Nothing But Smiles

WELL Hello there all you fabulous people!!!

Hermana Hernandez in the hospital

First off I have to comment, because I promised my branch president that I would, we had 71 people in church this week. Yes that's right, SEVENTY-ONE!!! It was nothing short of a miracle.  The weird thing was that it didn't feel like there were any new people there or people who were returning because everyone was just so warmly accepted.  Basically it was thrilling.  Also, thanks to mother nature and Benjamin Franklin, we gained an hour...and most of Mexico was not aware so everyone showed up early, thinking they were late, and we not only started Sacrament Meeting on time BUT there were about 40 people there.  It just had me and Presidente with huge smiles on our face the entire time. 

Cristina's Baptism

Speaking of miracles, there were so many that happened this week I think it would be impossible to list them all but something that was certaintly a miracle for two sister missionaries who were crazy lost in what felt like tornado winds and a lot of rain was the random car that stopped and offered us a ride! I love all memebers in every part of Mexico! Our baptizm this week came together and we had an amazing turn out.  The coolest part was that the boyfriend from Utah gave a talk via skype! Probably the first and last time were going to do that but it was super cool! At the end of the service we were talking to her boyfriend and Cristina got all serious and told her boyfriend that she was going to serve a mission....the whole room got REALLY silent and the poor guy got super red....and then we all started laughing cause it was a joke.  Basically shes asked him a LOT about missions because she now has such a desire to serve one...so we shall se what actually ends up happening.  She would be such an amazig missionary and im kind of half supporting it.  The whole family is just so incrediable that i cant help but smile when Im around them.  The mom is mom, if that makes sense and I cant wait for Momma N to meet her cause I know theyll be great friends.

There truly is no greater joy then watching others take the steps that we know will bring them more happiness then we can express.  This week I was hit a little by a wall of pride that made me realize that I know this language now and I can really say stuff.  I think the best part is that I can now target peoples needs and really express to them the importance of the message we bring.  There is nothing like the

gospel and there certaintly is nothing else that is as precious in our lives.  I just love how the mission has given me such a different perspective on life and true purpose.  As we keep an enternal perspective we can have more joy then we can even fathom.

So much love,

Hermana Neuberger

Inspired Leaders

Well Hello all you Fabulous People Whom I LOVE,

Just because I'm pretty sure there are some rumors spreading a little too rapidly, I'd like to confirm that I am completely fine! Yes, there are certainly big problems going down in the boundaries of my mission' but I'm pretty sure the whole thing has only increased my perspective that the Lord calls inspired leaders.  In any other situations I'm sure the idea of moving over 100 young adults into safety would have been considered quite daunting, but here we're a team.  The mission is so well organized that everything moved like clock work and there was not a moment of panic.  Though I'm sure there was a ton of stress on President's part. Right now all the missionaries are living in the boundaries of Morelos.  They closed the four biggest zones of the mission and every area in Morelos is now stocked with two additional companionships.  Elder Chiser was a little shocked when he found out he was training....but I think he was a little more shocked when he found out that he now was going to have six more companions.  They walk down the street like an army and it's all quite amusing.  There are still a few elders living in the offices and doing random splits with different areas everyday, but overall everyone's settled into a random corner and really happy.  I'm so excited for our district meeting tomorrow because our district is going to have gone from 7 people last week to 35 people this week. GOSH, its going to be awesome.  Plus all my dear friends are now so close to me that I just want to go to Cuernavaca everyday so I can run into all of them!

The break down:

-Last Saturday we received a call that transfers would not be happening Monday.

-Monday we received a call that we would find out about transfers on Tuesday at district meeting. (1st trip to Cuernavaca)

-Tuesday we found out that they were pulling the sisters out of San Andres (the other companionship that lives with us) and closing the area for a time.  We gained Hna Harmon as part of our trio. (2nd trip to Cuerna for district meeting)

