June 24, 2013

live on the street lucero, in mazatlan colonia juarez. Search for the church of jesus christ between the streets gabriel leyva and the street nueva luz. The church has a green roof!!!!! and if you turn off the main road which is gabriel leyva you will see the church on the right hand side, Then if you go passed the church and turn left on the street Lucero thats where we live. There is a park that looks just like an empty space in front, but we live in the house that is the fifth house in, and it has an electric post in front of the house. Thats Me and Elder Deckers house. I received a new companion,,, ha well... I will receive him tomorrow, he is flying in from the mtc, I think he gets here tonight , but im not sure, i am going to train him, so it should be fun, i am excited and he will like Mazatlan, My old companion is now in culiacan, I am not sure if everyone got to see the capacitation about the mission and the missionaries, but they said a lot of interesting things, therea re lots of changees being made, and it is exciting. We are going to start using face book to contact people. or something like that. Also we need to sart working with the member more. This past week was good, we have been teaching a new person. Her name is rosalinda. She is progressing really fast, and then we just received two new references that are really potentiall, I am excited to contact them and see what they are like. One of the references is from a family that has been teaching there friend the gospel without the missionaries, and now he is ready to hear from the missionaries!!!! he said he wants to get baptized and is ready to start talking with the missionaries as soon as possible. So we will see about this reference, I am excited to start this change. It should be a good one. When someone is training we receive an extra hur to have in the house to study, so i will be on a shorter period of time to work outside.... but we just need to work twice as hard : ) im really excited haha.. Im well. I feel like a havent really eaten that healthy this last change... We dont have a market close to our house where we can just go and buy..... So we would usually just not buy anything.... ; / but we will start gong to the far away place to get food. hmmm . . . it just takes time and its hard to carry all our food back to the house if its far away : ) bu its a good work out. This mewsage will be a little short but everything is well, and i will be going back to mazatlan tomorrow. I am in Culiacan right now!!! and yup everything is good. I love you all my family!!!!!!!! I am happy to hear that everyone is well.

June 17, 2013

Dear familia!!!!!! This is going to be a short letter i think, i will try to type as much as i can, but ah i have sooo many people to write i feel like, ha I have started to write jameson funk, and other friends from the mtc, they are not long letters, but most of my time is just reading. So i guess i just have to learn how to read faster. But this past week was even faster than the last. I am kind of counting down this week i dont know why. Its because Of all the excitement for the new mission and the new presidents..... I am trying my best to stay focused though.... It is very hard, and i feel very ancy,,,, haha I am definitly ready for a change. Elder Ruiz and i are very much the same type of person,,,, and it gets kind of boring sometimes haha. We started a new game with kicking rocks inbetween strides of walking. and we try to make it inbetween the feet of the other apponent.... We changed our house. and that has taken up a lot of time........... but the house is sooo much bigger and nicer and the bathrrom works and the shower head, We were bathing with the fouset in our old house. : / : ) but we are very happy to be in our new house. I am bad with this address because we are hardly ever working by our house. I will get the address next week because i am running out of time to type. but you can look it up dad. and then i will give you my new area too if i get changed. We are still working with the same investigators. The family zepeda, and francisco and family ruiz. Familia ruiz were a reference and we contacted it. They are really nice, but i think they have been lying to us. well only the husband. We are not sure, we will se the next time when we go to their house. but he has been telling us that he is a fisherman, and he is going to leave for the next month to go work out in the ocean. and everytime that we have gone to their house he has still been their. but they have the book of mormon, and the husband tells us that when he leaves he wants to take the book and read it when he is out. He said he gets bored and he has lots of time to do nothing.. . . but read ha so that works out pretty well. He can figure out the truth when he is fishing, and then he will come back and tell all his fmaily and then they will all get baptized. GREAT STORY!!! Fransisco is an investigator that has all the lessons, He works in aplace called cafe marino. Its a coffee industry : / sadly to say......... He used to have an addiccion to coffee but now he says he doesnt. He misses out on the encouragement of his wife in the church. His wifes name is almendra, In english that means Almond....? what? yeah... But his wife is a member and doesnt help him with the things that we teach, but çwe encourage her a lot. A lot of it is them just being lazy to follow up with our commitments. This change has been a little hard trying to get to know all the people because the area is humgous!!! but if i stay here everything will get figured out. I cant promise now because i dont know if i will be changed... but if i stay i promise that i will make this area a better place than before. not that we havent, but i will try to amke some big changes..... They definitly need it. But these are the two main families and people we have been trying to teach this whole entire change....... lots of the people here have denied us in our faces, and it has been uhmmmm one of the more challenging areas with the people. but It has been a good change. The time has just gone by sooo fast though. I hope everyone is well. Im well and healthy. Everything is good. Everyone will find out all the changes next week, whether im staying or leaving 13 hours up north : ) into a different mission. NO i havent gotten any boxes yet. but dont worry they will come. I have my good friend patience by my side. !!!! I love you all my fmaily, and my parents. Heidi thank you very much for the pictures!!!!!!!! Im very glad that i can see the family, danny looks like he is getting a little bit older. maturing thats very nice. they are still the two same brothers that i left, not paying attention when they are supposed too. But thats okay. And yes emily and caitlyn look lots bigger!!!!!!! wow, alex looks taller, Their are lots of changes: ) I love you guys and miss you. I am very greatful for all of your support and love. Take care, my letter will be bigger next week!!!!!!!!!! Love elder fellingham

