Happy Endings

Yeah, I know that this is still not my last blog letter but I feel like so many things are currently coming to an end that it’s just appropriate.  In this week we will be receiving a new mission president! As of this week I will only have one more friend from freshman year who is still on a mission.  As of this week I am officially a “valiant” missionary.  As of this week I am now one of the oldest sisters in the mission (time wise) and the next in line for “death”.  As of this week everything just got way too real! I think the greatest thing is that one of the assistants to the president will also be going home with me, so every time we see each other he asks, "como esta....muerto?" (How are you, Dead One) and it’s really funny.  Last week at our food appointment, Elder Estrada (the AP) was shaking my comp’s hand and she goes, "Ewwww, Elder did you forget to shower this morning?! Because you smell like death!" HAHAHA gosh my comps such a fireball! (Editor’s note: for those of you who don’t know, missionaries jokingly refer to all aspects of their mission time with terms of life. Their first are is where they are “born.” Their trainer is their “parent.” And when it’s time to go home they are “dying.”)

Happy ending number 1: I think President was trying to make me the happiest missionary every when he moved me to this area because I’ve had the joy of sending off two groups of valiants.  When Garcia’s group was all gathering in the offices to go to Presidents house for the final dinner, I was there waiting for the AP to show us how to get to food.  So naturally I got to spend like 30 minutes just loving her! And just last week all the valiants were coming back into the offices.  I knew what day they were coming and had saved up a ton of reasons to pass by the offices that day...and all of them fell through because the elders were like, "We got it under control!" But Heavenly Father had my back.  The Hermana that it touched to give us food had just given us money so I had to drop the money off for the elders.  I snuck right into the offices and found out that I had to pick up a few sisters also to take to my house.  I was upstairs and everyone else was down stairs and stressed about flight plans so I didn’t want to enter and cause chaos....but let’s be honest, yes I did!!! I sent a messenger (Elder Estrada) to tell Ferb that I was upstairs and she hit me so hard that we almost fell over and took my companion out all at the same time! I haven’t bawled saying goodbye to anyone recently (because everyone’s going to be really close to Utah really soon), but I instantly started crying! I haven’t seen her in like a year so it was the best reunion/farewell ever where we just couldn’t stop hugging! Naturally Skinner came running too and joined in on the intense hug, which made me laugh really really hard! There were so many people to say goodbye to and I love them all so much that I can’t truly accept that they’re gone! Every single one of the 25 were like my older siblings because they have literally been here since I started the mission, a lot of them were trainers of people from my generation, I’ve served with all of them, and almost all the elders have been my zone leaders or district leaders! Some of them I don’t even know that well, I’ve just heard of them because they’re legends, and I was surprised to find that they knew me! We were in the offices for a good hour and a half.....and we ate real triple chocolate cake!!!!!!!!! I have been so blessed to serve with the most amazing people ever and make the greatest friends!

Happy ending number 2:  I found out a ton of joyful surprises this week while I was with the valiants this week that had a huge impact on me.  I feel like the mission just tries to remind us over and over and over again that we will never truly know the impact that we have on people.  Truly the seeds we plant will be harvested and I’ve had the blessing in my mission to see these seeds be harvested! If you go back in my emails to about exactly a year ago, you’ll find the story of Alberto, a man we contacted late one night in a cambi.  We only said about three things to him, (Here’s a card, the church’s direction, and when we meet), but he felt the spirit and came to church the next day as a complete surprise.  We began teaching him and discovered that he smoked about 40 cigarettes everyday.....so it was something really hard for him to overcome.  Three weeks later, both Ferb and I left the area.  We heard that the other sisters dropped him really fast cause they didn’t think he was going to progress.  Ferb and I were truly sad because we had always felt that one day he would be a stake president due to his ability to feel the spirit! Well the night that I got to see Ferb again she told me the greatest of news, Alberto had been baptized three weeks ago!!!!!!!! I started crying all over again, happier than happy that the Lord had truly never given up on him.  Five seconds later, Elder Matos walked up to shake my hand and was super excited to tell me news.  "Hermana, do you remember the family in the corner store in Chilpo?? The ones that you gave a Book of Mormon too and basically taught all the lessons to by just gifting them folletos everytime you passed by??" "of course I remember them!" "Well they’re getting baptized soon! They want to tell you thank you for all you tried to do for them!" WOW, was really all I could say and the best part is that that is only the beginning to all the amazing things I’ve recently heard!

