Sister Neel 4/5/21

~ HELLO EVERYONE! ~

Tomorrow is transfers and lucky for us sister Larsen and I are staying here in Hillsborough! In fact most of our zone is staying the same and we are all pretty excited!! I'm grateful for sister Larsen and all she's taught me as a trainer. We've bonded as close friends and are pumped to continue our grind to get hillsborough a popping place! President Maurer and the APs have a lot of faith in our work efforts and trust that come May, the teaching pool will have grown. He reminded us he only places specific missionaries in hard areas and knows our talents and skills will bless and prosper the land. Let's go hillsborough!!

Speaking of which we were able to teach a less active lady named sister Allen. She still prefers to be called that which I think is super sweet <3 We did a recap of the restoration and asked her if she would start reading in her book of mormon again. We invited her to conference and she was so excited she wanted to invite most of her family to watch it as well. Such a cool turn out! We also got a referral from sisters in our mission who found Mike while cold calling. We taught him the restoration and he felt strongly about everything we testified and covered. He was very open about sharing personal experiences and contributing to the lesson. We were going to teach him lesson 2 in person when we dropped off a copy of the book of mormon but he canceled and asked if we could pick a different day because his pastor wanted to come. Kind of an odd turn out and we're a little nervous but I guess we'll see what happens! 

This week we had zone council and our zone did a March madness challenge where finding someone, extending an invitation, baptism and service all contributed to certain amount of points. At the end of each day, each companionship would submit their daily points to the ZLs and the progressing companionships would move up the brackets. We didn't win but we made it pretty far! The ZLs gave us training on better ways to approach cold calling, we did role plays (which had us all dying XD) and then we accounted for our districts. The ZLs let us know that in the past month our zone alone found 352 new people...THAT'S INSANE!!! At their MLC training everyone was wanting to know how we were crushing the work and trying to get ideas to better their zone. That was some pretty exciting news to hear! Sister Larsen and I have a lot of progressing people in our teaching pool. We just pray we will continue to find and that these people will keep the faith. 

We also had our first transfer training this week and it was the first time in over a year it was held in person!! Quite a memorable time! The mission rules regarding covid are slowly progressing. We no longer have to meet so much over zoom, all of our meetings are monthly and in person without having to social distance. We even got word last night on our mission wide zoom call that the covid vaccines are now accessible for those who would like them. They're hoping that once 80% of the missionaries are vaccinated we can go inside homes and possibly lessen masks. Lots of changes! Anyways it was wonderful to gather with so many people I flew out with and meet even more! President and the APs trained us on how to continue our conversion to Christ and base our testimonies off of a strong foundation. We did some role plays and games...blessed with the best bunch of missionaries. And BIG NEWS!!! I FINALLY got to meet sister Bushman!!!! Ahhh what a blessed day!! Her sweet spirit radiated from within her and I was touched at how genuine and sincere everything is about her. I even got to meet elder Christensen from my mtc district as well! Man it was so good to reconnect with them and hear all about their mission experience so far. This training enabled so many new friendships to grow and I've come to love my mission even more now that I feel a connection to those I serve with. North Carolina is really my place! 

I hope you all had an amazing Easter weekend and Sunday! The schmie family invited us to be a part of their huge ward Easter party they threw at their house. They hosted a huge buffet of brunch, camp fires to roast smores and an easter egg hunt! It was so fun to gather with the ward and become better acquainted with so many non members that came as well! Some of which we are hoping to get more in contact with! 

We were able to watch conference with the brandts outside on their porch. They brought out their TV and set up chairs and lots of blankets to make us feel right at home. It was a solid 40 degrees so we threw on beanie hats and coats to keep warm. It meant a lot that the brandts were willing to sacrifice because they wanted us to be a part of their family traditions and feel of their love. They even bought an ottoman for our empty apartment and a huge easter basket filled with our favorite treats! So sweet! The rest of the sessions were spent in our fort we made in our apartment or at the church with our district. What an uplifting conference! So many messages hit home to what I needed to hear or even helped answer questions I had. The spirit was very evident and if you saw the journal I wrote in, you would know XD when president Nelson announced the re opening of temples sister Larsen and I were jumping up and down shouting praises of joy and crying our eyes out XD It's been a long year without the blessings of the Lord's holy house and we look forward GREATLY to coming back!! The celebration of people around the world could be felt and it was such a spiritual experience. Oh how I have missed attending the temple! I'm so grateful for this change!! 

This week was golden! What a busy yet spiritually fed week! If anything, these past few days i have had more personal connections with Christ than ever and I am a witness that He is in the details of our lives. He loves me and He loves you! We were reminded of that on Easter sunday when He was crucified, died on the cross and ultimately resurrected so we can have the chance to live again. Not only are we reminded of Christ's love for us on Easter but we are reminded of it daily! I invite you all to see Christ's hand in your life and look at the ways He has blessed you. I can promise that when you do so, life brings more meaning and you will feel edified and exalted. I love you all and hope you have the best week! 

♡♡♡Sister neel