Groundhog Day(?), 2013

I was unaware that it was Groundhog Day today. I guess it's just another one of those holidays just to have a holiday. I'm sure it's nuts in Punxsutawney right now.

 

It has been a WONDERFUL week here in Dover. A lot of teaching went on with member and nonmember alike, of which the nonmembers are progressing toward solid baptismal dates. Marty and Donna, who had cooled off for the past couple weeks, are on fire again. All of a sudden they saw how important the gospel was to them. They had become discouraged a couple weeks ago when Satan through some curve balls their way, knocking them from spiritual high ground, despite my warnings to them when Elder West first got here of building that strong foundation upon the gospel and never looking back (Helaman 5:12). Then, as soon as they reached heavenward, our Heavenly Father open the windows of heaven and blessed them four-fold, dwarfing the seemingly insurmountable hurdles Satan had so deviously tried to construct on their ways. The sudden blessings of job interviews, a potential apartment, a convenient and well-manageable car, and progression in their relationship toward marriage, made them realize that God is more powerful than the Devil, all we need to do is reach out, for "his hand is stretched out still" (Isaiah 9:12).

 

Ever since the panacea of that realization, we've been meeting with them and teaching them every other day - their baptismal date now set for 23 February. They worked out the financial problems and are now planning on a wedding day of this Saturday, of which I will be in attendance. It's amazing how much people can change when they want it that badly.

 

Yesterday was probably the most spiritual fast and testimony meeting I had ever been in. As a missionary, fast and testimony meeting can either make or break your investigators' experiences with Church, because you have no idea what some members can say. Usually you just grit your teeth and pray for the best. But it was all different this time. My attitude unfortunately hadn't changed but my environment shook me in my seat, with the Spirit being the catastrophic cause. Backing up to the beginning of Ward Council just before Church started, somebody from the Lewisberry 2nd Ward, came in and handed us two letters that had been sent to the Church's address. They were from someone we had street contacted in downtown Dover and gave them the address of the Church. The member  spoke facetiously but seriously when he handed us the letters, saying, "it's from a fellow you met telling you how wrong you are." The sheer audacity that that member entitled the letter with, made my blood boil. Now the Spirit kept telling me all through the meeting, "don't read that letter, Elder." Somehow I just knew I wasn't going to like what I read. I knew exactly the guy it was from and I knew exactly how the conversation between us had transpired - somehow I just knew I was going to be mad. Despite the constant whispering of the Spirit, I ripped open the letter at the beginning of sacrament meeting, hungry for how I could possibly retaliate and destroy this correspondent scripturally. But of course, he hadn't put on a return address. I sat during the opening hymns brewing, his words kept echoing in my mind, "read your KJV of the Bible and you'll discover the true Jesus, a Jesus that Joseph Smith was warned about going against (Galatians 1:6-8). You'll be glad you did." By now I had completely lost the right Spirit of the sacrament meeting and sat in despair. Nobody likes being told they're wrong - especially in such a cowardly way. It wasn't that I felt doubt about my beliefs, but contention drives the Spirit away (3 Nephi 11:29), and contention is probably the best word you could use to describe my feelings toward this guy.

 

But like I said, I was completely changed by the tone of the meeting. The ward had gone on a temple trip the day before and all the children were flocking toward the pulpit, all desiring to describe the feelings they felt while being around this holy structure. It was touching to see, but what really got me, was when our investigators disappeared from beside us and got up to bear their testimonies. In Donna's testimony, she testified of what great things the gospel had done for her family and that none of those things could have happened had I not asked her what she thought of the Church. She said that no missionary had ever done that before among all the many missionaries going in and out of her Mom's (an active member) house. Donna's 7-year-old daughter Desiree said a few simple sentences of how she was so happy her Mom and Dad were getting baptized, because she was so excited to be baptized herself in a couple months. But perhaps the biggest wave of the Spirit came when Donna's neice stepped up to the pulpit. 12-year-old Katlynn had been attending Church with her grandmother (Donna's Mom) for months and yearned for the opportunity to be baptized. In her testimony she expressed her thanks to me and Elder West for teaching her and how excited she was for her next lesson. She mentioned her mother (Donna's sister) who had passed away a couple months earlier and how excited she knew she would be for her to be baptized as well on 23 February. There was not a dry eye in the whole congregation, and I put my arm around Elder West, with a warm confirmation within my soul of this is what we're here to do. This is why we're here. These are the days of our lives.

