July 22, 2013

Hi family,

Well it sounds like some crazy things are happening back home. And I am glad some people are having fun at echo. I love echo lake. Some of my best memories are there, and I am sure many of you would agree. There is nothing like spending time with family. Jason it sounds like you had an awesome time at scouts camp. I always loved those camps. And I am glad to hear you didn't get crushed by a horse. That could have been bad. What was your calling again? I am really sorry to hear about all of these crazy accidents. That is sad to hear about Josh Burton. That would be tough so close to the end of the mission. But it sounds like he is doing a lot better then expected. I hope everything goes well with him. And Tami Courts daughter as well. Life can be hard sometimes. But the Lord gives us trials to make us stronger. Just like it says in 2 Nephi 26:24, "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world." I think we can all apply that to ourselves as well. I have often found on my mission that we go through certain trials in our life so that we can reach out and help others. Sometimes we go through trials just to test our faith and strengthen us. We may not understand why we are having these challenges, but we just have to trust in the Lord. If we do that, He will strengthen us. He won't give us any trial that we can't handle. And if we handle those trials well, we can have what I like to call never ending happiness.


Time to answer some questions. I did get a new bike. My district leader I was telling you about, Elder Fry, had an old bike that he hasn't used for awhile. And he is driving a car now anyway. So we fixed that up a bit and that is what I am riding. It is working just fine. And my hand is a lot better. It is pretty much healed up. My knee is coming along as well. I didn't rip my pants though, just like I told you. Mom we do run into a lot of Mexican Spanish speaking families. There are a ton around here! But there are Spanish speaking Sisters in our area, so we just refer these people to them. Karen we do not get Pioneer Day off. But we do get to walk in another parade! I'm not sure where it is at though. It might be in like Spanish Fork or something. I guess I will find out. Mom we do get fed a lot. We always cook breakfast and lunch for ourselves, but we get dinner from members 5 times a week. It is really nice. And sometimes they send us home with leftovers as well. So we are being fed great! I have actually just started recently taking my vitamins, and I think they are really helping. I have found that I am not as tired when I take them. And no I have not used my Wells Fargo card yet. They give us plenty of money to spend. Mom don't worry, we cleaned our double wide trailer. We had inspections the other week, and they lady was so happy with us. She said it was the cleanest she has ever seen it. She said she would bring us cookies next time, and we even got a letter from the mission office saying congratulations on having "an extremely clean apartment." It was pretty funny. Well I hope I didn't miss any questions. If I did, ask me again and I will try to answer next week.


As far as the work goes, this week was pretty good. We found two new kids to teach. Dylan Smith is 8 and Nicholas Bingham is 12. Dylan's family is active, but it is a weird situation. The ex-wife won't let him be baptized until he takes the missionary lessons. With Nicholas, his Mom is less-active and his Dad is not a member. He goes to church with his grandparents and he loves it. He has even been going with the Deacons to collect fast offerings and see how things work. He is a great kid. I am excited to teach him. I am really hoping we can get the father to sit in on the lessons as well. His Mom has already been doing that. We also got a couple of the families we are teaching to come to church. I was telling you about Brock and Cammie and their kids last week, and this week they came to church with us. They love the Gospel Principles class. It is very simple for them. Hopefully church will become a weekly activity for them. I am not sure if I have to you about Amy Simmons, but she has come to church 3 weeks in a row now. She has had a rough life, but it seems like she is really starting to turn things around. I love seeing people accept the Gospel, it really does change lives.


I love hearing from everybody and how you are all doing. It is such a blessing to have a family that cares about me. I love you all so much. We have so many blessings in our lives. We just have to stop and see what God has given us. This week I have really seen the blessing of the scriptures in my life. I came across a good scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16. It tells us that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And it is so true. Prophets wrote the scriptures, and Prophets speak the words of God. So when we read the scriptures, it is just like God is talking to us. It is amazing the answers that we can receive by studying the scriptures. I have had many prayers answered in those couple of hours in the morning that we get to study. I love that time. This Gospel is so true. God loves each one of us and knows us individually. He just wants what is best for us, even if what is best for us is hard. As long as we put Him first in our lives, and then do our very best, He will strengthen us and help us be where we need to be. I know that to be true. I love being a missionary! I hope you all have a great week. I love you all so much.


Love,

Elder Low

July 15, 2013

Hi Family!

