The Ocean is BLUE!

Ok! I got to go to the beach yesterday for district P-day! That was sooo fun! And one of the most beautiful things I've seen! And yes, the water is blue! And warm! We got there at like six to see the sunrise. Then we played volleyball for like ever. Of course I got bored and ended up a cheerleader on the sidline ;) My true calling in life hahaha. We finished P-day by doing the regular things. Except Sis. Halliday I think has food poisoning so that was hard because we had to stay home instead of going to teach Steve and Eric :( Which are our only investigators now. :( So we will be doing a lot of finding this week! Which, I actaully don't mind tracting really. I still get that little nervous feeling in my stomach before I knock on every door, but I could talk to anyone and everyone that I see on the street, and I love that! :)

 Saturday Nick got baptized! :) It was soooo amazing. We were so happy. I was smiling so much. And in a song on "The Work" CD it says "The most wonderful sound I ever heard, is the sound of water running in the church." I can totally see how true that is now! Him and his little family looked so beautiful! It was like a little taste of heaven ha. Their baby is sooo cute. But it is the hardest thing ever to not really play with him. :( That is like the hardest rule for me as a missionary probably ha! We hope they invite us when they get sealed in a year! His wife's family took us to dinner at this yummy seafood place after. I had to get the coconut shrimp because that was mom's favorite! :)

 We are no longer teaching Florence :( (the big black lady) She said she is going to go back to her chruch and try it out. But that if it doesn't work out she is going to call us. Which she actually sounded sincere about. She also said we can still visit her and thanked us for helping her resist satan and listen to God. That was really heart-breaking. But, like I've said before, everytime I even begin to get discouraged the Lord like, doesn't let me! He just helps me right back up! We listened to an amazing talk by Elder Holland in District Meeting that talks about how we are shoulder to shoulder with the Savior in our missionary work. Yes it's hard. But it wasn't easy for him, so why should it be easy for us? It was really spiritual! :)

 We are still teaching Steve and Eric. Besides we haven't seen them for awhile because they didn't come to church or the baptism like they were going to. And we missed out on seeing them last night. So just continue to pray for them! When we saw them last week it was so awesome. We saw Steve on his bike and he asked us how church was today! It was Tuesday, but it's the thought that counts right? We asked if we could come by later and he said yeah in an hour! So we tracted around then went over there. Since we can't go in their house because it's all men, the first time we met with them we had to bring out some chairs and coolers and stuff onto the driveway. When we got there later that night they had it all set up for us! It was the cutest thinge ever! Random chairs and a cooler and a toolbox to sit on! And chips and salsa! They are such great guys. I really hope they keep with it.

 Hmm what else... Oh, you should have seen how excited we were to get the conference issue of the Ensign! That was like, pathetic! But that is our entertainment out here! :) I can't believe I hit my one month mark on Friday. Insane! And I can't believe I graduated a year ago! It feels like that was last week! I am so happy Toni graduated and is on that church history trip. That will be so good for her. I can't wait till i can go see all that! Becky Comstock wrote me a card that was just awesome. It was on Mother's Day and she talked about the past year and all that happened. A year ago mother's day I was at their house talking to Jordan in Honduras. Who would have thought that the next year I would by talking to my family over skype from my mission?! Since then my dad married an amazing women who loves him and us and my mom so much. I finished two semesters at BYU (barely) ;) and I am in a place that I love and now call my home! Isn't Becky amazing? Thank you for putting that into perspective for me! It feels like it's been a lifetime since then but also only like a week. I still love it here. I love the ghetto that we work in. The people are so humble. I am learning so much. Especially patience. Which is what I need. We had a follow up meeting in Orlando with the new missionaries and trainers and it was awesome. I found the best thing about being in a trio. I get to sleep in the back seat when we go places! :) But I did learn alot from President Hall and the other missionaries. He always teaches us to just forget ourselves and work. Work, work, work. One of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! President is awesome. We get a new one in about a month though.

 Thank you all so much for your emails, letters, prayers, love, and support! I hope the move is going well! I hope everyone survived the school year and is kicking off their summer in the best way possible! And whenever you feel hot, just remember that I am biking in 97 degrees with a helmet and skirt and garments! ;) Most of all, remember that it wasn't easy for Christ. So it probably won't always be easy for us. But that is why we have the Atonement. To know that we do not have to do it alone and that He can be on our right hand and on our left with His angels bearing us up if we let Him! :) I forgot the scripture reference but that is in the scriptures! ;) Sorry this is so long! I love you all so much! :)

Love,

Sister Lowry :)

Staying Positive!