 

Elder Low

Monday, 28 January 2013

It's been a slower week this week. No where does Murphy's Law more true than when missionaries are planning. "If anything can go wrong, it will," he penned and it almost is uncanny how something that seems so solid and sure can fall through, only to have us rushing through back-ups that should have been planned the night before. I'm sure I'm going to come home and be that weird RM who asks a girl out for the following week and calls her every day until it is supposed to transpire to make sure that it is still OK; and just to be sure, I'll have a back-up planned for that evening, just in case.

 

I don't remember everybody reminding Elder Zaleski of how little time he had left when he was training me, but perhaps they might have and I just can't recall. It seems everybody feels the need to ask when I'm going home and if I'm excited. My District Leader (who happens to be Elder Gerratt - I was his District Leader when I was serving back in Hershey and he was in Lebanon) keeps asking Elder West if I'm getting trunky just to push my buttons. He said to me at our recent Zone Training, "I haven't ever seen a missionary less trunky than you are, so I have to bug you about it." In our PEC yesterday, my Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop, both knowing of what I was to accomplish whilst serving her, felt the need to announce to everyone that I needed to "get in the water" sometime in the next two months, as if physically baptizing someone were an ordinance I must go through myself. Whatever.

 

It's in this crunch time when I do only have two months left, that I need to make time count rather than just counting time. Ministering has become so much more important to me than administration. Talking to someone to help with their needs seems more worth my time than checking off principles on a teaching record. For the first time I contacted a media referral from Church Headquarters and the result was so intangible that I had no idea how to report it. "Not interested" didn't seem to properly describe it, but nor did the alternative of "New investigator," the result was less systematic than that. The referral was for one Karla Wolfe, the mother of a missionary who is currently serving from our ward in Salt Lake City. The text included this information and asserted a command right at the end - "baptize." Needless to say I was really excited about contacting her and we did so on Thursday afternoon. It had started to snow in York County that day and it was starting to accumulate on the roads and sidewalks. We parked outside of a nice neighborhood and walked over to the designated house. Coincidentally, Karla was shoveling her driveway and we quickly seized the opportunity to help her clear it. We didn't leave her much choice but she caved when she recognized who we were. She said she hadn't had much exposure to the Church since her divorce with her first husband (this missionary's father), but that she wasn't too interested in learning the doctrine for herself. However we continued to talk with her, discussing her son and the few people she recognized from the ward. From our conversation, it was apparent that she didn't understand why her son had chosen to go on a mission nor what he did everyday as an elder. I think when she looked at us she could see her boy, shoveling someone else's driveway somewhere in Utah. In her I think I could see my Mom, worried for her son so far away that she had little contact with and little knowledge of where he was every moment. However, the main difference is that my Mom knows why I'm here while Karla seemed almost lost and deserted, destitute of any hope. I felt sorry for her, how she just didn't understand but yet, didn't want to understand. It was a heartbreaking scene and we assured her of all her worries about us as missionaries. We talked with her as we would a friend rather than a faceless referral. She lingered even after we completed her driveway asking questions about our life and routine. I left her with our number assuring her that she could call us if she needed anything whether that was service for shoveling her walk again or just a question and answer session about missionary work. She graciously accepted and felt compelled to give us something. We assured her that such wasn't necessary but she insisted, rushing into her house with a look of concern at us in the cold, reminding me of a plea my mother once used to say, "I take care of the missionaries because I hope that when they're on their missions, someone will be taking care of my sons."

 

A mother's maternal instinct for a distant son is perpetuated around the world, no matter what their faith is. I'm sure in this longing, we get a glimpse of the divine; a Father ever longing for the triumphant return of His children.

 

Elder Low

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