8/18/14 - New Calling and Transfer to Sylmar

Jess has been transferred to Sylmar and her new address is:  15520 Foothill Blvd #58, Sylmar, CA, 91342.   Thanks for your continued love and support – Michelle

   I’m sure you pieced it together after my frantic emails last Monday, I am out of West Hills.  It is really a special place in my heart, and I cannot wait to come back and visit them after my mission.  You put so much love, so much hard work, sweat and prayers for these people and you can’t help but give them a piece of you when you leave.  I have been called to be a Sister Training Leader in Sylmar.  But, wow, I must tell you I know I’m supposed to be here.  I miss the deaf work, and I thought I would be “stepping down” going into “normal” missionary work… not true.  I had one of the most powerful witnesses from the spirit then I have had my entire life telling me I was to serve in North Hollywood.  President told us today that he put each of our names/prayed about us by name in the temple as Sister Training Leaders.  The spirit was so overwhelming in Transfer meeting on Tuesday – it was so powerful.  God gave me a witness that I did my duty with the deaf, but my mission call, my assignment, my responsibility and my role is far from being over.

   So, my area is Sylmar and my companion’s name is Sister French.  She entered the MTC the same day I did.  She is from Canada and is 25 years old, and we get along great.  Holy cow, did I mention it is hot here?  It’s rained one day in 6 months of serving here.  It’s been a blazing 100 degrees every day, but it’s nice to know that just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, there’s one more person in the fire with us, so that’s a comforting thought.

   So, funny experiences happening in Sylmar-

We invited 3 people to baptism. The sisters have three investigators that they've been teaching.

Peter- late 20's-in a wheelchair because he was shot at 18 and paralyzed from the waist down. We taught him tithing- he said that 10% didn’t seem like enough to pay back God. He is soooo awesome! Only dilemma holding him back, his family. His family means the world to him, and by going to the "Mormon" church, he feels he is choosing this church over his family.  His main concern is that his family won't go to the celestial kingdom. Ahh! So he knows it’s true, but how do you address a concern like that? hmm....

Ricky- 20-Mexican, came to church this Sunday with his mom. We taught law of chastity/temples. He was almost too straight up about how he's a virgin and how he doesn’t even have the opportunity to break the Law of Chastity... awkward, okay, many times people are way to open... Funny side note, he asked if my CTR ring was a chastity ring. Kinda, I guess... he wants to be baptized, but wants to wait til the end of the year cuz he doesn’t want to add more stress to his life just yet.

Luis- Living currently with our RC Juan- he is hearing though, and wants super bad to be baptized. We are a little hesitant, not quite sure if he is mentally all the way there. But we will continue to teach him and have the Bishop decide for us.

   Church was a funny experience, turns out there is a Sober Community House down the road from the church, and we had 2 people wander into church and sit with us! Some of these people, their brains are just fried from drugs, but the man will be taught by the elders - I think he seemed solid. It’s a crazy (but now normal) background- brother in jail, lost his job, doesn’t have money for rent, lives of food stamps.... man, Cali is crazy, but you find the best people here.

   Seth you'd be so proud- total Nacho Libre Moment:

Knocking, we've hit a ton of spanish people, and two older women invited us to sit outside and have a snack, so we did! We ate corn on the cob, with mexican mayo (it has lime in it), salsa, and coke!! hahaha.

   Coolest experience, working at the Bishop's storehouse. Wow. Dad, if you have any people that won’t pay their tithing, have them serve there for a day.

Love you tons! Hopefully you get the letter soon! I’m excited, I know this is where I’m supposed to be, so I’ll do my best until I find out why.

Love,

Sister McNeill

7/26/14 Sushi to Celebrate the 24th

     

   So Juan was sick, but he still came to Sacrament and Sunday School.  He's so tough, but we made him go home for priesthood because he wasn’t looking too hot. Must be something going around!

Peter!! Mom we set up a baptismal date with him. August 30!  Holy cow. He has so much to change, but he has it in him. I've never felt so passionate for something. We've known Peter since March, and he has SOOOOO much potential.  But, the adversary is working on him. He is having a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon, so will you pray for him? He is so great, and it’s a privilege to teach him. I can handle staying in West Hills just to teach and baptize him!

   We had Bobby (a deaf potential investigator) com to Pioneer day-crazy!! It’s still tricky trying to set up a lesson with him or get him to come to church, but I am sure we'll get him this week!!

   We knocked the top of our area in West Hills and holy miracles, we found 2 houses that want us to come back!  So awesome!  One is a family and they seem so sweet so we are super psyched! The couple’s names are Mike and JoAnn, with 2 young boys.  Apparently, they investigated the church in the past, but moved and lost contact with the missionaries in the midst of moving.  The 2^nd house is Rich – so hilarious.  The 1^st month I arrived here, we mixed up the address for him and his sister-in-law.  He is actually Jewish and apparently hates missionaries.  So, way back in February we knocked on his door, asking us if he was feeding us dinner!  Well, he was kind and gave us the right address and we’ve forgotten him ever since until today.  Bonus, he totally remembered us two, and after laughing with him for a minute we asked if we could come back.  His immediate response was that he was Jewish (like we care!) but the Spirit must have nonchalantly elbowed him in the ribs and he accepted!  We swapped numbers and will be going back over after he and his girlfriend come back from their vacation.  The Lord has been very merciful – two awesome miracles and legitimate potentials, oh the Lord was so kind to us today. 

