Que
tal? heyaa! Well this week was really awesome. General Conference was really
awesome for me and very powerful. We had the opportunity to watch every session
in English!! I thought that the Sunday morning session was probably one of the
most powerful sessions of conference I have ever seen. Conference was a
spiritual boost for all of the missionaries here, and I felt really sad when it
ended. I learned so much and I can't wait to read them. I am not sure if we are
going to get them in English, so maybe in your next package you could send me
one in English. I learned so much and received a lot of answers. At times it
felt like some talks were written just for me. It was really cool to watch
Elder Ochoa, who came to my area not 2 months ago. But I think the saddest
thing is that hardly any of our investigators went to conference. Yesterday I
felt really bad for them because they really missed out. I found it interesting
how much they emphasized missionary work too. My faith was really strengthened
during conference.
There are times that it is scary to do missionary work. I
have had lessons when I’m trying to talk and teach then when I finish (in what
I feel is pretty good Spanish) and my comp asks if they understood me, they say
that they didn't understand a word that I just said. So those moments are
really big confidence boosters:( There were a lot of talks that talked about
the importance of faith, understanding and knowing that what we are doing is
the Lord's work. I have been studying a talk called the 4th missionary (I think
I sent it to you guys already) but it talks about giving you will and your only
goal is to do the will of the Lord. That really has changed me. That should be
our main goal to do the Lord's will. It takes faith, but if you think about it,
it is actually the easiest way to live. To put all of your trust in Him. I
worry about a lot of things that are out of my control, but if we put all of
our trust in Him at all times and in all places, not just when its convenient
or when it is easy, our lives will be easier, we will be happier, and we will
come to know in a very real sense that Heavenly Father is our Heavenly Father
and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Christ's only goal and purpose was to do
the will of Him that sent Him. Christ is the way and has told us that we must
be like Him. So we must strive also to do the will of Him. But always remember
that Heavenly Father doesn't judge on what we get done but rather how much we
give. All He asks is to try our best.
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| Gringos watching on the BIG screen TV |
But
one thing that I started to come to understand this week is the power of the
Atonement. This week I realized that it is the enabling power to change. After
thinking of change, I thought of what my life would be like, and the world for
that matter, without change. How sad and without hope that would be. As a
missionary, I have come to understand my faults and weaknesses basically on a
daily basis. My gratitude for the Atonement has grown immensely because it
allows me to change. We couldn't become the people that we want to be, the
lives we want to have, the families that we need to have, without the
Atonement. Change is impossible without the Atonement. Now when I say change I
mean change for the better. As missionaries we have a very big responsibility
to bring the word of God to all the people in the world. We as imperfect
missionaries are assigned to do a perfect work. We could not do this work
without the power of the Atonement.
We
had an investigator go to General Conference who's friend is a member. She has
been pretty closed with us not really paying attention when we are teaching.
After General Conference, you could tell a difference in her, she was more open
to us and seemed happier. I was so surprised at the impact of General
Conference. I got so much out of this past General Conference, which made me
think, have I gotten everything out of other General Conferences?
But this past week we had a really cool experience
with one of our many awesome investigators! We have an investigator named
Evelin. She is super pilas! (pilas means super cool) Every time we come she
brings more and more people to listen to us. When we showed up this past visit,
there were 11 people from here family ready and excited to hear us. We taught
the wonderful message of the Restoration and then challenged for baptism for
the 26th of this month and every one of them said yes!! How cool is that! There
still is a lot of work that we need to do with them, and there could be
somethings that might need more time to work out. For this week we are suppose
to have 4 baptisms but, 2 of them we just found out today that they need to go
to church 2 more times. There is so many things that we need to do but one
thing that I find interesting, for example we had a ton of work to do one day,
that I thought it wasn't going to be possible to do it all. But the coolest
thing happened, we were able to do everything that we had intended to do. It is
amazing how much of a hand Heavenly Father has in this work. We see it more and
more each and every day.
As
for our bishop, he is basically done, last week he told everyone that that was
going to be the last time that he was going to be bishop. I actually got a call
from the President this week about our bishop. He is very concerned for our
bishop. But I don’t really know what is going on. He seems to be in good
spirits.
As
for today, we went and played soccer next to the stake center with the other
zone. Afterwards with the other missionaries in our ward Elder Goddard from
Layton, UT and Elder Jarquin from Gautamala bought pizza!! It was really good!
As for something funny this week, we haven’t had water for the past week so I
am basically like a pro taking bucket showers with dirty pila water and
carrying water from the pila up to our house! Pila is the thing that everyone
has to wash their clothes, it is basically like a huge trough that holds water.
As for your letters. Wow sounds like you guys had a
really awesome time in Burley. Happy to see that Rick and Alyssa were able to
see Ruby! Crazy there is snow! Sounds like Mallory is doing awesome! Keep it
up! Mallory is going to kick my butt when I come back. As for tennis today, we
couldn’t get a hold of the tennis place, but we are going to play sometime
here. The burgers that we had were really awesome. Fast food prices are about
the same here, but when compared to everything else it is pretty expensive. We
really don’t have a lot of money to spend, and fast food places are about 15 to
20 minutes by bus away from our house. I got letters from Uncle Johnny, Aunt
Amy, Cass Ho and 2 from Grandma Beck this week, They were written about a month
or so ago but please tell them thank you for them, for taking the time to write
me and thinking of me. Sweet thanks for sending packages!! I think the thing that would help me the most
is just continue doing what you are doing. Try to share the gospel with others,
it doesn’t have to be something big just little acts of kindness for others. So
many times we think of missionary work as something like teaching but some of
the best way to be a missionary is through service. That is my favorite way to
meet people. Helping people. Also I would invite you guys to reflect, study and
really talk about the messages that were shared in General Conference. They
literary spoke about things that Heavenly Father knows that we need. The last
thing would be just continue to grow and strengthen your testimonies and our
family. Another main focus was on protecting the family. I have seen families
fall apart here and it is extremely sad but if we do what we know we should do
we will be able to keep our family strong in the gospel. Another thing that I
find interesting is that everything moves us closer to Christ or it doesn’t
there is no middle ground. I hope our family is becoming stronger,
strengthening their testimonies, and deepening their conversions. Sorry if any
of that sounded preachy but you guys really mean a lot to me and I want what is
best for you.
As for stuff I need, maybe something I can put in my
shoes to make them smell better, small rags to wipe the sweat off my face, and
the next Ensign.
I love you guys so much and am so grateful for you
support, that everyone is active and strong in the gospel. Thanks so much for
the workouts and please continue to send more (they kicked my butt). I am going
to send some pictures right now too. Anyways I love you guys, and I hope you
will have a great week this week!
Love Elder Neuberger
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