Daniel vs The Last Email

Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:45:49 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week was crazy!

AJ was baptized, which was definitely the highlight of the week. He asked me to baptize him. It was cool. A lot of his family came in to town and they seemed to be really touched. After we got out of the water he said to me, "thats it!?" with this really excited look of his face. I talked to him while we were changing about how simple it is, but how important it was. He agreed. He told me that before it happened he was nervous, but now he just felt so calm. Then the talk on the Holy Ghost was good, and then Bishop did the welcome to the ward, and he talked about how simple baptism was. It was perfect! I had even said a silent prayer before that Bishop would say something about it. Elder Schick confirmed him the next day. Then I said goodbye after church.

We also taught Alex again this week. We talked to him about everything, and with his parents about everything. It has been so long since he has had a strong spiritual experiance that he's kind of faded away. He still wants to be baptized, but he doesnt have that fire, so his mom keeps asking him if he's sure, and that makes him doubt more. Its a bad cycle. So we talked about what he needs to do, and what his mom needs to do. So hopefully things will be good. I'm sad we couldnt get him baaptized before I left, but it will be ok. He will do good. I know he'll be baptized eventually.

This last week had just flown by. I dont even know what to say. But since this is my last email, I'm going to conclude with my testimony. At district meeting I bore my testimony too. I totally cried in front of everyone. I really have loved my mission. Every minute! It has blessed my life so much. I have learned so much, and grown so much. Now I know why the prophets say that every young man should serve a mission. And I say the same thing. How could you not? How could you miss out on the opportunity to learn by the hand of the Lord every day for two years!? I'm going to miss it so much. I know the work that we are doing is true. I know that God needs our help in getting his children back to him. I know that God has once again reached out in love and restored his church to the earth. The restoration is the most important and valuable thing we can ever know about. I'm so greateful for how much my relationship with God and my testimony has grown. I want to end with what was shared with my almost a year ago, and has stuck with me ever since then. A quote in the Pearl of Great Price from Olver Cowdrey at the very end of Joseph Smith History: "Oliver Cowdery describes these events thus: 'These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued..." Olver is talking about translating the Book of Mormon. But this is how I feel about my mission.

See you tomorrow!

Love,

Elder Feller

AJ's Baptism

The Last San Tan Zone

Water

My Desk

See you tomorrow!

Daniel vs 1 week

Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 10:33:37 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week was awesome! Lance's baptism went really well. His family even came in to town from Kingman (like 4 hours from Gilbert). He's doing great. He was baptized and confirmed by Lexi's dad, (Lexi is his girlfriend). On sunday at church, the elders quorum president asked him to share about his experiance, and he told everyone his story, and about how he heard the week before has a lot of challenges, and that he was ready, but then things started happening and he almost backed out Thursday night, but then he read and prayed, and felt good, and so he went with it. This was news to us. It was kinda scary, because we would have liked to have known about things like that, but it was more good to see, because Lance handled his own issues. Because of that, I dont worry about him as much. I didnt get a picture with him, but my companion did, so I'll send that later. But I do have a picture of him with Lexi bellow.

 

We also taught AJ again this week. He is doing amazing as well! We had a lesson with him and his sister this week, and he did most of the teaching and testifying. He told her what was up! And all about how he knew this was true, and he wants her to know about it. She's a lot less interested. She's stuck on her hippie beliefs about God. But thats ok. It was really good for AJ to teach her like that. Then on sunday, he bore his testimony in church! He got up as one of the first people, and shared his testimony, talked about how he was listening to this podcast about good business, and the guy said everyone needs a "Mission statement" for their business, or life, and if you dont have one you suck (paraphrase) and so he sat down and tried to come up with one, and he couldnt. Then later he was reading the Book of Mormon, and he decided that he didnt need a mission statement, he already had one. And he held up the Book of Mormon we gave him and said "This is my mission statement!" It was profound from anyone, especially an investigator! Church on sunday was all about Lance and AJ. Everyone was all excited about them. 

 

Monday we taught a new investigator named Robin at our bishops house, in one of the family wards. It was a good lesson, we meet with her again tonight. Nothing much else too exciting happened this week. But it was a really good week.

