10 Months and a Trip to the Temple!

Just a picture from the temple! Check out all the elders in the background...

Happy 10 Month mark to me! :) I seriously feel like I just got here. Crazy. Man, you really find out who your friends are when you go on a mission huh?!  I haven't even gotten a letter from any of my family since Christmas! Thanks guys! But Gia Allred, one of my mom's rodeo friends, who I don't know if I have ever even met in person, is taking care of me! So thank you Gia! You are awesome! :)

Transfers are tomorrow. I am staying here in Hunter's Creek, which is a huge surprise. We all thought I was leaving because I have been here since October, and usually the trainer is the one to get transferred. But not this time! I am excited to get a new companion because I need a little change I think. Sister Jacklin is going to do great wherever she goes. She has become a great missionary! So I will get a new companion tomorrow and you will get a picture next Monday. That will also probably the last picture I send for a while because I am getting way too fat to take pictures! This transfer (6 weeks), I am really going to work on eating less sweets. Everything else about what I eat is fine. I just can't resist the treats. :( So pray for me haha!

Everyone we are teaching is doing pretty well. We set some baptismal dates this week, so that was very exciting! If you want to pray for them by name they are Edwin, Iliana, and Daphney. :) And the Amone's are still working on getting a date set. Sometimes it can be so frustrating when people don't keep their commitments, but we can't give up on them! We went to the temple on Friday and oh my gosh... It was SO AMAZING! I cried of course. I was on a spiritual high as well. We weren't going for ourselves. We were going to receive revelation for our areas and people we are teaching. But I needed the spiritual boost! It was wonderful. I hadn't been for 10 months. Can you guys who have been to the temple imagine not going for ten months? Yeah. It was tough!

We also had Zone Conference this week, which was really good too. We talked a lot about the iPads and internet proselyting. It is still pretty tough, but we are getting better at it day by day. President Berry told us in our email today that the past month in the mission we have had more baptisms than in the whole history of the mission. WOW! The Lord is truly hastening His work. And the technology really is helping! You can all use technology to spread the gospel too! If you follow the Quorum of the Twelve and other church things on Facebook, they always post cool stuff, and you can share it! :)

This week as we were trying to contact some former investigators, we met a woman named Rosenie. She said she would be at church on Sunday, and she actually came! :) People say they will come, but never do. So we were super excited! We are pretty sure she liked it, and we are going to set up a time to meet with her this week! So that was a cool miracle! :) I wish I had entertaining news, but everything is just the same here! Sorry! Have a great week! :)

Love, Sister Lowry

A Child's Faith

 P-Day Pedicures!

Okay I seriously love you all so much, but I don't have enough energy to email today! I do want to share a cool miracle that happened though! I'm not going to lie to you, I had a rough week! But, we still rocked it. Our district leader gave like the best compliment to us this morning. He said, "Your area is like a model to for all other areas." That made me feel so good! But I know that it's all Heavenly Father just blessing us so much. The Zone Leaders also asked us this week how we have had such a great transfer. We had a few reasons, but we came down to basically, Never Give Up. We didn't give up and we never took breaks! We have zone conference this week and they might ask us to share something at it. Yikes. Anyway, time for my miracle! 

On Friday night at our dinner appointment I didn't lock my bike. Usually we are pretty safe to not, but my lock disappeared a while ago. So, when we got done with dinner at the Gomez's and headed to our next appointment, it was gone. We all searched around for a bit. Brother Gomez drove around looking for it, and Sister Gomez took us to our appointment. Their 6 and 4 year old kids got in the car and told me they said a prayer that we would be able to find my bike. I was so touched! At our next lesson I could barely think, let alone teach! Well in short, Brother Gomez found a kid riding my bike at a park, put it in his trunk, and took it to our apartment. I told the kids that it was thanks to their prayer and faith. I was so grateful for that family and they Heavenly Father blessed us with that miracle! I would have died without my bike! And I learned a couple good lessons! I will always lock my bike from now on, and I need it have faith more like a little kid! 

Another cool thing, Ana and Felipe got baptized, and it was beautiful of course. I know they are going to be great members. We started teaching Edwin, Yvette's neighbor, and he is super cool. He has come to church twice already. Yvette, also invited her sister, Iliana, to church and the baptism. She loved it and wants to start the lessons again! We taught her at the first if you remember. Another family we are teaching came to church on Sunday, and they almost didn't, so that was awesome. The Amone family didn't come :( So we were sad. Lauren didn't either, but she is doing pretty well! We have been teaching her on Facebook and that has been working pretty well. 

Ipad training

This week we get to go to the temple and have zone conference, so it should be exciting. I need it! It has been 10 months since I've been to the temple! Then next week is transfers. So this weekend we should be finding out if I am leaving! We have been so busy, which is so good. But I was reminded of President Uchtdorf's talk from October 2012 yesterday, which I needed! He talked about how he couldn't imagine Christ hustling and bustling around trying to get to meetings and stuff, so we don't need to be like that either! That has totally been me. I have always been known to put too much on my plate and stress out! Some things never change ha. Well, talk to you next week! 

Love, Sister Lowry 

Valentine's Week!

The Thomas' minus KJ (I just realized he wasn't in the picture :(. So sad).

XOXOXO 

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day! And have lots of ooey gooey lovey dovey plans! Enough for me too, because I definitely do not!

We are going to get pedicures in like five seconds, so this will be quick. Yesterday, the Thomas family got confirmed. It was so amazing. Each of their blessings were so special and personal. And KJ who is 6 got to get a child's blessing so he didn't feel left out not being able to get baptized! It was so neat. Their baptism on Saturday was also amazing of course. We went to eat with them after at this great place that kind of reminded me of Wingers. We just love them so much! Their niece and nephew, Ana and Felipe, will be baptized next Saturday :) 

Church on Sunday with the Erbiti's and all their family they are sharing the gospel with!

