JULY 4, 2011 ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Hello family!  I'm writing to people in Germany, Denmark, Colorado, and Utah.  Wow!  Greta, I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying Germany.  What an amazing trip.  Too bad you missed 4th of July in AMERICA!!! haha!  

We had a visitor at church who is a nuclear engineer.  He said that Grand Junction is the most radioactive city in America and that like a billion dollars have been spent cleaning it up!  Have you ever heard that?  That explains the hand growing out of my side....!

I hope you all know how much I love you!  I enjoyed getting a lot mail this week and a package from Stake temple day.  There were so many cute pictures from little kids and some great letters from friends inside, also tons of food.

I received a phone call Saturday night informing me that I would be transferred.  I don't know where until tomorrow morning at transfer meeting.  I spent today packing and tie shopping with Elder Graham.  We had a great day today.  It is sad leaving Brunswick, but exciting to see a new area.  Bring it on!  We stopped by the Hutchesons (from GJ) yesterday and said goodbye.  Sunshine (Irwin's cousin) was sad to see me go, but I gave her your information so she can stop by if she ever goes to GJ.  Luckily, I will be able to keep in contact with all these people. I can shoot them texts or call them every once in a while.  Go State-side missions! 

I had a really unique opportunity on Wednesday.  Because E. Pelo left home last Sunday, I went with E. Graham to Zone Leader Council.  What a choice experience.  I learned so much and had a good rejuvenation from it.  Pres. and Sister Barry are so loving!  They can talk to me for only ten seconds, but they leave me feeling like they have known and loved me for my whole life.  I am happy to have them has my Step-parents for these two years.  I am in good hands.  The feast after the council was arguably the best part.  Elder Baker has a brother who just moved to GJ.  I wish I could remember his name... I'll ask him tomorrow.  

We had an amazing miracle after Zone Council.  We were instructed to contact every investigator every day.  Following that, we stopped by Joe.  We knew he had work, but we did anyway.  Turns out his girlfriend Tiffany was on the phone with her sister, who's little baby had just died. It was touching as we shared Alma 40 and Moroni 8 with them.  Tiffany LOVED Alma 40.  Everytime we meet with them, she says, "ALMA 40!".  Her brother was killed at 15 and she'd had a dream they he came to her and said he was in peace.  Least to say, she loved Alma 40.  What a miracle.

It was hard to say goodbye to Sister Watson.  She was sad to hear I am leaving, but it is ok because we can still keep in touch.  She is so sweet!  She had the biggest smile on her face on Sunday.  She even stayed afterwards to watch the baptism of a kid.  She's remarkable and I love her so much.  One of my best decisions was going to Goodwill last Monday.  I was so happy to see a GW here in Brunswick!  There, I bought 3 shirts (a yellow one for Valdosta State.  On the back is a nuclear explosion, "Kaboom" and it says the "November Nukes."  Another shirt has a wolf on it.  The last shirt is a St. Simon's Bball league shirt.  They are my keep sakes of an area that I love so much.)  I was tempted with buying a shirt that had a running horse and the words "Italian Stallion."   I love thrift stores.  The mission budget only makes that love grow bigger.

Welp family and friends,  so long from Brunswick, Ga.  Have an amazing Fourth of July! 

 

JUNE 27, 2011 BAPTISM OF SISTER WATSON

Hello Gebhard family!  Wow another great week. 

I'll start with the best part:  Sister Watson's Baptism on Saturday.  We have quite a few members from the ward there to support her.  Elder Pelo got to baptize her, which is so sweet because he went home the next day.  What a way to end his mission! I better understood the importance and significance of baptism.  The hand off to the ward has been amazing.  The RS loves her and she has gotten to know 4 families really well.  The church is going to do wonders her.  She has been lonely because she is a single mother and her two sons are leaving the house.  I have had the choice opportunity to see Sister Watson completely change her life.  The first lessons weren't a little bit like: "why do I have to change and stop smoking?" but she ended up changing on her own.  Two weeks ago she said she had thrown out her coffee and tea and was working on stopping smoking.  After an FHE with her and a family last Monday, we found out that she had quit smoking the Saturday before, with no prompting from us.  All of this change was brought because she gained her own testimony of the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon is the power to converting oneself to this gospel.  They don't need the missionaries to be there.  It makes me think that the role of the missionary is to introduce, teach and testify about the book of mormon so that when we leave, they will read, pray,and develop a testimony of it.

 We had a Going Away Party for E. Pelo (who served 9 months in Brunswick) Saturday night.  We had 55 people there!  Most were investigators, recent converts, less actives, but there were also active members there too!  We had a lot of fun playing games, we watched the Testaments, and had a powerful testimony meeting afterwards (of course after that we had refreshments).  Our investigator, Mr. Trowell said he thought that the night was specifically meant for him.  He really liked the video.  Hopefully he will be baptized this Sunday. 

     

The highlight of the party was seeing the Brocks come.  Sister Brock has been a member for 40 years, and her husband is investigating.  They lived in San Francisco for a long time and both love the Oakland Temple.  One of their sons was murdered on June 1st and they have been so devastated.  Every time we have seen or talked to them, they have broken down.  My heart aches for them.  I had taught them two lesson before the tragedy and E. Pelo and I got to teach them on Thursday.  I was so nervous for how it would go.  We taught them about the atonement.  IT started out rocky.  E. Pelo read scriptures about the atonement, but he didn't realize they had the words "murder" and "death" so much.  That was awkward.  But we persisted and it ended great.  They warmed up so much to us, we had a great talk, we showed them the Mormon Messages video "Things that Matter Most."  Sis. Brock paints a lot like Grandma Tink.  Mr. Brock told us that he has changed so much since the death.  Hopefully this is a blessing in disguise and he will be open to the gospel now.  Anyway, so they came to the party and loved it. It was great to see them laughing with the ward.  To top it off, they came to church on Sunday.  They are such a cute old couple!