February 16, 2014 Letter

 

 My Chinese friends sent me some pictures. The studly picture of me was captured when we were waiting for the train to go to the temple :)

 

 

I don't really like shaving every day. my electric razor wasn't doing so great for me, so I decided to switch to a manual razor. I had some nice bumps and stuff from my electric razor already though.

 Also I forget to mention a little while ago I got to baptize one of the investigators the sisters were teaching. Unfortunately I can't give the sisters the priesthood so I did it. His name is Warrick Benn.

 

Well I am not sure how well you can tell from the pictures, but I sweat a lot!

 

 

Hopefully I can get that out of my shirt.

Hi family!

Well it sounds like everybody is enjoying life and watching some olympics. That is great! I don't think the winter olympics are very big over here. We have run into a few people watching them, but not many. Go Canada! Karen and Alvin it sounds like your having a great time in Moab. That is crazy about the missionaries in Russia though. The Lord is always looking after us. Robbie and Cammie enjoy the rest of your holiday. It sounds like it has been well deserved.

Well the heat came back again this week. It was hot! One of my shirts has a nice big brown spot on it from the sweat. Hopefully I can get some bleach soon. We also had some funny things happen this week. So Elder Pu (from China) bought some kangaroo meat last week. He came to the till with it and I asked him about it. Apparently he thought it was beef or something. So he was pretty surprised when I told him it was kangaroo meat. It was funny. He let me try a little piece of it and it was really weird. I would definitely take a piece of Alberta beef over a piece of kangaroo. I am happy to say now that I have tried kangaroo though. Also while me an my companion were tracting a little girl pointed at me and said "I saw you on TV." I thought that was funny.

We had some ups and downs this week with our investigators. Patty Lasserre, the one who was suppose to be baptized on March 1st, is having a lot of problems. She is going to court again so she said she will be busy for awhile. That was unfortunate. We have been making great progress with Noel though. Mom Noel is the guy Patty Siebenhausen is dating, not Patty Lasserre. There is more than one Patty. We committed Noel to be baptized one March the 15th. I don't think he will have problems with going to court or anything. So that will be nice. We are really excited about him! A lot of our other investigators are very up and down. It is a lot different when you are on a mission because you really see things from a different point of view than your investigators. They are still really busy with worldly things. Progress is being made though! We are excited!

Something I have really noticed on my mission is that the Lords love can stretch anywhere. We have never fallen too deep. The Lords hand is always there ready to pick us up when we fall. Something we need to realize though is that we are the Lords hands. He works through us. We have a responsibility as sons and daughters of God to serve and help one another. And as we already know, when we serve others, we are serving the Lord. We can change lives. As we change other peoples lives, we will change our own. Serving others brings a love so much greater than anything we can experience through worldly things. It is the Saviors love. I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

 Love,
Elder Low

February 10, 2014 Letter

Hi family!

It sounds like the whole continent is freezing over there. That is crazy that even Portland and Texas got snow. Church being cancelled doesn't happen very often. I only remember that happening once up in Cardston. Happy birthday to Julie on the 13th! I hope you day is everything you dreamed of and more.

Well this week has been a good but tiring week for us. Mom we still have to follow the schedule even though we woke up early to go to the temple last week. Hopefully today we will get a nice nap in though. I will try to answer some questions really quick. I am not sure what you mean about the 2 new temple films. I have seen one of them. Is there another?  The weather over here is still pretty hot. But it is definitely getting cooler. That is nice. Jordan Heninger helped coach our volleyball team. He graduated a couple years before me. But Alexis Zaugg is my age. And yes I do write/email some of my friends that are on missions sometimes.

Today is transfers for us. Fortunately I get to stay in this area with my companion Elder Palemene. This is his last transfer so we are going to work him hard. We will also go back to having just 4 Elders in our flat. That will be nice. We still have the Elder from China here though so he will keep eating the majority of our noodles. Asians must love that stuff. He is a funny guy. I love him!

