Quillabamba 4.27.14

Wow, we had an amazing week here in Quillabamba! 

First off, president and the assistants came and paid us a visit. We had a great zone conference and, to be completely honest, it was nice to sit back and just learn for the first time in over a year! I absolutely loved it. President spoke to us about the talk given by Elder Nelson in the October conference of 2012 (ask the missionaries they can help you). He talked about our ability to bless the lives of practically anyone because of our calling as missionaries. We commited ourselves to go around with pamphlets of "My Family" and use it as a way to contact and find new investigators. THAT is something that I want to try... it is kinda difficult here because records were iffy way back when but, oh well we`ll give it our best shot! 

We are visiting a lot of wonderful people. Did I tell you about Carlos? (no not Carlos from Cusco, although he does get baptized on the 6th of may! SO EXCITED!) No Carlos from Quillabamba is a less-active returned missionary that we found looking for other less active members that he lives with. They were a little less-interested so we decided that we would start with him. He has progressed so much! He has the strongest desire to return to church... Satan is just a clever fella and knows EXACTLY how to get people. Addictions are a big problem.... don`t let yourself fall into any type of addiction. 

Anyway, we are teaching him many times during the week and every time we teach him we feel the spirit so strongly. The Lord loves his wayward children and wants them to return to his gospel and his church! 

I attached a load of photos. Yes that is QUILLABAMBA! linda Quillabambita de mi corazon.... for real I love this place it is SO BEAUTIFUL! The people are wonderful, we are really enjoying our time here. 

Last comment, Edna I am so proud of you. My companion is from Ecuador and he is by BROWN BROTHA! I honestly love him to death. There is a lot of work to do in Quito Ecuador. Maybe not as a coincidence, he has a less-active sister who lives in Quito with her pareja.... IDK how to say it in English, person that she lives with but isn`t married to. I will give you the reference so that you can take it to Ecuador and take it as your first service in the country of your mission! 

Love you all! Have a wonderful week

Elder Neff

CUSCO 4.14.14

I'm glad you are all doing muy bien!

I´m doing great as well. 

Paige and John you finally know where you´re off too! I know that John is very, very happy. I only ask myself one question, when in the world am I going to see my niece!? I hope we can get everyone up to see me on the first week of august.... 

Eden good for you on the papes I AM TOO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!! 

Jenna you know I love you. 

Ben stop growing

We are doing really great here in Quillabamba. It was, quite honestly, a good week and a bad week. We had some great success with some poeple that we were searching for since the first day that we got here, and had little success with the people that we found who were doing great! I´m hoping that the Lord is prepping us for one day when EVERYTHING just falls into place. 

But until then we are just gonna keep pluggin´ along. 

My companion Elder Murillo from Guayaquil Ecuador is doing great. Fun facts 

1. We have the SAME BIRTHDAY! April 22 1993.... he said he was born in the moring as well, wasn´t I born in the morning too? We like to think that we were both in heaven and said " Bueno amigaso.... nos vemos en la misión!" 

2. His Father ALSO served a mission in Quito Ecuador (año 90) 

3. He is about 5 foot 5.... and I am about six foot 2..... 

We weren´t to similar on that last one. 

He is doing VERY WELL  though, Really progressing. He loves to teach and I am happy to say that we are having a lot of teaching opportunites. If we can´t find our investigators, there are always many less active members to teach. That seems to be one of our biggest struggles in this branch, retention. 

This week we had a few activities in the district. The most exciting one for me was a fireside for returned and potential missionaries. Many of the RM´s that were present had become less-active, which is a common trend here in Perú (at least in our mission) and I think that the district was hoping for their attendance more than anything. There was such a strong spirit! I feel so strongly that the Lord has a great love for those who have served him and wants them so badly to come back to full activity in the church. 

That is something that we will definitely work on. 

Elder Bengtzen is sitting here right by my side in this very moment! We live in the same house and it has been so great for the both of us. I am amazed at the man that he is. He is an example for me and for all of our district. Some of the patience that he has learned would have pushed many of us to our limits, but he has born it all with good cheer and a great love for his companions. In one of the activities that we had this week, he spoke about a few specific questions investigators and members had and did it extremely well. LATER he gave a talk in church when, on a whim the branch president asked him to give a talk in sacrament mtg. on the book of mormon. His parents should know that their son is an exemplary missionary and that I love the opportunity to be serving with him at this time. 

But.... what more would you expect from DISTRICT OLYMPUS anyway??!!! 

Elder Doxey and I are doing great here on our last stretch. In yet ANOTHER activity that we had this week (IDK what the district was thinking, we had many activities this week) Elder Doxey and I played and sang " he sent his son". He on the guitar and I was on the piano. It was a blast! Like the good old days in ensemble. Wish we had taken a video.... 

