Sister Neel: 4/2/22

 

TEMPLE TRIP & Dr Pepper miracle

Goooood morning !!

Your girl hits 15 months as a missionary this week and I'm honestly trying to figure out how in the world I ever got to this point in my mission. I'm one of the older missionaries in my mission and to make things even scarier, sister Hill and I (my stl comp) are the oldest stls in the mission. Ugh it's so sad haha! My mission is my home and I'm so completely happy here. Feels like I could do this forever. I love love love being a missionary you guys. It's literally my pride and joy

But enough of the sappy, here's some highlights in my week (there's a lot so buckle up): 

☆ WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!!!!! Wow, it was so special!! As missionaries we got to participate in an endowment AND sealing session. My experience this time was profound and life changing. I went in with the intent to learn and boy did I come out with new knowledge. Just the thought of sitting in the Lord's house and remembering who I was before I came to earth brings about such powerful feelings. My spirit yearns to live up to that same girl. The sealing portion was just as amazing. I could feel the joy of the individual I was going through the temple for when she was sealed to her family for time and all eternity. Binding her in that covenant brought about such a contiguous joy. The senior missionaries got up and shared a bunch of marriage advice and one by one had us come up and look into the double mirrors that symbolizes eternity. It was really cool to experience! Most of the missionaries said they were trunky for marriage now HAHA but it was such a good day. Walking out of the temple, knowing it would be my last time there as a missionary was bitter sweet. I'll forever love what God had me learn in that sacred hollow house 

We also had a mini zone conference after the temple. And this was the sad part. The Maurers came up with an 'All In' pledge that they have missionaries sign when they near the last 2 months of their mission. As you know our mission motto is "all in" and this helps you keep the fire burning as you finish out the greatest work you committed to do. I never thought this day would come but President Maurer called my name as well as many other missionaries and we walked up to sign our pledge. You think moments like this are always so far away, you watch your friends take these next steps and tell yourself you still got time. But time goes fast and before you know it, you're in their same boat too. President Maurer gave his training and included that one day missionaries are going to be in our position (he pointed to us who had signed our pledge) and wonder where the time has gone. They're going to wish for more opportunities to serve and valiantly give their heart to the Lord. Yup...started tearing up when he said that haha! Such a pivotal and crucial time in my mission right now. Every moment will get my best effort ♡ 

☆ last p day we played capture the flag and ultimate football as a district. It was soooo fun!! My team won capture the flag and it was the best thing ever when I grabbed the sock and ran the whole football field length back to our base (we made boundaries huge). I have struggled with physical activities ever since my sternum injury but that day I was able to play hard and move like I did a long time ago. It felt so refreshing and honestly it felt good to be back in the normal routine. Healing is healthy but so is fun;)) I think I enjoyed it so much I ran myself sick and almost gave myself heat stroke from pushing so much energy and not drinking enough water. Ah...ya live and ya learn 

☆ speaking of the sun and dying of heat, people think we're crazy when we do street contacting or door knocking in the hot sun. Everyones sitting by a fan or waving paper to cool their face on their porch but not us. We grindin. It's actually been a great way to get into peoples homes by asking for water, their southern hospitality immediately jumps in and they usher us in to give us the iciest water you ever did see. And bam. Lesson time. 

OK this just reminded me of a funny story as well. We were knocking doors and came across a lady who wanted nothing to do with hearing a message or affiliating with our church. We told her we respected her but then I pulled the card that I really had to use the restroom and asked if I could run in and use hers. She let me in...but here's the trick. I never had to go, I just stood in the bathroom for 15 minutes while my companions got to talk to her, get to know her and ultimately share a gospel message centered on why we were here on missions and what our message was centered on. I walked out, just in time for the message to be over. Would ya look at that ;)) and this lady said she would be open to having us come back so we got our next appointment in. We all high fived as we walked back to the car. The good ol 'need to use the bathroom' card always works handy when someone's not interested ;)) I dare y'all to try it 

☆ we stopped by the shelter one evening to share a message with Matthew and pick up some pamphlets he read that he thinks helped prepare him to hear the gospel message. He was doing funny voice impersonations by flicking his Adams apple and that was when I learned girls don't have adams apples...yup everyone thought it was the funniest thing ever. I guess it makes sense cause ADAMSapple...hmm ya...prolly means it's for a male. Well... all I'm gonna say is you learn new things everyday haha! 

