Elder Neel: 11/15/22

 

The Cops Were Out in Big Lake

Spencer Neel <spencer.neel@missionary.org>

What is up my friends and family!? It has been a crazy fun past two weeks which is why I wasn't able to write last week! I've got a lot to let you guys know about so I'm going to get right to it. 

Zone Conference was this week!! For any who don't know what this is, our mission President, his wife, and the AP's come down to our zone (which is a larger group of missionaries in an area) and they come and train us. It was super fun to see Elder Ryan and Elder McDougal again. We also combined with the Odessa zone and I was able to see Elder Grow who is one of my greatest friends ever. You won't meet a more kind and fun person to be around. He is the man the myth the legend. We did a ton of role plays and learned more about the authority of our calling. One of my favorite things we learned from President Child is that we don't have to ask for permission to share the Gospel! We have been set apart as missionaries as representatives of Christ and our whole mission is to do just that! This also applies for everyone else. Everyone in the world needs to hear the good news of the Restored Gospel and we can just share it! It has been such an amazing experience making sharing more a part of my life. The blessings that come from doing it are real.

We also went on exchanges this week and I was able to go up to Midland and be with our District leader, Elder Bingham. We had a blast teaching one of the YSA members and he taught me a lot more about lifting which I'm going to start using now. Especially how to eat better which I need to do a ton after the MTC. It also froze down in Southern Texas. Can you believe it!? It only lasted for a bit but the mornings have been getting a lot colder and we don't have a heater in our home so we've been pulling out all our blankets. 

Okay the craziest thing happened this week. Elder Malquist and I have been walking around town trying to find people and we decided to stop at Elizabeth's house who is one of the friends we are teaching. She's about 75 and she is a talker! She rivals my Grandpa Neel! She is very hard to catch because it is a busy time with her but every time we catch her on her porch we talk for almost an hour. So this time I wanted to teach her about a Gospel concept and sneak in a lesson on her porch. She said she's been trying to feel God more in her life and we asked how she has seen God work in her life right now. She was telling us some crazy epic stories and I wanted to try to incorporate the Holy Ghost but then the most nuts thing happened. Before we started talking a ton of sirens went off. And when I mean a ton a lot more than usual. We were all wondering what was going on and Elizabeth said it was probably the high school football team parading after a win. I was like this couldn't be it, it's a Sunday! This was all happening on her porch. The sirens got closer and closer and then all of the sudden a huge truck comes barrelling around the corner followed by 5 cop cars. These streets are small and we were not that far away. 5 more cop cars came from the other direction and he went zooming up the street in front of us. Elizabeth, bless her heart, went running out into the road to see what was happening and we went after her so she wouldn't get hit. More and more cop cars kept coming and there were about 20 in all chasing after this guy🤣 it was the most exciting thing I've ever seen. Our lesson ended there but a gentleman came out wondering what was going on and we talked to him for a bit and he told us we were welcome at his house anytime! I love the small little miracles God gives us. What ended up being a botched lesson turned out to be us finding someone new! God is so good.

Anyways I am so thankful for this Gospel. It's real. The joy that comes from it is so sweet and I know the Savior lives. Until next time, I love you all so much.

Elder Neel