"I am an exceptional missionary" :)

Dear family,

 

             Things are going really well in my mission.  I love to be a missionary.  We aren't have the most baptisms we every had or even finding a ton.  The work is good but not where it should be and we are working on that.  But we are working our hardest and I absolutely sharing this Gospel with everyone.  It is true.  It is not a lie it is 100% true and I know it is.  I love it and I love you and pray for each of you every day and for your success in all aspects but especially the Gospel.  Please never lose focus that the Gospel and living it IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.  There is no real and lasting happiness outside the plan of happiness so let's not look.

             We had a wonderful zone conference with Elder Golden and he is just amazing.  My interview with him was great and I love him.  He told me to tell you today that he says I am an exceptional missionary.  I loved every minute of the interview and wish I could go on a plane ride with him around the world so we could just talk.  He has a great South African accent.

              For transfers we are staying the same and I am in Ceres with Elder Gygi.  The zone is doing so well and we are so excited about this month and the following.  Right now after emails we are going to Patterson, a near by city in the zone, and we are going to play football and rugby but not tackle cause we can't.  A ton of Tongans live in Patterson so we go to play with them.  I can't wait.

               We have a baptism this weekend of an 11 year old girl named Yaniri Piza.  She is the daughter of a recently activated man who is doing really well right now.  We have some others who will be baptized soon as well at the end of the month or October.

              Please do your scripture study every day.  EVERY DAY.  Please I know that in prayer twice a day and in daily study is found the strength that our family NEEDS (like is essential) in order to become an eternal family one day.  It is a COMMANDMENT to read and pray every day.  Do it cause you love our Saviour and honor Him, His life and example.  Go share this with everyone and don't let our family reunion in heaven be short even one person.  We all need to make it home.  I love you all SOOOOOOOOOO much I can't describe and I pray for each of you and think of you even though I fail at writing you.  I LOVE YOU!

 

-Love Elder Neeley

 

ps the elder in the ice cream pic is Elder Hardy who serves around me and is going home after 2yrs on weds.

"Come on!" :)

Dear family,

 

           I just got the new camera and here are some pictures that I have taken with it.  I can't find my old card right now so I only have these pictures as I have taken them but it is ok cause Sarah has all my old pictures.  As I take more, I will send more but here are the first of them.  The work is a little slow right now as some people with baptismal dates have pushed them back or dropped them right now.  We have been finding some new solid investigators though right now and we feel like they have some promise.

            We taught a lady named Griselda who through a personal experience knows that we have the priesthood authority.  So we were excited to teach her as she recieved an undeniable witness we are representatives of Jesus Christ.  Then we share the first vision and she says "I am sorry but I don't believe you.  I can't believe it."  So we were confused and she explained John 1:18 where is says no man has ever seen God or could basically.  We explained that Moses saw God "face to face and spoke to him as a man speaketh to a friend" and how Stephen saw the Son of Man on the right hand of God.  She said she wanted to see the scriptures so we are going to explain more next time.  But the JST explains how John 1:18 says that no SINNER could ever or has ever seen God.  I really don't like the Apostasy because it is SO evident in the world around us and in the mere fact that the Bible says 10+ times that people have seen God and then says no man has ever seen God.  Then as obvious as it is people are so blinded by the mists of darkness and their hearts are hardened to the truth.  But it is amazing because the iron rod takes them out of the mist of darkness, reading the Book of Mormon takes them out of the confusion that is the Apostasy.  Like wise in our lives we can cast our doubts and confusion away as we search the scriptures.  It is so easy and so true that the iron rod, the word of God,  will bring us understanding and bring us out of the blindness.

           We are teaching another man named Lionel who is deciding what church is true between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and another christian church.  Last night after 2 months of teaching him we watched the Restoration movie and re explained the story of Joseph Smith and found out he is deciding which church is true but has not been praying at all to know!  COME ON!  It is like I want to know about science but I am not going to read any science books or talk to any science proffessors!  Well we made a course change and directed him to read and pray DAILY cause it is the only way to know the truth.  We said you can get an answer other ways but the truth only comes in one way and from one person, God.  So we are excited for him to find his answer.