Truly we are instruments in the Lords hands every day.  There are times when I get angry because I didn’t have anyone I contacted that day accept an appointment to return.  There are days when I feel like I haven’t accomplished a whole lot, but those are the days when I’m focusing on my own success and not on the success of others.  As true instruments of the Lord, we talk to everyone to make them aware of this great message we share.  We share this message with everyone to help them see how much the Lord wants to guide and bless their lives.  And we share it with all of our hearts so they can see the blessings.  We share and we share and we invite and we share all day long, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after half a year.  The number of people we talk to is uncountable, but the work we do truly changes lives and the lives that we touch are even more difficult to count. I’m so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to see so many seeds bloom into gorgeous flowers and to see the spirit of the Lord touch the hearts of the people that we meet.  One of the greatest parts of missionary work is the mark that we leave behind.  It may be in a month, it might be in a year, it might even be in 10 years, but the Lord will make sure that our seeds were not planted in vain and that one day, every person will have the chance to accept this glad tiding and learn the truth! There is no greater work!

Familiar Faces, Amazing Places

First off thank you for the Christmas package Frontenac ward!!! Loved every letter and I’ll keep them forever!

These past two weeks have been like an old comp rehash and I just can’t get over how much I love my companions! On Sunday morning our doorbell rang and I knew it could only be one person, GARIE! We hugged it up, like seriously don’t think we stopped hugging, and laughed for way too short a time and then she was gone! Two days later Hna Sturt was in my house and we were happy as two larks.  The next day Hna Hernandez was sleeping with us and we were happy all night and just trying to make every second count in the little time that we had....because we might never see each other again :( (yeah the Familia Neu was separated two weeks ago when Hernandez and her comp were emergency transferred to Chilpo). And today I topped it off with a visit with Chynoweth and Skinner.  All I lack is the beautiful face of Ferb! BOY HAVE I BEEN BLESSED!!!! Like more than I could ever imagine! Great friends, great times :)

I wanted to write an odd to the family Garcia to put here as a thank you for just how amazing they have been in the course of the last week.  On Saturday I received a phone call from a voice I instantly recognized.  Apparently President Kusch had given the Garcia family permission to kidnap me for the night and to do whatever, with the tag line, "I trust you guys." So we went to dinner, but better than anything I just got to spend more time with GARIE +her amazing family and hear all about things in Chilpo and in real life! AND THERE WAS NOTHING LIKE THE MIRACLES SHE TOLD ME!!!! When we were together in Chilpancingo we had been teaching two cousins who were our ages and they were the most amazing people ever.  Adi had gone to church three weeks in a row and was reading the Book of Mormon.  She just couldn’t get over how good she felt every time we came and how perfect our timing was when we first found them.  When we left Chilpo it was really hard to leave them, but we had faith that we would soon see their faces in the baptism video that we get to watch every three months.  Well while Garie was walking along the beaches in some city south of Acapulco, she ran into Adi who had recently moved there for work!!! Talk about small world! She hadn’t been to church after we left because the elders had only passed by once and it was really awkward.  But the Lord put her in Garcia’s path and now once again she’s meeting with the missionaries! Truly the Lord is mindful of all of us, AND he doesn’t give up on anyone until they have returned to Him!