-Wednesday we headed to the offices (3rd trip to Cuernavaca) to drop off Hna Ayala and say goodbye...then we hiked to the estrella oro (where we were supposed to meet the zone leaders) which really isn't that far away from the offices...but if Hna Neuberger is leading to an unknown destination....well it took us a half hour, but we talked to some really cool people and ran into two sets of zone leaders who let us in on some transfer secrets so it was all good. We waited for about 20 minutes and then called about all the missionaries in our phone trying to figure out which was the number of the zone leaders.  Which resulted in some super funny phone calls.  We finally got in touch with the zone leaders only to find out that they were in the offices :l so we hiked it back (this time it only took 5 minutes).  Biggest secret surprise that was going down in the offices that we got to also know about, our zone leaders were becoming the APs....after only being our zone leaders for a week :/

-Thursday we received a call that we needed to be at the offices at 9 am

-Friday morning, as we were leaving the house, we received another call that we didn't need to go....only to receive a call two hours later that they needed us in Cuernavaca.  So we dropped everything and headed out to pick up our new companion.  (4th Trip to Cuernavaca) Her name is Hna Hernandez (also) and she's from Vera Cruz and just awesome and bubbly and perfectly happy about life, basically the description of every missionary I know.  She was a little bit sick and apparently had been sick for about 5 days.

-Saturday Hna Hernandez called the doctor and he asked her to come in for a check up....two hours later we got a call that she had forgotten all her cards and couldn't check into the hospital...so the never failing Tepoztlan sisters headed to Cuernavaca (5th Trip) to bring her insurance cards and money.

And so this week we never had a full day of work, only about 2 hours every night, which made things rather interesting and us determined to make every moment count just a little bit more.  Fun fact: it takes an hour and a half to get to Cuernavaca by bus...and then the same amount of time to get back...plus waiting for buses...

But despite it all we were still able to find quite a few blessings.  The German Family that I believe I mentioned last week, was one of the most amazing lessons I've ever had.  We were laughing so hard the entire time with there adorable children and just about other things.  They have officially nicknamed us Mary (because I'm American) and Maria and its just amazing.  When we asked them what there belief in God was they went off on a tangent for about 30 minutes where they basically described and talked about everything that we had planned to teach them.  I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone say that they believe an apostasy happened after the death of Christ and that there needed to therefore be a restoration of the truth except at church.  Also, that the only way that God could do that would be to call a new prophet for our time.  My comp and I just sat there gapping.  They're not promising us anything but even if were just planting a seed with them it will certainly be the greatest seed Ive ever planted!

A quote that I really liked this week comes from the always incredible Elder Holland (can't remember it word for word):

"Imperfect people is all God has ever had to work with.  Don't focus on your imperfections, look past them.  Better yet think of all you can become if with His help,  and then do it!"

I'm not here to be perfect, my imperfections get me down each and everyday.  But when I truly put it all in the Lords hands, that's when we see the miracles, that's when were lead by the spirit, that's when every single moment becomes sooo worth it that there aren't even words to explain.  Let the Lord morph you into your most perfect self! He wont do it against your will but with His help we can truly accomplish all things :)

With an abundance of love,

Hna Neuberger

So That Happened

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WHAT A WEEK!!!!

There once was a place called O, where once upon a time they almost killed the missionaries...let's just say the Elders came back from there a little worse for wear.  Every Catholic church (there's one every two or three blocks in all the areas of T) has a loud speaker at the top of its steeple to announce when mass is going to start and other prayers. The dear people of O used this speaker to announced to the whole community NEVER to talk to the young men in white shirts and ties.  Better yet if you see them, get rid of them.  So yeah were not suppose to go there....but I'm new here and so is my comp so how am I suppose to know these things right?? I'm all about seeing every part of my area because my thought is that if we don't go to every pueblo then possibly we are missing out on a golden person who wants to hear more of our message.  That being said I can see why O is off limits, the people really don't like us, but I survived and the best part is that we got to find a less active family that was thrilled to see us.  Positive or Negative?...I think it was more positive! ALSO there once was a place called A where the people threw rocks at the missionaries when they tried to visit a member....needless to say, I've been there too....there should really be a sign or something ;) I think the best part about these areas is that there is no cell phone service (let's be honest there is no cell phone service in almost all of T) but there must be angel service because not only were we protected BUT we found some truly amazing people!!!!

