Hoooooooyyyyyyy!!!! Que tal? todo bien? ahi esta! Estoy muy
alegre a escuchar que todo esta bien con ustedes. Gracias por sus photos y por
sus cartas. I got your guys packages and letters this week! Thank you so much!
On Thursday night, I got a call from my zone leader saying that I had 4
packages waiting for me!! I felt so blessed and had a lot of curious faces as I
hauled 4 boxes of stuff back to our house. Thank you so much! I made a package
for Elder Ampie to take home and I am going to save the some stuff til about
Christmas time to open them. I had to open one of them, the one that had the
letters in it, because when we showed up to the house at the end of the day
there was a ton of ants getting into the package. There must have been
something open. I have been reading those missionary letters and they have been
such a blessing to me. Every day I try to read one and I love to read the
insights of all of the different missionaries. Each letter has something that I
need to hear and I love hearing their advice. It really helps me recognize my
blessings as a missionary, enjoy and also take advantage more of my mission.
Well just a little heads up, my whole zone gets to go to the changes on
Wednesday so I’m not going to write on Wednesday. Because we had 19 baptisms as
a zone the president told us that we could go to changes if we want. I’m super
excited first because I get to pick up my kid (new missionary) and I get to
hear Elder Ampie's final testimony. Hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas
devotional as much as I did last night. This Christmas season has been really
wonderful and there is no other place or thing I would rather be doing than
being here as a missionary. The past couple of days I have felt a profound
peace and the amazing blessing of seeing the change that others and myself are
making. It’s hard to explain the kind of joy and deep peace that you feel as a
missionary after those long and sometimes difficult days where you are
sweating, tired, and no one wants to listen to you but you keep going. And when
you lie down at night and feel the Savior’s love and acceptance and know that
you did you very best. I felt that yesterday. I love what Sister Berg says in
her letter that our calling isn’t to have good numbers (even though they are
necessary to motivate, inspire, and help us accomplish our purpose) or a
certain amount of baptisms but it is to preach the gospel unceasingly. Thank
you guys for those packages and sounds like you guys have been having some busy
weeks and a cold one too! I can’t even comprehend something that cold. In an
air conditioned room I get cold, let alone in -10! There is a pretty good
chance that I might freeze when I get back hahahaha!! The language is coming
along. The biggest thing for me right now is the pronunciations. People in
Spanish actually speak slower than in english. The difference is that they
pronunciate every word. Someday it feels like a mouth exercise because of the
amount of mouth movement you have to do. haha but its coming slowly and
steady.
Well we had a really great week here. The last week of the mission
for Elder Ampie and I was very impressed with how well he worked. Yet again we
witnessed many miracles this week and felt the love of our Heavenly Father for
these wonderful people. I spent the past day or two reflecting on my mission
and the blessing it has had on my life. I have also been reflecting on my time
here in this area and what this area means to me. The more I reflect on the
people here the more I realize how apart they have become in my life and I in
them. Everyday this week I felt a sincere gratitude everyday I woke up to be
able to go about and serve this people and the Lord. We had two experiences
this week that, like last week, strengthened my testimony that the Lord is
preparing the hearts and minds of His people and if we just open our mouths we
will find those people. The first came on Tuesday. We had p-day that day
because the day before we had that training mtg. We didn’t have anything to do
by the end of p-day so we decided to leave a little bit early to go visit some
people. As we were walking I saw an older lady carrying some wood (as a
missionary I am always on the lookout for to serve people, it’s a great opportunity
to meet and find new people) we asked her if we could help her and she
thankfully agreed. As we walked we talked about the family and the blessing it
is in our lives. She lives with her two grandchildren and agreed that her 2
grandchildren are the most important for her. We arrived at the house and she
invited us to come back. We gave her a little pamphlet and scheduled an appt.
then left. When we returned she began talking with us about the church and
baptism. Telling us that she wants to be baptized!!! So we scrambled trying to
figure a date, and when we told her the date for the 4th of January, and she
accepted readily! It was an amazing experience and I will keep you posted on
the progress she is making.
The second came on Thursday after about every one of our appts had
fallen through we began walking, contacting and trying to visit inactives. As
we were walking to the house and man on the street began talking with us and
talking to us about the church. We immediately turned and began talking with
him. He began to tell us his problems and how he wants to come to church and
start over his life. I once again found myself in awe as I listened and was
able to testify to him about the plan of Salvation and about the Atonement. He
like the first pleaded us to come back and told us that he was going to go to
church. The thing I found interesting about these two experiences and actually
scary is that if we hadn’t said anything these two awesome people that are
searching for the gospel and are prepared we wouldn’t have found them. It’s scary
to think of the missed opportunities that we have had for one reason or the
other. After this experience it has made me more determined to take advantage
of every opportunity that comes our way. The Lord is preparing His people and
all we have to do is open our mouths to find them. That’s my invitation to
you guys to open you mouths, look for ways to serve, and most importantly live
your faith. Don’t just talk about it, live it. I promise you guys that there
are people that live in our neighborhood that are ready to hear the gospel.
Always be on the lookout to serve others and don’t hesitate when those opportunities
come. We had an experience last night as we were walking back from the stake
center. As we were walking, we saw a man laying on the side of the road. My
comp turned and gave him a little bit of money. We continued to walked he
stopped, looked at me, and said we have to go back. We immediately turned
around and began talking with this man. My comp told this man that Heavenly
Father told him that he needed to give money to this man. I was so impressed by
that experience at the boldness that my comp showed to follow the Spirit.
Follow the Spirit no matter what. As you do that a newfound peace and joy will
come into your life. That’s what has happened with me. As a missionary I have
seen many sad things, men, women and children digging through the garbage to
find food, families split apart for one reason or another, and probably the saddest
people fall away from the truth. But also as a missionary I have seen families strengthened,
rebuilt, come back together, new found happiness and joy come back into their
lives, and the biggest blessing of all watching people make convenants with our
Heavenly Father. Thanks guys for your support. Crazy how fast time goes here as
I am moving quickly to my 6 month mark! I love you guys. I will write you guys
next Monday about my kid!!!! I love you guys. thanks for all of your support.
Love Elder Neuberger
**People here can’t say my name so many times I just say Elder Neu!
haha
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