Next week is my last week! 

 

8 Days.

 

Love,

Elder Feller

 

Daniel vs Living the Dream

Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:33:52 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

I know since you're all dying to hear the transfer results: IM STAYING!! Elder Jackson is going to go train and be a district leader somewhere else. We'll see. Some weird stuff happened across the zone, but it will all work out. It always does. I'm going too miss a lot of these guys. I'm losing a lot of friends this transfer. We'll see how it works out. Some really cool stuff could happen...

This last week was a blur. Most of it was getting ready for our baptism this week. Organizing a whole thing between two wards is stressful. Especially because everyone in Arizona tries to get their summer camps done fast before its gets too hot. We had to deal with Girls camp in one stake, and Aaronic Priesthood camp in the other. But it all worked out.

We taught them twice in the week before the baptism, and had their interview a different day too. We tried to keep them busy so they wouldn't get nervous, and Bro. Smelser did a good job helping. They played softball almost every day. The lessons and interviews went really well. The baptism was amazing also. We got there early and set up. We soon realized that there would not be enough room in the relief society room. So we moved to the chapel. They came and everyone got ready. Al laughed at us because we were waiting for them in our white clothes. I think that relieved some nerves. Sis. Smelser gave a talk about baptism that was really good, and then we went back to the room where the font was. They had four different people baptizing all four of them. It was crowed. But awesome. I baptized Avery, the 14 year old daughter. We all did it on the first try, except Elder Jackson, on the very last one, her toe popped up! But it was ok. Then Bro. Smelser gave an emotional talk on the holy ghost. The bishops both spoke, the ward they've been going too, and the ward they will go too soon. The bishop of the other ward handled it very well. He referenced Elder Halstrom's talk from conference and talked about how the gospel and church are different. He said, "the church draws these funny little lines all around Gilbert." It was funny. He did a great job, and they will do great in their new ward. The confirmation on Sunday was good too. I confirmed Avery as well. After sacrament meeting I called Al "Bro. Boccella" and it was pretty funny. They are so great. They have really made the gospel part of their lives, and I believe they will stay on that course. Pictures bellow.

That night we had a lesson with Aubrey. We kept it short because he was busy and we wanted him to pray on his own. So we left, and then finished mowing his lawn.

That's all for this week. Expect big news next week. Like I said, theres a chance some really cool stuff could happen soon. We'll see.

Love,
Elder Feller

    Us, the Boccella's and the Smelsers

    Back Row: Bro. Smelser, Elder Jackson, Al Boccella, Elder Feller

    next row: Richard, Avery, Heather, Bailey, Kelly (Smelser's daughter, Richard's wife)

    next row: Kimball, Carmella, Cameron, 

    front row: Kayleen, Sis. Smelser

Elder Jackson & I, and the Boccellas

Mowing the Lawn

Still going.

I punched a car! 

Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:50:10 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Danielle's baptism was awesome! We taught her twice this week leading up to it. We had a really good lesson about the Tree of Life, and then talked about the Holy Ghost after her interview. She is doing amazing. She's a really strong person and she's sticking to it. And the ward has made such good friends with her, she already hangs out with all of them. So were happy. She is into decorating so her baptism had a lot of cute decorations to it. But her parents and some family came, and so it was really good for her and for them. Bro. McConkie baptized and confirmed her and gave a very powerful blessing.

Monday we taught the Boccela (Bo-CHELL-AH) family. It was a really good lesson. We talked about the plan of Salvation, but mostly about prayer. We had Al say the closing prayer and he did a really good job, despite all his fears. They were at church this week, and are doing awesome. We meet with them again tonight.

Nothing else too noteworthy happened this week. President Riggs, the San Tan stake president, was released. One of our bishops is now a councilor. Oh, we did have a sweet 6AM meeting on Sunday. It made us really tired for the rest of the day... and I'm still tired because of it (and I haven't been sleeping well) but it was great. The stake has only had one baptism so far this year, and so they're trying to fix that and focus on missionary work. They had some really good trainings, and then made all the priesthood leaders role play, and then President Howes threw down on them for like 20 minutes. It was really amazing. They talked about "real growth in the church" which really means families getting baptized, active, and serving missions. President let them know something I don't think they knew, that Arizona is a choice land, and the church here is strong, and we still need more of this real growth to make more missionaries in the future. We are laying the foundations for a great work.