I guess that was basically our whole week, the best way to describe it, MIRACLES! We were walking down the street last Sunday night and stopped to talk to a young family.  Turns out the mom had talked to the missionaries before about 10 years ago.  My comp and I still can't describe why the spirit was so powerful during our first lesson with them, but we both left just in awww with the biggest of smiles across our faces.  They're such an amazing family with four kids under the age of 8 (with the craziest nagwat names you've ever heard so I can't even come close to saying them).  I think my favorite part of the entire lesson was when Maya (the mom) committed to be baptized and the husband´s (Ramon) jaw dropped straight to the ground.  He said that his wife never commits to anything if she's not certain about it and that she's never been super big on religion.  Basically he convinced himself that if this was something his wife saw as a turning point then he did too and quickly agreed to be baptized also!

Wednesday the sister training leaders did divisions with us, which was just what I needed to remind me of how lessons works when your companion has more time on the mission then you.  It felt kind of relaxing to let them take the lead and to really listen louder.  It was also a huge wake up call that in a lot of our lessons I've been really focused on trying to follow the lessons and make sure my comp knows the order instead of following the Spirit which is what it's all really about.  Safe to say we had a day full of finding amazing people at every turn.  It just reopened my eyes to how amazing my area is and how much work there is to do here.  It made me even more desirous to get my hands dirty and just talk to EVERYONE! Basically I was super spiritually renewed and it felt so good.

The next day we finished the last segment of the districts, and with that ending, and the memory of the spirit that was here with the sister training leaders, we hit the day with a force of a thousand winds and a ton of faith and hope.  And basically when you enter the day with hope like that you see everything as a miracle and a blessing and there is nothing better!!! (Side note: I'm trying a lot harder to note every blessing I see in my day and trust me it brings so much extra happiness that I basically burst with smiles)  We were walking down the street and passed a lady reading the Bible on her porch and I felt impressed to talk to her so we stopped to ask her what she was reading about...."oh just James chapter 1," she responded and I just about had a heart attack! So she invited us in and we talked about how true James 1:5 is and how we can always ask God for help and shared the Jose Smith story.  And that was just the start of blessing after blessing after blessing of that day.  We got lost walking (I would love to know how many miles I walk each day.  Let's just say going from Ocotes to Tierra Blanca to return to Ocotes and after to San Jose was a doozie that left me cramping at the end of the night.  The members think were absolutely crazy for ever walking that, but we don't have 30 minutes to wait for a cambi and we're cheap and don't want to pay for cambis.) BUT ANYWAY, we ended up in Xilotepec which is the neighboring barrio (yup here the whole place is divided into barrios, as every good Catholic city, where each barrio has its own church in the center.  Basically it's as if we lived in Utah and our stake center was in the center and then their were the different church buildings around it) BUT ANYWAY we found ourselves in Xilotepec that's the neighboring Barrio to Tierra Blanca, except that its higher up on the mountain and has the most amazing view of everything.  It was so pretty that we're going back today to take pictures and just enjoy the hike.  As we were trying to figure out how to get to Tierra Blanca we found more amazing people.  And basically in quick summary we taught the family Vargas (less active) and they all came to church this Sunday, we found a less active that had been praying that we would stopped by, an old investigator wants to take another go, and that amazing family that I mentioned before kept us smiling. The moment that capped it all right before we entered the house Saturday night was when we found the German family (that I've been praying we would find again) sitting in one of the cafes.  At first we just walked by and exchanged hellos, then kept walking, but I paused long enough for my comp to ask what was up.  I told her that this was an answer to my prayers, but I didn't know how to go back and talk to them without it being weird (yup, I'm a failure what can I say) but my comp, being the amazing person she is, insisted that we needed to talk to them and dragged me back...where I did all the talking in a mixture of English, Spanish, and German.  Basically it was awesome and we're going to meet with them later this week. I was so giddy that I just fist pumped it out all night long ;)

I guess all I'm trying to say is that I have a firm faith in the Lord.  Not only that He is there watching over me, but more importantly that He can do all things.  Therefore with Him I know that I can truly do all things.  I've felt the lows and the highs of the mission, but I'm certainly appreciating the highs more then ever.  I look all around me and all I see is miracles and all I can see in the future is loads more.  Here it's safe to say there are a lot of people that don't like us, but once upon a time they didn't like the prophets of old either.  Once upon a time they even rejected Christ.  But amidst all of that there are those who are ready and there are those who have such a great desire to follow Christ that those who don't are quickly forgotten.  The hard times get us down, but the good times and amazing experiences are so sacred that they fill us up to the bursting point.  I know Tepoztlan is on a mountain, and possibly that helps, but I don't think I've ever felt so close to heaven then in my time here! Angels are truly walking with us and directing our paths.