June 10, 2013

in mexico their is a lot of graffitti, they are all pretty cool,! !!! and their is a big military base in our area, and its where i am pointing to the flag, its in the center of our area.

June 10, 2013

We had a really good week this past week!!!!!! : ) I swear actually that this past week was one of the fastest weeks ever. I dont know why, but it was fast,,, We found a couple new people to teach and we are receiving references from some of the members. This ward is a little bit weak, : / but we are trying to change that, The bishop is brand new so he still doesnt really have the hang of things.... I dont know if he realizes the importance of the missionaries, and how we work with him. This is the first ward that i have been in where we hardly have zero communication with the bishop.... he is always gone. working, or busy.... but it is really hard sometimes when we dont have the back up or support that we need, but we are still working well!!!!!! and still finding people. The new family that we found is la familia Zepeda, We contacted the husband in the street and he is interesting, but he really has desires to listen and learn from us... this last sunday we put members in charge of picking them up and bringing them to church,,,, but they didnt even come to church, and so they didnt pick them up................. ahhhhh frustrating.... the family we put in charge of picking them up are recent converts,,,, and they have missied two sundays. They are having doubts or problems,,,, who knows, but that was frustrating, but the family is golden,,,,,, we just need to get them to the church! We have two weeks left in this change before everything gets crazy with changes!!!! but we are going to try and set them up so when the changes come they will be ready to be baptised.. Its something that happens a lot in the mission, the baptism usually come from the missionaries that were in the area before. They did all the work, then the other missionaries get the baptism. But just getting the baptised is enough!!!! : ) so i hope we can get them all prepared. We had our last zone meeting Multi zone meeting with our president of the mission. That was a little sad and emotional for everyone, but it was good. We had a testimony meeting and they talked to us, and they let us ask a lot of questions, Personel questions : ) They will be living in Culiacan when they are done, because now they have there life here pretty much! and it will be a little weird to have a new president. getting aquainted with everything again. But it will be fun also. At the end of the meeting when they were leaving out the door we sang g one of the hymns until we meet again!!! it was good. :) i recorded it on video. : ) but we will miss them. I am sure the new mission presidents will arrive here shortly to get a little bit accustomed to everything . I dont know exactly what happenes, but i hope they get a few weeks to prepare. Everything is good here in mazatlan, I get sun burnt a lot.... things are starting to heat up!!!!! we ride our bikes here a lot now, we got one of them fixed because the tire popped. but it works now. Dad i wish you a happy Fathers day tomorrow!!!! hope you have a good day. I love you. still trying to send you your letter,,, mail is horrible here... and its hard because we are always to busy to go and send letters....... but it should be sent tomorrow for sure,,,, i know i have said that like amillion times. but manana!!!!!! The picture is photo shopped, but ti was cool, we got to shake elder hollands hand, and then we listen to him speak, He spoke his talk about personel conversion to the missionaries. and told us that the most important thing to do on your mission is convert yourself!! It was good, and cool to watch him and his translator speak. together. tell danny a hecha la ganas I dont know who is in your class dad in the church, but tell them to really study their book of mormon, If they have plans to go on a misison, tell them to prepare now, They will be that much more prepared. Mom i love you hope the business is good!!!!! I am happy Elise and Les came to Utah, thats fun to have them for three weeks!!! Love there family. Im healthy, everything is good, lots of mosquito bites, their is a lot of mosquitos here also, we sweat a lot also. glad the singing went well. Hope you travel safely mom!!!!!!!! I love you two!!!!! thank you for the vitamins, i like them, : ) tell missy muchas thank yous, My companion is pretty cool, he likes rock music, and he is kinda funny, but really just a normal guy. he is from tijuana. right by the border. He told me he couldnt jump the border because he couldnt climb up the first fence, then i asked him, there is a second fence and he told me yeah its two time more taller, and then it has barbed wire on top. But he is cool, He is a convert, he used to wake up in the morning and drink coffee, and watch his favorite show, but he tells me now that he is a member of the church that he cant do that anymore : ) he is smart and knows his stuff though. Good companion, likes to play soccer. I cant beleive the little girls cut off that much of there hair!!!!! estan pelon ahora, Im glad to hear that melanie went to her mission already. I feel a little bit weird, i dont know why, It is really cool that we are both in our missions at the same time, and that she will be having the same experinces as me. Its sooo exciting, and i am grateful for her and that she is their now. I love you my family, I am grateful for everyones example to me, and i hope everyone is doing well. Love you guys, have a good week!!!!!!!!