We saw some really good things happen in the work this week. I don't know how much I have talked about Noel but things are really progressing with him. Last week we committed him to baptism and this week we are hoping to set a date. He even came to sacrament meeting on Sunday! That is always a good sign. We also invited one of our investigators named Tara to be baptized. She said she would pray about it. She seems to understand everything we teach pretty well. She just isn't keeping her commitments and that is so important. We all have to know for ourselves that the Gospel is true.

We are about to finish a Book of Mormon challenge our mission president gave us. He challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in 2 transfers which is about 3 months. My love for the Book of Mormon has really grown on my mission. There are so many wonderful examples of faithful people throughout history. We can learn so much from reading our scriptures daily. I have had multiple times where my prayers have been answered through scriptures. God is really trying to speak to us. It is up to us to listen. I love this Gospel. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to have this knowledge. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Low

February 4, 2014 Letter

Hi family!

 

That is some exciting news from home. Congrats Justin and Amelia on baby number five on the way! That is exciting. It is weird to think about how many kids you have. I still remember coming down to Provo to see Zach when he was just a baby. Robbie congratulations on the interview at the U of C. I hope all goes well there. Life never seems to stop.

 

Well I am emailing today because today was our temple Pday for the transfer. But since we are up in Toowoomba we have a little ways to go to the temple. We actually aren't allowed to drive there so we had to catch a train down in Ipswich and go from there. That added a little extra time to our travels. I got up a little after 2:30 this morning to get ready and go. We were out of our flat a little after 3:30. So it has been a long day. But the temple is worth it!

 

Well this week has been full of ups and downs. Karen it was funny how you mentioned that Satan steps in right as people try to do something good. We still have a baptismal date for Patty Lasserre but unfortunately she is now going to court on the 12th. Something about her husband accusing her of something. It is a story that I don't really understand. So I guess we will see how that goes. We did meet some great people this week though. We tracted into a girl named Kathryn on Monday. She told us to come back Tuesday afternoon and when we actually showed up she was really surprised. She said she tells people like us to come back all the time but they never do. We ended up having a great lesson with her though. She actually knows some of the members that use to be in our ward. She said she even thinks she came to our church a couple times when she was younger. So we are hoping things will progress there.

 

Well sorry this email is so short. I am glad to hear things are going so well back home. When we do what the Lord commands He really does bless us. I have definitely seen that throughout my life. You have all been such wonderful examples to me! This Gospel is so true. I know that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and through him the Gospel was restored to the Earth. We are so blessed to have this knowledge. Thank you for all your love and support. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low

January 27th Letter

Hi family,


Mom it sounds like you are on the run a lot from Edmonton to Cardston. That is a lot of driving. I am glad you got to go to Grandma's birthday party though. Sounds like fun. Karen happy birthday on the 30th! I can't believe how old you are. That is kind of weird, because it means I will be that old soon. It seems like yesterday that we were both in high school on the Europe trip. Time flies!


Unfortunately I have not seen Julie and Andrew yet. I probably won't see them. They stay in Ipswich right? I am in a city about an hour or so away called Toowoomba. That is too bad that they don't have air conditioning. We have some now but we didn't have any in Logan. It is not fun. Mom I got to Brisbane by car. We share a car with some other Elders so we get it every other day. I wear contacts most of the time now because my glasses were starting to give me headaches. I think it might have also been dehydration. Mom I think the reason I am growing is because I am eating too much Hungry Jacks. Hungry Jacks is really Burger King, but Australia is weird so they like to change things. Don't worry though, by the time I come home I will probably be 250 pounds of solid muscle.


Well this week was very interesting for us. There was another emergency transfer! Fortunately this time it didn't involve me. There was some other Elders in a place called Warick who got transferred out. So one of them is staying with us now. His name is Elder Yabut and he is from the Phillipines. He is in a trio with the other Elders in our flat. So we now have five Elders living in our place. We got through food like crazy. Elder Pu (the Chinese Elder) eats noodles like crazy!