In other news I found the coolest scripture this morning and really want to share it with all of you! In a very unread section of first Nephi(chapter 17) a scripture caught my attention so much that I would mind giving a talk on it for about five minutes.  In verse 9, Nephi asks the question "Lord, Where should I go to find..." (klee spanish translation).  It had me thinking all day about how that needs to be our first source to turn and our first reply to this work the Lord has called us to do....so I pulled a Holland and took some liberty with the scripture and morphed it to us in the mission field.  Yep again another rough Spanish translation of what I wrote in Spanish, "Where should i go to find the knowledge I need to teach,  in order to do my part to have the tools to help in building your kingdom here (insert your area), following the way you have shown?"  And directly following in the next verse the Lord answers with where Nephi needs to go.  Like I said I could basically go on for an hour about how much I love this but I'll let you all come to your own conclusions.

May the Lord continue to bless each and every one of you and you put forth the effort.  May we all more readily recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives!!!

So much love,
Hermana Happy ;)

Still Swimming

Whelp I ALWAYS do that! I promise amazing stuff for next week.....and then I cant even imagine/think about what it was I was going to tell.  Whoops!  One thing that I for sure thought about a lot this week, or maybe better put finally understand, is why the FBI and CIA love hiring people from BYU so much.  We are all natural finders.  The mission trains us super well.  We go out every morning with the goals to find so and so and such and such and we don't come home till we've found them.    Lets just also throw in the fact that Tepoztlan is the worst numbered pueblo in the world so finding anybody on a good day takes expert skills. I love the surprise on peoples faces when they open the door and are like, "how on earth did you find me!?" All I can think of to say is, ".....well you gave us your direction.....and we have time...." I just love how that's truly our goal here, to find those who want to hear more about the gospel.  We're here to find so that we can also share the great gift that we have.

Really quick recap of my bday: A family that I love (even more now that I have 5 weeks in this area) invited me over for a bday meal....where we ate everything Mexican.  There were quesadillas, sopes, tostados, tacos, y empanadas and wow was mind blowing good! After that they brought out the cake.  During this whole party two other families called saying they had something special for my bday and that I should come to their house.....and the family I was with stole the phone both times to inform the other families that they had won....awesome!! After the cake, the little girls put in their Disney sing along disk and a lot of dancing and singing ensued.  Basically I really cant think of a more perfect bday experiencia.  And then afterwards we quickly passed by the other two houses where we recieved more cake and happiness.  I love the people here! They're just soooo amazing!

Tepoztlan is certainly hard to describe, it's certainly not easy.  The work here is really slow, but things are growing in a way that puts a smile on my face.  This week we finally had new people to teach and it felt so good to finally teach again that I didn't want the appointments to end.  But at the same time finding all of these less actives that have lost connection with the church is truly rewarding.  I find myself becoming more and more involved everyday and sometimes it certainly stresses me out but all is well.  There's so much to do I just have to do it one step at a time. The works slow, but there's so much work to do that I'm not complaining.  Right now we are trying to find every less active on the ward list and we have had quite a lot of success. The less actives that we find every day are truly thankful for our visits cause they haven't had contact with the church for years.  Being back to square one is a crazy humbling experience but its truly amazing and powerful to have my testimony of what this area can truly become! I can see the big picture because I've been here before.  I truly think that's the way it is in every moment of our life, we can see the big picture, the struggle is trying to find out how exactly we are going to finally make it there and color in each part. That's why God's plan is perfect! We know all the steps and the possible future results but we have to fill in the middle parts with our actions and what we put into it.  The overall picture/plan of our Heavenly Father is super clear but he leaves us the task of coloring in each piece day by day.  I'm grateful for the struggle and the effort it takes on my part cause that's certainly when i have the greatest chance to grow. 