☆ yesterday I had a southern "God lives" moment. If you know me then you know I love Dr Pepper with my whole heart and soul. Yesterday after we broke our fast, I thought to myself how nice it would be to have a cold Dr Pepper to drink. I knew it wouldn't happen because we don't go shopping or out to eat on Sundays so it would have to wait until Monday. Then we pull up to dinner and Erica Smith walks out with three 2 liter Dr Pepper bottles and sets them at each of our plates. My eyes went so wide. GOD LIVES!!! I told her that's all I had been wanting all day and she delivered. Y'all it was so cool! Even the simple things matter to God. He cares about what we care about. Not that Dr Pepper is my life but in the moment He helped me see that Erica is so incredibly in tune with the spirit on Saturday evening and the little things can be fulfilled. The Smith's said this story would get someone baptized in this area. You better believe it's gonna happen 

☆ I had mlc (mission leadership council) this week which meant we were up at 4:30 in the morning and driving to Wilson so I could drop off my companions with Sister Hill's companion, pick up Sister Hill and make the drive to Raleigh. It's low key becoming my favorite drive. MLC was sooo fun though! We played a game where everyone received a piece of paper and then would split up into 2 huge groups. In those two groups would be 2 missionaries, 2 people being taught and the rest of us were distractions. We pinned our distractions to our name tags and then we would try to prohibit them from passing the football back and forth. Kinda like monkey in the middle. It got intense especially when President Maurer joined in and slammed the ball to the ground haha! The social media leaders helped us see the importance of not having distractions on our Facebook and to baptize them in a sense. Make it a missionary tool and not a boredom gift

Our mission is honestly popping off when it comes to finding new people and getting baptisms. They showed us the ratio charts in comparison to the Eastern missions here on the east coast compared to us and we are absolutely killing it. Sister Maurer said that we as missionaries are the reason the work is so incredibly successful here. We are the reason the work is changing in spiritual momentum. The Lord has always been a part of the work and He's working through us obedient missionaries to change it.

President Maurer gave a great training on how the mission culture is the MLC. We set the bar for the NCRM and how the work is run- its run by unity with the mission leaders. He told us that we were all a part of the MLC for a reason and we needed to find out why because the Lord called His best missionaries in the mission to fulfill these roles. Sister Maurer told us that those missionaries (me :')) who are about to go home are the leaders of the mission, we are the example and are taking charge of not enduring but rejoicing to the end with our team. It was bitter sweet to hear 

☆ we got to have a sleepover in Wilson after mlc since we were turning around and leaving for the temple bright and early the next morning. 5 girls in one house was a PARTAY. Man we had fun 

☆ ok you guys I experienced something life changing. Sister Brinkerhoff loves Taco Bell and I've honestly never understood the hype about it. Its decent food but not amazing, ya know? She wanted to go there for lunch one day and told me I needed to actually order something. So I did and I included the 2 pack of Cinnabons on there. OH MH GOSH they are so good!!! It's a cinnamon roll, fried and filled with cream cheese. WUUUUT. Legit I got up and ordered more. Now I can understand the hype about Taco Bell. Don't go there for the tacos, go there for the cinnabons. You won't regret it 

There was the fun of the week, here's some spiritual:

We had a lesson with the Avery family yesterday on priesthood, temple ordinances and family history work. President Peterson gave such great insights and you could see the desire that grew between Billy and Tonya to have this power in their home. We asked them if they could picture Daisy in our position or Levi passing the sacrament and they nodded their head. Billy wanted to know how he could obtain the priesthood and so we taught on baptism. The lesson went deeper than we would have thought but the spirit was on fire. The Avreys are slowly but surely coming along and are taking time soaking everything in. All I saw from yesterday was a family who desired an eternal marriage and God's power to flow abundant through them. It was a tender yearning and they are coming to know for themselves what sacrifices they need to make to get there. We love them and are so blessed to feel of their sweet spirit and the lessons I learn from being in their presence. To know the Avreys is to love them. I wish you all could meet them 

