Goodbyes to President Peterson

Kamusta everybody

This past week has gone really well. We had a lot of good meetings and also a great baptism.

 On Tuesday we had a lunch appointment with an American guy named Bob. He is in his 60’s and we met him at a bookstore last week. He seems like he is pretty lonely and doesn’t get to talk to Americans very often. He married a Filipino and lives in Taal. The lunch was really good but he didn’t want to hear anything about our message. It made me appreciate how willing the Filipinos are to learn about what we believe.

Wednesday we had Zone conference. It was the last time most of the missionaries will see President Peterson. He bore his testimony and told us the things he wanted to make sure we understand before he leaves. He talked a lot about Priesthood Keys, The Doctrine of Christ, and The Book of Mormon. It has been really amazing to see the influence he has had on all of us missionaries.  At the end of the meeting he had us all give him a hug. I was conducting the meeting so I was sitting by him and got to watch each missionary say goodbye. It was really neat to see how much people loved him by the way they said goodbye.  At the conference I also won the Qwan Challenge (qwan is a nonsense word it Tagalog).  One of the office sisters read off a list of counsel given by President Peterson since our last zone conference and if you have done the thing on the list that he’s counseled us to do then you remain standing. I was surprised at the end when I was the last one standing!   I have really learned that being exactly obedient will make the work a lot easier.

 Thursday we had the Baptism of Brother Romulo, Christian, and John Lloyd. All of their families came and really felt the Spirit. The talks were good but the best part was their testimonies. Brother Romulo’s was the best. He has come so far in the past few months. When I first met him he was really drunk and didn’t really want to talk to us but by the hand of God and some tough repentance he really is a new person. While he was bearing his testimony I felt really humbled and happy that I had helped a person improve his life, and be one with their family. The baptism was also on his 31^st anniversary. I look forward to them getting sealed in the temple next year.

 Other than that not too much happened this week, Happy Father’s Day to all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Merrill