Monday March 5th, 2012 Monday March 5th, 2012

I wonder how accurate Nephi’s observation of his people living “after
the manner of happiness” really was. He was a little biased in his
writing, ripping on the wickedness of his brothers and emphasizing the
results of obedience in his own life. Don’t get me wrong, I love
Nephi, he was a great record keeper. And he certainly had a testimony
of the gospel and how wickedness truly never was happiness. I am
amazed to see how their manner of happiness continued to occur while
the cursed descendants of his brothers and their desire to destroy the
Nephites loomed not too far away. But Nephi’s view was an optimistic
one and while they had their trials and annoyances at restarting their
civilization in the wilderness away from Laman and his crony Lemuel,
they chose to focus on the good and not the bad. Similarly, I should
do so when the adversary beats upon me.

On that note, I don’t know if I ever told you about the ward that I’m
currently in. The Altoona Ward is made up of a lot of older people. A
lot of them are long-time converts of the era when people actually
became converted when the truth came knocking at their door. Elder
Kovacs says the ward will die off in 10 years (:P) and Central
Pennsylvanian Mormon conservatism is not a perfect magnet for
outsiders. It’s a hard ward for missionary work, but I’ve come to love
it a lot. I was sitting in fast and testimony meeting yesterday with
the biggest smile on, knowing that I have truly become accustomed to
the antics of the members here. Instead of seeing the negatives which
could detract from a comfortable first impression, I see members who
love the gospel and are so tightly knit that the adversary would have
a hard time penetrating the unshakeable testimonies shared in that
meeting. I’ve come to love the erratic organ playing that follows its
own tempo and key signature. I’ve come to love the doctrinally
questioning opinions of some of the seasoned members. The members here
practice their religion far from the supposed celestial light of Salt
Lake City the best way they know how and it is as spiritually
uplifting as any meeting in the west.

We’ve come to really know the families that we serve and increase the
relationship from member and missionary to friends. In light of it
being Elder Kovacs’ birthday yesterday, numerous experiences helped us
feel their love for us as their missionaries. The Durgin family had us
over for dinner yesterday while their 8-year-old daughter asked us to
speak at her baptism. The Smith family actually sabotaged our car with
streamers and balloons. The Cooks baked a cake and left it on the
table on the way into the chapel. The Nebelskis protested to sing
happy birthday after Sunday School. One of the major points our
mission president has tried to make while telling us that we’ll be
staying in areas for longer is an increased unity between the
missionaries and the ward. If anything, we’re accomplishing that step
by step. And hopefully that kind of love will draw any investigator to
it.

Hope you all are having a good week!
Elder Low

Monday February 27th, 2012 Monday February 27th, 2012

Leap years also mean one extra day on the mission... just saying. I will leave that sentence destitute of an emoticon so you can take that as you will.

Yeah no, but this week has been interesting. I’m getting more and more acquainted with my companion’s favourite proverb of “tracting never faileth.”I’m getting a little sick of appointments with eternal investigators falling through. Since the beginning of my time here in Altoona, we’ve really struggled with finding new investigators, that’s why we continued to go back and pursue the ones that have been taught for so long and are making slow, if any, progress. It’s pretty hard when we enter ward council and the Bishop flies through the names we present because he and the auxiliary leaders have no faith in these people we continue to teach. Come on, it’s not like they’re blowing off our appointments everytime - OH WAIT. So I guess I can’t say that I blame them, as really the commitment keeping has been sparse with all of them. My faith has severely been tried this week as it seemed even our ward mission leader wanted to give up. Fortunately, I have an optimistic companion who loves to tract. And during our finding time on Saturday, we found more potentials than I have in like, the entire time I’ve been in Altoona. One man, after opening the door and recognizing our aura as Mormon missionaries, began to list reasons why he wasn’t really interested in talking with us. However after continuing to persist and asking some, what I believe to be, inspired questions provided by the Holy Ghost, he submitted to letting us in right off the doorstep and we proceeded to have a 45 minute conversation of answering his questions. We have a return appointment with him this Saturday. :)

The Lord knows my limits. And if it weren’t for those people we found through tracting on Saturday, I think I would have been completely overwhelmed by the subsequent disheartening experiences of dropping almost every single investigator we had previously acquired. While shaking my fists at the heavens when one of our most promising investigators discovered anti on the internets, I am always reminded in gospel-y ways that the Lord’s ways are not my ways and that everyone has agency. I was falcon punched at Church the next day as we discussed Elder Quentin L. Cook’s recent conference talk, “The Songs they did not Sing” because I was quietly prompted to internalize the fruits of those inspired words. As members of the Church, it’s easy for us to answer the question “why do bad things happen to good people” by rehearsing the well-known story of Job and the classic answer to Joseph Smith that it will be for our good, but the truth of it is that until we’re put in that situation, we do not understand the crushing feelings of seemingly unjust perils. Too often when these things happen do we dwell on the Book of Mormon theme of how if we keep the commandments, we will prosper in the land, feeling like we must have been unworthy to have the Lord withhold such substantial blessings. But our view of this “three act” life is so narrow. We are like actors that have walked into the middle of Act 2, many things may not make sense and problems might seem unfair but we need only realize that happily ever after comes not until Act 3. The Savior taught that “[God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) But like I said, it’s pointless explaining this to someone who feels like life is too unfair to be ruled by a loving God. But it wasn’t until I discovered this truth by myself that I learned, especially in light of my recent missionary work, that eternal truth of a just and loving God; and that is that sometimes bad things happen to good people, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t care.

-Elder Low

Tuesday February 21, 2012

It really was a happy President’s Day yesterday as the sun came out and Elder Kovacs and I wandered around Hollidaysburg in shorts and wielding tennis rackets, searching for a place to play. But I truly have no idea what I’m supposed to do on President’s Day. Is that the day that we… remember… Presidents? Is it somebody’s birthday? American holidays are so strange to me. That’s cool that you guys had a Hawaii party; ever since you mentioned a possibility of a vacation to Hawaii last week, I’ve been dreaming about the fun we would have and what we would bring and who would come etc. etc. It didn’t help that we discovered that a couple in our ward run a hypnotism business and after our dinner appointment with them, the husband lulled us into a state of relaxation on our own private beach. However, like you, Mom, pretending will never be able to replicate the true warmth of that place, and realizing that makes me quite the sad panda. All in all I’ve felt pretty trunky this week… BUT the work is still pressing forward! We’ve had a lot of cool success this week, particularly with the members.

Members, generally speaking, don’t really get missionary work (and I’m not trying to sound preachy, I definitely didn’t before my mission). In a desperate attempt to satisfy the post-dinner appointment plea of a referral, members may spout off the address of some random friend that the missionaries can go knock blindly. The most solid member referrals, in Pennsylvania anyways, seem to be the ones where the investigator refers themself and the member need only be the connection to the missionaries. Not that I’m complaining or anything, as we just received a referral like that this week. One of the less-active ladies in our ward has a nurse who is searching for the correct church, and impressed with the lady’s surety of the validity of the Book of Mormon, she started to ask questions and attend church activities. Elder Kovacs and I were able to meet her and subsequently call her for an appointment this Sunday. I’m so grateful when people are prepared by the Lord like that. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!

Elder Low