I Can't Even Explain

So many amazing things have happened in the last week that I wish I could just steal Ferbs 6 page long letter and send that to you as my blog post (I sadly don't really feel like writing....but I'll try to do it all justice)

For all those who were worried by my letter from last week, I'm sooo sorry, that was not my intention.  It was suppose to be funny! But I swear I'm healthy as ever right now :) We had transfers last week and got a new sister missionary in our ward.  Hermana Capener is training her (soooo psyched that she's still here) and she's brand new! She's super cute and from Durango, Mexico (no idea how to spell that).  Plus, since Elder Nish "died" (finished his mission) we have a new district leader who is just incredible.  Basically though the American district is gone, but I still love my district!!!

The other day while we were walking we found a puppy in the street that was easily not even a month old.  Its mom was nowhere to be found so we wandered around asking people if it was there dog, nobody's.  So we took it to the Carmonas house and asked their kids if they wanted it as a joke. The kids were psyched and the parents....not so much! Safe to say they know have a dog and the kids just adore it.  I think the puppy's pretty happy too :) Cute little Chilita hahaha.

I think the greatest miracles of this week were Cindy and Paco!

Cindy was a reference from a family that lived up the street from her.  The family Garcia didn't know anything about her other then the fact that she was American, but you can only imagine how much joy that brought to the ears of two American missionaries.  We left their house and went straight to Cindy's door.  The lady invited us right in because we could talk English and she didn't know a lick of Spanish! She's lived here for 2 years with her husband, but because he knows both English and Spanish they only speak English with each other and everything else he just translates for her. (note to the world: don't ever do that! If you live in another country adopt the culture as your own and love every moment of it!).  We started talking and were shocked to find that she's actually a member! She hasn't been to church in 5 years and really can't remember anything about the church.  She told us we could come back anytime....little did she know that the whole ward is now going to be showing up on her doorstep....well at least the 20 people who speak English that is :)

Paco is the husband of another less active named Elizabeth.  We've never actually talked to him but I've been sharing messages with Elizabeth for the last 5 months and never thought she was really excited about us visiting her.  Turns out that Paco wants to turn his life around and just be better.  We were talking about him all last week and how we would love to meet him when to our surprise Sunday morning, there he was at church with his whole family! That was a huge blessing.  Later that night we passed by to ask him about church and how he felt.  He informed us that he'd be there every Sunday for the rest of his life.  *Jaw to the floor* The Carmonas (the dad is the brother of Elizabeth) were shocked out of their minds and also super overjoyed.  The theme of Church was all about the temple and how families can be together forever and it really touched them!  They really have that goal now of making it to the temple one day and they know it all starts with these steps Paco is now taking! I feel so blessed that God let me be a part of it and that so many hands have been involved in bringing him closer to the truth.

Basically I get to watch miracles, blessings, joy, and crazy happiness happen everyday and I couldn't imagine anything better!!!

 

Lift where you stand and enjoy every minute of everyday,

With so much love,

Hermana Neuberger

How Many Nurses Does It Take?

Well this week I sure don't have a lot of cool stories to tell because it´s safe to say that I don't really remember this week at all......I ended last week with a fever of 101 that I got over in a day.  I made it through all of Sunday but wasn't feeling too hot by the end of the night.  Last Monday I was feeling completely better, and even if I hadn't been feeling good I wouldn't have told anybody because the guys in our ward were playing soccer and had invited us to join! SOOOOO THERE!!! After an hour of nonstop play I almost passed out.......and then I laid in bed for a couple of hours to recover....

So that brings us to this past week where everything started falling apart.  Tuesday morning I was fine, which is the exact opposite of how I felt six hours later.  We went home early Tuesday because i felt like someone was trying to drill into my head and I was worried I wasn't going to be able to make it home.  As i curled up in a ball on the street corner waiting for a cambi, my comp called every family she knew to see who could come give me a blessing.  We barely made it home and my temperature was at a startling 103.2.....rough! The Pagazas ended up being the ones to show up (our fabulous relief society president) and they refused to let me stay in the house.  They didn't care what President Kusch did or said, they were taking me to the hospital and that was final.  Though I was sick....I put up a good fight :) Lets just start by saying that I HATE everything to do with doctors and hospitals.  Both words together = needles, pills, and possible surgery! After a whole lot of tears, which did not help my fever in the slightest, I was dragged out to the car.  Every speed bump sent a ton of pain through my body and i was worried I was going to throw up all over their nice car.  Not to pat myself on the back or anything BUT I understood every question and everything the doctors/nurses said to me and I think that joy in itself made me more healthy then anything else ;) I think they were a little more then horrified when I for sure understood what they were asking for when they said "un poco de sangre".  My only thoughts, "NOT ON YOUR LIFE!!!!!"

