May 30th, 2011

I keep forgetting that Calgary is two hours behind PA. Despite it not really being that much different, it's interesting thinking how right now it is 11:30 in the morning rather than 1:30. It's just weird how day and night can be controlled by where you travel and that time is a man-made measurement to quantify the movement of the earth. And yet we still have the flaws in our system, hence leap years and daylight savings.

Sorry for the tangent. That was Gospel related right?

Calgary rain is tiny sprinkle compared to the monsoons out here. Because the weather last week was so rainy, we tried to do as little tracting as possible when it was thunderstorming. Most of the time the Lord protects us from the heaviness of it all (it's so cool to enter a building and suddenly see the rain start to pour once we are under the shelter of a roof) but one of the days, I decided to experience first-hand Pennsylvania rain. So I stubbornly refused an umbrella and walked in the rain. It's different than Calgary because it's warm. And it almost always rains just straight down. None of this sideways raining junk like up north. Needless to say I was soaked to the bone. I think I've had enough rain for now. Though the 90 degree weather is not much better. Since that's started happening, everyone has this ever-present film of goo always on their skin. It's really gross. I've never sweat so much in my whole life.

WHOA. Cool you guys are doing missionary work? Yay! I'm not the only Low missionary out here! It's too bad that guy didn't show up for the appointment, don't give up! After all, we invited probably ten of our investigators to Church this week, many of them assuring us they would attend (it didn't hurt to guilt them by sharing that we were speaking in sacrament meeting). But despite all of that effort, not one of our investigators showed. I was heartbroken! But I know Satan's working hard on anyone who gets close to hearing the message of the Restored Gospel.

Concerning my talk, I gave one on Enduring to the End and my companion gave one on prayer. Some interesting fruits came of that sacrament meeting, including this awesome definition of prayer in the Bible Dictionary: "

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." I don't know why I wanted to share that with you guys. It's just an aspect of prayer I had never thought about. Heavenly Father is just waiting to grant us blessings, we need only ask for them.

The work is going ight. Remember my "golden" investigator couple the Cl_______ from my first week here? I kind of felt like they were my baby. They were my idea. They were my first call. They were my first success. But after weeks of not seeing them because of schizophrenic weather, we finally got in contact and asked them what was happening. We pretty much went through the whole Restoration Lesson again with bits of the Plan of Salvation stuffed in. They agreed with everything. They even agreed with the parts of the afterlife which had previously proved too foreign for their liking. But when we invited them to church, they declined, insisting that although their church may not be the true one, they didn't think that God would turn them away from heaven for not becoming a Mormon. And just like that, my heart fell. The Cl_______ had officially dropped us, claiming that they didn't care to learn more. I don't know what I could've done to help them understand anymore. I look back now with a ton of alternate scenarios of what I could have done all ending with the same result. I guess this is what they mean by loving the people, even when they refuse to hear the message you've been sent to preach.

Additionally, we've had some weird experiences this week. And by weird I mean difficult. And by difficult I mean super stenuous to the degree that I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air sometimes singing AYO JUST WANNA LET GO. I experienced my first real basher(s). And although we're told not to engage with them, after the fourth time we ran into one IN A ROW, we had to tell what's up. But afterward, it really just all exploded into nothing. Even with all of the scriptures we tossed at each other "proving our doctrines" neither will budge and a spirit of contention was the only thing that remained among the carnage of the battle. Elder Zaleski told me that even after two years, it's hard not to keep battling with them. But what if there's just a golden investigator next door? What if this basher is Satan's way of delaying us from finding them? In D&C 4, the ultimate missionary section of the scriptures, it says in verse 5, "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work." Does that mean if we are missing even one of these attributes, we're no longer qualified for the work of the Lord? Will He withdraw his Spirit from us, making us uninspired vessels of former representatives of Jesus Christ? It's kind of a scary thought. And it really just goes to show that contending with these bashers is so not worth it.

Elder Low

P.S. Keep me posted if the Bishop actually does end up serving a mission; that's so exciting!

P.P.S. I got the Easter package the week before last, is that what you're talking about? I haven't received the package with the music yet. I guess it kind of depends if you sent it to the mission home or not. If you did, they have to resend it to me. That'll take some time.