So that was the Garcia/Neu miracle of the week (that and that everyone remembered me in Chilpo and were quite confused why I wasn’t there with Garcia).  But there were also an incredible number of miracles that went down in our area this week.  Last week we hit rock bottom; 0 investigators, 0 con fecha, and 1 in church who is an eternal investigator so it didn’t really count.  I was mad at the world, but I tried to take a daily dosage of humility pills and just see what the Lord had to offer us.  Because we didn’t have anyone to teach we just rolled up our sleeves and went to work talking to anyone we could find.  The Lord not only answered, He gave double! I think the greatest example is that of Lucio, an old man of 75 that we had just started teaching.  He was quitting smoking really really really well until the day we found him on a street corner smoking a whole box because he had just found out that he was getting thrown in jail for something he hadn’t done and there was nothing he could do about it.  We were crushed because finding him had been such a miracle! Well we saw him in the street this week and he had the greatest news, HE WASNT GOING TO JAIL ANYMORE, for once justice had come through and the real criminal was going to jail.  Well more than ever he was ready to progress.  It’s been a miracle in itself that he has been able to progress even a little bit because he can’t read and his comprehension level is about that of a 12 year old.  We use a lot of pictures as we teach him to help him remember things.  This week we talked it over and felt impressed that we needed to give him a Book of Mormon and invite him to read it.....yup a Book of Mormon to the guy who doesn’t know how to read.  We taught him a small chunk of the first lesson and then I promised him that if he had faith in the Lord, He would open up the means that Lucio could read it.  We came back two days later to the biggest miracle of my mission! Lucio simply said, "I know it’s all true!" We were a little confused, "You know what’s true?" "I know the whole Joseph Smith story is true!" We were blown away because we hadn’t even talked about Joseph Smith yet so we calmly asked him how he knew.  Turns out he had read the lesson one pamphlet 4 times in preparation for our visit because we always ask so many questions and he wanted to be able to answer them for once.  The man, who doesn’t know how to read, read the pamphlet four whole times AND got an answer! That’s what I call a miracle!

"Thou hast seen and heard all this; and will ye not declare them?...All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; who among them hath declared these things unto them? The Lord hath loved him; yea, and he will fulfil his word which he hath declared by them" 1 Nephi 20:6, 14

The Lord fulfills our promises.  He puts power to our words.  I’m here to declare this message because I know He is here supporting me no matter what!

Smell the Coffee

I think the greatest blessing about being a missionary is the continual confirmation that "whom the Lord calls, He qualifies. That doesn’t mean that you’re the only one who could do it right.  At times you might think others could possibly do it better, but more than anything the Lord knows that you can do it the right way, HIS WAY, and that’s why He wanted you and only you! I think it’s also important to remember that "whom the Lord loves, He chastens" and sometimes the chastening makes you feel like you’re crawling through the dark and all alone instead of following His glorious light.  If there is something I learned this week (a rather hard one), is that there is a reason for all things and though the answer won’t always come at this exact moment or right when we need to know that there is still hope, we will ALWAYS have a chance to feel the power of God’s love.  We will always have a chance to feel His blessings and power in our lives and it’s those tender mercies that make us strong during the greatest/most difficult times in our lives.  One of my favorite quotes (I believe it’s from Pres. Eyring’s talk, “Mountains to Climb”) says, "With faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the hardest along with the happiest of times can be seen as a blessing" (see the talk for a better quotation). As President Kusch would say, ADELANTE CON VALOR (and I would add, with faith in Christ)!!!!!

We got a call about Elder Perry passing away Saturday night, it was really shocking cause I didn’t think he would be the next one even if he was 92.  I for sure remember that night in SLC when I mistook him for Bro Hillemeyer in our ward, it was actually the first thing I said to my companion when we found out.  Pretty funny!  I’m feeling that Elder Rasband will be the next called.  He has like over 10 years as a member of the presidency of the seventy, but I know who ever the Lord calls will be the right person and will just be amazing!

