Daniel vs Sleep

Date: Mon, 21 May 2012 10:47:47 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

I have two weeks to catch up on! 

Last monday we put the Bocella family on date for May 26th. We have another lesson with them tonight, and we might move the date to June 9th. Depending on them. They are doing awesome, but we feel that they might need just a little bit more time. Its really cool to see all the things in their life that are moving thing forward in their spiritual progression. I guess this random person came to priesthood last week and shared a testimony that really helped Al. We mostly worried about him and about the younger daughter Bailey. They are coming a long, but aren't quite there.  

Last week the pedal on my bike stripped out! So I had someone fix it but in the mean time I rode a tiny 12 year old girl bike around all day. Picture below! But my bike is all better... for now... 

We also had a lesson with Carly last week. It went really well, she is doing great. But we talked a lot about her mom and how that is holding her back. Her mom is concerned about her, which is understandable. So were trying to help her be more open with her mom and try to help her see what she sees. We're working on it!

Danielle is doing well. We've still been teaching her every week. She loves the ward, and all the friends she now has. They've really helped her out. She keeps going back to coffee and then feeling really bad! So we're ironing that out as well. But she is really solid. She is really trying to learn. 

This week was a lot more boring. We got to teach Alex again. His mom is still crazy. She called us and asked if we really thought he was ready for baptism. We of course said yes, and explained it to her. She was planning on meeting with the bishop of their ward, and she wanted to be ready for the meeting. But at the end of the conversation she asked how she sets up the baptism, and so hopefully that will come about soon!

We finnaly taught Aubrey as well. He is having a hard time. Bad things keep happening in his life, and he knows its a test. So we asked him how he was going to pass that test, and then talked alot about prayer. Turns out, Aubrey never really askes for things when he prays. He used the excuse "I just do things myself" and so we talked about how its a commandment to ask for things, and theres some things he cant do without God. So we're going to follow up this week. 

They put Moroni on top of the Gilbert temple! There were crazy Mormons everywhere! It was really crowded all around the temple so we hid in this gated community and watched them put it on. It was cool. 

We got almost no sleep this week. I feel asleep early last night and slept well, but I needed it. 

Saturday we did a service project out on the Indian reservation. It was pretty cool. Elder Schick is doing a good job out there. The native attendance to the branch has really gone up. We cleaned another cemetery. Picture of the church building below! They also gave us a new car on Saturday! I miss our old one, a 2011 Chevy Malibu, but our new one is turning out to be way better. Its a 2011 Ford Fusion. 

Sunday we had to wake up early again to go to a Ward Mission Leader training. Staying awake in church was difficult...  Then that night we had two dinners because the other elders told people from the singles wards that we're not getting fed... Which is definitely a lie. But a funny one. It was cool, we went to dinner with the Elder Cox and Elder Wilhelm, but they told them they already ate a first dinner, so they kind of threw us under the bus! But it was ok, we paced ourselves and didn't end up too full. We ate with this family from England, and she knew us because we got a ride with them to the temple, and her daughter is in our singles ward. But it was a really funny dinner. Then at night we had to go to another meeting with the same guy as in the morning. Bro Hazelgren is awesome though. He's doing a fantastic job, and the missionary work in the stake is really turning around. 

love,

Elder Feller