July 9, 2014 - HOME!!!

llegar - July 8, 2014

My flight is on Delta Airlines and my terminal is unit 2. It says i will be leaving unit 2, ? I think thats the information that everyone needs, ha anyways, Yesterday was really busy, me and elder velez were saying good bye to everyone yesterday in humaya, today we will be doing the same, i am going to try and get two areas in.... Here in Culiacan i served in Libertad, Villa Verde, and Humaya. I will be trying to cover members and people that are in villa verde and Libertad. This last week was a very busy week even though everything in my mind was saying you are leaving........ hah It was a productive week, We had the last zone meeting, and we went with the asistents on divisions, The capacitations and divisions took up a lot of our days during the week, and the truth is it was a good last week, ME and Elder Velez are trying to make every minute count and i am very EXCITED!!!!!!!!! Tonight we are going to eat dinner with the president and have interviews, There are still lots of things to do. This is not my last letter....... Atleast i hope not haha i expected my letter to be a lot longer telling all about my mission. but this will have to do, My mission has been amazing, I feel like i have been pushed to my limit and even when we are pushed to our limits as missionaries the phrase that Jesus really does carry us the extra miles is true, He helps us through our problems and helps us go even more than we thought we could I have seen it through these last weeks and I am happy to be a living witness of missionary work, how it is lived, how it is loved, and it has just been a lot of heaven crammed into 2 wonderful years. My heavenly Father has allowed me to love all of his children here in Mexico Starting with Escuinapa, Juan Jose Rios, Ruiz Cortinez, Libertad, Juarez, Villa Union, Villa Verde, Infonavit Humaya. He has also blessed me with all of the love in return from all the people that i have come in contact with. He blessed me with great companions that i will remember forever, I am very grateful for my trainers. They helped me a lot.They always encouraged me to do my best, and when i said things wrong they always corrected me in a loving way. All my companions tought me alot of things and i am very grateful for all of them. I made lots of friends to other missionaries who werent my companions, and they are also amazing. I am grateful for the order of the church that god has given us. Through this organization we are blessed through people who have been called of God. I am grateful for my president and his calling to serve here in Culiacan and forever they both presidente cantu y presidente Velez have impacted my life forever. I am going to talk a little about the fun stuff now, besides getting hit by a black ford Ranger, My finger being bitten by a pregnant cat, sweating in the sun, seeing a book of mormon in the trash, MY hand bitten by a chihuahuah, having big dogs chase us on our bikes, being pooped on by pigeons, waking up with a bacteria growing in your stomach to the tip of your tongue, being stuck in the hospital for two weeks without a change of clothes because your companion has dengue, falling off your bike, getting stuck in the rain, eating intestines, or heart of a cow, I think the worst feeling out of all of these was being rejected preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. being a missionary of the true church of God, Seeing miracles, Listening to the spirit whisper where you should go, baptizing bringing souls unto Christ, helping less actives become strong in the gospel,getting a blessing from your companion, or giving blessings to other people knowing and having faith that they will be healed. Receiving food from people you dont even know. Having great companions, loving the people you serve, receiving revelation the moment you need it, when you see promises in the bible or the bom come to pass. the many blessings that we have been giving. Making friends that i can always be in contact with. in this mission you eat great food every day!puros Mariscos. Learning and growing in the scriptures. I think of all of these things and i get the feeling that everything was more than worth it!!!!!!! I would go back and do it all again, I would like to serve again in the future with a special companion it is one of my goals!!! I have learned to love the scriptures and i feel like i have formed good habits here on my mission, i hope to keep all of them throughout all my life. I know that the mission helps everyone who serves and it will always be a blessing throughout all of there lives. I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, I know that Christ is my redeemer and he loves us unconditionally. I know that Our heavenly Father has a plan for all of us and i have grown to learn that i am one of his children. I know that we all need to do our best to grow and to apply what the prophets of God teach us. I know that the organization today is the same that Jesus Christ had when he lived. I know that missionary work is something constant, and in this past week i have grown to know a little bit what the word constant means, We as children of God need to be constant in the commandments that he has given us, I know that we should love everyone around us like heavenly Father and Jesus Love us. I know that the book of mormon is true and that it is another testament so that we learn and continue in his ways in these days. I want you all to know that i love my Heavenly Father and i love his Son, I know that we need the valor and the courage to stand for what is right in all places and in all times, I Know that families are forever, and i know that through temples we are able to be sealed for all time and eternity, I know that love in the family is a celestial attribute. I know that missionary work is one of the greatest ways that others can know the fullness of the gospel. I want you all to know my testimony and that i love you, I share these things with all of you en el sagrado nombre de JesuCristo amen. Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

June 30, 2014

bueno!!!!! I cant believe its the last week in the mission, The last week is always the greatest and i hope i make it to be even greater. Its hard to make memories when you have a limited time..... i didn't think these days would come. This past week went fast for me..... we worked with a lot of the youth and it went really well, like i told everyone we were going to be working with them, we did! and it went really well. We had a great week, and we bonded with the youth. Interesting news, This past Sunday we got together with two wards and we changed the division of the wards. The bishops changed churches, and me and my companion will now be going to another church. We have all decided that everyone that has been changed will be very missed... ha there were lots of people that said we are going to miss well other people from the ward. It was a pretty big change, but the division of the wards is a lot better, and i know that it will be better for the future also. The missionaries are happy and excited to be able to add members and investigators into there own areas, It will also be a hard thing to do, to pass your investigators to other missionaries... especially when we have bonded and already had time together. But we feel that everything is for a reason and it is Gods work and he knows what is happening! So everything is good. This last Sunday me and my companion will be assisting a new church with new faces. I feel like i haven't even had time to find any friends here, just some of the youth. They are the ones that i have gotten to know most through divisions. There are three that are getting ready to leave for there missions and we have been focusing on them a lot. One of the youth is the son of my old president President Cantu! he was the president before president Velez. He has been called to go to Florida, he actually speaks English pretty well. The other two have been called to go to places here in Mexico. They are awesome and will be very successful missionaries. We baptized last week Her are the pictures

​Marie olea with her grandchild,

​Her baptism was very beautiful!!! Very nice. Im glad to hear that the ragnar race went well!!!! I am surprised that 8 members of the family ran it, bet your legs are smoked : ) danny said it smoked my bags : ) hehe. Heidi there isnt anything that i need haha muchos thank yous, Lots of the things i dont even remember that are in the united states.... its weird, when i try to think my mind just goes blank.... i will have to see around when i get home. I am very excited to be coming home, my mind is still focused i feel like here in the mission, we are still teaching and this week we have lots of things to do. mostly organization....... because of the big change with the wards, we have to organize all the maps again and all the registers of the members and investigators, so that should keep us busy. !!!! I am excited for Gods work and i have loved it, it has been a really great experience, It has been a good mission. I love you all and i will see you almost next next wednesday : ) Love you, bye!!!!!!!! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

June 23, 2014

Wednesday, July 9th at 9:37am i will leave Culiacan, Mexico, My second home where My heavenly Father put me for 2 wonderful years, To serve his children and to grow spiritually and to baptize his children in the True church of Jesus Christ! I will land in Los Angeles, CA at 1:00pm I will have time to get to my other gate with 3 other missionaries and we will leave from LA to Utah my home at 4:39pm and we will arrive at 7:25pm This past week went very well! We were able to baptize Marie Olea!!! She is a 56 year old women, and she has received all of the lessons, and i am happy that i was able to be a part of it. This past friday she was baptized and her baptism was very beautiful! She loved it, and after we had cake because it was her birthday also! Yesterday she went to the church earlier than us, and she was ready to receive her confirmation, I was lucky enough to confirm her a member of the church. She has a few children that live in Utah in Huntington, and she said that she will be going to visit, and i am going to be able to see her and maybe even go to the temple with her to show her around. I hope you all have the chance to meet her when she comes.! It was a very special experience for me and my companion. More for me knowing that she goes to Utah sometimes. Thats the exciting news that we had this past week. We have been teaching the same people, some progressing more than others, I am hoping to see other miracles before.... well i come home : / I cant believe the mission is almost over. Until the last day the miracles dont stop : ) We have changes the 7th of jJuly and i will have 3 days to do basically whatever i want her in Culiacan. me and another missionary have already decided to room together in the hotel that we will be staying in. His name is Elder Velez. He is from Pachuca. To tell the truth it has been really emotional lately... Almost everyone i see tells me that i am leaving......... and it can be difficult to focus sometimes. This week to finish we have lots of youth that are planned to work with us during the day, they are a great help, and it has helped me continue be an example and help them learn. I would encourage the missionaries that also will receive this letter that if you arent asking youth to work with you Do it! : ) It is a great way to receive lessons with a member and to help the investigator have someone they know when they go to the church, in return it also helps the youth and prepares them to serve missions: ) It is incredible! There are only 2 days during this week that we dont have youth to work with us. Here in Culiacan it has been raining in the nights. It has been kind of weird, Usually it doesnt rain this time of the year... Usually when we head in to go to the house it rains and it is cloudy. Last night the power went out and i woke up sweating..... I stayed up for about an hour and they repaired the electricity and then i went back in with the air... ha I am happy we are in a house that has air.... anyways I love you all!!! All is well, Finishing strong!! I hope everyone has a good week, I will see everyone in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!! Love you all!!! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