In one of Sunday's talks a woman told a story of a chef whose daughter came to him complaining of too much stress and too much suffering. He didn't say anything, but took her into the kitchen where he began to boil water in three pots. In the first he put some carrots, in the second an egg, and in the third some coffee beans. After a few minutes his daughter became impatient and asked what it all meant. He showed her the carrots and how they had become soft. He cracked the egg and it was now firm from the boiling. And he had her sip and smell from the third pot. He then explained that we can respond in one of three ways when things get difficult and the water starts to boil.  We can shrink and become soft like the carrots although we were strong and firm to begin with. We can let our tender hearts become stiff and unchangeable like the egg, or we can release the best of ourselves and make use of the trial to make something and everything around us better. I thought it was a good analogy and should be taken for its meaning. Unfortunately, a couple of members thought that it was bad to make coffee a positive thing in an analogy. Oh well, I think you understand the point.  I will try my hardest to not endorse coffee haha.  But it was an extremely hard week and I have to say that I might have let myself become an egg, but a letter from Hna Garcia about how much of a difference we made in Chilpo made me realize that I want that same change here.  I want my area to be its own branch so members can get to church always and just have a super strong community and so many more opportunities to share the gospel.  I’m gonna become coffee!!!!!!!!! ;)

Love to all,

Hermana Neuberger

It Wasn't Us

So kind of second week  "ish" opening an area.  Naturally, our miracles were up and it was time to get crazy to work.  It was a rather hard week, but we were trying so hard to reach every possible goal we had set.  We passed by everyone's house on Saturday and found next to no one.  The people we did find couldn't come to church the next day, so we were really stressed, scratch that, I was really stressed! We spent the good portion of 2 hours calling every investigator, MA, reference, AI, and contact that we could find a number for to boost them up and invite them to church.  We got next to no answers.....

So the next morning we went to work knocking doors, trying to find people at home, trying to remind people of the importance of the sacrament...and nothing, no one was home.  So we ran to the church for ward council and spent the little time we had before and after the meeting calling more and more people and still getting more answering machines then anything else.  We said a quick prayer and then just put on the smiles to say hi to the members that were arriving.  Basically it was one of the weirdest feelings of my entire mission.  Yes, I was still crazy stressed as always but I was at peace.  There was literally nothing more I could do!

Church started and we had two investigators there, and so I was happy and thankful and telling the Lord all about it.  I decided not to look around that day or keep turning around to check the door because I couldn't imagine who else could possibly walk in. At the end of church, I stood up and turned around, and SHOCK.... there in the back was an old investigator that we had not even called because we hadn't been able to find her in two weeks. And just two rows behind her sat a family that we had contacted the other day!

So maybe the Lord still has plenty of miracles in store for us. "¿Por que ha dejado Dios de ser un Dios de milagros, y sigue siendo todavia un Ser inmutable? Y he aqui, os digo que el no cambia; si asi fuese, dejaria de ser Dios; y el no cesa de ser Dios, y es un Dios de milagros!" (Mormon 9:19) I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father who is so willing to bless our lives but also lets us stretch ourselves first so that we can become all we need to be!

Love to All!

Hermana Neuberger

Cuernavaca Good Times

Well I can’t even begin to describe the positives of this area, because there are far too many and the whole place is so beautiful! I love it despite the fact that my knees are about ready to fall off due to the crazy hills and thousands of stairs.  I think one of the greatest parts about this area is that the office Elders and the Assistants to the President share the ward with us, so the meals that they actually come to are a blast! I officially feel like a secret agent due to the office Elders.  This week has been interesting because not one of the food appointments has been in our area and if I’m getting lost in my own area imagine how great it is when I have to go explore in someone else’s.  BUT luckily the "headquarters" has my back.  I call in to tell them where the food appointment is (they naturally have no idea where it is because they rarely leave the offices) they type the address of the member into Google maps and BAM, I’m getting a fully guided tour to the house of the member.  Something like this, "are you looking at the blue house? Okay so you’re going to walk five more houses down to the orange house and there will be an alley way....don’t go into the alley way." hahaha thanks Elders.

