Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Real Missionaries with the Real Book of Mormon
December 22, 2014-Christmas Miracle
Elder Low's Report,
This week I've been
reading in Helaman. As I read I was struck particularly by the account of Nephi
and Lehi. The whole world had gone wicked, the Nephites were on the verge of
extinction, yet having been influenced by the words of their father and their
desire to do good, they went out and taught the word. Though the world seemed
lost, these two men become in a few chapters the most successful missionaries
of the Book of Mormon, converting almost the entire Lamanite people:
Helaman 5
18 And it came to pass that
Nephi and Lehi did preach unto the Lamanites with such great power and
authority, for they had power and authority given unto them that they
might speak, and they also had what they should speak given unto them—
19 Therefore they did speak
unto the great astonishment of the Lamanites, to the convincing them, insomuch
that there were eight thousand of the Lamanites who were in the land of
Zarahemla and round about baptized unto repentance, and were
convinced of the wickedness of the traditions of their
fathers.
I know that there are
people waiting for us. They have been prepared by the Lord and touched by the
spirit, but if we are distracted by other things we will miss them.
This week our district
has really been trying to focus on finding the elect. Our pools have lots of
cool people and teaching has always been high since I’ve gotten here, but I
felt strongly this week that we as a district had not been putting our full
effort in to find the people the Lord was preparing for us, becoming instead
distracted with teaching those who weren't elect. We talked about this as a
district and committed to do better, and as a result we have seen tons of
miracles. One that we saw happened on Friday. After district training we went
to go knock doors. We went to the spot we had previously chosen, prayed... and
didn't feel good. So we went to back up... didn't feel good there either. This
went on for an hour and a bit, as we rode on our bikes further and further
away. Finally as it was getting dark we came down a back road and stopped in
front of a trailer park. We had said previously that day we didn't want to
knock a trailer park but after an hour of searching we knew this is where we
needed to be. We prayed, and as we opened our eyes we saw a Spanish man
walking. We went up to him and asked him if we could give him one of the “He is
the gift cards”. He said yes. He then looked at us a little unsure and then
asked if we had a copy of the Doctrine and Covenants with us. We said we did not
and asked what made him ask. He said "Well I just finished reading the Book
of Mormon that two young men like you gave me a bit ago, and it just... it just
really filled me with light." Our mouths dropped. He continued, "I
remember reading somewhere in the book (probably in the guide to the scriptures
found in the Spanish version of the Book of Mormon) that there was another book
related to it called The Doctrine and Covenants, and another called The Pearl
of Great Price. After feeling so good reading the Book of Mormon, I can only
imagine what is contained in these other books."
This man whose name is
José, came to church on Sunday 2 days later, and accepted the invitation to be
baptized.
I know if we follow
the Lord, and have faith in his power to convince and convert mankind, he will
lead us to those we have been sent to this earth to find.
Elder Low
December 16, 2014
Elder Low's Report:
This week I’ve finally
arrived in my chronological journey through the Book of Mormon in one my
favorite parts, the war chapters in Alma! I'm super excited. I really like
these chapters because they demonstrate the practical application of the
principles taught by Christ as well as the rewards that result. I think the
message of all these chapters is summed up well by the words of Moroni in
chapter 44 which says:
3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that
he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand
that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in
Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.
4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of
God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as
we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never
will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into
transgression and deny our faith.
Literally the success of all
that we do is completely and inseparably connected to our faith in the Lord,
demonstrated by our actions. As we excise our faith in the Lord, even when all
seems hopeless, swearing with the 2000 stripling warriors that we "do not
doubt" and continue to work, we will accomplish his purpose for us, and we
will find that truly what he had planned for us, is far more than what we could
have ever planned for ourselves.
This week our district saw
tons of success particularly in the baptism of the Vasquez family in the area
of West Palm North, as well as the tremendous work and effort going on between
the missionaries in the district and the ward members. The ward council is
getting excited as they see that their efforts have effect. New members are
being very well fellowshipped and people are talking about future callings that
they may soon accept, and referrals from members who we didn't even talk to are
coming in. One such experience that happened in our personal area was that we
worked as hard as we could to try to get new investigators, and though they
came, quickly they dropped off, and we found ourselves in a jam, seeing that no
came to church who had planned to. But the Lord provided through our awesome
members. They brought a friend to church; two to be exact. One of them is so
interested declaring that he loved everything that was going on. Truly this is
a time of great thanksgiving, but it is not enough. This week we will be again
focusing heavily on finding the elect.
