December 5th, 2011

This week was a dedicated to preparation for the baptism of the other Hershey Elders’ investigator. She was a golden referral from one of the members in the ward. Her baptism was probably the best one I’ve ever been to. She’s formed such a great relationship with the ward. We Elders actually performed 4 musical numbers during the service. Elder Spohn and I also have a baptism coming up this Saturday with the part-member family we’re working with. It’s been quite the struggle to find interested people to invite into the waters of baptism but the Lord has blessed us immensely.

I’m assuming that the Christmas call will be handled the same way it was on Mother’s Day – we just used our cell phone and called our home. I’ll let you know if anything changes. We are allowed to skype, but I would probably rather call unless you guys are super opposed to that.

The Zone Leader Council I attended was interesting. The other Zone Leaders said that it wasn’t a usual council. It felt more like a training meeting, but the thing is that they didn’t really train us on anything that was really new. Though I enjoyed it all the same. The men that were from Salt Lake were Brother Hill and Brother Woodruff (I have no idea what their first names were). Though they didn’t do much training themselves, it was cool to hear their feedback. Brother Hill is in charge of finances in the Mission Dept. and Brother Woodruff assists the Quorum of the Twelve when they are calling missionaries. His testimony of how all of our callings are divinely conceived was amazing.

Who was all in the Chestermere Band? Surely not all of the youth in our ward play instruments, so did it really unify all of the youth? I feel like the youth who don’t play any instruments might have felt left out. Were there any?

The Hershey Ward Christmas Party is on Saturday and it should be really fun. Hershey’s really good for feeding the missionaries. There’s a dinner planned pretty much every day (is our ward like that?). We do have dinner for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I’m excited for the package. I recently discovered an LDS artist named Mindy Gledhill. I have her CD “The Sum of All Fears” but I was wondering, if you are able, if you could send me any other CDs of hers. I know she has a new one out called “Anchor.” Other than that, you can ship that baby out as soon as you want.

I’ve included some photos from Zone Leader Council in Pittsburgh and the Baptism.

I hope you are all well. I also pray for you ever day.

Love,

Elder Low

Monday November 28th, 2011

Both this past week and this coming week are ones where missionary work will unfortunately be at its minimum. Not because we weren’t trying, but because for some reason, holidays and zone conferences seem to jumble together at common points during the year. But even though our efforts weren’t as focused on our investigators, they were pointed in another uplifting direction. We visited many members on Thanksgiving in hopes of strengthening their faith in Christ. In fact, a part-member/less-active family invited us over for their Thanksgiving feast surrounded by nonmembers friends and family at their mansion that made me want to play life-size version of Clue. It went very well and it opened a huge door to start teaching their twenty-something year old son. God puts His missionaries in the most convenient and albeit awkward situations in which we can help those He has prepared enter or re-enter his fold.

During our Leadership Training conference last week, one of the Mission Presidency explained a parable from Matthew 13 that I had never really understood. From verses 44 and 45-46, the basic idea of the two different parables seems exactly the same. Both parables likened unto the kingdom of heaven, both men come upon a treasure, and both men sold all he had to obtain it. However the difference is in the countenances of the men and their differing intents during their endeavour. The merchant man was seeking the goodly pearl and completely recognized it when he had found it – this is the type of seeker missionaries hope to come by as they knock doors, street contact, and talk to everyone within close proximity. However there is a certain class of investigators exemplified in verse 44 (and one could argue that this is the majority of people) that isn’t looking for anything at all. But simply from stumbling upon the truth from an unexpected trigger, like the example of a friend, the man realized what he was missing and was willing to give up everything to have it. What we have in this Church is desirable, the pearl above pearls, one of priceless value. But some people will only recognize its worth when they unexpectedly see it in you.

Elder Low

P.S. President Topham selected 3 District Leaders from the whole mission to attend a special Zone Leader Council with a representative from Salt Lake this week, and I got called to go!

P.P.S. Wait. Darin’s already leaving for his mission? Dude where’d he even get called to?!