2 years and 3 days June 16, 2014

haha I like my title. I am so happy that i have made the decision to stay here in the mission! Me and my companion have been having a blast in these past days. I am trying to make every day count! The sun gets hotter and sometimes the days go by so slow but i wouldnt change my decision for anything. I am pretty much just used to being in my sweat, and my companion is just barely hitting the point where he doesnt like it haha. I told him that i remember those moments, but it goes by and you just dont care anymore. There was a lady that looked at me and said ¨its good to sweat¨, and i glanced at her and made a half smile while the sweat was dripping from my face haha, and i told her thanks hermana maria, ha Maria is the one who will be baptized this saturday!!!! We are very excited for her. It will be her birthday that day also. We just barely taught her the last lesson yesterday, everything in her paper that we fill out is filled out and she isnt missing anything. The last lesson we tought was if Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. We gave her a Liahona from this last general conference, and we gave her the talk that thomas S. Monson gave and we told her to read it and pray and ask specifically if he is a prophet. It should be easy to receive her answer, because she already has a testimony of the book of mormon, and of Joseph Smith. We are excited that she will be baptized!!!!! I will send pics next week. We were kind of bummed this past week because the investigators that we are teaching none of them came to church last sunday well yesterday : / we called and checked with all of them, and they all said they were going to be their, but for some reason or another they werent able to come. We think it was for fathers day.... but its no excuse : ) Anyways, we are still working with the same families, and they are progressing, we are getting there!!! We are hoping for a couple more baptisms in these three weeks that come! We are working hard with these sons and daughters of God so that they can be baptized! My letter will also be short today, we dont have a ton of time, we have an appointment at 6:00pm But i love everyone, Im excited to see you all very shortly, Me and my companion are well, I got the x rays done and my spine is different, it is more sraight now. Not completely, but there is a big difference in how it used to be. I will have another appointment with the doctor this week, and i will see what he says.! Everything is all good! Love you all. Have a great week! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

My therapist

Me and my companion teaching

June 9, 2014

Hey everyone!!! im happy i get to write today! This past week we had a lot of experiences! I am not going to be able to tell all of them but i will tell a couple. Lots of the experiences made me really happy, me and my companion! #1. i am almost done taking therapy!!! They have been putting electricity things on my back for the last three weeks, 3 times a week.... ahhh but i am happy to say that i only have one more therapy and they are going to take x rays again and we are going to see if my spine has changed!!!! I have done everything that the doctor has told me so i am expecting changes.. But everything has gone well. ! I don't know why the pain came back, but just to let you all know, the therapies have really helped me and i feel a lot better! i last through the day without my back getting tired. Usually when it happens i just grunt through it. But i am very happy that it is healing. #2. We have been teaching a family. The familia Medina! We have taught them 3 times now, the first week the wife came to church with her mother in law, and she was very happy to be their. The second time we have been focusing on there daughters and 2 of the 4 daughters came this past Sunday!!!!!! It was so great to see there faces in the sacrament meeting. We asked around after to some of the members and they said that they really liked the classes and they participated! We are really hoping for the next Sunday to have the other two daughters and the husband in the church. We are going to have a family home evening tonight at 7:00pm with there family. I am always really excited to teach them and to see them because I haven't seen a family like this progressing so quickly in a while. I am happy to have the opportunity to teach them. We are planning to give them a baptismal date as a family. We are waiting until everyone participates. The two other daughters are rebels to join in in the lessons, but we are fixing that! We also had four other investigators that came to the church with us! We have lots that are progressing. We are hoping to have the next baptism the 21st! It is a lady named maria and she wants to be baptized on her birthday. She has all of the lessons, but we are just waiting for her birthday!!! I have a big picture of them in my mind being baptized! #3. This past week was really busy!!!! super busy, we gave our zone meeting in front of all the 22 missionaries. It went really well.! Well..... We planned it really well, we used videos and good scriptures and the spirit was really felt. The only thing that we wished from the missionaries was to participate..... They didn't participate very much. Everyone was very quiet and shy to speak.... : / We are working with some of the missionaries in the zone trying to help them with their areas! Some of them are having a hard time. but i am very happy to say that last week we had 6 baptisms, and this past week we had 3. In the zone we have baptized 5 weeks in a row, and everyone is doing very well.!!!! We are finding the people that the lord wants us to find. This zone really does have a great spirit!! i feel like all of the missionaries are really good at listening to the spirit, they are awesome! These are the main things that have happened this past week. Me and my companion are a fun companionship. We talk non stop, and we are always laughing at things. I am going to send a picture of the zone. It isnt everyone because some missionaries had to leave early because they had citas! lessons! This is all for today but i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope everyone has a great week. Love Elder Fellingham

NORMAL

FUNNY This is almost all of the zone we are just missing two missionaries, Left top to right bottom E.Rasmussen my son! i trained him : ) E.Merkley, EGramajo, E,Perez, E.Ramos. Mi compañero E Guzman, E Fellingham, E.Coombs, E. Lopez, E. Garfias, Hna Fonseca, Hna Wall, Bottom row Hna Ayala, hna Hernandez, Dora she isnt a missionary, Hna dicent, Hna nichole, hna braithwaight , hna parke, hna alonzo and the other two missionaries that arent their are elder zarate, and elder hughes. The Zone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HUMAYA!!!!!!!! ​

June 2, 2014

Hola a todos!!!! Hey everyone Hope everyone had a great week!!! We had a really good week here in Humaya, it was my first week here, and me and my companion have had a great time so far. We are really good friends and we have a lot in common. This week we had the opportunity to go to (Potrero) The pictures that I sent are from the baptism that we had their! that little group of people is one family. They are all family. The rama in Potrero is made of 30 people. It reminds me of Villa Union! It is small, but it amazes me of the fidelity and devotion the people have here, to stick to there standards and beleifs! They are amazing. The president in Potrero and his wife are very strong and very nice. He is a farmer and he looks like he is only 25 years old. When we were driving their to Potrero it was pure fields of alfalfa,corn,wheat and other things. and then we got even further.... The whole way their i felt like a little kid asking his parents when are we going to get their..... haha the truth is is that is way far away...... It took us an hour and ten minutes to get their, and and hour and ten minutes back. In our ward we have a guy in our ward that has his own business and is very wealthy, and he sells medications... He has a lot of drivers that drive around the city with medications..... (medecine) and he tells one of his drivers to go and pick us up every Thursday. We go to Potrero every Thursday and his drivers take us their. It is very amazing. !!!! I was very surprised the first time we went. It was a very awesome experience for me to go their. It was very spiritual, and i felt very diferent in that little rama of Potrero with my companion. Before there used to be missionaries their, but the president took them out of the area because it is dangerous, there are a lot of narcos their they say, we are only allowed to visit for a short time, and during the day, and only once a week. But everything is fine, and i love the time that we get to be their. We have lots of people that we are teaching the family medina, blanca and her daughter and another cool experience with elizabeth. They are people soon to be baptized, we are preparing them to get baptized, to be short Family medina is having a rough time right now. They want to get a divorce and we are helping them, they have four or five daughters.... the parents are both members but there daughters arent... The wife just barely came to church this past sunday she hast gone to church for 20 to 25 years.... and it was a huge step for her to come to church. Her mom is a member and she always wants to go, she is about the age of grandma and she cant hear, and she cant walk very well and she cant see.... : / but she is very diligent in all her efforts when it comes to sunday to go to church. : ) She is awesome. Blanca isnt married with her husband, Her daughter is america and America s boyfriend is member. America just got baptized two months ago, and she has a very strong testimony! She has helped her mom also have the desire to be baptized and we are going to help them get married, and then baptize them! The dad is tough, he is a little difficult with understanding things from the book of mormon but we are trying to find time with him. Elizabeth we just barely tought her for the first time, and she cried at the end and she knows that the things we teach are true, i dont think she has a husband, and she has three or four kids. Her brother tells her not to listen to us,but she still does anyway. She has a date to be baptized for the 28th of this month and we are going to help her reach it. She has lots of desires to know more, even though she cried and knew in the moment that it is true she didnt come to church this sunday.... bummer, but we just barely started teaching her, and it was a cool first experience with her. } This is my first week here in humaya!!!! and it was very awesome! i am excited to finish my last change here and it is better to go big!!! finish with everything that you have : ) Im looking forward to it. Hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!! Love you all! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

