Dover is doing swell. It's been an interesting week. Remember how I talked about Bernie in Erie? Bernie was a magnificent case of someone feeling, recognizing, and ACTING on the witness of the Holy Ghost. We visited a member referral family who's been friends with the missionaries for a while now but for some of the wrong reasons. It's rough when people don't want to investigate the gospel but insist on missionaries continuing contact because that doesn't fulfill our purpose. The mother in this family had recently broke something in her foot and the last visit the Elders here had with her before I get here was a blessing of healing. She told Shoemakers (the members who referred them) that as soon as the blessing took place, she felt an overwhelming sensation that flooded from the top of her head to the bottom of her foot and that for the first time in a long time, it stopped hurting and she got a good night's sleep. We went over to their house for dinner last Monday and discussed the commitments she should be keeping and reminded her of this experience. She then went on to tell us that she didn't think that just because she felt that good feeling when the missionaries gave her that blessing didn't make our Church true. She was very comfortable with the lifestyle her and her family were leading and that she didn't mind hearing our message as long as it didn't conflict with what she already knew. I sat back in bewilderment wondering, "What is it going to take?" and I was reminded of the eternal truths found in the Book of Mormon,
"Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God, for we have enough!
"For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." (2 Nephi 28:29-30)
There's a reason that this area has a LOT of eternal investigators. So many of them just haven't acted on the witness that they have been given and the missionaries have been too scared to drop them. We have a lot of investigators and I'm glad for that but when we have a couple who was tracted into FOUR years ago and missionaries have been stopping by regularly for all that time, all the while they have not kept even the simplest commitments of reading and praying there is something very wrong. I mourn for these people that refuse to act on something so grand, so amazing, something that will enrich their lives, the lives of their family and those to follow for generations.
My companion has been in the area two transfers (about 3 months) before me and he's told me that finding has definitely been a weak point in the past. However in his defense, he's been recovering from a hernia operation. This past week has been really good for us actually in reestablishing contact and reigniting fires within people and we've even been blessed with two new investigators. You probably remember my exclamation last week about the daughter of a member who said she had never considered baptism before last week, well her name is Donna. We went over and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as that was exactly her concern - can baptism really wash away my sins? Putting the answer to her question in proper context of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, she became so excited for when she too could make this sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father. Upon returning to an appointment with her a couple days later, we surprisingly find, not Donna (for she came down with a sickness), but her fiance, Marty. He read with her the day before 2 Nephi 31, the chapter we assigned her to read between our appointments and he too expressed a desire to be baptized. We hope to see them enter that covenant of baptism together within the next month or so. In short, good things are happening and the ward is getting really excited about missionary work.
Hope things are well back at home or wherever you may be reading this. My exhortation is that of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!" (D&C 128:22)
Elder Low
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