We got soaking wet from the rain all week. We get the car Mon-Wed and have bikes Thurs-Sat and guess what days were the cold and rainy ones? Yeah. Ask me. We were soaking wet when we got the baptism. And I carried a tray of cookies on my bike the whole way. I know. But it was totally worth it because that baptism was incredible. 

Biking in the rain

We are getting more used to Facebook and the iPads every day. Our district leader gave us all some positive encouragement because we are all kinda struggling adjusting I think. I just want my paper missionary planner back so bad. But he compared it to the Liahona in the Book of Mormon and how Lehi and his family had to have faith and diligence for it to work. So I am going to keep working on that, along with a little more patience. It is eventually going to be a very useful tool that I am grateful for ha! My dad shared a quote with me that I just love now- "Find a way or make a way." Just what I needed!

We didn't get to see the Amone's this week. They were busy :( We found Alex. He is doing okay but is still just being a punk. We are going to keep trying though. We are teaching Lauren again. I don't remember if I talked about that. She is doing pretty good! The baby should be coming soon though I think. So hopefully she can get baptized before then. We are going to be doing a lot of finding now because our teaching pool will all be baptized pretty soon ha! 

Oh, other super cool thing that happened this week! Wednesday night we were at Alex's seeing if he was alive and whatnot, and when we left we stopped by Yvette's to say hi because they live in the same complex. She didn't answer and we were wondering where she was because she is always home. Well, she came walking up the stairs and she had just gotten back from the temple doing baptisms for the dead!! Oh my gosh I was so happy to hear her tell us about it! She got baptized for her mom! It was such a special day for all of us!

I'm sorry I honestly don't remember what has happened so I don't have much more to say! And since I can't pull my planner out to look at it, I can't be reminded of any cool little miracles or stories! But I am so happy and so busy and tired and excited and just still loving it! A mission is the best thing ever! Jesus loves you and so do I!

Love,
Sister Lowry

The "E-Generation"

First off, I need to give a shout out to my Grandma Lowry who has not missed a week of writing me a letter, even with all the other things she has going on! Thanks Grandma! I love you! xoxo

Second, I found a scripture this morning in my studies and I wanted to share it with all of you!

Colossians 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

Although I'm not there in person, I am there in spirit and happy for all of you in all that you are doing! :) Especially your steadfastness! For example, I heard Brady took state in wrestling for the tenth time in a row...Yay!! :) My baby brother is such a stud!

So, I was talking to a guy on the street this week, and he was telling me how they are calling this generation from 2010-2020 the "E-Generation," for electronics! It makes so much sense. I just think about when I have kids and how they aren't even going to know what paper is! I just don't want electronics to take over! But it's too late haha. :) We had a device training this week and got our iPads. Sister Jacklin and I have been slacking and barely using ours because we just don't even know what to do! The program they have on them for missionaries is amazing. It has all our planner, area book, maps, members, email. Basically everything. Then the Gospel Library of course! That has come a long way since I had it on my phone back home ha! Once we get it all figured out, it will help us so much in accomplishing the Lord's work as He is still hastening it!

Speaking of the work... It is going great! We had a really good week. We were a little overwhelmed with the whole iPad thing, but we just kept going! Our investigators are doing well! The Thomas family is still just amazing and ready for their baptism this Saturday! Then Ana and Felipe, more of the Erbiti's family, are getting baptized the next Saturday! :) They don't live in our area, but President said we could still teach them since here is where their support group is! They are so great and already have such strong testimonies!

Alex is MIA. No one knows where he is. Not his mom or his girlfriend or anyone. So...yeah.. .Lill got a little better this week but then had Yvette call us to tell us she isn't interested in learning anymore :( She even gave all her books and stuff back that we gave her. We think something must have happened because she seemed so solid! But, we started teaching Lauren again. She is the one who is pregnant and her husband Danny is a member. We are teaching them tonight so hopefully that will go well and they will be more committed now! We also got to teach my sister-in-law Shashena and I think my brother Chase was there! It was our first Facebook lesson and it was really cool! We really want to help them start going back to church. They need it. We talked to them about prayer and fasting, and fasted for them and for Chase to get a job. I just pray so hard that he will have the desire to take his family to church. She wants to go so bad but he is being a punk!

Oh, our facials on Monday were absolutely amazing! Next week we are getting pedicures for district P-day. My idea :) This week was cold and rainy again! I'm sure we made a few people laugh when we were biking down the main street with our ponchos and skirts in the rain! Then Sister Jacklin's bike got a flat so the whole weekend we had to have rides everywhere! Or we walked. But, it caused us to have a cool miracle! Last night after church we taught Ana and Felipe at the Erbiti's house then had dinner. We had an appointment with a less active family after, so Ana and Stephanie (17) took us. So the family wasn't home, but the dad was. We had only met him once briefly, but he let us in and we talked with him. Him and his wife were baptized about 9 years ago, but their kids weren't and they are teenagers now. We shared a scripture and stuff, but then Ana and Steph just took over and started talking and it was amazing! Remember, Ana is not even baptized yet, and she was like telling this guy that he needs to take his family to church! She had a connection because she is married. Then Stephanie was less active for like ever and just came back to church in September, so she was able to connect in that way! It was so amazing to sit back and listen to them and the spirit work through them to touch this man! He totally felt and it and knows he needs to come back. He said he would talk to his wife and kids about it! Ana and Stephanie felt so good afterwards. They hadn't had that feeling of the spirit telling them what to say and working through them to touch the lives of others, and now they have felt it! I hope you all will take the chance to let that happen for you as well!

Have a great week! :)

Love, Sister Lowry