January 28,2013

Hey Guys!, So this week was great! We worked very hard but we didn’t baptize, ( our investigator got to church and she didn’t like some things she saw so we have to go and help her out with that this week). So we hope to get her baptized with her other 2 kids this next week. Other than that, it was good. My Zone leader Elder Agurto came and worked with me this week and it went well for us! We had a lot of success together, which was great. So I’m struggling to find how I can help my district do better than they’re doing right now. I’m not too sure how I can help them baptize more! I feel like I’m doing a lot but there’s something missing there and I don’t know what it is. Any advice? So I’m glad to hear that everything’s going good back home and that you’re all excited. So we had a very spiritual experience this week. We went to the church building to give a tour to an investigator named Claudia. When we got there we started to talk to her about the gospel, about baptism and about the church and what we do there. When we started to explain what it was all about and the sacrament, she started to cry. She told us of some fears that she had and some things that she’s been tempted to do but hasn’t due to fear. Which is good because they’re not good things at all. We sat and talked to her and read with her, prayed with her and she’s way excited to be able to get baptized this week with her family! I’m way excited also! I’m also very thankful for the Spirit and the miracles it brings in people! How come Brandon didn’t make the baseball team? So right now we’re planning an activity that we came up with a little while ago and the Stake has already accepted it. It’s a trip to Hawaii. What we’re gonna do is w’re gonna enter into an airplane and crash on the way to Hawaii. When we crash ,everyone’s gonna die and they’re all gonna go through the 3 kingdoms of glory and learn about the Plan of Salvation. I’ll explain more next week! Love you guys and miss you, Elder Lowder

January 21,2013

Hey guys!, So this week was very very long and interesting, but great! Like I said, I went on divisions all week with my district. When I got back, I was exhausted!! On Tuesday I went with Elder Parkinson, on Wednesday I went with Elder Uresti, Thursday Elder Huaser, and Friday Elder Lee. I got to know them pretty well and had the opportunity to learn from them and teach them, which was great! So on Thursday I got sick! I was throwing up and I had diarrhea. My body hurt and I was exhausted but I went to work like that. I almost died, but I made it through. On Friday my Zone Leaders came and gave me a blessing with my companion and I felt great afterward. We had success but we could have had more. I talked to my president and he helped me see what else we were missing as a district to have success. He told me that a lot of the Elders in my district aren’t completing their goals that they put down and that President has given us. So today I’m gonna talk about that in the class so that we can start having success. So I’m glad to hear everything is going great for you guys and that you are all working hard. My exercise is going good and eating better food helped me feel better until I got sick again. That made me lose weight again but I’m all better now, don’t worry. I love you guys and miss you all!! Let me know the number code! Elder Lowder

January 14, 2013

Hey Guys!!!!! This week has been very good! As a district, it was kind of hard. This week I have plans to do a lot of things for the district. So I’m teaching right now a Jose de Jesus, Dulce, and the Familia Salazar right now. I don’t have many investigators right now but we’re in the process of that. This week Jose de Jesus is going to get baptized he doesn’t have any problems that are gonna make him not get baptized. We’re gonna baptize him on Saturday afternoon! So this week I started doing exercise and it felt great! Especially to start my day off like that and then start working in the Lords work. So like I said I have a lot of plans for my district this week to be able to help them out. This week I’m gonna go on divisions with every single companionship in my district so that I can help them find new investigators and put more baptismal dates together. So I pray that this will help us have more success. I know it will because I was at church on Sunday and felt that this is what my district needs. So I hope that you guys stay away from the flu and all the sicknesses going around. I am feeling great again like I said! Maybe giving blessings to the whole family will help you guys recover 100%, just a suggestion. So just to let you guys know tomorrow morning I’m going to go take out the money! Also I won’t be in my house all week until Saturday because like I said I’m going to go on divisions all week so if there’s anything you need to tell me, let me know in your letter next week! I miss you guys and Love you guys a lot! Elder Lowder

January 8, 2013

Hey guys, How’s it going! I miss you all and hope your week has been great and that it’s been spiritual as well. My week was great in many ways! The biscuits and gravy were good, but I wasn’t as impressed as everyone else. The biscuits were sweet instead of being salty so it wasn’t the same taste but it still was good stuff! Sounds great about the money, honestly thank you guys sooooo much for this help! Im starting to plan all the money out as to how I’m gonna do it. I had in mind to buy those kinds of foods that you’re saying to be able to put more weight on again. Thank you guys so much! So I had an interview on Saturday with an investigator. It was funny because my zone leader sent me with her because he said she was good looking and he wanted the most handsome of the zone to go and talk to her so he sent me... hahahaha. Anyway, when I got there we started talking and I started interviewing her and all that. It was funny because we got along really well and the interview was honestly one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. When we got done, we walked out and I forgot to ask her who she wanted to baptize her. So I asked her and she asked who is allowed to baptize her and we explained it to her and she was like, I want you to baptize me Elder Lowder! haha. I felt really honored to be chosen. Before I told her yes, I took the missionaries and talked to them because I didn’t want to have any problems and they told me that they wanted me to do it. So I had the opportunity to baptize her on Saturday! So today are transfers and I’m staying! Thats why I didn’t write you guys yesterday because I wanted to be able to let you guys know what was going to happen. But I’m staying again hahaha. I’m gonna serve the rest of my mission here, I’m pretty sure. The Lord called me to the Mexico, Mexico D.F. Lucero mission haha. But I honestly wouldn’t get mad or sad if I stayed here all my mission because I love it here! The members are great, there’s a lot of success here and I feel extremely happy! Of course, when they change me from this area I’m going to be sad and all but I will keep working as hard as ever to keep things going in this mission and in the Lords work. I love you guys so much and I’m honestly so grateful for all you guys do for me! You guys do more for me then you realize and I’m so thankful for all of it! I love you guys and hope you guys have a great week! Elder Lowder

