Monday August 15th, 2011

We actually had a baptism on Saturday for the daughter of a less-active man we've been teaching a while. Although she was a very shy 13-year-old in our lessons, I think she's really come a long way. Kacie's baptismal service on Saturday went pretty well and after she was confirmed yesterday I saw her smile to herself for a very long consecutive time, which was unusual for her. But since then I really have to wonder, what now? During the refreshments period following the baptism, our branch mission leader asked us half-jokingly, "who's next?" Honestly I'm not sure. Our investigators are surely dwindling more than they're being gathered and it's hard to accept this way of life, living day to day not knowing who will progress and who will drop us.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just becoming baptism-hungry. Maybe I'm not focusing on the people enough. Well, maybe I'll be transferred next week.

We actually just had a Zone Conference and it was very refreshing. I have in fact met my Mission President personally many times. I don't know what his deal is with communicating with our families but I know he is a busy man. He did take pictures with us each individually and for some reason I thought he was going to send them to our families, but I guess he didn't. :|

Anyways, I hope everything is going well at home. I miss and love you guys a lot. Have a great week.

Elder Low

P.S. Woohoo! I can now check "be quoted by someone in a talk or a speech" off of my bucket list. Thanks for telling me about using that analogy.

Monday August 8th, 2011

I really loved your letter this week Mom, it really told a lot about what you guys did and was really interesting to read. So I'm just going to randomly address some things in your letter as I peruse through it.

- My grad suit is still holding I guess. The pants aren't doing too well but I only wear my suits when I'm going to meetings or Church. All the rest of the time I just wear the washable slacks I brought. I reeeeeeeally wish I had bought more of those.

-I have no idea what's going on with Derek or any of my other Calgary friends. For some reason they all stopped writing. :( I think I might send a letter to the Primary Children while Derek is still the Chorister there. So expect that soon.

- I have THE BEST song in mind for a farewell. Or a homecoming or whatever. "Homeward Bound" is a wonderful song (I think) about missionary work. I would encourage you to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version of it.

- Wow, just imagine if they had never ACTUALLY recovered the dead guy's body from Chestermere Lake. I WOULD TOTALLY NEVER GO IN IT AGAIN.

-Anyways this week has been ok I guess. It was ironic in that I wished and prayed and fasted for new investigators and they keep dropping us left and right for some reason. But we did finally get a new investigator yesterday. I don't know, it's being hard right now for some reason. I'm starting to feel like I've done everything I can in Bedford and I won't be disappointed if I'm transferred in two weeks.

I'm not sure if you guys care if I share a spiritual thought or not. Sometimes I feel like I'm preparing a talk when I write these letters, which is kind of dumb. But I was pondering the Atonement a lot yesterday and this morning. And for some reason, my mind's been dwelling a lot on the unjust trial of Jesus with Pilate. The very people Jesus served were chanting to crucify Him and they even insisted on releasing a "notable" prisoner named Barabbas in the stead of releasing the Savior unto them. Despite how unfair and ludicrous this trial was, we go through it every day. We are the robbers. We are the insurrectionists. We are the prisoners. We are the guilty ones. And yet Jesus Christ was still led to the slaughter as we go free unscathed. Seems almost unfair how scott-free we get off compared to how much suffering Jesus went through on our behalfs on the condition that we properly utilize the power of the Atonement. That trial is a reoccurring parable that represents how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. In fact "Barabbas" literally means "son of the father," of which we all are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. But because God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son for us, they're willing to overlook our imperfections, assuming we have faith unto repentance, and usher all of us Barabbas's into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Elder Low

P.S. Wow, the missionaries in your ward must be on fire! Who were the 5 investigators in your Sunday School class?

P.P.S. Hooray! Looks like this week will finally be a nice week as far as weather is concerned!

Monday August 1st, 2011

Wish Chelsie a belated happy birthday from me! She's probably glad that I wasn't there to complain about the Silver Dragon and accidentally plan a boating party on her birthday again. I hope she had a wonderful day despite the whole Church incident. :)

I didn't know Katie worked somewhere different! But I guess I wouldn't know.. she hasn't written me yet for some reason. Maybe the next time you see her ask her what address she's staying at or grab her email so I can write her.

Why are you guys driving instead of flying to Victoria? Is it really that much cheaper? Why isn't Dad going with you guys? I wish you guys safe travels and will be praying for you.

I actually did receive your package! It was a good peak to my week, thanks for the pictures and food. Although I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with all the Canadian souvenirs...

Anyways, this week has been fine. We started to reteach Paul (one of my investigators from my first transfer). He had been sick and away for about two months and he's as excited as ever about the Gospel. Although I'm not sure if I'll be here to witness him being baptized, I just hope I can do all I can to help him prepare. Other than that, this week has been hard for us to teach people we find. For some reason people don't keep appointments very well and I'm not sure how much more I can stress how important our message is without being overbearing. Maybe that extra push is necessary? I don't know, any tips for helping people keep their return appointments?

The other day I realized I'm starting to love the people, seeing them as children of God who need to be nourished by His word rather than seen as a faceless baptismal statistic. Being out here on a two year mission seems like such a short time for the grand calling we hold. No other time in my life will I have to my disposal angels and miracles for the sole purpose of trying to convert random citizens. I realized I needed to teach all I could in that couple of seconds when they're actually listening and leave them pondering with a good taste in the mouths. I got a fortune at a local Chinese food restaurant that read "You will be sharing great news with all the people you love." How true is that? If I don't have that love, the great news of the Gospel is meaningless.

My pocket watch broke this morning at exactly 8:59:40, with the second hand constantly incapable of ticking. The now seemingly ironic phrase Dad engraved on my watch of "Seek that which lasts" is becoming ever more true to me. The principles and ordinances of the Gospel are what last and it's my job to swing the Sword of the Spirit (being the Word of God) to emphasize the need for a greater cause. But without that Spirit I can only hopelessly flail the sword, disregarding it's power of conversion and only endangering poking someone's eye out.

Elder Low