Monday July 9, 2012

Whoa whoa whoa. First things first, despite my worried disclaimer in last week's letter, it is not for sure that I am leaving Erie. In Zone Leader Council last week I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to be released just yet. Honestly, it wouldn't really make sense to release me because I have six transfers left after this one, which is on July 24^th. So if I'm going to my dying area, six transfers would be a LONG time to spend there. At this point anything is possible but I'm hoping that neither Elder Swensen nor I get transferred.

 

I make that bold and sure statement because we have so much potential for next transfer. We just set a family we've been teaching for a couple weeks with a date of August 11^th. This is the same family I mentioned before about how we cast the devil out of their son Nick. We've taken it pretty slow with them because the two teenage daughters are kind of apathetic towards the whole thing but the Mom is surprisingly on board, despite all their insisting that we were only coming over for Nick. When we challenged them to baptism following a really great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Mom (Tracey) started to cry. Nick was very adamant about the decision and Tracey could not hold back her conviction of desiring to be baptized as well. When her two daughters answered in a kind of “I guess so” answer, she scolded them and could not believe that they wouldn't be more enthused about this saving commitment. Hopefully I'll be able to attend.

 

It was looking like we weren't going to see a baptism this transfer as the weeks rolled by. With Katina's back problems inhibiting her from meeting with us regularly and Ed's doctrinal concerns, we thought that the rest of July would be dry. Amazingly enough however, one investigator we've been working with since before I got here, a nine-year-old girl named Sera, has officially decided to be baptized. She's a shy and timid girl, when Elder Swensen and Elder Willes were teaching her and her sister the transfer before I got here, only her sister Megan was baptized; Sera got scared and locked herself in the bathroom during the service. Since then we've tried everything to reason with her concerns, but a nine-year-old isn't the most reasonable of investigators. It was only when we said that she should alert us when she was ready and that we wouldn't push her anymore that she came out to her mom and showed the desire of her heart. Hopefully we'll have a secret baptism this week for her.

 

I mentioned that Ed had some doctrinal concerns. I guess that's a simple way of putting it. Hopefully we'll challenge him to baptism again this week as we keep having wonderful lessons with him and he keeps biking to and enjoying immensely church. He's an interesting man. Everyone we bring over there loves him. And despite his rash opinions, he's extremely friendly. This week, just before we left our lesson with him, he handed us a binder full of articles. Now even though Ed is an open book (he loves to talk), I always feel like he's continuing to give us pieces of who he really is. Before, he gave us a framed diagram depicting the “Pyramind of Success” by a victorious basketball coach. His house is carefully arranged to represent who he is. Nothing in his small area is there by accident or decoration. The prologue of the binder was a handwritten letter to Elder Swensen and I telling that he wouldn't feel right without showing us his “beliefs.” The binder contained 19 letters he had written to the Erie Times Newspaper regarding his very conservative views on questions the paper asked. It wasn't necessarily things we didn't know before, but it was interesting to see how his views progressed over the years and especially his views after we started teaching him. In particular, he answered a question that the newspaper posed “Would you consider changing religions.” His answer was along the lines that he should always be open minded for added truth.

 

One of the last and possibly most important reasons I feel that I should stay is because of an active family whom we love very much. The Clarks are converts of about 6 years and stalwart ones at that. They love the missionaries. But they've been through a lot since I've been here. Before my time in Erie, Elders Swensen and Willes went over every Sunday to teach their kind of adopted grandchildren, but when custody battles arose and they were taken from them, the Clarks were left in shambles. We've continued to go over Sunday-ly to encourage and lift them. And surprisingly, I think we're doing a lot more for them than I had anticipated. As a result of bad experiences, Sister Clark stopped her progression in the gospel before receiving her partriarchal blessing. We had an extremely good talk with them last night and I truly think that it is because of our intervention that she is making those steps again.

 

You never know who you might influence. Even though I might have felt in the past that anyone could've seen the success I've had being in my place, it's wonderful moments like these that help me know that I am where I am supposed to be.

 

Elder Low