How is everything going? It sounds like some crazy things have happened this week. Robbie and Cammie congratulations on being re-united today. That would be tough to be away for that long. That is why it is so nice to know that families can be together forever. Joanie and Ryan it sounds like you had a great time in South Carolina. That is awesome! Sorry to here about Diane Ballard's car. That is really sad. I hope they can find her laptop. And Mom happy late birthday! I keep forgetting to say happy birthday the week before. I hope you had an awesome day. Thank you so much for putting up with me all these years and helping me reach my potential. You are the best Mom I could ever ask for! I hope everyone treated you like a princess, cause you deserve it.


Well I will try to answer some question quick. The man named Roy that we are meeting with is a trucker, so he has a very weird schedule. They can call him in at any time to go somewhere. So we have not found a date for him to be baptized yet. We are working on it. CammieElder Fry is a missionary in Salem. He is the district leader so I was on splits with him for a day. We get to go to the temple twice a month. Once with our companion and once as a district. But the Provo temple is closed this month so we don't get to go this month. Karen I got my mailing address finally! Sorry it took so long. I don't know how to put it together, but it is Payson, UT. The street address is 780 North 500 East. And the zip code is 84651. I think that is all. Mom I am not sure what to tell you about the music. I thought it just said that we can't have headphones or anything that can access the internet. If that is the case, an iPod or MP3 players that can't get on the internet should be fine.


Well this week was pretty awesome, just like every week in the mission. I love being a missionary! My bike finally gave out this week though. We were riding home one night and my pedal broke while I was riding. So I went down pretty hard. I managed to catch myself though so I didn't rip my pants. My hands got pretty ripped up though. But that is ok. What is a mission without at least one bike crash right? So we have been walking these last couple of days. It really makes you feel like a missionary when you are out walking around in the heat all day. I love it! It is so worth it. I know I keep telling you about all these different people I teach. Sorry about that. It is hard for me to remember who I have and haven't talked about. But there were a few families this week that we had really good lessons with. One is a very young family. Their names are Brock and Cammie Hanks. They are pretty young. They have an eight year old boy named Stetson and a younger daughter. I think I have mentioned them before. But while we were teaching them this week, Brock and Cammie really showed an interest in being sealed in the temple. It was amazing. I love seeing happy families! They have some things they need to work out, but it seemed like they were willing to do so. And I know that with the help of the Lord, they can make it to the temple. To me there is no great blessing in this life than the knowledge to know that we can be with our families forever. I know I say it a lot, but it is true. Another family I want to tell you about is not one that we are teaching, but they fed us dinner one night. The Mendez family. They are a Spanish family that live in a very small home. They don't have much, so it was very humbling to see that they were willing to feed us. It was amazing how grateful they were. They said they love to have the missionaries in their home because it blesses them. They were an awesome family. God really has given us everything and we owe so much to Him. Being in their home really made me realize how much I have and how thankful I am. I know I don't show it as much as I should, so I will try to do better. Serving a mission is just the tiniest way of thanking my Heavenly Father. Just like King Benjamin said, even if we spent all our days in service to the Lord, we would still be unprofitable servants. But our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ love us. So as long as we do our best, they are happy with us.


I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be on a mission. It is wonderful to see how the Gospel can change lives. It is the most amazing feeling to see someone take that first step towards receiving Eternal Life. It is so worth it! Even if I had to spend every day all day walking in 100 degree weather, it would still be worth it. God has so much in store for us and everyone around us. It is such an amazing blessing to share this message with others. I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week!


Love,

Elder Low
I did hear about the Scottish festival. We were thinking about going to the parade that morning, but we stayed home and studied instead. Mom,

July 9, 2013

 

 

Hey Family!

Sorry I didn't get to write an email yesterday. Another set of Elders by us had to go up to Provo yesterday and for some reason we had to go with them. I don't know why. I didn't feel like we did much. But we got permission to write emails today for lunch. Sounds like things are pretty busy! Richard and Leslie congrats on baby #2!! That is awesome. I hope I start getting emails from everyone else with similar news. Just kidding.

Well this week was good! It sounds like you all heard about the 4th of July. It was pretty awesome! And yes Cammie I was a little confused when I heard my name because I couldn't see you. I must have looked lost. That's funny. But it was great seeing you and your family! I also saw Uncle Jim and Janelle with there family! It was a crazy morning. I loved it! I wish I could send the video I took of the parade. Missionaries get treated great here! After the parade we just had a big lunch with all the missionaries. They didn't want us out that night because they didn't want us to get hurt. I guess things can get pretty crazy. So from 5 to 9 that night we met up with our district at the church and played some basketball and watched a movie. The mission gave us permission to watch "How to Train your Dragon." Mom you should watch it sometime. I think you would like it. We didn't get to watch fireworks. They probably thought that one of us would get hurt. Kind of like Karen's story. I'm glad you survived Karen. I definitely heard them that night though. Lots of people were setting them off in the neighborhood. So July 4th was pretty much a long Pday. It was good.