Well I love you all very much! Mommy, I´ll be thinking on that one. Not sure what to say to you yet. Remind me next week to respond. 

great photos that we took going to a waterfall. 

yes that is my comp

yes that is Elder Bengtzen

Yes those are bananas 

yes that is a 150 ft waterfall in the peruvian jungle

yes you are now, only a little jealous ;) 

So much love! 

Elder Neff

CUSCO 3.22.14

 I know you were all waiting for me to send you an email today..... HERE IT IS!!!!

We have had a wonderful week here. Some administrative work and other things, but mostly we have had the opportunity to work hard in our sector. (Which is always a great relief considering the amount of time that we spend far away, we take advantage of any moment we can get in the sector.)

We are visiting a less active lady and her daughter, Elena and Gabriela. They live in the poorer part of our sector (up on the mountain) and we often pass by to visit and teach them when we have appointments for that part of town.

Quite frankly, they wouldn´t be less actives if it wasn´t for their difficult economic situation. I can´t say that I understand all of their problems, but it has been difficult for us to find a way for them to make it to church when only Elena works and Gabriela studies. I couldn´t say that their disposition is the problem,every week they lament the fact that they can´t make it to the church and we feel like their comments are sincere, however it they just couldn´t find a way to work out the mother´s difficult work schedule (she cleans up garbage from 3 AM to 12 PM in the plaza de armas and surounding streets).

Well yesterday we went and did service in her home. When we finished, she sat us down and offered us some "queso and choclo" (look that one up). And then spilled the beans telling us that she was soon going to have her day off... SUNDAYS! We were pretty excited. It is good to see the Lord´s hands in helping people keep his commandments when they really desire it.

I love to hear about the things that you are doing at home. Thank you for all of the updates. I want you to know that I pray for all of you every night! Thank you for the love that you have for me and for the Lord´s work. I am so grateful for this time that I can serve as a missionary.

Expect my next mail next monday. Love you all soo much!

Elder Neff

CUSCO 3.13.14

I am so grateful for all the correspondence that I got! I tried to at least shoot a line out to everyone. I want you to know that I love you all a bunch.

Well, to be 100% honest... we had very little time to work in the sector this week. Actually, up until now we have basically had no time at all so, my coments on prosyleting experiences may be rather limited, but I will try to give you some insight onto how the week went in terms of our traveling and so forth.

We are continuing to check area books and daily planners. This week we finished with Abancay and Andahuaylas, tomorrow we travel to Sicuani to finish up the mission tour and that will be about 117 companionships interviewed!

The honest truth is that "checking" area books sounds a little rough and it isn´t at all like that. We aren´t "checking" them in the sense that we are finding falts in the missionaries work with the area books and agendas, it is more like a learning opportunity for them to better comprehend how they can use these missionary tools more effectively. The truth is that ALL of the missionaries have good hearts and want to learn how to better serve. I made a joke to my companion and said, "los misioneros simplemente no conocen la verdad porque no saben donde hallarla!" ;) Which, was totally a joke but turned out to be true when we realized that there was actually a good amount of us who didn´t know how to use these things! So we train so that we don´t get frustrated and can know how to be great missionaries. Preach my Gospel missionaries!

Everytime we travel to Andahuaylas... something goes wrong. I am sure that any one of you would have had a heart attack if you would have seen the road that we had to take from Abancay to Andahuaylas. The main road was blocked off by a land slide so we went up this windy mountain road which I liked to call.... La trocha de la muerte. (the dirt road of death) Literally death because if you go off the edge you fall.... a long ways, to your death. ( But I am obviously writting so don´t worry there weren´t any deaths this time ;) And the worst part is that there are SEMI TRUCKS that are passing us on this road. The views are pretty neat though, (if you aren´t looking down....)

Well family, that looks like all for this week because my time is almost up. I love you all soo much and hope that you liked the personal shout outs! If you aren´t one of the special ones that got the personal messages... I´m sorry I love you too.

Elder Neff

CUSCO 3.7.14

It has been a good week family! Here is the update you´ve been waiting for. 

Time continues to fly by here as we are traveling throughout the mission to finish up the interviews and review area books, planners etc. I love getting to know all of the missionaries and help them with whatever I can, it has been great to have this experience. 

My companion and I had a special moment with our investigator Carlos and his wife Tania the other day. We have been visiting them for about 2 months now and Carlos has made some incredible progress. He was a man who found himself in many problems, and sincerely the couple was almost convinced that they wouldn´t be able to save their relationship or marriage. Now, weeks later they have seen a new light enter into their lives and are realizing that the gospel has the potential to save their marriage, and give them the opportunity to be an eternal family. 

This tuesday Carlos accepted the baptismal invitation for the 15th of march, next week! We are so excitied for him. He has come a long way. It was neat to see his wife´s eyes light up with excitement when he said, " yes Elders, I think I would like to do that!" He is very prepared and we are sure that his is going to be able to follow through with his comittment. 

