3/11/13: Life Like a Miracle

I hiked twenty blocks with about fifty pounds of groceries in my backpack. I honestly can't believe I made it home. But after that I couldnt even feel my scriptures in there! And the family that gave us dinner right after that was totally amazing :)  I think that's the hardest physical thing I've like...ever done in my life. Sister Ipson(though she didn't know it at the time) was developing tendonitis in her foot, so i have no idea how she did it! Angels marched with us :)

We went to another lesson with Rheeda. Her baptist friends had come by and dropped off all kinds of antimormon propoganda and it was chaos! Her daughter, Michelle, who had ignored us up to this point, got in on the conversation too. Their house is generally chaotic and really hard to get the Spirit into, but obviously it was worse on Tuesday.

Sister Ipson had felt inspirted to grad the Lamb of God movie before we left our apartment, and we busted it out and watched it with them. It brought the Spirit so strong, and we testified about how THIS is what we believe. Incredibly, I think that the anti-mormon thing was just what Michelle needed to get her interested in what we had to say. Elder Trout and Elder Stanley ran into her ont he bus a few days later, and she gushed about how awesome we were and about her baptismal date and such. Then we ran into her on the bus on Saturday and her whole countenance has changed! She's so happy, even though one of her daughters and boyfriend were recently booked into prison! I'm so excited to see where this goes. On Friday, the bishop called Rheeda and told her that we wouldn't be able to help her out with food, which was how she had come in contact with the church in the first place. They seem unfazed by that, which really is a miracle.

On Wednesday was when Sister Ipson finally gave into the pain in her food and called the medical supervisor, who told her to book it to the hospital. She said she might have gout. Luckily, it was only tendonitis. While she was inside, I sat in the waiting room and started Our Heritage. It's AWESOME.

On Thursday I spilled an entire cup on water on my skirt at Subway. I patted it with a napkin and literally watched the watter disappear in about four minutes. I'm still blown away by it.

On Friday we met CJ at Mayfair Mall (which is a BEAUTIFUL mall) and had dinner with him. He's so into everything we have to say, and we read Lehi's dream with him. He has a hard time with reading comprehension, which in my life is one of the things that seems to be a great barrier between people and the gospel. But we explained it to him and helped him to know about repentance and forgiveness. Then, as is the awy of Sister Ipson with everyone we talk to, we also discussed the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and Tithing. She likes to throw those first two at people all the time, even in tracting :) It's hilarious.

CJ accepted everything we said. He's an incredible kid. The problem is that he seems to want to meet with us to talk, but he's not our investigator. We handed him off to Sister Case and Sister Wilcox, but they haven't met with him since Sunday. Maybe if we get around to teaching his sweet mother, we can spend more time teaching him, but I really hope he adapts to working with the YSA sisters. YSA would be great for him.

There was a child-of-record baptism at 3:30, and the Elders had a baptism at 4:30. We got Jaime and her son Alex to meet us at the church at 3:30, and we had a little church tour and talked to Alex about being baptized. He's eleven. Then we went to the 4:30 baptism and it seemed to really touch Jaime. Alex decided that he doesn't want to get baptized because he doesn't want to get wet. We can work with that :)

We had dinner on Saturday in the ghetto of Milwaukee. It was sketchy, but we ran all the way to the member's house and the bus showed up the second we got to the bus-stop on the way home, which NEVER happens. I could hardly believe it.

Sunday, Jaime and Alex came to church and I LOVE CHURCH. It was so good for Jaime to be there, and she really enjoyed it. Who knows about Alex.

We stood in the pouring ran for an hour before giving up on what we were trying to accomplish. Note: neither of our big coats are waterproof. I want my moey back :P

I read Where is the Pavilion? again cause it's an AWESOME talk. I've been studying a lot about Joseph's time in Liberty Jail and things similar to that this week. We work with a lot of people that are just kind of losing hope in a better world. And it strengthens me, too.

When God asks you to do hard things, take heart. He trusts you to do it.

Holland: Even the MOST righteous face challenges. "If you're having a bad day, you've got company. Very, very good company. The best company who ever lived."

It wasn't easy for the most perfect man on Earth. Why should it be easy for us?

"You are not yet as Job." Hey--you're not yet as Joseph Smith either. You're probably no where close to that.

