12/25/07 Christmas in Thailand...

And so this is christmas...and what have we done...another year older, a new one just begun -niel diamond. HEY!!! How was everyone's Christmas? I hope it was as good as mine was:) So yesterday all us missionaries were all treated to a boat tour/luncheon on the river jaw phra yaa.....down in bangkok. It was a lot of fun to see all my friends and see president Dodge....as for food wise we had some classics ...rice and stuff(stuff meaning meats) but it was tasty...and free. After our lunch we had a white elephant exchange....which was alot of fun...I personally ended up with the much coveted "swensons ice cream membership card" I was very pleased with the gift...in fact we have plans as a district to use it today...:) this card includes buy one scoop of ice cream get one free....and 15% off and what nots. So I was happy...the other elders in my district got as follows:E. witt, wind chimes; E. hunsaker, pingpong paddle set; and E. Ly, got a massive bag of candy....which will end up being dispersed and separated amoung the district....:) on top of that....i got a couple packages...from mom....which included the necessaties of the holidays: gel insoles, tooth paste/electric power brush....and junk food.....with spending cash....(which will turn into a custom tailored suit in a couple weeks:))and also a package from grandma fish....including swedish candies, socks, and study materials. So all in all the best christmas in the mission so far...As for other activities....on monday...our district and starting with about 4 members went caroling to lessactives and actives homes....after caroling to each individual home those members would jump in the back of the truck and go with us to the next home...so at the end of the night we had quite a few people...it was so much fun...I was loving every minute of those christmas songs....playing them on the guitar....we of course added licks and small solos....for show....only... needless to say we rocked christmas here in ayuttaya..no one ever saw it coming. speaking along the lines of music....there has been some speculation...with regaurds to the band sys. First of all , to answer some of moms ?s, it is all missionaries in the band...it is a "special" calling in this mission....we have the band because it helps keep us in the country...it helps us (as missionaries) keep getting visas...because we are playing free concerts and often perform for royalty and special parties and events...so it helps us have better relations with the government here. There are alot of rumors going around the mission about me right now...with regaurds to this band. It seems as though all missionaries are set at getting me into the band....everyone is always trying to convince president dodge to put me in....but of course he won't,yet, because he only calls those who he feels like he should call. It's not about the talents you have with music....but more so what president wants us to do. As for me personally I dont' really want to be in it.....I like being a normal missionary....if you are called in the band you don't really do missionary type of missionary work...meaning tracting and inviting and teaching investigators....so it would be wierd to be called into the band....but if thats what i get called to do I'll do it for sure. So anyways on another note..our area is really taking off. We got a couple people that are doing really good. they are really progressing....hopefull they will keep it up...and hopefully we can keep finding new people. I love this area alot it is so good. I've learned alot here.....probably some of the more important things I've needed to learn. It's been a sweet christmas and a good start of the moves...I can't believe there is only a couple weeks left until I get a new companion...I am going to miss my lil' cambodian friend, I love this guy alot. well enough about random things in my personal life....love you guys hope everyone is doing good and well....for those of you in missouri drive safe in the ice and snow....and those of you in cal. i guess drive safe too.. ...love you guys happy new year!elder lowrey

Kauai, Hawaii 12-2007

Hanalei Valley, Kaui...can't even image the beauty! I can't believe that I am in Hawaii...so much to see...many pics to follow!

Andy's letter 12/19/2007

Hey family.....how's life? As for me it's all good. So..kind of an interesting week...no Christmas email from mom and stuff.....hmm. So yeah I won't hold it against you:) Well yeah so I have had an interesting week this past week.....We got rockin and rollin a little bit in our area....we've found like 15 new people...and a couple familes so we are trying to get them progressing but haven't yet met with all of them....so next week we'll know who is progressing and ...but yeah it is looking good for our area....we are still practicing for our christmas jam on sat. I am looking forward to playing....I've loved playing guitar again it's been so much fun...but makes me think about home too much....haha...other than those things today we went down to a dermatologist in bangkok because I've had some "bodily rashes" break out the past few days...so that was really awkward.....enough said about that.....so as many of you probably know....this is my last christmas in the mission field...and I will be calling home on the 24th (think its a monday)at about 5:00p.m. your time....so don't worry about anything just sit by the phone on that day and time...and hopefully you are free....because I won't check my email before then...haha isn't that convienent?? we love mission rules.....anyways....my companion is dying in 3 weeks which is interesting beings that I am his last comp...it brings interesting feelings....I've actually just recently killed one of my zone leaders....this past monday was elder skousans last "working day" and he spent it with me up in ayutthaya...we saw some good stuff happen so that was sweet. Anyways besides that I can't believe it's christmas because I am still in a constant sweat....haha we are sailing smooth at a solid 90 degrees..so no snow thats for sure.....and there aren't any decorations.....or music....so it's like its not happening....although it is...oh yeah we have our christmas party on the 25th....for the missionaries....we are getting on some boat and floating on a river for like 3 hours gwaa gwaa.....from what I understand there will be food and gifts(meaning white elephant thing) and some other things....so it should be nice..... I am excited to see old friends and stuff.....well love you guys hope your holidays are fun....i sure miss everyone!love you guys elder lowrey

