E-mail from Neal - Received 2/25/09

Hello family!!!!!

Wow it really sounds like you guys are in no lack of excitement without me. It sounds like that your lives are still moving at a 1000 MPH and that it isn’t going to stop anytime soon. I am really glad to hear that….. It makes me happy inside!

So I am in Chorley right now. My home sweet home!! We had the chance to go to the Temple today, so we took it. I love that place!!!! I love being in the presence of God, and really communicating with him on such a personal level. The revelation that one receives in the temple is unsurpassed. I needed an answer today, and I know that I received it! I guess that all that I can do now is wait, and see if the answer that I got pans out, only time will tell though. I did the last two names that I had, so I will send them back soon. It is really strange being back here though. It has been a long long time since I have been here like this. I am so happy that I was able to come though. The accent is totally different to Manchester though, oh my goodness. This accent here in Chorley is a strange one that’s for sure. Maybe you will be able to hear it one day.

So yes transfers are next week, and I am 85% sure that I am moving. President came to our house for interviews this transfer, and while he interviewed us Sister Bullock inspected our house (SCARY)!! It was really clean, and we won the clean house gift (BROWNIES!!!!!!). Anyways president asked me how long I had been there and I said 6 months. He said that 6 months was about the longest, 7 ½ is the extreme, but that my time in Stretford was nearing the end. I am cool with that. I am ready for a change. The big city is great cause there is always something crazy to do, but I am ready for something new. My only hope is that I will not get sent too far so that I can come back for Gus’s baptism. I will be praying for that now, but its not up to me its up to the lord ha ha ha. The new p-day thing is going to be odd, but its going to be good. Monday is going to be really a lot better I think.

So Gus is doing amazing!!! He is totally prepared and has been since we first taught him. He is readily accepting everything that we teach him, and he is so excited for his baptism. He already got that Saturday and Sunday off work so that there are no problems. It is going to be great. There is a Baptism up in Swinton this Saturday so we are going to try to get him up to that so that he can see what he is going to be doing, and so that he can feel the spirit! The Spirit is the Key!!!!!!!!

I got to give a really cool training in District meeting yesterday. I was asked to talk about how we can listen to Spirit to lead us to those that are prepared to hear the Gospel. I came to the conclusion that the main way that people are prepared is by the spirit, and that it is the same spirit that we follow and listen to. How cool is that… the source for their preparation is the source of our guidance. Its like a match maker of sorts HA HA HA!!! We have been really trying hard to follow that spirit and to find those that are prepared. We did 71/16 last week, and it felt really really good. We have been working really hard, and the time just seems to fly. I have been walking down my street at night, and I have stopped and thought about how I haven’t been thinking about the stuff that I usually do, because my mind is totally focused. My thoughts aren’t wandering, and I am a lot happier!!!! Work is amazing, and I am so glad that you taught me how to work when I was young. I am not complaining, don’t worry about that. I am always happy, just sometimes I am less happy than others. I often times think about what Elder Garcia once told me….. “be the Missionary that your mum thinks that you are.” I then picture you all sitting in front of the TV and watching my mission. I also think about you maybe standing off in the distance in Piccadilly square and I think about what you would think. Some times I am proud of what you would see, but sometimes I am not so proud. My goal is that if that ever did happen that you would be crying and overwhelmed with the work that I am doing. It is tough sometimes to keep that up, but it is worth it!!!

President is having us choose two topics that we are going to become EXPERTS at during our study time. I chose the great apostasy (because it is so relevant to this country), and the Atonement. I am going to really start diving in hard and strong to those and really become an expert. I am almost through Luke, and Alma just keeps getting better and better!!!!

Well I love you all. I am so thankful for all your support and love. I am very proud to call you my family, and I always will be. Keep on studying and praying.

I love you all!!!!
Elder Neal



The Swinton District


me and The Bullocks (in my house)


The last stand of the triple Bunk.... President told us to take it down :(

E-mail from Neal - Received 2/18/09

Hello to my Crazy Awesome family,

What a week….. The middle of the Transfer is always crazy, and it feels a bit long. You always have to push though, and endure. That is really a principle that us as missionaries have to work at constantly….. Enduring to the end. To the end of the street, conversation, hour, day, week, transfer, and lesson sometimes. But as we work harder and harder, and pray more and more we receive the strength to go out and do it! I have needed that strength a lot this past week, and I have been relying on prayer more and more. Trials and struggles are a daily occurrence in my life it seems, but when I pray and go out and work, they all seem to float away, until the next day when I pray again. Funny thing though….. I am always happy and smiling. I am never angry, and I am only sad for short periods at a time, so that is a huge blessing. I can always find a laugh about something, and like my good old dad (e. Garcia) always said….. “it could be Worse!”