If you feel like having your mind BLOWN with deep doctrine about the atonement, I've got a talk for you. Cleon Skousen's talk on the Atonement. I don't think it really has a title, but it's crazy. I've only read the first page so far and I'm dying.

This week I get to go to the TEMPLE!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Life is great.

Sister Neal

3/4/13: Awesome People!

Whoever the millions of people were that told me Wisconsin has the nicest people on the planet weren't kidding. These people are SO sweet. We did meet one guy during which I had to restrain my companion before she punched his teeth out, but he didn't want to be in Wisconsin anyway. So he doesn't count :)

This week has been AWESOME. Just like literally ten minutes ago on the bus to the library, a woman named Kim came onto the bus, saw us, and instantly, without even really knowing who we were, asked if she could hear more about our beliefs, particularly if we had hope for a better world. Which is the exact topic that BOTH of us were studying in personal study this morning, so BAM. New investigator. Golden investigator. I say that about everyone though :)

This week we got 7 new investigators, which was apparently a pretty big number. Then again, 5 of those were a family, so it's not all that special. Still, we love who we're teaching!

First is Samantha, and her family. She came to the church asking for aid with food. She has seemed very interested but her family is rather chaotic and all over the place, and honestly she might be a moocher. So Sister Ipson and I did buy her food one day when her daughter's fiancee was sick, but I don't know how she's going to react if the church doesn't offer her anything. I can't quite tell how genuine her interest is.

Second is Becky, she was a referral from the elders. Her mom is a recent convert, and she contacted us asking to be baptized. That's what I like to hear! It took us forever to get in contact with her, but we did finally teach her the first lesson. She's SUPER sweet, I love this woman. She struggles with self-worth, but that's something this gospel can give her, I'm SURE. We just need to get her into a good atmosphere. We taught her for an hour and a half or something, which generally isn't a good idea, but she had lots of questions and concerns and it was good for her.

The last is Matthew, a 20-yr-old we met on the bus (we meet both crazies and goldens on the bus quite regularly). He said he wants to do what we do, he just only wants to do it if he knows what he's teaching is right. He doesn't want to accidentally lead people away. Although we invited all our investigators to church, CJ is the only one that made it, and only for the last 10 minutes of Elder Oak's talk (in was multi-stake conference for the midwestern states). Afterward we did a church tour and taught him the restoration.We stood in front of the baptismal font and it was SUPER spiritual. This kid is really incredible. Love him. Unfortunately, we had to hand him over to the YSA sisters. We're planning on teaching his family, though, muahahaha.

Everyone hates handing their investigators over to other missionaries. But we have five sets of missionaries in this area, so it's probably going to be fairly common. Sister Ipson and I cover the West Allis west side, the elders cover the east side (the ghetto), then there are YSA sisters, YSA elders, and spanish elders. I think there's a senior couple too. We're right in the area of the mission home.

STAKE CONFERENCE. AWESOME. Elder Christensen, Sister Linda Reeves, Elder Echo Hawk, and Elder Oaks. I never really connected that Aaron, who converted King Lamoni's father--and the father said "I would give up my whole kingdom to know this"--had given up the throne to the Nephite kingdom to be a humble missionary himself! That was cool.
Pres Monson: "Do we have the moral courage to stand up for what we believe, even if that means standing alone?...the easiest way to do this is to be truly converted to Jesus Christ."
Between having a knowledge that we are children of God and heirs to his throne, and knowing that he loves us, we have the motivation to do good things and resist tempation. That's really all it takes. "I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king."

Random thought: I got to take a lesson at the MTC from Brother Christensen, the blond guy on The District. That was fun :)

I've noticed that I've been recieving a lot of revelation lately. I've noticed because Sister Ipson and I have repeatedly been on the same page about planning baptismal dates, on what we want to teach, and what we want to do. It doesn't feel like inspiration, but we're both thinking the same things. So obviously it is. Revelation is like Inception. A thought planted that you think is your own. It's really the Spirit.

Between Sister Ipson and I, one of us has been sick since I left the MTC. Sister Ipson says this is how it was in her last area: one person gets better, and the other one gets sick. So this might be a normal thing. The cool thing is, I hardly even notice when I'm not feeling well because THIS WORK IS SO COOL!!!!!!

