Monday, June 25, 2012

It's been a slower week compared to last. I'm not really sure why. We had so much success last week that I guess it was bound to happen. A lot of investigators not keeping appointments, commitments, etc. etc. etc. But that's not much new so let's get out of the stupid filler paragraph and get on to the good stuff.

My testimony of the converting power of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened so much this past week. Handing a Book of Mormon to somebody, telling them to read it, and hoping they'll pray about it seemed insufficient for conversion to me for some reason. I didn't have enough faith in the book itself and thought that some sort of transitioning introduction by me was necessary. But as Joseph Smith has said, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” If men will read, ponder and pray about the book with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ, the truth of it will be manifest unto them by the Holy Ghost.

As our investigator Edward Ryan has been faithfully reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon each day, I've seen him grow and progress faster than any other investigator I've ever had. When we first started teaching him, he just liked to talk and sometimes listen. We tried desperately to slip our doctrines in between his rants. He also had a problem with free will and agency believing that God had already pre-destinated our paths in life and so one of the first chapters we assigned him in the beginning was 2 Nephi 2, but it's doctrine had no effect on his belief. Our appointment with him last week was probably less than super effective; our Plan of Salvation lesson jumbled from his interpretation of its pamphlet we had previously given him. Determined to set the record straight and subtly try and change his opinion of pre-destination, we went over just this last Wednesday. As we asked him about his reading (which covered a span of 1 Nephi 22 – 2 Nephi 6) he humbly told us that in his rereading of 2 Nephi 2, he realized that his belief in pre-destination was wrong and that God has given us all the ability to choose. He testified of how that made so much more sense that God is a loving God and how He wants all to choose to return to Him. As you could probably tell, I was floored, not only by the fact that he gleaned such an important doctrine from simply reading, but that he humbly submitted to telling us that he was wrong. Ed is a fighter. He is an intelligent arguer and quite the salesman. He doesn't relinquish his point of view very easily, but I can see the Spirit working on him and it's all because of his daily commitment to reading the Book of Mormon. We spent the rest of the night talking about the Spirit World and how everyone would get a chance to hear the Gospel. This news rang so true to him and he loved every bit of it.

I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for the Book of Mormon and how it truly does, in it's own gradual way, bring everyone closer to God.

Elder Low

Monday June 18, 2012

 Well I hope that your Father's day was better than my Father's day. We spent the day doing a whole lot of planning for our Zone Conference tomorrow. And I bet the primary number in our ward was a lot better than the one here in Erie; though we have a big primary, the kids didn't know the song at all! I felt bad for the chorister because I've been in her shoes... I miss our primary kids. I think the best thing about yesterday was that I got a free candy bar from the Young Men who were giving them to the Fathers! Now I know what you're thinking, “they just had extras they gave to you,” they specifically gave me and Elder Swensen candy bars even though we're not fathers! It makes me feel old, but the caramel chocolate overrides that inkling. Hooray for future fatherhood!

This week has been a week of miracles. And coincidentally, our topic for Zone Conference is about having the faith to find. Hebrews 11 continually reminds me that it is truly by our faith that miracles come to pass, for “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death...for before his translation he had this testimony...By faith Noah... moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house... and became an heir of righteousness...By faith Moses...refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season... By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land... By faith the walls of Jericho fell down... And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; and of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, [and] escaped the edge of the sword.”

The whole idea revolves around our conviction of whether we actually believe that the field is white and ready to harvest. Just this week, we were led by a member to a former investigator who in the two lessons we've already had with her is ready to accept a baptismal date. Amazingly enough, she expressed that before she started her investigation in Philadelphia, she had a dream that Joseph Smith came to her. Not knowing who he was or anything about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she woke up confused but ready to act on that revelation. Two days later, missionaries knocked on her door.

We were also referred to another family but someone in the Erie 2nd Ward. They live out in the outskirts of our area (which we don't usually get to because there's so much happening in Erie) in a little town called McKean. The member told us they were worried about their son who was becoming overwhelmed by “dabbling” with the other side. His curiosity that originated with a quest for religion somehow got skewed over the past couple years into darker and darker territory. After physical contact with these spirits and haunting voices that God could never forgive him, he finally reached out for help. We were able to go over on Tuesday and talk with him and his family. We expressed the love God and Jesus Christ had for him, a child of our Heavenly Father. We also told him of the cleansing power of the Atonement that could literally heal us of any infirmity or any distress. We told him that faith could even cast out the devil. We offered a Priesthood blessing and he accepted. My companion commanded the evil spirit to leave him and it was so. Before the blessing, he was bogged down by depression, giving us the impression that he was so distant and lost that he hardly communicated with us audibly; and he would literally jump at any sudden movements or touches. But after a long pause after the blessing, I asked him how he felt, not knowing what the outcome would be (and obviously that's a sign of MY lack of faith) and he said he felt like crying. Before the end of the appointment, I was also able to go into his room and cast out any lingering spirits there, dedicating their house and an edifice of the Holy Spirit. They've wanted us to come over every other day since then. His mother and sister are also extremely sensitive to the Holy Ghost and are amazed at the clarity we present in the Plan of Salvation.

I know that the Lord lives and loves all of his children. The Lord can do all things and it's funny that all he asks us to initiate those miracles is to exercise an inkling of faith - to act and believe.

