Sister Neel 12/25/21

 

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone had such a blast spending time with family and loved ones this holiday season! What a memorable holiday that was! Gotta hand it to NC to have 75 degree weather and lots of sunshine Christmas day XD

I only have a half p day today so I'm going to jump into my week:

On Tuesday our relief society president invited us to come drop off donated gifts from the ward to a family in need. There were over 60 presents piled in the trunk and it took several trips to the car to finally bring them all into the house. I'll never forget the way the kids eyes lit with excitement and their endless energy as they bounced around wanting to open them all. The mom just kept thanking us over and over but really, we hadn't done anything at all. We were just the messengers delivering what others had put together for her. It made me realize in a new light the magnitude of my calling and the ability I have to be the Lord's messenger for His work. Cause here I was helping to bring glad tidings of great joy ;)) I'm grateful for opportunities like this to serve others. This kind of joy is what makes my Christmas all the more special

We went store contacting and as I was checking out this worker walks up to me and asks how my day was going. Now this man had a few disabilities and seemed a little grumpy. I replied it had been a long day but still was happy to be alive and then he told me, "bet it hasn't been as long as mine. I've been up since 7!" I laughed and said, "I can beat that. I've been up since 6:30! And life is still great!" I literally had a mini lesson with him on the spot about finding joy in life and what keeps a smile on my face despite the early mornings;) I gave him a pass along card, patted his shoulder and wished him a Merry Christmas. Best part was seeing him smile and wave as I walked away :)) 

We had zone conference this week and it was amazing!! We met in the chapel, President and Sister Maurer, a few missionaries and the APs highlighted Christmas messages and we studied Luke 2 in a deeper meaning. Then for the remaining 4 1/2 hours President and Sister Maurer had us participate in family traditions they had back home and they wanted to share it with us since we are all an NCRM family ♡♡ we painted a white rock, put a word on it that we wanted to work on for ourselves that year and then discussed the brother of Jared. Our purpose of this rock would be so the Savior could touch it and perfect this trait we wanted to work on. That was so cool!!  

We then lined up in teams to see who could throw clothes pins into a bucket faster than the other teams and that was hilarious. Competition at its finest. We split up into teams and played race pictionary in teams, Christmas lunch and watched Fighting Preacher with popcorn and had a mini testimony meeting afterwards. It meant so much to experience fun traditions and feel that unity as we serve the Lord during this time. President Maurer helped us to see that we have a part in proclaiming to the world Christ's birth just as the angels and shepherds did long ago. Honestly I loved this unique  Christmas and feel so blessed to be here in North Carolina! 

We had to go push Jeremy's baptismal date back due to his work schedule being insane and a few set backs but he still has the desire to be baptized so please please please pray for him!! 

We had two miracles!! We got in contact with viki, a sweet elderly lady that has been put on date 4 times but hasn't committed due to health concerns. We felt impressed to stop by and she let us in after a few weeks of 0 contact. She's so sweet!! She kept holding our hands and covering her mouth just in awe that we stopped by and thought of her. Apparently her phone broke and she kept praying we would stop by. 

Second miracle was eating lunch at wendys. Kevin, the worker asked what our name tags meant and when we explained to him he told us our calling sounded boring and made fun of us haha. He walked over to our table 20 minutes later, pulled up a chair and asked us if he could ask us some questions. We got his number and have met with him twice. He went from not believing in God due to his intense trials in life to now reading out of the Book of Mormon daily and literally asking for work off to come to church. This man literally takes care of his siblings and works 3 jobs while attending school full time, battling so many trials and yet somewhere, our lessons pricked his heart and he wants to learn more. He wants to believe God exists. Its been such an amazing transformation and he's even getting his sisters involved in young women's each Wednesday night. Pray for Kevin!! He's come so far! 

We had two lessons with Cole and this man is golden. It's also hilarious because he looks like Matt James from the bachelor XD He's progressing so much. We had a lesson with him at the Nelson's home and finished up the restoration. He 100% believes that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. He flipped through the Book of Mormon and said, "why would anyone lie for this long." XD Hes gotta point. 

We met with him again last night and asked him to pray, which he did so reluctantly and not knowing really what to say. We taught him the prayer sandwich and then began going through the plan of salvation. Sister Yorgesen asked me if we should put him on a soft baptismal invite and I told her it might be too soon. I joked that if he mentioned baptism we would start going down that route. Not even 5 mins later he stopped us at the point of 'our life on earth' and asked us if we wanted him to be baptized. We were so surprised and said of course that was a goal we wanted him to obtain but knew it was in his timing and decision. He seemed overwhelmed and then suddenly his expression changed and he said he wanted to be solid when we extended that invitation. That there would be no hesitation or stutter but an exclamation of joy. He told us how much we had changed his life and the peace he has felt from our lessons. He told us that all the other churches he's been too don't have the spirit he craves, hence the reason why he comes with us each week. He said this path felt right and he wanted to pursue baptism as he gained more knowledge on the lessons we teach. It was amazing to hear and such a blessing to experience the spirit radiating from him. He asked if he could close us out with prayer and begged Heavenly Father to make his path bright and prepare his spirit to soak in this information so that he might become the man he's been praying for. He thanked Heavenly Father for putting us in his life and for the friendships that have been made but most importantly his awakening of gospel truths he's been seeking. We all were in tears. His transformation from his beginning prayer to this one was amazing. All his anxiety vanished and he connected with Heavenly Father in such a pure and sacred way. He realized he didn't need to think of words on the spot but rather viewed it as more of a conversation and the spirit was INCREDIBLE. 

Anyways this week has been amazing. Our people here are doing so great. Literally life is so good!! 

I love you all!

♡♡♡

Sister Neel