Love,

Hermana Neuberger

This I Know

On Saturday morning I phoned Hermana Kusch from the doctor's office where Hermana Hernandez was having her eyes examined (it's still pretty bad, but were resting it).  I thought we were just going to talk about my companion, but I also received some shocking news of my own.  Grandpa Neuberger had passed away.  It wasn't a sudden surprise, we were all aware that his time was short, but the news still took me back for a minute.  In his current state my grandpa truly had no idea who I was but that never changed for a moment how much I loved him or all the times that we shared together.  My instant reaction was shock as the news hit me like ice and a few tears slipped out with a gasp.  But as instantly as that hit another feeling washed over me more powerful then the first. Arms of comfort enveloped me and I felt a tremendous peace.  In the words of Elder Holland, "I testify that angels are still sent to help us...usually such beings are not seen.  Sometimes they are.  But seen or unseen they are ALWAYS near!" I know my grandpa is now here beside me.

One of the greatest messages we get to share with people each and everyday is that of the plan of Salvation.  Indeed we are here on earth for a purpose to experience the true joys of life.  While every life is different,we all suffer different trials, each of us can be aware of our divine destiny as sons and daughters of God.  Though we are separated from Him for a season we will find incredible joy in the day when we get to see Him once again face to face.  That is the message of joy we share: life has

purpose and not only now but for the eternities!

There is one person who is central to this plan, without whom none of this would be possible, our Savior and Brother Jesus Christ.  Many people know that Christ died for us but don't understand the true significance of those words. Jesus Christ willingly died for us and in doing so opened the gate so that we might once again live with our beloved Father in Heaven.  Because He lives we don't have to face the future hopeless because we truly know that death is not the end.  When Christ rose once again from the tomb on the third day, he opend the way that we all might also be resurrected.  In doing so the grave has no victory.  Truly we will live again.  Not just me. Not just you, but every mortal being will have this opportunity.  And in that day we will be made perfect, glorified, and whole.

Though my grandfather left this earth in a broken vessel, he is not that way now.  Yes, he is indeed in a better place as people often say.  That better place is the spirit world where he might rest for a time before the Savior comes again.  Though I'll miss my grandfather more then words can express, I know I will see him again.  I know it! I also know that he will be in perfect form and quickness of mind ready to continue on in the work of the Lord whatever that calling may be.  I know that through the priesthood power of God, that my family can be and indeed will be together for all eternity.  Yes, the time without him will be tough, but the thought of eternity brings me great joy, because its safe to say that's a truly long time.

I know that my grandfather is walking beside me.  The Lord never intended for us to be left alone.  "In times of special need, God sent angels, divine messengers, to bless His children, reassure them that heaven was always very close and that His help was always very near." Each of us has our own angels in our lives.  Some of them or very real and come as the people we know.  And then their are those unseen,sent from the other side of the veil to lift us up,stand by our side, fight our battles, fill us with comfort, and help us carry on.  I am truly grateful for the truly remarkable amount of angels in my life.  Each and everyone of you truly are an angel sent from up above to help morph me in to the person I am today.  I hope that for a moment I could be an angel in your life and help brighten a day.  The Lord has truly blessed me with the greatest friends, teachers and family I could ever ask for.  Each person a unique angel of guidance, comfort laughter,joy, peace, strength, endurance, confidence and more then anything love!  But more then that I'm grateful for the unseen angels in my life who though I can't physically see, I know they're there.  I'm not alone, I have never been alone.  One day I will have the opportunity to see my grandpa again, to give him a hug and talk for hours...but for now I take great joy and strength that he is here by my side guiding me on.

I am truly grateful for this gospel in my life.  For the knowledge, strength, and comfort it gives me during hard times, but more importantly for the joy and pure happiness it gives every day of every minute of every week! The Church is true!

I SWEAR I'll tell about my birthday and all the in between next week!!!!

So much love :)

Sorry Dad. You're gonna have to edit this like crazy because the space bar doesn't work on this computer like half the time and I wrote this in 10 minutes and don't have time to check it ;)

Editor's Note: It was kind of like a word puzzle, but I think I got it fixed.

