome! I have always wanted my photo with Cosmo!

On Sunday we went to Jessica's church in the morning, and then we went to Devon's church in the afternoon.  It was a long day but wonderful.

Mom, Devon's roommate, and Devon at church on Sunday
His brother is serving his mission in Kentucky

 Monday was supposed to be a great day hiking to the Y but the fog and haze set in making it unhikable.  Instead, Robert did college visit - we took Jessica and Tate to lunch IHOP.

Robert leaving the admissions office

A photo for Marissa 

The Provo City temple

The whole crew at the Theater.

Since we couldn't hike the Y we went to go see the movie "Fantastic Beasts."  Jessica and Betsy loved it - it's a Harry Potter plot.

While in Provo we also go to see the Bosco family.  So fun to see them just before Jeremiah leaves for his mission.

The next day we drove to Logan to deliver presents to Marissa.  We first stopped at Target to do some last minute shopping.  We than went to the campus so Robert could tour the accounting department.  The entire time we were on campus I was looking for her!!!  I didn't want her to see me, I just wanted to see her.  We then drove to the mission office.  It is much smaller than I expected (I don't know why).  We met some super nice senior Sisters that assisted me in bringing in everything for Sister Lowe.  We dropped off a Thanksgiving Care Package that we stuffed with all her favorite treats, cereal, crackers, kisses, pretzels, etc.

We also left her the 12 days of Christmas presents, and her presents from the family.  It was so so so hard to be in Logan and not see her.  I was in silent tears most of the time that we were in Logan.  It was so hard to be so close and yet not be able to find her or see her or even say Hi.  Torture!!!

We then drove up to Boise.

We played games in the lobby of the hotel until late at night.

 I got these great candid shots of Devon, Tate and Jessica having some fun!!!

The next morning we all got together in our room before heading to meet Jordan and Michelle Lowe and Brittney and her kids at a Hawaiian restaurant, Island kine Grinds in Nampa.

Jeff, Brit, Jordan, Michelle, Phoenix, Devon, Ricker and Betsy, Mark and Robert

Brothers:  Jordan and Mark

Riker and Devon

After lunch we went was to the family that wrote us a letter about Devon (the bacon story), but they weren't home.  

We visited a family (only the dad was home) of where Devon lived with Elder Jones.  Devon said she was very strict about keeping everything very clean.  He was a super nice man and very talented.  

We visited with a few families including Gladice - Devon's first convert.  We had a wonderful time talking with her.  She talked about Devon with such love and admiration.  She showed us all his hard work in her garden.  

This is the spot of one of my favorite photos from Devon's mission - so we did a then/now photo.

We also stopped in at the Boscoe family to say hi, but had to hurry out for dinner with the Carsons.  The Carson's have a beautiful home.  It was very casual - a big salad and a big pot of homemade macaroni and cheese.  Delicious!!  Elder Bodine's parents joined us there.  They had moved to the area!!  Actually, they were going to move there from CA but then Elder Bodine got his mission call there, so they had to wait two year - how crazy is that.




 We dropped Dad and Robert off at the hotel to play games with Jordan and Jeff while Devon took me to visit with more families.  Our first stop was to Erik.  Devon taught Erik over and over about the gospel.  Erik was a hard, determined Atheist but has now been a member of the church for a year!  He loves serving.  He shared with us that he had to give a talk in church on Sunday and invited us to attend.  Since we were not going to be there, he share it with us then - it was amazing!!!  Such a privilege to meet Erik and his family.



This sweet couple served as office missionaries while Devon was on his mission.

 It was late but Devon insisted that this family wouldn't care.  We stopped at the Crane's house.  They have a daughter, their first, serving a mission in Brazil.  They were such a fun couple to visit with.  They had nothing but wonderful things to say about Devon.  Their house was decorated to the max in Christmas decor.  It was so festive.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving day we drove to Temple Rock to hick with Jordan and Jeff.

We passed the Boise State Arena - it has blue artificial turf. 

Robert, Betsy, Mark, Devon, Jordan and Jeff

It didn't seem like a bad hike, but we deviated from the given path, going on a more vertical hike - oh my gosh it was tough.  The boys did it no problem, and made it to the top in no time.  Jordan struggled, and so did I a bit - just trying to keep up with them was too much.  BUT, we all made it and had a great time.  It was very windy at the top.  We took the easy way down - Betsy was even able to run it - wow, that made huge difference.  The steepness of the climb was the biggest factor to get over.  There has to be a spiritual analogy to this.

This is a look down at the way we came up - I'm not sure if you can tell how quickly the elevation rises.

On the way back we stopped at the Boise Temple.  It's beautiful!!!!

We also stopped at the mission office.  It was surprisingly unlocked, but no one was there.  We looked around, and then left.  

On our last day there, Devon took me to meet a special family to him.  He grew to have deep appreciation for this family because they were raising a little boy with autism.  He told them, right before he left to come home from his mission, that he too had autism.  They really loved and respected that Devon shared that with them.  Seeing Devon on his mission gave them hope that their son would also have that opportunity and would develop and grow into a fine young man like Devon.  

I felt so close to them!!!  

The next day we had to get on the road back to Salt Lake.  We visited with Alan and Susan for a little bit, but stayed at a hotel since they had a full house.  What a great trip!!!

Robert Applies to College

Starting October 17 through today, Robert has been working on getting his college application together.

He had to get transcripts sent, ACT scores, retake the ACT, record information, and write essays.

So glad that's done.  Now all we have to do is wait.

Week 26 - Happy Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!

So this was probably the longest and slowest weeks of my entire mission...

