February 18, 2013

Okay,,, sooo haha yeah everyone knows, anyways, I am doing fine. : ) It was just very unexpected. I never thought in my wildest dreams something that crazy would happen to me. It will always be one of the most scariest moments in my life. But one of the first things that i did after was sat myself down on the sidewalk and said a prayer of thanks to My Heavenly Father. I thanked him for everything i have in this life. and that i was still okay.

So we were walking, and we had just finished a really good lesson. It was with a partially active mom and her daughter that is like 30 years old, and i felt like we had really gotten to her heart, this lesson was in Culiacan, I told everyone last week that we had been chosen to go to this capacitacion, It was all the elders that will pretty much be leading the mission when the President that we have right now will end his period of being mission president. He is going to finish up in about three more months and then we will have a new mission president. But for this capacitacion we all got in a bus and went to Culiacan, they told us the area that we would be working in for these next five days, and we went there and spent the night. The next morning we woke up and got all ready i was put in a group of other people to work with, My companion was a different elder, Elder Eliason, He is from delta Utah and he is a really big kid, He is like goliath and still alive. He is the type of person that looks like he is really slow, because he is sooo big, but the steps that he takes makes up for what your assumption would be.

and sooo i was put with him, : ) and we woke up that morning and we started our day. Our schedule was that we wake up, Get ready meet at the church and then we would all have breakfast, then we would listen to the president talk to us until mid day, then we would go out and work until 5 o clock, then we would meet back in the church and the president would talk to us for the rest of the day. So yeah!!! Finished with the first day (the 13 my birthday) everything is going well soo far, Everybody found out it was my birthday from Elder Smalley, and it was another Elders Birthday also, and he was actually one of my friends from Juan Jose Rios. So it was a good day. We went back to the house after the day with our group, and then went to bed. Day #2 The 14th wake up, get ready, go to the church, eat breakfast ladi dadi dadda.... and soo forth, it comes to mid day when we need to leave and go out and work. Our area is named Nueva galicia in Culiacan, Everything this day when we leave to go out and work is bien Rojo!!!!!!! : ) Its all red because its Valentines day : ) and everyone has their balloons and their gifts that their going to give to the people they love, and all the mooshy gooshy stuff,

and we had this lesson with this mom and her 30 year old daughter and everything went great. Then after we were walking to the members house where we were going to eat, and it was a pretty long walk, we walked up two pretty descent sized hills of dirt, and then we crossed a free way type road, it had a lot of cars on it that were fast, and we passed that and then there was a gas station that we passed and after the gas station the road curved up, we were at this road, and i had seen a black truck drive up it and it had passed us and it was very noticeable because it was decked out in sticky noted hearts. besides that it was a pretty nice truck, it looked like it had just gotten a new paint job and new tires. Anyways this sticky hearted note truck drove past us and yeah i thought i would never see it again. But then when we got to the top of this road, there was the truck parked on the corner and as we were walking up a girl hopped out and then she started talking to this lady that had her little business here on the corner. She was selling stuff for valentines day, and the girl was talking to her and she was pretty loud when we had passed, i had looked at her because she was pretty loud, and then we had just kept walking and we started down the hill because we had hit the top.

