December 30, 2013

Lucas 2:10-11 10. Pero el ángel les dijo: No temáis, porque he aquí os doy nuevas de gran gozo, que serán para todo el pueblo: 11. que os ha nacido hoy, en la ciudad de David, un aSalvador, que es CRISTO el Señor. Happy New Year Everyone. Day Before New Years Eve. :) I hope everyone had a happy Christmas!!!!!!!!! It will definitly be a Christmas to remember for me. It was very awesome. Im sorry we couldnt get the Skype to work............. but mothers day for sure, I was happy I could see all of you and the house! I miss seeing all of your faces everyday. I cant beleive that tomorrow night is New Years Eve!!!!!!!!!! We dont really have anything exciting planned, i think we will just be chillin in the house in the night, haha. obvious. Last year i was with Elder Casimiro, He is now in his house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and this new year i will be with elder Rasmussen!!!!!! yeah, We are going to crack glow sticks.... in the night, whooooooooooooooo Missionary Fireworks. haha. Anyways, This past week was really good, we got to do divisions with the Zone leaders, and I spent the day with elder Rodriquez, He was sick the whole day though, so we went to the hospital and got him a receipt for medicine. Then he left and he got me sick, i think......... This morning i woke up with thee worst sore throat i have ever had in my whole entire life....... i felt like i couldnt swallow,. My mouth was really dry and could hardly speak. This morning we told some youth that we were going into Mazatlan to play basketball, and one of them came to our house and waited for us to get ready to leave, and so i kind of felt like we had to go, but i really wanted to go play basketball also. because i havent played it in sooo long. I took some medicine and then we left to play basketball, it was a really good day. We all had fun plying basketball, but my throat still hurt, and it still hurts right now, while im typing. It is less swollen, but i am afriad in the night... because it just stng like crazy in the morning. I am drinking lots of water, and the medicine helps me a little bit. I think it will go away in a couple of days. I hope it does, we also did a fast for one of our investigators this past week, for blanca and we are really hoping that she will understand. She pays her tithing, Goes to church, always listens to the missionaries.... Ha she is amazing... we just dont know what her doubts are,... and we fasted with her and her family so that she could receive an answer. We are hopingthat this did the trick. She is very shy with us and it is sometimes awkward to talk with her. but I know she knows that this is true.... She just needs to say yes. We are hopng for an answer to everyones prayers. please pray for blanca so that she will get baptized. This past week we also met an 89 year old women that can still do push ups, she showed us. Ha ha i am going to go back and take a video of it. She is a member, but inactive. I told her that if she can still be doing ups, she can still be going to church,She does live pretty far away though. But we are teaching her. ha she Always gives us hugs...... ? .... She is very sweet. ITs against the rules to hug a missionary... but for 89 year old women that can still do push ups there is an acception. My companion is healthy : ) Im happy that he doesnt have anything serious. but we are just chuggin along Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow and a HAPPY NEW YEAR Love ELDER Fellingham

December 23, 2013

Well!!!!!!! I am very happy to say that its christmas time: ) I am very happy that it is almost Christmas day, I feel like this christmas will be a little bit more exciting than last years, i dont know why, but I am just excited for this one. Good News is that an old missionary returned here to Mazatlan, and christmas morning he invited all of the missionaries that are here in Mazatlan to go eat breakfast with him and his family. I am pretty suprised, I am sure we are all going to go. I still remember this missionary. His name is elder Snow. He left when my trainer left, and he is a cool guy. Im excited to see him. He told me when he was still in the mission that his family are really good friends with the montgommery family, Kathy and Greg, who has now passed away. But it was cool that we found that in common. Elder Snow is from Orem, Utah. I think he also told me that his parents know mom and dad, Gil and Paula. So i dont know if you guys know a fmaily with the last name by Snow. But i am happy that we get free breakfast Christmas morning. That is exciting for me. ha. It will be in a hotel. Then also the President of the branch here in Villa union invited us to be with him and his family for Christmas. We are going to cook carne asada and it is going to be delicious. It will be a very good last Christmas to remember here in the mission. btw cant beleive that its my second Christmas,............ This past month..... well in the past weeks lots of misisonaries left home. They got to go home early for Christmas..... But lots of them were my friends and it is soooo weird to me that they have left and they are not here anymore. I am veryy happy that they get to be with there families during Christmas though. It is something very special. Ha Yes Heidi showed me what mom and danny were talking about, Paula: Its our last Christmas without ben Danny: ill cherish it. Heidi: Somethings never change...... ha im looking forward when i get back to seeing the things that didnt change: ) haha especially my brother danny, This past week was not very productive with all the activities that we had, and the things we were doing. We moved houses, the knew house were in is very wonderful, it is brand new, and it is sickness free....... thank the heavens. It is very nice and we are both very grateful that we moved in in such short time. The new land lords are very awesome, very sweet and nice. It is a young couple that were going to move in, but they decided to keep living with on of there moms a little bit longer and they are letting the missionaries rent the house. The activity that we had was a multi zone conference, we had a spiritual session at first and then after we played lots of games and we broke three piñatas and then we ate and received packages. Yes i received the packages from heidi, Thank you heidi for the cookies, they are almost gone already... hah they are very yummy! i also gave a bag to some of our investigators that are progressing. they enjoyed them as well. Mom I will get your package next zone meeting im sure. Thank you very much for sending them i love you guys very much! We hae very few investigators right now.... Villa union is one of my hardest areas. I have talked with the missionaries that have been here in the past changes, and they have also told me the same.... It is just a rough place.... Lots of the people here are very direct... or indirect with there lies. but it is also vvery obvious.... But it is sad to see that lots of people reject the gospel here.... I still hae hope here, and i know that we just need to work even harder... we have to give all we have to hae miracles. To see the blessings of the lord we have to do 110% and i really hope we find new investigators in these weeks that come. Were still working with the same people and the owners of the new house that we just started renting. They seem very ready for the gospel. I hope they listen and understand us. I hope everyone is well at home, im glad we have snow for christmas it means it will be a good summer. I hope everyone is remembering the real significance of christmas, even though we have some ¨grinch doors¨ like melanie explained haha it doesnt mean that we stop or get down. We keep going, and we teach the truth and bring light unto others. I love the gospel and there is no other place that i would rather spend Christmas in two days than here in villa union. Even though it is hard hear i am learning that you just gotta put your head own and keep goin... Even if we arent seeing the big miracles right now there are always the little miracles that get over looked.... We surely do receive sooo many blessing from our Heavenly Father and we should know better to not over look them, or let them surpass our view because we are soo loved. I just want you all to know that love is one of the greatest commandments and I want you all each one of my family members and friends to know that I love you. Thanks for always being there for me and supporting me in the things I am doing. It means a lot. Dont waste time this Christmas season to over look the little things that you can do for someone else. President eyring said something like this in the book ¨To draw closer to God¨ That you sent me mom and dad: The times when I feel like I am most in tune with the Holy Ghost, The spirit, The comfortor, is when I am simply asking my Heavenly Father, What can I do for someone else? or who is someone that is in need of me right now?. Those two questions are the questions that Henry B Eyring asks himself when he wants to have the Holy Ghost with him. I feel like it also has a lot to do with service, Mosiah 2:17 what does it say? My dear family and Friends look at the things that you can do for others in these moments of your lives, and I promise you as is the promise from our Heavenly Father, down to Henry B Eyring a member of the first presidency that The Holy Ghost....... a member of the trinity will be by our side as our companion if we do a simple act of love to ur fellow men. I love you all And i wish you all a very Happy Christmas. Buscan milagros. Love Elder Fellingham

Pic1 me with my district left to right, E. Esplin, his companion E.hammon, E. Rasmussen and me, E. Orton, and E. hulsey Pic2. me and my district going to this thing this morning. We were invited by a bunch of norte americanos to eat breakfast with them, and we were right next to the beach, they invited all of the missionaries in Mazatlan, and the president let us go. : ) Feliz navidad. This picture is a mirror in the little car that we were in when we were trying to get to the breakfast.

These are all the missionaries getting lined up to eat, it was like a big buffet. The People that invited all of us are all from Utah. They said they do it every year, and they have always invited the missionaries. It was really fun, and we sang for them after.

and this picture is me with the zone leaders, elder Nelson and Elder Rodriguez. It was a really pretty day.