Sometimes God asks us to do hard things. But don't be discouraged...it means He trusts you to do them right! President Holland said "If you're having a bad day, you're in good company...The best company who ever lived!" D&C 121-123. Come on. It shouldn't be a detriment that the most righteous of God's children have faced some of the hardest trials--they've also been the most blessed, and they've left the most behind for us who came after. Millions have found solid ground in a raging storm from the words of Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. And that was only a small moment. They're small moments for us, too.

We had sisters conference this week! Power to the sisters! There's SO many new missionaries coming in, it's awesome. President used to have a limit of like 12 sisters, and now he's been authorized by SLC for fifty. GOD IS HASTENING HIS WORK

Miss you all! Be a member missionary! Give referrals for like every person you know who could use a message of peace, joy, and encouragement. More people are seeking it than you think! NOT KIDDING

My address is:
9743 W National Ave #22
West Allis WI 53227

Write me! The mission is SOOOOOOOO awesome. But we still love to hear from friends back home :)

Sister Neal

***Danny Note: All investigator names have been changed and are not the real names of these individuals. I don't know why, but Jen asked me not to use their real names.

2/25/13: WISCONSIN!!!!!

Since, I last posted, I've made it to the field! But let me start at the beginning :)

The end of my time at the MTC was rather sad, to be honest. I loved my teachers there and my my district was AWESOME. Loved them.

We took lots of pictures and made our goodbyes worth it, for sure. It was grand.

On the plane from SLC to Denver, I was surrounded my missionaries. It was a relatively small plane, and 23 of the people on it were missionaries. So any opportunities to share were negated there :/

HOWEVER. On the plane, I sat next to an Elder Parry, and on the other side was a talkative, opinionated old lady. Her name is Barb. We were scarcely on the plane waiting for take off for two minutes when Elder Parry nudged me and whispered something I didn't understand. Then he repeated it.

"Convert her!"

I guess I can do that.

So I started asking her about herself and what she believed. She was headed to Milwaukee for her fathers funeral, and although she was in mourner's black, she was talking about how she knew he was with Jesus and how it was actually wasn't that sad of a thing. We asked her about her relationship with Jesus. She seems to go to church somewhere, but her philosophies are her own based on her interpretation of scripture.

She knows about Mormons. She thinks it's nonsense because she's compared the BoM to the original Greek and apparently JS's translation was way off.

Wait...what?

Don't ask me what she was trying to get across. I didn't completely understand it. Greek? Whatever.

Anyway, we actually talked for almost two hours about the gospel. Elder Parry took out his BoM and she took it from him and made us give her a rundown of every single book in it. We NAILED it, and she was super impressed, because she didn't know anyone who could do that with the Bible that well.

She went on a tangent about how Satan sometimes makes bad things seem logical and reasonable in order to draw people away. That was an interesting contrast to her statement about the BoM.

We started running out of gospel principles to talk about, and looked out the window to see how we were doing. 1 hour and 45 minutes, and guess who hadn't even lifted off yet? That's right. Us.

Turns out there was a messed up computer or something, so we were delayed. But we got off the ground a few minutes later.

Even though we had woken up at 3:00 AM and were pretty tired, it was worth just talking to Barb the whole ride. About life, occasionally straying into the gospel. At the end, as we were landing, the Milwaukee suburbs were SO BEAUTIFUL. And Lake Michigan. Awesome.

We landed and I extended the invitation to pray about the BoM, since, as she had said, Satan sometimes uses what seems like logic to distract us from truth. She accepted it and challenged us to do the same with the Bible.

O...kay.


Love her though. She actually taught me a lot. She's taught every single grade from kindergarten to 12th in her life. We talked a bunch about homeschooling, too. She was pretty cool.

So that's my story for the day. I got to the mission home, and we did a little testimony meeting and some interviews. It was grand. On Wednesday, we went to the stake center and I met my new companion, Sister Ipson. She's spunky and wonderful.

My first assignment is to open a new area. It's West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee. I was so excited to get to work.

So how was my first night? Besides Sister Ipson feeling the most bored she'd ever been on her mission because we sat in the stake center for 4 hours waiting for a ride, it was...well...yeah.

