2 Years

 The dog suit is our investigator Sal

Hey all! Sorry I am writing so late. It has been a crazy day. Funny how P-day is supposed to be relaxing...HA!!

Well it has been 2 years today since my mom passed away. I have felt her really close this week and been comforted by the Holy Ghost, as I have been this whole time. We sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives in sacrament meeting yesterday and I was bawling like a baby because that is the song we sang at her funeral. I know she is with me and we are doing this work together! I have been thinking a lot about Alma 56 when the stripling warriors give credit to their moms for teaching them not to doubt. I am very grateful to my mom and stepmom for teaching me not to doubt and to have faith. Their trust in the Lord has been such an example to me that I will never forget and I hope to teach to my children someday. I also got some great mail and packages this week from friends and family that really boosted my spirits! So thank you!! :)

So last week I was kinda’ sick with some weird stomach thing. I don't even know. Like every time I ate I felt sick. I finally just stopped eating because that is the only thing that helped! But I can't turn down the dinners that members feed us, so it was rough. I am feeling a little better though. It was probably just stress, you know me! I am just still being very careful about what I eat. There is a plus though, I lost three pounds ;)

District P-day last week! :)

We did a lot of finding this week. Trying to find people who are prepared to hear the gospel, because the people we have been teaching aren't really progressing. We had a couple cool miracles. One guy, William, we had a teaching record for from a few years back, but when we tried visiting him his family said he moved to New York. Well, when we were biking home from the church one day, we stopped and talk to this guy, and guess who it ended up being! William! He moved back! So we are hoping to start teaching him! We are still kind of teaching Sal and the others. Just not much to update on I guess!

I think it was actually that same day that Brother Medina called us as we were biking home, and said that his daughter Jen wanted us to stop by. Jen has 3 kids and is less active, and we have tried to visit her so many times, but no one ever answers! She has been pretty not receptive. So we were super excited! She was so sweet and just needed someone to talk to! She knows she needs to come back to church and wants her kids to have what she had growing up. It was really cool.

The Johnson's, senior missionary couple from Cedar City, fed us this weekend! She made homemade chicken noodle soup, and it reminded me of the kind my grandma Sandy makes all the time! I felt at home. Everyone has been so great to me here. Transfers are next week, so it will be sad if I leave, but I am ready to go. I thought I was leaving last time! But the Lord knows what I need and what the area needs!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! Please enjoy General Conference this weekend! I know I will! :) And invite your friends to listen! ;)

Love, Sister Lowry

This sign is one in the doctor's office that I loved

11 Months Today!

March 24, 2014

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little sister Savannah! I love you missy! :) Also happy birthday to Cobi Walker, one of my good friends since 4th grade! He probably won't see this, but that is okay!

I want to share what I learned in my studies this morning, because it was super cool. I was reading in Jesus the Christ about when Christ was sending his Apostles out on their missions. They were told to be fearless and not hesitate to preach the gospel in plainness, because the most that their persecutors could do was kill the body! I totally thought of member missionary work. Be fearless! The Lord will take care of you! What is the worst that could happen, really? I hope you are all sharing the gospel! We have no time to waste! :)

I also hope everyone had a good week. Ours was kinda rough again because my companion had a migraine all week. So we didn't get to do all the things we wanted to, but we still saw some great things happen! We had people come to church! And Sal went to the addiction recovery class with us on Thursday! Sal was the guy holding the sign on OBT that I told you about last week. He loved the class. So did I of course! That class holds a special place in my heart! Sal also came to church yesterday and liked it! :) So we are teaching him tonight.

We also started teaching a mom and her two daughters and they are so sweet! They came to church too. The little girls are like sponges and just loving what we teach them! We didn't really get to see anyone else much this week. We stopped by the Amone's for just a minute, because we hadn't seen them in forever. We had family prayer with them and it was so powerful! I really felt the spirit. They are so close, but I will most likely get transferred and not be there for their baptism! I just worry because my companion hasn't been here very long, so she doesn't quite have the love for these people yet that I have gotten over the past 5 months here. But, maybe I will stay another transfer! Who knows!