Yes parents, I'm embarrassed to say that even in Mexico Psychotic Klee came with me and boy did she do her damage.  It's safe to say that what went down was an event that everyone present will never forget..... :D They had to call in the two guy nurses plus Hermana Pagaza, and my comp to help hold me down while the poor nurse tried to put in the IV.  PARTY!!!! Just trying to spice up their lives at 11 pm at night when they have nothing else to do.  Its safe to say Nurse Olivia soon realized that tell me to be calm was a useless refrain.  With IV pumping three different types of medicine into my body I felt two thumbs up fabulous.  All I know is the video is fabulous :) We were at the hospital till about 2 am.....and that sadly didn't end the sickness, but at least now we knew what it was.  My body was trying to get rid of some kind of poison that was pooling in my blood in my lower abdomen.  Basically my body was doing EVERYTHING in its power to get it out of me, hence the days of raging fever.

The next day we slept till about 1pm cause i was still trying to get over all the hardcore drugs they had put into my body.  My comp was also a little bit sick this whole week too but flew under the radar cause she wasn't as bad as me (poor thing).  Wednesday we couldn't leave our beds cause after the medicine wore off my 102 fever came right back.  Going to the Pharmacy was a horrid trip and then the medicine didn't kick in for about three hours.....and basically I don't remember much of Wednesday other then a lot of ridiculous pain and heat.  Apparently members stopped by to help out and try to get my fever down....and apparently I fought them off (whoops). I seriously didn't know but Ill forever be grateful!!!!  Thursday, with all 4 types of medicine pumping through me, I felt sooooo good and wanted to get back out there and working again soooo badly, but there were probably about 30 people that would have been furious with me if I had left the house at all.  So instead I sat in the doorway and talked to everyone that walked by, good times.  I actually met some really cool people!!!

Friday and Saturday we did work! Boy were we tired at night but it was all sooooo worth it and felt SOOOO good to be back out there!!! I think the funniest thing was Sunday morning at church.  Safe to say the rumors got WAY out of control and some of the things people were asking me about Sunday had me wondering who had spread the word that I had almost died.  People are still asking me about my sickness, a question which is quickly followed by "You don't look like you were ever sick".  I'm glad I can cover it up sooo well.  Now that I'm off the medicine I have a few bad hours but other then that life is really good and I love the people here who are always soooo worried about my health and just sooo amazingly loving!!!!

So transfers came and went and I'm still here in Oaxtepec for another 6 weeks, WOOOHOOOOO!!!!! Turns out 4 people from my generation are training, 3 are now district leaders, and even more are senior companions!! Basically president wasn't lying when he said this might be the best generation hes ever seen.  I couldn't be more happy for them.  Other amazing news: HERMANA CHYNOWETH IS NOW IN MY DISTRICT!!!!!! Basically the world is still beautiful sunny and bright and I just cant smiling despite the crazy heat :)

Didn't have time to read emails this week but I hope your lives are all bright, shiny, and beautiful!!!

Soooo much love coming your way all the way from Mexico :)

Story of My Life . . .

This week was amazing in a way that would sound rather insignificant to anyone who didn't live every minute of it, but it brought out all the joys of missionary work and a whole lot of happiness. Not exactly what you wanted to hear after the two very unedifying emails I recently sent butttttt I'm sorry!

 

I can basically sum up the week by saying: The Lord has given us no greater gift then the priesthood, My ward is the best, I LOVE the Garcia family, and it feels good to know people care.  So story time! On Friday, after walking around for 7 hours in the good old sun and heat of Mexico (have I mentioned before or recently that this body doesn't do/was not made for heat) I was feeling a little loopy and quite out of it.  I asked my comp if we could actually sit down for a sec....and then I bought 600 ml of powerade and drank it all in one sip.....my comp was a little worried.  That night I went to bed as soon as possible because the world was spinning like crazy and I was hoping I could just sleep it off a little.  Saturdays in the mission are kind of like reminder days, where we pass by all of our investigators and as many Menus Activos as we possibly can, and just hopefully help them remember to come to church and why it's so important.  After four hours of that we took a break for lunch because we didn't have comida with anyone.  Turns out we were both not feeling too hot but trying to keep going for the other.  It was extremely hard to pick ourselves off the ground to get back out there and get to work.  We made it to one more house before we called it quits and spent the rest of the day in bed.  There is no worse feeling then being a missionary unable to do work.  I don't think I've ever felt so worthless in my life.  I just watched the time fall by and couldn't stop thinking of all the people I could be seeing while I lay helplessly on my bed.  Turns out I had a 101 fever.....and a number of other problems.  We quickly sent an SOS out to a ton of members of our ward to see who could stop by to give me a priesthood blessing.  Sadly, this week was our ward´s trip to the temple. Basically our entire ward was on the bus, BUT THEN really cool things started happening.  We called Hermana Hurtado, who was on the bus, who stood up and announced to the whole bus that I needed help and to see if anyone could stop by for us.  In the next 10 minutes we recieved calls from all the amazing members of our ward who live in our area apologizing that their husbands and sons weren't home from the temple yet but they'd love to stop by if we needed anything.  I can only imagine how many fabulous prayers were sent out in behalf of Hermana Neuberger.  Our amazing ward mission leader, Mohommad, wanted to leave work early and come over.  He called about 5 times and kept trying to crack jokes cause he hated, "the voice that couldn't be Hermana Happy´s" that was coming out of the phone.  The Garcia family ended up coming to our aid.  They didn't have the chance to go to the temple with the rest of the ward because of work conflicts so they all showed up as nurses and fabulous priesthood holders.  My fever broke around 5 am so I was ready to go to church at 9, a little exhausted, but super happy and grateful for all the fabulous people in my life.