Me and my companion eating sushi!!!!! We get along really well, we are like brothers!

We went to a ranchito named potrero. Its part of our area, it is a special area!!! even though we live in the center of culiacan. Potrero is like an hour and ten minutes from the city and we had a baptism!!! His name is gabriel! very awesome. The people their are really sweet!

Mi compañero!!!! here they baptize in boxes with a tarp ha, usually all of the ranches here do it like this because they dont have a church big enough with a baptismal font, after the third time it was valid! and he was very willing, especially here in culiacan!!!! Its super hott!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 26, 2014

We had changes today, My new companion is elder Guzman, he is from Taumaulipas close to texas, he is very cool. I am excited to start a new change. and i am excited to be in a new zone!!! We have 22 in our zone, We are back to another big Zone Elder Guzman has 16 months in the mission and i am excited to be able to be his companion. He tells me that we have a baptism this saturday, i am excited for him and his companion and the work that they have done. We have a couple lessons tonight in the night time, i am going to therapies with the doctor i feel better. my back still gets really tired. but I am happy to work. I hope everyone can understand my decision.... kind of last minute, but the word will get around. : / : ) First comes our Heavenly Father and the rest comes after. I have grown to love him and Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost. I hope everyone can have more experiences with them. Because working with them is the greatest! Love you all, and i hope you all have a good week. Sorry the message is short, but i will write a lot more next week about how the zone is and what it is like in this area!!!! I don't have enough info. Its my first day!!! Sooo far it has been a good day. Love you guys, Follow the spirit always!, and love those around you. Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Lz, Humaya!!

May 26, 2014

In these past weeks mom and dad i have been having serious impressions to know if i am supposed to come home or to not come home.... haha I know that sounds weird but here it comes. The missionaries from my generation have been given three weeks more to stay in the mission. I knew that we were given three weeks more before, and i would really like to know what your opinion is on this??? The mission president told me mom that you told him you have already gotten plane tickets for some of the family members to be there in the house when i get home ? did you really already get plane tickets for them to fly in??? I have prayed to ask heavenly Father if i should stay the 3 weeks more. and i have had serious impressions that i should stay, but also i have had serious impressions to just be home..... I want to be home, I miss my family, I miss everyone, but i have also asked myself if three weeks really makes the difference. If God has given me more time to be here in my mission should i still be here. I have talked to the president and he told me personally that i can leave on the day that i came in which is the 13 of June. But i just don't know i wanted to ask you both what you would do in this situation. I feel like it will be a burden for the mission if i leave early. The thing is here in the mission is that we have a set date for changes..... every second generation leaves a change after there due date, and every first generation leaves three weeks early to their houses..... The reason why is because when they opened the MTC in Mexico they opened late...... they opened three weeks late.... Everything in mexico is late haha its the culture..... but all the missionaries from my generation have decided to stay here one change more... and i feel like if i leave #1 my companion wont have a companion... they will have to put him in a three some, or find a summer missionary, #2 I have had feelings of regret if i leave or if i dont....#3. I miss my family and i dont want to waste the money that the family has already spent on plane tickets to come to my homecoming if you have already boughten them. ...... This is what i am thinking and i am hoping you can get this letter and read it in the next hour and a half.... : / Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

May 19, 2014 photos

My zone, 3 werent in this picture because they were in the hospital. One of our missionaries got his appendix taken out, and the other two were with him because they are in a three some.

Zone without the sisters : )

​Guaapos!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha

May 19, 2014

This past sunday the bishop asked me and my companion to talk, It was my last time to be able to talk in front of everyone in the ward here, it was a little emotional for me... haha i almost cried... almost.. okay but anyways I talked about being obedient and missionary work. The bishop let us choose what we wanted to talk about. It all went really well. With obedience a shared a story about kites hah and another about cows. The kite one was about obedience. Its a story in a book i found here on my mission and i really like it. Its called the kite is held up by the string. Im sure many have heard of it before. It talks about a father and son that were flying kites together and the son asked his father Dad? What holds the kite up? and the father told his son ¨the string he replied¨ Then the son said to his dad no dad the string holds it down! not up.... Then the father replied and said well if you think so let go of the string and see what happens. Suddenly the son let go of the string.... and what happened??? the kite began to fall!! The son mentioned to his father and in his mind that it seems odd that the same thing that holds the kite down really holds the kite up! and then it mentions the book that isnt only true with kites but with life also. Those strings that are tied to us, Those rules and regulations that seem to hold us down are actually the ones that hold us up. The word religion is a latin root that means to hold back or to tie back. this is what religion does. it provides the string to the soaring kite of our spirit. It keeps us from falling, It binds us to great values and it attaches us to great causes. It helps us fly high in the aid of gods truth and lifts us until our heads touch the stars and our lives take on the beauty of men and women who are bound closely to god. The men and Women who tuen their lives over to god will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen our joys, expand our vision, quicken our minds and he will bless us. Whoever will lose his life to god will find that he has eternal life. ¨Quote from ezra taft benson¨ This is what i translated into spanish haha the morning that i was going to give the talk. But everything went really well. I know we have limits for a reason, and the reason why is so that we can be spiritually free from everything that is in this world. I have loved my mission and i couldnt ask for anything more. I thanked all of the mothers in the ward for their kindness and there willingness to serve the missionaries. After this i started talking about cows haha and everyone laughed when i told them i was going to start talking about cows.... random. But there is another story about an old cowboy that lived in the prairies and fields and as he grew up he told us one of the valuable lessons that he learned from life. and it was when he was a cattle herder. He said that almost all his life he has watched out for cows... Normal cows, dairy cows, meat cows haha and hereford cows. He said in his story that in the state that he lived in that there has always been nasty snow storms. The type of storms that if your out too long the ice nips at your skin and starts to cut it, howling bitter winds, and these storms have always taking a heavy toll on the herds that he watched. temparatures below zero freezing cold rain and winds uun imaginable... Finally intercepted by the boundary fence the cows would huddle up and sit down and through these types of storms if they sat down they would surely die.... and they did. . . But on the other hand hereword cows acted differently. They would hed into the wind and stand shoulder to shoulder facing the storms blast at the end of the storm you most always found the herefords alive and well. said the cowboy, he said i guess that is the greatest lesson i ever learned on the prairies - Just face lifes storms. - Norman vincent peale I promised the members after this story to be united. Jesus Christ tought us if we are not one we are not his. Now is the time that members start working with members, We were visited this past saturday by President Johnson a member of the seventy. Him and his wife gave us a visit, and they talked to us for a good two hours. It was all of the missionaries here in the city of Culiacan and he talked to us especifically about teaching investigators. He gave us a parable.... and i love this parable that he gave to us. He talked about tomatoes. Here in Culiacan there are lots of tomatoes : ) and he mentioned that sometimes the tomatoes are green, some are red and green, and some are ripe ready to be harvest. He refered this to our investigators, and he told us to stop wasting our time with the green, and green and reds.... He told us to start looking for the red tomatoes and that is why were are called as missionaries. Sometimes us as missionaries we have investigators that we start teaching and we dont want to drop them because we are friends, or because we think we are on a break through... But really we arent and we are just wasting our time. Elder Johnson told us that God has a place and time specifically chosen for his sons and doughters to accept the gospel. And our duty as missionaries is to find all of those that are red tomatoes. All of the chosen ones, all of the people who are ready to be baptized and ready to accept to read, pray and go to church. If they dont do those three things he told us in the first three lessons its time to move on. It was very powerfull and the spirit was felt very strong. I told myself in my head haha where has elder Johnson been for these past two years..... why didnt he explain this to me when i entered as a missionary, why hasnt this been said to every missionary in the world.... hah.... I think my testimony grew about 50% more that day and the reason why is because my testimony grew in the area labeled.¨ Gods time¨ God has a time and place for everyone of us, and if someone isnt ready none of us here on the earth knows when that change will be for them exept God. Except our heavenly Father. Only he knows. !!! My testimony grew because Elder Johnson mentioned a lot about hastening the work. The prophets and apostles have really been talking alot about hastening the work. We are sooo close to the second coming of Jesus Christ. We are the priveleged he told us to be a great part of the first ones to start hastening our heavenly Fathers work here on the Earth. I know in my heart that this is the time and it is especially for the missionaries that are still serving and that are going to be serving in these next years. I am glad that i was able to be here to be able to listen to the words of Elder Johnson. I have had a lot on my mind in these moments from listening to him, and thinking of what i can do to be able to help the zone remember every word he said. I am happy for the missionaries that get to be a part of what is coming next. During my mission sooo many things have changed and it has all gone by so fast, and it makes me wonder whats next? what is going to happen next. I am excited to find out. I am excited for the next general conference. I love you all and i hope you have had a good week. I hope you could all understand a little bit of what is happening in the Mexico Culiacan mission: ) Love you guys have a great week. I feel like as a missionary i have learned so much.... but i have also learned so little. Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

