Sister Neel 12/18/21

 

Pie in the face with our district

Hey guys!!

This week was absolutely wild! For those of you that don't know, I was transferred to Holly Springs and am follow up training two missionaries that just finished up their training! Their names are Sister Yorgesen and Sister Johnson! By far some of the sweetest girls to ever  exist. Ever since day one, we just clicked and each have that burning desire to work with all the energy of our souls to find the Lord's chosen people. 

Here's some fun facts about them:

Sister Johnson:

**She's from Lehi, Utah

**She was on her high schools mountain biking team and basically grew up in the mountains

**She's only been out on her mission for 3 months but acts like she's been serving for a lifetime. Her energy and enthusiasm to spread the gospel across the NCRM is so so so contagious

**She is the most energetic morning person I have ever met

**You'll never find her without a smile on her face and will laugh at any joke someone makes, even if it isn't funny

**She serves quietly each day. For example, this afternoon we brought in our groceries and I only had a few minutes to call my family so I set them down to run in and have some time to chat. When I came back out, all my groceries had been put away and she was baking our favorite cinnamon roll muffins to snack on later that night. Her heart is fixed on serving others

Sister Yorgesen:

**She's from Elk Ridge, Utah

**She's pretty much famous in Japan with her story of growing up with Dyslexia

**She sang with her high school choir which ended up leading her to opportunities to perform in front of Duck Dynasty, Mitt Romney, Utah government meetings and even solos at large events

**She's been out on her mission for 14 months but served for a little over a year in the Nauvoo historic sites. She recently just came over to North Carolina as her reassignment from Sydney, Australia was canceled due to the borders closing. She too finished up training and is thriving in proselyting work

**She's allergic to pretty much every food and fragrance which makes meals interesting but she's such a trooper!

**She's obsessed with Carrie Underwood and plays her new gospel album non stop

**If she's telling me a story and I have to get up and use the restroom in the middle of it, she'll sit against the door and yell the rest of the story to me XD this girl makes me laugh like no one else

Holly Springs is so so fun!! It's jokingly nicknamed "Mormonville" since we have four wards in this city and lots of member work is popping off. We are lucky enough to attend the church building directly across the street from the temple and had a few lessons there after church on Sunday with some people we are teaching. The members here are amazing and have welcomed Sister Yorgesen and I with welcome arms. It already feels like home :)) I'm obsessed with our cute town and the friendly nature that is so evident around us. I feel so blessed to be here!

Highllights of the week:

**We live by Ting park, which consists of a legit baseball stadium, soccer fields and pickleball courts where famous teams will come to practice in their off season. We go street contacting down there a lot but it's been a blast to go play on, on our P day!!

**Since all three of us are from Utah, people joke we are from 'the factory.' It's the funniest thing ever XD

**Our neighbors bring us food all the time to make sure we are taken care of, our fridge is stocked

**The ward that meets right after us is the singles ward so we get to see all of our YSA friends, the APs, and President and Sister Maurer each Sunday! 

**We serve at a food cupboard each Thursday and the workers adore us. The Sunset Lake and Fuquay-Varina elders meet up with us and we load up all the cars with food and home goods for people in need. There is a continuous line of cars and last week we got over 200 cars that pulled up in slots, ready for an order. It's busy and at times chaotic, but the spirit of serving will forever be my favorite event as we talk to each driver and hand them a card signed from all of us to enjoy this holiday season

**Brother and Sister Hefner, a cute couple that recently got married, took us out to Mi Cancun; a fancy mexican restaurant that had THE BEST food! It was so boujee. We sat out underneath a canopy of lights, there were palm trees, lots of decorations, tahiti lights lit with actual fire and loud Mexican music being blasted by a live band. It was so cool to experience!

**There's a lot of lakes around here that provide us opportunities to walk along the dock or street contact the fisherman. We've had some amazing conversations and I now have some super good tips to add to my fishing skills ;))

**Each night we've had member dinners and I have fallen in love with the people here already. The main topics so far have been relationships, where to go for college and what we want our future career to look like. It's actually hilarious

**We are half bike half car again which has made me SOOO sore. Leaving at 10 am and not coming back home until 9 pm on bikes is a real struggle but we've grown to love the exercise and stop to talk to so many more people than we would in a car

This week we got three people to church, which was exciting! Cole, Jeremy and Michael. All YSA age but as solid as can be! Our ward does such a good job at fellowshipping people we bring and swarm them with love. I don't think I've ever smiled so much in my entire life

We've taught Cole quite a bit this week and he had a ton of questions on prophets. We read a talk given by Elder Stevenson called, "The Heart of a Prophet," and it literally answered all of his questions. Huge shout out to the Rada family for giving that talk as a suggestion during our dinner, literally an hour before our lesson. He's rock solid and wants to become a member but needs time to absorb more information. We offered to have him join in on our lessons we teach to other people who are investigating the church and he is so pumped!

We taught Alena, a girl our age and ended up putting her on date!!! We met at sonic to teach the Law of Chastity and something had changed. She wasn't willing to move out of her boyfriend's house and we ended up dropping her date...it was a hard day but pray she can continue to have that desire to be baptized!! She is so open about how the gospel has changed her life and we want to help her progress.

Oh yes! I have SUPER exciting news!!! Our friend Jeremy is going to be baptized on January 1st!!!! NEW YEAR NEW JEREMY!!! He came to church one time with the previous sisters, and then our second lesson with him was with the three of us. He read 30 pages Y'ALL!!! We spoke of the Book of Mormon and he gave a better description than I ever could. He stopped after he talked of his reading and said, "Ya know? Now that I said all this out loud, I just know that the Book of Mormon is true. I'll never be able to deny this feeling I have right now." At that moment we all felt it and invited him to be baptized! 

We met with him at our Ward Mission Leaders house a few days later and then recently on Sunday after church. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and found out he chose, ON HIS OWN, to drop his Nicotine addiction cold turkey in preparation for his baptism because he wanted to be fully clean for the Lord. I MEAN WHAT?! He has such a solid testimony, exemplifies so much light about the gospel and is beyond excited to be baptized. We told him we would drop candy if he dropped nicotine and he accepted. Now if any of ya'll know me, I'm the biggest sugar addict there ever was or has been. And with it being the week of Christmas...ya that's a HUGE sacrifice. But we wanted to show him that we are here to support him and that he would call us anytime the addiction worsened or the opposition hit hard. It was such a powerful lesson and great opportunity to feel of the blessings that come when we live the word of wisdom. I'll forever love that feeling that entered our hearts when he pointed to the temple and told us he wanted his body to be as pure as that building.

We had a lesson with Alex this week, he's 18 and has less active parents but wants to be baptized. We went over and had a lesson but his dad joined us this time. He began bashing us in a way where he wanted to see how smart we were with the gospel truths we taught. I can testify that the only reason I was able to prove him wrong or testify boldly enough that kept him silent was because of the spirit. I got him in a way where he began applauding and was amazed at how scripted I was in not only Book of mormon but Bible truths as well. It provided such an amazing way for us to share the Restoration and commit him to read the Book of Mormon. He fell away from the church right before he left to serve a mission in Guatemala and hasn't looked back since. Our goal is to help him and Alex return and spark that testimony lost long ago. We walked home that evening, not even phased by the cold but kept warm through the powerful feeling of the Spirit we felt after that lesson. 

Anyways it's been an amazing week!! I'm literally so happy to be here and absolutely love my companions!! It's going to be an amazing transfer ♡ love yall!!

♡♡♡

Sister Neel