Love,

Hermana Neuberger

The Change Up

Well naturally the week that I had a thousand things to share also happened to be the week of my birthday and I had 85 messages in my inbox....THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BDAY WISHES!!!!! I consider myself blessed to know you all.  I tried my best to reply to all of them but if i missed one just know how much I appreciated it!

First off read this: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-way?lang=eng (truly this is amazing!!!!)

Second of all: WOW MIRACLES HAPPEN WHEN YOU JUST BELIEVE!!!!! Some of you recieved my complaint email from last week and know that in reality things here in Tepoztlan are crazy difficult.....SCRATCH THAT....better said things here in Tepoztlan just needed a little push to really start getting the ball rolling! We had branch council for the first time in 3 years this Sunday and it was extremely effective.  I was so excited that we could get everyone there and participating that I couldn't stop smiling during the whole thing.  I also couldn't stop smiling all Sunday when 10 less actives that we had contacted that week showed up to church.  Yup, were hopefully now 10 stronger ;) I was also called on to speak in church (supresa!) and, not to give myself a pat on the back, spoke for 10 minutes about the power of hope using an Uchtdorf talk I had read that morning and other random scriptures.  The thing I'm not aware of is how many people understood...oh well, I try :) Before I got here they couldn't find anyone who wanted to feed the missionaries....now everyone in the branch is trying to get on the calender more then once a week and always telling us that if we need anything to stop by their house.  A lady in our branch is buying us shoes because she just wants to show how much she loves us (and because the holes in my shoes are so large i can stick my hand through).  AND the greatest lady ever in our branch must have my mother's number because she called me this morning and invited me over to her house for a birthday meal and cake! THANKS MOM ;)

Third thing: I made a LOT of realizations this week! Realization one: MY COMP IS TAYLOR VOELKER TO A TEE! Yup be jealous :) Realization two was that Matt Olsen would love to live here.....if you know Matt Olsen I hope that now gives you a better idea of what this place is like! 

Fourth thing: Everyday I'm from a different country, but never the United States.  I love how people look at me and instantly know I'm from the US.  They try to speak to me in English and I pretend that I don't understand.  That confuses them so much it always gives me a good laugh. I've recently tested out telling people I'm from Mexico...and they believe me!

Whelp I have sooooo much more to share but time's up!!

Love you all soooo very much and I promise real stuff and pictures next week

Hang Loose, Man

Id like to start out by trying to explain my new area a little bit more so everyone can get the true feel of what I'm living and then, yes Dad, I'll answer ALL your questions.  Tepoztlan is a huge tourist attraction because of the pyramid ruins that are at the top of one of the mountains...excuse me hills according to the locals.  For some reason I have yet to discover, because no one knows the answer, there is a huge Indian influence/hippy influence/EuropeanFrench influence.  In essence the result is a mix of confusion and some pretty outlandish styles with cute little cafes mixed in.  It's safe to say that I now know where all the hippies migrated too after flower power died out...because some of these people are rather old.  Tepoztlan is built on what in Mexico is only considered to be a steep hill, so basically I live on a mountain.  I've officially labeled the map in skier fashion and do my best to avoid all the double black diamond runs that seem to come up all too often.  Safe to say my calves will be huge by the time I leave this area just from taking the hike to church each Sunday.  The streets are SUPER old and Mexican cobblestoned so I've biffed it real good a few times! One of my favorite parts about Tepoztlan (which I might have commented on last week) is that its famous for Tepozt Nieve, a huge ice cream parlor!!!!! They have over 200 flavors and there's one big one and then 20 little ones on every corner....well you know how Neubergers are about ice cream, but I've been surprisingly good at resisting.  Fun fact: my favorite flavor right now is Mil Flores which is frozen yogurt with a bunch of flower petals mixed in and a little bit of white chocolate (RIQUÍSIMO!!!!!).  It rains about everyday so there are a ton of streams running through the city and moss everywhere with huge trees and a ton of greenery.  Basically it's crazy beautiful and reminds me a lot of Colorado (that one place we visited as a family when we were really little).  Another huge plus is that there are wild fruit trees and blackberries EVERYWHERE so I now have a free collection of guava in my fridge and eat handfulls of blackberries on my way to appointments.

