Sister Neel 5/17/21

 Hello everyone! 

This week is transfer week and yes...big things are happening. We got the news yesterday morning that Sister Larsen and I are both getting transferred and later learned through the APs they are closing Hillsborough :/ The Mebane elders will now cover both areas so thankfully our progressing people can still be taught. Our mission only has 18 sister areas and over 100 elder areas, meaning there's about 2 sister companionships per zone. President Maurer is closing many areas due to how many reassigned missionaries have left and how small our mission is getting. He's only keeping the major progressing areas open to keep what missionaries he has in good areas. I will admit it was hard to see Hillsborough get closed...we were told by many other missionaries and our ward that we got it popping off like they had never before seen. Our area book became bigger with formers or new people we found, we took the non existent teaching pool the previous sisters left us with and got it to where we were teaching 8 lessons a week (which is huge for Hillsborough), we became well known in the community and created friendships with downtown store owners or the man that sells tacos on the corner, no set of missionaries have ever been able to bring people to church and we did, we got 4 less active members back to church when everyone told us it would be impossible to work with them and had a relationship with the ward like no other. Tight knit, bestest of friends, we were at their houses for dinner every night, we would get invited to come over for family parties or surprise a child for his birthday. Just an amazing golden ward. So to say the least our hearts were broken. But we are grateful President Maurer saw us fit to go to an area that was extremely slow, 'nearly impossible' and get it to what we have now. Clearly the Lord has different plans for us, even though I would have been completely content with staying here for another two transfers ;)) our leadership accounting calls provided us with the comfort that the Lord needed our talents and skills elsewhere. And we would be leaving a mark on Hillsborough that no one would forget. Im grateful I got to serve here♡

Sacrament meeting was rough as this was our last time with the ward. Many people were sad to hear we were leaving. Grant Schmid cracked his knuckles together and said, "alright what guys up in Raleigh do we need to be talkin' too." XD it touched our hearts when Carly Day, a sweet 8 year old began crying because she didn't want us to leave. Many members asked if we could stop by later that night for a last goodbye which made Sunday extremely busy but so fun:)) When Bishop Kelly found out we were leaving he invited us to sing. He would later announce during sacrament meeting for anyone who would like to sing the intermediate hymn together as a choir to come up to the stand. As soon as he made this announcement, almost the entire ward stood and we were able to sing as a whole together. The spirit was tangible and the unity within our ward became even more real. What a beautiful experience! 

Despite the crazy transfer news, this week was pretty amazing! We've had a lot of mini miracles this week. Here's a brief explanation of the top 4:

I'm sure yall have heard about the gas shortage on the east coast. Well missionaries were told to fill up Tuesday and Sister Larsen and I felt this strong impression to go Tuesday morning. We waited in line for almost 20 mins and it was crazy to see how many gas stations were overwhelmed with cars. After we had left, we ran a quick errand and were driving back through downtown to see that all the gas stations were out of gas. Had we waited 10 mins longer we wouldn't have been able to get gas and do our travels for the week. Amazing miracle! 

We play volleyball each Thursday with the Mebane ward and elders and Sister Breeden got hit in the head by a spike and she passed out. It took a while for her to wake up and when she did she had a major concussion. We all gathered around her, kneeling in a circle while the elders gave her a blessing. What a beautiful experience for the non member friends that came! After the blessing, they took her to urgent care where they said she didn't have a concussion and would only have a headache. Amazing miracle! 

We went to give service to a lady in Mebane who reached out through our Facebook service ads. She wanted us to paint her mailbox and window shutters, which needed a ladder. We hauled her old rusty ladder from the back and after a few mins of painting we realized our hands were hurting pretty bad but we couldn't see anything on them. After we were done painting we put the ladder back in the shed and when the sun hit it just right it was shimmery and sparkly. We realized there was glass all over the ladder and tiny shards were all over in our hands and on our clothes. Thankfully the lady was a nurse and let us come inside so we could rinse our hands. It took about 3 days to get all the shards completely gone which provided for a lot of pain. One morning, we woke up and the glass was gone...our hands weren't aching. God was watching over us!!

Lastly, we had a lesson with Joe Parrish. We planned to share a video but the spirit directed otherwise and we had a wonderful discussion with him. He's worried about coming to church because of his single status and many other obstacles he has to overcome. The spirit filled our mouth with the words he needed to hear or prompted us specific scriptures or talks we needed to share. We were able to testify and speak truth which reached his heart and awakened his soul. Enough to where he asked if we could save him a seat at church. I can honestly say teaching with the spirit is a profound and powerful experience. 

I'm grateful to be a missionary and so incredibly honored to be here in North Carolina! I love you all!! 

♡♡♡

Sister Neel