E-mail from Neal - Received 12/29/09

Hello again!

Last week was crazy because we had P-day, Zone conference, Christmas eve, Christmas day, and boxing day all in one week. It was a bit hard to do any real work, but we did ok I thought. We actually taught quite a bit, and had some great success. We actually got to date 3 people for baptism this week. One of them was a man that I found on a bus a few weeks ago named Felix, and the others were a father and son that we have been teaching for ages. It was really good to see that success! I was so happy when they accepted those dates, and when they said that they are excited to work towards it. I love this work so much. I am happy and excited, but a bit tired. I think that it might be because I am getting sick, but I hope that after this weekend I will be ok. We have new years eve and new years day, and we are not going to be nearly as busy as last week, so I might get a chance to sleep a bit.

Anyways obedience…

I enjoyed the study of obedience this last week, and really learned that there are two types of obedience; blind obedience, and purposed obedience. There are examples all over the scriptures. Sometimes we have to do things blind in order to understand why we are doing them. The part that I really thought was good was that blind obedience turns into purposed obedience. You learn for yourself why you are doing something and then you do it cause you know that the blessings will come. It is amazing how it all works. I think that one of our goals in this life should be to be obedient for a purpose in everything that we do. We need to know why we are doing something, and then do it cause we know that it is the right thing. Obedience is really how all blessings come about. Elder Holland said that obedience is the first law in Missionary work…… you can’t get to law 2, 3, 20, or 90 with out first mastering #1. It is very true. When you are obedient things work. Go read in the Book of Mormon how many times it tells you that when you are obedient you prosper. Its quite a few times. It was a very good study, that’s for sure.

We are still working hard. E. Burnett is a solid missionary. Much better than me in a lot of categories. I have learned a lot from him, and I know that I will continue to as the transfer goes by. He is really fun to be around, and we are going to continue to see success. I know that we will.

Well I think that that is all for me this week. I really don’t have too much to say except that I really loved the phone call, and that I do miss you all. You are all such an amazing support for me, and I am glad that I have you all!

Love,
Elder Neal

P.s. I will send some pictures next week!