A four month story in four short paragraphs

April 11, 2016

Hey Family

This week has been good. The majority of my email this week is going
to be a story that started back when I was in the Rocky Butte ward. As
I have mentioned previously, I HATE trying to find people from 8:30 to
9:00pm. So I printed off a sheet of all the less-actives in the ward and
if we didn’t have appointments, I would call les-actives from 8:30-9. I
did this for a couple of weeks without any real success. Finally one
evening a woman named Peggy answered the phone. She said she hadn't
heard from anybody in the church in years but invited us over.

So we went over and had a really great lesson with her. She is one of
those people who was just completely ready to return to church. Along
with her we met her mother (85 years old) and her daughter (40 years
old) who both lived with her. Her mother was very nice and possibly
the sassiest old woman I have ever met ha. Her daughter had such a
dark countenance that it was almost hard to look at her. She never
spoke to us. Her mom said that we were lucky her daughter didn't say
anything to us. Apparently she had become atheist, had committed every
sin imaginable, and normally didn't have kind words for Mormons. Well
Peggy started coming back to church, a week later I was transferred
and didn't think much of it.

Fast forward four months to last Saturday, My comp and I were doing
personal study when the Rocky Butte Elders called us and asked if we
could teach The Restoration at a baptism since they would be
baptizing. We agreed, and to my surprise we walked into the font area to find that very same girl with a glowing countenance in a white
jumpsuit. To add to my surprise, Peggy's mom also was wearing a white
jumpsuit. It turns out that she had once been a member but had her
name removed from the church records.  Now, 60 years later, she had decided to be baptized again and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost!

I talked to Peggy's daughter for a little bit afterwards and all I can
say is wow. The atonement is real. She has gone from a woman who
refused the principle of prayer at its very core, to a woman who
apologized for forgetting to say a prayer on the refreshments.

The blessing of the Atonement are so real. 

Have a great week,

Elder Thomas