I don't even know where to begin with describing this week. It's been miraculous once again. I know that on my own, I could never see the miracles I've seen if I was left to convert people with my own skill or tact. Wit and persuasiveness can never bring someone truly into the gospel. We found, or should I say, the Lord prepared and placed in our path, 7 new investigators this week, which may be low for some missions but I think that's an all time high for me.
I never cease to be amazed at the how influential the tiny seeds are that members are planting every day simply by living their religion. One man we found reminds me a little of Jack Sparrow, haha. He's been in like 40 different rock bands since he was 17 and he's lived a celebrity's life. But I can tell that the things that mean the most to him are his family. He grew up around a Mormon family and in fact he is still in contact with his friend that he grew up with who now lives in Utah. It was because of this friend's example that that seed that was planted remained for 30 years. Bernie admitted that he had a problem with there being no evidence of the gold plates, but that was surprisingly quickly resolved after Elder King showed him the testimonies of the 3 and the 8 witnesses who also saw and handled the plates for themselves. Our first discussion was basically a review for him and he seemed to agree with a lot of what we said. After our second discussion, he gave me and Elder King both a hug and said that we were the first missionaries to ever visit him in his home twice and he thanked the Lord fervently in his prayer that we came into contact with him.
While walking along a major street in our area, we were quickly walking home as we anticipated being late for our curfew, for our home was still over about a half hour away, walking distance. While walking however, I almost passed a couple walking their dog. The man was smoking and so I rationalized within myself that they probably wouldn't accept our message anyways. I started to pass with just a fleeting "good evening" when the man (Jeff) started to have a conversation with me. It turned out that he had his son enrolled with the scouts at our church, and he and his girlfriend (Sandy) were church hopping, looking for one that they would feel comfortable in. We set up a return appointment for the following Friday on which upon our arrival, they welcomed us into their nice home with donuts and drinks. We had a great conversation answering many of their questions with boldness and they expressed a desire to come to Church AND feed us! Our return appointment happens to be tonight. And LAST night (remember, this has never happened to me before) we got a call from Jeff, confirming our appointment for the following evening, offering dinner AND being willing to pick us up for the appointment! You can't get much more solid investigators than that!
The last experience I wanted to share had to do with the family I was so excited about a couple weeks ago. We've been wanting to meet with them for quite some time and finally, we got a time when the entire family was home. Toni and Eric gathered all 5 of their young kids (all ages ranging 11, 9, 7, 4 and 3) and we sat down with a discussion about the Plan of Salvation. Before Toni had told us that she had never been baptized and questions as to the necessity of that ordinance and many others regarding God's plan for our existence rang about her children. A recent death in the family begged the questions from her children "what happens when we die?" Puzzled by the question herself, Toni wanted us to help her children understand better God's plan, which we did. Apparently for days afterward, Ariana, Mia, and Giovanni (the three oldest children) talked openly about the things they had learned from our discussion Friday evening. We set the entire family with a baptismal date of November 10th, which also happens to be my birthday. :)
Good things are happening and Heavenly Father knows what we need, when we need it. I don't know if Bernie, Jeff, Sandy, Toni, or Eric would have accepted our message had we presented it in a completely different circumstance, but our Father knows them, just as He knows each one of us. To the faithless Corinthians, Paul asked the penetrating question "Why stand we in jeopardy every hour?" (1 Corinthians 15:30). In answer to that question we may all ask ourselves, Christ assures us, "Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost." (Doctrine & Covenants 50:41-42) We all have the opportunity to come up; come back; come unto Him. For He truly loves us.
Elder Low
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