P.P.P.S. As you can probably tell with my lack of reply to Tasha and Sis. Simmons, I am terrible with replying to letters, especially ones that are sent via snail mail. So to be honest, it’s kind of nice only having to write you guys once a week, I would feel awful if I accumulated a stack of letters from home that I haven’t replied to. And I’m pretty used to not getting mail as much. When you train, you have to understand that the first couple months of a trainee’s mission are filled with letters and packages almost every day. If I had let Elder Sp___’s copious amounts of mail get to me, I would’ve exploded a long time ago.

P.P.P.P.S. Holy junk! Alan will be home from his mission in a month (You gave me a heart attack when you told me the 6^th). Holy junk! I’ve been out almost eight months! WEIRD.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Remember what I said about not being able to put together a musical number out of the missionaries around me? Yeah scratch that. Hershey Walk’s investigator, who is to be baptized this Saturday, is requesting that the missionaries put together some musical numbers for an interlude. Maybe I’ll get to use that copy of “Give Me the Strength of Ammon” again after all.

Monday November 21st, 2011

I don’t think it was until I started putting in my papers that I started to notice the different personalities of the current missionaries in my ward. They were real people, not just robots in suits. I’m coming more and more to the realization that what sets us apart as unique servants of the Lord is how we perceive and react to those we encounter. I am in danger of just becoming a “suit” to members and investigators if I mindlessly regurgitate Preach My Gospel lessons 1-5 without listening to the concerns the people present, both audibly and inaudibly.

This past week has been difficult. There have been three investigators that we have had to drop

because of their lack of desire to know the Church is true. I am reminded of the simplicity of the

experiment Alma outlines in his 32^nd chapter,

“But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will

not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it,

because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out.

"Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit

thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye

will not nourish the tree,

"And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to

the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.

"But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by

your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit

thereof, it shall take root;and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting

life.”

Can’t people see the gravity of this crossroad before them? Here is the choice between truth and confusion, happiness and misery, eternal life and spiritual death. The Book of Mormon, the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Church of Jesus Christ are all either true or not. And if people aren’t willing to truly seek that truth for themselves, we cannot continue to spend the Lord’s precious time trying to convince them of it. It’s a terribly disappointing thing when the fire within a seemingly “golden” investigator starts to die until it is completely burnt out.

Our job as missionaries is not to be a suit, but to present this important message as clearly and powerfully as we can so that our investigators can make an informed decision whether to accept or reject the seed. Once we present it, we have no power over their agency. The Lord would have all His children come unto Him, but He will never force us to do anything against our will. Such is the love of a divine parent, for “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world.” (2 Nephi 26:24)

Elder Low

P.S. For some reason it always seemed so easy for Dad to organize a group of missionaries into a choir in his mission. I can’t even get my trainee to sing with me in the WARD choir. One of the members of the Bishopric joked with us and told us that the four Hershey Elders would be doing a quartet number on Christmas Sunday – they promptly responded that I would be singing a solo instead.

P.P.S. Gah, I hate having Christmas so close to my birthday; I never know what to ask for. You can never go wrong with skinny ties or gospel media. What I really enjoy are things that I can use in lessons, like visual resources and aids. I’ve been reveling with the Mormon Messages DVD you sent me, I love using it in lessons. It would be really cool if you (or you could get some of my siblings to help out if you don’t know how) could make a DVD with some of the newer Mormon Messages on it or even some talks from General Authorities (can’t

go wrong with President Uchtdorf or Elder Holland talks). Talks in general are a really good idea. Mormon Tabernacle Choir CDs would be great as well (for my favourite MoTab songs see previous emails). Or something that would also be fun in my studies would be study guides for the Standard Works, especially the Doctrine and Covenants and the Bible. Sometimes I really need help understanding those New Testament scriptures…

P.P.P.S. You can tell Sister Simmons that I DID receive the Primary Package and that I loved it! The kids are growing up so fast! They all look so different now! I think when I get around to actually responding to my snail mail (I’m quite behind) I’ll write a letter to the Primary children collectively.