January 2, 2013

Hey guys!, I hope you guys had a great and happy New Years and that everything went how you hoped! I really enjoyed these last few weeks because, of course, I had the opportunity to celebrate new beginnings and the Birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What a blessing are the gifts that the Lord gives us every day. Sometimes we go on through life and we forget these blessings and we forget to tell the Lord thank you. So we fall into pride and stop doing the things we are supposed to do. I can only imagine the sadness the Lord feels when his children act as if we deserve more than what we receive. The Lord is not obligated to give us what we need always. He wants our best efforts and wants us to learn. We should always thank the Lord and then ask him. So this year I gave the Christmas money you sent me to a sister in my ward. She has had some money problems and work problems. When I got home one day she looked way sad so I asked her what was wrong and we sat talked about the fact that she wasn’t gonna be able to buy gifts for her kids on Christmas because she didn’t have the money to do so. During that time after she told me, a bunch of stuff started to happen. Her washing machine broke, the window on her front door broke, her son was sent to the hospital with an asthma attack, etc. My companion and I started doing everything we could to help them. So when you guys sent me the money I thought after all these problems the least I can do to help her is buy give her a little bit of money so that she can enjoy Christmas with her kids. The day I went to the bank I was really bothered because I didn’t know what I was going to do so that I could give the money to her but without her finding out that it was from you guys. I had an idea to go buy an envelope and take it to a member and have them write a letter and write a note on the envelope for me so that she wouldn’t recognize my hand writing. Its funny because on that day it was our turn to eat with her and her family. An hour before it was time to go eat we swung by the house really fast to drop off the envelope with the money inside. So we went early and just walked by the house and when we walked by I dropped the envelope into the house and we left. When we came back to eat, she already had the card opened and everything. We went in and sat down and she was sitting there crying and so we asked her, trying not to smile or laugh, what happened what’s the card she had in her hand. She looked at me with a big grin on her face and said someone gave me the opportunity to give my kids a Christmas like I wanted to and said thank you whoever it was and winked at me. hahaha. We played it off really well and told her it wasn’t us but i don’t know if she still thinks it was me or what. She ended up buying gifts for her kids. On Christmas morning it made me very emotional to be able to see them open their gifts and to be able to watch this members face light up so much to see her kids open their gifts. Thank you guys for doing that, honestly it’s one of the greatest traditions we have as a family and I have really cherished both the opportunities I’ve had to be able to be part of it and see their faces. I love you guys and miss you guys and hope you have a great week. I hope that you guys work as hard as you can to complete your goals you set this New Year. Elder Lowder

December 25,2012

Today we had the opportunity to Skype with Elder Lowder on Christmas day! At first we had a lot of difficulty because the internet in Mexico is very poor. The video feed and the audio were very poor. We finally gave up and called him on his landlords cell phone and continued to use the video feed provided by Skype. Our first impression is that he looks excellent. He has a bright countenance and a never ending smile. He spoke of how he misses us and the traditions we have as a family at Christmas, but that he was enjoying his Christmas there and the family he was celebrating it with, who have taken him in and treats him like another Son. We are extremely grateful to them. His accent is very thick and he struggles to remember English words. I asked him if he feels fluent and like he can speak all types of Spanish, conversational, slang and formal. He says that he can without difficulty. English is more challenging to him now. He told us of his many successes that he has had in his current area. We asked if he could share more about the specific people he is working with in his letters and he agreed to do so. He told us about a family that he got a referral for that when he and his companion went to their door, they were told that they were not interested in religion and slammed the door in their face. They went and saw some members who gave them a referral to the same family, so they went back. This time they were warned they would call the police if they returned. During a visit with the Bishop of his Ward, he asked them to go visit the same family. He told the Bishop of their experiences, but said if that is who he was inspired to send them to, they would go. They did and this time were invited in. They gave a very spiritual lesson and this family was baptized a week later and are now active members of their Ward. What a great blessing it is to have a Son on a mission who is magnifying his calling. Our Christmas was terrific, but mostly because of our Missionary of whom we are very proud.

December 17,2012

Hola Familia!! So I'm way excited for next week. I will Skype on Tuesday at 1 then! So this week was way tiring! I'm exhausted! But it went great. We baptized and everything. I'm very happy also that I have sister Mimi here to help me and to let me use and have a great Christmas! This week is going to be short and sweet because of time but I love you and miss you all!! I hope you guys are living the traditions and that they are making you feel as happy as I do when I do them! Elder Lowder