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