Monday, 21 January 2013

So I feel like I have a lot to say but not the words to say them. I guess I could start with what President Topham said in my last interview with him on Friday. Among the doctrinal and logistical questions I asked about everyday missionary work, it came to me that I should ask him how I could stay strong for these last couple of months of my mission. His answer was not profound or obscure but definitely what  I needed to hear. He said, "continue to focus on the work and continue to focus on training your companion." Truly as I am to lose myself is when I will find myself. There's been a problem for some reason that some missionaries lose their vigor and momentum as the last grains of sand begin to fall, which I guess is understandable in a kind of "I've done my two years" bit, but it is not understandable in light of Elder Holland's most recent talk; that despite going home, despite living life, despite being in the world, we are never released from our callings. "Peter," he said in a similar MTC address, "you can't go home...We can't quit and we can't go back." President Topham said that missionaries go one of two ways at the end; either they become a real problem in influencing other missionaries and the work in a negative way, or they can become the best missionaries they'll ever be, "the kind of missionary,"President continued, "that I don't want to send home."

 

As the mission has progressed in the last 21 months, I would argue that the mission - as a whole -  has become more aware and more converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. President said when he was being trained in the MTC, that returned missionaries told him that once their mission president "got it" they all started to "get it." I didn't know what that meant at first, but I am willing to bet that as President Topham has grown, we as missionaries in the PPM have grown in a like manner. "It" seems to be (to me, anyways) the Gospel of Jesus Christ itself. Once we realize that missionary work really isn't about tracting or street contacting, or prophets or even the Book of Mormon, but about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, everything else falls into place. The Restoration doesn't mean anything without it, the Plan of Salvation revolves around it, and all the meetings, callings, commandments and scriptures are appendages to the doctrine of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end; becoming cleansed through the Atonement of the Saviour through His grace and mercy, if we but accept it.

 

With this in mind, I don't become as discouraged, especially when trials that impact my "numbers," I need only realize the real purpose of missionary work. Such proved to be the case this week. By Tuesday, it seemed that we had 3 investigators with a baptismal date within the next transfer. But as it always does, opposition presented itself and the choice to arise or shrink came to those three investigators. Mitchell - a good friend of an active family in our ward has been taking the missionary discussions for about a year now and has wanted to get baptized despite his parents' hesitation toward the matter (sound familiar?). When we presented a sort of ultimatum, we asked him to ask his parents what their opinion was on him getting baptized on the 16th of February would be. Unfortunately they preferred him to wait a lot longer than that. On top of that, we hadn't been in contact with Marty and Donna almost all week. We finally decided to stop by on Friday only to find that their faith had been shaken because of a set back with their finances. The marriage was pushed back as well as the baptism.

 

I was heart-broken as I saw them resort to smoking again to relieve stress. But I knew at that time, what they needed was mercy and encouragement, not reprimanding or condemnation. I felt inspired to be understanding with their relapse. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, perhaps I'm finally seeing what my Heavenly Father sees in me when I continue to do things contrary to His will over and over. Fortunately, He is merciful and His Son's Atonement will always be there for the penitent in heart. I know that I need that kind of mercy and understanding when I fall short. For thus saith the Lord, "I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, [and even if] they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them... if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long." How sad it is, when we fall and feel like our Heavenly Father has turned His back on us, for that is never the case. Elder West and I came in contact with a less-active lady from the Hanover Ward while we were using the facilities at a gas station. She had a strange haircut and many piercings. She immediately recognized us and informed us that she was drunk. She went on to tell us how much she hated the Church and was so much happier now that she was gone out of it, but insodoing she told us about how she left because her husband betrayed and left her. She told us how frustrated she was with an unanswering God who would not bend to her pleas. She said she spent many days in the temple and hours on her knees but felt nothing. Nothing we said could change her mind, but I wished I could help her to see God's love. Those kind of experiences can shake or shape us. May we choose the latter.

 

But amidst the darkness, God always opens the windows of heaven, even when it seems a door has closed. Donna's neice Kaitlyn expressed a desire to be baptized and we had one of the most spiritual lessons I've had in a while whilst teaching her the Restoration. We played a fun game with the kids to explain the Apostasy by playing the game "telephone" to illustrate the distortion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ without the careful stewardship of the Apostles. Hopefully we'll be able to prepare her for a date this coming week.

 

Cheers,

Elder Low

Turkey Bowl, November 2011.

                                                The Harrisburg and York Missionary Zones

Monday, 14 January 2013

I forgot how long it took to drive to Pittsburgh from the east side. I left Harrisburg last week at like 3'00, stopped in Altoona for dinner on the way, and arrived at the Assistants' apartment at 9'00. Blech. But it gave me and the other missionary who was training also a lot of time to talk. We talked about the future and what it held after the mission. Surprisingly that talk gave me more peace than what I had been experiencing. A lot of it revolved around just doing what the Lord asks and everything else will fall into place, can't do much more than that.

 

I picked up my new companion on Tuesday. Being my third time training, you'd think that I'd have this down or something. But I was earnestly seeking revelation just before the meeting started about how I could stay strong for my last two transfers and help shepherd this new young missionary to a lifestyle that won't just benefit his mission, but like in the case of my trainer, it will hopefully benefit his whole life. Such is proving to be the case, for from the first moment I saw my new companion, I knew I would be able to help him. His name is Elder Mat West from Pocatello, Idaho. He's everything that a new missionary should be and a wonderful companion. I was half-expecting President to put me with a struggling missionary for my last two transfers, but I don't think I've had a more humble companion than Elder West. Though he grew up in the Church, a mission was one of the last things on his mind, and a lot of worldly things could have kept him from coming out, but he did, and I'm glad he did. He's probably also the coolest kid I've served with; and when I say cool, I mean cool. He probably would've been on the other side of the lunch room from me in High School, but I've been able to help him learn so much about the gospel that he didn't know. He reminds me a little bit of my naive view of the gospel when I came out, and it was only through the patient and loving teaching of my trainer that I came to love the gospel. I have a feeling Elder West will be one of my favourite companions.