Elder' latest 12/12/07

Hey mom and fam, how was everyone's week? Hope it was good. Hey mom you should ask Elder Snieter if Elder Jensen ever rapped for him....because while I was with him I would make up beats on my guitar and we would have E. Jensen rap every night....he's really not that good.....but the stuff he says is way funny. We had some good topics and good times:) Well, I can't believe that the Clasons are moving away....sad day. Hey, I bet everyone is excited for Christmas....eh? I know I am. I'm not sure if I told you this last week but we are going on a ship for christmas....so it should be way good. Besides that we have some good activities planned at our branch. Well this past week was so good. We had our Zone conference, in which we had a guest speaker. Who just so happened to be Elder Hollstrom of the seventy who looks over the asian area. It was so good we did alot of hands on trainning and got some good advice and direction. We definetly got the spiritual boost we were looking for. Other than that, Elder Witt and I switched off yesterday and had a way good time and found their area a new investigator. Elder Witt and I get along really good and are pretty close.....so it made for a really fun day. By the way, I told Elder Witt about our boat trip we are planning.....and he being a surfer from flordia said if you need another hand....he is in. He gets home before me though, in march of next year so...little before me. O hey mom I was wondering if you or Dana or the kids wanted me to get you anything special....like get a suit cut or whatever.....suits are like 150 bucks......custom tailored and you get two pairs of pants...so if you are interested in anything.just send me your measurements ..and what color/style you'd like........or watches or anything let me know and i'll hook you guys up. Well I was thinking about getting myself a suit cut.....because my suit that I brought is pretty much done for....well anyways...hope everyone has a good week. The gospel is still true over here ....hope everyone has the opportunity to share it this christmas!!!!Love you guys....let me know what you need Elder Lowrey

Irony

hey mom....glad you liked the pictures....hey that Elder that you asked me about is the one that just moved from ayutthaya....I served with him for a moves here in ayutthaya....and he is one group younger than me so I met him in the mtc...he is a cool guy and a solid elder....so you can tell elder snyder that he is good :)But yeah he moved out of my district a week ago and is serving in a place called warin, province of ubon...well on another note....you guys are going to Hawaii??? for 10 days..??? Just for the record....in my childhood we never left the states...then when I went on a mission you guys went to mexico last year and hawaii this year...oh, man.....shheewww...these kinds of things are hard to get over...haha.well atleast I'll get the boat trip when I get home....next december..well work on the island...hasn't changed too much....in fact work in ayutthaya hasn't changed for a while....this whole area hasn't seen a baptism for about a year already...so its hard for both areas right now...this past week I met one really cool guy....that just so happened to be the head father at the biggest catholic church here in ayutthaya...but I called him and went and met with him and taught him about our church...he is way good....I'm pretty sure he won't change because of his current position in the church, but atleast we have the chance to give him an opportnity....and he is pretty open to studying in the book of mormon so who knows what will happen with him....so yeah other news we had our moves meeting and elder witt is training a greenie from st.louis mo!! so the district morale is up because of hometown bonds....haha....his name is Elder hansakerhe is pretty cool.....hopefully he gets to see something good in his greenie area....well this past week we have been having alot of problems happen in the branch my first week here we had almost 55+ people at church, which is pretty normal but the last couple weeks weve been getting about 30 or less....so its getting interesting.....funny how the experiences I had in surin kind of trained me for this place...i find myself being able to find answers to problems alot easier because of past experiences.....so I am grateful for that.but yeah hopefully we just keep working and someone eventually will reap the rewards...well hey this week is huge for the thais..its one of there bigger holidays..Fathers day.....which is the kings birthday. there are so many crazy things going on....for instance...infront of city hall they have this massive tent with free food alll day.....which is of course planned into our daily plans....its not the best food but its free....and there are alot of people over there to invite. besides that they have set up concerts all over the city so it makes finding people alot easier at night....because they are all gathered in these areas;.....bad thing ..they usually are all pretty drunk.well not too much other news...life is good ...oh yeah i was wondering if I could get some calcium pills...im having problems with my joints ....i think it might be from not getting calcium because i eat rice....so that would be nice...it doesn't have to be a sams club size..just something normal ....umm other than that life is all good....i'm excited for christmas...the ward had me learn a ton of christmas songs that we will be using when we go caroling....so that should be fun....well love you guys...hope you have a good week .....i want to throw some happy birthdays to all those who have one.....(i cant belive my lil bro is 17..!!!ahhaha crazy sweet hope you had a good one man)well love you guys....elder lowrey ps...grandma fish: thank you so much for sending my book!!!!love you

