Fishy

this past week was such a blur i can't even recall what happened. we found a lot of new investigators and had a lot of lessons. but we are having a lot of trouble getting help from the ward members and getting our investigators to assist church. if you could please fast and pray for us so i don't pull out all my hair it would be greatly appreciated. also pray for my sanity being a sister training leader because i have some aposs sisters in my zone and i dont know what to do to fix it. serious estres.

transfers next week!

we literally cooked and ate this whole fish..honduran style

El espirtu nos guia

We had an amazing week her in conroe. the work is really progressing and i love it. i don't want to spend too much time writing you today because the Barrera family is taking to us to Texas Road House and i haven't been there for 11 months! im so stoked. 

so this past week i had my first MLC meeting. (missionary leadership conference) It is were the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders are trained by President and his assistants and then we take what we learn and have to train the rest of the missionaries in the zones. it is very very long and spiritually over whelming ha. then i had the opportunity to teach 20 other missionaries what i learned, in spanish. ha so i was super stressed this week. but it was very edifying!

so this week were were looking for some less actives and referrals in this little town called Cut n' Shoot. basically it is like a KKK compound. very scary. in this town, if the trees on somebodys property are painted purple, it means you cant go past them, and if you do they have every right to shoot you. yepp. i have pictures attached.

the miracle this week was for sure yesterday. we had three set citas(appointments) in the morning before church with some investigators. we got a member to come out with us for all of them. we went to the first cita and she said she was busy and didn't let us in. so we went to our back up and they weren't home, then we went to our next set cita and they were there but didn't answer the door. then we went to our next back up and they also didnt let us in. and this happened to like 6 houses. i was discouraged and didn't know what was going on. we had a member with us and weren't having any success. we decided to go to one more potential. somebody that my comp found while i was on exchanges. we went to their apartment complexes and turns out they gave us a phony address because the # of apartment didn't exist. i was done ha. but the member we were with says, i feel like i have a friend that lives in these apartments but I'm not sure. this friend was really close with her, she actually lived with her for a year and had listened to missionaries before. but then she moved out into her own place and never gave the member the address. when we were driving out of the complex she saw her friends car parked in front of one of the buildings in the complex. i had the feeling that we could knock on all the doors in that building to find her but i didn't say anything. my companion and the member also had the same feeling but nobody said anything. when we were literally driving out of the complex, the member looked back at the buildings and she saw her friend sitting on her balcony. we ended up going back and teaching her and her boyfriend she lives with. my companion that morning had found a video by holland about the sacrament that we shared. turns out that the member we were with had watched that same video in the morning when she woke up. so much spirittttt. that hermana bore her testimony in sacrament meeting about how she knew why none of the the other citas worked out because the Lord knew where we needed to be. super cute.

Let the holy spirit guide!

911

so this past week was good, not too much to say. we still are working with all the investigators we found. we set three baptism dates with the reyes family.

i had a leadership meeting and went on exchanges.

we ran our of money this last week so we starved to death and actually asked the neighbors for milk for our cereal haha.. poor problems.

we had stake conference yesterday and it was really good. it was a flash back to the last stake conference i had when i was new in the mission and i couldnt understand anything that was said but this time i understood all the the talks and i was so happy. they spoke about the equation

la fe + la accion = un testimonio

i also got to see some people from my old, old area bear creek. some of my recent converts and some less actives i helped reactivate. i was super good to see them. some of my recent converts were even singing in the choir:)

also yesterday we were knocking doors in a sketchy place and we walked up to a door and a lady was like screaming bloody murder for someone to help her. we didnt know what to do. so we tried to open the door to help her and she had a huge pitbull barking at us so we couldnt go in. so we had to call the police. they came and it was a super obese lady that was trying to lift  weights on a bench bar and she got stuck under the bar and couldnt get out. hahahahha so nothing cool but we probably saved her life.

me and my companion really love taking selfies. and i just dont want you guys to forget what i look like because ive been gone for so long:) ipads arent the best idea for missionaries..(:

also are temple wall in the apartment and olive garden with the barreras! first non-hispanic food ive had in months, had to document it.

Fireside in the Dark

So a lotttt happened this past week in conroe..

I dont really expect anybody to understand most of this unless you served a mission but it was an awesome week. so like i said when i got here there was not a lot of work, like nobody to teach or visit. so we have been doing a lot of just finding which has really sucked because its hotter than sin here. but the Lord has blessed us so much for our efforts. so in this mission, a good week you find like 2-5 new investigators. this past week we found 21 new investigators that we started teaching. our president couldnt even believe it. he shouted us out at zone conference ha. but it was not us, the Lord has prepared these people and literally like threw them at us. 

so on tuesday our car broke down and it wouldnt start and we said a prayer and it barely made it to mechanic. when we got there the person asked how we got it there, i said we prayed and then they laughed at us. Oh ye of little faith! so for the day we werent going to have our car so we could of just stayed there any waited or gone out and walked. we decided to just see how much work we could do and the lord blessed us abundantly.

