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