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