Monday April 16th, 2012

I walked out the door this morning with an unfamiliar wheeze as the
temperature outside surpassed the temperature inside with regards to
heat. It was 76 degrees this morning. Which is crazy. Looks like along
with our extremely mild winter we’ve had here, we’re going to have an
extremely hot summer. Again. Joke’s over guys; I guess global warming
is real.

With President Topham’s desire for missionaries to stay longer in the
areas they serve, I shudder to think that missionaries, including me,
will start to feel so comfortable in their areas, that leaving them
may feel like leaving home all over again. I mean it’s not a bad thing
to love the area like it’s your own, but there’s something neat about
being in unfamiliar territory with nothing but the Lord to rely on. It
definitely pushes you and keeps you focused, but when members start to
befriend us like chums rather than respect us like the servants of the
Lord we should be, it makes desire go down and complacency increase.

I’ve realized that although there are worse sins than others and that
one descends by degrees, the Lord cannot look on ANY sin with ANY
degree of allowance. One black spot no longer makes a sheet of white
pure. Any degree of disobedience makes us unfit for the Kingdom of
Heaven. Now although we are all human and we all make mistakes, we
should not find solace in this fact. Simply declaring we’re human and
indulging in sin does not make it right, but there is something holy
and refining about constant efforts to be better.

My prayer is that as I keep trying to be better, I’ll be more blessed
as a missionary. Unfortunately missionaries are not perfect; in fact
we’re far from it. But as we are obedient, we can work wonders in the
name of the Lord. Just this past week, we got back in contact with
Bob, an investigator who we hadn’t seen for 3 weeks because of a
missed appointment. We felt inspired to try him on Saturday afternoon
at a specific time. And amazingly, he was home. He had been up in New
York taking care of his ailing grandmother and came back to
Hollidaysburg just for the afternoon. He told us he had been thinking
of us in this time of trial. The Plan of Salvation seemed real to him
now and he expressed a desire to watch the general conference he had
missed. He told us that when he returned again from New York, he
wanted to see the Church.

This is that same investigator who really said when we first knocked
on his door that he was a strong Catholic and he wasn’t interested. I
am amazed at how the Lord blesses us according to our faith. And I
suppose as Elder Holland said, “surely the thing God enjoys most about
being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who
don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.” I’m so grateful
for a loving, forgiving, and merciful Heavenly Father.

Elder Low