Elder Neel: 8/14/23

 

When we put our full dependence on God, everything becomes better

Hello my friends and family how are you!? Man I realized it's almost been a month since I last sent an email out to y'all and it's time to get back into those! What a wild ride it has been! There's so many highs and lows to a mission and I will admit it is hard. But man the testimony I have grown and the growth I have made is astounding. And it's all because of my Savior. I owe so much to Him!! And I will forever be a witness of Him because how could I not when He's done everything for me. 

We got transfer news last week and I am staying for a third transfer here in Roswell. I am so excited to continue working in this city because it has become my home. No other place has impacted me the way Roswell has. And who ever thought a town like Roswell could do that, right?! The alien city but I love here and the people with all my heart. We have been working very hard with our friend Misa. For those of you who don't remember him, he is a referral we got from one of our members sister's and he found the church through watching south park. This show kind of makes fun of our church but when he saw a "Mormon family" he wanted to find out what that was and why they looked so happy. And this is a cartoon of all things! Everything we teach about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and all the other wonderful messages just make sense to him. He is the most prepared man I have ever met. And the kindest heart because of everything he's been through. I've come to realize through my mission experience that the nicest people have most often been through the hardest of times. I commend each and any other you back at home for this. Continuing to be kind even through and after the hard is something I respect immensely. 

This week has been a battle. A battle with Satan, a battle with self-doubt, self-criticism and quite a few other things. There's going to be times where life throws you a lot of curveballs and you're sitting there thinking what do I do? Through my own personal experiences and testimony is when life throws you a curveball, depend on the Lord like you never have before. Pray to Him with all your soul to feel comfort, peace, and strength to keep going. He is there I promise you that. Because through my battles I have felt peace. It didn't all go away at first, but the more I depended on the Savior the more I felt like I could conquer. My mom gave me the best advice which is to always keep a prayer in your heart. When this is the case, Satan has a LOT harder time getting to you and heaven feels closer. Try it. Work at it. It's not easy but man it feels so much better. Dependence on the Lord when the curveballs are thrown is crucial. And then afterwards, go smack a home run.

An experience I had that brought me so much joy and strength in my trials was meeting our friend Maria. It was towards the end of Sunday night and we decided to knock one last door before heading out. And it was a sweet looking all pink house. We knock and a lady answers and we ask her if we can share a message about our Savior. She said heck yea so she put on some flip flops and came outside. We hit it off instantly and we had a connection through both living in Fresno California. We taught her about our loving Heavenly Father and how she grows closer to Him. She said she's not really religious but wants to learn more. She said she grows closer to God through gratitude. Every morning she starts out by just saying thank you. That had such a profound effect on me! God is literally the reason for every good thing! I can't help but just shout it from the roof tops. I, Elder West, and Maria all felt the Spirit so strong as we testified how much He loves our dear friend Maria. We also gave her the Book of Mormon and she though it was so cool. 

Please pray for her. She is crazy busy with work and kids and just wants to feel peace. I know how much power there is in prayer from others. I literally felt it from my family this week. You might just think it's a simple prayer but I promise you the Lord magnifies it by a hundred fold. I pray for each of you, especially my friends and family. Go out and smack some more home runs instead of striking out. My dad will love all these baseball terms 🤠 and the only way to do so is through complete dependence on Jesus Christ. I love y'all and until next time,

Elder Neel✊️