The not so convenient part is that President Kusch lives around the corner which can be rather embarrassing.  I haven’t even been that lost this week, but the other day coming back from lunch we had no idea where to get a bus to get back to our area so we were crossing streets and looking crazy lost.  Out of nowhere we hear someone call out, "Hey Hermanas, are you lost?" I turned around, thrilled and hoping to see a member, only to realize that the question was in English and there were President and Sister Kusch laughing at us from their car....que pena!

More than ever this week I was incredibly thankful for the power of the priesthood and priesthood leaders.  This week my insomnia came back and it hit harder than ever.  I didn’t get any shut eye for about 3 days and after 5 months no problems, I wasn’t use to overcoming it.  By day three I was so beat I couldn’t even express Spanish and smiling made my head hurt.  Worse than ever, I knew my comp was exhausted too, first week on the mission and all, so I couldn’t complain.  I finally broke down and asked for a blessing which resulted in a family council (offices elders and assistants).  Their advice and help was amazing and I’ve been dreaming again.  I’m so thankful that the Priesthood truly has been restored to the earth and is here in this church! What a blessing it is to ask for aid and receive it from on high.

This week we also had the last zone conference ever with President and Sister Kusch and everyone was rather down....well almost everyone.  My newbie comp (no pun intended) was dying of sleep by the second hour and had a grumbling stomach by the fourth hour.  I guess the whole goodbye to the president doesn’t have nearly the same effect when you just met them 5 days before.  The rest of us were hanging on to every word and just loving every moment of it.  It’s going to be super hard to say goodbye to them, but I’m grateful for the chance to have served with them!

Back to the Beginning

Editor's Note: This letter was from last week and I failed to get it posted. There should be a new one tomorrow so stay tuned.

Once upon a time, late at night, a group of 25 brand new missionaries arrived at the offices in Cuer

navaca.  They were quickly divided into different houses to get to sleep. The Hermanas Neuberger, Sturt, and Johnson were all chosen to sleep at the sisters’ house in Palmas, leaving a crying Chynoweth in the offices.  That very night Hna Garcia was one of the sister training leaders and little did her and Hna Neuberger know, but they would one day become the greatest of friends.

In Cuernavaca with Hermana Chynoweth

Fast forward to this week, by a magical turn of events, and having failed to meet up with my companions, I got dropped off at the offices to wait for them (PERFECT!) right at the hour when all the people who were going home arrived aka Garcia.  Last P-day she sent me a pick of my dream, she found Calle 15 de Septiembre, and in the offices she brought me chump change and conference Ensigns.  That’s true love right there, she knows me WAY too well!!! So I got to hang with her for a little bit and the AP ended up having to drag me out the door to comida with the promise that she could sleep with us that night.  Boy what a night it was. I was so happy and we talked for hours, while all the other girls in her generation were in some other house! I also got to spend almost all of Sunday with her and I am now sporting the Garcia wardrobe! I’m so glad for the time we had together and would have loved to go with her to see her family who are just the funniest!

With new transfers saying goodbye to Hna Skinner and Hna Chynoweth was a little difficult but okay because we are all still in the same zone and we will be seeing each other every martes!!!! (President must really love us). We truly had the most amazing week of all weeks as we taught 142 lessons in total.  That’s the power of a trio and divisions! And I don’t think I’ve ever taught more spiritual lessons in all my mission....or laughed so hard for hours straight.  Everyone was really worried about us getting separated when transfers came and how we would handle it, but at the end of the day we all know that we’re headed to be where the Lord needs us most and we’re so glad that we will be together again really, really soon (12 weeks).  

Saying goodbye to Hermanas Skinner and Chynoweth

So I think it’s safe to say that the last 6 weeks have been the craziest of my entire mission.  From leaving Chilpo, to the twin fest in Amayuca, to emergency transfers to the greatest trio of all time, to saying goodbye to Hna Garcia, to training and white washing an area...it’s been quite an adventure.  I guess that the key and joy of the mission: making every moment the greatest wherever you are and with whomever you are! I’ve truly made the greatest of friends and had the most amazing experiences.  I know that when we are all working hard for the same purpose that it’s impossible to not love every moment of the work we are doing. This is the work of salvation and I’m so truly glad for the opportunity that we have to be doing it!

