End of the First Transfer

September 14, 2015

Hello! Thank you for all the letters and love, keep them coming, they really make my day. It is so fun to get a little something in the mail and it keeps me going!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNA ALEX AND AMBER! I am so sad I missed your birthday. Sunday the 13th was hard for me a little. I kept thinking of you all and how much you mean to me. It did not help that sunday lessons were all about families. I admit it made me a little homesick. But I have cards coming to you all and know that I thought about you and I send my love to all three of you. I know as I serve my mission that Heavenly Father will take extra good care of everyone I love and have to be away from.

I am nearing the end of my first transfer and big changes are ahead for me. Usually I would be trained for 6 more weeks as a new missionary but at an all sister conference we learned that each of us will be trainers next transfer...aka in one week. So I will be a 6 week old missionary training a brand new missionary from the MTC! We have more sisters coming into the mission than we have sisters here already so there will be lots of trios and training going on. I am not afraid at all. I feel so excited to train. Ever since I found out I have a new sense of motivation and focus to work hard and learn all I can this next week. I am not sure where I will train but I know I am. I am starting to see bits and pieces of God's plan for me. I was really shocked and overwhelmed when my mission call came and I had to report so soon, but I know part of the reason that it had to be that way is so I can train this new sister coming in. Heavenly Father has a special plan for all of us and knows us all individually. What I thought was unfair at first now is making sense. We need to have faith trust in Heavenly Father. He loves us more than we can ever understand and I need to have more trust that He is caring for me.

I had another exchange this week with Hermana Porter again. It was so fun to do some spanish work with her. We got to talk with a lot of different people. I love practicing my spanish and bearing my simple testimony. Kind of a crazy story is that we went in to visit this kid named Kevin. His house looked so creepy as we drove up. In front was a huge cactus garden. His grandama told us to be careful walking up because one of the cacti poked her and her arm went numb for two weeks...a great start to the visit as you can see. As we entered her living room, it was FILLED with shelves of small dolls and trinkets. We began teaching Kevin and we learned he had a huge pet snake. A 6ft boa constricter. We obviously asked where he kept it and he said he lets it hang around wherever and it was somewhere in the room...he had lost track of it!!!!!! I think I cried haha. I felt so uneasy and afraid the whole lesson. Luckily the member with us helped us out a lot because it was all about priesthood blessings. Kevin is sick so he then got a blessing before we all left. I couldnt keep my eyes closed because I was afraid of the snake! We never saw it but heard it as we went out. So creepy.. but Kevin is nice. 

My companion Sister Tuatonga is polynesian and taught a luau dance to the ward girls and I. The luau was on Saturday and it was authentic food and entertainment from a lot of different polynesian cultures. It was so fun! I learned a lot. We both wore lava lavas over our skirts and a flower in our hair. Our President's wife Sister Palmer came with a new senior couple in the mission and took our picture and sent it to mom so that was fun. It was a great activity. It was sad too though because our investigators never showed up and just before the luau we had extended the invitation to be baptized and the man felt he didn't know just yet so we came with low spirits but slowly became happy as we participated in the luau.

I am working really hard to be the best missionary I can and serve all around me. At the conference I went to where I found out that I would be training I loved how President told us to have a "day of decision". He wanted us to decide today to be exactly obedient and trust the Lord. I decided that day to trust Heavenly Father and be obedient fully, one hundred percent, no exceptions. It is funny how obedience gives me more peace instead of stress, I always imagined that being exactly obedient as a really stressful thing but now I see that it does the opposite. I know the next changes that are coming will not be easy but I have faith it is all part of the plan. We should all try a little harder to have more faith in the plan that Heavenly Father has for each of us. He loves us and He will take special care of us as we try to have faith. I love you all!!

All my love xoxo,

Sister Neeley

(sister Emoney for alex and olivia)