One family we found, well actually they found us, we were knocking doors and nobody was answering of course, and this little girl from across the street comes up to and says "my mom was wondering if you guys taught about the bible" we were like yeah, then she was like, can you come over to our house and teach our family? hahah bendiciones. it is a family of 7. they loved our message and when we came back they had all read and prayed. and they all want to be baptized. 

so after our car was finally fixed we drove to this refferal we had and when we got there the said to us, "i have been waiting for you for 5 months. i want church studies for me and my whole family."

so we taught them twice last week and they came to church yesterday! 

we also found lots of other cool people that i just dont have time to right about right now.

we also had zone conference this week and a missionary fireside. but the power we out at the church for some reason so we had no mic, no air and no lights. it was awesome. 

i also had the opportunity on saturday to go to the temple for baptisms with my two new recent converts from gulf bank, claudia and erik, pictures attached:) it was very special! 

i love my companion so much. she is so awesome. 

with being a sister training leader i just have a lot of meetings and stuff but its good. i helps me be a better missionary ha.

Sister Training Leader

new area, new companion, new calling. omg.

i have so much to say i dont even know where to start.. so last monday night i got called by my zone leaders saying i was the new STL.. total surprise. i literally dont understand. i only have 9 months and there is so many other sisters that have more time than me that could be it. My leader said that is why im going all the way out to conroe, because somebody needs me over there in the woods. 

so conroe is the complete opposite as my last area. i was like downtown in the city, now im out in the country. our area is huge it covers like three towns. one of the towns is literally called, "Cut n' Shoot"  you cant get more texas than that. and the ward is farely small. but the members are cool. and our apartment is like supppper nice. 

so yall know i dont get sick very often, but i do when im stressed. so right for transfers i got strep throat and super sick. and its freaking summer. who gets sick in august? so that was rough..

my new companion is Hermana Chrsitensen. she is the best ever. she is from boise idaho. and she is crazy just like me! she has 6 months in the mish. and she is just the hardest worker ever. and always is happy. she keeps me on track. her last companion her wasnt the best missionary and they had a really hard time so she always is saying she is super blessed to have me but i think its the other way around!

so our area is a serious struggle. president told me that in my last two areas i had the best numbers of the mission, so he hopes i can do the same for conroe. hahahahahaha. the last missionary that was here was kinda disobedient and so the area is like dead. we are building from the ground up and starting from scratch. so we dont really have any investigators right now but we are doing a lot of finding! its really hard, and hot. but we are seeing the fruits of our labors and many miracles and blessings already. slowly but surley the work will pick up with a lot of help from the Lord!

i had the first of many leadership meetings this past week with president. it was really good. i asked him why i was called and just said, "hermana lowry, you're just a leader. its who you are" ha i blame my dad and mom. im nervous, but excited for this new calling and challenge from the Lord. 

so im missing the love from home,, i feel like ive been out for so long now everyone has forgotten about me:( i hope all is well and expect some letters and packages soon! :)

1900 West View Blv. #526

Conroe Texas 77304

P.S. so a family that me and hermana coley found it bear creek, my first area, like 6 months ago, just got baptized this saturday! no effort is wasted:) pic attached.

1. view from my apartment

2. new comp

3. the family that was baptized

Erik's Baptism!

I just have so much to say, my heart is full. My last week in Gulf Bank has been amazing.

So first, last monday i got to go shopping at the mall and that made me happy. after, we taught a bomb first lesson to some new investigators. the dad told us "thank you for bringing peace into my home" its not us, its the spirit!

on tuesday i went on exchanges with hna. jorgensen and we taught a awesome first lesson to this cutest kid Jesus. he is golden!

on friday we had an awesome zone meeting and learned some new better ways of teaching. after we went and did some service at the food bank.

so crazy miracle story about Erick getting baptized. so the whole process has been super fast. like a 3 week baptism preparation. so we had been going over like everday to teach him all the lessons he needed before his interview. so on thursday we were going over the baptism interview questions with him to help prepare him before his interview, and one of the questions is if your are on probation or have commited a crime. hes only 17 so i didnt think about this before, but he was like yes. i thought he was kidding. but he really is on probation for a year! i was like freaking out because that means he cant be interview by just our district leader, but president has to do it and call salt lake headquarters and get permission and that stuff. president said that we would probably have to wait another week for the baptism because he didnt know when he would hear back. and i was soo sad because im leaving the area. i was praying with all my heart that he would be able to baptized this week. the missionary department in salt lake called him back quicker than he thought and said it was fine for him to be baptized. i was soooo happy. God answered by prayers so quickly. we had the baptism on sunday and after we went to the temple. this has probably been my favorite baptism so far because he just worked so hard, well we all just worked so hard to get him to the waters of baptism. but i know it was the Lord pushing us and helping us the whole way.

i am so sad to leave my area because i am just so attached to all my investigators and english class students:( it is hard to leave. my new area is called Conroe. I will send the address later. im also super nervous because its my first time getting a companion that has less time than me in the mission. :/ everything is just super stressful.

My English Class

My class took me to breakfast on my last day!

Caridad (Charity)

so transfers are next week and im probably leaving so dont send anything to this address.

we had interviews with president last week and he shared with a scripture about how to obtain charity and why it is a necessary attribute to have.

Moroni 7:48

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of 

heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who 

are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; 

that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that 

we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

If after this life, we want Our Heavenly Father to recognize us as his children, we have to have charity. sometimes we have to be chasten and let go of our pride before we obtain it. it may be hard here and now, but it leads to a happier life after.

Pictures:

1. this is a family in my english class from Russia. they are awesome

2,3,4. Went on exchanges with Hermana Sumsion! Shes amazing. reminds me a lot of my sister.

5. awkward unplanned picture of me teaching my investigator erick who is getting baptized this saturday! intense..

6. Juarez dog pile. my favorite family ever. soy una guerra

7. august will be the death of me. Wake me up when September ends