Love to all,

Hermana Neuberger

La familia Neu (two daughters and a granddaughter). I'm so proud!

They Ran Us Right Out of Town

So I guess I’ll just start out with the biggest surprise....I’m no longer in Amayuca. It’s weird to think that a month ago I was saying goodbye to everyone in Chilpo and now I’m already gone from Amayuca. But that’s the mission.  I’m sure you’re all wondering why? A question that can be summed up in one word, Twins!

Remember last week how we were all laughing (President included) about two human eating white people running around the corn fields of Amayuca? Well on Tuesday night we were contacting someone when we got a call from a member.  She simply told us that some crazy lady (the “don’t eat me” lady from last week) was trying to start a law suit against us and that she was also trying to convince her neighbors to band together to run us out of town.  The warning was just to not go to that part of town and it would all settle down in a couple of days. Okay, sounds good and we hung up thinking that everything would be alright. We had just walked in our door when the phone rang and poor Elder Ramos only said, "You guys have to get out now" (in his flawless English). "There is a huge mob coming for you guys, so pack!!! Were on our way to pick you up" IS THIS A JOKE!!! And now we see how quickly the truth can be changed and blown WAY out of proportion.  Apparently after talking to us the member had called our ward mission leader just to warn him, who had called the first counselor, who had called the elders, who instantly called President because they were so scared.  The story grew from an angry lady’s talk to an imaginary angry mob that was coming to lynch us....I truly don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard.  The best part is that we never unpacked from Chilpo because we were still awaiting the call that would tell we were headed back to good old Aeropuerto, therefore packing took a whole 5 seconds.  The Elders picked us up and took us to the stake center where we met our very confused zone leaders, who had no idea what was going on.  We stayed with the only other sisters in our zone for the night...and long story short, basically our entire zone finally got to bed about midnight due to the whole twin fiasco. We made it to the mission offices the next morning, where we got to once again tell the dramatic story of the twins (something we were getting REALLY good at) .  .  .  . and then we found out that Hermana Garcia and I were getting super separated .  .  .  . all laughter gone! She only has 11 days left, safe to say I was super disappointed!!! On the positive side I’m back with Hermana Chynoweth, my MTC companion, and Hermana Skinner, a sister I’ve known and loved all my mission.  I’m serving in Palmas, the President’s home ward, and my areas is so beautiful that I’m actually okay with serving in Cuernavaca.  I’m finally back to huge hills littered with houses and a ton of greenery, ITS SOOOOO PRETTY!!! So here starts my area of firsts: first trio, first area in my entire mission that I’m not opening, first time serving in Cuernavaca, first time getting emergency transferred, first time having a ton of missionaries in my ward, and first time not being sad to change.

I think there has been an overkill of happiness in the last couple of days and I am not the least bit sorry for it!!!! Life is just good and I’m counting down the days till I get to see Hermana Garcia again (just 5 days when she comes through on her way home) and I get to see my baby, Hermana Hernandez, tomorrow so life just keeps going up! Who knows what’s going to happen with transfers in 5 days, but I don’t like to think about it.  For now I’m just enjoying! 

Between false doctrine Friday (Hermana Skinner was having a hard day) and a crazy amount of golden investigators I don’t even know where to begin talking about how amazing this ward is! There is naturally a ton of work to do because the ward has 600 members and only a sacrament meeting attendance of 100, BIG PROBLEM, but that’s all about to change because there is serious power in this trio.  I think in the last couple of days I might have taught the most powerful lessons of my mission!

On Sunday I was talking to a member and a man standing nearby overheard my name.  He looked up shocked and said, "did you say Neuberger?" I was super shocked and said yes. "You know Elder Stutz.  I know you.  I’ve heard all about you! It’s so nice to meet you!" That got the ward really excited soooooo Hey Thanks Tanner ;)

I’m excited for everything that life has to bring!!!!

Love ya,

Hermana Neuberger