May 12, 2014

Hey i was happy that i was able to see all of you guys yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish all of my sisters a happy mothers day because you are all moms also : ) Love you guys. It made my day to be able to see everyone and talk with you all. Im glad everyone is doing well. There are new babies that i dont know in our family, and i am excited to get to know them better than just seeing them through a camera. To let you all know this message will be kind of short because we dont have a lot of time to write. but the good news is that I was able to talk to the president today and he told me that my fly home date is June 13th. I will be flying in the 13. I never thought i would ever say this and it makes me happy and sad. There is a lot of emotion in the mission haha.... but i am very excited to be seeing you all very soon. I will give you all the rest of the info when i get it. .............. anyways. this past week was good, we have been working hard, We had three baptisms in the zone and i was able to participate in those, the missionaries have been working really hard, and the sisters baptized two people. They are working estra hard... hah but it was a very beautiful experience. The president came and shared his testimony with the new converts. I went their because i was able to give a baptismal interview after the baptisms for someone whos name is (primative) Primativo en español. But he is a very interesting person but passed his interview with flying colors. He is really smart and he is so ready to be baptized. He is a field worker, and that is all that he has one all his life, and he knows the church is true. The field workers are always very humble and very smart. I love being able to see them be baptized. he will be baptized this next saturday. Our investigators have been progressing really slow.... : ( it makes me sad. I was hoping that we would have atleast one or two of the many people we are visiting that would progress,,, but it has been difficult this area... The members are learning how to work still,,, and we have a lot of work to do in the ward i think before the missionaries are going to start baptizing.. We are helping the members learn how to retain the converts and we are having trouble in these areas.... : / but the work goes on. I am hoping for a miracle to happen. I love the work, and were still moving along. We have re activated a lot more people in the word and there are still lots lots more to re activate.. were getting their though : ) we are staying posative. Love you guys, hope you all had a special mothers day and i will give everyone more information in these weeks that come. Love you all hope you all have a good week!!! love Dlder Fellingham Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

May 5, 2014

Listos!!!!!!!!!! This past week was really fun. The fun that we had was that we gathered our whole zone and we went to NAvolato!!!!!!!!!!!!! We contacted the camione on the way their and we received lots of references, and then when we got their we all divided up and went and contacted as many people as we could, we did 168 contacts as a zone in just 2 hours, There are 12 people in the zone. I was really proud for what we did and all of the references went to ¨Navolato. All the missionaries did really well and they were able to get out and practice speaking with the people. Lots of the people were really nice and accepting, and some were not so nice.... ha We were walking back to finish up the last contacts and we turned the corner and the hermanas were talking with two older men, and they hinted to us for help hah so we went and joined in the conversation.... Turns out they were talking with someone that claimed to be a mason.... ahh there are lots of masons here in mexico and well when we got there he started talking to us and the hermanas left to go be with the other missionaries and we stood there talking to him and he was really racist to me : / and we tried to give him a card but he didnt want it, and he kept talking to my companion and i finally said hermano we need to go but thank you,,,, and then we left. But it was kind of funny because the zone of missionaries were all watching us and we were looking at them smiling and wanting to leave. but It was a very good day of contacting. Our goal to contact was 85 and we went way over our goal so it made us all happy and we were all satisfied. The day before we had two birthdays in our zone Elder Tanner and hermana campos. Luckily they have dairy queen here!!!!! and i bought them a ice cream cake. It was very yummy. and it helped us stay cool because it is hottt here. It is starting to get hot! Yesterday i was sweating a lot. It was bad. : / This past week we found a guy named fousto and he is really cool, but he has an interesting story. The missionaries have tought him before and he told us. He married in california and now he doesnt have a visa so he cant go back and his family and his first wife are still living their. He is with another wif now but they are not married.... : / this is the problem, but he has gone through all the lessons with the missionaries and he knows a lot. He wants to be baptized really bad, but he needs to get divorced first with his first wife. During my mission there have been sooo many cases like this, that the people marry in the united states..... and then they get stuck and they get sent back to mexico. I dont understand the whole process. I dont understand how they can get married by the law and then they get stuck and get sent back and they cant get back into the united states to be able to divorce.... but its a super long process and its really hard for the people that want to get baptized. There is a story similar from the missionaries in Navolato. He was married in the united states with someone and then they seperated. He came back to mexico his first wife moved to costa rica the island and he has no contact at all with this women..... doesnt know anything, and he has started a new life, living with a new wife they have two kids and they found the gospel and they want to be baptized in the church....... It is a very difficult situation and i feel bad for the situations like these... But I know that our heavenly Father always has a way!!!! I know that these type of people will be able to receive the help that they need. I am excited to be able to see everyone and my mommi the10!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday!!!!!We are getting everything prepared!!!! We already have a member that has skype and we are going to use there computer. We can skype for an hour. Sunday we have church from 8 til 11 and we eat at 2:00pm with a member so i was thinking more in the afternoon. At 7:00pm Sunday i will be calling home to set up skype!!!!!!!! okay. This past sunday we had a good class. We joined in with the high priests, and one of the high priests named moroni shared the message with us. He read in section 21 of DyC and i really liked how he related the scriptures. He told us a story about the big red oaks in California, and what they do with the big red oaks is they have big machines that grab the tree trunks without doing any damage, and they machine shakes the tree. It makes it vibrate and when it gets to a certain point the nuts start to fall from the tree, and then after they collect the nuts the work is finished. But he compared with verse 6 and 9 i think it was. But it says in six the gates of hell shall not prevail against you, and god will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good and his names glory. If we see the two verses in 6 first it says that the gates of hell will not prevail against us and god will help us and he will cause the heavens to shake for our good. But i like to ask If we do what???? how can we receive this big blessing that god will help us with. In 9 it tells us If we labor in his vinyard with a mighty blessing. If we read it going backwards it gives the blessing in 9. Those that labor in the vinyard of the lord, Will receive a mighty blessing. That the heavens will shake with the blessings that we need and god will not let the powers of darkness disperse upon us from satan. It is a little bit more confusing in english i think than spanish... haha but at the end it is clear. He realated these two verses with the story about the machines that shake the trees. I know that god really does bless us with blessings, and i know he blesses us even more when we are in his work. It helps us remember that we need to be constantly working in the vinyard of God and we will be blessed, not just blessed but blessed mightily by our Heavenly Father I love everyone and i hope you are all well. Casi Feliz dia de madres!!!!!!! happy mothers day for the moms i dont see : ) love you family and friends. Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

