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