I know that we must trust in
God. He will always sustain us. I know that this is true.
Elder Low
December 8, 2014
Elder Low's Report:
This week i was reading
still in Alma, and I read chapter 41 which contains a scripture mastery and how
wickedness never was happiness. This verse had never hit me as hard as it did
this time. It shows just so plainly how we shall reap that which we sow:
10 [my son] Do not suppose, because it has been
spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness.
Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
13...the meaning of the word restoration is to bring
back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for
devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous;
just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.
I know that this law also
applies to us and our investigators. We must sow diligence to obtain results. We
as well must help our investigators sow testimony, if we hope for them to reap
activity.
As a district in the past
and this week we have had a lot of blessings in helping our investigators move
towards the goal of baptism, to the point that recently all of the district
members have baptized. This is super exciting for all of because we know that the
Lord is blessing us and is proud of the work we are doing. As well in our area
we had the blessing of helping our investigator Selvin be baptized and stay
strong. At his baptism he said that he felt like we were all one family, that
before we knocked on his door he had been praying that the lord would send his
angels, and that he wanted nothing more than to be a strong part of this
church. He has gone to every activity and a couple of member presents with us. We
are so excited for him and the other recent converts now in our areas, but also
as a result we have lost a lot of our focus on finding. This week we will be
doing all we can to find those that are ready. We know that the Lord did not
send us here to find one of his elect, but all of them.
I know that as we help all
to push forward, continually taking steps towards eternal life, we shall with
them receive that very reward.
Elder Low
December 1, 2014
Elder Low's Report:
This week I read a lot in
Alma, finishing my reading of the missions of Ammon and his brethren and moving
into the teachings and ministries of Alma. Something that caught my attention
while reviewing what I read was a part which talked about the rewards and
consequences given unto men. The chapter (28) talks about a battle in which
many righteous people died. However instead of letting this great loss
overshadow his writing Mormon, emphasizes something different:
14 And thus we see the great call
of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus
we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of
death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of
Christ unto life.
Though in life we will have
many challenges as we come unto Christ he will fill us with joy despite and
because of them.
This week we had a huge miracle.
As a district we really tried to make ourselves the kind of missionaries who
are worthy to receive blessings. As a result the Lord blessed us so much. The
district members had people calling them literally asking them if they could be
baptized. We as a companionship also really benefited from this. We had a
really hard challenge at the end of last week when one of our most solid
investigators had a hard shock trying to adjust to coming to a different
church. We thought he might drop us. Yesterday he came to church and was
smiling from ear to ear. After someone else’s baptism he got up and hugged us. He’s
getting baptized later today.
I know that as we follow our
savior Jesus Christ in all that we do, whatever our trails, they will be
swallowed up in the Joy of the Savior.
Elder Low
November 24, 2014
Elder Low's Report:
This week I read in Alma,
about both Alma and Amulek as well as about the sons of Mosiah.
Alma chapter 14 particularly
interested me, not because of any one particular verse, but because throughout
the whole thing they stick together. Through all their trials they endure
together.
This week the district
really did awesome at helping one another. We had training on unity right
before specialized training, which was than reemphasized there. The district
members really took this to heart. Many of them asked for help on real problems
that they were having in their areas and as a result, things that would have
been difficult on their own, were easily accomplished as a district. As a
result, two people received baptismal interviews, one was baptized this past
week, and the other is to be baptized the next. They are doing awesome.
We also really tried to
apply this in our area, especially with unity with the members. One such
instance we received a phone call from a member who... well we really couldn't
quite understand what he wanted but he told us to go visit a person named Velma
at a certain address. Without the proper info, it was going to be difficult and
awkward, but we decided that this was an act of faith by this member, and that
we needed to trust him. We went immediately. When we got there, all we could
say was, "we don't know why we're here, but we're looking for Velma."
She turned out to be a less active that needed a blessing. We sat and talked to
her and her family. Her husband and sister are not members. We invited them to
church. A lot of our investigators did not come to church that week, but one of
those did.
I know as we act in unity
with one another upon the principles of righteousness, we will do so much more
good and we will be hastening the work, that all those who are waiting shall
hear the word of the Lord.
Elder Low.
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