May 13, 2013

Hello everyone! :)

 I have like no time to email so this sucks. I will hurry so please ignore typos ha! And tell people to write letters rather than email becuase everyone is emailing but I'm getting no letters so the time just isn't balanced between the two ha. I have an hour for each! Anyways!

 It is amazing here. I am in a trio. My trainer is awesome. We actaully opened up a new area. Yeah. Two hard things. Ask me. But my companions are amazing and the ward I'm in is amazing as well. It is in Cocoa. Which is right by the coast. No, I haven't seen the ocean yet. This week was mainly just getting to know the area. And one of my companions has been sick/homesick so we have had to take some time for her to get better. I have this goal to "talk to everyone," and I don't think they are feeling it as much. So hopefully it can rub off on them. I am like not homesick at all. It was nice talking to the family yesterday and seeing their beautiful faces, but I love it here too much to think about it really. It has been in the high 80's with about 80% humidity. The worst is when we are biking and we get to a house and take our helmets off and my hais is all wet and my face is dripping and my back is wet cause my backpack. Then my butt hurts so bad from my bike seat and my legs are burning. And no one is home when we get lost and take so much time trying to find their house. But it's just so great because I STILL LOVE IT!!! I am seriously so blessed. There is so much I want to write about but I just don't even know where to start!

 The first couple days were rough. All I've wanted to do is get out and work and teach, but there was so much logistical stuff to figure out. We had to move out of our apartment the second day because Fair Housing laws don't allow three people to live in a one bedroom apartment. So the Elders came over and helped us move. Thank goodness. But our apartment is way nicer now. Two bathrooms! :) But it's upstairs. So I should get some good arm muscles carrying my bike up and down! We do have a car but we mostly bike unless it's like way far or night time! But our apartment is way nice, and the ward members totally decked it out for us. They also had a welcome dinner for us when we got here! They are awesome! We are hoping to really work with them to get referrals and stuff because our area is so huge that we can't really just tract around and find people very easily! The ward had like 400 people in it i guess but only about half are active! So we will be working on less actives a lot!

 The next day was also very rough! We set out biking to visit some invesigators from the area/map book that we got late! But we are very thankful to have it now! We aren't completely starting from scratch! But we went down the wrong road about a mile so we turned around and met a homeless guy and his dog. We told him that God loves him and is there for him and we had a prayer. He started crying (hopefully from the Spirit) and snot was running all down in his beard. The whole time I'm just thinking in my head "see him how God sees him" which is something I have to tell myself a lot lately! But when we were leaving he shook our hands and planted nice snotty kisses on the back of them! Yum! Thank goodness for hand sanitizer! Then we kept going to get to Florence's house! We were super excited becuase we have just had a really good feeling about her! Then Sis. Halliday, my trainer, crashed on her bike. She was bleeding everywehre so we went this little ice cream place to get her cleaned up. Of course I bought a shake while Sis. Salvesen was cleaning up the bloody knee. Well then Sis. Salvesen bought a water for Sis. Halliday and threw it to me to give to her. Don't even ask me why I thought I could catch a water bottle with a shake in my hand. It went all over the front of me down my outfit, on and in my backpack that was sitting in front of me, and all over the ground and my arms and legs. And it was gone. Yeah. I was pissed. So anyway we decided that we were not going to let satan stop us from getting to Florence, so we kept going! But, Sis. Halliday's bike was broken from the crash. Yeah. So we walked our bikes because we were almost there. Florence wasn't home. Welcome to the mission! So we saw some other people and started talking to them. Not interested in religion. Welcome to the mission! So the Sherwood's, the amazing senior couple in the area, came and got us and we were smashed in the back of a van with our three bikes. Yeah that was a rough day.

 It has just been a rough week with trying to get to know the area and find new investigators and stuff. One of my goals is just to not get discouraged and I have actually been doing pretty good. My companions say they wish they could always be positive like me, so that made me feel good! I just really want to keep this enthusiam for my whole mission. I think since I have been waiting my whole life for this, it is just kind of easier for me! I mean of course it's hard, but I just don't think of myself! I'm not here for myself. It's awesome. I love the feeling. I love this. I love everything about it! Even spilling ice cream. It's just a really great experience. I love this gospel so much that I just am so glad I can serve the Lord by sharing it with his children! I hope we get to teach more this week though rather than just find! Mother's Day was great! Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers! You are amazing! :)

Love,
Sister Lowry :)

I Made It!

