Howdy Family,
So this week was really cool. I went on divisions with Elder
Tidwell in Liberia. He's a former Assistant to the President. He showed me
around the city and we visited a few of their investigators. We visited this
one family, and when Elder Tidwell was baring his testimony, the 3 year old
peed on her skirt. It was pretty funny. We joked that she didn't like his testimony
so she peed on it. We visited them again the next day and when I was bearing my
testimony, the same little girl pooped her skirt. She disliked my testimony more....
We had a lot of success this week! We had two baptisms!
Marco and Sobeida. They received the Holy Ghost yesterday and things are going
great. She is incredible. We contacted her on a Saturday and she brought her
whole family to church the next day. This is amazing because they live in
Vergel, 8 kilometers away, and they don't own a car! She was converted the
minute we walked in. After baptism, the converts have the opportunity to share
their thoughts and feelings. She said that she had prayed that she could become
a better mother, wife, and person. She asked if He could help her with that
when all of a sudden she heard, "Upe! Buenas!" She looked out the
window to find a Gringo and a Latino with ties and plagues sent from God.
Hahaha she tells it better.
She brought her oldest to church yesterday. He said that for
the last month he has felt worthless. He began asking himself questions like,
Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going after I die? Well thats
the beautiful thing about this Gospel. He met with us third hour of church
where we taught him of a divine potential and where he came from. We taught him
that he is a child of a loving Heavenly Father who is very mindful of his
situation. This gospel is awesome.
We have two baptisms set up for this weekend and 2 more for
the week after. We want to work hard to get them going and progressing. It felt
so good to be back in the font! I've also had opportunities to bless the
Sacrament and teach the youth of their Priesthood. I love the Aaronic Priesthood.
Speaking of Priesthood, I have one more story to tell. I met
a man yesterday named Hiro. He is a member of a local Evangelist church called
the Promise of Faith. Man, he knows his bible good. He was quoting verses like
no one ive ever seen. We began teaching the first discussion which is about the
Restoration. We began explaining how Christ set up His church with 5 basic
principles. Prophets, apostles, priesthood authority, revelation, and the
scriptures. We began talking about revelation when he interrupted with "I
have dreams" (Every Evangelist Tico thinks God speaks through dreams to
them) so we spoke of how we can know if it is revelation or not. We figured out
it wasn't. When we explained about the 5 basic principles I felt impressed to
say that the Holy Ghost is given through the laying on of hands and we shared
scriptures to back it up. We asked him if he had received the Holy Ghost
through the laying on of hands and he dodged the question. We asked it again
and his wife made him answer. He said yes. We then asked,"Where did your
Pastor receive his authority to do that ordinance?" We explained how
authority is then given. We said that it had to come through a Prophet of God
because "no man taketh this honour unto himself, except he be called of God,
as was Aaron" -Hebrews 5:4
I looked right into his eyes and testified that I had
received my authority through my father Shawn Ryan Neider, who received it
through Kenneth Boyd Neider, who in turn received it from Herbert Boyd Neider,
from Errol Smith Phippen, from Merlin Joseph Ballard, from Heber Jeddy Grant,
from George Quayle Cannon, from Brigham Young, from Oliver Cowdery, Martin
Harris, and David Whitmer, who they received it from a Prophet named Joseph
Smith Junior, who received his authority from the resurrected Peter, James, and
John, who received it from Jesus Christ!. I testify that i hold the very same
priesthood that Jesus Christ has." He was absolutely speechless.
My company began to speak exactly as Amulek had done after
Alma confounded the "wise" and he bore powerful testimony of the same
things and then we left.
It was incredible.
I know that Christ lives and that He has delegated his
priesthood through his worthy servants since the beginning of this world. Im
proud to be a missionary and to be a Neider. I love you all and ill talk to you
next week. Chao!
Siga Adelante,
-Elder Neider