Thanksgiving 2007

Every holiday I hold my breath hoping that if I am helping to care for the missionaries in our ward...someone in Thailand is taking care of my missionary.

It was a lonely Thanksgiving with out Andy, (those who enjoy feeding him know what I mean--he is fun to feed:-) lots of ooohhs and ahhs.

Yet, this year he was in good hands, thanks to the Gibbons Family in Bangkok.

We had a lovely day and were so happy to have Megan here with us!

Megan and I had more fun on the days to follow...shopping until almost midnight...and walking the pier in Redondo only to entertain ourselves by renting paddle boats in the harbor...It was a fun weekend.

I have soooo much to be thankful for, and am grateful for where I am.

November 28th 2007 Thai Turkey report...

Hello family...So I'm sure everyone is wondering how my thanksgiving went..?or maybe you don't care but I am going to tell everyone...So we went to bangkok to the home of a family called the Gibbons...and were also joined by the families of Bunker and Felps. Thanksgiving was awesome. Lets just say that these families really took care of us. The food was so good...and the house was just like back home...it was so crazy to see things that I haven't seen for a while....like a real dryer!!or the silverware or a couch.... or CARPET!!! did I tell you guys that thais don't have carpet??? oh yeah they had central air too! what an experience...it was way fun. They had so much food and were way good hosts and hostesses.....it was awesome. Way better than the hoagie sandwiches we got in the mtc last year...haha. I also learned that I will miss 3 thanksgivings from home...! cuz I'll finish my mission next dec. like the second week. Anyways the down side of that experience is the homesickness that followed ....but the left overs that they sent home with us helped us with those feelings:) Well other news we have one elder moving from our district and its me...not....wait not me...elder jensen...is moving and a new greenie is replacing him...so thats exciting....as for me I will be killing my cambodian companion elder ly...this will be his last move before he finishes up so it should be good. As of right now everything seems to be going good. I'm not sure why but starting to get a little homesick..with christmas and stuff coming up...this will be my 2nd christmas.....kinda wierd to think eh? Well it sounds like everything is good with the boat..you should tell Dana to start boating over to Thailand and by the time he gets here I will be getting off my mission and he can pick me up...haha fun eh? ....anyways...thats exciting and it sounds like everything was good with grandma lehmans funeral....hope everyone had a good time. Well to answer your ? about the box....there is really no gaurantee on that stuff...too bad there were some sweet things in that box...(completly irreplaceable)..:( So yeah tonight should be really fun....we have our english showcase night...and we've planned out an American Thanksgiving night.....which will include all the things we do as kids in kindergarten...like make indian hats and pilgram hats out of paper.... bobbing for apples...(not sure how the thais will do with that) and one of my favs ..."The Turkey Hunt"....ok so we usually don't do this in America but we are incorporating here ok...? anyways we have fake bushes and behind these bushes will be a flock of turkeys(actually balloons...but have the appearance of a turkey...???) So, the players have to aproach the "forest" and make turkey calls inorder to entice the turkey to exit from its bushy home....when they make a good or funny enough call the turkey will slowly and cautiously exit its bush....at that time the player must shoot the turkey using a very cleverly made blow dart gun.....after they kill the turkey (or brake the balloon) they go get the question that is inside of the turkey and proceed to answer it....kind of a twist off of jeopardy...hope it is fun....?? :)Don't worry it's completly harmless and kid safe....hopefully. Well this week should be a good one we have some new investigators that are reallly good that we have found this past week....so the work is picking up and I am excited to be with elder ly another moves...!!:)Well thats my report...love you all elder lowrey

Elder Lowrey's Thai Tales 11/15/07 (hump day!!)