 

So I'm not checking my emails, but I do get to email you and let you know I made it! Along with the pictures! President and Sister Hall are amazing! I'm so happy to be here! I will talk to you sometime on Sunday! Have a great week! Love you all! :)

Love, Sister Lowry

MTC

"Where do I even start?! I guess I'll apologize for not looking back after I got dropped off. I think Becky said that it was sad when Jordan didn't look back, so I was going to make sure I did, but I forgot! I was just so ready. And I didn't even cry until they gave me my nametag. The lady probably thought I was a freak! But I have waited my whole life to get that! Now it's like my new cell phone ha! I can't go anywhere without it or I feel naked! I actually lost it last night after "gymtime" and we were all freaking out! It was in the bathroom on the sink haha:) Speaking of cell phone, I've done surprisingly well without it. I figured you guys would be wondering how I'm doing. We are so busy that I hardly ever think about it."

"My companion is amazing. I love her so much. Her name is Sister Bowman from the Seattle area, and she is so sweet and we get along so well! We teach great together too! And she doesn't judge me! Yay! :) The other sisters in my district are awesome too. We all get along so great. The only problem is they won't run with me :( They just want to walk or sit and relax during gymtime. One time we played sand volleyball and that was fun! It reminded me of mom haha. But I need to run and actually workout because I'm going to just get fatter! And I want to have a rockin body when I get home!"

"Pretending to work out with the stretchy bands they gave us when we got here."

 

 "This is on our temple walk on Sunday.  I saw Sister Barney that I worked with at the math lab."

 

"So, because the MTC's schedule goes along with BYU's schedule and BYU just finished a semester, we are the unlucky missionaries that get to deal with all the changes right in the middle of our time here! So we had AMAZING teachers! Two of which I have a huge crush on. We still see them every so often so that's good. But now we have new teachers that we don't connect with as well. We know the Spirit is the real teacher, but you know it's good to have a connection with them too. One of our teachers, Brother Hainsworth, is amazing. He always cheers us up if we feel discouraged, and he always brings the Spirit and helps us have awesome experiences in our role plays. And he is sooo attractive and hilarious. Ah I just love him! And he's not married! And he's been off his mission for like over two years! I would be willing to stay home and marry him. hahhahaha jk!!!! He's too little ;) (imagine me saying that in the voice that Kendra says whenevery she says "he's too little") We get to teach a couple different investigators. One of them is our teacher who plays one of the people they taught on their mission. The other is a volunteer that comes in and plays an investigator. They call that TRC. Our TRC investigator, Randy, was awesome! He's really interested in the church and has been praying and reading the Book of Mormon and he is coming to church on Sunday! Yay! :) Ian is a different story, he is Baptist and we are just having a hard time knowing what he needs. He wants to build his relationship with God, but he won't like act on anything. And he seems so apathetic when we teach him! Hopefully our next/last lesson will go better. We have learned so freakin much. How to help investigators receive revelation through the BofM, prayer, church. How to begin lessons. Teaching people, not lessons. Doctrine of Christ. It's something new every day!"

"We have so many snacks in our room because the sisters in my district get so many packages! I got my backpack, and that was more exciting to me than a bag of cookies! So thank you Brenda! :) I also got a couple Dear Elders from Michele Kenfield, Becky, and my roommate Kristen. And Grace wrote me a letter. But I think that's it! If ya'll don't know how to use Deal Elder, it's freaking awesome! You just log in on the internet, make an account, and type up a letter, and they put it in our mailboxes the same day! :)"

 "I got called to be the Sister Training Leader on Sunday! That is like Zone Leader, but a sister. They have always had it in the MTC, but they are actually going to have it in the field now too! We got a new district yesterday, so me and the Zone Leaders get to teach them a little about the MTC tonight. We were so excited for them to get here!"

"We had a devotional on Tuesday night. The other sisters made me sing in the choir with them. Yikes! :/ And technically I had to because I wouldn't have had a companion if I didn't go. But we had good seats! I don't know why they don't just use the marriot center for those things because not even half of the missionaries can fit in that little gym so they have to broadcast it all over. We also sang Love at Home the other day and I thought of dad because he always sings that! Oh man. It's just crazy here. The spirit is so strong."

 

 "I've seen a ton of people I know like Hope Kenfield, Heather Jensen, Amanda Johnson, Bailee Killpack, Kenzie Kupfer, Matt Critchlow, Andrea Barney, Brady Call. We are going to the temple pretty soon! I have never been to the Provo temple so I'm pretty excited."

 " I've been trying to be really obedient because exact obedience brings miracles!....I haven't been chewing gum. It's been rough but I know the Lord will bless me ha! :)"