Letter from 8/17/2015

This week has been hot! We´ve been super happy because Doreidys progressed so much in just one week! She´s been super busy with her 2 year old son, with her finishing high school and being pregnant that the other weeks she didn´t really read the Book of Mormon or read the homework that we left her. But this last Saturday, she had gotten home from school, her son had gone to sleep and she´d done all the homework that she could and was ready for bed and trying to sleep but couldn´t really well. She started to read all of the little homeworks in the Book of Mormon, and she said she had prayed for an hour trying to feel her answer and she felt nothing. She climbed back in her bed a 2 am and slept. She got up on Sunday went to church and in the first hour she heard a testimony and felt something different and strong inside and then they ended and it didn´t go away. The feeling stayed and then she understood all of the things that she needed. She felt that she wasn´t worried if she had an accident and passed away, that she´s not worried anymore for anything like that. She knows that there´s a better place and that God will protect her sons.

I know that God has his way of working with the people and it´s a perfect way. His way is the best and if we just show our faith in Him, like Doreidys reading until the early hours, we will be blessed with what we look for. Ask and ye shall receive. I testify of the truthfulness of this and that the Book of Mormon is the Key to knowing the questions that a soul could have. If we read it with faith and we pray with faith, God will bless us in every aspect of our life. 

Elder Neal

-Misión Mexico Veracruz-

Letter from 8/10/2015

Saludos! This week has been amazing! Even though we´ve seen many trials, we´ve seen the tender mercies of God. This week we had planned to have a baptism of an investigator named Doreidys. She loves the church and knows the good that it´s doing for her 2 year old son, but she had just gotten into school 2 weeks late so she has a lot of homework. One of her friends in her class lent her all of her notes but needed them back that Sunday. So she chose to stay there to do her homework and not go to church. So that makes us sad, but the good thing is that we found a miracle named Victor who can be baptized on this Saturday! So we´ll have the baptism the next week for Doreidys. 

There´s a goal for the mission that we all find 1 person to baptize in the month of August. President wants us to see the miracles of God in these weeks and I know that they´ll come as we do our part. I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Neal

Misión Mexico Veracruz

Letter from 8/3/2015

I´m glad everything´s so good with you guys! I still don´t have my card and don´t have any Idea about the shoes. I called the offices and they don´t know anything either about it. Sorry! Love you! I copy all of your messages and print them out and read them at home! Love you mom! Lots of work and enough in church. We´re working with someone named Doreidys. She´s super excited for her baptism and can´t wait for it.

Letter from 7/27/2015

Recently there´s this like 20 year old guy that asks for money and he LOVES us missionaries. He never lets us go and calls us JOVEN. One experience. We were walking on the highway and I saw him on the other side of the street talking with some people so I started walking faster so that he couldn´t catch us if he tried to chase. About 5 minutes later I hear a person running to catch us calling us JOVEN and I just break down and almost cry because I´ve been so out of money after I bought that hammock. so I paid him for running after us and we went our way, but this guy is dedicated.

I CAN´T BELIEVE THAT NICOLE´S ALREADY GOING HOME! Wow. I´ve just about got a year and in 4 days I just have a year left.

Letter from 7/20/2015

This week was transfers! Everybody knew I was a gonner when tranfers rolled around. My district leader has 4 weeks left and we were sure that he was going to have to stay because just 4 weeks and then the house? Doesn´t seem too efficient. And I already have two transfers in my area now, Lerdo, and I´ve never stayed more time than 2 transfers in an area and also this is my first time with a companion more than a transfer. So it´s basically a first time transfer. It´s going to be an awesome 6 weeks! 

This week was a really cool week. Our mission President has put a promise with us. That if we do 10 contacts and 3 Recent converts or less actives everyday, we´ll baptize every week. This is a super hard goal. When we start doing the contacts and start doing the recent converts we start getting a bigger bowl of new people to visit and less and less time to visit the 3 recent converts and do 10 contacts. So in this week we´ve been learning a little bit about the promises of God and how nothing should block our way from getting them. If God says that we should pay a tithing of 10% and promises us the blessing and we pay 8%, like doctrine and covenants says, "Ye have no promise." God promises the biggest blessings if we only drop what we think we have to do and just do what God wants. Like Nefi said "For thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen." In the days that we just dropped what we had planned and we fulfilled with God, He blessed us. Thank you all for your support, I hope you have a great week!

Elder Neal

Misión Mexico Veracruz

I'm in the same area! Same companion! New elder in the district! Named Elder Dawson! He's from Mesa. Arizona. Super funny guy!

Just to let you know. I just shared a story last night with a family about that time that we ate a casserole that you made and that I had washed my hands with soap over it and when we ate it it tasted like soap and that I never told anyone until I was about 16. Yeah, they loved that! Love you mom! BYE!

Letter from 7/13/2015

Rain, Rain GO AWAY.

I remember being in Oklahoma and being nice and safe in my house from most of the storms that we saw. There was a ton of water and lightning at a safe distance away and never was bothered by the rain, I actually danced in it. That was when I didn´t have to work in it. We´ve seen a ton of rain in this week. Actually the largest amount of rain we saw was Saturday night. Had a baptism planned for 6 o´clock and everything was good at that time, but as we started with the opening prayer. The thunder started booming. So the whole baptism had a nice lullabye of thunder outside with buckets full of water. The streets here in my tiny town weren´t made for the kind of water we were having so the streets were flooding. I was the lucky one in my companionship and had my flip-flops for the baptism so my real shoes didn´t have to get wet when we walked home. Not going to lie, having a canoe in this moment would have made it a lot faster getting home. My companion had the umbrella and the two of us couldn´t both fit under it and I sacrificed my self and returned to Oklahoma in my mind and danced like nobody could see, because I´m pretty sure that nobody could. It was a great walk back to the house. But the good thing is that everything worked out fine and made it safely home after the Baptism. 

One of the miracles that has been happening in this area is about the three ladies in the photo. The one in baptismal clothing is Maria, her daughter is Elizabeth, and her mom is Minerva. Maria was the first one that was really interested in what we had to share because God showed her a dream of us the day before we arrived at her house over 2 months ago. Elizabeth has recently confessed that all of those times that we came over with her mom she immediately went to hide. And Minerva just got baptized on Saturday. The miracle is that they have had so much faith in God and they have all made a lot of sacrifices to follow him. Elizabeth works at a walmart look-a-like and works every Sunday morning, but has an hour of food break and chooses to come to church for that. She also has considered heavily the Idea of serving a mission. This is a big change for hiding from the missionaries to wanting to be one. With all this going on they´ve agreed to save up enough money to go to the temple on the 8th of August. The miracles of God sure do show themselves. I know that God has worked in their lives to help them overcome their trials and I know that every one of you can also help someone receive this gospel. God gave Maria a dream to prepare her, and God is working for many of your close friends. I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Neal

Misión Mexico Veracruz

Letter from 7/6/2015

Baptism photos!:D And I bought a hammock. 300 pesos. like $20 dollars. It´s super good quality. I´m gonna have this until my grandkids.