We had a good week proselyting as well. We set a baptismal date with Patty Lasserre! We are aiming for March 1st. We were trying to have it sooner but she feels like she needs some time. Her biggest problem is going to be giving up smoking. It seems like everybody here smokes! Even kids. It is sad. Hopefully we can help her. A lot of our other investigators are really making progress as well. We are excited. Unfortunately none of them showed up to Church on Sunday. That was a little disappointing. I think they may have been out having some fun for Australia Day which was on Sunday. Next week!


I want you all to know that I love you so much! Families are so important in God's plan. There is a reason we are where we are with who we are. Coincidences are just the Lord's hand in our lives. I know that Toowoomba is where I am suppose to be right now. I have seen that over the past few weeks. I love seeing people accept the Gospel in their lives. It is amazing the change that it can bring. I hope you all have a great week! Love you!


Love,
Elder Low

January 19, 2014 Letter

Hi family,


Well it sounds like the triplets are still growing. When I get home they will probably be walking and talking. That is crazy! Dad it sounds like your pretty busy as well like usual. Keep it up. Also thank you so much for the Calendar! I would guess that would be Amelia's work. I love it! Happy birthday to Grandma French on the 26th! I was always impressed at how many of my games you made it to Grandma. It seemed like you rarely missed any if you missed any at all. I really appreciated that.


Well this week wasn't too hot for us, but this week is suppose to be hotter. That is alright. I am just glad I am not in the other areas during this time of year. Mom I do use sunscreen sometimes, and I actually do wear a hat. An old man in our ward gave me a big hat to wear. My companion wears one as well. I feel like if I didn't wear it I would get fried. It is pretty useful. Karen sometimes we do take naps on Pday if there is nothing else going on.


This week was pretty busy. I went down to Brisbane on Friday for a leadership training meeting. It is about an hour and a half to a two hour drive down to Brisbane depending on traffic and construction. It was a great meeting though. Besides that we had some great progress with some investigators this week as well. A less-active lady in our ward is dating a guy who doesn't really know much about any religion. We are now teaching both her and the guy she is dating though. Her name is Patty and his name is Noel. It is tough for Noel because it is all new to him, but he is willing to learn. We are excited for him. We also tracted into a great family this week! The Briskey family. They actually invited us in out of the heat and fed us lunch. It was a miracle! That doesn't happen very often in Australia. We were very grateful. We had a brief talk about the Plan of Salvation and set up an appointment to come back this week. They did tell us they were brought up Catholic but they wouldn't mind having us come back. So we will see what happens there.


I love seeing the different personalities of the people we meet. Sometimes they aren't so friendly, but they are still children of God. It is amazing how many times in the Doctrine and Covenants its says "the field is white already to harvest." Something we have talked about in our district is that the field is ready to harvest everywhere! Not just in Utah or somewhere else. The field is even ready to harvest in Australia! I have definitely seen that. I am so grateful for the chance I have to be serving a mission. We are so blessed to meet these people. I love the Gospel! I love the Lord! And I love all of you! I hope you have a great week.


Love,
Elder Low


P.S. As of this morning I weigh about 216 pounds. Either I am getting fat or I am hitting a growth spurt. Just thought I would throw that in there. Love you all!

January 12, 2014 Letter

Hi Family,


Well I am glad to hear that nobody is in the freezing -50 degree weather over in the states. We have been hearing stuff about that and I saw a picture of Niagra Falls as it is frozen solid. That is crazy! That makes me feel better about being in the heat. Dad good luck with all the ward conferences. That will be a busy time. Dad could you tell the Kennards thanks for the Christmas card they sent me? I just got it last week.


Mom I did get my bike fixed. I think it was somewhere around $67. I used my Canadian visa so I hope that is ok. Also I can't think of a whole lot I would want for my birthday, but something I could use would be deodorant. It is crazy expensive over here! To buy the kind I like, I think it is around $6 a stick. I use old spice anti-persperant/deodorant. I am not sure how expensive it would be to send some over. If it would be more expensive I can just buy it here. I think our mission will be using facebook sometime in 2014. There hasn't been any announcements about it yet. I would guess that we would be getting iphones and ipads sometime this year as well.