This is the backraound of where we ate this morning it was right on the beach, super tempting............................

This is all of us eating together, me and some of our zone. Elder Merkley in the front right is from lindon, he said he lives about 8 houses from the allreds, im sure Jeff knows him, maybe even you guys know the merkleys? i dont know. when we used to live in lindon. Then Elder Roberts in the back right with his mouth open is from Layton, He says he thinks he knows the bairds, robby and carol. the baird family. you can ask them. but i think its cool that they are both in my zone and the know my cousins.: )

all the food i ate : ) it was a good reminder,

elder roberts wanted to be in my picture, , ) but it was a good morning. We were all very full after.

Hermana Tejeda, She is really cool, very strong convert missionary, she is older but she is awesome. elder merkley from lindon, Elder Snow haha who used to be in this mission, but came back for this week to vacation, he spent his christmas here with his family with all the Utah people that came, he is my buddy, we were good friends when he was here. but he finished his mission with my trainer. He came with his mom, and you wouldnt beleive who his mom is.

His mom was Joy´s old teacher when she went to Orem High School : ) memories, ha I dont know if you guys remember her, but yeah i got to meet her, and I served my mission with her son. Love you guys, hope you had a good christmas, and have a happy new year WHOOOOOOOOOOO 2014!!!!!!!!! Love Elder Fellingham

December 16, 2013

Hey everyone, Looks like were in Christmas season. I hope everyone is in the christmas spirit. I really loved the pictures heidi thank you!!!!! Im glad you guys all had a little visit by santa clause early. !!!!!! ha ha hazel did look a little bit suprised. Im happy you all had a good fun time. This past week went well, me and my companion are finding new people like always that want the gospel. This past week, we met someone on the street, her name is Vanessa. She asked us to go to her house so we could talk to her, and she is 18 years old. She is pregnant and she is living with someone. She has desires to get married and we are goin g to help them get married. She is very nice and so is her husband ( luis) They are bot very cool, She is a member of the church, but luis no. She told us that she will be having her baby in two weeks. It doesnt look like in two weeks... i mean her stomach still looks very small to be in two weeks, She is not really bulged, it looks like the baby is side ways in her stomach so she has really big hips.... its kind of weird. but atleast thats what they are telling us. We want them to get married before she has her baby... because if she does it will be that much easier to baptize her husband. He has a desire to be baptized. He studied with other missionaries a while ago, he still remembers how to pray and everything, he just needs to be taught a little bit more. But this is our plan for them. They werent soo sure about getting married before the baby, and we told them to think and pray about it. We know someone that can marry them also, We just need to ask about some paper things. But we are really hoping that they get married before the baby. Because if they dont we will have to wait another month so that they can get married becasue she will be in what they call reposo. Rest! the people here.. well lots of people have there babies naturally. and they dont get medication.... i dont know what she will do, but usually all of them rest after having the baby. and here i feel like they rest even longer, because some dont have the medical stuff they need... but i dont know. Im doing well, my companions doing well. Were not sick, we are going to have christmas with our president. He invited us over to eat with them in the night. Me and my companion decided that we are going to skype, we will call before so we can see what we will do but we are both going to skype. If the family can be ready around 5 6 or 7 thats when we will be skyping. We will be more specific next week when we get on. but i cant wait to see all your fces, and whats new, and how everyone is doing. This is going to be a short letter this week, but maybe we will get on later on today and write more. We have a meeting in Mazatlan with all the missionaries today so we have to leave right now to be on time. But i love you all, and i love the work. Love Elder Fellingham

December 9, 2013

Its almost Joseph Smiths birthday!!!!!!!! hah just thought you might like to know that. We were teaching a lesson telling fun facts about Joseph Smith, and his birthday is close to christmas. Fun fact for the week. Hey Family!!!! This past week was pretty good, we had a good week, we found lots of new people, and we had interesting lessons. We have new investigators, it turns out we had to drop lidia.... she is not progressing, and she lies to us. buteverything besides that is good. We are still firends, we just cant pass by her house frecuently anymore. We are focused on other peopl who follow up with their commitments. We found someone new, her name is margarita. Se has a very good friend that is in the church. We just found her alos... ha she is less active, but knows a lot about the bible. The thing that is difficult for her is because her house is super far from the church.... but i think and figure that it is a little sacrafice to wake up sundays to go to church, I think she will keep coming. she has a lot of friends their. Margarita has a lot of family, she accepted a baptismal date, and she said she would like us to talk to her husband. She said he is very nice, and he likes things about God. He likes religion. He is a miner, and blows up hills, and mountains. i imagine it is for the big new free way that they are making. The old way to get to durango takes about 6 hours, and this new road/ freeway will only take 3 hours. they basically just cut straight through the mountains. but it is pretty cool, im sure you can look it up. They say its very beautiful. (the drive) We have a guy who lives her in villa union that is member and he helps us a lot when he can. He is dating a 22 year old in my old area in juarez, and he said he wants to propose to her in these months that come, but he is going to take a drive with her down the canyons ha. and thats where he wants to propose. He works their also, so it takes up a lot of his time. but he is a cool guy. He is basically like our mission leader. The mornings and nights are getting colder here. February and January are the coldest months in mexico.. well herein sinaloa and then it starts getting warmer, i bought a long sleeved shirt to wear in the night. I have been waking up with a sore throat these past few days, but i think its because we leave the door open to our balcony at night. I need to start shutting it. My companion still thinks he is a tough guy,,, and he leaves his fan on in the night... pff, ha i remember when i did it also last year. Turns out we had changes but we didnt get changed again!!!!! i was a bit suprised. but i could care less with the time in my mission about changes. ha. Lots of the missionaries revolve around where they are going, and thats not good. I am actually happy to still be here. I havent seen this place grow how i hoped i would make it with my companion, so i am happy that my heavenly father is giving me another chance. Every change helps me see things that did well and i did wrong, and we will be changing a few things... We always strive to be our best!!! Im doing well, we are not sick!!!!!!!!!!!!! well bad things havent happened like serious sicknesses!!! So we have been blessed. Our District didnt even change either. It is still the same six gringos... together haha. I feel bad for one elder he has like almost half a year... and he is still in his first area. Elder esplin, from Alaska.. ha All our district are good people. They are all good missionaries. I hope we can see lots of miracles this change. We have lots of investigators that are ready to be baptized.... but they are just not baptized............. ahhhhhh it makes me frustrated... one of these weeks they will be baptized though. thanks for the pictures of the snow. I miss it, although my body is really used to the weather here now.. I dont sweat at all and my companion is always asking me...... why arent you sweating... are you not hot.... ha he is still used to Idaho. In two weeks i will be able to talk with you guys so get ready,,, this week i figure out with my companion when is the best to do it, and then i will tell you next week. i dont know if we will be able to skype... remember we have a new president. I will be sure to ask, what we can do. Anyways i love all of you, here is a scripture, a good one for christmas, "And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day. "Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night... and it shall be the night before he is born. "And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you." Lets all remember to focus on what Christmas is truly about., Love you guys, travel safe, and rememer who you are. Love Elder Fellingham.