The ladies place where we were going to eat was just the next block, There was also a lady walking in front of us she had a couple of bags in her hands from the gas station and she was walking home but we had cought up to her because as missionaries we have diligence! I was thinking in my mind that we could help this lady with her bags and it was one of those things that just kind of pass in your mind but you dont do it. and we kept walking Then the last thing i heard was the wheels skidding on the dirt on the side of the road, and i remember Elder Eliason yelled out my name, and then i remember waking up in the dirt. the first thing i did was i checked my leg. I had thought it had gotten broken.It was the first thing that hurt. When my eyes opened i was on my belly and i kinda remember spitting out a little dirt because there was dirt in my mouth haha. and i looked around me and all the stuff in my shirt pocket was scattered all over the placethe first thing i saw was my name tag and i reached over and grapped it : ), then i checked my leg again and i could move it by then and i figured out that it was soo bad, i kept moving it to make sure it was okay. and i thought to myself well. . . if im okay then i can probably get up. By now alot of people had run over because they saw what happened. and they were all yelling to just stay where i was, Then i heard Elder eliason call on the phone Elder Fellingham just got hit by a car, and then he came over to me and he was like dont worry everything will be okay, haha, and i was like going to get up, and he saw me trying and he was like NO dont get up so i went back down on my stomach and then i was like i want to get up! so he was like well okay, and then i got up and i picked up my things and i put pressure on my leg, and it hurt a little bit, but i was okay. . . . . Then i noticed that the lady had gotten hit also, and she was worse than me and all the people were helping her because she was worse, and i went over and standed by another car in the driveway of the house that i got hit into. well the yard. and then i felt like i should probably sit down, so i did, and i waited there and the firemen came and then the police, and then the ambulance. while i was there when i sat down i said a prayer for me and the lady,

I didnt ever really think about the girl in the truck, i dont know why but she is like the last thing i thought about, i looked over, and she had totalled the truck, there were little sticky notes all over the place, and she had went head on somehow with the tree ofter she had hit us? when i looked where everything was after and everything where they were in there positions nothing made sense, it just was a really. . . . freak accident. With the twent to thirty steps that i took after i saw the same girl on the corner talking to the lady to when she had hit us and i had tried to do the math, everything seems impossible the way it worked out. I dont understand how she hit us fishtailing and then she had time to reverse the truck again and hit the tree that was five feet in front of us head on. Everything in their positions just doesnt make sense, and i still dont know how everything happened.. . . but yeahh. . . what a whale of a tale : ) anyways, The ambulance people said that it was procedure to take me in the ambulance also, even though i wasnt badly hurt. I remember everything soo vividly. The people that ran to see what happened a few of them knew the lady who had gotten hit and they called her daughter who lived like two houses down and she ran out with her baby girl that was like three years old. She knelt down next to her, with the three year old in her arms, and was freaking out, and the three year old started crying saying abuela in spanish. . . . when i saw that it made want to cry. . . . I was just really shooken up, : / and i still have like little flashbacks of right before i got hit, I feel like i just try to hard to remember how everything really happened and it is weird because nothing makes sense.

But i am just grateful that i am okay now, and i can see progression in my healing, and im okay. The only thing that i am really worried about is my spine. I dont understand how bad it really is. It was hard to understand when the doctor was explaining in spanish. I am not a anotomist that knows all the words to the body in spanish,.... i am a missionary. but all i know as that i have been regaining my strenght quickly, and i feel like Mom and Dad that you are both right. . . my body does and has always healed quickly and i am very blessed. . . My president told me that me getting hit was a sign of something that i need to understand with the lord. Something like that, I am sorry that i wasnt persistent in having you guys know sooner. . . I wasnt sure, and i was nervous, and i just didnt know what to do. . . I figured i would email dad about it, Mom please dont be offended, but i knew that you wouldnt have taken it as well and you are scared, and still scared. But i am fine. I have been blessed by everyones prayers, and i know that the work needs to go on! I have felt lonely these past three to four days to tell the truth, and i think in the moments when we are the most (loneliest??) is when we really get close to hmmm God. I have really just gone to him, and he has comforted me in a way that i know nobody here on Earth could have. . . These past days i have had time to study, and i still feel like i need to take more advantage of it. . . I have learned a lot from my heavenly Father in these past days and it is a testimony to me.