New sister area. No car. No bikes. Just the public bus system and our own two feet. We knocked like 4 doors before it was too late to do much more. We have a nice little apartment with brand new stuff, and we bought bread, PB, and J to last us until Pday. Then we did some comp inventory and called it a night.

So, the rest of the week in our new area? The work here is going SO

nowhere.

Okay, I'm kidding, but I'm not. We keep getting lost on the buses. It takes us two hours to get to appointments, and most of them have cancelled or we've missed. Okay, all of them. We did get to teach a lady named Mallori, who is a member but needed some strangthening. I really liked that. But the numbers in our planners go something like 0,0,0,1,0,0,0,2,0,0. I so wish we had a car. But we decided we're not complaining anymore. We're just not.

This week is going to pick up SOOO much! We're finally figuring out the bus system, and we've met quite a few people that we can hopefully turn into investigators, and the ward is SUPER nice and helpful. West Allis WILL be the promised land. All in good time.

We accidentally wandered into a mall at one point. I got SO nostalgic, which is weird, because I don't generally even like shopping. But it happened. We're staying away from there.

Love you all!

Sister Neal

2/14/13: MTC: Make The Change

So it's my first week in the Provo MTC as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and can I just tell you, WOAH. It's been absolutely incredible. I can't even put into words how much of a miracle this place is. IT'S A MIRACLE. Like, if the church were not true, this place would be the worst learning institution EVER. Everything is based on the Spirit. You can't go five minutes without opening your scriptures or praying. All the teachers are recent RMs, and they just teach us based on our needs as they are inspired. There's no curriculum other than Preach My Gospel, which is AWESOME. And our teachers know SO MUCH. They can answer any question we have! There's so much to gain here. In addition, all application of what we learn in through the Spirit. 

But let me start at the beginning. Wednesday was crazy. I loved it. Apparently it was really hard for most people, but it was great for me. Homesickness, or something. We learned lifetimes in just that one day, but mostly it's all a blur. New missionaries are like deer in headlights.

Thursday was Learn to Study or Die day. We had like ten hours of study time, not exaggerating. All the other missionaries reassured us that this is the worst day at the MTC, but I didn't really feel it. Yeah, it was intense and crazy and all but I didn't think it was that ridiculous.

Friday hit me hardest. I was sick most of Thursday and was feeling better on Friday, but it's when the exhaustion hit and we taught our first investigator and realized how much work we had to do. Even then, though, I didn't realize what was going on.

What was going on: I was roadkill. Like, TOTAL roadkill. It wasn't until Sunday that I realized how miserable that first week had been. We had been warned and it's SO TRUE: Everything goes downhill if you can make it to your first Sunday in the MTC. Easy-peasy after that.

My companion is Sister Bean and I'm SO MAD I forgot to bring my stuff to the computer lab, so I don't have any pictures for you. But I will hopefully get those out soon :) Sister Bean is amazing, I love her. We compliment each others strengths and weaknesses really well. She's obedient and determined. I push up her self esteem when she's feeling inadequate, and she does the same for me :)

Anyway, not a lot of time and I think it's important that I get some things out for anyone preparing to serve:

First off, STAY AWAY from the orange juice and chocolate milk. It tastes great, but it will make you sick all day. Trust me.

Also, Sit back and enjoy the ride your first few days. Be serious, but don't let yourself get overwhelmed, cause it's pretty easy to be. Just take in what you can and the rest will come later.

YOU ARE NEVER RESPONSIBLE FOR AN INVESTIGATORS SALVATION. If after all you can do, they don't join the church, that's their choice. It doesn't fall on your head, even though whenyou love that person as much as you will, it will feel like it. Know how to gently but firmly pull yourself away from a situation that would otherwise tear you up.

So yeah, everything else sprouts from those things. It's not about teaching the gospel. It's about teaching people. It's not about bringing people into the church, it's about bringing then to Christ. KNOW what your purpose is. Live it.

So yeah, life is great, and EVERYONE should experience the MTC for at least three days. You learn and grow so much. And I've literally learned more in three days that I normally learn in a full semester of school, or multiple years of Sunday school. The only way cramming that much info into your mind and heart that fast is possible is because THE SPIRIT IS HERE BECAUSE THE CHURCH IS TRUE. That is all.

Have fun with life, I'm having fun with mine :) This work is so beautiful.