December 2, 2013

We are almost in 2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay Black beans and cheese for thanksgiving dinner!!!!!!!!! One of my favorites, i will always remember it. : ) It was delicious. This thanksgiving nobody invited us to eat with them, but it was okay. Me and my companion had fun trying to cook, haha. I hope that everyone had a really good thanksgiving, i miss seeing the fall leaves, and being with family thanksgiving. But this thanksgiving was a really good one and i liked it, haha because i didnt even remember it was thankgiving. I read a talk from dietewr F uchtdorf that i would encourage you all to read. It made me more grateful for the things i have, and for te real things i have in my life, not the material things. Here in mexico the people always get really festive when it comes around these months, they are always having parties, and dancing, and drinking.... Anyways, im happy to be in the christmas month!!!!!!! lots of people are buying there christmas trees, and lots of people have there lights all lit up. ha i said this last time, but it is really weird for me to see christmas lights without snow.... it is weird. I am just sooooooooo happy that the sun instead of melting the snow isnt melting my skin.......... It is not hot anymore, the days are much cooler, and we have a nice summer breeze, there are more clouds. It doesnt rain, and my skind and my body temparature are both a lot happier. Okay this last week, here comes some sad news,,, the lady that we have prepared all this past month to be baptized told us the day before her baptism that she didnt want to get baptized,... She did it in another way though without using words.... Which made me and my companion really sad,,, and a little frustrated. My companion was more sad than me i think.... I felt really bad for him,, and i tried to cheer him up. We were sooo close to baptism with her... She will be baptised... just more in the future. We have changes next week, and i am expecting to leave this area.... This is the area of enfermedad ,,,,, as me and my companion call it, ha.. The house that we live in isnt very healthy. There is just a lot of dust in it... and there is spaces that we dont even use, like rooms and stuff. . . but one of us will be leaving, or the both of us maybe... i dont know, i hope my companion leaves, or the both of us.. 6 months down and counting... ahhh the time i ask it to please just stop for one minute... but it doesnt obey.. I have always told myself that i hope i go to all the areas in my mission... to be able to see everywhere before i leave, and i am almost there, Atleast all the main cities, I lack cruz de elota, and el dorado, and rosario, and the baja california( la paz, Los cabos) I really want too go their, i have always said also that thats where i will get sent last tio finish up... haha but who knows. I am really looking forward to a change... i have been here in Mazatlan for a really long time. . . Mazatlan is the area i know like inside and out, i know all the buses by name, which one i need to take to get to basically hwatever colony.... It makes me bad when new missionaries come in and they like cant even remember how to get back to there house or where the main street is.... : / I also know where all the missionaries houses are. It has been a long time here. Okay i hope that the laytons and webbs had fun in st george. Thats always a fun drive: ) i miss it. I hope you guys played well and hard, Im happy to hear that you all got second!!!!!!!!! Next year im sure you will be first!!!!!!! Mom dad, Im glad everything went well with your surgery. Its pretty amazing to me that you can play 18 holes of golf after your surgery. and that you are up and going so fast.!! mom really missied thanksgiving, but its okay, next year for sure. : ) and dont cry il be home soon.... : ) il set up the nativity set even when its not christmas... haha. I just want to say one thing. I hope everyone in the family remembers how blessed we are, we really are trully blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful place, to have houses, clothes and food. There are lots of things that i have seen in my mission that you would never see in the united states, or in your communities, i feel like i have a little bit more sense of what danny has felt for the people in iraq, and the places he has been, but also when i have traveled with mom, we saw things and places that dont even compare.... Just want you to remember in this thanksgiving season and christmas season that we are trully blessed,, and we shouldt have full intentions of helping others and having just a slight concious of what is happening in other places in the world. Just know that we are all very blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be happy, Be giving, and know that our heavenly Father loves us all, Love you guys, miss you. See you in half a year!!! Love Elder Fellingham

November 25, 2013

okay so i know i wrote only two days ago. i dont know what to say... ha only that we are still okay, and my companion hasnt gotten sick again : ) he is resting, the doctor said he needs to relax and not go out and work, so he has been here. Things are well, we just got done buyin a whole bunch of healthy food,. so that should help him out even more. we have hardly been in our area, sunday we had stake conference, and it went very well, in the priesthood session, i learned a lot, and it was really spiritual, It was all about the mission work, and how the leaders are really trying to put a transformation in the minds of the members, to help the missioanries more. Thats what it was focused on, that now is the time to be united as one, and our mission president talked, and he was saying that now is the time to start doing things together to work as one whole , instead of just missionaries, and members out of the picture... now it should be both, and we should have a different vision, of what we need to do as members. I feel lik it really motivated them to do even more to help us out. and little by little they will understand more and more that they are the ones that really help us receive investigators. I felt bad that they didnt give our president a lot of time to speak... i dont know why they didnt but everyone is different i guess.. but he had time to bear his testimony and that was about it , i feel like the main focus was the priesthood because he got to talk a long time there. I am so happy to be able to see the work move forward, and that the members are starting to see the importance of who they really are. Also what there role is in helping new people into the church. My testimony i feel like is even stronger than when i first started, every day it just grows and grows, every little thing that happens that our heavenly father gives us is a miracle whether they are small or big. I lied we have changes in two weeks. This area has been one of the harder ones for me, because its the area where i havent found people that want the gospel. Lots of the people,.. well the people in ranches live a different life style than others, and they are definitly more hard skinned.... and lots have not wanted anything to do with us while we have been here, but thats okay, there time will come, where some missionary will be able to touch there heart with the gospel. I am also kind of excited, because i think i might leave this area, and if i leave, i hope i get sent somewhere where i dont get sick... Mazatlan is just full of sicknesses..... and i dont like it. i hope everyone is doing well. The mission is doing well, we are really growing, this next month is the month known for lots of missionaries to get here, lots of people are saying that they are going to start sending girls from the united states here to serve, that should be interesting. It will be something new, and kind of weird. I dont know why,. but yeah we will see, we are almost about to finish this month, and then christmas is around the corner. The mexicans arealways sooo festive, i swear all they live for is to party. . . . haha, lots of them already have there christmas lights up, and it is weird to see christmas lights without snow.... but its all good. I want to wsh everyone a happy thanksgiving, just want you to all know that i am soo grateful for all of you, and everything that you have done for me. it really means a lot that you all support me on my mission, and that i always feel that i am loved. Everyone always makes me happy when they write me, ad when i get the chance to be able to see how everyone is doing. Thank you for being my brother and sisters, my nephews and nieces y grandma, cousins and my mom and dad, and my best friend. i wish all of you a happy thanksgiving. Love Elder Fellingham

November 23, 2013

Sorry i didnt write monday, I feel bad, but the reason why is because yeahhh........... another week in the hospital. but good news is that we just got out today, we went in last sunday because my companion got dengue. Its like the mexican flu. Dengue is when you get bit by mosquitos and you get a virus. But it hit my comp hard, i feel really bad for him, he just got over bronchitis, and now this,. yeah i felt really bad. I think his immune system is just a little week, but!!! okay so this is what happened, he started feeling worse, so i was like were going back to the hospital. We left after the second class of church, my poor companion was sweating like crazy, he just looked horrible... We got to the hospital and the doctor checked him, they `` said`` they did test, but they didnt do anything, This doctor was different.... and to tell everyone the truth he was a bit of a jerk. This doctor said well i am just going to give your companion medicine and you can go home.... And then i was like NO!!!!! i got upset with him, and i was like okay, me and my companion came in here two weeks ago, and you put him in the hospital for four days, no if my companion feels worse,,,, worse than he did last time you are not just going to give him medicine,... and send him home. Plus our apartment and our area is an hour away from mazatlan, i said there is no way we are going back. This doctor alled our last doctor, and then that doctor came, and he said well you can stay in the hospital, So this past week i was with my ompanion again in the hospital. , I got to go out and go back to my area one day during the week with one of our zone leaders. It kind of felt pointless, but i was actually really happy to go out and see people and teach the gospel. I was in the hospital for three days and then i got a break of being their. and then we stayed their for two more days. Got to listen to music, read, and sleep. One thing that i will really miss is the high powered showers that are in the hospital: ) Those were really nice, My companion improved every day little by little, and now we are in this computer place waiting to go to stake conference. We will go to the priesthood session and then go home. My companion told me that thats what he wanted to do, so he feels good and is ready to get back to work. So this past week was basically just another chance to see all our hospital friends, haha, It was all the same people and they are all really nice and awesome. we helped some with english, and lots of the doctors speak english. so everything went well. and everything is better now. We will have changes in a week... i feel like a bad trainer........... but i havent had any time to be able to teach my companion... all the time in the hospital we did some things, but not a lot. all in all, i feel like he has learned a lot, but also with the training no. . But he knows a lot of doctrine, he knows how to teach, he feels like the only thing that stops him is his ability to speak. But he does speak spanish a lot better then when he started. : ) so i am happy to be able to see him improve. I want to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i thought it had already past.... hah but no it hasnt. Someone told me that, and i was like oh man..... i missed telling my family. and then he told me oh just kiding its in a week. So i am happy for all of you and your support. And i love you. I am very thank ful for lots of things. For life, for happiness, and my awesome family and friends. I am also very thankful for the gospel. and my Heavenly Father. Mom and dad how was LA what were you doing their, what happened. Im well and healthy. Sorry i didnt write. : / but here it is, we are still alive. : ) well the top pretty much explains everything. But hey im happy that there is snow in Utah, I know you wouldnt agree with that dad.... but i think you would if you lived in mexico for a year and a half, haha. I too am grateful for music, whenever we sing hymns here the spirit is automatically received! It is an amazing tool that the lord has given us, I feel like when i get home i am going to be practicing a lot more music. Its one of my dreams to be able to play the guitar better. Here in mexico I hear the guitar all the time., i really like acoustic music. Thanks for all your love and support!!! i miss you guys. Just remembered something mom , my companion told me that his mom has your book, haha. He saw your picure on your global womens thing and he said MY mom has our moms book haha, i was like thats awesome. : ) he is going to ask if she liked it. JAckie and david i am happy you got your new baby!!!!!!!! he has sparkly eyes, ha but tj i like that name, its a good one. I hope everything is going well with you and your family!!!!!!! love you guys. I received the package that you sent mom, thank you for everything, !!!!!!!! I couldnt wait to open it up... so yeh i opened all of it up... I dont even remember when the holidays are when i am here o i just figured i would open it....... haha but thank you very much!!!!! They are verynice books, and i am already almost done with the henry b eyring. Had lots of time to read in the hospital. ha its a good book. ! The candy has already been eaten, thanks for donating to the cavities for kids foundation..... but it was all very good. Now more kids in mexico have even whiter smiles. anyways, i love everyone!!! Miss you guys, hope you all have a happy thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!! Love Elder Fellingham

