I have had one of the best weeks of my mission. It has seriously been full of miracles. Ever since Katlynn asked me to baptize her last weekend I've really felt like I needed to stop fighting God in some things and give my will completely to His. I felt like I needed to be "purified even as he is pure" (Moroni 7:48). Little did I know that as I really tried to be everything my Heavenly Father wanted me to be, He was eager to open the windows of heaven to pour out blessings, so much so that there has been hardly room enough to receive them.
I just want to outline some of those blessings that I've experienced recently,
1) A member of our ward who had recently moved to the northern part of our area called Dillsburg has been reaching out a lot to the other residents of her retirement home. Last week she brought three of them into Sacrament meeting and excitedly ran over to me. She said, "these are three of my friends and they all want to investigate the Church." As you could probably tell, my jaw hit the floor. Never had any investigator been so easily placed in our teaching pool than Barb and Alyce (two of the ladies she brought). We promptly set up an appointment for a couple days later. At that appointment, they expressed how they had been always searching for a Church that "felt right," and they explained how as they went through all three hours of our Church services, they felt an insatiable pull towards our Church, so much that they knew this was the way to go. They described feeling the Spirit in such detail that we were not hesitant to talk boldly about joining the Church. Both women are in their 60's and both are widows. Alyce in particular told of how she had been married to her husband only 8 months when he passed away. She said she never allowed herself to cry about it, but as she relayed the story to us, she began to weep uncontrollably. We consoled her with the knowledge we have of the Plan of Salvation - about the answers to what the purpose of life is, where our spirits go after we die, and the sure fact that we would indeed live again. Alyce told me that the moment she met me, she knew I had something to share with her that would make a deep impact on the direction of her life forever. It was stunning for me to hear that and I just thank my Heavenly Father for the opportunity I have to be a missionary.
2) I mentioned last week about a young man named Aaron we're currently teaching. He's been dating a member of the ward on and off for years and they are currently engaged. Ever since he's been in contact with the family of his fiance (all of whom are active in the Church) they've talked to him about the Church and invited him to come with little success in him gaining a testimony. The Bushey family even gave him a quadruple combination which has been in his possession for 2 years - without him ever opening it. Elder West and I stopped in on the Busheys a couple months ago and asked if we could start teaching him - he agreed and we've been teaching him steadily ever since. He currently has a baptismal date for 23 March (my last Saturday in the mission) and is working toward it like a boss. In our last meeting with him Brother Bushey was joking with Aaron saying that the reason we were meeting with Aaron so much was so that the family wouldn't influence him toward the dark side too much. Aaron cuttingly said back, "well, they've done a better job at getting me to join the Church than you have the last two years."
3) During a trying time this week, I asked Elder West to give me a blessing to be strong and faithful. Something just told me to ask him. Surprised at my request, Elder West agreed, and although he had only given two blessings before, I definitely felt that the words he spoke were directly from God. "You Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you and are proud of the work you've done. But they need you still. Your investigators need you. This work needs you." His Spirit electrified me and helped me in more ways that he probably comprehends.
4) This last fast and testimony meeting was kind of painful, haha. And to top it off, it was one of our investigators' first time at Church. Zack had previously not been fond of the Church even though his wife, Becky was a fairly active member. We started teaching him about 3 weeks ago with slow progress. He doesn't have much of a Christian background, so the Book of Mormon seemed foreign, almost fictional to him. As I sank in my seat in Church, I wondered how we were ever going to recover from this strange blow to Zack's perception of our Church. But to my surprise during Sunday School he told me, "you know I've been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, and have decided on my own that I want to get baptized. And I want to do it, before you leave." I'm sure the look on my face was funny, for Heavenly Father had made up where others, including me and my lack of faith, fell short. His wife was so happy, for she thought he would never come around.
Miracles. They happen.
Elder Low
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