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

February 10, 2014

Okay sooooo this past week was alright, It wasnt one of our best weeks.... So this calender that we made for the ward was a failure........... haha Lots of people signed up, but when we went to their houses to have the family home evenings, they had forgotten, or they didnt invite anyone.... but thats okay, This week we are going to try it again. We have lots of activities coming up in our ward and we get to join in for some of them, I am excited, because I know that I am still going to be here. I feel like I am going to be here for a long time. I am excited though. This change we have struggled a little bit at first.... We know most of the active members now in this ward, and we are visiting them, Basically have the boundaries memorized also. There are still sooo many less actives to find, to see if they really still live here, and whats the deal with them : ) I am excited for that. It is one of my favorite things to do in the mission, is look for people that are lost, and help them again. Today we had our first capacitation of zone leaders. It was pretty awesome, that is why i am writing so late right now. We were in the capacitation all day long. Mom i got your package of cookies, and gum, and other things.... The sad news is that i dont know what you put in the box, and i got a note on the top saying that they had to take things out because they werent able to pass the border or something like that... hah i think it was the jerky... : / but its okay,. Dont worry about it., the only thing i feel bad about was the money that you spent. But i opened the box and we ate alot of them when i was with all the zone leaders : ) They are very yummy and taste like Christmas. haha. Thank you!! It turns out not that much happened this last week, It has been very hard to find people in this area.... We do lots of divisions with the 22 missionaries that we are in charge of, and i am rarely in my own area.... My companion literally finished his mission about four days ago, officially.... He came in February 6 and he has served his full two years and he will stay here for three more weeks and then he goes home.... He is alright with the work, I find it a little difficult... sometimes, because he has been showing all the people in the ward that he finished the 6th.... and i dont know, it just isnt helping that much i dont think. But he Is still a good worker, and he is a good guy, good missionary, very smart, and he wants to go to BYU Idaho. He and his sister are the only two in his family that are members, his parents are divorced, and none of them are members, he has a lot of Spirit and a lot of strength especially that he will be a returned missionary in 3 weeks. He is pretty awesome, and he builds my testimony for who he is and what he has done with his life. He doesnt get letters... only from his 17 year old sister sometimes.... that is a member, and he is just a good guy. I am proud of him, and we have a pretty good relationship. We teach well also. He has tought me a lot just from these 3 weeks that we have had together.... it has gone by super fast!!!!!!!!!! We continue finiding ways to find people to teach, we receive references form lots of the members, they are also a great help! I am talking a lot of english also because my companion is going to take an english test to see if he can enter into BYU Idaho, He asks me a lot of stuff in Enlgish and he can speak pretty well, he just needs to work on his grammar, and to not get things backwards like they are in spanish, or maybe we are the ones that are backwards.... but who knows,. I am helping him with that. This past week we had a lot of missionaries that went to the hospital... This past week was colder than any other week..... Lots of people got sick, and we were going up and down taking lunch to the missionaries that were in the hospital... Luckily it is pretty close to our house, and lots of the members were really nice about giving rides. We get rides like crazy here. Lots of the members give us rides, and ask us i we need rides to other places. They are like natzi ride givers. We found a man named ulyses, and he is very interested in the things we teach, he works in a little tienda, and he has four in his family. We have an appointment with him tomorrow. Tomorrow we will give our very first zone meeting, and i sometimes feel like it is difficult to get all the missionaries pumped to go out after and do the things that we teach them.... but we will see what happens tomorrow... haha we have some things planned, an we received a lot of teachings today in our zone meeting. Something spiritual that we received in the zone meeting was that Our president told us that he asked one of the 12 this past week Why was the age changed of the missionaries, and he said that the young men wee changed because at 18 years old now the young men have been proven worthy, and then they asked about the young women.... and they didnt know how to answer that.... and during the meeting it came to him through revelation that it was directly from Thomas S Monson that the age for the women should be lowered also... I thought it was really cool to hear that, and just to have the surety that we have as a church, to know that our prophet receives revelation today, and that when he receives it it is obeyed. I just want you all to know that I know the church is true, I know that Our prophet is a true prophet of God, I know that only through prohpets is the way that we can communicate with our Heavenly Father, I know also that obedience is key in receiving blessings from our Heavenly father! He loves us, and he wants the best for us, and when we obey him, he knows that he can give us the blessings and things that we need personally. I love the gospel, and I love my mission. I love you guys My family and My friends, and i hope that every day you are all feeling that the gospel is growing in your lives. Love you all and i hope you all have a good week. Love Elder Fellingham Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde

February 3, 2014

This last week was a great week. I did divisions with the assistants of the president, Elder Fonseca, and Elder Bell are the assistants and i went with Elder Bell. I went to his area, we walked a lot and they have a pretty big area. It was really fun and we had fun lessons. We were able to teach lots of lessons during the day and it gave me more energy and more thoughts of what i can bring back to my own area to put into practice. This past week we also met with our mission leader of our ward, and we made a calender. It is florescent green and it attracted a lot of the members sunday : ) ha just what we wanted. But when the sacrament meeting finished we were there outside waiting for everyone when they past by, and we told everyone about the calender and what we were going to be doing. Here in Mexico it is sooo hard to get everyone in one spot. but we were smart enough to just get them all right there. !!! The Calender is so that we can do family home evenings with all the families, after church was over the first week was filled with people, and i am looking forward to the next week also to see how many put there names. But i am really happy, We are really happy, and we have a lot of appointments put up for all the week for family home evenings. We told all the families that they need to invite a less active or a non member. Tonight is our first family home evening starting the calender and i am excited to see what comes out of it. We also this week have an elder that is interned in the hospital, we have been taking his companion food in these days because.... he cant leave. : ) His name is elder padilla, he is from LEHI Utah!!! i dont know he because he is a little younger than me, but he is a cool kid and he is pulling through, he has amoebas in his pancreas or something like that, but we just went to give his companion his dinner, and when we were their the president and his wife were there taking there lap top up so that they could write there parents. how nice of them: ) Everything is good though, our zone is doing pretty good, we should have 6 baptisms this next week, this saturday. We are hoping for six, but for sure 4. Our ward is really spiritual. We have more high priests than elders, ha... sad, but we are working on that. he youth is really strong, and this morning we woke up at 6:00am and we went to a field to play soccer with everyone, lots came, about 20 came to play, the young women, and young men, and some dads. It was really fun. Then after for breakfast we ordered Pizza haha, and then later we had a cook out, and we cooked carne asada, and we all ate again for lunch, It was a very good day, We have been running around all day.... it has been a little crazy,,, I found out today that i can wash a shirt take a shower, and then dry my shirt with three fans that we have in our house, and then walk to a members house to put in a load of laundry in 35 minutes........... yeah the mission life. It is like a new time record. but we did it, My companion also showered and was ready 35 minutes. The member live right behind us, but hey i thought it was pretty good, we were productive and still being productive today. In the church this past sunday we had a good experience, we went and bore our testimony with everyone, and after in one of the classes with the high priests we had a really good class, we talked about lots of good things that we can do, and we talked about how we need to take more action in doing things during the week, the spirit was really felt. The people here touch my heart especially when they are wards that are so much hmmmmm.... I will put still growing. They come up with good ideas, and lots of the members are willing to take action to be able to do the thing that was planned. They are very awesome. I am thinking, and well.... I basically know that i will be in this area for the rest of my mission, I will atleast have another change. And i have already decided in my heart that this is the ward and the place where i would ratyher be than any other. I really like it. I shared two scriptures with the high priests when we went to there class, I think it was elders and high priests mixed or something.... but the scriptures I shared were in first Moroni 6:5-6, and i told them that we always do this, and then i told them that during the weekend we cant afford to just be saints on sunday.... we have to be in tune with the spirit so that he gives them moments and oppurtunities during the week with the people that they revolve around. We are all missionaries, and we all have to be searching oppurtunities every day to bring people unto Christ. This is what we talked about, and then i shared a scripture in james1:22 which says que no podemos ser oidores de la palabra angañandonos nosotros mismos pero ser hacedores de la palabra. With action!!!!!! Then after me and my companion we gave them a challenge to look for one opportunity to contact someone during the week, and my companion showed them a very simple practice that they can do. So we are hoping that we will receive references from this. Everything is well, We are healthy, we are learning more about our area every day, We are very busy..... haha There are lots of more detailed things of what we do now, and i like it, It is fun, but sometimes it is hard when it comes to decisions that are both hard things to choose from of what we are going to do. and we also have to choose the best out of the two. We have received a couple new investigators and we have started working with them a little bit, There is a family of three that we are going to start see, its a mother with 2 kids, i dont know her name, my companion and i did divisions, and the thing is, is that her husband wouldnt let her go to the church, and do the things of the church but now they are divorced, so i am sure now that she will progress very well in the church. She has the desires. I am happy to hear that, It is what my companion said. also we are working with a 17 year old, his name is vladamir, and he wants to be baptized. We are trying to get his mom and his sister also to understand the gospel, they are a little more different. but well not different just they dont understand what we are really talking about i dont think, we have only tought them once, and yeah, we are progressing but slowly, We are getting there!!!!! This week we have 3 references to contact and i am sure hoping that some of them will be golden. I love the work, and time is just flying, and i just feel like i need to work hard and fast in these moments. I have to keep my work up with the time : ) I love you all and i miss you all, Hope all is well, family and friends, cousins : ) love you all!!!! have a good week. Elder Fellingham Culiacan, Villa Verde