Hello everyone,
Well the second hand is clicking away. The hourglass is down to its final grains, and here I am still plugging away. Each day seems to move quicker than the last, and each event seems to come faster than the one before. We have Zone Conference this week… my last, and I will have to give my departing testimony….. I am not excited. I will get to see a lot of the members of my MTC group one last time before we go to the mission home together…. I am not excited. Things are going way too fast. I am excited to get home, but I am not excited to say goodbye, and to leave this beautiful place. To answer your questions;
[Editor's Note: Mom asked him: 1. Would you ever have been where you are now without your mission experience? 2. Will the rest of your life be better because of your mission experience?] I would not be anywhere right now if it weren’t for my mission experience. I would hope that I would be active in the church, but I couldn’t even guarantee that! I would not know half of the things that I know, and I would not
be able to do half of the things that I do. I know that this experience is going to help me in every single phase of my life from here on out! I have full faith that when I get home the blessings from my service are going to pour out upon me. I know that friendships are going to be tighter, talents are going to be more polished and cultivated, opportunities are going to be
rampant, and happiness is going to be everywhere! I can put all that down to
the amazing experience that I have gained on my mission! I guess that
really answers the other question as well. I know that every aspect of my life is going to be better when I get back. Shauna told me today that Chris already has my schedule ready for May. How on earth could someone that I knew for 3 months miss me that much for 2 years with out that being a blessing from God!!!! I know that I am going to be abundantly blessed not only for my sacrifice, but for my service. I think that I am going to find that when I get home it is not going to feel like a sacrifice, it is going to feel like the greatest experience of all time! I have no regrets. I give all the glory to my loving Heavenly Father. He knows what is best for me, even when I think that I know better. I was talking to a missionary the other day about my Drum Corps experience, and that really caused me to reflect on just how wise Heavenly Father is. He loves us, and he gives us things in life to make us better. My mission has been tough at times, but it has prepared me to build up his kingdom in the future. I don’t know how, but I know that I will be able to participate “mightily” as it says in my patriarchal blessing. I could continue, but I will stop there
. Think of more questions like that, and ask me them while we are driving around England, or when we have time at nights to talk. I know that I will probably make dad cry (as I am sure that this already has ha ha ha), but this is the truth, and this is honestly how I feel!
Ok so this week has been a good one. I was on two exchanges this week, and that was great. I was able to go to South Ribble and then stay in Preston with another missionary. We saw a really cool miracle on Saturday though. We were out street contacting before we traveled back to Blackpool to exchange, and we went through Avenham Park ( I will take you there for sure). This is the park where the first baptisms took place. As we were walking we saw this main sitting in a pavilion nice and dry and out of the rain. We went up and spoke to him, and we ended up teaching him right there. It was amazing teaching someone the restoration and challenging him to baptism right in the spot where the first baptisms took place in England. I felt really good about that, but it gets better. As we were teaching a man walked by and said “well hi Elders” in a very obvious Utah accent. He was on business in London and he decided to come up to Preston for the day to see the sights and go to the temple. Think about this from his perspective. He comes to see where the church and missionary effort really all began, and what does he see….. 2 missionaries teaching a man on a bench. The church is so true, that is all that I have to say. That same member came to church yesterday, and I got to talk to him a bit! I love these amazing experiences that we have. What made it even more amazing is that in 3 weeks I will be able to show you that pavilion!
Well I hope that you have enjoyed this letter. I had better get going. P-days don’t last forever. I hope that you have a great week. Keep studying. I am at Jacob 4, so I am flying along. I love you all, and I am so grateful for all the amazing support that I get from each of you! I am excited to see you very soon. I only have 2 more times to email!!!!!!!
See you soon!!!
Elder Neal
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