His Ways

Hello and happy Monday y'all! :) 

We had such a great week. I hope everyone else did as well. It went by so fast and I know the weeks are going to continue flying by, so I am just making the best of it! Yesterday we pranked the sisters we live with by plastic wrapping their beds and night stand together, so that was pretty fun! But on an even better note, we have learned so much the past little while about how the Lord's ways are higher and better than our ways! (Isaiah 55:9) I have never planned so much in my whole life. It is so important! And I love it! And sometimes our plans seem so great and we are so excited for them. Then they just don't work out. Like at all. And it can be so frustrating! But at the end of the day when we look back, what ended up happening was exactly what was supposed to happen! So, if your plans aren't working out "perfectly" like you want them too. It's okay! Sit back and let it happen, then look back and see how perfect it really was! The church is so true. 

Check out her tan line!  Haha!

In our Book of Mormon reading we are in Alma 26ish and I just love these chapters so much I can't even explain it. I've talked about it before, but I feel how Ammon does when he says "I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel!" It is so true. Reading these chapters towards the end of my mission makes me sad that it is almost over, but happy at everything I have been able to experience and do and more importantly become! I know that is really is all thanks to our Heavenly Father. Every miracle we see and person we teach is because this is His work, not mine. We have been so blessed lately to teach so many people! We were a little disappointed because only two of them came to church, and we spent at least an hour Saturday night finding rides and fellowship for everyone, but once again, it worked out fine! :) 

Kim is doing so great. She understands the Book of Mormon and is feeling the spirit and loves church and wants to be baptized! But, turns out, she is married. She just told us. So, we are passing her off to the family ward elders. She is sad and so are we, but she took it well! We started teaching George. A guy who we met on the street and invited to church and he came! He said he has never felt good when he has gone to churches but at this one he did! So he has been to church twice now and we are teaching him again this week :) We also ran into Tavares. We taught him at the very end of spring term, then he went home for the summer. We were sad because he is so cool! Then we just ran into him on campus! So we taught him again too! There was so much crazy stuff going on this week with it being opening week and all. Like Wednesday we have Market day with all the vendors and clubs. So we set up our booth. Well there was also something going on inside with all the clubs and stuff so we luckily were able to get into that last minute! So we switched off inside and outside with the elders. It was chaos. And so hot. It was record breaking heat/humidity we heard. But we got a lot of free stuff and met some cool people :) We also had the car wash at the church again this week and it went pretty good! We had more people come than last time! We are hoping it will keep building though! 

Last thing, I got my first set of "trunky papers" this week. YIKES! President has everyone write him a letter with a vision, then goals and plans to accomplish that. For 1 year then for 5 years. And there are different areas like education, employment, dating and marriage (yuck:P), spiritual well-being, etc. Sister Woolley is helping me, but this is rough haha! Well, that is all I have for now I guess! Here are some pictures of the pranking! 

Love, Sister Lowry 

Full Swing!

Our last night before transfers jamming out in the car. 

We almost died laughing when we looked at this picture after! 

 Hey all! 

Well, I don't know where to start! First off, I will be home in exactly two months. It doesn't feel real to me because I still feel like a new missionary! I'm at the point where people keep asking if I'm sad or excited and I don't even know what to say! I am both! But I don't really think about it too much! Or I try not to at least! It also doesn't feel real that two of my best friends got married! Congrats Kendra and Zack! Anyways, we had a great week! Oh, sorry I didn't email yesterday, we had Zone Conference! But every P-day we account with our district leaders on the phone about how our previous week went. Our district leader Elder Crandall said this morning how we are doing so well and leading the district and setting an example for all the missionaries around us! It made us feel pretty good! We have worked our butts off all summer to be able to see miracles and have success so we are excited that it is finally coming! It's been like such a learning experience for so many things. And a lot of review for things that I have already learned on my mission and needed a reminder of! 

So, Zone Conference was pretty cool. I don't really know many missionaries anymore because they have all gone home. But we had Elder Hamula from the seventy come and that was really neat. We learned about faith and obedience. And lots of stuff ha. Sunday was so crazy. K so we found this awesome girl named Kim a few weeks ago, and were able to teach her on Saturday night. She loved it! She seems really prepared. It's always kinda hard to tell with these young adults though because they could seem so prepared then you never hear from them again. But she actually came to church the next day and had a good time! We are supposed to teach her tonight. After church we had to book it to campus because there was a thing called Opening Knight where all the clubs have like tables set up and you can go and get involved! So we set up and people started coming and talking to us! We hadn't seen that many people all summer. We contacted like 20 people in like an hour. Then, we had a fireside we had to go to so we had to find members to take over for the last half of that event. Our members are so amazing and help us out so much. They might not give us referrals like they are supposed to, but they do basically everything else for us that we need! We are so grateful for them! So we hurried to the fireside which was for recent converts, investigators, and returning members. Well, both of our investigators bailed on it. So we called Brandon, the returning member, and he came! It was pretty cool. I just really wish our investigators could have been there :( 

 

We also got to go to another cool event on Friday night called Fan Fest. It's to like introduce the football team I guess so they had a huge line for autographs, food trucks, inflatable stuff, music, booths, etc. We contacted a few people there, got some gelato, and met some football players and cheerleaders :) There are all these cool events going on because SCHOOL STARTED!!!!! :) I don't think I can even adequately express my happiness about that haha. I was just thinking this week how blessed we are to be serving in this area because a lot of missionaries wish they could be doing what we are! We got a little bit of time to proselyte on campus yesterday after zone conf. and it was so exciting but also a little overwhelming! I've never seen so many people in my life I don't think. Have I mentioned that this campus has 60,000 students? Yeah. That is like Cedar City times two. Or BYU times two. They keep teaching us/reminding us to "Talk with Everyone" like Preach My Gospel says, but it's impossible here! So we just talk to who we think we should! I am just grateful that the Lord always puts people in our path who need it. We have a lot of appointments set up this week so it should go pretty well! 

