Letter written on April 28th, 2014
With a blink of an eye 10 months goes by! Where is the time going?
Does it ever slow down? Well yet another week has gone by in the mission. And
like all of the weeks here in the mission is always mixed with hardships and
miracles. The biggest miracle that happened this past week was a baptism of a
mother of 2 children. We found this family contacting one day, and after a lot
of prayers, member support, the mom made the decision to be baptized. The husband
is very receptive and expressed his support to his family but stated that it is
not his time. We are still working with him. But the wife made quite the
progress this past week. I told you last week when she made her decision to be
baptized. But the story about her conversion is quite amazing. On Sunday last
week during Gospel Principles she was using a returned missionary’s bible, and
as she was reading the scriptures she was also looking at some of the pictures
at the end of the bible. Her member friend explained them to her and she told
us that a feeling that she had never felt before came into her heart. She made
the decision and during the week received quite the answer to her prayers. On
Tuesday morning when every one had left to school, she told us that she started
to pray and prayed for about an hour. Sometime during this prayer she said that
the same feeling again came but this time stronger that she started to cry. She
also said that pictures of Christ and of the First vision came into her mind and
then said something very interesting, that from that point she just knew and didn’t
have doubts. She told us that she now gets it, and understands what we were
telling her from the very beginning. On Friday we visited her with the Bishop
and her best friend, the Bishop’s wife. It was so spiritual especially to hear
her story. To listen to her story strengthened every one of us in the room that
day, the bishop, his wife, my companion, and me. We left with a newfound power
knowing that God answers prayers to people that ask sincerely and are willing
to act. She was baptized on her birthday, yesterday, Sunday with her family
present. What was really awesome was to see her husband there.
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| Baptism of Gina Linares...the bishop baptized her. What a wonderful day! |
We had another really amazing experience this past week. When we
first showed up here in the area, we met a drunk man about 3 times in the
street. He gave us his number and everything and invited us over to his house.
He was drunk so we really didn’t believe him but gave him a call and told us he
wasn’t interested. About a week or two we realized that he is the brother of an
inactive member that we found contacting. We stopped by and gave him a pamphlet
and this man just seemed different. He invited us over and when we showed up he
explained to us perfectly the Restoration. Showed up the 2nd time to find that
he had set up a table, chairs, bought a notebook to write down what he was
learning, juice, and himself waiting for us. We watched in awe as he explained
the gospel of Jesus Christ to us and asked us questions. It was so amazing.
This past week definitely helped me realized the kind of power there
is in prayer. If we always have that prayer in our hearts God will guide us and
we will be instruments in His hands. I have some pictures to send to you guys.
But first wanted to share a story that we all know but especially had an impact
on me in the book of Mormon. It’s when the Anti Nephi Lehites make the covenant
to not take up arms to the point that they died to keep the covenant. The most
impactful part of the story is when the lamanites come to fight against them,
and rather than be afraid and take up arms, they came out of their city and
stood before them and after 1005 people were killed the lamanites hearts were
soften and more that 1000 people were converted. Its so interesting to see how
God works His miracles, that after that trial of faith more people were
converted. We have all made covenants with God, and we need to keep those covenants
like these people did during hard times, always relying on the Lord. They didn’t
murmur they didn’t falter; they were bold and courageous even in times of
trial. They stood strong and firm knowing that God would work His miracle, and
He did. This week my invitation for all of you guys is to think about the covenants
you have made and analyze how you are doing. Afterward think and pray and make
a plan to be more faithful in keeping your covenants. Like our mission president
says, to be saved we need to make covenants, keep covenants and renew covenants
with God. It’s never to late to change and begin to start to be faithful in
keeping your covenants but we need to do it sooner than later.
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| Having some fun while planning! |
Thanks for your support. I have some pictures. Loved to hear from
you guys and can’t believe how fast time is going by. I got your package and
thanks for the candy and t-shirts. Hope everything is going well!
Love Elder Neuberger
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