Gus is still doing amazingly well. He came to church again on Sunday, and he totally loved it. He is really excited about his Baptism, and he loves the Book of Mormon. We went and taught him last week and we were about to pray, and we asked him who he would like to pray. He said that we always pray first and he always prays second, but that he wanted to pray first this time!!! He has prayed before, but this time he prayed just like we should. He addressed heavenly father, asked for the spirit to be there, and then closed in the name of Jesus Christ. It was amazing, and we had an amazing lesson! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he really loved it. He is excited about getting the holy ghost and feeling that light all the time. He said that so far he has felt as though he has been in the dark and is now coming into the light!!!! That should be a quote in PMG!!!!!!! We are seeing him tonight, and we are going to teach him the Word of Wisdom. I am always leery of this lesson because of the country the I am serving in (yea its that bad), but I know that the second that we say that this came from Joseph Smith a prophet of god that he will have no problem with it. We really haven’t seen anything that has made us worry anyways. This process is so exciting, and I am so glad that I am a part of it!!!!

That is so awesome that you got to go to Idaho and witness that absolutely amazing ordinance. We tell that to people all the time, but I really don’t think that they understand A) how important it is, and B) how special it is. That is one of the greatest of all the restored truths! What is awesome is something that really hit me recently. In every dispensation the gospel IN IT’S FULLNESS has been preached. That means that 6 times before this, this knowledge has been on the earth. Christ taught every single bit of the things that we know to be true, and somehow is was all lost…. I HATE SATAN!!! We are so blessed to have this amazing knowledge and the ability to be sealed to our families for time and all eternity!!! That in itself is a reason to change your life, I am sure glad that I did!!!

My study today was awesome!!! I read Alma 17, which is about my Book of Mormon hero!!! I am sorry Moroni is a Hoss, King Benjamin is a stud, Nephi just flat out Rocks, the Brother of Jared is amazing….. But Ammon the Rockstar takes the cake for me!!! I love than guy, and I love his story. He had the spirit. He had the power to exercise the will of god for the progression of the work in his area. He was a missionary, and he knew it. He went in with a plan, and he waited patiently for the chance to put it into action. The arms story is amazing and funny at the same time, but what happened after is better…. He converts a whole Kingdom. But for me that is not the best part. The Best part is that he was one of the sons of Mosiah. He was with Alma the Younger, and he was a bad dude. He was visited by an angel and then repented and turned his life to the lord. He used the atonement, and he did amazing things because of that!!!!! He is an example to me, because I can see traits of him in my life.

I love you all, and I pray for you daily!! Keep on enduring and praying and studying. Hang in there with all the crazy things that happen, and I know that all will work for good. That is my motto most days!

Love,
Elder Neal

E-mail from Neal - Received 2/11/09

Hello to everyone!!!!!!!

Well this has once again been a crazy crazy crazy week!!!! So much has happened, and so many miracles have been seen. I love my mission, and I am so glad that I am here. I am going to start off by commenting on some things then I will tell you about the amazing thing that happened last night!!!!!!!!!!

We have an investigator named Gus Bempong. He is from Ghana, and he is amazing!!!!!! We found him in Piccadilly and he is golden beyond golden!!! Last night we were planning on teaching him the Plan of Salvation, but when we got there he had a really good question about prayer. We covered that question and then continued on with the Plan of Salvation. We had considered dating him for baptism, and we even had the dates in mind. We started to teach and the lesson was going great. I was trying to figure out when to bring up baptism, because I didn’t think that the end would be a very good time. We ended up reading Alma 7:11-13 in conjunction with the Atonement. This is where the spirit started to talk to me. I usually go to verse 14, but I felt that I shouldn’t. We talked about the Atonement, and then we went on to verse 14 which talks about baptism and the part that it plays in the Atonement. The spirit was amazingly strong. We had Jonathan Spencer (my MTC teacher) with us, and you could tell that he was buzzing!! I have noticed that the spirit really guides my thoughts very directly when I am in lessons, and this time was no exception. I prayed as to which date we should do, and the answer came. I know that we did the right thing. We committed him when the spirit was strong, and we followed the spirit as to which date to do it on, and I have never felt better. I love inviting others to come unto Christ! There is no greater call then being able to help others find the joy and happiness that I have found in my life through the gospel! His date is the 7th of march, which is sadly 3 days after transfers, and there is a really good chance that I will not be here. I am hoping that I am not too far away so that I can come back!

The work is moving, and I am loving it. I am really diving into studying as usual, and I am loving Alma. I read Alma 11 a few days ago and I found one of my favourite lines in all of the Book of Mormon….. ‘And Amulek replied “OH THOU CHILD OF HELL!!!!!!” I love that so much, and I really wish that I could tell that to some people some times. I have also been moving along and I am in Luke now, and I am loving the life of Christ. I am using Jesus the Christ as well, and it is going great.

