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