I am still learning, and i dont think i will go home, i have just had soo many thoughts these past days, It is hard to think that if i really do have to come home, It will be really hard for me. I know it will be hard for me. . . . and i dont feel like its right. To come to a point where you are solely focused on something that is sooo great and then have to return to a level that is where you never have progressed at all. Its really hard. I really feel like i have changed a lot. Alot of things have changed for the better, and it feels like going home would just be throwing it all away.....? ha i dont even know how to explain how i feel. but im sure everyone can understand the situation. Its like someone who really loves basketball, and really loves hockey and they play both, and they have a game that is at the same time and they have to choose which one they want to do. It is like that. . . . its like, , , Mission or Health? I know that even if i did come back i still would be able to come back to Culiacan Mexico after i got better. I feel like im progressing though. I know that i will be fine, and if i put more faith in God than he will do the rest.

Anyways. . . . Everything is well. I will try to say everything i can to the doctor to keep me here. I was surprised also mom that the president didnt really take it more seriously? he didnt go to the hospital or really anything when he heard about what had happened.? that made me kind of i dodnt know. . . hah it just made me feel like getting hit by a car isnt really that important i guess. . . but i dont know we just need to understand that things are really different here in Mexico, and we just need to be grateful for what we have. We have a lot of things that other people dont have. And i am grateful for what we have. and i am learning to be grateful for what other people have. It is called humility and it is one of the traits that our savior has. : ) I am grateful for everything, My parents, My family, where i have grown up my whole life, the people that are in my life, cool friends, an awesome Girlfriend. The United States. I am grateful for everything. and right now i feel like it is just a little lesson that i am being taught. I teach everysingle day. . . . ha and maybe it is time to have a little bit of time to be taught.

I read a talk in the general conference magazine that you sent me, and one was talking about something about the cows, haha the cows. . . yes the cows, but It was someone saying that when the cows have the 10,000 acres to roam. . . why do they still find the fence and stick their heads through it to eat the grass on the other side. and that was something that caught my attention. . . When we have such little guidelines that are easy to read and obey. . . why do we still try to stick our heads through the fence. . . why do we still try to push the limits... I have been thinking a lot about this and it has helped me learn a lot about obedience. We need to be more obedient i feel like. When we have everything that we know to have a perfect life, why cant we just do it and have it. . . why is it soo hard. ? I have had a lot of humility these past days trying to figure out why this has happened to me. . . ? i have asked it over and over again,, in the beginning i feel like i know why, but at the same time i dont and i am confused. I am not mad. . . and i havent been that happy these past days. . . and people have recognized it, but i have just been given a lot of humility these past days to think a lot. and i feel like i have received a lot of peace and comfort with what has happened. i am grateful for my life and everything i have in this world. . . and i hope we can all have a little bit more humility we can humble ourselves just a little bit more, we can be touched by the spirit in ways that will help us in our lives. . . in these days. .I feel like i am just rambling. . . but this is what i have been feeling these past days : / hah and i hope everyone is doing well, David and jackie send me pics of the house. hope everyone had good Birthdays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love everyone sooo much. Pleaase dont be worried about me, i know that everything will be fine. I am grateful for all the prayers and tell the ward that they are in my prayers : ) I miss everyone, and i am grateful for the great ward that we live in. Everyone is sooo amazing to me, and i am grateful for every moment i have had in this wonderful life. : )

Melanie I love you sooo much! thank you for all that you do for me, te extraño muchisimo, yo estoy bien, y me gusto su caja por mi cumpleaños. . . haha Tambien me encanta los photos, mucho mucho gracias espero que todo esta bien con ti y su familia!! te amo y si me viene a utah voy a tener la opurtunidad a ayudarle aprender un poquito antes ira a salir. : ) te amo con todo mi corazon,!!!!!!! Oh yo necisito su domicilio en españa pór favor!!!!!!!! y yo quiero ver su mapa!!!!!!! tome un photo de su libreta de la mision por favor. Y no puedo creer haha los vasos. . . haha their cute love, I love you. Espero que tenia un buen dia de san valentin. . . yo no, , , pero esta bien. : ) todavia tengo mi vida para amarle mas tarde ; ) despues nustros misiones. Y siempre esta en mi corozon mientras. Love you take care.

<3 Elder Fellingham