I got to relive my glory days again this week! Did some tumbling with the teenage girls we are teaching! I helped Ana do her round-off back-handspring! It was so fun :) I can still tumble a little bit! The girls are doing pretty good but we are trying to get their family more involved; their parents just work so stinking much! The cost of living here is a lot more than in Utah :(

Iliana and Yvette are doing fantastic. When they talk and testify they sound like they have been members for years! They both are completely different people than when I first got here and met them. It is so amazing what the Atonement can do in people's lives. We are so blessed to be able to witness that! Definitely the best thing I have done in my life. I cannot believe it has already been 11 months. I feel like I have missed out on so much, but I feel like you all are missing out on even more! ;) Have a great week!

Love, Sister Lowry 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Toni wanted a picture of my St. Patrick's Day outfit. 

Morning! I hope you are all wearing green! The room we email in is nice and green! All the sisters are here and very festive ha! 

So, Iliana's baptism and confirmation were this weekend! That was really special. One of the most spiritual baptisms I've been to. Her family was all there and they really felt it. Yvette gave a great talk. She sounds like she's been a member her whole life! It's only been 3 months! They are so great. It has been such a highlight of my mission to see the change that the Atonement has made in their lives. That is truly the greatest miracle we can ever witness! Other than the baptism, it was a rough week! Like every one of our appointments fell through. I was so done by yesterday. Sundays are supposed to be relaxing, but they are the exact opposite! But, Ana came to church, and so did another guy we invited! So that was a blessing! 

I don't want to dwell on all the negative things that happened, even though that is very tempting ha ;) There is a main street here that we always bike on called OBT. There are always sign holders for businesses, so they have become our friends. One is the one who came to church. Another is one who just started, and was an answer to our prayer! We didn't recognize him so we stopped to talk and he asked what we were doing. We told him we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and we that we teach people about Him and invite them to come closer to Him. He said, "Man, I need Jesus Christ in my life right now." We talked to him more and ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and we are meeting with him tonight! He told us that he is a recovering addict and that he thinks joining a church could really help him right now! Uh, yeah!! So that was another cool miracle. 

Relief Society birthday party

This week we are really just going to work on finding prepared people who won't bail on us. That is my worst pet-peeve ever, flakey people, so you can kinda imagine what I felt like this last week ha! We aren't having the success that we have had, so I am just trying to keep positive and keep working hard! That is all we can do! I am so blessed to be helping the Lord do His work! Especially here! I have been in this area for 5 months now, so I am getting a little sick of it, but it's okay ha! :) Sorry I don't have much to say this week, it was just not the most exciting! I hope you all are doing great! Know that I love you, miss you, and pray for you! The church is truer than true! 

Love, Sister Lowry

Glory Days!

Hey all!

We had a great week! I was a little discouraged like at the first because I felt like we had to keep getting the numbers and having the same success as last transfer, but I'm feeling a lot better now! I know, it's not about the numbers.  But still. Ah ok so I have so much to tell you about! My companion and I are still getting along okay... I am having to be very patient again though. But she is a very positive person, which is great! The area is still doing pretty well. Since we had to put all of our records into our iPads recently, we've been asked to visit all former investigators, which is a TON for us. Some areas have more than others.  So we have been working on that, and been able to see miracles from it!

Most of the people we are teaching are doing well. Daphney, the senior in high school, finally came to church yesterday, and she liked it! :) We were super excited! But everyone else just like randomly got super busy, so we weren't really able to meet with them :( So that was a bummer. We try to keep in contact with text and Facebook. Technology is such a blessing. We also started teaching a couple more high school girls. They are super cute, and I am going to help Ana with her tumbling so she can try out for cheer soon! Iliana is still getting baptized this weekend, so that will be exciting :) Edwin is being kind of a punk still. The Quinn family got back from Hawaii so we were able to teach them and they sent us home with Girl Scout cookies and salmon! I just love them so much! Kevin and Felipe, the ones that just got baptized, got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday, so that was just super neat to watch! :) I am so proud of them!

