Things are kind of winding down here in Erie Walk. For some reason it rained a lot. And for some reason the weather seemed to reflect our success. It was kind of eerie.
I can honestly say that that we had one very successful lesson this week with a less-active member of our congregation and her boyfriend, their names are Angela and Angelo... yes. We've been teaching them for a while, but we thought a basic review of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would help them out a lot. When we taught about baptism, we emphasized the importance of Priesthood authority. We asserted that it was indeed a bold claim, but if it were true, it's an extremely important message. Luckily the Lord doesn't expect us to believe without a method of increasing our faith – and the Book of Mormon does a great job of that. As we got close to the end of the lesson, we asked them (and Angelo especially)if they would pray to ask God for the answers they needed to know this gospel was true and eventually be baptized. Angelo then brought up a very real concern that he hadn't prayed in a long time and to start asking for things right away would give a selfish impression to God, like a friend approaching you after years and asking you for money. The Spirit touched me so much to share the story of the Prodigal Son, who after requesting his inheritance early, abandoning his family, and wasting the substance he had acquired, was forgiven immediately after returning to his father. I think about that a lot. God is literally our Father in Heaven and just like how any Father could never forget his child, our Heavenly Father will always come running when we return to Him. I testified of Angelo's relationship with His Father in Heaven and that He loved him very much. I felt the Spirit very strongly during this lesson.
Despite this wonderful experience, a lot unexpectedly fell through this week and my incessant prayers to God regarding my righteous desires to help his children in Erie come unto Him have resulted in one of the least fruitful weeks I've had here. But when nonchalantly studying in the Book of Mormon this morning, I unexpectedly related uncannily with Alma. After baptizing thousands in the city of Melek, he set out to do the same in Ammonihah, but such wasn't the case; “Satan,” Mormon wrote, “had gotten great hold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah; therefore they would not hearken unto the words of Alma.” No matter the fervency of Alma's prayers nor the diligence of his labours, the people still were in tact with their God-given agency, which is unfortunately one thing that cannot swayed, they hardened their hearts despite Alma's efforts. I thought of myself reading these scriptures and how much I beg the Lord to soften the people's hearts and somehow they still didn't accept my message. But it was comforting to see the angel's response to a disheartened Alma, commending him for his faithfulness saying, "Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God." It goes back to what is a successful missionary as described on page 10 of Preach My Gospel, it isn't how many people get wet, but your commitment to find, teach, baptize and confirm people to become faithful members of the Church. It was what I needed to hear all along.
Love you all,
Elder Low
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