Elder Low

Monday June 11, 2012

Another transfer has come and gone. And you guessed it, I'm staying in Erie with Elder Swensen another transfer. I'm not really surprised and I'm actually super glad that it's turned like that. We're getting a lot of good missionaries in our Zone and the work is picking up for practically errbody.

 

However, I've learned in the past week that even when things fall through, the Lord is still guiding us. I've wrestled with myself my whole mission whether failures and drops were a direct result of my disobedience of some sort and even though I retained a knowledge that “everyone has their agency,” I couldn't help but think that it was somehow my fault. I've realized though, that a lack of appointments or the number of drops we experience does not mean that the Lord doesn't love us and that He has left us by ourselves, in fact when we realize that we need to rely on him as a result of someone's poor choices, we see that He is mighty to save. An attitude of humility in bleak circumstances goes a long way. Because it's not the cards you're dealt that determine your success in the game, but how you play them.

 

Elder Swensen is really good at finding the miracles in our proselyting. I don't know if I've told you about Edward Ryan yet or not but he is a self-referral. He called the Bishop of Erie 2^nd Ward and asked if he would send ministers to him. Because Ed was in our ward boundaries, we went over and have been teaching him for about a month now. He's progressing wonderfully by faithfully reading a chapter of the Book of Mormon each day; he admires Nephi and loves his conviction. Although he is a talker, we finally managed to get a complete first lesson in with a challenge to baptism presented at the end. Although he felt unsure about the challenge, he accepted our invitation to Church, of which he came yesterday and enjoyed it immensely. It couldn't have been a more perfect Church meeting for an investigator.

 

We were also able to see a huge miracle with an investigator we tracted into my first week here. Her name is Cindy Case and we've had a hard time getting a hold of her until this past week. Our original lesson that we set up to go see her was on Tuesday. We strolled over at the expected time of 2:00 PM with one of the members of our ward, Bro. Parry, who is a LECOM medical student. We knocked on the door... No answer. We knocked again... The same result.

Knowing that her apartment door was behind the door to the apartment building we were knocking on, I pounded the door hard and all we could hear were muffled talking noises. In hindsight, we probably thought they were the TV or something at the time. So we started to walk away when I suddenly thought that those muffled noises might have been her talking to us.
With courage that was not my own, I walked over the nearby open window and shouted, “Cindy? Can you hear us?”

Then all at once I heard a shaky cry, “Call... 9... 1... 1...” My eyes widened and I relayed the message to Bro Parry. Within the next half hour, we had found out that she had been on the ground since 6:30 in the morning, called an ambulance, attracted the attention of her neighbors (one of which was a shirtless construction worker who gracefully broke into her window). Through it all, Bro Parry was confidently walking her through what happened until the medics arrived.

Though I was doubtful of her commitment to our appointment, because we couldn't get a hold of her the night before, I remember her expressing her appreciation and wonder that we showed up at the time we had said. She said that was the only thing that got her through those hours of paralytic immobility, the fact that she knew we were coming and that we would help. As she was being carried out of the house on a stretcher, she shouted her number at us again, assuring us that she really wanted to meet with us again and that she would await our call.

Cindy was truly prepared by the Lord. On our follow-up appointment that took place yesterday. She acknowledged the presence of God in our coming, message, and countenance. For she felt soothed of her pains while we were there teaching her. She had been spiritually prepared as well. She talked of the void she felt in her life because of the lack of religion since she left the Catholic Church. She also agreed with all of the truths we presented, though she did insist on finding out for herself through the Book of Mormon. But of course, we wouldn't have had it any other way.

 

There are seen and unseen forces preparing the hearts of these people, especially when we choose to acknowledge them.

 

Elder Low

Monday June 4, 2012

It's been a different kind of week here in Erie, Zone Leader responsibilities once again took precedence over proselyting a lot for some reason,but I've been able to appreciate the little things a lot more. Like sitting out on our balcony and watching the thunderstorm Heavenly Father provided for us, it was one of the most peaceful evenings I had ever had. We sat there, miraculously dry from the lack of the rain, sucking on freezies and listening to instrumental hymns. Can't get much better than that.

Guy and Liam O'Brien, a father and a son that have practically been eternal investigators have made significant progress this week as we officially challenged them to take all the discussions in preparation for baptism. They accepted and Guy's good friend Margey has decided to take them as well. She's been reading the Book of Mormon recently and has a fascination with President Uchtdorf. They all came to church on Sunday and even though it was a nail-biting fast and testimony meeting, I think they all liked it. We have another appointment with them tonight so we'll see what happens.

I was also able to participate in the finding of a very solid investigator that the Harborcreek Elders have. The first week of the transfer, I went on exchange with them and we made a goal to talk with absolutely everyone. This is a difficult task for me because of my natural tendency to be introverted. But one of the first people I talked to said that they could go back sometime soon. Miraculously, when the Elders called her a couple days later, she invited them over and told her how just before she had talked to us, she was talking to her daughter about church. Her daughter was insisting that they go to one and that the true Church would come and find them. And when it did, she said that they would “roll with it.” They all have a baptismal date for the end of the month. Miracles are happening everyday. The hand of the Lord guides us in such a way that we are able to bring the blessings of the gospel to all.

Elder Low