WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! I really don’t know where to start. This week has been a week for the record books. I guess I will just start by telling you the amazing key points and then I will go day by day.
- 6 new investigators
- 4 at church
- A young man dated for baptism on the first lesson
- 58/11 in 5 days
Ok now that you are smiling I will talk about the past 4 days…..
Wednesday – I told you all about the rain storm and the Text message from Joseph.
Thursday – After emails we taught an amazing lesson to a new investigator named Karen Riley. She is a member referral and is the mom of one of our other investigators Jenna. She is amazing. She came to church a few weeks ago to hear Adam (Jenna’s Boyfriend) sing. He sang with Bro. Brox (old Ward Mission leader, and now 1st Councilor), E. Driscoll, and myself. She loved church and she really wanted to learn more. She was asking a ton of questions in gospel principles, and now she is an investigator. Both her and Jenna were at church this week, and they loved it. There is a lot of little issues with Jenna that I will not go into, but hopefully all will work out great.
Right after that lesson though we were out talking to people, as we always do. I felt prompted to take a different way home and to go street contacting up this one street. We as we did we talked to a few people, and funny thing is that everyone wanted to talk to us. I ended up talking to one guy, got a QGC with him. He then went and got his brother, got a QGC and an appointment with him. There mom then came out, and I got a QGC with her too!!! This whole time E. Llaguno was down the street getting an appointment with a guy that became a new investigator yesterday!! It was the spirit prompting me for sure, and I cannot deny that!!
Friday – We taught Joseph on Friday! I will put what I wrote to President because I think that it explains it well…. We were walking with Joseph and our fellowshipper to the church for the first lesson. As we came up to the church this man appeared out of nowhere and started to ask us questions. He had us all bear our testimonies about Christ (not allowing us really to ever finish what we wanted to say), and then he bore his very strange but valid testimony of Christ. He then proceeded to tell us that we were all wrong and false and just up and walked off down the road. He claimed that he was a Jew, but I think that I know what he really was…. SATAN IN THE FLESH!!!! (I added that last bit for you, I didn’t send that to president) It was the most interesting experience that I have had on my mission, and I know that it was Satan trying to get to Joseph. It didn’t work because right as soon as the lesson started Joseph told us that he had not only read the Book of Mormon, but prayed about it. He told us that he absolutely knew that it is true, and that he wanted to join the church. We dated him for baptism on the first lesson (August 1st). Satan has no power over the hearts of man, when they have a firm testimony of the restored gospel! I am so grateful for the blessings that I have in my life and that I have the chance to serve the Lord every single day!!
Talk about amazing! There is always a catch though. He is going to Lancaster for a month for summer school, so we are going to pass him off to the sisters up there. He will come back and probably get baptized here. I know that that is quite cheeky on our part, but he it's what needs to happen. He is so prepared. Stay tuned for what happened on Sunday!!!
Saturday – Stake athletics day. It was a ton of fun. I got to do the long jump, 800m, and the 4x100m relay. I also started the 5k, but we had to go so I only could finish half of it. It was a great day. It was beautiful and I got really sun burned for the first time on my mission. I did really bad at the long jump, I got second in the 800m by a nose (check out the picture), and we got 3rd in the 4x100m. It was a great day though. E. Black ended up taking first out of the whole stake!!!!! Jenna was there and she had a great time. It was really fun to mingle with the members and to gain more and more trust with them. I did learn that I am not totally out of shape like I thought that I was, but I am still nothing that I used to be, it makes me sad!!!
Saturday night was amazing though. We went tracting (I was really not in the mood), but it was the best ever. The 6th door we knocked on was a young guy and his girlfriend that let us in!!!! This is the first time that I have been let in a door and properly taught a first lesson. I don’t like tracting, and I find street contacting much more effective, but the Lord kind of rebuked me for that thought! They were really great. Joe is 18 and Rachel is 17 and they were so nice. Joe was house sitting for his aunt, and Rachel was there to keep him company. Joe has always wanted to talk to missionaries, so he did not hesitate to let us in. It was a great first lesson. The spirit was really, really strong. After the first vision Rachel told us a really cool thing. She said that she had learned about Joseph Smith in High School (our middle school) and that out of all the stories and religions that she learned about, the only story that had ever stuck in her mind was the Joseph Smith story! I DO NOT BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCE!!!!!!!! The spirit is real, and it prepared those two young kids!!! Again there is a catch….. They both live in Burnley and we will only get to teach them once more before they are back up there. We are going to pass them off for good, but we did what we were supposed to do. Elder Nielsen is up in Burnley now, so they will be in very good hands.
Sunday – Like I said, 4 people at church, which is huge for me, and for Blackburn. It was a great Sunday. Joseph loved it!!! Now for the big news about Joseph…. You might want to sit down for this one. I will give you some time……………………………………………………………………
We had a meeting after church but we wanted to teach him and so he hung out with Tom (OH MY GOSH I LOVE TOM), and some other ward members, and this is what we found out after that meeting. Be sure that you are sitting down!!!!!!
Joseph is absolutely amazing. He did in fact read the Book of Mormon in 2 days, but that is not the most amazing part. He has dyslexia and because of that it is extremely difficult for him to read anything on white paper. He has a little blue visor device that he puts over the page that allows him to read better. He told us yesterday at church that ever since he picked up the Book of Mormon he has not needed to use that visor! I didn’t quite know what to say except that God is a God of miracles. He has been prepared to receive this gospel, and he has loved every minute of it so far. He really loved church yesterday, and we have taught him two lessons now. I absolutely know that Joseph has been prepared by God to receive this gospel, and I know that because Satan has already tried to get to him, PHYSICALLY!!!
You can breathe again now.
Yesterday was so good. Tom got the Priesthood yesterday, and he has been really searching for an answer to what he needs to do in life. He had been leaning towards the Navy, but a mission is something that he would love to do. He told me that he was fasting yesterday for help, and I told him to also study. Bishop had a quiet word with him, and encouraged him to go on a mission. All the testimonies in the meeting were directed at the fact that people had already received their answers. In the Blessing that Bro Brox gave him he said that he would find all the answers that he needed in the scriptures. After the meetings Tom saw my Welsh badge on my scriptures and he took it off and stuck it on his coat. He stopped and said…. “That’s Better!” I don’t know if he was trying to tell me something, but I told him…. “Tom, that badge would serve you better than the Navy would.” He looked at me and said “I know, everyone has been saying that.” I think that he is going to serve a mission, and if he does I am going to absolutely die!!! I love Tom so much, he is an amazing young man. I hope that you can all meet him someday!
Missions are amazing. I have made the right decision. I love this place. I love the people, I love the experiences, I love the blessings, I love everything about it!!!! I have only been here for 6 weeks, but this has been the best 6 weeks of my life. Amazing things are still to come!!!!
I believe that that is all for this Novel. I am sorry that it is this long, but really has been an amazing past few days. I love you all, and I hope that everything goes will this week. Thank you for all of your support, and I will talk to you next Monday!!
Love,
Elder Neal
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