Sister Neel 10/25/21

 

Hey guys! Welcome back to another week in the life of Sister Neel :))

Sister Hansen and I are living our best lives over here. She's SUCH an amazing companion and is absolutely KILLING IT in training! This girl was born to be a missionary and keeps the work creative and fun. She's such a light to be around and rarely lets situations get her down. She's bold, courageous, determined, spiritually in tune, sincere, energetic and so positive about the work. She's a keeper!

This week was AWESOME!! We went to the Baptist seminary college campus three times and did some studies. We had some great conversations and actually ran into our friend Dylan! (I'll talk about him later). People seem pretty skeptical to see us but once they realize how genuine and sincere we are all the tension falls and we leave with an amazing gospel discussion. They realize we aren't there to bash or convert them but to be genuine and spread Christ's light to all. It's a beautiful campus and such a great place to lay out a blanket and study.

Sister Hansen and I have wanted to expand our bible knowledge so we've started attending a bible study here at our apartment club house every Wednesday evening! I highlighted this last week when we ran into Anthony, one of the teachers and he invited us to come. It was SO SO amazing!! It's a group where young single adults, all with different faiths and backgrounds, gather to learn more about the stories portrayed in the bible. Dylan (he's the one we ran into at the seminary) is the one who hosts these classes and we went over Mark 2. We talked about the faith of the four friends that brought their paralytic friend to Jesus's feet to be healed. Despite the large crowd inside and outside of the home, these friends were determined to have this crippled man get to Jesus. They were his feet. We also went over Jesus Christ's response to the doubting Pharisee's and highlighted the authority He states when He explains He in fact DOES have the power to heal this man of sin and his physical condition. 

After the bible study, everyone asked us some really good gospel questions. They were genuinely interested in learning more about what we believe and turns out Dylan and Zach have read the Book of Mormon! They all thought it was so cool we attended these studies. Apparently many of these people had unkind thoughts and feelings towards members of the Church because they thought we acted like we were better than them. But when they saw us attending these studies and interacting with Christ like love to everyone, it changed their perspective and now they have a whole new mindset towards the Church! I love the spirit that comes when we gather as one body, united in Jesus Christ and I love the new friends I have made from this! It's such an amazing opportunity to share what we believe and learn from others as well. One of the members, Matt, has actually begun meeting with us afterwards and wanting to learn more. I taught him for a few weeks before passing him off to the other sisters back in July, but it's amazing to see the light the gospel brings and the added knowledge he craves. I love this gospel!

Update on our peeps: Joyce calls us on her own now to let us know she is thinking about us or loves us. It's the sweetest thing ever! She unfortunately is very sick at the moment and can't attend church so we've moved our lessons to over the phone. We were able to answer her questions about why we need the Book of Mormon and she now see's how they both support each other. Pretty cool! Keep her in your prayers.

We met with James and he told us he misses coming to church and would like to start coming with us again next week. He wants to quit his job and find something that won't take him away from family or religion anymore. We met with him three times and in one of our lessons, he told us he knows the Book of Mormon to be true!! We were jumping for joy.

We met with Jeddy and Kelly who both moved out of our area and we are working on getting them passed off to the elders. Such great people! We haven't met with Kelly in a long time due to her work schedule but she's consistently read out of the Book of Mormon and has that desire to be baptized! Jeddy is attending college at NC state and has had difficulty comprehending our faith but our lesson with him went so well! He had a softened heart and a humility to learn rather than question. That was special to witness.

I've made it a goal in June, to stay in the apartment as little as possible. Sister Hansen is thriving from this and we've seen a lot of success with former knocking or even visiting our referrals. Lots of on the spot lessons and opportunities to get back in contact with people taught long ago. We've also done a lot of part member/less active visits and have seen so many miracles with families opening up their homes to us once again! Since we live in the outskirts of Raleigh, there are lots of people (city life) and we like to walk to our closer destinations so we can be seen and talk with everyone we cross paths with! Sister Hansen needed a break from walking and we just so happened to pass a mattress store. She laid down for a few minutes and the worker walked over and we had a great gospel discussion with him! Nothing came of it but it was still so cool! Lots of miracles going on over here :))

Everyday is such a gift to me. I'm doing what I love most. Sharing the gospel. Nothing has brought me more joy or filled my soul with light than waking up each morning with that determination to find searching souls. I truly wouldn't want to be anywhere else doing anything but spreading the good news of the gospel. This knowledge I have is pure and too good not to be shared. Others deserve this same hope, happiness and knowledge that comes when we learn and grow in the principles and patterns of the gospel. This name tag I wear has not only defined me as an official representative of Jesus Christ but has helped me see the kind of person I want to be for the rest of my life. And it's only going to get better :)) I don't rely on perfection but the consistent efforts to become the disciple the Lord needs me to be. "Heavenly Father has always used ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things." (Elder John C Pingree Jr.) And I am oh so grateful to be called to North Carolina to see this extraordinary work taking place.

I love you all!