          Tomorrow Elder Golden of the 70 comes to the nothern zones (we are one of them) for a zone conference and he is going to interview one on one 4 missionaries and President asked me to be one of them.  I am excited for the opportunity.  I will let you know how it goes.  We will find out about transfers this weekend too so I will let you know next week if I am staying her and with my companion.

          Well I love you all and pray for you every day and feel and appreciate your prayers.  Live your faith don't just say it and pray and read EVERY day.  No vacations for spiritual things.  Be a missionary and live the commandments.  Missionary work isn't hard, it is just sharing what makes you happy, really happy.  Because the only lasting happiness is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ so just tell them this makes me happy and I want you to be happy too.  Share it and bring our family home.  I love you all SO much! SO MUCH!  Thank you for your examples and letters and all that you do for me.

 

-Love Elder Neeley

"It is hot"

Dear family,

 

             Things are going well here in Ceres CA and it is hot.  We had a baptism this last Saturday of a 9 year old boy and his name is Tonatihu Morales had he is HILARIOUS.  He is the sweetest kid ever and he just says the funniest random stuff.  His mom just came from being semi/less active to activity and he got baptized right after.  This weekend we will have 2 more baptisms that were supposed to happen this last weekend but 2 hospital emergencies.  Ivan, the first one, his wife had her baby 2 weeks early so we are waiting so she can be there and then the other one, Angelina, had her mom go to the hospital so she took her.  We are really trying to get ready for Sept right now.  I am not the Senior companion cause when your a zone leader you are co-seniors but I have been here longer and my companion is a brand new zone leader so I am teaching how to be a zone leader and guiding things but we are co-seniors.  My companion Elder Gygi was in the same MTC district as me so we know each other well.

               We are having about 20-25 lessons per week so we are teaching quite a bit but we are trying to find a little more right now so we can be ready for the months ahead.  Things are going well and the zone is ramping up for a really good September.  We have great district leaders and just a great set of missionaries so it is really easy to be a zone leader haha.

              We are still working out everyday but sunday and I am staying fit so things are good with that.  We are going to play basketball right now when I am done so I am excited for that.  Pictures will be coming through the computer next week so get excited!  I am sorry I have been putting things off but I promise Preparation days have been really busy with different random stuff different weeks and I have not been napping haha.

               I know the Church is true and that Heavenly Father is a real person.  He really is some where right now watching, and caring for us and listening to us.  Jesus really suffered, died and came back to live as a resurrected person.  I know they really are true and my mission has done that for me.  I love my Heavenly Father SO much and I just want to make Him happy and I know that we will live for ever together if we can be obedient.  Not to earn God's permission into heaven but to prepare our hearts to be in His presence because through obedienc our hearts are changed through the Atonement to be able to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  It is not that we are obedient to pay back the debt because even if we did our very best we would still be "unprofittable" (mosiah 2).  I love you all so much and want to live with each of you for ever.  Share this with everyone you can cause whats a family reunion with out all our brothers and sisters.  You all know that 90% of our family for Christmas is just not good enough.  Everyone needs to get home and we need and GET to help them do it.

 

-Love Elder Neeley

Companion sick and a car to be waxed... busy, busy, busy

Dear family,

 

          Today will have to be short (I'm sorry!).  My companion got sick today and we had to wax our car because of a zone conference and I also had to cut my hair which doesn't happen every week and it all happened this week so hurray!  I love you all a ton though and I really can feel your prayers and your love.  I feel your support as I go through out the day and it is wonderful to know that my family is there for me and that you are wonderful examples to me in the Gospel.  Dad to respond to some questions, no shoes or camera,  i am sorry but I already stated the craziness of the day so next week it will be done.  I will be going back home on May the 27th of 2013.  I am pretty sure cause that is what they told me pretty much when I started but I would rather not bring that up.  It is so crazy how fast the time goes and how it feels like I just started my mission.  I think I will be going to school in the summer because that is what I told BYU but I don't know but it is something I will think about as I would like some time home with all of you.

