Hello, Hello, Hello!!!
How is everyone back in the rainy English like state of Colorado? Sounds like you have had the same weather that we have been having. On Thursday it dumped all day long. I have not seen it rain like that since I was in a threesome, and that was in December!!!!! This is the first time that I have had to pull out the big umbrella since in who knows how long. That is definitely the first time that it has rained like that since I have been here in Shrewsbury. It is gone now though, and we are back to sun. Oh my goodness this is the most beautiful area I have ever served in. The upper mid-lands are amazingly beautiful. The pictures do some justice, but not too much really. When the sun is shining and the sky is blue it feels like home, just greener. I have already pulled out the short-sleeved shirts, and it is only the middle of April!! I am really glad to be serving here right now, it is great!
We are travelling up closer to Chorley tonight. We are going to be staying in Middleton (North Manchester) tonight, and then leaving early tomorrow to get to Chorley in time. The cool part about that is that we are going to be staying with Elder Adams, who came out with me. He was one of the guys that sang with me a lot in the MTC, and that is into sound like me. Out of all my MTC group I would love to serve with him the most. He is a stud, and from what I hear just an amazing missionary. I am really excited to spend time with him and to talk about the past year!!!!!!! The down side to all of this is that we had to pay about £50 to get to where we need to go. We just spent about £25 to get to Manchester last week, and now we are doing another £50! I don’t know how Craig did it with his mission, but we have to pay it out of our JP Morgan (mission fund aka. Brother Morgan) and then get it reimbursed. The problem is that the reimbursements have to get approved by president, and he is only in the office like once a week, and that is usually on Monday. We might starve for the next week or so, so please pray for us!!!! HA HA HA!!! It is going to be worth it though. All the bishops of the mission met together with Pres. Packer, Elder Ballard, and 3 members of the 70 on Saturday, and our bishop said that it was really really amazing! I am really looking forward to hearing from Pres. Packer for sure. It is so cool to see them close up and to really know that he is speaking to just us, not the whole church! I will send the picture soon after I get it so you can display it along with my Pres. Uchtdorf picture. I wonder who will come next….. My vote would be Jeffery R. Holland, he is my favourite!!!!!!!
Ok now that I have blabbed on forever I am going to tell you about some really cool stuff that happened this week. The Zone Leaders came over on Thursday for an exchange and that was great. Me are E McIntosh talked a lot about Chorley, and E. Pimentel joined in because he was the District leader when I was there. Oh man I found out about everyone that I was working with!!!! I was so happy that night. So many great things are happening. Karl is doing amazing, his parents are amazing as well. I heard that some other less-actives and struggling members are doing great. One of them that we worked with quite a lot named Terry Riding actually went to the Temple. We were trying so hard to get him ready and excited, and he finally went. E. McIntosh said that he went almost everyday after the first time!!! He loves it!!! I LOVE THIS WORK!!!! It was really great to remember the old fun times that we had there, I really wish that I could have been there one transfer longer, and working with E. McIntosh for a bit longer. It was a great time, and he really liked the new flat. He was bummed because he wanted to go to the old one and reminisce, but he was way excited for us.
I didn’t get to actually go on exchanges with him, but it was great going with E. Pimentel. He is a great missionary, and really really smart. He was going to Stanford before his mission. At the end of the exchange we review what happened and talk about each others strengths and also where we can improve. He gave me a really great compliment. He said that he was looking through the book of Mormon for a phrase that described me. He laughed when he found it cause it describes a wicked war lord. It describes Jacob the leader of the Lamanite army who was also a Zoramite (this is in Alma 52:33). It says that……
And it came to pass that Jacob, being their leader, being also a Zoramite, and having an unconquerable spirit, he led the Lamanites forth to battle with exceeding fury against Moroni.
E. Pimentel told me that I have an Unconquerable Spirit. He said that I have so many reasons to be unhappy, depressed, discouraged, down, and angry, but I am none of the above. He said you are in a tough area, with a struggling companion, but that hasn’t affected you. He said that I am always happy and working hard, and that is a great attitude to have. I have been thinking about that the past few days, and I have seen that as well in myself. I really must accredit some of that to E. Garcia (who is now an Assistant, I don’t know if I told you that). He would always say “Hey, it could be worse,” and the truth is that it can. I am happy, and that is the only way to be. There is no point in getting down or discouraged because it never helps the situation! You get distracted when you are down, and then you have to take the time to pull yourself back up. Why not just skip all that hassle and not get down in the first place. Being happy is the best place to be, and that is where I like to stay. I was really thankful to him for giving me that compliment and telling me that I have an unconquerable spirit, I was really grateful for that!
I am doing great. I am happy, the weather is great, and the work is moving forward. We have one girl dated for baptism right now, and her name is Emma Louise. She is dated for the 27th of May, and at the moment she is doing really well. She is not quite like Gus, but she is great in her own ways. We are helping her though a lot of trials, and she is showing a lot of progress. She came to church yesterday, so that was great!!!!
I love you all very very much, and I am so glad that you are all doing great. Hang in there, and study the gospel daily! I do, so you have to!!!!! I have gained such a great love for studying, and especially the Book of Mormon since I have come over here. I can only imagine what the next year is going to bring!!!
LOVE,
Elder Neal
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