Hey, sounds like life is good and all ....with a 26ft. long boat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!what ...where did that come from haha...sweet I am looking forward to that in a year...so yeah today is my year mark as a missionary...this is the day that i entered the mtc...wow...time flew so fast...i'm loving every min. of it....so yeah this past week I was out for a couple days....being sick...but it wasnt dengay so that was good....the hospital here is good too...so that was a plus...anyways i was sick for like 4 days....so it was a big set back...this past wed. we went to a massive waterfall that was way fun..but sad because we couldn't swim in it....but it was alot of fun...anyways...I'll send some pics next week....I was sad to get the call from president that grandma had passed away. I will miss her alot...I hope everyone else is coping ok..with everything. Let me know if I can do anything for anyone.?? well sorry I didnt' write a lot this week I emailed grandma and megan so I dont have much time left... hey have you got the box I sent yet???I sent it a month ago so you should be getting it soon....???hopefully. when you get it I'll explain some of the things in it....cuz it might need some explaining....anyways I love you guys....thanks for the email this week ....know that I am feeling better....and that I love all of you..oh mom I have a favor.....will you send me my "teachings of the prophet joseph smith book" it actually might be a grandma fishs house...I am not sure....but that would be great...if you could. love you guys..elder lowrey

November 14, 2007

So did I ever think that I would be excited about sailing? May just be the furthest thing from my mind...but yes we have a new addition that I am very excited about. She is a 26 foot spooner named Jambalah. We bought her in Monterey when we were up for Amanda and AJ's wedding. NO we did not plan on coming home with a boat! This past weekend we trailered her to the desert for holding...and getting her ready for a spring voyage to Catalina.

November 8th, 2007

week four on the island..... Hey fam....how's life in the good old usa??? Thailand....yep. Well this past week we had our zone conference. We went down to bangkok on tuesday and had our conference then me and elder witt switched off and stayed with the "Sys" band down in pakkret for our p-day. So anyways our main purpose in staying an extra day was to go to a place called the villa, it's a import grocercy store.....so you could only imagine the feelings that I had as I walked through the doors and saw all the marvelous things....let me just say imported food is awesome. Well the results are simple.....soft tacos and chips with salsa.....a massive thing of hersheys syrup.....a1 steak sauce...pepperidge farm cookies..and a number of other things...we also got to go bowling with the other elders in bangkok, which was way fun....anyways my shopping experience probably has no meaning to everyone else but if you didnt eat or see some of the things you like for a whole year....you would be just as excited.....ok....?wellother than that experience I am not sure what I got hit with but I am taking the sickness again....there are signs of dengay but I think its just another false alarm.....hopefully it doesnt turn into anything big or nasty....but yeah besides the sickness and our p-day....and zone conference....lets answer some ?s....What is happening with the weather this time of year? ....its still really hot.... Do you get to sight see much on your p-day? ....sometimes ....everytime i send pics means that i got to go sight see.... Emma would like to know if you have to do your own laundry and house keeping?.....partly...there is a old thai lady who cleans up for us....:) so yeah other news.....my comp is still under 5'2 and still cambodian...and the river behind our house has dropped about 7 feet so the worries of flooding are over....we go fishing alot and jam with the karaoke boats behind our house...which is still way fun...?anyways...not too much new news this week ....oh yeah I bet you'd like to know what president dodge talked about at zone conference....dont you???? hey says dont "khii nog" .....lets talk about it.....that in thai is bird poop....do you want to know the meaning...? the thai people call white people that come back and marry a thai girl bird poop....(rightfully so)so yeah pres. dodge talked about some missionaries coming back to find a wife ....he simply said...dont do it....which is what everyone wanted to hear ...except those planning to come back and marry a thai girl...interesting no??? apparently those are the problems in the mission right...now...well on that note lets end this letter....love you guyselder lowrey