Monday November 14th, 2011

Alright so I’m 21 now or something. This is supposed to be the prime of my life, right? I did have a great birthday, though. I received the package on the 9^th as the Postal Service notified. I am really grateful for those things that you sent me (including the meal calendar things I guess – although I’m not sure how often I’ll get up the motivation to use it). This week just seemed kind of typical, so instead of writing a lot I’ll address certain answers to your email and points of this week in bullet-form:

Wow it sounds like Dallin’s the big man on campus at Chestermere High School playing the Last Post and everything. Is he the star of all the musicals now too?

For some reason Remembrance Day is super huge in Canada, but when you come to the US and they celebrate “Veterans Day” on the same date, it’s treated very lightly and just as any other pointless holiday. It’s rather sad. I have great memories of attending those Remembrance Day Assemblies in both school and war museums.

I guess Dad never got to live out his dream and buy the lot next door to build a giant-super-mega lake house on, spanning both properties. Why don’t we just tear down that hot tub once and for all? Wait, maybe we don’t want to see what’s all living under there…

Transfers are tomorrow and I’m not getting transferred (surprise, surprise). Though my Zone Leaders did pull a fast one on me, calling me Saturday night to inform me that I was being transferred to Cranberry and had to have everything packed by the next day, the walk area in Hershey was being dissolved, and three new areas were being formed in Lebanon of which I had to go and scout new apartments. I was super overwhelmed until they notified me that it was all a joke and that everything was staying the same. For some reason I thought missionary hazing for new district leaders was discouraged.

But for real, I’m really excited to start this new transfer. It will likely be my last in Hershey once I’m finished training Elder Sp---. A fresh start is always accompanied by new beginnings.

So in commemoration of this November 14^th, commit to be better and “look not behind thee.”Or else… Genesis 19:26

Elder Low

Monday November 7th, 2011

It was super odd opening my email this morning to find it deprived of an email from my family.

I was a little shocked and started to think that it was a joke because of my birthday or something. But then as I started to finish a letter off that I did not intend to be a reply to anything, I received your letter. All is well.

This week has been good because we’ve found a lot of new investigators. It’s interesting how

Elder Spohn’s experience here in Hershey is similar to that of my first transfer in Bedford. When I first arrived, there wasn’t too much going on, which forced me and Elder Z to find all of our new investigators. Now after 5 weeks of hardcore finding, the Lord is blessing us with people to teach. Although most of them are still in their beginning stages, I look forward to many converts in the near future.

Among these appointments, I actually had the opportunity to conduct my first baptismal interview with a baptismal candidate that the Lebanon Elders taught. It was a very spiritual experience to say the least. Every time I’ve had an investigator interviewed for baptism, I had wonder what happened behind that closed door that changed the countenance of the candidate from confusion and worry to total confidence that this was God’s intended path for them. It takes a lot more preparation than I would’ve thought to make the interview a comfortable and uplifting experience and it didn’t hurt that the 19-year-old girl I was interviewing was super solid in the Gospel. As Chelsie is undoubtedly seeing while sitting in those investigator lessons, as the Spirit works on a willing heart, the change they undergo is miraculous in the short time they investigate the Church. It was my pleasure to reassure this young lady that with the covenant of baptism, came the promise of a loving Heavenly Father’s gift of a remission of sins. My mind is carried to a scripture I’d read a hundred times and never understood in Alma 5:26, “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” Only recently have I been in contemplation of the concept of retaining a remission of sins and this scripture tells us how to do that. I told the young lady that after she is baptized, she will sin again, but we can keep that remission of sins if we keep repenting when things go wrong. We must continue to ask ourselves every day if we can feel that change of heart, if that feeling is still with us. The goal of repentance is not to be redeemed for a temporary moment but to ensure that we are continually moving upward.

Elder Low

P.S. I surprisingly dealt very well with the time change. I enjoyed the extra hour of sleeping in and although we have to work longer in the dark, I wasn’t as tired in the evening yesterday as I thought I would be. Part of it may have been due to the wonderful member-present lessons we attended with two new investigators, both anxious to learn.

P.P.S. I think I’ve heard From Cumorah’s Hill. I obtained a CD from my Zone Leader with the same title so I’m assuming it’s the same production. The music is fantastic and honestly I think the opening song with the title in it is my favourite. Although I’m sure it would’ve been more fun to enjoy your guys rendition of it with the speaking parts and everything.