Week 34 - After Christmas

Hey guys!!!

How was your Christmas?? I hope you all got everything you wanted haha :) I sure did! 

It has seriously been such a fun and rewarding week! It was Sister Casaol's birthday on Monday so President Querido and his family took us out to a nice restaurant outside of our area! It was so nice and super good food. (perks of having a companion who is family friends with your Mission President haha ) 

Birthday dinner for Sister Casaol

So for Christmas Eve we got to eat at a members home in our area and it was so good! Filipino style spaghetti (yes there is a difference), fish, adobo, minudo and a whole ton of rice haha. Then we had to come home early at 6 because there are a ton of drunks on the street Christmas Eve so we had 4 sister missionaries who live next door to us come over and celebrate christmas and have a sleepover! It was super fun. 

Christmas Eve Sleepover

Reunited

Can we say Mustache

Christmas Eve Dinner

Then for Christmas we had no one to teach because all our investigators were out of town or busy obviously so we went around to our members homes and shared messages about the Savior and, of course, ate tons of food! Every house we went to had food and made us eat it! I was so stuffed by the end of the day.  I absolutely LOVE it here in Lubao and would not mind staying here for a while, haha. Lubao is more city than Hermosa was and there are actually a couple restaurants and a grocery store here!! Jackpot haha. But the reason I really love Lubao is because of the people here. 

Opening Presents on Christmas Day

Jessica on a tryke on Christmas Day with her sister missionaries

1. I love my companion Sister Casaol and we get along so great. We work hard but we also play hard haha and are always smiling and laughing. 
2. My housemates are hilarious and we just enjoy everyday together and work hard together to bring more people to christ. 
3. My Zone is amazing and we are all so close and if anyone is struggling in there area or homesick we help one another and pick them up- it's really like we are a family now. 
4. My Branch here are such hard workers and their focus is always on the missionary work and helping us to achieve our goals. And last but definitely not least I LOVE my investigators here. They are so open minded and willing to open their doors and their hearts to us so that we can help them receive the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. We now have 8 people who will be getting baptized within January and February and they are all so excited! Its amazing to see how much the Lord's hand is in this work. When we got here we opened the area which means we started from scratch. No investigators and only 5 members who live in our area. But with faith and the help of Heavenly Father we are finding much success here and helping others improve their lives and be happier through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love it here, I love my mission- i cant imagine my life now without it, and of course I LOVE YOU ALL! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Make this one the best one yet!

Love ALWAYS,

Sister Lowe :)

Week 33 - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

Awww so I just want to start of by saying how much I love you family!! I just got done Skyping and it was so so amazing to see your beautiful and smiling faces after 7 months! Seeing the house and the Christmas tree and all of you was more than I could ever ask for for christmas. 

So I know I said in my last email that I wont be homesick for Christmas... ya that may have been slightly false information haha 

BUT I do know that the work I am doing here is so important and this christmas I spend away from home will be the first christmas where I am able to give a really good gift to my savior- my 18 months serving him as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that the best gift we can give, is the gift of the gospel to our fellow brothers and sisters and I feel so blessed and happy to be able to do this everyday here in the Philippines. 

This Christmas I will be waking up at 6:30 and going out to share the gospel to the people here in Lubao so I can be sure this will be a very memorable and different kind of Christmas, but a happy and rewarding one to say the least :) 

This past week has been really good and we had a lot of investigators at church yesterday! We also extended baptismal invitations to Harlyn, Karen, and Elsa and they all said yes! They loved church and love it when we come to teach them. Their grandpa always tells us we bring a special spirit to their home and he now wants to listen to our lessons and come to church! Im telling you, the Lord has really prepared people here to receive the gospel and It is such a gift to be able to teach them but more importantly love them and help them to live happier lives. Serving others, loving others- this is the spirit of Christmas and I feel so blessed to be a missionary here in the Philippines. It has truly made me appreciate my life back home and what I have in my life. These people here live in small shacks with dirt floors and have no money to get nice gifts for their kids, but they are so humble and happy to just receive a bag of rice or fruit... It makes me think about how much I have been given and what the Lord has blessed me with.This entire experience has taught me so much and filled me with gratitude to my savior. I love you all and wish you a very merry Christmas or in Tagalog- Maligayang Pasko!!!!! I love you all so much and send my love across the seas! Mahal ko kayo!!!!

Love always,

Sister Lowe :)    

pics:

1 Miss you all!!!

2. Merry Christmas!!!

3. Me and sister Leakehe in our new apartment!

Week 32 - Christmas Devotional

So this week was another great week!!! We had our church Christmas party and we has SO many of our investigators attend!! And they were lots of families which is good because we are really focusing on families right now. Elsa and Harlyn are some of our new investigators that we've found and they are so awesome! They just drink up every word we say and get so excited to read the Book of Mormon! They are coming to church next week and they are super excited! I seriously love being a missionary guys.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch the Christmas Devotional from Salt Lake City and wow how great was that! Anyone who hasn't seen it I strongly encourage you to.  Go to www.lds.org and click on the link.   It really made me think about the true meaning of Christmas and how god gave us the greatest gift- "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son"-Jesus Christ This holiday season is a time to show our love and gratitude to our savior Jesus Christ. This will be my first Christmas away from home but I have never felt the Christmas spirit more fully in my life as I serve the people here in the Philippines day in and day out. In the Christmas Devotional Elder Nelson said, "Jesus has given us the greatest gift, the gift of his atonement that enables us to repent, return to our Heavenly Father someday, and receive eternal life.

