Monday August 20, 2012

The weather has been nice in the Great Lakes area as of late. It hasn't been too hot nor too cold. The humidity is everpresent though. I'm still trying to decide whether I like the humidity of Pennsylvania or the giant clouds of bugs in Chestermere; I donut miss them at all. Though I am consistently jealous because of your frolicking near Lake Chestermere and boating and what-not. I took a bath for the first time on my mission this week just to be submerged in water, it felt familiar and wonderful. I also did so because I was a little sick this week, but I'm feeling a lot better.

 

President Nobbs says that missionaries are always worried about transfers. I was telling him a couple weeks ago when we were in Pittsburgh that there's no way Elder Swensen and I will stay together for another transfer and that we were predicting which one of us will go on September 4^th (the next transfer). He said that it's a ridiculous waste of energy for missionaries because once a transfer is done and over with, they start worrying about the next transfer! I think there's some truth to that. But you keep asking me about transfers too, so I don't think it's just me. Honestly I think I'd be OK with getting transferred in a couple weeks. I've been a Zone Leader as long on my mission as I haven't been one and it'd be nice to be released. Also with the opening of a walk area in our ward, it'd also be nice to not have to deal with the logisitics of shuttling around another set of missionaries like I did in Hershey. But hey, I'll go where the Lord wants me to go.

 

I wish I could just go back to the beginning of this week as recycle the time Elder Swensen and I used for all of our administrative work. We prepared for a Zone Training meeting (a new kind of monthly meeting that the First Presidency says should replace our quarterly Leadership Trainings) that we had in Erie on Friday. Although it went well, teaching the Jamestown Zone about having an attitude and receptiveness for the Holy Ghost, it took a lot of stress and time on our part to put it all together. Our proselyting was definitely at a minimum and I forsee a similar result for this next week (we have Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy coming to visit our mission).

 

However in between those stressful times, it was nice to practice what we were preaching, seeing the Holy Ghost work in our own lives as we sincerely sought revelation. We went over to the Hawleys' (an investigating family) household on Saturday only to find that we stopped by at the exact time they needed us. We thought that they might be getting less interested because they hadn't been returning our calls. But as soon as we stopped by, the older son came out and talked with us about how he felt like he was in a hole right now and didn't know how to get out. I told him I had been there before and miraculously enough, Jesus Christ was a real being who is always mighty to save. He wants to lift us up. I testified of the enabling power of the Atonement and the love God had for him specifically and indivually. It started to bring tears to his eyes. Elder Swensen assigned him Alma 36 to read and when we called later that evening he said that that chapter really helped him feel better.

 

Sometimes in the scriptures, the wrath of God and the justice of God are overemphasized and overcast the love of God. I know that by His mercy we are led to those who also need it. I know that is the unwavering promise for those who serve as His missionaries.

 

Elder Low

Ed's Baptism

Me at the Parry Monument in Misery Bay

Me and the Nobbs'. President Nobbs is a counselor to President Topham and we go over to his house before Zone Leader Counsel each month to ask him deep doctrine questions and eat grilled cheese.

The ridiculousness of the Erie District.

A daily occurrence for me and Elder Swensen

                                          

Monday August 13, 2012

Ed's baptism was the amazing results of the efforts of so many different parties. It was amazing to see someone so converted to the gospel, so sure of its surety, so changed both in word, thought, and deed that I almost couldn't believe that such a process had taken place. From the beginning of our meetings, I had no idea where things would go with Ed, we barely got one word in that evening back in June. And yet line upon line, precept upon precept, the doctrines of the gospel distilled upon his soul as the dews from heaven, ringing the truthfulness of what he had already knew way back in pre-mortal eras and just forgotten for a time. He's become more humble, more respectful, more forgiving, more kind, more focused, and it has all come because of small steps of faith.

 

It was a smaller service than I had expected, considering we were inviting everyone both member and nonmember, but Ed said that he was glad it was more of a private occasion because the people who mattered were there. He asked me to give the talk on baptism and I spoke of 3 baptisms: the baptism of Alma and his people in Mosiah 18, the baptism of Christ himself (Matthew 3), and the baptism of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (Joseph Smith-History 1:68-74). It was significant that all these people chose not to wait to act on the witnesses that they received but they chose this day to enter into the waters of baptism (Alma 7:15). That was his day.

 

This week I also had a neat experience with another one of our investigators. John is a 32-year-old black guy who looks like he should be in his early 20's because of his physique. We came into contact with him without any effort on our part. He, like Ed, found the Bishop of the Erie 2^nd Ward's number in the phone book and asked for missionaries to come by, expressing that he himself would like to be a missionary as well. The Bishop told him he should become a member first and didn't touch that matter any further.

 

After a couple weeks of lessons, he recently told us he'd be moving from Erie and he asked us to come by one last time. He finally asked us about the desire of his heart – to become a missionary like us. For some reason, I didn't want to dance around his concern anymore and felt like we should be honest with him, so we told him that the men's age restriction in our Church for serving a full-time mission was 26-years-old and that some retired folk go on missions when they're in their later years. John seemed very surprised and a little embarrassed that what he wanted so bad was unattainable. We talked a lot about being a member missionary which consoled him a little and just gave him more drive to be a senior missionary when he gets older. Although disappointed, he vowed that he would wait and learn and save all he could until that time when he could devote all his heart, might, mind, and strength to the work of the Lord. He kept saying, “it's worth the wait, it's worth the wait...” It made me realize how lucky I am to be called as one of the Lord's servants in His vineyard. How often am I reluctant to give my whole heart to this work? How often do I dane to get up with a bright hope in my labours? How often do I count time instead of making time count? John couldn't wait to put on the “armour” we wear (as he put it), saying that it would be “the greatest thing.” What should that say about the sacredness of my calling and the power I am entitled to receive?

 

I never cease to be amazed at how my mission has changed me and continues to change me. Although the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, truly it was me that I have been labouring all this time to bring unto Him. For I know, that this Church, this Work, this Gospel, is priceless and is ever worth striving for.

 

Elder Low

Monday August 6th, 2012 (Not an American Holiday)

This last week was really only good because of Ed to be honest. Everyone else seems to be falling through the cracks. We're zooming through the commandments with him because it's so easy to teach and commit people to commandments once they've learned that the Book of Mormon is true (for if the Church that espouses that book is true, why would you need to question anything else?). Ed made the interesting connection related to the law of witnesses in 2 Corinthians 13:1. Grasping the idea of the Godhead rather than the Trinity, he's beginning to see that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one because of things they witness of and work toward. He suggested that because the influence of the Holy Spirit was so absent in his life before that the Book of Mormon was his book. He said that the Catholic emphasized the Father and the Son enough, but it wasn't until he started reading the Book of Mormon that the Holy Ghost's witness became so apparent and so real to him. However despite this connection, he insisted that he had a problem with God the Father and confessed that he might feel safe in the arms of Jesus, but was perturbed by the seemingly everlasting vengeance of God. To counter this concern we showed him a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland called, “The Grandeur of God,” which spoke directly to Ed's concern of not knowing if God loved him. It was that talk that made all the difference, he started to revere the Father and see that especially in latter-day revelation, we know God to be our Father and the ultimate source of Jesus' magnificence and mercy. For Jesus did not come into the world as much to improve God's view of man as much as He came to improve man's view of God. That He lives, that He loves us, and that He is constantly doing everything He can so that we can return to Him.

 

Ed is committed to being baptized on Saturday and I don't think he could be more ready. It's been wonderful to teach him and see him change into the wonderful person that he is.

 

Elder Low