So this week was thanksgiving break which means all the college students left for home. Campus was a ghost town. We knocked pretty much our whole area and... No one was home, yay! Most of the students here left Sunday and skipped classes on Monday and Tuesday. All of our investigators left last Sunday and have been gone the entire week which really stunk!

I made this sign for Sister Schultz 3 month anniversary

So in order to stay productive this week we did a TON of service!

Which Actually was so much fun!

- So we raked the cemetery leaves for 4 hours one day

Our group that raked leaves

- we helped this old lady out by cleaning her whole house

- we passed out hot chocolate at the zoo for a few hours

Passing out hot chocolate at the Zoo for four hours

- we helped out at the family place by making thanksgiving cards for all of the donors

 - we helped move in this one college student into a different apartment complex.

Yep we did a lot but is was so great! 

Zone Conference with two zones

Marissa with her companion, Sister Schultz

There is a new Christmas video called Light the World (it's on Mormon.org). It is so good!! Like, I felt the spirt so strongly as I watched it...it gave me goosebumps! The video is all about being Christ like in today's world. Although Christ is not physically on the earth now, we can be like Christ and follow his example and do service for others.

Thanksgiving Day

We went to Bishop Stones for thanksgiving dinner. They are the nicest family ever! We were the Judges for the desserts. There were 13 desserts and we had to eat each one in order to judge correctly! I was so full by the end, but It was a lot of fun:)

Marissa with Bishop Stone and his wife

So this week wasn't that eventful, but I am so grateful to be a missionary even in the hard and slow weeks like we had. I'm grateful for this wonderful gospel that we have and for my loving savior Jesus Christ! I love you all and hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Sister Lowe

P.S: BYU WON THIS WEEK!! Woot woot. Although I'm on USU campus and an Aggie, I still love my Cougars!

Week 25 - no heat

Hello everyone!
Hope everyone had a good week so far! My week went by so fast...I
can't believe it's Pday already!
So these are the things that happened this week:

1. IT SNOWED!!! Logan is so pretty when it snows! The only bad part is that we are outside all day street-contacting on campus or knocking doors so we are freezing...but it's all good!

2. I went on exchanges this week! So this transfer only the new missionaries (the missionaries who have been out from 1-12 weeks) had STLs. So I don't have an STL, but Sister Schultz does. So Hermana Daughtry came with Sister Schultz and I went with Hermana Izelo. So I got to be Spanish for day and it was so fun! First off Hermana Izelo is awesome and so fun to be around. Second off, I'm not that good at Spanish, haha. I tried to speak a little when first meeting someone because I took 2 years of Spanish in high school but then they would talk super-fast and I'd look at Hermana Izelo and then she'd answer,haha! But it was a super fun day and I got to see families and kids which was a change!

3. Last thing... So apparently the heater in our apartment doesn't work. So it's been 58 degrees in our apartment at night which is super cold. I sleep with 2 blankets, a sweatshirt, leggings, sweat pants over leggings, and a hat because I'm that cold! We are getting it fixed I think next week so we are happy for that. We told the elders about it and that night when we came home there was a bag on our door step. There was a note that said "stay warm sisters!" And it had a blanket in it, hand warmers, and candy in it! We were so thankful and I'm so glad we have nice elders in our zone! It’s been a good week! We had a lot of lessons and found two new investigators and both of them came to church this week and said they liked it! Next week is gonna be really rough because All of our investigators are going home so we have no lessons next week set up yet...so we will be doing a lot of service to keep us busy!

I just want to share a short message just before thanksgiving hits. I am so thankful for this gospel. It brings me so much joy and happiness. It's a different kind of happiness that I get, that I couldn't ever feel with anything else. I am so grateful that I was raised in the gospel and that I have such amazing parents who taught me to follow Jesus Christ in everything that I do. I am thankful for my wonderful siblings who have been such great examples to me to lead me to go on a mission which has been the greatest decision of my life. I am thankful for all of the friends that I have made over the years and the love they had for me.

I encourage you all to look on your life and think of the things that you truly are grateful for. It brings you peace and comfort to reflect on what God has given you:)

Love you all! And have a HaPpY ThAnKsGiViNg!

Sister Lowe

Marissa and Sister Schultz

Marissa and Sister Brunt

Week 24 - to MOM

Hey mom!

I actually was outside of the game at that time. We were walking back and forth from the stadium talking to people as they went to the game! That is so funny that you were watching it too!

It's been a good week! I wrote about most of it in my group email!

I wrote this is my email to dad: but I thought you'd like to know too:)

On Sunday... It was so busy! We had no time for breakfast or lunch, so we fasted without even trying to. We have correlation at 7am so we are up at 6am and then we don't go home until 9:30pm! Long day but good!  So at 7pm we had our missionary fireside that we had members bring their nonmember roommates to. Earlier this week the Deweys (senior missionaries) asked me to speak at this senior fireside. This was also at 7pm. So we went on splits with members so we could make it to both of them. I spoke at the senior thing and it was in front of all these senior couples who are trying to decide on whether they want to go on a mission. I was there to share my experiences with the seniors and how they have helped. President Allred spoke, elder Larsen (of the

seventy) spoke, sister and elder Bryner (the head senior couple) spoke, and I spoke! So the pressure was on but I did it and it went really well.

I've noticed how much I have grown on my mission! I used to be so nervous before standing in front of people and I would just read what I wrote before the talk. I didn't even look at my paper that I wrote and I only got a tiny bit nervous! When I sat back down I thought to myself...was that really me up there speaking! I've just noticed a big change in me. My confidence has gone up as I do public speaking and I'm not as afraid anymore! Missions change you for the better!

Well hope you have had a great week! Love you! Also could you send me the pics those members sent you this week. Because I think I look really bad in them so could you not post the ones that the members sent you this week...sorry!

Okay love ya!

Sister Lowe