I don't think I have much else! Just a reminder and encouragement to make sure your priorities are in line with the new school year! It can be easy to get them mixed up. And if things are hard right now or not going the greatest, just keep pushing through! The Lord's plan is much better than your own, and He will eventually give you the things you need! I love you all and thank you for your love and support! 

Love, Sister Lowry

Whiplash!

Hellooo!

We had a great week! It is summer break as I mentioned before, but we have actually stayed busy! :) That is what we fasted for this month, was to have people to teach during the break! Fasting so so real! I had a testimony of it before of course, but it is now even stronger! We have a lot of teaching appointments set up for this week too, so we are excited! I also read this morning in Mosiah 28 where Alma fasts and prays so hard for his son to come around, and eventually he does! Hindsight is definitely 20/20 because I can see how a lot of mine and my families prayers and fasts have brought forth blessings! Especially recently! 

Temple Tour with Brandon

Now for some things that happened. We took Brandon on a temple grounds tour, and it was so neat! He loved it and was taking pictures the whole time. On the way home he made a slide show with music on his phone and put it on instagram! :) It was beautiful! We taught Anthony, another member who is starting to come back. We are going to start from the beginning with him too! We were able to teach a few skype lessons, which is so exciting! Just proof that the Lord has given us these tools to further his work! It has been nice to keep in contact with our investigators over the break through email, facebook, skype, and text. There is one member from Waterford Lakes that I met last summer. He was a YSA but didn't go. He is such a great kid though! I wanted to invite him out now that I am in YSA, so I found him on facebook. He is teaching English in Taiwan right now, and asked me if I would transfer his records, and if I knew where a church was. I connected him with a member in our ward who also taught in Taiwan! And he went to church over there yesterday! :) We also ate at a delicious Thai restaurant this week. Probably one of my favorite meals on my mission so far. 

Thai restaurant with Chris and Tiara

Saturday we got the transfer call and found out I was leaving :( I was pretty sad, but also kinda knew it was coming. So Sunday I was saying my goodbyes and all! Then we got a call from President Berry saying that he needs me to stay here another transfer!!! Ahhh!! We all were so excited! I think I've mentioned that we hang out with the other set of sisters in our ward like all the time, so they celebrated with us! AND, Sister Rogers, my trainee, is here in the ward with us now!! We always hoped we could serve near each other, and now we are! :) I am excited to stay. I really like it here, and even though it has been slow this summer, things are picking up! 

The car pick with the other sisters! 

I just got an email from Toni saying that her farewell and my homecoming talk will be on the same day....WOW!!! How cool is that?!?! The Lord's plan is so perfect. The church is truer than true! 

Love, Sister Lowry 

R & R

With Chelsea and Jackie at the setting apart

Hey! :)

I don't have much time, but I wanted to share about the amazing Sunday we had yesterday. We had fast and testimony meeting, which is always really good in our ward. There is never an open space of time, so we hardly get to share. But, Lina (a member) needed some moral support, so I went with her and shared my testimony. Which was good because I might be getting transferred next week. I really don't want to leave yet, but I am praying to be accepting of the Lord's will of course! Anyway, remember the guy from the shuttle that we found and he ended up being a member? Well we taught him this week and got his records transferred in. He doesn't know anything about the church, so it's basically like teaching an investigator! He came to church and he got up and bore his testimony about how grateful he was to God for letting us find him on campus. He said he is happy we introduced him to the Book of Mormon because knows this is going to help him turn his life around and get things back in order. And that he is glad to be back in the family and the true church. Wow! :) So neat! Then James bore his testimony about how the church has been such a support and rock for him through the hard times he's had. I am so proud of him. Since he got baptized in June basically everything that could possibly go wrong for him has. But he is so tough! Then Irving, a now active member who we taught and came back to church, bore his testimony about how he is happy to be back in the true church and how grateful he is for the church's missionary work! Then Kahui, a member, talked about how he got to come out and teach with us this week and how it made his whole week! So I was crying by the end but I was so happy! I know it was the Lord who worked through these people, but I feel so blessed to have helped with each of them! 

This is why the subject line is R&R: Retention and Reactivation. These things are so important! If you aren't active in the church, COME BACK! We need every single one of you! If you are new to the church, STAY! You made the right decision! If you have friends who aren't going who you know should be, HELP THEM come back! Strengthen new members. It may hard being a part of this church, but it is simple. It is Jesus Christ's church and we are all part of the flock and He invites all of us to COME! If you think you can't share the gospel with new people, then do this. It's what I've been able to do in this area for the past four months and I am so happy about that! 

We had a great week though. We taught a new guy on Skype, we started teaching a guy who was investigating awhile ago and is now ready to progress, we taught Brandon, we taught Gospel Principles yesterday, we talked to everyone we saw. We also got to be there when Chelsea got set apart as a full time missionary. She has grown so much since I got here and is so ready to go on her mission. I am so proud of how far she has come! And honored that she would have us there for that special moment! :) It is now summer break, again. So no one on campus or in the apartments! I don't think anyone should have to go through two summer breaks in College Park but here I am! We have some good plans though so we just need to stay hydrated ha! I seriously love you all so much and can't wait to see you again soon! Have a great week! :)

All my love, Sister Lowry