This week I was thinking a lot about the joy that Ammon and his bretheren felt as they preached the gospel to the lamanites. In reality, their joy came when they were able to see the fruits of their labors, but as the preached, they passed through a lot of affliction and difficulties. I am grateful to know that when we find our self at the point of giving in, the spirit can give us a new sense of hope and promise. That´s the trail of faith, and then we recieve the promise. 

Today we made a hike up to the DEVIL´S BALCONY! (calm down it´s not as dangerous as it sounds) haha I will try to send you a batch of photos. 

Love you all so much! I hope you know that you are all in my prayers.

Elder Neff

2.25.14

OK... I wouldn´t have been 100% honest if I told you that I was given the big news today when I entered into my email, let me tell you all how they spilled the beans...

Yesterday was not P-day for the office, we were all minding our own business when a few elders came in from the Urcos branch to pick up some materials. Elder Jara is a good friend of mine and he came in to the office telling us about p-day and what there plans were for the day. All of the sudden, he looks at me and says " oh! y el papa de elder neff es el nuevo obispo de su barrio!" I was so dumbfounded! I was like, What? how do you even know that? And then all the pieces of the puzzle started to fall in place... I thought about E. Wagner and how he is currently serving in Urcos (doing very well by the way) and how his grandparents live in our ward. All of the sudden it clicked (meaning I realized it was possible that Elder Jara was right and that Dad really was the new bishop) In this moment I started to express my suprise and excitement walking around the office saying " Mi papa es el nuevo obispo! Mi papa es el nuevo obispo!" And I said it so many times that the elderes started to get a little bothered and before I could repeat the phrase they were saying "si elder neff sabemos que su papa es el nuevo obispo, muy bien!" It was so funny. Honestly a really neat surprise. 

I jumped on today just to give you that quick update... we are a little overloaded this change.... Sometimes I feel like there are a million things to do here in the office that when there is any free time and I have a minute to relax its hardly possible... but I am happy and healthy :) everything is so good. 

Eden its a good thing you mentioned me while you were a little out of it.... good to know that you miss me ;) 

ANDY GREAT SONG YOUR A PRODIGIE! 

Dad, I am so grateful for the blessings that the Lord is pouring out over the family. I feel the spirit really strongly as I write this, knowing that you were prepared for this and that the Lord is so pleased with the way that you and Mom have raised us and the example that you have set for us. I am so grateful for that personally. I know that you will do a wonderful job looking out for the ward and being a blessings in the lives of all of the members. Even though I will only be home for one month, I am 100% manos a la obra! I love you and Mom and am praying for you every day. Thank you for being the best parents that any missionary could ask for :)

With much love,

Elder Neff

CUSCO 2.14.14

Thank you so much for the letters. I always appreciate a good update from home and to know about the little things that are going on. They come to be pretty exciting when you are so far away. 

I loved the snipit about ben and andy. I know they love me... but perhaps I never knew the impact that me being a missionary would have on them. 

I really want to stay, because I feel like the mission has been the best thing that has every happened to me after my family. I really feel that way. Which was my main goal that I had when I started. I wanted to learn how to love my heavenly father more than anything else... and I wanted to show that love through service and have that big change of heart that everyone talks about. I feel like I have done the very best that I can and... honestly I have all confidence that the Lord will help me keep progressing and learning after my mission. 

I am really starting to learn how to let go, be humble and let the Lord´s will step in to help me to make decisions. Honestly on this decision. I felt like he was pleased with either of the dates to come home, (after all, that was an option that everyone of us recieved.... meaning that either one was acceptable) and that the decision would be left up to me. I was rather fearful of going home 3 weeks early... thinking that it would in some way imply that I wasn´t as dedicated to the work, or that I wanted to get out of here sooner or something. It certainly has nothing to do with that... I will think about it a little longer and let you know what I think next week. Sometimes in life, we just need to make a decision and go with it! The Lord isn´t going to command us in all things. 

We started a new way of doing interviews this week. My companion and I checked agendas and area books while President did interviews and Sister Harbertson helped the latin elders get a jump start on their english studies. It was a huge success. We were pretty lax on our usage of agendas and area books, it was interesting for me to think about how important it was for the missionary department to have us use these materials... they have spent probably millions of dollars over the years so that we can use these tools to help us in the work. We are trying to go and help all the missionaries in the mission to know how to use them, and motivate them by explainig how much it will contribute to the work. 

We have had a couple of difficult situations with our investigators these past few weeks. President is going to come to a lesson with us with Carlos and Tania. I am very hopeful that his influence will help them to resolve some of their marital issues.... we aren´t marriage councilers... but I am confident that comprension of gospel principles will help any person solve their problems... so we are fitting the part pretty well actualy ;) 

Love you all so much!

 

Ben and Andy I really love you. Don´t worry, I´ll be home really soon. Just hang tight there a little longer :)

Elder Neff