November 11, 2013

No puedo creer que ya vamos a terminar el año................ I cant beleive we are almost going to finish this year....... wow : ) Heyyy I hope everyone is doing well, Mi and my companion are. No sickness, this whole past week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WWWWWWWWWWhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooo These past week went really well, i was really happy to be able to see all of our investigators and the members, the members thought that we had left... ha but no, we tought a lot of people this last week, andso did my district, they were awesome this week. we feel so great and i feel like my companions are really working hard. Theya are really trying to do there best, and thats what i like to see. It makes me happy when i can see there efforts grow, and when i can see things change, and i feel like to be able to watch them just gives me more happiness to be able to see others grow in the gospel, i not only see mine and my companions, but also all of them in my district. Lidia is one of our investigators, she is progressing really fast, the only problem she has is drinking coffee..... Yesterday i gave her a calender and she really has a desire to stop drinking it, she knows its bad for her body, and i am really hoping this calender trick will help her out. To see her progress, and to stop drinking it, I told her to put another beverage or other drink every day that she can have other than drinking coffee. She is doing everything else, going to church, reading and praying. she is awesome, then another investigator named francisco came to church this last sunday, it made me soooo happy to see him their. The president of the branch pointed to the back, and i was like what? and then i saw francisko and his bald head in the back, and i was like YES!!!! and i went back and sat by him. He really liked it, and i know he felt the spirit. !!! Blanca is another investigator. She is progressing but slowly, all she has to do is make the decision to get baptized, and we will fill up the font........... ahhhhhhh it is soooo stressfull for me to see her not taking advantage of it. All of her family are members except her. She is more shy and quiet, and she told me when she was little she had problems with having friends, but she is really nice and sweet.... she is 22? i think but she just doesnt have a testimony about joseph smith.... she is waiting still to receive an answer. but she said she will study about joseph smith this week on her cell phone. thats the only thing she laks. Jackie i hope everything went well with your baby, he looks like he will have blonde hair also. I hope everything went well he has a little grandpa face. : ) all babies do, but he will grow into himself. love you guys miss you. Angela, I am happy your taking lots of pictures of people, It sounds interesting to me photography, i need to learn more about it when i get home so i can take better pictures for mom. Tell your kids i miss em, i love them. I cant wait to play soccer with them. Joy i am suprised that caitlyn got stitches, carving pumkins can do that, i wish i could of carved a pumpkin , i would have but they dont even have them down here.... pfff. now thanksgiving is coming and for sure we will have a turkey. We are going to have a dinner with all the members in the church, we just started planning it. Missy how is the oil thing coming along, Miss you guys, and i cant wait to see all your kids and how grown up they are. Danny how was your cruise, ??? I want to go on one when i get back.Love you guys, miss hazel. how is your motorcycle, keep it in good shape for me when i get back. , ) Dad i am happy that you had your personel best!!!!!!!!! for golf, its super good you got it before the snow hits,,, well???? Have you even had snow yet, has utah had snow, i miss it. Iwant someone to send me a picture of it so i can see it. I am going to take my shirt off and go roll in it the next time i see it. Mom i am soo happy to hear that your trip went really well. It mademe really happy to hear that you will be someone to help grow the gospel in china throughout your books andwhatyou teach. Ihad areally good impressin about it mom after you and dad told me about that, i feel like i received a spiritual impression. I think you should look into that more. on how you can teach the people of chine with using the gospel. I am happy your trip went well, And did you get any pictres while you were on the wall of china?????? i want to see. I love you guys, hope you have a good week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay healthy, keep smiling. share the gospel with others! Love elder fellingham. Fun fact i will complete 17 months in 2 days. month marker whoooo!!!!!!! or 18?? im not sure ithink 17 but time is moving by fast, ....

November 4, 2013

Me and the abominable church...the sunset from our house.

mi compañero en the hospital and w the hermanas, he had to put on the oxygen mask.... and everytime he did i told him he loked like he was high.... smoking

the rainstorm outside nd elder guiterrez putting the towel on his head like after women take a shower.......

Okaay this past week was interesting, we worked and then my companion said he was sick, so we stayed in tuesday?? i think it was. Then we took him to the hospital the next day. We go all the way to the hospital in mazatlan because thats where the insurance covers, and its free. He got a check up, and he told the doctor he has heart problems, and they start doing all this stuff x rays and take his blood, study it, and then they come back and say he has bronchitis, and then the doctor sayed that he will stay in the hospital for a couple of days, and a couple of days means more than just two days. This whole past week we were in the hospital because my companion has bronchitis, he was really week, and really sick for like three days straight. But he is well now, we were just told this morning that we are free to go. We are now in our area again. ha My companion still says he has a lot of junk in his chest, but he feels a lot better, But yeah i slept in the hospital for three in a half days, Missionaries brought me food every day so that i could eat also. It was mostly the hermanas that were in that area where the hospital is. They brought us food, and then our zone leaders brought us food. They were all very nice to us and helped us out. It was the most boring week i have ever had in my mission of doing basically nothing. I read in the scriptures, like i told everyone last week, that i finished the book of mormon. sooo i started the bible while i was in the hospital, and its going well, i feel like i am reading at a descent pace, and i am understanding a lot. Im like twenty six chapters in, Learning about abraham, and isaac. rainbows, and noah and the ark. sara, and everything. It is going very well. I have always wanted to say, YES i have read the bible. ha its a big book. My companion is doing a lot better, he looks better than he did before. I feel bad though, it takes a lot away from his training, we didnt have anything in those four days to be able to study. No books, not anything, just our scriptures. and he was sleeping a lot of the time. we had a pretty good time together though, it was fun. We have lots of pictures. But there is not going to be much for this week, because there just arent that many things to tell. Yesterday a cyclone hit a little pueblo next to us, we had missionaries their. I dont know if they got evacuated or not, i dont know how bad it hit, i hope it wasnt too bad. I dont think it was. It was just a lot of rain. It rained a lot here yesterday. I can slowly feel the temparature going down, it makes me super happy. It just means we wont be out working in the super hot sun... I swear everything that every body talks about around here is hey que dice el sol..... ahhhhhhh well waht do you think im in it also.. ? its like us saying hey whats the weather like.... and being outside. I feel like sometimes the sun has fried some people down here... a little bit too much. : D ha but no they all are really good people, i just feel bad for these changes right now, because we have been sick a lot. and we havent been able to help our investigators progress how we want them too in these moments. I hope for the rest of the change nothing happens again. Free from sickness por favor. We had a cool experience in the hospital, we talked to a cleaning lady, and she accepted the missioneras to go to her house, and we shared her a few things from the scriptures, and she was very interesting, but also wants to know more. So that was good that we could talk with her. I feel like every moment is a contacting opurtunity, i have trained myself to just open my mouth and just start talking in the moment and i know that god will always give us an oppurtunity to put the gospel in the conversation. I have seen it all throughout my mission, and it is true. There are moments in my mission and the same with everyone elses where you dont open your mouth and then the question comes up later in the mind..... ahh why didnt i talk when i had that impression. Its difficult to think that sometimes, but we cant punish ourselves for a simple mistake like that. we need to remember that our heavenly father has a moment place and time for everyone of his children. Thats what makes me love the gospel soooo much is that one day everyone will know, whether there heart is hard or not. I know this is the truth. Sometimes we forget that we are sons and daughters of someone who is called the almighty, i sure do sometimes, but we need to remember that, two sundays ago thats what i talked about with the youth, is who we really are, and where we really come from, i would just like to leave with a scripture that i really like its in Mosiah 27:25. Remember always Of who we are, and where we really come from. What would the world be like if we all remembered that of every minute and every second. As my family i would like that you all remember this week and forever, of who you are and who the people are around you, when it comes to a hard time, or a difficult time, or a happy time. It doesnt matter, but what does matter is that we are all sons and doughters of our great heavenly father. Love you guys have a good week. love elder fellingham