 

Basically moral of the story is that there's no greater thing then a priesthood blessing.  I'm so very grateful for the fact that I always have had three worthy priesthood holders in my home who could give me a blessing in a moments notice if I needed it.  I'm also extremely grateful for all the worthy priesthood holders I know out at school who are constantly there in our time of need and worthily carrying their priesthood.  It truly is a gift given by a loving Heavenly Father for our benefit.  I love what my comp said this week about how its impossible to put your hands on your own head, meaning that you can't bless yourself.  The priesthood can only work when it's used to bless others.

 

I also love my ward!!!! I love all the good people of Mexico who keep me smiling and just go out of their way to serve.  There are so many amazing families and people here that I thank the Lord everyday that I have had the opportunity to meet.  This work is truly the work of salvation and I feel truly blessed that the Lord saw fit to put me in a place where I could have a chance to get to know them all.

 

Thanks for your stories, your prayers, and your joy,

Love you all,

Hermana Neub

P.S. FINALLY MADE IT TO TOTALAPAN (where no missionaries have walked before)!!!!!!!! No one has ever heard of our church and it was just awesome, giddy, and kind of like a dream :D

 

Wowsers!

Well I feel like every week I say Ill tell you more next week and lets be honest.....that aint ever going to happen ;)

 

First, to answer my fabulous Father's questions, my companions name is Ashley Fernelius, she's 19, looks Mexican cause her mom's from Ecuador but she's lived in Las Vegas for all of her life.  She has 6 months on the misión but you'd think it was longer cause she's a champ.  She has 4 siblings: an older brother, a sister that has been reported to have a baby for the past 5 weeks and still nothing, a sister who's currently serving in Ecuador, and a younger brother who's Ali's age and basically an only child.  Anything else Daddyo?? ;)

 

Some realizations I had this week include:

    Mexico is REALLY cold.....or I'm becoming a baby.....i fear the later

    Mission life is very similar to college life when it comes to scrimping and saving....and the random food we eat :)

    Its sad being in a country that doesn't celebrate 4th of July (no worries, my clothes celebrated it for me), BUT my only birthday on the misión happens to fall on a Monday (P-day) AND happens to be the Mexican Independence day....LET THE PARTY BEGIN!!!!!!!

 

I guess I should probably finish up about last week really fast by filling in that Andrea was baptized last Saturday.....and it was the most stressful baptism of my life!!! The whole family showed up an hour early and then nobody else showed up for another hour....and then none of the people giving talks showed up so the missionaries were all adlibing stuff.  PLUS the guy who was going to do the baptism broke his arm (still did it anyway) and then was so nervous they had to baptize the poor girl four times!! To top it all off, the real kicker, somebody in the ward had died.....yup that's real life, write that down (Conner Black quote).  The funeral service naturally was scheduled for the same time as the baptism, so that's where our entire Ward was....crazy timing!

 

Now I guess well just skip to the other biggest highlight: The familia Becerril got baptized this Saturday, all five of them and that went off without a hitch and the whole Ward showed up! I sang I know that my redeemer lives, solo mind you so i was shaking like crazy, and it was great.  I know angels were for sure singing with me! Everyone was just so smiley and happy and absolutely amazing! Better yet was the next day in church when all of our investigators and MA (less actives) all sat on the right side, basically all around us, and Ferb and I were just laughing about how we were surrounded by our people.  AND THEN bishop asked Hno Becerril to give the closing prayer during sacrament meeting and everyone was blown away at how good a prayer it was.....HOLY COW THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!!!! Safe to say I was just filled with a crazy abundance of love all Sunday, even the familia Torres in Tlyacapan made us feel like rock stars and then we basically walked with angels and were saved from danger all night long and its safe to say the people here are just incredible and the greatest ever!!!!!!

Sorry this is even rougher then the last one.....I wish I could say more!