April 28, 2014

Saturday was a special day, all the leaders were invited to the presidents house, and we did an activity of contacting people in the street, and we had a meeting to see how everyone is! It was very fun, and the spirit was felt for sure. The assistents gave a great lesson to us all and the whole time they focused on the sons of mosiah! The focus was on missionary work and how ammon and his rothers were such great examples for missionary work. If we read the story of them There is preparing, having a desire to serve and then serving, Contacting in the street, winning the confidence of the people we teach, Diligence, Asking references, and baptism, all for just one conversion (Rey Lamoni) a kingdom of people were baptized. I encourage you all to read in alma 17 and 18. Think of ideas of how you can share the gospel with people. Just because we live in Utah it does not mean that everyone is in the gospel. : ) the majority, but there are still souls to be saved.! This week was really good, we did divisions with the new missionaries that are in our zone and i was with elder Myers! He is from San Diego California. I have a lot of respect for him because he is a very spiritual person. The whole time we were together we had a blast of fun, and we ended up contacting a lot of people on the day of divisions. We ended p contacting 5 buses of people.... and we received a lot of contacts haha. Elder myers at the end of the week with his companion had 51 contacts in the street, and we had 25.... haha Elder myers is a beast at contacting. He really suprised me that day. The reason why we had the zone meeting was because we are not contacting enough people in our mission. but now everyone has started to contact a lot more people, I feel like we have taken the fear out of us, and we have contacted a a ton more people. I remember the first time i contacted a bus and i was sooooo nervous, me and another elder did it, and it was interesting and fun, the day of divisions we found a lot of new people to teach and lots of new references to give to other missionaries. There was one point where we missed where we were going to get off the bus, and we took it all the way into the city and we just continued to contact people, when we got into the city, we had to take another bus to get to our area, and we contacted that bus also, then in the morning three more buses to get to navolato where elder myers works, and it was a good time. It really helps us practice our speaking skills. I am going to do more divisions this week because i see that some of the newer missionaries need help of finding things to say to the people that they talk too. It is super fun though I love it. Thanks everyone for the pictures that you have sent me!!!!!!!!! Danny and heidi, Gracias!!!!! cant wait to drive your jeep danny. , ) hehe Everyone here had a great break!!!! We had a lot of opportunities to talk with the people about easter, Here they call it semana santa, and they all go out and party, and we tough a lot of families and people about easter and what it really represents... It is very sad to hear some of the questions here because really the truth is lots of people here dont really know what happened in these past two weeks. These past weeks we have found lots of families!!!!!!!!! we are now teachingthree families, Family sanchez, Family Muñoz, Family Armenta. Family sanchez has 6, Munoz 7, armenta is a family inactive but we just went with them yesterday and they had famil their in their house, and we started teaching them and we talked about baptism and power and authority of christ and the trinity and so far they know that everything is true. One of the sons whos name is saul asked sooo many good questions. These moments are really exciting for me in my mission. Answering questions is one of my favorite things to do. I am looking forward being able to skype!!!!!!!!!!!! me and my companion are looking for a way to skype, this last time i really hope you can all see my face... haha We have various people in the ward that have computers with cameras!!!!!!! we are going to skype, and you are going to see mee whooooo!!!!!! We will have a conference this next week and they will tell us the day when we can make the call or skype and i will tell everyone the 5th next monday what is going to happen. I went to an appointment with the doctor about my back, and while we were in the office we heard what sounded like fire crackers, and the doctor ran into the other room, and we went to see why he left. and there was a shooting in front of the offices of the doctor..... : / we looked out the window and there was a car that had stopped in the street with bullet holes in the front windshield, then the police came, and there was a bunch of traffic, we decided to go back in the office and finish my appointment, and when we finished and went outside everything was cleaned up and it was as if nothing had happened.... It is another interesting story to add to my mission. :) It was cool. It did not come out in the news the next day sadly to say : ( But all in all this past week was a good week. !!!!!!!!!! For those that worry... please dont! God protects us, and if you worry it comes from satan and you need to repent. I love you all!!!!!!!!! and i hope you have a good week : ) Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

April 21, 2014

ahhhhhhhh semana santa---... This week is always a sad week. Not really haha, but this past week was easter, here they call it semana santa. Here in Culiacan during this past week, everyone leaves. Culiacan is empty.... Everyone went to the beach or they traveled somewhere else. There were a couple of days that me and my companion walked down the streets and there was just nobody.I started whistling The whistle that is in like cowboy movies when the street is empty and there a few tumble weeds rolling a long haha. It was really empty this last week. Luckily we did have a good week and we were able to find people to teach. The only people we couldnt find were our investigators. Lots of our investigators that are progressing left on vacation.... They should be getting back today and tomorrow, so we are really looking forward to teach them, and figure out if they are home now. The family of six are progressing really well... I really want to see them. We found a family of 5 that are less active, we invited them this last sunday and they came!!! I was soo happy to see them. The dad is divorced and he has a girlfriend. She is also interested in the gospel.So we are looking forward to get to know them better. They have a 9 year old son that could be baptized really quickly, but we would rather have the parents fully active before we baptize him. We dont want to create more inactives.... : / but they are a good family. We have been finding lots of less actives in these past weeks. Our map is growing with little dots of numbers. It is how we organize our maps. The streets are filling up with new people that we are finding. This past week i ate oyster and raw fish in a ceviche. It was reall yummy!!!! It is one of the foods that i will miss the most. During the hott seasons everyone is eating sea food. Mariscos!!!! a brother from the ward told me he is going to get me some manta ray and turtle to try.... haha they are things that one has to try, it is once in a life time. They tell me that the turtle smells really funky sooo i am not so sure about it. They also eat iguana, and armadillo. but those i think i will pass..... im not so sure. Me and my companion were asked to talk in church this past sunday, and we never talked.... haha una hermana elso talked and she took up the whole hour.... she talks alot and it is really difficult toteach her sometimes because she never lets us leave her house... But i was going to talk on being shepherds of israel. It is my favorite talk!!!!! i really like it. Its by John R lasater.I would encourage everyone to read it. Love you all me and my companion are doing great!!!!! The zone is well, we will be having three baptisms in our zone, My companion and i have really been focusing on how we can help our zone have success. We have been calling them in the night to see how they are doing , how was there day, and how are there investigators. We are also doing more divisions with them so we can help them with there needs. bad news is that my neck and back have been hurting lately. It is not a strong pain, sometimes i am just super tired and i feel like i need to sit down or stretch my back. I am going to see the same specialist i saw a year ago... when i was hit by the truck, i am going tomorrow to check what is going on. lately it has been bugging me more than usuall. It feels like it is just the muscles that are bugging me.... i dont know what it is, but everything is good!!! il let a know what happened next week!!! I love all of you and i hope you all have a great week!!!!!!!!! Be Shepherds of Israel and do your duties that you all have in the church!!!! The true Church. Love you all. Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

