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