Now I will try to answer questions. We got our swamp cooler fixed!! It feels great! But it also got a little cooler outside. We have had some crazy flash storms. Some with hail. Sorry to hear about the garden. Hopefully it survives! Elder Baisden and I got caught in one on our way to meet with a Bishop. So we got soaked! And Dad it is definitely easier to walk then to ride my bike. But it is not as fast and my legs are getting some good exercise. It will last me until I go to Australia. Mom what would be best for you about the music? I thought I read in my call that I wasn't suppose to have CD's in Australia. I can't remember. And the name of the mission is the Utah Provo mission, or Provo Utah mission. Same thing.

Well the teaching this week has been up and down. We have been trying to meet with a lot of new people and they have been cancelling on us a lot. We do have one investigator named Roy though that is ready for Baptism! He is an awesome guy. He is probably around Dad's age. We just have to find a time for him to be baptized because he has a super busy schedule. I went on splits with Elder Fry this week as well. We found an amazing family in his area, the Martinez family. They are from Kansas and just barely moved here. They said they had one day to find a home here and they found a great one. They love the neighborhood and the people here. They have seven kids and they said people would always looked at them funny in Kansas when they told people that. So Utah is the perfect place for them! I really believe that the Lord guided them to this area. Everything has fallen in place for them and they are excited to hear about the Gospel. The Lord really does have His hand in everything.

So yesterday morning was a little rough. We didn't get to write emails and I had a big headache. I wasn't in the greatest mood. But when we got a little time in the afternoon I decided to read my scriptures. It is amazing what studying the scriptures can do for you. My headache left and I was in a much better mood. I love that I have time to study every day. The Gospel is truly amazing! The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I can't think of a whole lot of things that would be a better use of time than studying the scriptures. They are amazing. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Low

July 1, 2013 Letter

Hey family,

Happy Canada Day!! I wish I could be up there. Is everyone going to go to party in the park and the fireworks? I always loved the fireworks. I am glad the reception went well! Sounds like one of the best receptions I have hear about, especially with all that Canadian candy. And yes I ran into Karen! How crazy is that. I also believe that it wasn't a coincidence. It was a good day! Karen thank you so much for the brownies and the cookies. You are awesome! I love you. And Robbie happy late birthday! I was going to say happy birthday last week so it wasn't late, but it must have slipped my mind. I did wake up that morning saying it is Robbie's birthday though. Sounds like you had a great day. I just wanted to say thank you so much for the example you have been to me and for all the help you gave me at school. I really appreciate it. Love you!

Well it sounds like the flooding up there did quite some damage. That is crazy. I bet the stampede will be interesting this year. Hopefully there aren't too many injuries.

Well Payson is great! It is boiling hot though. I think it is even hotter than Provo. It has been over 100 degrees every day. The highest I saw was 108. And the worst part is that our swamp cooler in our place is busted. We live in a double wide trailer that is actually pretty big. It is really dirty though. But the space is nice. Our thermostat said it was 99 degrees in there the other day though. I was sweating like crazy! We are going to try and get someone to fix it this week. My new companions name is Elder Baisden. He is 26 years old and from Idaho. It sounds like he has had a rough mission and some rough companions. But we are doing good! We are working hard and doing the best we can, even though it is boiling hot out. I am still on a bike, but my bike is tiny and the seat is broken. So I have to stand up. Elder Baisden makes fun of me because he say I look weird when I ride it. It is good exercise though.

I have had some good experiences this week. We are working with some interesting people. One man we are working with keeps telling us how God turned his back on him. We are making progress though. He loves having us in our home and He definitely knows that God is real. We just have to help him strengthen his faith. I also got to teach combined priesthood and relief society yesterday since it was the fifth Sunday. My companion was speaking in another ward so we went on splits while I taught. I think it went pretty well, or at least I hope it did. I had an amazing experience in the Temple this week though. Seeing Karen on Monday made me really start to think about families. I thought about it and realized I have never really prayed to know if families can be together forever even though I have prayed about many other things. So I knew it was true, but I wanted to see if I could get an answer to that. So before I went to the temple, I prayed that I would have a good experience while I was there. While we were sitting in the Chapel in the temple, the organist started to play "Families can be together forever." I felt so strongly right then that I can be with my family forever. I know it. I love you all so much and I couldn't imagine living without all of you. It was also another answer to me that prayers are answered. I don't know what I would do on my mission without the power of prayer.