I love you all!

Elder Neal

This should be the new mission uniform I think!!!

E-mail from Neal - Received 2/4/09

Hey Everyone!!!!!

What a week this has been, what a rare mood I’m in, why it’s almost most like being a missionary!!!!!!!!!Wow this week has been crazy! It has absolutely flown by which only means one thing….. We worked hard! We talked to so many people, and got several new investigators. We got 90/9 in QGC’s this past week, and that is a huge milestone for us. Now that wasn’t all me, cause I was in Stockport for 2 days with one of the Zone Leaders (exchanges), but still I helped out a lot! Now I am going to warn you now that I have a lot of stuff to tell you so I am probably going to go fast cause I have 30 min to do so, but I hope that you will be able to follow it all!!!

I went on a 2 day exchange with the Zone Leaders in Stockport, and it was absolutely amazing. I went with Elder Aughney who is an absolute spitting image of Brian. He kinda looks like him, but he sounds a lot like him, and his personality is exactly like him. That was the best exchange that I have ever been on! We had some much fun, and did a lot of really good work. We went and we taught some members that live in Stockport. They are called the Jones family and the husband is from California. They asked me where I was from and I said Colorado. They looked at me and asked what part…. I said Northern (my usual response), and they asked what town…… I said Loveland, and they said YOU'RE KIDDING!!!!! Sis. Jones is best friends with Caroline (Habinc) Brown. Talk about a small world!!!! We got a good laugh about that one, they got a picture and everything, so you might be seeing that picture from the Habincs soon!!!!!

Yes we have been getting some snow as of late, but according to Colorado and Utah standards it is nothing. People have been freaking out, and parts of the county have shut down because of it, and we are having a blast. It basically snowed all day Monday, and it was windy and DANG cold, but it was nothing that us Mountain boys can’t handle. We just bundled up (thank heavens for under armor), and went out and worked! It was fun. People in this country do not know what snow is I have decided, and that is a problem. That is a big reason why I could never live here….. NO SNOW!!!!!!!

We had zone conference yesterday, and boy oh boy was it a good one. Every once and while President decides to teach us some things that we really shouldn’t talk to our investigators about, but it is just a huge testimony builder for those of us that are already converted. At my 3rd conference he talked a lot about the signs of the second coming, and that was really really cool, but yesterday he did something even cooler. He talked about the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Nah Ammadi Codices! Oh my goodness there is so much cool stuff in there. I won’t go into great detail about what he talked about but lets just say that in the 26,000 pages of manuscript it never once talks about the trinity, baptizing infants by sprinkling, and other modern day practices, but it does talk about MANY of the things that were reveled to Joseph Smith! Temples (IN DETAIL), restoration, other records, a prophet name Aseph (when translated into English = Joseph), Potential to become like god, pre earth life, and the list goes on!!!!!!! It blew my mind! Joseph was and is a true prophet. I knew that when the Fort Collins Institute did that program a long long time ago (the one that Brian was in), but I have an even stronger testimony of that now! The evidence is huge!!!!! My prayer and answer was enough, but this was great to learn!!! You should go and check it out and see what you can find. They are really incredible, and it is no wonder why the church is so interested in them. President said that the church recognizes them as doctrine, the funny thing is that we have had it for about 200 years ha ha ha!!!!!!! We also did questions of the soul from page 107 of Preach my Gospel. I had to answer “why does god allow evil and suffering to occur” that is the question that I get the most. Go and look at all of those questions and see what you think. That is my challenge to you!!!!

I think that that is was funny that you taught about Alma 5 in RS mom cause I just read that this morning. I LOVE THAT CHAPTER!!! Alma is a beast, and he really knows how to teach. There is a section in PMG about asking questions, and Alma really has that skill down! He asks so many questions that make the people think for themselves and teach themselves! That is what we try to do. We can talk at someone all day long, but until they teach and understand for themselves, then nothing is going to work. When you ask questions you make people think and help them to feel the spirit! That is what Alma does here, and it really works. It made me think about what I am doing, and what I need to change. I also really liked how he said that the Spirit talked to him with a mighty voice. That made me think a bit, but I figured that prophets are so in tune with spirit that it does sound loud and mighty to them. Wouldn’t that be great to have that!!!!!

Well that is about all that time that I have for today. Know that I love you and that I think about you all the time. I am still waiting for some letters, I think that everyone has forgotten about me (friends that is).

Love,

Elder Neal

The Stretford crew… us, the Hafen’s (CES/YSA Missionary Couple. Thy are seriously like our mom and dad, they take such good care of us, I love them so much.), the sisters (Goddard and Smith), and the Assistants (Frogley, Christensen).

Us and the Zone Leaders (E. Aughney is next to me)