April 15, 2014

Buenas!!! I hope everyone had a great week! Me and my companion sure did, we worked really well this past week. We found new investigators a family of 6 and another person who´s name is karin she is 20. We started the week teaching the family of six which is the family Sanchez. They are really awesome, we have some members that live right next to them and last month they invited them to a family home evening and they really liked it. When we went to their house this week they invited us in and we tought them how to pray!! The mom gathered all of her kids together so that they could listen to us, and me and my companion found them doing things that we did in the family home evening. Ha they are very awesome. I think they thought we were trying to do another family home evening with them, but we were just teaching a normal lesson. But they were all present and it made me happy. The mom Rosalva was really trying to do her part in getting everyone of her children to be their in the room. They all learned how to pray and we are going to see them tonight and we are going to start teaching them the lessons. They asked me to do the closing prayer so they could learn how to pray and i asked them all if they would like me to ask something specefic. and all of them told me that we want more unity in our family, and that we want to be together forever, and it made me very happy inside to be able to ask for that in the prayer. It is an amazing family and we struggle finding families like this one... and it is such a blessing. I am happy to be teaching them. I hope and pray that they progress!!!! Karin is a 20 year old woman haha and her mother died when she was younger... We tought her the first part of lesson one, and then at the end we asked her to do the closing prayer. She did it very good for her first time ever!!! and she started crying during the prayer. We also invited her to go to church, but she didnt go..... sadly, we are also going to see her tonight to see what happened. The family that she lives with is not her family, They are members of the church and help her know and understand the church. They have a doughter that is active that is 21 and she is less active........ She definitly does not help karin.......... She was making fun of KArin before she said the prayer..... I cant beleive her. We are hoping to help her and karin. She also accepted to be baptized how jesus Christ was baptized, we didnt put a date but she is a new investigator. She is great and has a lot of strength!!! Hang in there karin!!! please keep these people in your prayers. Me and my companion are getting a long really well, He teaches me lots of things, and visa versa!!!! We are working hard, and turns out at the end of the mission lots of the members talk about people dying.... not dying literally, but being dead at the end of the mission.... and i have already have tons of members that have been telling me even those that are around me the missionaries and my companion likes to make jokes sometimes..... I do not like it, but i think its something that every missionary goes through.... I am not dying .... I am trying to prove everyone wrong, Usually The dying jokes usually always come after me telling them how much time i have in the mission...... and yeah i usually just say un año y feria.... ha I try to not tell them the exact amount of time... It really does show sometimes though the affect of words. How strong words really can be..... I am happy to say that i am not dying. I am pushing forward every day with a smile on my face and i love the mission. I have in my mind all the people that have been blessed from there hard work. Something funny just happened in the Computer place where we are writing haha..... and i cant stop laughing. We just ate with the family 100fire and we helped them break garlic hahaha and some guy just walked in the computer place and said it smells really nasty and that it smells like garlic. haha Me and my companion busted out laughing jeje!! whooo still cant stop laughing. okay ........ anyways this past week was a good week. They have finally finished our house... the remodeling is over and we are finally back to a normal schedule!!!! We are less busy haha. It always feels great to be less busy. There are still a ton of things to do though, we need to clean the house , everything is covered in dust, and we dont have hot water anymore.... it stopped working our regadera water thing.... ha but it actually feels really good because it is heating up here. We are getting back to summer, it is spring right now, but spring here is like our summer and a little bit hotter... Back to sweating all day everyday, I am used to it now, and it doesnt bother me as much as it did when i entered into the mission. Something else that is interesting is that the family that we ate with today has a daughter serving in New York, and they showed me her roster of all the missionaries that are in her mission, and i saw Seth Hunter, he is serving in that mission, and i thought it was soooo weird. not Weird just very interesting. I tried to send him an email but it didnt go through. i dont know what his email is, but i would like to send him a message, I asked for the email of the daughter of the family, and i am going to ask her for his email to see if she knows who he is. Its a small world. I love you all and i am very thankful for everyone and your messages. I hope you all have a good week, love you guys hasta pronto, Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

April 7, 2014

Okay buenas tardes!!!!! A todos. I am happy that i actually get to write this week. Thesepast weeks have been really busy. I am sure mom and dad has told everyone by now. My companion got really sick, and he was in bed almost all week this past week, and the week before we had workersin our housefrom early in the morning until the night time. You get workersin thehouse when missionaries dont take care of things in the house. Although this house has been in the mission for a while. It has a lot of time being used by the missionaries. like 7 years. The workers have repaired the bathroom, they have painted the whole house inside and out, The colors are like a cream white and green. They painted the doors also and put in a closet : ) I asked the owner to paint it green haha. The owner has done sooooo much for us lately, and it is because her daughter likes me.... they will not stop bugging me about getting together with her daughter, all of the workers and the owner... they are all crazy. She even bought us ties me and my companion, and she bought me a green one and then she told me this morning we bought you green because it matches with your eyes and you are handsome..... i smiled and said thank you... and then they all laughed at me because it is really awkward. But hey a tie is a tie,and it is a good looking tie also. i like it. My companion is also really happy...... oh my gosh... ha We have changesin a week and i hope i either get sent to a new place orthey hurry up and finish the construction in the house. The last thing that they are working on is the kitchen. There was a really old kitchen and saturday morning we woke up,and the men came tolook at it, and they were saying It will take a while to get all of the kitchen out and throw it away.... It issooo old that i started to lift up the peices and before everyone knew everything was outside........... That kitchen wassoooo nasty wakala! It was sooo old that all the peices were coming un done and it was like wet inside. It ismade of wood and it was just done. Right now they are building a cement table and then they are going to put like marble on top like we have in our house. I am sooo happy that they are fixing up the house. It was a disaster. Fixing up the house has been one of the main priorities and getting me companion to 100% health also. He is all better now and we started working yesterday!!!!!!! I loved GeneralConference. It was hard thinking that it was my last general conference in the mission. I tried extra hard to follow the spirit and study before hand so that i could understand everything that the apostles and prophet said. I liked all of the talks. I reallyliked the talkof uchtdorf in the priesthood session. That us as priesthood holders we cant be found sleeping.... There is a big problem herein mexico with the menof the church. Atleast from what i have seen during my whole mission. The men are soooo much more harder to convince and help feel the spirit. Also the men that are members. They work soooo much here that is very hard for them to do there visits. There shouldnt be an excuse.. well there arent any excuses to not do the work of God. The men here in my ward have a really hard time visiting the less actives, and there fellow friends and members that really are in desperate need of there help. I am happy When i heard the talk of Dieter that we shouldnt be sleeping but we should be aware and awake of what is happening around us.Especially in the work of our Heavenly Father. I love General Conference. I hope all of you were able to hear something that we can do better. I always do. The thing that we need to focus on now is how we can all put it into practice. ACT and not just here.. I love you all and i am glad that we could all hear the prophet and apostles. We are doing well me and my companion. We have had a very quiet change. We both have a lot in common, and one of those things is that we can be very quiet.......haha. I feel like yesterday wefound our balance, and that we are doing much better. I have been reading lately in DyC and i am in section 42. I really love it, and it gives a lot of information about what was really going on with God and joseph smith and all of the other men and women that were involved in those years. Thereis a little boy about 11 or 12 years old and he has showed methat DyC isnt that boring after all.... haha I havenever read it before.... and i havent read it because it has always been boring for me. But I talked with this boy who is the son of the young mens lider, and he told me that his favorite book is DyC and I said to myself.... how is that possible. This 12 year old that likes DyC more than me.... so i put it to the test and i started reading.... ha the last day my companion had to rest was this last friday, and i read the 42sections that day and it turns out i enjoy it a lot. It makes me remember the scripture when jesus said that everyone should be as a little child, meek and humble. And everyone who should be meek like a child will enherit the kingdom of God. Something like that.... I know exactly how it iswritten is spanish, but in english who knows.... haha only you guys because i feel like i am a mexican now.... No not true ha. But we need to remember to be humble and we need to learn how to do things that we think we dont like to do, and i am grateful for the12 year old who has shown me that something is not boring. Our investigators are alright...The few that we have. . We are still teaching them Norma and a family thatwe have found that we havent yet had the time to teach them. They havent given us the time yet. : ) they are busy, This is what is happening lately. In the zone we have had 2 baptisms in this past month. As the Culiacan Mexico mission we have almost completed our goal for baptisms this year. We are doing very well with baptisms. We will for sure go over our goal above and beyond.... our goal is 200 and we already have 156. It is amazing howthe missionaries are now coming in sooo young and powerful, especially the sisters.... I am sure lots of the baptisms are from the hermanas!!!! They work very hard. I love everyone. I am grateful for the work,and i am happy trying to work my hardest to finish up strong!!! Love you all and thank you for all your support. Hope you have a good week!!!! love Elder Fellingham Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