 

The work has been bit trying this week, but we have seen miracles admist the darkness. Marty and Donna continue to amaze me with their faith. I told you last week they decided to get married, but I was disappointed to hear that they were going to move down to North Carolina right after their baptism, a move where they don't know anyone down there, let alone members of the Church who care about them and will help them progress. They surprised us with the notion that they are actually staying in Pennsylvania! We've just been hurrying to help them get everything ready for when they will get married and then baptized the day after! I remember asking Dad when I was serving in Bedford if investigators ever really did get married just to get baptized, because I remember I was working with a couple who didn't think much of baptism and was willing to wait until the next year for their wedding. It's amazing how people can change and are willing to do anything for that taste of the gospel.

 

Love you all,

Elder Low

Monday 7 January 2013

 Greetings from Harrisburg! My companion made the tough decision to go home last week to figure out some health problems and I took him to the Harrisburg airport this morning. I'm hanging out with the Zone Leaders today and actually heading to Pittsburgh tonight. Oh yeah, I'm training again. So hopefully for these last two transfers I'll be able to be the best missionary that I can and finish out strong like my trainer did. I'm also really excited to train without a second set of missionaries in my ward, so I'll feel like I'm the only missionary training him. I've set some goals and hopefully will be able to transform Dover within the next week, with the Lord's help and will of course.

 

We've been able to rock Dover one last time with my companion and I this past week. We actually found 4 new investigators that seem very promising in addition to us continuing to teach Marty and Donna (they are actually considering getting married even before their baptism! Something I thought I'd never see on my mission!). Two of them are former investigators that live next to a very active family in our ward. They've been exposed to much of the Church and missionaries over the years but for some reason over the last two years they haven't had contact with the missionaries. Hopefully we'll begin to focus on Cody, a seventeen-year-old who is starting to become sceptical of God and His love. He doesn't seem to want to listen to his mother any more but when we teach him about God, he seems to listen and I hope to share my love and testimony of the gospel and the reality of Heavenly Father. I see a lot of myself in him actually, just unsure about anything before my mission. But because I went on my mission, the single-most life-changing event that has occurred heretofore in my life, I've come to know so much. Cody's grandfather recently passed away from a painful cancer that was slowly deteriorating him; he couldn't understand why a loving God would make him go through something like that. Hopefully during our next visit with him, we will be able to share the entire plan that God has for us; a view that when considered in full light of where we came from, why we're here and where we're going, may bring a lot of solace and answers to questions. To the faithless Corinthians, Paul told them that, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." We see that everywhere today; people afraid, people unsure, people distraught, people lost. But there is a reason to rejoice, for death is not the end, and man shall live again! "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:19, 55)

 

My companion's last appoint with investigators last night occurred with a referral that we received and contacted. Adam and Sarah are a young couple that are looking for a Church that their sons could grow up in with good morals and when they were introduced to a member in the York Ward, they jumped at the opportunity to attend the Christmas service and start reading the Book of Mormon. By far the most prepared individuals I've taught on my mission, we breezed through the Restoration of the Gospel lesson, Sarah already familiar with the concept of Priesthood Authority and how it was necessary for revelation in the Church. When we came to teaching about the Apostasy, Adam began to look sad, "So... none of the Churches are right? What can we do?" he asked in a low tone. It was my pleasure to tell them that God had reached out again to His children in love and called a Prophet like in times of old, that He loves us just as much as He did in times past and He will continue to love us forever.

 

Good things are happening, and with the faith of a new missionary coming into the Dover area, I am truly excited to see the reaping that is about to come forth.

 

Love,

Elder Low 

Wednesday 2 January 2013

You're probably wondering why I'm emailing today as I did last Wednesday. Unfortunately, our library was closed on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and unfortunately those happened to fall on P'day. So those of us who email at libraries in the mission have to wait until later in the week to email. Sorry about the wait.

Definitely the highlight this week was Georgia's baptism. It meant a lot for the family and surprisingly I could tell that everyone there, the nonmembers and the less-active family members included, felt the Spirit. It was difficult I think for them because of their situation. The whole family is extremely well-off. The grandfather of Georgia is a very wealthy lawyer who lost sight of what was important earlier in his life. He drifted away from the Church and even his family for a time. As a result, all of their kids are less-active and very confused. Georgia's mom, is probably the most sound of all the kids and she is trying to feel her way back to the Church with the help of loving fellowshippers. It's scary how materialism can make even the most elect stray. If only everyone could apply Jesus' sound counsel of laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven rather than on earth. Our ward mission leader told us that we would look back on this baptism at this time and remember Georgia's grandfather. "Had more money than you could shake a stick at," he said with his unique, but powerful antics, "and lost his family."

On the other hand, I am continually astounded at the meek of Pennsylvania who will humble themselves enough to sit down to be "taught" by two young men proclaiming to be "Elders of Israel" and even emissaries of the Lord Himself. I often wonder if I didn't grow up in the Church if I would be humble enough to have let two missionaries into my home to teach me about Jesus Christ. Donna and Marty are two such people who are meek. They surprised us by coming to Church this Sunday. They haven't been feeling well the past couple weeks and family issues had intensified. But they assured us that they want to be baptized, so in a fun Plan of Salvation lesson we had yesterday, we challenged them with a baptismal date of 19 January, which they are definitely striving toward. 

We're seeing miracles everyday and I am very grateful for that. I thank you all for your prayers.

Love,
Elder Low