Ernist came to church! He said he's been meditating on the word and praying about baptism. We had him sit next to Matthew and they hit it off great. Matthew is a fellowshipper in a few of our lessons now and Ernist really liked him. The entire sacrament meeting he kept saying amen and hallelujah, rejoicing in what others bore testimony on. I just smiled real big and enjoyed his sweet personality in the meeting. He's by far the sweetest man you'll ever meet. His laugh makes you laugh and his spirit is real. He loves what we teach and is so incredibly loved by the branch. There's some things we have to accomplish before he can be baptized but we're getting there!

MJ and Morgan, our cute unbaptized youth in the branch, are doing great! It had been a while since we could meet with them but we taught the plan of salvation and are preparing to put them on baptismal date this week!

Sidderian is officially off date. We taught him the word of wisdom and he doesn't want to give up smoking...that was tough. After all the promised blessings and knowing of the spiritual reformation that would occur, he sat there, got real quiet, looked up at us and said he just couldn't do it. It made me think of the rich young ruler, the story in the Bible where the wealthy man saw Jesus Christ face to face, knew the miracles He had performed and the life of blessings that would flow if He followed the Savior and yet he still turned away. We were pretty bold, loving but bold with him and used a lot of scripture to back up the commandment from God to live this and the eternal benefit it would have on him. Sidderian knows the gospel to be true and agreed reluctantly after much discussion to live it the best he could. He said he wouldn't be perfect and he would make mistakes but he would try. And that's all we were looking for! The only sad thing was after we ended the lesson and drove away, we saw him light a cigarette and begin smoking. Only seconds after he had said yes. It's really unfortunate but he seeks higher living so we will continue teaching him and getting him a priesthood blessing to help him in this commitment

Matthew was hit with a pretty hard life trial. And it was the first time someone's hardship made me cry. Not tear up but cry. I was so discouraged, so upset with the situation and couldn't understand why everything unjust and unfair was happening to a man who was trying his absolute best. Other people's agency drives me crazy at times and my heart broke when Matthew broke down crying to us over the phone. I went about the day with a heavy heart but then the thought came to me as we were driving to a lesson, 'climbing mountains makes you stronger. This is only a bump, not a roadblock.' It helped the situation feel more peaceful and later that night when we went to have a lesson of comfort and reassurance with him, Matthew was as happy as he could be. He got a priesthood blessing from President Peterson and God helped him see that all would be well. There was no need to fear, only increase faith. I marvel at Matthew's stability to remain strong, even though Satan is throwing every obstacle at him you can imagine. Matthew is elect and fixed in what he wants. Keep him in your prayers 

Last but not least we got in contact with Marie again!! Remember her? Girl we taught how to pray and she asked to be baptized? Unfortunately we lost connections and her phone stopped working. She was never home when we stopped by and it made for a drop on our end. I had the prompting to stop by her home one morning so we did! And she answered the door almost in tears with excitement to see us. Her phone broke and her grandma was in the hospital so she had no way of getting in contact with us. We taught her the restoration and committed her to come to church. It was great to see her and know we can start teaching her again 

This week was bomb. Absolute fire and great to be a part of. Yes there were setbacks. Yes there were hard times. But as my girl Kelly Clarkson says, "what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger." ;)) its refining moments and enduring to the end that make missionary work a learning experience. Its an accomplishment. Enduring to the end is no easy task. It is intended to be difficult, challenging and ultimately refining. That's the growth curve. Yes some of our people may be hitting opposition but the work goes on. Prayer changes things. Priesthood power is sacred and faith can move mountains. Keep our people in your prayers as well as those we will find this week! We expect miracles over here and we are gonna get them:))

Love yall so so much ♡♡

♡♡♡

Sister Neel