Tuesday January 17th, 2012

 
Seems like it’s been a hectically cold week back home. I suppose it
has been that way here as well. It’s probably reached its coldest this
past week. However the snow has still been only a minimum. But
yesterday the freezing rain was an interesting change. I’m so excited
about the temple being built in Calgary! From the pictures, it looks
like it’s going up really fast. I keep being reminded that it will be
done before I go home; once that hits, I’m sure it’ll be a weird
experience for me on the downhill run.
 
My weeks in Altoona are never boring with Elder Neilson, but the work
that is actually progressing here is at an all time low. We’ve been
working our tails off to find new investigators and at the height of
all of our appointments falling through on Sunday (even ones with
ACTIVE members), some rays of sunshine have ebbed through as we’ve
started to get some referrals. Today we’re planning on contacting a
media referral from the mormon.org website. And also out of the blue,
a less-active man called us up and asked us to teach his girlfriend
about the Church. I’m so grateful for those tender mercies the Lord
bestows upon us when we’ve been working so hard. I don’t think I’ve
ever experienced such a range of emotions as I have on my mission –
the trials have been harder, but the successes have been sweeter.
 
I’m sure a similar, but probably more intense, wave of confusion went
through the mind of Abraham as he was commanded to do the unthinkable
and put through a trial beyond all human comprehension. From
latter-day revelation, we have the blessing of realizing the
significance of his test, for Jacob passively informs us that “it was
accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient… in offering
up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten
Son.” Bearing in mind that Abraham himself nearly lost his life on an
idolatrous altar by his own father, he must have abhorred the thought
of human sacrifice (Abr. 1:12-20). Though Abraham was also delivered
by an angel of God, he faced an even more difficult test by what could
be described as a question of the integrity of God. Abraham knew that
the Law forbids human sacrifice or murder of any sort. On top of
which, this act of offering his young child of promise, destined to be
the father of empires, would mean the end of the very covenant line
that God had promised to establish. How could such a contradictory
command be from God? But Abraham’s undaunted faith and obedience
carried him through the test until an angelic intervention declared
that it was finished. It gives me a new meaning to the Lord’s
comforting advice in D&C 122:7-8, “Know thou, my son, that all these
things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son
of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?”
 
I love you all, you give me strength with your prayers.
Elder Low
 
P.S. I haven’t even given you my new address in Altoona (technically I
live in Hollidaysburg)
1201 N. Juniata St #9
Hollidaysburg PA
16642
 
P.P.S. I'm looking for a story for a talk that I have to give in my
ward soon. It's the one from the Sunday School lesson relating
Heavenly Father to a railroad worker and how he has to hold the lever
for the train to pass by but in so doing is unable to save his young
son who is innocently walking across the tracks. Does anybody know
what I'm talking about?
 
P.P.P.S. Finally, here are some photos from my time in Altoona. I
believe the first couple pictures are January Zone Leader council and
my District with President and Sister Topham and the last three are
pictures with my companion Elder Neilson.

Tuesday January 3rd, 2012

Greetings from Bedford Pennsylvania! Yeah, you read that right. I am actually currently on exchange with Elder G down in Bedford and a lot has changed here since I left. The summery vegetation has been replaced with a blanket of snow and late Christmas decorations. Most of the investigators I was teaching when I left Bedford have been dropped except for a young couple named A__ and S____, April being the daughter of a very active woman in the ward. It’s been amazing to see how much they have grown in the past couple months that I’ve been gone. I had taught them one lesson with Elder L before I got transferred and at that point in time they didn’t believe in Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, and they had little to no interest in any religion, let alone the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But after months of teaching with the missionaries, they’ve come to know that our message is true. They broke off their engagement, A___ moved out of their apartment and they plan to be baptized on the 21^st of this month. So much has changed here, but I suppose in a good way.

OK back to my new area. I arrived in Altoona Pennsylvania Tuesday evening and met my new companion and fellow Zone Leader, Elder J__ N____. He’s a yuppy yet humble missionary from Sandy, Utah who has been out for about twenty months. We’ve only been companions for a week and he’s already taught me so much and provided such a good example for me. He’s quickly becoming one of my favourite companions. Altoona (the missionary apartment is actually in Hollidaysburg) is a lot like Bedford in that the landscapes, landmarks, and citizens are very similar to Bedford. The ward here even reminds me of Bedford’s branch – full of old converts with the ideas, idioms, and mannerisms of Central Pennsylvania. I had almost forgotten what it was like being in such a Western-esque area like Hershey.

The Elder I replaced here in Altoona was actually my Zone Leader while I was in Bedford, Elder H_____. And although Elder H____ and Elder N_____ worked extremely hard and well together, they didn’t see much success in terms of new investigators and baptisms for months. However, I’m sure as a direct result of their diligence, my first evening in Altoona resulted in trying a young potentially investigating couple and teaching a very solid first lesson. They were the first two new investigators Altoona’s had in months. In between zone planning, mileage tracking, follow-up calls to District Leaders, and exchanges, Elder N____ and I have been seeing many miracles in our work. My faith in how inspired our planning sessions are, and we may not know it, has dramatically increased as a result of an experience we had on Saturday. We had planned to see a less-active member named Eric H_____ who lived at house number 1403 on a particular street the day before. However when we tried to find his house Friday evening, we could only see houses with numbers in the 600’s. We determined to find him the following day when it was light out. But we walked up and down that street with no luck except a randomly placed house flaunting the number 1507. We felt so defeated that we failed to street contact a couple of guys smoking on their front doorstep and passed them by. Out of some act of desperation, we knocked on the door displaying 1507 and were welcomed with an exclamation of “Mormons!” A long-haired older gentleman stepped outside and told us that he had been to Salt Lake before, met with many missionaries, and read the Book of Mormon. Flabbergasted, we set up a return appointment and revealed to him that we were really searching for 1407 on the same street, the family name being H_______. To our surprise he stepped out into the rain with us and started searching for the house number. Faithless, we followed him while he called out to a young woman sitting on the step where the guys were smoking before. In response to his question, she replied, “Um, we’re the H_______s. You’re probably looking for my brother, Eric.” It turned out that Eric was in a branch of the military in North Carolina and was home for the holidays for only 10 days. He told us of how he had joined the Church and subsequently stopped going but that he knew it was true. He yearned for his wife and other immediate family to just read and pray about the Book of Mormon. And although he would be heading back to North Carolina after his vacation, he would be moving back to Altoona in June and he told us to give him a call then. I walked away from that spiritually punched in the stomach, standing all amazed at the Lord’s mercy and omniscience. Not only had God inspired us to go see Eric on the first and second days he was back in town, but when we missed our chance to street contact him the first time, God put a prepared man in our path to redirect us back to him.

Altoona is already white for the harvest despite all the snow.

Elder Low