June 3, 2013

Okay this past week was very good. I finally bought medicine yesterday, so i feel better alot better... I have been sick for two weeks.... but i am getting better. I think it was something i ate..... hahh we have been eating some pretty crazy stuff since i have been here.... Things that people in the united states usually never even thought they could eat.... yehhh. i have had a lot of stuff,,, that i wont ever eat out of my mission eever again... we ate something called igalo,,, its the innerds of cow. its like liver, and then we ate cows heart. and menudo.... its other innerds of cow,,, yumm.. But no it was like the worst hour of my life. hah but no i didnt complain and i ate it anyway,,, The menudo,,, i did not finish, i told the hermana im full. : ) after i ate about half. It is a weird texture. anyways, that was my past week,,, no ha we have been finding a lot more people too teach. When i got her there was not really any potential investigators. The only one was the one who got baptized. and he is progressing fast still. last sunday he received the priesthood. !! its awesome to watch your investigators take off in the church! very exciting. We woke up early this morning and played a lot of soccer. !!!!!! it was super fun. ! getting better at it. ha. and i got a haircut. i dont like it,, but i have just kinda realized that in the mission it doesnt really matter. IT is always short. But their have been other short haircuts that i have gotten that i have liked more. But its all good. We found a new family, and we know that they are going to progress alot. We have been doing incuestas about the church. Its like a survey. Its a way we can get fast references, and really see if the people are interested or not... : ) we have been doing it with each area!!! it is fantastic!!!!! We have received a lot more people to visit. About the mission changes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will not know what mission i am in until the end of this change. The end of this change is the 22 of this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sure we will get some type of information before the changes. When i know i will tell the family!!!!!!! they will send about 50 to 60 missionaries por alla! I have heard from our zone leaders that in the last meeting they had with our president, that there are some missionaries that are in our district, or zone that will be going to the new mission. I am still not sure if i will be called to over their. The chances are 50% fifty fifty. I have a year left in the mission still. : ) and yes in 9 days i will have one year in the mission..... ahhhh the time!!!! where did it go! Love you mom glad that you found out the other things you need to do to get your book in!!!!! i hope that you can receive more people in these sites, keep working!!!!! i love you, and i know ha that picture, all the missionaries in my district are brown. Even elder faamousili he is american,, but tongan so he is brown. I am the only white person in my district hah... but we all love each other, and we have been having a blast this change. love you!! thanks for the heart picture hah. I am well feeling better, everything is good.!!!!!! here in mazatlan is a vacation spot. So i see other white people, They are really bright!!!!!!! haha its like a light in the dark. but everything here is really chill. its relaxed, and the people are always smoking. our area is one of the more dangerous areas, there are lots of bars, and strip clubs, and there are a lot of guys.... Some guys were kissing at me making noises with there lips yesterday, that was weird. they can be really funny sometimes also. There is a gay that is a super big guy...... oh my gosh,,, hahah Its like really..... ha how did you confuse yourself. anyways, this hange has gone by so fast, we will have changes in 3 more weeks, we are starting the fourth week of the change. I cant beleive it. Thanks for the pictures very much!!!!! i was happy to see everyone!!! Happy Birthday Dad, im sorry i didnt get your letter to you on time....: / i went to DHL here and they said it would cost me 500 pesos just to send a letter.... thats like 50 dollars and then i went to fed ex after and they were closed.... sooo i will try to send this letter to you tomorrow. thats the only day when we are in the main city and the post office is their.... But Happy Birthday i love you. !!!!! We finally got our bike repaired, well the bike of my companion, so we are on bikes now, much more faster!!!!! but my butt hurts after the day, the last time i rode a bike was in Escuinapa, my first area. But its fun to be on bikes. Our area is huge, so they help a lot. !!!!! I hope all the family is doing well. They all look good, I miss jcws and red robin, wow two of my favorite places to eat. Great birthday if you ask me. And i saw commercials somewhere in culiacan of star trek, It looks good, : ) i hope you liked it. Anyways. life is good! our next baptismal date is the 15th i hope it goes through. we will see. Your house will be all finished by the time i get home joy joy, But tell kenneth to keep up the hard work!!!! give your family my love. well i love everyone, and have a good next week, be safe!!!! read your scriptures : D