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
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