We had a zone meeting this week, which was so great. We all really got motivated to work harder. Elder Perry came and talked to the stake presidents and ward councils a while ago, and set like a vision for the south east. So our Zone Leaders shared it with us, and talked about how we can work towards it! Our Zone like rocked it last transfer, so we talked about what we need to keep doing, which is basically having faith and being diligent. Faith and diligence are sooo important! I had to give spiritual thoughts on that in district meeting and zone meeting! Everyone said I did really well :) Also, the Zone Leaders told us that our zone had 12 member find baptisms last transfer. That is so great for us! :) And 5 of them were the families that we taught! So that was exciting! I think the members are finally starting to catch on. We had exchanges with our STLs and we were talking about how the work really is hastening. Like when we were younger, the idea of the "being a missionary" was being a good example. People are still in that mindset, and they need to get out! We cannot afford to just be "good examples" anymore! We just don't have time for that! We need to open our mouths and invite! We have been talking a lot about the word URGENCY haha :)

Saturday was our ward picnic, which was a blast! We ate of course, and then played volleyball. My team killed it :) Mom would have been so proud ha! Then the ball got stuck in a tree so we decided to do a stunt to get it out! Hence the title, "Glory Days!" The Medina girls are both cheerleaders, so Anzli and I based, Linzy flew, and my companion, who has never even thought of doing anything like this a day in her life, backspotted! :) She did very well! We ended up stunting for like an hour! It was soooo fun! I miss it so much!!  But now I am super sore... It's okay though! Totally worth it! :) I'm including some pictures!

Have a great week! :)

Love, Sister Lowry

A New Batch of Pictures!

  

 

District P-Day Ice Skating!

Golden Corral after ice skating!

 

 Christmas morning!  I got spoiled! :)

 

The Medina's new bird

Luis Medina's snake

Made a wish!

Birthday party at the Medina's.  I love them!

Our Christmas/Birthday card wall!  We are loved!

This is for Kendra!

Alex & Esther Marie!

Temple tour with the Thomas family!  I loved them!

 

An amazing Victorian doll house that a guy was making for his granddaughter.  

He was very talented!  Reminded me of when my dad 

made me a doll house when I was 3!  :)

My daughters at the mission conference!  

People tell us we look like we could be related for reals!

Sofia let me pull her tooth out!

 

Happy birthday to Deni Delcore on February 5th!

 

Erbiti, Thomas, Asencio families!

 

Blackmail of Hermana Monson!  My favorite Spanish sister!  

We are going to live together at BYU, hopefully!

    

District P-day!  Pedicures!  :)

 

P-Day at the Medina's!  We had a mini salon!  

Linzy let me cut her hair!  Brother Medina trimmed ours!

Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week. Our week went pretty well! Transfer week is always hard. Like I said, I stayed in Hunter's Creek, but adjusting to a new companion can be a bit of a challenge! We are doing pretty well though. Totally different personalities, but we love the gospel, and that is what matters! This week I have been studying the words of King Benjamin in Mosiah, and I have just been loving it! I bore my testimony yesterday on how the only way we can be saved is through Jesus Christ, and how we say it and know it, but how often do we REALLY think about it? There is no other way, name, means. NONE! If we aren't following Christ, we aren't going to be able to live with God again. And that is our purpose in this life! Is to be happy and return to our Heavenly Father. There are people who don't know this, so please, tell them! :)

Everyone is doing pretty great! Iliana is doing amazing. Her and Yvette are just absorbing everything! They are reading and praying and coming to church. Yvette is such a missionary. She bore her testimony yesterday and I just cried because of how much she has grown and her love for the gospel. Iliana is ready for her baptism here in a couple weeks! All the recent converts are doing wonderful, and we are just working on finding new people now! And getting these few that we are teaching baptized of course!  We didn't get to see everyone this week :( There were a lot of "family emergencies" for some reason... But Daphney, the teenager, is also doing great! She has such a strong desire to follow God, and we are super excited for her to come to Young Women's this week!

We had a training this week to help us learn how to use the iPads better. Just us and the "Traveling Sisters." They are traveling the mission to train us all. I did learn a lot, but I am still having a hard time really embracing it! So I set some goals for myself ha. The Medina's picked us up after in a 2014 Mustang Convertible! So we got to ride in that! It was super fun! Reminded me of when my dad's friend John let me drive his BMW convertible! Good times. This week our car has to get fixed so we will be biking a ton. My companion might die...so pray for her haha!

We email and the employment services office, and there is a new senior couple that just got here from Cedar City, Utah! They were my Grandma Sandy's home teachers! How crazy is that! They recognized me right away! They said she was such a sweet independent lady, and I told them they didn't have to tell me that haha ;) All of our senior couples in the mission are so amazing. Well, sorry I don't have much to say this week! I guess my chastising for not sending LETTERS caused everyone to email me! So I need to hurry and try to reply to some of you! Have a great week! :) Dios la bendiga!

Love,

Sister Lowry