 So, during this holiday season- a time of love and giving, what is your gift to him?" My gift to the Savior this year is my whole heart, and my full efforts as I serve him here in the Philippines another year. My gift to him is giving the gift of the gospel to the people here and helping them receive a fullness of happiness. Even though I’m far from home this Christmas and will be teaching like any other day on Christmas, I’m not sad and I’m not homesick because I know that sharing the gospel brings joy to others which makes me happy in turn.

I love you all so much and even though I said I’m not homesick, I still think of you often and pray for you every day. I love you and wish you a merry Christmas!!! 

God bless,

Sister Lowe

Week 31 - New Area - Lubao

Hey Guys!!

So ya guess what?? I was right and I got transferred! Bye bye Hermosa! It was super super hard to say goodbye to all my families, recent converts, and investigators there (yes, many tears were shed on my part haha, it was pretty embarrassing) and all the members and my recent converts/investigators we crying and calling me and texting me as soon as they found out. I've lived there 6 months now and Hermosa was truly like my home away from home (besides BYU haha). I have just grown to love the people there so much and I feel truly blessed to be a part of their lives even if it was a short while- and even though it was just a short while I know they will stay with me forever. And of course I can't forget about Sister Lariosa! Oh my gosh, I love that girl so much and feel so blessed to have been her trainer. Being able to help her and watch her grow and become besties with her has been just amazing. It was hard to leave her in Hermosa a watch the 1st 6 months of my mission disappear as a watched out the bus window. BUT before you feel sad for me, don't! ... because life is awesome right now! 

1. my last time with the Robles family! Serious love this family to pieces...

At the curb with all my luggage waiting to catch the bus to Olongapo to go pick up my new companion and move to Lubao!

Sister Lariosa and I's tearful goodbye haha gosh I miss that girl.

So story time. My zone leaders texted me on Tuesday night and said I would be transferred to Lubao the next morning. So the next morning as I was getting ready to get on the bus to go there the zone leaders get a call saying that I’m not going to Lubao, but to the mission home to pick up my new companion because I'm training again! haha. surprise! So My new companion is Sister Casaol and she is turning 30 on Dec 23. She is actually a short time missionary for 6 weeks which means I have to teach her everything in 6 weeks instead of 12! oh yeahhh. 

And then on top of that, I found out I'm opening my area!! haha talk about adventure right? But It's super fun and I LOVE it here in Lubao! The people here are so so nice and are always like "sisters, pasok pasok!" (come in come in!) and my companion is super teachable and nice. I’m in an apartment with 3 other sisters- sis De los Santos, sis Casaol and sister Leakehe!!! Ya, sister Leakehe my companion from the MTC and I are back together!!! We were super excited to find out we were living together again. My new branch is great, our ward mission leader is a stud and has great ideas and plans for the missionary work here in Lubao. Guys I seriously love being a missionary. Like I know I say that all the time, but I just mean it so much! It is truly the happiest and most fulfilling work on the planet. I will be eternally grateful for the decision I made a year ago to serve a mission. I love you all and hope you are enjoying the holiday season!! Merry Christmas :)))

Love from your favorite sister missionary, 

Sister Lowe <3

Week 30 - Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone!!!

So this week has been another great one! 

1. I ate a Filipino delicacy this week-chicken blood... oh yaaa  
2. I got 2 packages! One from Tate and one from you, mom!! you're the best! I wore my new shoes and stepped in dog poop twice in one day... ya talk about lucky.   haha Don’t worry I cleaned them off haha and ..
3. We found a lot of new investigators and could barely fit everyone in the classroom this week at church which was awesome! So sorry this email is gonna be a short one, BUT I just wanted to express my love for each and every one of you and say how thankful I am for you. (So ya apparently us Americans celebrated Thanksgiving a week early... haha whoops embarrassing, guess we were a little too excited not to mention that's what happens when your halfway around the world with no contact with the outside world haha) But seriously, I am so so grateful for all of you and your support and love for me and for missionary work. It's THE best kind of work out there I'm telling you. There is no way I could wake up at 6:30 AM everyday for 18 months and walk and teach in the Philippines heat until 9:00 at night if it wasn't for the help of the Lord and the beautiful message we share. Every morning I wake up with a smile on my face knowing that I get to serve the Lord another day and give all my effort and energy to this work. I hope that by the time I go home in a year I will have just given everything I have and will be so exhausted I will have to take a month-long nap haha. This work is true and it is so happy. I love the Philippines people and I love what I do as a missionary- bring people closer to Christ. Transfers are this week and since I've been here almost 6 months now, there is like a 99.99999% chance that I will be transferred out of my first area here in Hermosa. It is going to be so sad to leave all my converts and investigators, but I’m excited to see what else the Lord has in store for me elsewhere too :) I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!! Be safe, be happy, do what you love, and always remember to smile! Mahal ko kayo and don't forget it! :)
love always,
Sister Lowe 


Pictures:
4. 
   
   

1. me in front of the Hermosa chapel on my last sunday

2. Me and sister Hazel!

3. Sister Lariosa and I with one of our recent converts Nentita Lintag... she is such a character hahaha