OCTOBER 31ST ELDER UPDATE

First thing first....thanks for getting those snacks in the mail...they are going to change peoples lives here in thailand. Anyways, life is life. This week has been a classic week here in Ayutthaya....We are seeing some sweet things happen here in this branch.... this past sunday the branch president pulled us into his office... with us he discussed goals and problems that he wanted us to help the branch with....this might not seem like a big deal....but if you knew the barrier that has been between the missionaries and members here you would understand more fully. The missionaries that have been here in the past have told the members that they not only didn't want to work with the members but that they didn't need the members help in missionary work...so after the missionaries said that actions followed that just built the barrier all the bigger. So the missionaries and members haven't been on the best terms for the last year or so....which of course has had an impact on the missionary work here also...but this little place is changing...we are getting the members to help us in all aspects of our work we are giving them responsibility and the results are of new strong member/ missionary relationships....which are already starting to have a positive impact on our results from our missionary service. So that was something great that has happened and developed over the course of the last week or so...Yesterday we had companionship switchoffs....I switchedoff with elder jensen....in his area....it was alot of fun. They have one investigator that works at a show place....it is packed with elephants and tigers and what not...everything is just laying around and you can just walk around and pet stuff feed stuff .....whatever your heart desires....:) anyways that was cool....its always crazy feeling when there is like a bunch of tigers loose just walking around. Anyways....another sweet thing is that the other elders in our district found this group of burmese people....like 15 of them. They were going to a church called Grace church or something like that...and started investigating with us....But these people are way sweet this whole group is really interested and keep the commitments that they are givin....the only problem is they dont' speak thai....and only a couple of them speak english so there is alot of translating going on....but yeah the other elders are like international elders...they teach in a bunch a languges....right now their investigators include people from....burma, lao, vietnam, and korea....so they have an interesting group of people to teach....anyways....a bit of random info for you...well ok everything is going good....hope all goes well with the wedding and what not.... i send my congrats to the two....i love you guys let me know if i can help you at all....love you guys
elder lowrey..

Weekly (Elder) Update

hey family...so an announcement...about email...President Dodge said that the new rule for email is....everyone can email me....(any family) but if I reply I have to go through my Mom's email address....so you can email me again. As for other things....I am actually out of surin....and I don't know what to do....haha. So fyi...I moved to a place called........ayutthaya....its a couple hours north of bankok...and kinda to the west....the church has been here for about 3 years...so the branch is really small....but way sweet....It was actually opened about 10 years ago but got closed due to a number of different things. Anyways...my area is interesting....about 45 percent musilm....(hard conversion rate ... beings that death could be punishment for changing religions.) Anyways I am on a island...kind of....my area is surrounded by a river....and the other 2 elders look over the area on the outside of the river....Anyways this place is interesting....this is like one of the oldest cities in thailand..and the place where they filmed the movie mortal combat...there are a ton of ancient temples...and a ton of foriegners haha since i have been here , just a couple days, I have helped translate for a ton of people...Anyways....I got a new companion too....he is cambodian.....so lets just say I still am not speaking awhole lot of english....haha.. anyways he is way small ...he is about 70lbs and about comes up to my armpit....so he is way small....anyways...we will see how it goes.....hopefully it will be ok...anyways...the branch is pretty cool....the branch president has been a member for just over a year so doesnt really quite know whats going on....but hes good. we have about 5 priesthood holders that come to church so its about the same size a the surin branch....but not the same problems.... :)..I don't know why but president loves putting me in areas with no investigators and small branches...haha ....maybe there is a lesson to be learned...haha...so yeah...we have like 1 investigator....so we will see what we can do in the next couple weeks...on the island(my area) we only have 13 members so there isn't too much member work to do also....yeah from our area to the church is about 15 min. on a motorcycle and a little far on a bike.....we got special permission to use boats here though because it is reallly convinient....umm...our house is pretty sweet....it is right on the river...and our neighbors are these massive karaoke boat/resturants....that have tons of people singing and stuff meaning drinking and singing all night...so it gets interesting....haha....in this time of the year...there is a ton of flooding in my area....like everyone on the other side of the island has moved out of there house....i am talking two story house is now one story ....this isn't little floods like in surin....there is like 10 feet + of water in some areas......our house is almost flooded so we might be moving if it gets worse....anyways....apparently this happens every year....because....it rains alot up north in like chaing mai and chaing rai ...so when the dams are fulll up there they open them up.....and the water all comes down to ayutthaya ...fun no?>but its pretty fun..i will send you some pics when i take some...anyways...thats the report....thanks for the email....love you guys elder lowrey