I will try to quickly answer a few more of the question I remember. Mom I would love if I could get an ipod and a little speaker. I don't think I could get music on it down here because I can't get on the internet to put it on. I do have an old ipod somewhere that can't get on the internet, but it has a lot of stuff on it. You could erase that though. And I am not sure my mailing address. Maybe you could just sent it to the mission office. Whatever works. And yes I do play the piano a little bit here. I often play in our district training meetings and in our stake correlations. I am glad you made me take piano lessons Mom. Julie that is awesome to hear that you are doing missionary work! Keep it up. Sorry to hear about the sickness though. That is a bummer.

Well I hope you all have a good week. I guess I will leave you with my testimony like always. Karen's favorite part. I know that this Gospel is true. I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and that through him the Gospel has been restored. The power of God has been restored on this Earth and through that we can perform miracles. What a great blessing that is. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Low

P.S. I am trying to put pictures on but something weird is happening. So I will try again another time. Sorry!

June 24, 2013 Letter

Hi Family,

 

Holy cow! It sounds like some crazy things are going on back home. A lady in our stake actually just asked me yesterday if I knew anything about the flooding up in Alberta. That is crazy! Did we get water in our basement? Where do the people go when they have to be evacuated? Sounds interesting. But that is Canadian weather for you. Robbie it sounds like you are having some interesting experiences at work. That is funny. A little poop never hurt anyone. Keep up the great work. Is it hard being away from Cammie?

 

So there is a ton of stuff I want to say. I will try to remember everything and type quickly. Grandma and Grandpa Low served a mission in Washington in the late 1980's right? The Bishop's wife down here said she thinks she served at the same time as them. That is pretty cool. And Mom I don't know if I really need my Canadian passport. I should be good with my American one right? Karen I do not know my mailing address. But I am in the library right now and I am going to go check out your locker sometime! And if you do see me by accident feel free to say hi. I really only come up to campus to write emails home. Other than that I am not on campus very much. Karen and Alvin are you in the Summer term?

 

So when is everybody going to head to Echo? Sounds like Mom and Dad got some cleaning done. Can you boat on it this year?

 

One thing that I keep forgetting to mention is music! I was wondering if you could send me some music sometime. There was an Elder in the MTC who had a tiny ipod and a really small speaker. And I love music. It really brings the Spirit. I love EFY music and here we are allowed to listen to Jon Schmidt as well. Jason also had some really good church music. Don't feel rushed on that though. That could be like a cool Christmas gift. Or I could even buy something here or when I go to Australia.

 

Well this week has been very interesting! We taught almost 40 lessons this week. So we were pretty busy. Most of them are less active members. But that is just as good! There is one family that we are teaching, the Christensens, who are super nice people who have felt the Spirit, but they just don't realize it. It is really sad. I really hope they come around someday. Yesterday me and Elder Harpole spoke in two different wards. I am starting to enjoy speaking a lot more. I think they went well. And yes I was able to go to the Mariott Center to watch the meeting. It was amazing! One of my favorite parts was when the Apostles walked in. Eleven out of the twelve were there. Only Boyd K. Packer wasn't. As soon as they walked in, there was a special spirit there. I love that feeling. It was a great meeting. And it is so true that everyone needs to be involved in the work now. It is so much more effective when we get help from members. Especially here in Utah. The more we serve others and help them come unto Christ, that happier we will be. And it doesn't even have to be none members or less active members. We should always be trying to strengthen everyone around us.

 

So I have some news. I am being transferred! Not to Australia though, just to Payson. So I will be heading down there on Wednesday morning. I have very mixed feelings about it. Even though I have only been here a few weeks now, I really love this area. I have met a ton of people that are so great. It is going to be sad to leave everyone I am teaching right now. But I am also excited to meet new people and serve in a new area! It will be interesting to see what my new companion is like.

 

I have really learned here that the Lord knows each of our weaknesses and each of our strengths. And He loves us so much that He wants our weaknesses to become strengths. But we cannot do that alone. The Lord's hand is always stretched out for us. We just have to do our part and He will give us strength. And just like He loves us, we have to Love everyone around us. The more Christ like we become, the happier we will be. I have a testimony of that. I love you all and hope you have an awesome week. Travel safe to Utah and good luck at the reception down here!

 

Love,

Elder Low

 

P.S. Are my emails too long or too short?

June 17, 2013 Letter

Hey Family!

 

How is it going? I can't remember if I said this last week but it sounds like the wedding went great! That is awesome. How was the cruise Karen and Alvin? Was it everything you dreamed of and more? It sounds like everybody is gone and things are calming down. How are you feeling mom? Is the stress gone? Robbie it sounds like work is killer. I am sorry. That is a lot of work. Your probably making pretty good money though right? Cammie are you excited to babysit? Maybe I will run into you down here. Sounds like Waterton was a blast. I love that place.