          Angelina, one of our investigators, was supposed to get baptized on this past Sunday yesterday, but was admitted to the hospital on Saturday night so she rescheduled for this next Sunday and we have 2 others on Saturday at 6.  We are very excited and seeing these people tonight.  The work is great and I LOVE being a missionary.  I get very envious of the sons of Mosiah and their 14 year missions as mine winds down more and more.  It drives me nuts.  I really can't and and don't want to imagine not being a missionary.  Well I love you all and am so proud and excited about the missionary work that you are doing and telling me about.  Grandma is a missionary machine!  I love you all!!!

 

-Love Elder Neeley

Thanks for the Letters!

Dear family,

 

           Thanks for your emails and your letters.  I love you all so much and am so happy you are my family cause you are the BEST!!!  We did have a baptism this last week and it was a girl named Vivian who is 11.  We have been working with her cause her mom is a member and she just surprised us.  We have 2 more this weekend and 2 more this month.  We are working hard and I am getting a new companion.  His name is Elder Gygi and I was in the MTC district with him.  I am super excited for this transfer cause I know that the zone is going to be on fire and we are going to be more obedient and more unified than ever.  I love you all SO much I can't even describe.  I love this work and you all mean so much to me.  Thank you JoAnna and Aunt Krsten for your emails they meant a lot to me and hearing from you.  I also enjoyed my emails from Grandma, Dad and Uncle Keith but I thought I would mention those specifically as well.  I am SO happy that you are all working hard to be missionaries!!!!!!!!! that is so awesome and I pray for you all individually and for your problems and stresses and your happiness.  Please keep telling me and updating me on your missionary efforts.  I am going to get a camera this week so don't worry about that.  I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

"Things are Well"

Dear family,

 

             Thank you for all your emails this week and also all the letters from the family down at the beach!  I appreciated them a ton and today I will not be able to write back because of a few other items of business but I hope to write back a few of you next week.  As well don't worry if you can't send letters or you haven't or you are busy or what ever.  I love to hear from you but I understand how life gets and I am always praying for you and do feel your love for me.  So don't feel like you are a bad person if you don't get a chance to write me.  I am so gald that you are all enjoying lots of time together.  It always makes me happy to hear that you all get to see eachother and spend quality time with one another.  One thing I have truly realized on my mission is the importance of family and not just a family but an eternal one and I am greatful for mine.  I love you all so much!

              I will for sure go buy a camera and just keep using my card so I don't need to buy one of those but maybe as well I will buy a piece of equipment to but the pictures right on the computer instead of sending the memory card to Sarah or hard copies to you all.  As well I will be taking care of the shoes as well so no worries.

              Also it is great to hear that all of the kids are doing lots of stuff like EFY and Youth Conference because those are the things that they need to be doing cause they certainly are not getting those wonderful messages everyday with their friends.  Keep praying as a family and reading the scriptures together and going to the temple when you can because when you look at how much bad influence in the world there truly is no time to waste.  There can't be one day where we aren't praying and reading because promise satan isn't resting and especially for the youth, they have those influences around them daily and need that spiritual refuge at home.  Don't miss out on it.  President Packer said that "the spiritual shield is made at home".  Not even in churhc or seminary but at home.  We can't just go to church every week and expect to have a lasting protection and conversion to the gospel.

