Less Actives Returning

Dear Family,

It sounds like you guys had a good time at the Whatcotts!  

This week was a good one.  We had zone conference and I had to talk to the zone about how to plan and set goals more effectively.  That was fun.  We also did a ton of service...cutting grass with machetes and cutting down trees!  We cut down a 40 ft tree with machetes.  I have dubbed my machete 'Matilda' and Elder Richardson's is 'Sharkisha', Elder Gunther's is 'Darth Sampson', and his Brazillian comp doesn't have a machete so you guys can guess how wacked up his priorities are. We took a few pictures and I will send em next time.  I also blew up Elder Richardson's alarm clock trying to figure out how it works.  We forgot about the power difference and while trying to set the time it exploded in my hand.  No harm done to me, but we both were freaked out because our faces were right next to it.  

We had 3 investigators at church!  Romina and Graciella and Arnaldo!  Graciella and Arnaldo are 7th day Adventists and after about 4 weeks of visits they came! Also 2 menos activos (less actives) were reactivated and are going strong.  Adriana and Hermana Aquino.  

We are still working with the Rojas family and we will be having a BBQ at there house tommorow!  I am super excited! They promised that they would come to church after their newborn baby is doing better.  She was born like 4 days ago... and the mom is already up and cleaning the house and whatnot.  Those Paraguayan women recuperate fast.  

A great experience I had this week was teaching investigators and less actives about the sacrament.  We had been suffering about how to get people to come to church without us having to go out and drag them there, and President McMullen helped us out.  He said that the reason people do not come to church is because they don't understand the significance of the sacrament.  So we taught just about all of our investigators and menos activos (less actives) about the sacrament...reading from Mathew 26 and 3 Nephi 18 and D&C 11:13 about why the Lord instituted the sacrament.  It is truly a marvelous blessing to remember the love that he had, has, and will always have for us.  It signifies our commitment and love for him and can be a spiritually enlightening as we participate with a purpose.  We challenged everyone we taught to attend that Sunday so that they could show their love for the Savior and feel his love during the sacrament service.  And we had more investigators and menos activos (less actives) at church than we have for a while.  President McMullen is a smart guy.  It seems like such an obvious answer to get people to church teach them why its important, but it is something I definitely needed a refresher with.

Elder Richardson is doing well, getting skinnier, which he is pretty happy about.  We sometimes wrestle and he is a lot bigger than I, but I learned from the best.  I put him in the 'Figure Four' the other day and using the shroud of shadows I feel I can hold my own.  He is a great companion.

I hope all is well at home and that you guys are as excited as I am for General Conference!  

Love,
Elder Neifert

Happy Birthday Grandma Whatcott!  WAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I hope you have a good one!