Hello:
The biggest news from this last week is that I am being transferred!!! Next week, I will let you know my new area and assignment. For now, I am saying goodbye to Huntsville, Alabama and heading off to one of Alabama’s greener pastures. I have so many wonderful memories of Huntsville and have loved serving here. The Huntsville Branch is one of the most fun branches you will find in Alabama. The members do an amazing job of making the missionaries feel like they are part of the family and culture of the branch. For example, there are four young boys in the branch who are part of a family that was baptized just over a year ago and they greet every missionary, even if they have never met them before, with a huge hug! I was surprised by it at first, but it was definitely appreciated.
I am so thankful for all the members that I have served with on my mission and all over the world who strive to make the missionaries feel welcomed and loved for the short time that they are serving in their units. I often find myself saying the phrase in my head: when I return home from my mission, I am going to be as helpful as I can with the missionaries. It makes things so much better in the life of a missionary when he has loving and caring members to work with. So I am very thankful for the love and support that I have seen and felt while serving in Huntsville. I had an amazing time!
This past week in Huntsville was filled with super fun activities. For example, recently my companion and I have been trying to find a way to get away from defaulting to “tracting” or knocking on doors as a means to finding new investigators. I am sure many people realize that tracting is not the most exciting thing to do and is not always the most effective. And I can tell you if I have learned anything as a missionary, it is this fact! Referring to randomly knocking on doors, the former prophet, President Hinckley once said, “there is a better way!” So my companion and I have recently been looking for that “better way” and we may have found it! While we were out walking around Tuesday night, we came across quite the finding opportunity – Knockerball! As we were walking along the side of the road, we saw a lot of people running around in the park in these big plastic balls and they were running into each other and playing soccer. It was quite the scene! So we went up and talked to a few of them and ended up playing! It was super fun, a great workout and we talked with a bunch of people who were non-members. Check it out on the Internet. Unfortunately, they only play one night a week here in Huntsville so it actually might not be the “better way” of finding new investigators, but it was still really fun!! Again, I am so grateful for the wonderful time that I’ve had in Huntsville and I am looking forward to going on to new areas! I love and miss everybody back home!
Love,
Elder Neser
Elder Nicolaus Neser 