October 28, 2013

Hey!!!!! I hope everyone is doing well. I am doing well : ) Its fun to see all the halloween things being sold here in this little ranchito, although they dont have that many trees and the leaves dont change like they do in Utah, They still have the halloween spirit. Lots of little children buying things for halloween, Also we live on top of a huge candy store, Il send pictures next week, but lots of people are buying candy. We had changes today, but me and my companion are still here together, we werent changed. I have lots of new people in my district though, and i am excited to meet them, I think i am the oldest of all of them : / it will be kind of interesting. I have to set a good example : ) There are lots of new missionaries coming in to the mission, There are also lots more hermanas also! in two months we should be back to a good 200 missionaries. There are lots of missionaries leaving in december, a good twenty five. I feel like im a grandpa in the mission haha... were getting up there me and my generation... but anyways i am excited to see all these new 18 yer old missionaries come in, There is a lot of difference between us hah, some are really immature, and some are pretty mature to be 18. It is fun to see how all of them are and the light they bring into the mission. Lots of them are really funny, but they also learn really fast also, They make mistakes and they get right back up, and try again. : ) its awesome. My companion is really improving with his spanish, We really try to talk during the day a lot. Our investigators are doing well, We found one lady, and she is awesome, her name is lidia, She came to church with us this past sunday, and she felt really good!!!! and i was like yes!!! this is what we want, and i explained to her that what she felt is the holy ghost, and she was like oh well i want to have more of that feeling, and she is progressing well, we have tought her a little bit, but she will definitly progress a lot. She is our main investigator, Blanca is also still progressing, we put another date for her, it is just really hard to schedule around her work, but she said that she will be baptized in this month, We are really still hoping that she is reading and praying, its because she works in culiacan, and we dont have daily contact.... and its really hard, But we figured out that she doesnt have a testimony about joseph smith, she doesnt really know if he was a true prophet or not... sooo that was really good, and they promised me, her sister lidia and blanca that they would look up more about Joseph smth to find out more about him and what he did as a person. I am she thats just what she is missing in her testimony. She was a little bit iffy on it when we talked about it. She is more of a quiet person and it is really hard to get things out of her. She is one of the ones that she says its good, its going good, and that all she says. This past week we tought lots of people. Fransisco still hasnt shown us any progression..... so we might have to drop him... i feel bad though, he has a really good family. These are the people we are teaching, Im excited to start a new change though, It will be fun, and we now know the things and people that dont want anything here, and we know the ones that do, I really hope we start finding more people that are willing to listen, we kind of falt that. But all in all, were doing well here. My companion woke up a little sick this morning,,,, One of my goals this change is to not get sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am relly hoping that the sun starts dying down, and hat it gets colder. I told my companion this morning that we get to spend thanksgiving together!!! whoooo !!! Pavo. I love these months beacuse of the seasons, and all the holidays. Hope you love the snow in Utah because i miss it. Here me and my companion dig snow balls out of our refrigerator and throw them off our balcony... haha no thats not true, but thats the closest we get too with snow here... I love everyone and i hope all of you have a good week, Try to help out someone that needs to be helped this week, do service, Love the people around you: ) my goals that i give t you, : ) Have a good week every one Love Elder Fellingham

October 21, 2013

Okay this past week went well. We are finally starting to find more people to teach, we now know basically everyone in villa uñion that is a member or has been a member. There are lots of funny stories from this past week, with peopl that we have found that used to be a member of the church. . . Some are for little reasons and some are for big, but what matters is that usually the incedents, or the things that happened are from arguments, or little things that people just get bugged or offended and then they stop coming to church. but in all... in the end really, they should not take it out on the church, The church hs nothing to do with the incedent or the problem they had with another person or something silly that happened. Ha we met one lady that she came walking out to the door when we got their with a big smile and she sayed the other elders came like amonth ago and is there anyway that you can erase my name from your church and take away like the thing that keeps making the missionaries come, and we were like hah we kind of laughed well i did, i dont know if my companion understood, but i was like yes, but what happened, why dont you go to church anymore, and she said well i was the girlfriend of one of the missionaries when he was here, but 20 years have passed now, and he left, ??? but its like why were you baptized in the church then, she was baptized and everything when this missionary was here, but what a horrible story. ha? i thought it was kind of funny. But yes the rules have now changed, but i asked so hermana you dont like the church? and she said well no i am really strong in the catholic church right now, and she basically doesnt want anything to do with the church now, but we received a lot of bizarre stories this week, some touched my heart and some not sooo much. But the good thing about finding all of these people who dont want the church ever again in there lives is that we found new people on the way that do want to hear about the church, and this past week we found like 10 new people to start teaching. Some of them are really cool . but i am excited, We have changes in a week, and i am excited to see what happenes. I am sure we are just going to stay the same. but i really hope we dont, i like it here, I havent really seen that much progress with the people here.... lots have very interesting stories, but we are helping them. I am feeling very healthy, back on top f things, the only thing is my skin,,, i put the cream on and everything and the red dots still come back, im going to go to the doctors again, Its not like they hurt me or anything, it is just something that i see, that probably shouldnt be on the skin,,,, but im fine. I had a cold for the last two weeks, even though it is like 99 degrees here. It is starting to get really cold at night, I bought a blanket, its green and blue and very warm, I am happy to be working again with full health. I can definitly feel the difference. Mom im eating well, dont worry about that, the ranchitos are always full of yummy healthy food. Very rich food. Thats why i love the ranchitos sooo much, its delicious. I finally started getting in the habit of taking missys vitamins again haha its a habit, they are nice and i really do feel a difference when i take them. but mom and dad.... no they dont change the mission address... and if it changes i will tell you guys. glad the traveling is going well, and golf, and school, and fall. . . . Thats one thing i miss so dont mention it, hah I miss all the fall leaves and the different colors, the red cheeks joy told me that, and the cold nip... i miss it alll very very much, its too hott here I swear there is a trail of water wherever we go. anybody could track us for just how much we sweat. . . . I am super happy though that it is coming winter. It helps me and i feel like it helps me more with sicknesses and diseases that infet skin.... so i will be far away from those things. We are still teaching the same people, blanca and fransisco, They are progressing slowly, but we found new people so we will be focusing on them also. The first week of nevember we will be doing an activity for dia de los muertos. Day of the dead. We will hand out plan of salvation foyetos to all the people that go and visit their loved ones that have died and we are hoping to get more references and investigators. we did it last year also . and all of the youth in our ward is excited to do it again. My companion is doing well, he is speaking a lot more spanish than he did when he first came, he is growing up.... as mom would say ha, but he is actually doing a really good job, i hope he keeps is excitement up, he gets discouraged sometimes, but i get it out of him when he does, he is a good guy. Dont worry about our new ward it grows like crack cocaine whenever we split. It will be exciting to watch it again, I am excited to be able to see everyone in lil bit, WHAT? ......... ha but no it makes me happy to here that the church is also growing where we live, Thats amazing. It is growing sooooo fast in all the world. We get closer and closer to the time, and it is coming, so for sure we better be prepared. I love you all my family and friends, and i hope everything is going well in your lives. keep on doing the things that you know are true, I love you all, Thanks for your support, and love that you give to me, just remember that it is equal from me to you. Love you guys have a great week.