Well we had a pretty tiring week. We have really been struggling with consistancy with some of our investigators. So we did a lot of finding this week. My companion and I tracted for 20 hours this week. We are really trying to work with members in finding people to teach as well. That is something our stake president here has really been pushing. Hopefully we can progress with that. I like teaching a lot better than tracting.


We did have some good lessons this week though. Unfortunately Christine worked on Sunday so she couldn't make it to church. Robbie Christine and her family are Catholic. Christine is very open to other religions though. Her only problem is that she believes all religions are true. We have tried to explain about priesthood authority, but I think she is struggling to grasp the concept. We will keep working with her. We did have a good lesson with a man named Bernie though. He has met with the missionaries before so he is very friendly towards us. He is interested to learn again so we are excited to work with him. Apparently he was in a pretty bad car accident and it was a miracle he survived. I think that is what has sparked his belief in God. It sounds like he hasn't finished his purpose on Earth yet.


Something that has been more apparent to me on my mission than ever is that God can give us strength. Not only spiritual strength, but physical strength. I am not going to lie, serving a mission can make you pretty tired physically. I am sure all of you that have served missions can relate to that. Every day I pray for strength and I really notice that the Lord has blessed me. Just when you feel too tired to keep going, He gives you a little extra push. He loves us so much and He wants us to succeed. I am so grateful for that. I know this Gospel is true! I know this work will continue to move forward! I am so grateful to be a part of it. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.


Love,
Elder Low

January 5, 2014 Letter

Hi Family,

 

Well it sounds like the Richard Low family up in Edmonton is keeping life busy. Sounds like fun. Leslie how are you doing? I am glad to hear that the triplets are all at home and that they are doing well. Karen and Alvin good luck at school again. The holidays always seemed to go by so fast.

 

Well we had a really good week. Unfortunately I did not stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve, but I did hear some loud noises from people celebrating outside. Instead us staying up late, we just made a really nice dinner. My cooking skills are coming in handy. I made water and bread..............just kidding. We had steak, potatoes, carrots, fried onions, and some tomatoes. It was actually really nice.

 

I will try to answer some questions really quick. Mom and Dad my Samoan companion is pretty trunky. He goes home in March and I think he is pretty excited. We are still working hard though. Karen people call the candy over here lollies. The two new missionaries in our flat is Elder Beveridge and Elder Pu (poo). Elder Beveridge is from Utah. He is great! He was my zone leader in my last area for awhile. I am really excited to have him here. Elder Pu is from China. He is funny! He is learning English so we have a good time with him.

 

I am not going to lie, I wish it would snow here. This week was crazy hot again! There was some record breaking heat over here. And Mom we are in one of the cooler areas. It got up to 40 degrees celcius this week. I think there were other areas that were hotter and probably a lot more humid. So I am glad I am in Toowoomba for the Summer. We tracted for 6 hours on that day that it got up to 40 degrees. We were so blessed for it though! We are really starting to see progress in this area.

 

We finally had one of our investigators come to church this week. Her name was Christine. She is from Sudan. She was suppose to be working on Sunday so she said she wouldn't be able to make it, but then she called us on Saturday and said she didn't have to work anymore on Sunday and that she wanted to come to church. It was amazing! She loved it as well. She stayed for the whole 3 hours. The members really made her feel loved. I love when the members help with the missionary work. It can bring about so many miracles!

 

It is amazing to see how much of a difference the Gospel can make in somebodies life. Christine was so happy at church yesterday. I love it! I am so grateful that we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord loves us so much and all he wants is for us to be happy. To find true happiness, we just have to put complete trust in Him and live the Gospel. I am so grateful for the chance I have to learn more every day. This Gospel is so true! I love it! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Low