              We had 3 baptisms this past week as Yobanni Cabrera(12 year old boy), Emmanuel Matadamas (which his last name means kills women, 8 year old boy) and Tania Garcia (25 year old woman) were all baptized.  Tania was baptized by her boyfriend who is a convert of a month and they are getting married next week (they don't live together).  Then in a year I hope and pray I will be able to come back from Utah and visit cause they should be getting sealed in that time!  I love them so much and truly feel a portion of the Saviour's love for them as I get the chance to teach them and guide them to the truth.  We had a lady come up to us in the store today and just tell us that she came to church and then gave us her adress and number and told us to come by so that was really awesome.  Hopefully she will get baptized as well.  We have 3 baptisms right now planned for August but there will be atleast 4 because we have some other people we are working close with who are on the edge.

              We have transfers this week and Elder DeWitt is going to Argentina on Monday and we will see what happens with me and Elder Burnett.  I have a feeling that there will be a change though.

               Things are well and we are working very hard.  I love you all so much and hope that the missionary work is going well in your lives.  I have heard a few stories of missionary work from some members of our family but I would love to hear all of your stories from each of you.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chased by a Chiwawa!

Dear family,

 

           It has been awesome to hear about your trip to Alaska and now it sounds like you are at the beach!  That sounds like a lot of fun.  Here in the mission things are going great and I am loving it. My companions and I are getting along great and we are having a blast working hard and being obedient.  My first companion, Elder Burnett does not go home until September atleast and Elder DeWitt is still waiting on his visa for Argentina so it looks like more and more that he may just be staying here which would be great for the mission but for his sake I hope he goes.  He has been a good sport about waiting and being focused on the work here in CA but I think it would really break his heart to know that Argentina is never going to come.  He is such a good missionary and is just new still but he knows just what he is doing.  We are preparing for a baptism this next Saturday and hopefully we will have one the following Saturday.  We have one scheduled but this week will determine a lot.  The one in 2 weeks is a 9 year old boy whose family needs to get on the ball so he can be active and ready for baptism.  They are all members but him and his sister who will be baptized at the same time, she is 8 years old.  Their names are Chris (the boy) and Mel.  If you could keep them in your prayers that would be wonderful.

             I think that I would consider my self good at speaking but not really fluent.  I can understand all the conversation from day to day but there are still so many areas of conversation like science or anatomy that I am still learning.  I don't think I could translate for you Dad in the hospital but for the rest of the day I could in just your everyday conversation.  I know a little in each "field" I guess you could say but I couldn't explain how to fix your car in spanish.

             I understand it being crazy all the time with vacation and what not going on and then trying to do family scripture study or prayer but I just wanted to give you a reminder about it.  I know you are all working hard but just know the Lord wants your best which is not perfection.  So if that is only 3 people at prayer cause that is all that is home then that is what we do.  I know you know this stuff but it is just something that has impressed me recently so I thought I would give the whole family a reminder.

            We were running the other day at 6 30 and a chiwawa that started chasing us and I went to punt it and it ran away.  Good times.  I am not always a morning person and that chiwawa realized that as my foot went over its head.  The rest of the run was peaceful.

             Well I love you all so much and I am really sorry that I don't write anyone ever but I have more time to email so just email if that works if not I will make the time to write but email is easier.  I keep you in my prayers and thought every day.  I hope you are all being missionaries and bringing yourselves to Christ as well as others EVERY DAY.  Love you!!! And with everyting going on I won't be extending so don't worry about it.  President would let me I think but I would need to ask him and that would mean that I have no other obligations to be home and I am pretty sure he wouldn't approve of me extending with my time schedule.  If he were to ask me out of neccesity I would extend but he has never done that since I have been here so it is pretty much I won't be extending.  I love you!

 

-Love your son/brother/grandson/nephew/cousin/uncle/friend Elder Neeley

 

P.S.  Uncle Keith I have noticed a difference since being here in the northern part of the mission in the language.  Only slightly because it has been very Americanized across the board but about 90% of the people up here are all from a certain state  of Mexico and in Fresno they were from a variety and about 40% from another different state of Mexico so it was different a little bit.  But I am sure it is nothing compared to what you experienced from country to country.