      Also, we visited the Lovo's, Diez, and Gabby (all the deaf less-actives). We haven't gotten them to church yet, but it’s crazy because they all have such solid testimonies!! Soooo, our game plan this week is to focus on the temple so they can get there!! We are having a zone training meeting Wednesday to learn how to teach Lesson 5. It focuses on all the specific ordinances and laws such as priesthood, family history, eternal marriage.... and none of us really know how to teach it since its always been the members responsibility. I am super excited to see President Hall again!

     Random funny story- For pioneer day the Bishop and his wife and daughter took all 6 missionaries in our ward out to sushi, it was soooooo good!  That’s the way Californian’s celebrate the 24^th  ha ha.

    Well, I’ve got to run but thank you for your love and support.  I know life is crazy wherever you are, so know you’re kept in my prayers and heart always.  Keep pressing on – God can’t lead us if we refuse to blaze our own trail!

Love ya,

Sister McNeill

7/7/14 - 1st ASL Baptism!!

  This week- the highlight, hands down, was Juan's baptism!  He is the first ASL baptism in our mission and he has made so much progress – he even quit smoking!  He was baptized Sunday and for the musical number, we played a video from lds.org entitled "Christlike Attributes.  Everyone really should watch it, it is so good, AND we didn't have to interpret. It was so neat, we had 2 less-actives in the program, Jim (excommunicated & made us glass stones) was the first person to come!!! Also, the deaf ones that came were Jose- from Torrence (2 hour bus ride), Gabby Gonzalez (less-active we’ve been teaching) and she brought a friend named Juan (seemed to like the baptism, so we referred him to the ASL Elders in LA because he's all the way from Torrence. Plus, we had Don/Anna speak (a deaf couple in our ward).  A lot of the deaf people we invited didn't show, but hey, we had 7 people in the deaf class on Sunday, whereas before we came, we didn't even have one!   The baptism was so amazing and Juan was so funny.  The first thing he does after popping out of the water was turn and give Brother Gerhardt (the elder who baptized him) a thumbs up!  After the baptism, we had lunch with Juan at our Ward Mission Leader’s home.  He shook hands with everybody and then headed out for his bus ride home.  I’m sure he was tired after a long day, but he is so awesome and we’re so happy for him! 

   It was so cool, but soooooo fast!!!!! It’s funny, I thought I would feel some relief with the knowledge that "okay, at least I changed one person's life, and I would get that worry off my chest." But, it’s quite the opposite. Now I feel ready to do anything to set up another baptismal date with our investigators. It really IS only the first step. A crucial step indeed, and next week he'll get the Holy Ghost. Ultimately, I cannot wait until we can come back in a year and go through the temple with Juan. THAT’S the goal...

   Funny, because after the baptism, we went home, ate some chips and salsa for dinner, then started knocking on doors again.  (Funny transition, back to stage one). But, I just picture every person I see in that white jumpsuit and I can't help but smile, and want to do whatever it takes to make that become a reality.

    For the 4^th of July, we had a ward breakfast and that was delicious – pancakes and sausage, yum.  We invited all these people from the ward to the activity and none came – oh well, it was still good to reach out to a few families in our ward.  We didn’t see any fireworks, but a member in the ward was sweet and gave us hamburgers, watermelon and cherry cobbler for our 4^th of July dinner, so that was really nice.  It was really loud too – tons of fireworks going off and sirens blaring everywhere, but honestly that is nothing that unusual.  We didn’t want to be out on the streets when it got late, so we sticky noted a recent widow’s garage and then visited Shi-Yu – the Chinese woman with dementia. 

Well, that wraps up my awesome week.  The work keeps moving forward, and next up we will get Peter (the one from forever ago w/ the tattoos and fancy cars and gangsta hat). Got in contact w/ him again, and he wants us back, bad.  He might've been still drunk from the 4th, but we're hoping to teach him again!  It’s so cool the think though, that NOW is the time, NOW is the day. All of the other dispensations have built up to this last day, and I hope I can do all I can to do as President Uchtdorf advised in conference - "Not sleep through the Restoration."  I want to labor in His work, not be an observer, and I’d invite you all to do the same. It’s not enough just to save ourselves.  

Love ya tons!

-Sister Jessica McNeill

6/9/14 - Pass Along Cards Work

"Ole ole, ole ole..... I'm feelin’ hot, hot, hot" and here comes the summer! 

Some fun details about this week:

  -We have a new investigator!! His name is Isaiah, and we taught the full Restoration, prayed, and set up a return appt. on his doorstep! He's a junior in high school looking for enlightenment, and we are meeting with him (and hopefully his mom) tomorrow! It’s been a long hard week knocking, but he really is a miracle to have found!