October 14, 2013

Okay, So This last week ha we didnt do anything... Well we did do some things, but not alot, The reason why is because i received a sickness... yeah I dont know why. But we went to the doctor, and he told me i have something called ongo... ongo in spanish is mushroom... ?? but it is not as bad as it sounds. The doctor told me that it is something people get when they are out in the sun too much. I am definitly one of those people. Ha every missionary is. but he gave me medicine, and creme that i had to take! and he gave me a list of food that i cant eat, He said i also needed to be in doors all week. This whole past week,,, we never went outside, and i got permission and we stayed in .. I took the medicine, i put the cream on, and i stayed inside, and i didnt eat the food that i shouldnt eat. This last week, felt like the longest week in all my mission. but the good thing is, is that we could go outside at night time and get a good two to three hours in of work. The things tht i had on my skin have now almost all gone away, but there are still a few. but everything is fine. i also have an infection in my throat, and i dont feel good, but i am just happy to be able to go outside again and start teaching. I dont really have any stories to tell, but we found and met someone that lives right next to the president of our branch, and his name is pablo, and he has a lot of disires to change his bad habits. He is very nice, father of two, has a wife. and we are teaching him, I have a good feeling about him. he is cool. also we are teaching the sister of lidia, the one who was just baptized, and she might be baptized this next week, depending on her answer. She is awesome. Also People that we found me and elder pardo from the last change were baptized this past week, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was soooo happy to find that out, So it has been a good week. My message will be short this week, My companion is well, and he is speaking more spanish, and he is the funniest companion that i have ever had. He used to be in alot of school plays, and he is really funny. Mom that is awesome that you did all those things haha, I never would have imagined you doing those typeof things but there ya go, Thats what happens when you go to wyoming. hah. Im glad that your trip went well. Dad that makes me soo sad that, that happened. I wish the best for there family, and i hope they are doing well. I love everyone, and i will for sure write more next week. I know this is short, but there is just not that much to write about. District leader is going well, I gave a talk about obedience and diligence the last time i was with all the elders, but they are all good elders. I feel like it helped them. There are also a few of my good friends that are going home this next week... They are done with there missions.... and i cant beleive that i wont see them again for a long time or never... ha but these people have really been good examples to me, and i am happy to be able to see them leave there missions strong. they are awesome. I love everyone, and i hope you all have a good week. !!!! Love Elder Fellingham

October 7, 2013

this past week was good, we made progress!!!!!!! It was better than the last week, : ) There are lots of less actives where we are, and there are few that come to the church, i feel like for our work right now is to get organized, and find new people to teach... We mostly just need to strengthen our branch, there are new people that have just been baptized and we need to do everything possible to strengthen them so they dont becaome like the rest which ahave kind of fallen a little bit..... but we are working on them also. We got chewy to go to general conference, he is a son of one of the sisters, and he put a million pre textos before we actually got him to come with us... His name is Jesus... and i dont know what it is, but there is like a disease with all the men in our rama, hey have been like plagued with lazy fever or blindness to not know the importance of things, or to teach there children. My President gave me some advice that i can help them with and i am going to try and do it. I have faith and patience with this ramita, usually the ranchitos have always been the hardest, and i think that is why i love them sooo much, They are very humble but they can sting you in the butt with there laziness, but It is going well. I have had lots of time to help my companion, I wish i had even more, sometimes i feel like i am not even giving him all my attention, but its usually because i am trying to do other things that are also important, He is starting to speak more spanish, and I am giving him more oppurtunities to talk in spanish, he is doing well, and learning lots of new words each day. The district is doing well, I am still studying about what my duty is and what i need to be doing to be more effective in what i have been called to do. I feel like its coming a long.. but its sure not that easy. But i like it, I love the challenges that we are faced with everyday, and the questions that we get asked. Its sooo fun!!! We are progressing little by little and thatsd what our heavenly Father wants from us. So we are all good. !!!! I am happy, everything is going great, We dont really have any investigators, just blanca, the sister of lidia who was just baptized. But we tought her last night, I made a huge importance to her that she needs to be reading prayng and meditating about the book of mormon, we put the 20th as a baptisdmal date, and she agreed to it, If she feels good and she feels ready. She isnt stubburn, but one of her main questions was that if she can be baptised more than one time,,,, and i explained to her that yes, but it isnt something that we do regularly haha, just its important that she knows what are the foundations for baptism. 1. We first need to have an age or knowledge of what we are doing to accept being baptised, 2. water, water is important we need a place to fully submerge in the water, 3. Power and authority, we need to have someone that has the power and authority of god to act in his name! Those are the qualifications of a true baptism, and i explained her these things. and she said okay and she said she will continue praying about it! She is very awesome just like her sister, and we are hoping that she will just add to her testimony and baptize the 20th, she is the only one we are teaching, and yeah that basically it. Everything is going well, This letter will be a little short, but i love everyone and i am glad you are all well. Speaking of short Jackie and elise with the short hair. wow : ) just look different but i like it, still like long hair better, but what i have always said, only some girls can pull off short hair, and you guys look good with it, so dont worry about it. Mom dad love you guys. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! mucho, I will get on later today and try and write more, I just didnt have a lot of time to write today. But love everyone family and friends!!!!!!! Love Elder Fellingham

