Week 6

Mom! And everyone else that reads these back home!


So this past week on Monday we had what they call zone development 
day. It was great cause we finally got to wear p day clothes! Because 
 even on p day you have to wear church clothes....:( And basically it 
meant a day just to go play games and have fun with everyone in our 
zone! We started off with some short training stuff on how to use the 
Adjusting to Missionary Life booklet and something else that the zone 
leaders taught us. Then we went into the gym and played volley ball on 
two different courts with everyone. We played it like king of the 
court so the winner stays in spot 1 and the loser moves to the bottom.
Our team seemed to spend a lot of time down at the bottom..... I love 
volleyball but it's a lot harder in jeans haha. Then after volley ball 
we did this thing where we had to draw a picture of our companion with 
a marker using only our feet! I thought mine wasn't too bad, my 
companion was a farmer so my picture of him had a cowboy hat and 
cowboy boots on and people thought that was pretty funny. Then we play 
his game called zip bong, basically you cover your teeth with your 
lips and aren't allowed to show your teeth or you lose and then one 
person starts by saying zip and then it goes to the person to their 
left and that person says zip or bong, of they say zip it goes to 
their left if they say bong it goes back to the person who sent it to 
them. Once you get going it gets pretty funny and it's hard not to 
laugh! After that we had dinner and then played some kick ball in the 
gym which was really fun. It was really sad to leave that night though 
because I loved being around a big group of elders and sister again 
like at the MTC. I loved the MTC and would totally go back with my old 
zone and spend a couple months there.

Mom thanks sooooo much for the package!! That was the coolest 
decorated package I have ever seen! It was a lot of fun to get a 
package, cause packages and letters really cheer you up! And then once 
I opened it and saw what was inside it was even better! The first 
thing I saw was those socks which were way cool! I wish I was allowed 
to wear shorts so that people could see them! But sadly I'm never 
allowed to wear shorts except to sleep in.... So good thing I brought 
like 4 pairs.... The mint Milano cookies were awesome!! I've had to 
hold back and not eat the whole box in one sitting which is really 
hard... And everything else in there like the funny string and the 
flashlights and the mints I loved all of it! And thanks for that book 
it looks really good, I just haven't read it yet....

Grandma and grandpa thanks a ton for the package you sent me to!! How 
did you know that I wanted more cookies??:) The cookies were amazing 
and I have also been trying really hard to eat them slowly because 
they are soooo good. And the zucchini bread! My companion actually got 
some like a couple weeks ago and I was really jealous, so when I saw 
that I was super happy!! And the pasta packages are really good! They 
are really easy to make a quick lunch and they were delicious I've 
eaten one of them so far, and cooked the macaroni and cheese box. The 
alien sling shot thing was hilarious I love it, my companion said its 
a distraction but I said its fun.:)

So this week my companion and I were out walking around finding and we 
saw a turtle in the middle of the side walk so we rescued it and 
carried it to this pond that was near by. It was fun to see a turtle, 
I keep hearing about people talking about them but I hadn't seen one!
I will send a picture of him. I named him Phillip.

People down here are kinda weird nobody knows their neighbors! We ask 
people of maybe their neighbors would like to hear this and they say 
"we don't really know them." How do you not know your own neighbors? I 
feel like at home we knew everybody in every house in our ward 
boundaries even if they weren't members.

Elder Lakes mom is really nice! She keeps sending me gift cards! The 
two times he has gotten a package she has sent me a Red robin gift 
card and an Olive Garden gift card! I wish I knew where either of 
those restaurants were around here.... But it's still really nice of 
her!

So apparently there is a hurricane called hurricane John of the coast 
of Africa that could possibly come our way, but it's only a category 1 
and we are on the gulf side so there's nothing to worry about. I found 
out the other day that we are in a giant bowl and one ward member,
(Christian) said his house is 150ft below sea level! No wonder there 
are 10ft tall signs every where that say water could come this high in 
a hurricane!

We had a really spiritual experience teaching one of our investigators 
Ty, he is kinda stubborn as he says, and we have been trying to teach 
him the importance of the Priesthood, and we had a lesson with him and 
our mission nurse because he's in our ward and he shared his testimony 
and Priesthood line of authority with Ty and the Spirit was so strong 
it was sooo cool. I hope he recognized it and will understand what we 
are teaching him a little better.

I was watching this Mormon message called "It Was Mom" mom and grandma 
and Jen and all the other women I my life  you should really watch it.
It was really cool and really reminded me how grateful I am for all of 
you in my life and how thankful I am for all the love and support you 
have given me over the years. I love you all so much especially you 
mom. Thanks for all you've done for me!

Well I think that's mostly everything for this week! 
I love you all  and miss you tons! 
Email me or write me and let me know what's going 
on with everyone! I love getting the emails and I do my best to reply 
to them even if its short. I have lots of time to read them but only 
and hour and a half to reply to them, so if I don't reply I'm really 
sorry...

Love,
Elder Neel