   -Church was AWESOME, Juan made it on his own! He is our deaf investigator that has to ride the bus and doesn’t know sign language very well.  We were biting our nails ‘til 3 minutes before! Also, the elders recent convert Angelina (whose been having a hard time coming cuz of her job... sketchy job) came to church and so did Marisa (who was baptized last week) with her son Isaiah. Her son made her wake up at 6:30am and made us banana bread cupcakes, and she is freezing some jambalaya for us, since they can’t feed us. This is the same woman who cooks everything in the microwave cuz she can’t afford to pay for her gas... Wow, very humbling.

   -Taught the law of chastity and tithing to Juan.... hahaha, uhhhhh (play it cool Sis McNeill).  Not fun trying to act out, but he got the message! With the concept of tithing, we’re going to try to teach him again, and we had a new idea to use a calculator, so that is going down tomorrow… pray for us.

   -This Sunday we signed a song called "Keeper of the Flame" while Brittany Ball sang/played piano. Super cool, it’s a whole new way of feeling the spirit.

   -Visited with a gay ex-communicated member. He is doing so good, and he actually said he might come to church to see our baptism with Juan in 3 weeks!! With him, I’ve never felt so much godly sorrow, seeing how much knowledge and testimony he has, yet still turning away from it all. But, regardless of what everything and everyone seems to point to, Sister Cox and I REFUSE to give up hope. We know the spirit has touched much darker souls, and he is such an amazing person!!! So maybe it will start with this baptism. He WILL be able to come to our weddings.

   -Met a woman named Brenda…Sooo kind! Just radiated and praised us for being willing to serve random strangers. She is very caring toward us. She's "not interested...." yet, but her daughters want to learn sign language, and she's practically begging to feed us dinner, so that was a very nice pick-me-up and we'll see how it goes from there.

   -Pass along cards actually work! We have someone named Peter who wants to know more about the Book of Mormon, but won’t meet us cuz of his parents. So, we are teaching him through texts!!!! I’ll keep you updated on that one.

Spiritual summary of the week - it is easier to stuff a camel through a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Hence we are on the search for the poor in spirit.

-Love to you all! 

Sister McNeill

6/2/14 - Marisa got baptized!

So, this week was another slammer with numbers, but I’m so ecstatic it doesn't even matter!  I love what you said dad, about how the numbers aren't for the Lord, they are for us.  Two of the coolest events first:

1-The elder's investigator, Marisa, - the one who we found & showed the baptismal font- was baptized yesterday! Sis Cox and I sang “Lord, I Would Follow Thee”, (not bragging, but alotta people complimented us afterwards, so it couldn’t have been toooo bad!)  But it was so neat, we got to help get her ready and dry her off after she came out. This was the first investigator I've been close with, and to see her baptized, regardless of who taught her... the spirit was on fire yesterday.  I have a new sister in the gospel – yeah!!!

2-JUAN CAME TO CHURCH!!!  We had to wake up @ 4:30, drive to Sylmar, ride two-hour long buses and walk a bit, but we got him there, 9:20am! Better yet, he arrived back home safely! We couldn't ride home with him since we had the baptism, so all we could do is drop him off at the station, write 2 sticky notes with the bus #'s, and pray he made it, and he did!! Truthfully, it was a blessing that it was on a fast Sunday, cuz we were nervous!  He can't read or talk, so if he gets lost.... faith is central here.  AND he's stopped smoking fully, so he is really 3 weeks away from becoming baptized!! We had to later travel back to Sylmar to pick up the car in Sylmar... four hours later. CRAZY people are on the bus, so awesome.  Long day yesterday, but one I won't soon forget. J

Other cool things:

-New deaf potential investigator.  She's black, hard of hearing, got plenty of sass, and knows one of our members. Suuuper excited to teach her!

-A Korean man named Michael Yoo approaches us at 8:30pm walking back to our car from knocking, and goes on for 20 minutes about how he loves Mormons. We swapped numbers, and we're setting up a dinner…sweet!

-We are now buddy-buddy with the Gas Station clerk next to our apt. We go there to get quarters for laundry.  His name is Jitandra, from India, and we gave a restoration pamphlet to him!

-Family history work is prime. We met Beverly, a deaf member who refuses to come to our ward, but she loves her family. So, we are going to get her to the temple through family history work. That is also how we are "getting" Stephanie. She is the wife of a less active member. Her house is full of pics of her ancestors and her family (she was a swimsuit model, as well as her daughters... had to kinda burn my eyes a little bit afterwards) but sooo sweet!  PS, mom did you know that we had ancestors actually IN the Martin Harris handcart company. Like the real deal! Cool story.

-It is soooo hot here I’m gonna die when we have bikes!

Sorry, just dripping with stories and emotions this week! The work is hard, but it is so much fun sometimes if you just learn to laugh.  Quote for the week, “"Hopeful people have a peace about them,

a way of looking at everything that happens as an opportunity for growth and happiness.  Their lives are not any easier than anyone else's, it's their attitude that sets them apart."

Love ya tons!

-Sis McNeill