September 30, 2013

Okay yeah tomorrow is october... is not paying attention to the time an attribute of christ...? ha this last week was alright..... it wasnt a bad week... it was just a little hard for me. im not exactly stressed at all with everything that they gave me and what i am called to do now. but i just dont know how to explain my feelings about it. I feel like everything is basically the same, but this last week was just not that productive, we went out and worked every day all day... but after the week was over our work didnt show through the numbers..... i always get like a sense of guilt if i dont have enough numbers at the end of the week, and no........... i know we are not here only for numbers. but to know that you tried your best all week and your efforts didnt even show.. it just hmmm it doesnt really help. but i know Heavenly Father is always looking on whats inside the heart. And yeah it was one of those weeks. But i feel like I am helping my new companion. I feel like were both learning more spanish together. I am trying to give him more time in the lessons to talk and try and share his feelings about the things we teach. Sometimes i feel like i need to learn how to shut my mouth and just let him talk..... ha i get carried away sometimes. Its hard to have silence, but silence is also a good thing at moments. Okay so this past week was very awesome also, we also had a baptism!!!!!!!!!!! The missionaries before us, tought basically everything. There is a new family that is here in our little house of prayer. its a rama a branch.. here where we are. But this family came in very strong and very willing to do everything. They know that everything is true, and there children are still being baptized. There is still a couple that are not baptized and we are working with them now. The only thing that stops us is the time that they have. Two of the daughters are nanny s in culiacan and they are only here every fifteen days....... they switch off weeks sometimes. but i dont have any doubt that there family will all be united in the church. The girl that we baptized her name is lidia! She is very smart, and she understands a lot in the scriptures. she comes to church every sunday when she is here. She has already gone to church a lot, and she has a testimony also. She was the one that was baptized last saturday, her sisters name is Blanca and she will be here next saturday and we are going to start to teach her. She already has most of the lessons so it should be easy. but her sister was just baptized and it went well. !!!! Everything went as planned. The members showed up a little late...... but other than that it was good. Il post pictures. There are a lot of less actives here, and we are teaching lots of members, and trying to find new people to teach, I feel like the last missionaries left this are dry...... hah they didnt have very many progressing investigators. and i still dont know who they were really focused on when they left. i asked them and they only told me two people and we went with them, and one is progressing a little bit, her name is carolina! and then the other one is fabian. Fabian haha we went to his house and we asked if he was their, and he came out and we started talking, we asked if he had tme to sit down and talk for like ten to fifteen minutes just to get to know him, and introduce ourselves.... ha and he said yeah its fine, and he asked us to sit down on his porch, and so we sat down, and he went inside. I had thought that he went inside to go grab like the book of mormon or a phamplet that we give to the people that we teach.... haha and well, ten minutes went by, then fifteen,, then at about twenty minutes we were like uhm is fabian going to come back?? ha and we asked one of his nephews, and they were like uhm no he left. He went to go fish..... haha and we were like what!!!! ha it was really random. Random story of the week. but thats what happened. and so we dicided that he doesnt want want anything. His nephews told us that he doesnt really want anything with the church and we were like okay esta bien!! and we left. but other than these people we dont know anyone else besides members,. . . thats why are numbers were really low, is because there are no investigators here. . . but we are searching and looking for people that are interested. There are a couple of families that we contacted in the street that we want to go see again but they didnt want a specific time that we would come back so we couldnt really put one down. but everything is going great. Our main focus is really in the members here, There are alot that arent that strong in the gospel, and we are trying to help them out, and teach them . But this is all about last week. We had a junta today and i got two packages and letters. Thank you heidi!!! and byu statistics apartment, and melanie : ) hah it always gives me an extra push i feel like when i receive something rom outside of the mission. I love you guys i hope everyone has a good week. I am glad caitlyn had a good baptism, i hope everything went as planned. she looked very pretty in the pictures that you sent me joy. Jeffs wedding was a success also, how much time does he have home from his mission??? hah and his wife is ver pretty, they look very great together. I hope he had a great wedding!!! I really like his pictures.!! Where are they going on there honeymoon???? Dad im really happy that they won, i bet that was a very exciting tournament to watch. ha im happy they got gold. Thats awesome. Your statistics helped them win!!!! yay haha. Im doing well, This past week i got sick.... i woke up with the sorest throat i have ever had in my life. It happened two days ago, i dont know what i have still.... its not something that bad that i need to go to a doctors. If it gets any worse il go to the doctor, but it has dies down a little bit. . . People here in mexico get a lot of throat infections.........? its weird. . . it feel like it is in my chest, and in my throat... i think i will put 40 min to go to the doctor tomorrow, I am super excited for conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have been excited for like 2 months now..... haha, i am really hopin that my investigators that are in Juarez go to general conference. It will just help them grow there testimony that much more.!!!!!!! We will be driving to general conference to watch it in a different church because we cant receive it in this little casa de oracion.. but it will be fun, and we hope to have investigators their. . . we are working on it. . I feel like something else is going to be announced again in this general conference.... i dont know why, but i feel like lots of things are changing in these moments. The thing i miss most is being able to hear the prophets and his apostles talk in there voice... hah i wish so bad that i could hear the actual thing, but i know that there words are what count, and i will be able to translate there message that they have for us, and thats what counts. It will be my third general conference in the mission and i am looking forward to it very much. Im Excited!!! I hope everyone is just as excited as me,,, hah but i know that we will all be able to hear the things that our heavenly father wants us to know. i know he loves us, and it is the only way through prophets that we can know what he wants. I know the church is true, and it is sooo awesome. : ) I love everyone and my love for this church has grown sooo much in this time that i have had to be able to serve my heavenly father. He has made it clear to me that this is his church and i know its true, I love it, and i know it in my heart with out a doubt. I know that if we listen attentively to the words that they will speak tomorrow, we will learn lots more things that we should be doing in our daily lives, especially to grow more close to our heavenly father. I love you gus and i hope you have a good general conference. Love Elder Fellingham

This is my new companion haha

This is when i went to go get my new companion, hah its with all the new people and there trainers, and our new president and his wife.

baptism of lidia, she asked me to baptize and i felt really bad..... i really wanted my new companion to be able too.... i even asked her, and she was like no usted.... and i was like hmmm okay, my companion will baptize her sister though ; )

My companion looks like dwight off of the office haha, and thats lidias familia and our president of the branch!!!!

September 23, 2013

Okay i just remembered that all of you are worried about the hurricane.... I was writing and i had forgot thet you are all wondering if we are okay. everyone is okay and i am not in culiacan. I aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Okay this past week got off alright : ) it was a pretty good week to be here not knowing anything and starting from scratch. My new companion is learning spanish, we have been studying our spanish every morning. he is getting a long well. I just feel bad sometimes because it has been hard for me to watch out for him and watch out for our investigators at the same time. I feel like i can get talking sometimes and i kind of forget that he is there....... i know right how bad of me. but i have been trying to give him more oppurtunities to talk. We have been finding a lot of people here just on the streets or in places that we go too, and they are interested. We have already gotten like 8 contacts this past week that were really easy. So it has gone well. There is a person here named lidia, Lidia is 20 years old. and the missionaries here before were teaching her. She has been tought everything. She is going to be baptized this next saturday. She knows that everything is true and she is really awesome. wShe was supposed to be baptized this past saturday but she didnt want to because her mom is gone and she is in durango.... so we decided to wait until they are both here so she can be baptized. We found out for sure that both of them will be here next saturday and we announced it in the sacremant meeting that she will be baptized. : ) everything is going to go well!!!!!!!!!! we are both very excited for her and it was pretty easy for us we kind of just showed up. She is our only investigator since we have been here. and she is the only one that the other missionaries left us... hahaa sooo we are looking and searching for new people. I asked the elders that were here before us, if there is a story about the ranchito that we are in, and they told me.... Their is always a story in the ranchitos. This is my third one. and there has alwas something big that has happened in the two other ones and i just assumed that something also happened here. ... Yes things have happened here. . . . It turns out that villa uñion is really well known for the missionaries here because there has been a lot of missionaries that have been bad........ there are lots of stories here : / but anyways happy face, we will turn that around with our example.... ha I really hope that the people here can see a difference in the missionaries that are coming now. There used to be a lot of members herea, and lots have just fallen away because of the bad example that left the missionaries. but we are here now, and i have faith that things will turn around. i really do have a big vision for villa uñion. It is big in my mind and so are my expectations. I have a feeling that we will really be focusing on the members here, and on cleaning the map up. The map is a mess and it isnt up to date. so we will fix that. We have looked for lots of people and the people that we have looked for arent even here anymore or their dot that is on our map is in the wrong place. . we have another blank map so that is a good start. we have four people with the priesthood in our ward that come regularly : ) .... ha thats another thing that we will work on. Its something im looking forward too. Lots of the men here think that they are going to die if they dont work on sunday. If someone can help me out with words to say on the importance of not working on sunday or if there is another way or something. .. . i havent thought of anything yet. Lots of the people in our ward are cobradores ..... all they do is go to places and collect money, i dont know what that is called in english. but they work every day every hour,,, and it creates problems for there families because they are almost never home. I really hope while i am here and my companion that we can help them realize the importance of no working on sunday. . . they say they will get fired if they dont go to work. so i dont know what i can do. : / if anyone has tips that would be nice. Okay big news jeff is getting married!!!!!!!! It was kind of weird to hear that today because yesterday i was thinking about him, and i was thinking to myself i wonder if he is going to get married soon,, and its weird that things like that happen. ah its like deja vuaa or something similar. But good luck to him, ai am happy for him!!!! i would like to see pictures whoever is going to his wedding. sorry that is not my whole letter i wasnt done so you will reeive two of the same im just continuing. I am a little bit our of Mazatlan and i did not get hit by the hurrican, it was pretty close though.We have had some pretty wicked storms though pass through mazatlan, but i feel like they have just been glances. And i was in culiacan last week, and two weeks before. . . . hah so i dont really know when the hurrican hit, but all the missionaries are fine, i am sure the missionaries their in culiacan are doing service but us in mazatlan we arent doing anything, Everything is fine : ) we are all good. I keep hearing things about the united states,, what happening with russia, and seria and us???? i would like to know if anything more happens with that, District leader is good, all i do is just call everyone at night to see how there day went, and we talk about things that we can do better and things that we can work on, also i receive their numbers and then give them to the zone leaders, we will have our first district meeting tomorrow and i am excited, i just need to prepare something that i can talk about for the time that we are their. also we talk about a lot of other things, that we can do better and other stuff. so i will tell you guys next week what happens. I am starting to memorize villa uñion it is getting easier to know where i am. i know where the majority of the people that we are teaching are and where they live also the members. Dad that is exciting news!!!! that you get to go to canada, with the olympic team, thats awesome. Thanks for the scripture also, is it already getting cold in Utah???????? It is still hott here, well these days have been less i think that heat is down now, i think it will drop down for a good two to three months now, and we wont sweat that much anymore. . . . I dislike very much sitting in my sweaty clothes it has done damage to my skin..... i get like little red spots in specefic areas on my skin and they itch. mostly on my arms.. Mom i cant beleive they are going to divide our ward again..... has their really been that many people moving in ???? and i have a question have they started building those complex homes in front of our house yet, the apartments...???? . . . . are we still going to have the same bishop or are they calling a new one. Alex buddy your pictures are sexy!!!!!!! haha i hope you had fun at home coming, im glad you had a good time : ) keep working hard on soccer, your gonna have to keep up with me when i get back ; ) haha Mom thank you very much for that poem, i really liked it. And it is very true, I feel like the mission has changed me show my feelings more with my face, haha and also when i meet new people everyday, it has changed a lot. mi rostro!!!! Ang i like the pics, they are very nice, very well done. Is that alex s girlfriend?? or just a friend, and the group looks great, hope they had fun, glad your happy at your work, what do you do when your their? is it a lot of paper stuff,'?? Thank you also missy, i am really looking forward to seeing your family, i cant beleive nathan is taller than you, hah wow, and thank you very much for your herbs missy,, they have helped me, to tell you the truth i took the first ones good every single day but the ones that i have now they have been difficult for me sometimes, it is just difficult to have that routine, and i dont know why, they are about half way done but i have not taken them consistently, i know you have already sent me the ones in the box that are on there way, but i think after those ones it should be enough until i finish my mission, haha when i run out i will tell you, but i am very grateful and thanksfull for those, i really do feel like they have helped. im just not a big pill taking person.... ha i dont know what happened to the habit i was in, but i take them when i remember : ) also when i eat.. but im going to finish the ones i have, then i will finish the ones that you just barely sent, and then i will tell you!! or we will see how much time i have left in the mission : ) I love you and thank you, i really want to see you guys, maybe you will move to utah like everyone else, hah who knows what the future holds : ) give your family my love. Joy love you guys and your family. how are your kids, whats going on in there lives, how is your house are you still finishing your basement!!! ?? how did it go with your visitors!!! Elise hope your family is well. love you guys miss you guys. Hope danny and amanda have fun on there cruise how fun, that what i want to do when i get back . ; ) Love you guys, everything is well, this week was super fast for me. the more responsability the more fast the time goes. . . . Love everyone. Love E. Fellingham