I live in what i feel like is a hotel because its just that crazy nice...we're also the only ones who live in the entire building.  There are four of us and I kind of feel like I'm doing the whole apartment/college thing all over again.  In my greatest dreams Sisters Chynoweth and Sturt would be here as my companions (the trio we want to happen so badly) and Capener and Ferb would be the other companionship living with us.  But clearly President has something else in mind for all of us...one day!  My comp's name is Hermana Hernandez.  Shes 26 years old and from Tobasco, Mexico.  She has three siblings but they are all older and married and have families.  She's super short, but amazing things come in small packages and it's the same with her! My comp and I are the only ones that work in Tepoztlan.  Though the other sisters live with us they ship out to their area everyday.  Their ward is just big enough to be classified as a ward but they have a beautiful church that actually happened to be the first one built in Morelos (cool fun fact)!  The closest other elders to my area are either an hour and a half away (by bus) in Cuernavaca, 45 minutes away by cambi in Yautepec (my first District Leader, Elder Bethancourt), or a little less then 2 hours away in Casasanos (my old district leader, Elder Maradiaga).  I think the closest sisters are the ones who took over Oaxtepec when I left....sorry Mom!  Here in town there's a whole lot of drinking and other fun substances going down, but that's just Mexico and I feel pretty safe!

I have to admit my first Sunday was super hard here because I super missed all the familiar faces and amazing families of my past ward in dear old Oaxtepec.  Plus I'm once again in a house of prayer instead of a chapel.  Church started and there were about 10 people there. By the end of Sacrament there were about 30 at the most, 6 of them being people we brought.  I looked at the empty chairs around me and just thought, "HOLY COW THERE'S A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE HERE!!!" This Sunday was Fast Sunday, being the first Sunday of the month and that simply was able to lighten my spirits like nothing before.  We might be super, super small here in Tepoztlan, but when the members bore their testimonies there was nothing small about it.  There was power in their words and conviction in their eyes.  They knew it and they wanted everyone else to know it.  The cool part about only having so few people is that everyone had the chance to bare their testimony. At first when church had started I greatly wondered why they don't just combine the barely a ward that's in San Andres with the branch in Tepoztlan, but as we gathered in our little room with the seven other members of the relief society I realized how little it mattered.  The spirit was there and it was something you could feel and recognize during the entire church services. A scripture kept coming to mind, "where one or two are gathered in my name, there I will be also"

There is literally never a spare moment/moment to loose here because there's always a MA to find and a billion people to contact in the street. My companion is amazing! She literally has no fear to talk to everyone, and so she does. With all of our investigators she always lays out our purpose to make sure this is something they really want and also so they realize all the blessings. She might not know all the little things about mission life or how to do the numbers but she can teach with power and conviction that is unmatched which I think is simply amazing. We have naturally had a ton of Spanish speaker English speaker confused conversations where neither of us knows whats going on, but it always ends with a good laugh. She is for sure a fabulous addition to the area and I think her age helps. She has a greater desire to learn every aspect of mission life so she can do everything right! It's gonna be a great 5 more weeks :)

I truly am glad for my chance to work here in Tepoztlan. I'll be honest, there were a few times yesterday where I wanted to jump on a cambi or run back to my old area (which is really close) where people would be waiting with open arms, but then I remembered how it wasn't always that way. I had to make it through a few weeks of no investigators and not knowing anyone in the ward to make it to the end result of tearful goodbyes. To every end there has to be a beginning and this new beginning, though rocky at times, has a Heavenly Father blessed/promised result. Therefore I have a sure faith in the future. In the words of Elder Uchtdorf, "In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. Endings are not our destiny. The more we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that endings here in mortality are not endings at all. They are merely interruptions—temporary pauses that one day will seem small compared to the eternal joy awaiting the faithful. How grateful I am to my Heavenly Father that in His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings."

I truly am grateful for all that my Heavenly Father has in store for me here! For the new families we found last week and who made it to church.  For their pure desires to know Gods plan for them.  For my dear companion.  And for all those truly amazing people in Oaxtepec who told me to call them if I ever needed anything, no matter where I was, and they would ALWAYS come running for me.  What a happy reunion it will be to see them all again one day, but for now its time to make the memories here!!!

With so much love,

Hermana Neuberger