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!
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