September 16, 2013

This is enrique shoe shop, he repairs shoes. From Right to left: Rosita, E.Pardo, Soñia, yo, Enrique

bautismo de Rosita!!!!!!!!!!!!! y los miembros que vinieron.

bautismo.

After party of the baptism, ha we had a mexican night. Noche mexicana!! y fue mucho comida! Okay 3 more months and then its 2014................................ This week was really good, Me and elder pardo we finished the change off great, We held in strong til the end. He is a good missionary and i am very proud of him, and i was really happy for all the time that we got to spend together. It will be a change that i never forget, it was a good one : ) Okay so Yes i have been changed. Today me and elder pardo are still together and tomorrow we will be changed due to when new missionaries come in. I will be training someone else that is new to the mission, and his name is elder rasmasen? i think thats how you spell it, but i am not 100% sure. But I am excited to train someone new again. I feel like with elder pardo we had our ups and downs and we figured a lot of things our together and it was a super good experience. I feel like i needed it! to strengthen both of us. I am going to a new area, It is 35 minutes out of Mazatlan. So technically i am still in Mazatlan, I am going to (Villa Uñion) It is a little peublo outside of Mazatlan. I am super excited because lots of my areas have been pueblos. They are my favorite, and i love helping small wards grow. It isnt even a ward it is a rama. Its even smaller than a ward. Rama means they dont have a bishop, they have a president of the ward, but they are pretty much the one who is in charge and takes role as a bishop. But I am soooo happy. I am really excited for this change. They did a lot of changes to Mazatlan. There will now be sisters in Mazatlan. They havent had sister missionaries in a very long time, like 8 years. I think it has been longer than that. But it is very awesome. They split Mazatlan into two zones now. We have two zones in Mazatlan. It was only one, but they are sending more missionaries here! More reinforcements, : ) They have opened up new areas also. I will be opening an area with my new companion..... I am going in pretty much blind, I dont know anyone, and i dont know where any of the members live either. I am looking forward to that, it will be a fun experience : ) Also I have been moved up to district leader. I will be watching out for other missionaries in other areas also. I was soooo suprised when they told me that. This change seems like it will be a challenging one. But It will be super fun, and a super good learning experience. There are lots of changes going on in the mission, and i am very excited to be one of the people that see´s everything happening. !!!!!!!! through these type of things come great memories. My companion Elder pardo he is going to stay in mazatlan also but he is moving to a different area. We were very suprised when they changed us both........ I dont want to leave juarez. But the missionaries that are coming in are very good also, so we know that all our members and our investigators we were teaching are all in good hands!!!! They are changing our area to be where our zone leaders are going to be. So i am not afraid. : ) Even though i am going to live 30 minutes away it still means i can come play soccer in the morning haha!!!!!! and i will still be able to do divisions with juarez : ) I like the changes a lot. This past week we basically said goodbye to everyone......... we knew we were going to have changes and so we got everyone else prepared also... lots of people didnt want s to leave. Lots of them were sad. I was sad also... It is a sad part of the mission but also a happy one to know that our heavenly Father always has a plan for his children. He knows which missionaries need to be in which area so that they can be able to progress. Also to be able to receive the exact amount of help that they need, from the right people. I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for that. It is a very big blessing that sometimes we dont realize. Did you know that one of the major sins that all of us have is not giving thanks for all the many blessing that we have. That will be one of the biggest sins counted in the heavens. I read a talk from henry b eyring about this and it was very good. We need to be more grateful for the things that we have, and not only say that we are grateful but show it through are actions. They are lots of ways to show our heavenly Father Gratitude for the things that we have. Also we always need to remember in our prayers to give thanks. Not just go through the daily routine of what we are always grateful for. But to do even a little bit more by going out of the boundaries that we sit in sometimes.... and tell our Father in Heaven why we are grateful for the things that we have. Sometimes we have problems in conversing with our Heavenly Father and we spill all the normal things out, and the things that are always repeated in our prayers. But I have seen power in prayer if we try to use different words, and try to make our prayer even more of an effort to get our love and concerns to our Padre celestial. He will count them and listen to them and give us the blessings we need. This past week we baptized Rosita!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha well we didnt baptized her, but we did do all the work so that she could be baptized!!!!!! She is now a baptized confirmed member : ) I was very happy for her. There were lots of members at her baptism and it all went very well. Enrique had the honor to baptize her, he received the aaronic priesthood and so now he can baptize. It was a very awesome experience to see my convert baptize another convert which is his wife. They have a very intersting story that we will always remember. It has been a very long experience and it will be a little amotional i think when they hear the news that we are both leaving.... but i also know in my heart that they are very strong in the church, and they will not leave it just because the missionaries left. They are good to go : ) I am healthy and strong, I hope everyone in the family and my friends is healthy and everyone is well : ) I miss you all, and it is amazing how fast the time is going, I feel like before i know it i am going to be back with you all. . . Sooo i am trying to hurry up and do all that i have expected for my mission. My expectations i still feel like i havent reached them, but i am still working at them. I know that when i finished it will be time, and i know that I will feel full of the gospel, and my goals will be reached : ) I am happy to serve my mission, and i am happy to be here serving in Mexico. All is well, and the work continues to go on, Its still going. It will always be moving!!!! :) I love you all and i hope it is not too stormy in Utah. There have also been a few storms that have hit hear, They say that hurricanes have hit here before. but we have only had really bad lightning storms, and there has been a lot of rain. The rain here floods the streets because they dont have a very good draining system. But it all just evaporates once the sun comes out. It goes away really fast. These letter might be a little short, but this was all that happened last week, it just kind of windid down with the changes. I am excited to go to Villa Uñion, they said there is a baptism waiting for me their. . . ha so we will see. I am excited, thats all i can show through the computer of my excitement. But i am grateful. These past changes i feel like i have grown a lot. and everything is good. I love everyone have a good week this week, be safe, be good, and be roud of the gospel. LOve Elder Fellingham