March 17, 2014

Hey everyone hope all is going well. This past week was reallycrazy for me, we were really busy all week long. Last week was crazy also because i didnt even receive enough time to write what i wanted to say. Yesterday was really crazy. After church finished there was a huge wind storm here in Culiacan. Culiacan is basically just dessert.... and it kicked up sooooooooooooooooooo much dust in the air, we had a really hard time seeing where we were going when we were walking in the street. I put on some glasses that i had before we walked outside and they helped me a lot to not get sooo much dust in my eyes. There were metal sheets flying around, and lots of trash... lotsof just everything... hah We got to the house where we ate, la hermana Calderon! she cooks amazing and we ate and by the time that we left the storm had died down a little bit. It wasnt raining at all there were just big clouds and a big dust storm. I had three shirts outside and they got destroyed.... luckily i have enough still. and im fine because i am almost done.. Sadly. : ( but our house was full of dust when we gout home, i sweeped up three big piles of dust when we got home, and the dust was just in everything. Our clothes that we were wearing all day were just super dusty and everything i touched i felt dust dust dust.... We are officialy looking for a new house that is better than this one that we have.: ) i have bad news.... i lost 200 and something pictures.....: / there was a virus in a computer and wheni was trying to sendthem to you all it damaged my card... good bye a little bit of villa union.... and my first change in villa verde... Dont worry my companion has all the pictures also. The majority and i will eask him to send them to me. but it is sad because i hadgood pictures in there.... : ( This past week almost all of our investigators that we had found the week before they have told us that they arent interested....or they cantlisten to us anymore. Maribel cant because her husband wont let her, Rosario sent a text message to us saying that she cant learn from us.... I fell like her parents said something to her. and sarahi we havent seenbecause she is soooo busy with school. But tonight we are going to see her. This last sunday we talked in church,and me and my companion were asked to talk on missionary work. I had prepared the talk a week before and we helped themembers a lot understand and they all told us that they really liked our talks afterwards. They were asking us to pass by there houses so that they could give us people to teach ha. We talked a lot about how now is the time where missionaries and members are working together. This is what theprophet has asked us to do in these days, and this is what we are going to do. The members werereally animated after our talks. I shared a story with them about a missionary and some of them were crying after i finished... i also when i was telling the story was almost about to cry, but i didnt haha...... It was pretty touchy the story. I would share it ut i dont have all the time to share it, if you remind me in some months i will share it with everyone. Me and my companion are well. I am a little sick, i have been a little sick the whole past week. I have a little cold nothing more.. Im taking medicine. Wefound out that this next change we will receive two hermanas in villa verde with us. They will be working with us in our ward, and we have divided our boundaries into two, and we have already found them a house for when they get here! Pretty soon there will be more sisters than elders... We have to get back to work now!!!! Sorry that my messages are so short lately. I dont like not being able to share as much as I want, but i have it all written in my journal! so its okay. Still have all the memories written! I hope everyone has a good week and i love you all!

March 11, 2014

This is going to be short, but we had a good week this last eek, we worked really hard. ! We started waking up early in the morning and we are going to a gym where a member is teaching us kung foo!!!! haha the first time was a good work out, and we have been sore all week, we have complained all week.... haha that our muscles hurt. But it was a good experience, The guy that is taching us is less active and we are trying to re activate him and his family. We are going back in the moning this wednesday!!! whooo We have found three new investigators Maribel, Sarahi, y Rosario. They are all very nice, and accepting to our teachings, they have all accepted a baptismal date!!! and we will be working with them. They were all very spiritual lessons, Maribel shows lots of interest, and sarahi also has a lot of questions. Rosario wanted to know if she could be with her grandma again because she has just barely passed away. She is nice and wants to know a lot more. The only problem with her is her schedule. She goes to school almost every day. We are progressing a lot. This past sunday was stake conference and it was very spiritual. It was directed a lot towards mission work and lots of youth stood up and bore there testimonies and shared there feelings towards going on a mission. They were all very good, and i was happy because there are two from a ward that i served in that want to go, and then right now there are two others that also want to serve in our ward where i am right now. We will be having a huge activity for families this saturday on and island inbetween a big river that runs through Culiacan, and i am looking forward to that, Our whole stake is going to be their including lots of none members. We are going to be their doing a survey so we can receive more references. and singing and other things to attract the people that will be their. Everything is going well, working hard and loving the work. We have been really busy lately and it has been hard to put time inot other things : ) but here i am writing shortly about what is happening. I love you all and i hope you all have a good week!!!!!!!!!! I will for sure write more next monday, Next monday wont be so crazy. Love you all,!!!! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

March 3, 2014

Hey everyone!! Hope all is well, and everyone is doing well, and that everyone is healthy! Dadand Mom, im happy that BYU won! and im glad that you could eat at an authentic mexican restaraunt!!! haha Did you eat tortillas? Here where i serve there isnt a meal without tortillas,,,Its a must. : ) I am going to have a hard time not seeing tortillas on the table with my food. This last week was alright, It was kind of difficult, but we prepared two little girls to get baptized, they were baptized this last saturday, and they were confirmed that night also. It was a very spiritual moment, we also helped one of the dads prepare to baptize his daughter, I could tell that he was really nervous, but he showed up and we reminded him the words he had to say, and he did the ordenance. They were both very beautiful baptisms! Sunday i bore my testimony about the holy Ghost and about how i know that the way we baptize is the only way we can return with our heavenly Father through the priesthood! My companion also shared his testimony.... I cant beleive that it was his last testimony in church!!!!! It was kind of weird... He also thought it was weird... He doesnt want to leave, but he is also ready to go home. He wants to see his family : ) i am happy for him, Wednesday he will leave. I received a new companion today, his name is Elder Canul . Elder Canul is from Cancoon!!! He is a cool guy, We were born together is Escuinapa!!!! He came like two months after i did. He is a little bit younger in the mission, but in age no... ha he is 25 but he is really awesome, and he always has the spirit with him. Were good buddies!!! i have always seen him throughout my entire mission. We are both still serving in Villa Verde, we werent moved, but Our whole Zone was divided. Instead of having 22 missionaries, now we only have 12. There are lots of new missionaries in the mission now! In my zone there are 4 new missionaries, that are being trained. They just barely arrived today. 10 missionaries, and 2 hermanas! I am glad to have hermanas because they add a difference in the zone. I have been in both and it is a little boring with just missionaries. Tomorrow i told everyone that we are going to get together to get to know everyone!!! it will be a good experience for everyone. I will have a picture for everyone next week of the new zone! I am excited, i told the president that it will be a lot easier to focus on our area. Now that there arent as many missionaries In the zone. It was really hard the last change to keep a balance between all the missionaries, and our area... Now it should be a little bit easier. I am also excited because they put a lot of strong liders in my zone and companions that have more time in the mission, I have a really good feeling that these 4 news are going to be trained really well! They will be awesome missionaries. I am going to write really breif because today was crazy, i swear we received like a million calls today from missionaries. Luckily we are almost all the way organized, but changes are crazy when it comes to be a zone leader.. Its fun but it can get stress full. We cleaned our house a ton today, it gets dirty really fast and i dont know how.... our windows dont shut all the way and a lot of dirt gets in. Today the owner is puting in a huge fence in front of our house so it is more safe... we get a lot of cats in our house.... haha But this is just a short summery of whats happening here!!! I am excited to start a new companionship, and start helping more people and the people we need to focus on. Love you all, and here are some pictures for you all,! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

This is a convert from elder becker!!!! _I trained him, and he is in the area right next to me : ) it just makes me really happy to see the chain that he is having success baptizing people and making there lives happier!!!

February 24, 2014 pictures

haha this is me and my companion, Elder Sumano, We had Pizza when he completed his 2 years!!!

This is almost everyone in our zone there are some that are not in it, just like 2, but thats our zone, and then a picture when i visited the members of libertad one night. : ) They all remembered me, and i remembered them. They are all awesome! I was really happy to see them all.

We found mustaches

hahaha

I got bit by a cat on my birthday, and i had to go to the hospital and get a shot, it was right when we got home too.... ha stupid idea to grab the cat... it was pregnant, it hasnt died yet so it doesnt have rabies, but i got a shot in my butt just in case.... but hey it beats getting hit by a car any day... : )

us in the hospital after Elder Martinez got his operation... There was another elder that had something contagious in the other room, dengue.... and we went and visited him also... we had to put on masks.. ha

We went bowling today we asked the president and he said it was okay. It was my companions last p day and a lot of other missionaries also. All the ones that are leaving went and there companions.

