May 11, 2014 Letter

Hi family!

 

Well I just got off skype with you all not too long ago. It was great seeing everybody! All of the grandkids are getting so big. Life seems pretty busy. Happy Mothers day to Mom again! Mom I can't even begin to explain how much you have done for me. You have sacraficed so much to raise all of your kids, and now you are sacrificing more for the grandkids. I am so grateful for everything you have done and everything you continue to do. I love you! And I hope you have an amazing Mothers Day.

 

Well I mentioned a little bit over skype, but my life has been pretty crazy this week as well. I am down here on the Gold Coast and loving it! The ward here is awesome! Justin like I said, I even met somebody that you served with in Melbourne. It is a small world. As far as the work goes here, there is not much going on. So we are really trying to pick things up and find some more people to teach. I feel like this will be a great area!

 

As for the crazy part of my week, it is a long story. I am serving in a trio for now. I am still serving with Elder Lolohea from Tonga, but I am also serving with Elder Manuel from New Zealand. The ward use to be split into 2 areas with a set of missionaries in each, but now we are just covering all of it. It is a pretty huge area! So I am really trying to get to know my way around. I am not sure how long it will last though. We might have some more surprises this week. We will just have to wait and see.

 

We have a member of the first quorum of the seventy coming to our mission this week. His name is Elder Hamula. He is the Pacific area president. So I am excited to hear from him as well.

 

Well sorry it is such a short email. Hopefully I will have more to say next week. I want you all to know that I do have a testimony of this Gospel. I have learned so much on my mission! One of the great things I have learned though is about the importance of the Holy Ghost in our lives. Laman and Lemuel saw an angel and still fell away. Sometimes we experience miracles in our own lives and just let them fade. Visions and Miracles don't convert people. It is only through the power of the Holy Ghost that we can become truly converted. He will comfort us, He will guide us, and He will strengthen us. I know that if we strive every day to live the Gospel and listen to the promptings of the Spirit, He will never lead us astray. I am so grateful for that. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low

May 5, 2014 Letter

Hi family,

 

Well it sounds like another busy week. All of that traveling sounds tiring. I am sorry to hear about Mason. Those triplets will definitely have a special calling in life. Also congrats to Derek Strate this week on his mission call! He will love Salt Lake! I heard that is an awesome mission!

 

Well the last few days have been pretty crazy for me. We got our transfer calls on Sunday night and I was kind of hoping I would be sticking around in Toowoomba. There are some great things happening there and I loved the area! The Lord had a different plan for me though. I was told that I was getting transferred. They don't tell us where we are going though, we just are told to pack up. So on Monday I packed up and said some good-byes. It was a little sad but I am also really excited to serve in a new area. This morning we had our transfer meeting to find out who our new companions are and where we are serving. So we woke up early this morning to make the drive down. I am now serving as a district leader on the Gold Coast. It is a big city!! It is the party place of Queensland. It is where alot of the young people who want to party live. So it is pretty much the complete opposite of Toowoomba. We stay in a suburb called Palm Beach. We live right next to a big beach! It is pretty cool. My companions name is Elder Lolohea. He is from Tonga and his English is terrible! He has only been on the mission for one transfer so I am going to finish his training with him. He seems like a really good guy. So it should be a really interesting transfer. I am excited!

 

Mom I am calling home for Mothers Day. I am not sure how yet though. We will have to talk to the members here. Hopefully we will facetime or skype. I have Richards phone number so hopefully we will get ahold of you somehow. I might be calling Monday morning here which might be around 5 or 6 Sunday evening back home. This is just a guess because I won't be able to email again before Sunday. We will work something out and get ahold of you somehow.

 

Well I am excited to start a new transfer. A little nervous as well. Lots of things change in life, but we can always count on the Gopsel. I know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and answers prayers. He sent His son Jesus Christ to be our Savior. We here these words all the time and I feel like sometimes we don't take enough time to think about what it really means. It is an amazing message! One that will change and bless lives if we let it. But that is only if we let it. When we do our part, the Lord will always do His part. It may not be in the way we want it, but it will be in the way that is best. I know that is true! I know this Gospel is true! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low

April 27, 2014 Letter

Hey family,

Mom it sounds like you have had quite an adventurous week. The plane ride sounds more like a roller coaster. I bet that was fun. Just kidding. I am glad you are safe. I hope you have a safe trip back up to Edmonton. Also congratulations to Dawson on the mission call! That is awesome! Cancun Mexico. Dawson will be a great missionary! Karen and Alvin congrats on graduating! It sounds like you celebrated with lots of food and chuckerama. Nothing new there. The only thing missing was the Cannon Center. I loved that place! Happy birthday to Richard this coming week! The 29th I believe. I hope you have some time to do something fun on your birthday. Also happy birthday to Addie next week on May 5th! I will say that now because I am not sure when I will be emailing next week. It is transfers so I will have to see what happens. I have been in Toowoomba for quite awhile now. I would love to stay another transfer though. 

Mom I did eat quite a bit of Easter chocolate. We still have lots left though. So I don't think I am losing any weight. Our mission is not on Facebook either. I have no clue when that will happen. I thought it would be sometime in 2014 though. 

Well we had another pretty successful week. Unfortunately we haven't been finding many new people to teach though. We have been trying to work with the ward on that. We don't get many referrals from the ward at all. Missionary work is a lot more effective when members introduce people to the missionaries. We are doing better with having members come to lessons with us, but it is the finding we need help with. Tracting isn't very effective. I can just imagine sitting at home and two random guys showing up at my door. I probably wouldn't care much about what they are saying. We have had some success with it though. But there is much better ways to do missionary work. We are working on that.

We are having success with the people we are teaching though. We finally caught up with Noel last week. We had a good talk and we actually set another date for him to be baptized on May 31st. We still have some things to work on with him, but I feel that he will be ready. I hope I get to stick around for that. We also had another great lesson with Adolphin. We took her a Book of Mormon in French and she was very excited. Apparently she has been reading it every day. We are excited to see her again. Candice is a work in Progress. Again she feels like she has to know everything. We don't even know everything as missionaries. That is why we study every morning. We will keep working with her though. 

Something pretty crazy happened this week. My companion and I were driving down the road and we heard a pretty loud bang. I saw some dust fly up in the air a little ways ahead of us and a big truck swerving over onto the sidewalk. When we got closer it was a big car crash. It looked like this big truck smashed into a small car. I didn't see the people in the car, but I saw some of the people around it looking away from the scene. It looked pretty bad. I am not sure what happened to the people in the crash, but it really got me thinking. Things can change so fast and we are often hit with surprises in our life. On Sunday our Bishop talked about how we need to always let the people that we care about know that we love them. We also need to show it in our actions. Often we just assume people already know that we love them, but when we say it and show it, it means so much more. I also read a great talk on forgiveness this week. When we don't forgive others, we are only hurting ourselves and preventing healing to take place. Seeing this accident really made me realize how precious life is. We need to make the most of it every day and show the people we care about that we love them. Don't hold grudges, because you never know what is going to happen. If we really strive every day to live the Gospel, we will have a lot less regrets. We will probably still face surprises and challenges, but the Lord will help us through. I hope you all know how much I love you. I am very appreciative of the support you give me each week. I am so glad that families are forever. Have a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Low

April 21, 2014 Letter

Hi family,

Happy Easter! It sounds like Easter wasn't quite normal for some people this year. Keep hanging in there Leslie. Life is crazy. Julie keep up the good missionary work! I love hearing about it. Karen and Alvin congrats on finishing finals. Walking out of the last final feels pretty good. I can't believe you guys are graduating! Cammie congrats on finally watching Star Wars! Just kidding. Also happy birthday to Penny! I think my email will come in on her birthday back home. 

Fortunately people do celebrate Easter over here. People do egg hunts and everything. Toowoomba is actually a pretty religious place. There are a ton of churches here! It is like the Bible belt of Australia. A lot of people were gone over Easter though. Elder Bejarano and I actually got given quite a bit of chocolate for Easter. I need to stop eating junk food. 

Mom I did use the Canadian visa to buy a jumper and a jacket. I hope that is alright. Also we are full time car now since there are only two of us in the ward. So I haven't been on my bike for awhile. That is another reason I need to stop eating junk food. 

We had another pretty successful week. Tara was confirmed a member of the church on Sunday and a lady in our ward invited her over for dinner in May. So Tara seems pretty happy. It is awesome! Unfortunately we have not been able to catch up with Noel or Candice yet. Candice went down to Brisbane for awhile. We are hoping to catch both of them this week. We have seen some other miracles though. We found a lady from the Congo who is awesome! I love people from the Congo. They are so smart! We have been teaching a few. This ladies name is Adolphin. She was very excited when we came around. We shared the message of the restoration and she was so happy. She is very interested in the Book of Mormon. She speaks French a lot better than English so we got her one in French. She has such good questions! I am excited to see her again.

Life is always moving forward. That is the purpose right? We are suppose to continually progress. But we are so blessed to have so many sources of strength, peace, knowledge, etc. as we move forward. We have a living prophet, scriptures, families, church, temples, the ensign, and so many other sources. We can learn true principles from all of these sources that will bless us in our every day life. This Gospel is true!! It is meant to guide us back to our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful for this knowledge. I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Love,

Elder Low 

April 15, 2014 Letter

Pictures of the Baptism with Tara.

Elder Jackson,
Elder Bejarano, and I.

 

Hi family,

Sounds like the weather is still pretty cold back home. We are starting to get some cooler weather here as well. I will probably have to buy a better jacket soon. Cammie that is pretty awesome that you got to teach in Zach's class! I bet Zach enjoyed that. Thomas' new eye looks pretty real. It is amazing what technology can do these days. 

Well I finally got to listen to General Conference. It was great! I got to see all of the sessions at there normal times. So it took up a lot of Saturday and Sunday. It was played at our chapel for both wards in Toowoomba. A lot of members probably just watch it at home on the Internet though. There wasn't a whole lot of people there for the Saturday sessions. Also we didn't tract at all last weekend. It was kind of nice. 

The best part of the week was that Tara's baptism went through! It was great! Tara came to the Saturday morning session of conference and then we held the baptism in between sessions. A good amount of the ward was there too so she got to meet some more people. Tara seemed very happy. It was great to see. I got to baptize her. When she came up out of the water she was just smiling and happy. The Spirit was strong. It was just an overall great experience. She did not get confirmed on Sunday because it was General Conference, but she will be confirmed this coming Sunday. 

Even though we had conference this weekend, we taught more lessons last week than we had in a long time! Things are really starting to pick up in the area. We are really trying to work with Candice. I really believe that she is ready for baptism. Robbie the lady you talked about sounds exactly like Candice. I will be praying that the same result comes from it. Unfortunately we haven't been able to catch Noel for a long time. But we are hoping to soon. We are also teaching a lady named Sheryl. She has a huge smoking addiction! So we are trying to help her get over that. She wants to, but obviously it is easier said than done. 

There was so many great messages from conference this weekend. It seemed like they talked quite a bit about discipleship though. The world and the church are getting farther and father apart. As Elder Holland said, we will all have times where we will have to "defend our testimony." We will probably at some time or another be persecuted, and may even get some mashed potatoes thrown at us, but we will be blessed and protected for it. I love the examples of the apostles in the Bible. They were often persecuted, but they rejoiced because they were counted worthy to be persecuted for Christ's sake. We should be the same way. He will strengthen us. I know that is true! I know the Gospel is true! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Low

April 6, 2014 Letter

Hi family,

 

Well it sounds like everybody just got done watching conference not too long ago. That is awesome. We are very blessed to having prophets and apostles on the Earth today. Robbie it sounds like you have some kind of mystery disease. I hope all is well there. Jason and Kamry I can't believe Talia is in preschool, swimming lessons, and dance. Sounds like she is growing up fast. I love hearing about all the nieces and nephews. Also happy birthday to Faye and Anne this week! April 10th right?

 

Well things are starting to get back to normal. Well at least as normal as mission life can be. Unfortunately Elder Jackson has gone home. We woke up at 4:30 Wednesday morning to take him down to Brisbane. Several people tried to talk to him, but he was pretty set on going home. Mental issues can be very tough. I hope all is well with him. So now it is just Elder Bejarano and I in our flat. It is a pretty big flat for two people.

 

The weather is still cooling down. Mom I would probably compare it to Spring or Summer back home. People are saying that it will get colder here soon though. Toowoomba is one of the colder places in Queensland.

 

Unfortunately we did not get to watch conference this weekend. We get to watch it this upcoming weekend. And I am pretty sure we get to watch all the sessions. We got to last time. I am excited! I love General Conference! It is a great opportunity for all of our investigators as well. Hopefully we can get some of them out to watch.

 

We have had some ups and downs this week, just like every other week. Things seem to be pretty set for Taras baptism this Saturday. Since it is conference, we are going to have the baptism in between sessions. I think Tara is going to come watch the Saturday morning session and the baptism will follow. She will be confirmed the following Sunday of course. I am excited for her! She is a very shy girl. We have been trying to get her to meet more members in the ward so she is a little more comfortable. The ward seems to take her in pretty well. We have had some problems with Candice this week though. She is a great lady and wants to do what is right. Like I said, she has already gone through a few pairs of missionaries. She wants to postpone her baptismal date though because she says there is a few big things she wants to do first. She wants to read through the Book of Mormon and the Bible. She has 3 young kids though which makes it very tough for her to sit down and study. That could take years. Really what it all comes down to is whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. If it is true, that means Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that He really did see God and Jesus Christ. Which also means that the Priesthood was restored to him and that it lies within our church. We have had a couple of goods talks with Candice. We will just keep working with her and see how things go.

 

Something that I have really want all of our investigators to see is that God's plan is one of happiness. That is what it is all about. All the commandments, all the knowledge that we have is given to us to help us be happy. Yes we are going to have trials, but because of Christ we can find the peace and happiness that we need to keep moving forward. Sometimes we just need to stop and think of all the blessings that we have in our lives. God wants us to be happy! I know that is true. Thank you all for your love and support! Love you all! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low

March 30, 2014 Letter

Hi family,

 

Mom how is being home again? It sounds like you really don't get much time there now days. Cammie I can't believe how far along you are. That is crazy! The baby will be here in no time. Julie keep up the missionary work. It sounds like you guys are doing awesome with that. You will be blessed for it. Karen and Alvin are you guys graduating soon? Or what is the deal with that? I am sure you have already told me but there is just so much to remember. Joanie is Jaxson taller than you yet? Also happy birthday to Zachary Scott Low this week! Zach I can't believe you are already 7. I still remember when we came down to Utah just after you were born. You lived in a very tiny place.

 

Well this week was definitely one of a kind. And that is not all good news. Some good news though is that Elder Bejarano speaks a lot better English than I thought. Last week I hadn't really talked to him because I was staying with another Elder who was also training. We had to wait an extra day to pick up the missionaries we are training. Elder Bejarano is from Peru but he has been living in Australia for 3 years I think. So his English is good. He has been on his mission for about 8 months I think. Elder Jackson is my trainee. He is 18 years old and he is from West Valley Utah. This is where the bad news comes in. Elder Jackson has extreme anxiety. Apparently he has been fighting it ever since he went into the MTC. Elder Bejarano and I have both tried talking to him and baring our testimonies, our mission president has talked to him, and he has also talked to a very good doctor. Nothing seems to help him though. He is pretty set on going home. So from the sounds of it, I think he will be heading home sometime this week. I feel bad for him. So it will just be Elder Bejarano and I.

 

As far as the work goes though, we are making some progress. I am very excited about this transfer. We have taken over the other area as well so we have been meeting some new people there. One of the investigators we picked up is Candice. She is a 25 year old lady with 3 kids. Her husband is less-active, and she has gone through several missionaries already. She has so many questions. She is a great lady though! She really just wants to do what is right. I think that is why she feels like she has to have all the facts. We had a great talk with her about faith and the Spirit last night. In the end, we set a baptismal date for her on April 26th. I truly believe that she will be ready for that day. As she continues to put her trust in the Lord, her faith will continue to grow. Like it tells us in Ether 12:6, "we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith." I am excited for her. Tara was also able to come to church this Sunday. She is somehow able to get an hour off work to come to Sacrament meeting. Our next step with her will be getting her to the full 3 hours. We have re-set a baptismal date for her though on April 12th. Noel was also at church, and we are hoping to re-set a baptismal date for him as well. We have some great investigators that are really trying to do what is right. I love it! Lately we are really trying to work on their personal conversion and their faith. We are expecting miracles this transfer.

 

Seeing my companion Elder Jackson going through his experience has made me think a lot. I heard part of a great talk from Elder Jeffery R. Holland recently. It was about missionary work. He talked about why missionary work isn't easy. In his own words he said "I believe missionary work is not easy because Salvation is not a cheap experience." He went on to talk about how much Christ had to suffer. If it was never easy for Him, why would it be easy for us? I am sure most missionaries have probably shed a tear or two at some point on their mission because they feel overwhelmed. Myself included. But we only feel the tiniest bit of what Christ went through. We can never fully understand what He did for us. Elder Holland went on to talk about how the atonement can carry us. Christ knows us very personally. He knows what we have gone through and He knows what we are going through. His enabling power can help us through our tough times. Elder Holland said something like "If the missionaries can come to trust and appreciate the atonement, it will carry them possibly even more importantly than it can carry their investigators." I think we can apply this to everything in life. Life is not easy. It wasn't meant to be. But we have a Savior who can lift us when we fall and strengthen us in our darkest hour. How grateful I am for that. I know that with His help we can all gain Eternal Life. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. I love you all and pray for you every day. Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low