 

Well I am not going to lie, I am still trying to get use to serving in Provo. Every time I look at the big Y on the mountain I feel like I am at school again. I am actually in the library at BYU right now. I already saw Ryan Quinton and Meghan Hartley. They both thought it was pretty funny that I am here. But I am loving it! I am getting a ton of opportunities to teach. Most of the people we teach are less active or they are about to turn eight. The less active members here always get there missionaries to come teach their children when they turn eight because they know that they need to be baptized. So we do a lot of that. We do have one non-member we are teaching though. Her name is Robin. We got her to come to church yesterday! So that was awesome. We already had 2 baptisms last weekend. I only got to teach a few lessons with them but it was awesome to see them get baptized. We also had one man we are teaching receive the Melchezidek priesthood. It was amazing. His wife was so happy. There is so much to do in Provo. It really surprised me.

 

Well let me tell you about my trainer. He is a very interesting person. Elder Harpole definitely has a unique personality. He is from Texas so that helped explain a lot. Just kidding. He loves to sing, especially Les Miserables. I often find him starring at me while he is singing weird songs. It is a little creepy. But what can you do. He has a great heart though! I think he has been a little less motivated the last couple of months, but we are getting back on track. We have been working really hard this week. And unfortunately we do not get a car. We are in the Provo west area so we have bikes. I am getting a pretty sweet tan. And don't worry, I am wearing sunscreen. It has been so hot down here! I am not sure how I am going to handle Australia.

 

I have not heard anything about my visa yet. They said it could be days, weeks, or even months. So I guess I will just have to wait and see. But that is ok. Provo is awesome! I love teaching. There are some amazing families around here.

 

Dad it sounds like you had a good Fathers Day. I wish I could have been there. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. You work so hard every day and you expect nothing in return. You are the kindest man I know. You are always thinking of others and are willing to serve. The biggest thing I notice about you is how much love you have for everyone around you and especially your children. You are the most Christ like person I know. You have been such an amazing example to me. I hope some day I can return the favor. Thank you so much for everything you do. I love you.

 

Well I hope everyone has a great week! This Gospel is so true. The Lord has a hand in everything we do. We may not notice it at the time, but the Lord is always putting people or other things in our path to help us become better people and ultimately prepare us to live with him again. He wants us to succeed, and that is why he is always helping us. And just like it says multiple times in the scriptures, his hand is always stretched out. We just have to let him help us. Love you all!

 

Love,

Elder Low

June 10, 2013 Letter

Hey Family!

How is everybody doing? How was the wedding? Richard how does it feel to be graduated? Sounds to me like it was a pretty awesome week back home. I am glad everything went well with the wedding! And Leslie that is an amazing story about your diamond! I am so glad you found it. That really is a miracle. The Lord loves us so much and really has His hand in everything. Robbie and Cammie, that is some exciting news. How does if feel to be a Canadian Cammie? Best feeling ever? Have fun with work Robbie! And good luck studying for the MCAT!

So when are Karen and Alvin coming back to Provo? I am here now! I left the MTC this morning. It was a little sad but exciting at the same time. I grew so close with my district there. It will be great to see them again in Australia. The MTC really did teach me so much. The Spirit is so strong there. I just hope I can keep that Spirit with me out in the field. So this morning my mission president came to pick me and one other Elder up at the MTC. My mission presidents name is President McCune. He seems pretty young. probably around 50 I would guess. He is a great man. My new companions name is Elder Harpole. He is very energetic!! Should be fun. I am excited.

Well I haven't had a whole lot of new experiences out in the field yet. I have only been here for a couple of hours now. It is super different though! But we start teaching tonight when our Pday is over. I am excited for that! In the past week at the MTC I have just been going to class and everything else we do there. We had a great lesson with our branch president, President Willes. He had us have a conversation with our companion in front of the class. What we had to do was think about a Christ like attribute they and talk to them about it. It was an amazing experience. It is amazing the Spirit that comes when we look for the good in other people. Our Savior loves everyone, and He is the ultimate example, so we should love everyone too.

This Gospel is so true. I love being a missionary. I can't wait to teach the people in Provo. It will be a great experience for me! With faith in the Lord we can do all things. I am here in Provo for a reason and I know that as I submit my will to the Lord He will put people in my path to teach. God is preparing people all over the world to feel of His love and happiness. This Gospel really does bring happiness. Have a great week and I love you all!

Love,
Elder Low