This was my score, i was smok... : ) in total means smokey, another elder put that as my name.... haha i dont know why, but ya but yeah i smoked them, phew.... ; )

February 24, 2014

I Defended My faith KARLINA PETERSON During my freshman year of college, my eyes were opened to the fact that my life as a student would not be as sheltered as before. Nor would what I held dear be accepted. I found that I stuck out like a sore thumb when I refused to engage in activities that I knew would harm me physically or harm my relationship with Heavenly Father. However, I feared criticism for being a member of the Church and therefore avoided the topic. One day in an afternoon class, the professor was leading a discussion on how youth develop amid constant discrimination. A girl behind me replied that the discussion made her think of Mormons. I cringed because when the Church was brought up in a class, inappropriate comments usually followed. As I braced myself for derogatory statements, the teacher asked if any Latter-day Saints were in the class. Stunned at the inquiry, I scanned the room only to find everyone else doing the same. Before I could think twice, my hand was rising from its comfortable position on the desk. I heard an eruption of whispers from across the room. “One,” the teacher said. The word rang in my ears. After a long silence, I was asked to respond to the debate regarding whether Latter-day Saints are Christians. I was no stranger to the question and was prepared to answer. “‘We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, [and] we preach of Christ’” (2 Nephi 25:26), I confidently replied. “We are indeed Christian.” The whispering ceased, but I felt everyone staring at me. I thought I would feel alone. Instead, I felt as if the Savior had sat down next to me and put His hand in mine. Nothing else mattered, for I was filled with joy that strengthened my testimony of Him. I had defended my faith. I shared more with the class about why Latter-day Saints are Christians. Then I thought of the time President Thomas S. Monson shared the gospel on a bus ride. From this experience he encouraged members to “be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe.”1 As I thought of his words, I realized I had done the thing I was most afraid to do. I do not know whether the things I said changed anybody’s opinion of the Church, but we need not fear to stand up and share the gospel—wherever we are. Even if we do not bless anybody else, we will always strengthen our testimony and our relationship with Heavenly Father. I really liked this story and i thought i should share it with others, I really like how it explains that we should stand for our beleifs, and how we need to have the courage if things are against us with our religion. We as missionaries are always standing for our beleifs. : ) This past week was a really busy and i loved it, We did divisions twice with other missionaries, and Elder Martinez had his kidney stones taken out he is recooperating in his house. He is well, and he needs to go check in with the doctor to see if they got everything out. Thank you for your prayers for him! We are progressing with our investigators, and we have found menos actives that really want to come back to church, and this past sunday some of them did. It was great seeing there faces in church. Lots of people asked where i had been because i was in divisions with alot of missionaries, and last week i didnt even go to my own church, i was in Libertad. But it was good seeing everyone again. They made me happy being able to see all of them, and knowing that they missed me. ha they are a very great ward. They are all soo happy and loving. This is the last week before changes, and my companion is going home, ha not like its old news, he mentions it to everyone we see... but i am glad he is going, he will be able to see his family, and he has plans to baptize his mom when he gets home, he has been telling her to prepare to be baptized when he gets their before he gets released. His mom has also been reading the book of mormon and she has prepared a little bit. I am happy for him. The main things that happened this week was just a lot of preparing and a lot of divisions... we hardly ever stay in our own ward.... taking care of these 22 other missionaries. wow!!! This next change they are splitting our zone in two, so it will be less on our shoulders, i am looking forward to that because i really feel like our ward here in villa verde needs more attention... It is really hard juggling both Missionaries/our ward. I am also looking forward to a new companion, one of the less actives in our ward teaches Karate and we tought him yesterday and he said every saturday he is going to teach us in the morning at 6:00am : ) I am really looking forward to that, i have been working out alot lately also.... cant go home fat, No quiero. Everything is going really well though, all this change me and my companion have never gotten sick, like really badly... I am really grateful for that. I like Culiacan because i know i dont get sick that much. I feel super Healthy and we eat really good here!!!! We eat dinner almost every night also with members. This area is really amazing and we are very blessed. We bought food this past week and we have hardly even used any of it because we receive soo much food from the members. haha. Its amazing. We have been doing a survey lately and it is really good, it helps us talk to the people in the streets and the people really like to do the survey. It asks a lot of interesting questions. We did it this past week with the zone and we received like 25 references. I am going to send it to my friends that are on the mission so they can use it if they have not received it. We have been contacting camiones also... haha There are lots of buses here, and we started contacting them, i used to to this in the beginning of my mission, and we started doing it again to show all the new missionaries haha.. But it is fun, and it helps us get more investigators. This past week has been a good one, I wont forget it. I hope everyone is well, and i want all of you to know that i love you. I hope you have a good safe week! Be happy! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

February 17, 2014

This past week was a success.!! We have found a lot more investigators, and also alot more people that are closer to baptism than we thought. We have found families that are inactive, and they have helped us find these people that need to be baptized. One of the families, is the family tapia. They are really cool. The mom has been inactive for a while.... and she has three children, cristian, noel, and there baby brother. They have baptismal dates, and they are a very sweet family. The mom is going through some tough times we are expecting, because she told us that she isnt living in her home anymore with her husband. She has been living with her mom who is a strong member that continues active. We went to her house to go eat, and after we ended up teaching the family of her daughter. I had printed of papers that has a design of a flower on it that is a graph like picture to read the book of mormon, it is really cool, and i need to print out more for everyone in the ward!!!! It is a good fun way to get the family to start reading the Book Of Mormon. We gave them the sheet and invited them to go to church and to start reading the book of mormon again. Another family that we have found is the family iglesias, They are all members basically except for some of the grandchildren and the doughter in law.... we are working with the daughter in law, and her name is lourdis. She is pretty cool, and her and her husband have some kids and they live in the house of there mom. We started teaching them last week, and we have another lesson with them tonight, we also gave her a baptismal date to be baptized. The only tough thing will be is that her husband that is a member has aother wife, and she goes to the same ward as them..... they are divorced and i imagine that it would be weird. -.... awkward, but we are trying to baptize the new wife.My companion put the date next month, i dont know why... but we might change the date. It depends on how fast they are progressing. But i for sure think that they will progress before the date we gave them. We are finding lots of people that are inactive and that is what is pushing us a long, There are about 400 that should be active in the church, but right now there is only half.... We are working to find the others, there are lots that are not on our map.... My goal is to find everyone before i ever get changed, haha i dont feel like i am going to be changed before i leave. Everyone in the ward is telling me that i wont be changed... ha. The majority of the missionaries that have been where we are have always been zone leaders, and have always left to go home from villa verde. I think its funny. but it is pretty true. The last two both left, and my companion leaves home in two weeks.... ahhhh i cant beleive it. It definilty does not make it any easier having him leaving and telling everyone, but i have always planned on finishing strong...Thats my goal, i dont want to be remembered as someone who didnt finish hard my work, and thats all i say, and thats my plan. We dont have that much time to write today, but i love you all, This past week we had soo many miracles and good things happen. It just adds to my testimony that i know that our Heavenly Father is on our side, and He loves us!! Everyone is well, healthy, Well.... mostly everyone, elder martinez in our zone is going to have surgery he has kydney stones..., and some other elders are sick, if you could just keep the zone in your prayers that would be awesome!!! Were healthy and strong, and we work even harder with three people We are in a trio, one of the elders in our zone had to go home to the united states to fix some things, but he should be back very shortly, so Elder Nordin is now living with us, he is from American Fork, and he is pretty funny, It keeps us more alive having three of us, : ) but he will be with us for twoo more weeks until the changes. He is a cool guy, and he just adds his testimony in with ours, and we are more powerfull and effective! : ) i would like it if you could all watch a video its a new one on the lds page, its called come unto Christ. Its on the Youth page. Its a cool video and a sweet song. This is your homework everyone : ) love you guys. new youth theme song? or something, but i like it. its a good oone. Have a great week!!!!!!!! Hope everyone is doing well!! Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde