Boxing Day 2012

Attention EVERYONE:

 

I didn't think it would be this big of a deal, but apparently I was misinformed about what my Zip Code is. An elder who used to serve in this area told me it was 17319 but apparently it is in fact 17315. 17315. Everybody got it? Good. I'll say it again for emphasis: 17315! I learned that this was wrong a couple weeks ago, but I didn't think it mattered a whole lot since I was getting all my mail anyways (or so I hope), but apparently it was causing some turmoil among package senders this Christmas season. So until the end of March, my addy is in fact:

Elder Tanner Low

20 A Stony Lane

Dover, PA, USA

17315

 

It's been quite a different week here in Dover. Our investigators were dropping through cracks in the floor and frequently we were resorting to back-ups and back-ups for back-ups. But nevertheless, we still have seen many miracles and I hope to share some of those wonderful Christmas miracles on this Boxing Day.

 

Miracle #1 - We have a baptism coming this Saturday. However, Georgia (the daughter of a less-active part-member family) is in fact a Child of Record, meaning that because she is eight-years-old, she is not a convert baptism. Perhaps others might complain at the fact that they cannot mark another tally beside their baptism goal, but anyone who comes to Christ through baptism, convert or not, is a child of God and He rejoices when any soul comes to Him (see D&C 18:10, 15-16). We have been teaching her the missionary lessons to get her familiar with our doctrine, review the doctrine for her less-active mom, and hopefully ignite the interest for her non-member step-father; the activity of an entire less-active family hangs upon this precipice and I look forward to an influx of the Spirit warming the hearts of all who are there on Saturday.

 

Miracle #2 - Despite many of our regular investigators falling through with their appointments, we were able to teach a long-time investigator named Mitchell referred by his youth friends. His parents are somewhat opposed to the Church and the family that is fellowshipping him is doing a wonderful job helping him in between missionary appointments. He's been taught for close to a year and therefore has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, knows all the discussions backwards, and is just waiting for the 'go' from his parents to enter into a whole new era of gospel living, including working his way toward serving a full-time mission. By far the most prepared and ready individual to be baptized I've taught on my mission, we're tiptoeing toward a baptismal date and getting ever nearer. Maybe not as quickly as I would hope, but progress is progress.

 

Miracle #3 - Perhaps it was due to the very worked over areas I've come from in the past, but I've been pretty reluctant to work with less-active members as a lot of the time they've been less-active for a reason unclear and unfixable by missionaries, but Dover seems oddly fresh in about this. We've gotten in the homes of many eager less-actives who show promise in hearing the missionary discussions again.

 

Miracle #4 - Elder Rowzee and I sang in Church on Sunday. That itself is not the miracle. But it was the vehicle which has bridged a lot of gaps between us and the members and even somewhat of a gap between me and Elder Rowzee. We sang "What Child Is This" (arranged by Sally Deford) and once I started thinking about what I was really saying, the words came almost naturally to me and I don't know about the audience, but it really helped me gain more of the Spirit of Christmas, which is the Spirit of Christ.

 

Miracle #5 - I was about to count my 2012 Christmas as my second Christmas in a row that was completely green outside rather than the normal Calgary white or brown. I often found myself wondering if there could be a white Christmas, just for a day. When I returned home to a very uneventful P'day on Monday, I was bustling around cleaning because I wasn't sure what else to do. However, my companion shouted for joy as he looked out our door and saw snow pouring down on the ground - a white Christmas after all - which miraculously stuck on the ground until the afternoon of the next day.

 

Miracle #6 - A collection of miracles was realized in the events that accompanied Christmas' activities. Despite riding around in a cold truck most of Christmas eve, ploughing roads and parking lots with the member who was supposed to be feeding us that evening, it was the most unique Christmas I've spent, one definitely to remember. Because I spent it with members who really cared and who I related to very well.

 

Miracle #7 - I received a letter from my last companion Elder King depicting the chain of events that has happened with Bernie and his family since I left Erie. His childhood friend who lives in Utah is flying out in mid-January to baptize the friend he has been praying so hard for so long to join the Church. Bernie and his soon-to-be wife Lisa, are getting married this week and getting baptized with their whole family. Though I am on the opposite end of the state, I still feel love for them and I am so grateful for the miracle of the gospel which changes lives everyday.

 

No wonder their were angels singing and new stars appearing. No wonder the prophets preached and promised signs. No wonder kings and vagabonds traveled great distances to see the Prince of Peace. Truly the "good news" that we preach to all those we come in contact with now in this dispensation of the fulness of times, is the very same good tidings of great joy that first Christmas morn, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

 

Elder Low