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