Love,
Daniel

Free Cactus!

My Area.

Us and Danielle

Elder Jackson, Elder Feller, Danielle, Sis. McConkie, Bro. McConkie.  

Kinda blurry, but its Elder Bruce R. McConkie's folder and business card! 

Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2012 10:46:34 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week was pretty busy. A lot of normal missionary work stuff. Things are going pretty well. We're facing some opposition with our investigators that we thought were pretty solid. But, I've found that something has to happen each time while people are investigating the church. Some trial or doubt or fear comes up. So we're working on it.

On monday we went to Barney's Sports Complex in Queen Creek, which is not very far away. It was cool to go through my old area again. We stopped to see if I could say hi to some people, but no one was home. We still had a good time at barneys though. As always.

On Wednesday I went on exchanges with one of our District Leaders who has been really stuggling... pretty much his whole mission. The day before at district meeting he talked about sacrifice and "gave up" a lot of his "weapons of rebellion" he was hanging on to by throwing away a bunch of CDs. It was good, I think he's making slow improvemnt. I just hope he keeps on track, we're trying to help him the best we can.

Thursday I had my first Zone Leader Council (ZLC) where we all go have a meeting at the mission home. It was pretty cool. Early in the morning before we went to the Temple to seek revelation on what our zone needs. We talked about a lot of stuff at the meeting. Administering stuff. Then in the afternoon we had some pretty good trainings. You asked in a letter if I liked being a Zone Leader. I do, overall. Its pretty fun, and I get to go to secret meetings and stuff. haha. But, I must say I think its over rated. People treat the Zone Leaders differently, and I think its kind of silly, because in reality we dont do all that much. But I was thinking about that this week, and I remembered what Elder Howard told me when I got here about the biggest thing we can do is be an example. I thought about how much I always looked up to most of my ZLs and what their example did for me. So I guess thats the whole purpose. And with that in mind, I'm feeling a lot better about the whole thing. It is acually pretty fun.

Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Schick, an old friend from when I was in Queen Creek. He's on of our District Leaders. It was fun. We had a good time, and talked about a lot of stuff. We're trying to work smarter and better than we have before, because doing the same old thing has not bennefited the San Tan zone very much in the past. We also got to set up a huge Teepee for this cub scout thing.

Saturday Venice was baptised! It was a good baptism. Its weird, because her whole family is active, but she just fell through the cracks because her dad wasn't worthy to baptize her when she was 8. He thought he would be able to this time but the answer came back no a few weeks ago. But it went really well, the whole family is happy, and they're doing awesome. It was kinda weird for me because I just came in on the tail end, so I didnt teach them the whole way. This is the first time thats happened in a long while. But it was still good.

Also, on Saturday we found out that Bro. McConkie, our high councilor over missionary work, was released. They want him to focus in more on the mission prep class. Its pretty sad, but we still get to visit him because he's fellowshipping one of our investigators. (he doesnt live in our area) He is super smart, and we always ask him gospel questions when we go over and he blows our minds!

thats all!
Love
Elder Feller

Exchanges with Elder Schick driving the Teepee poles. 

Venice Allen's Baptism

ZLC

Everyone jumped on me.

Daniel vs Baptisms!

Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:06:16 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

The most exciting thing that happened this week was Colten and Sierra Porter's baptism! It went really well. The dad was able to baptize the kids after all and we got everything sorted out. Last Sunday we realized that on the Church records Bro Porter was only a Teacher, but he swore he was a priest, so we had to get that all figured out, and it worked out really well. The baptism was really nice. The spirit was really strong, and I can tell that it really helped the family spiritually. They are doing so much better. The mom has been able to make it to church the last three weeks, and they want us to start teaching their other two kids pretty soon. 

I went on exchanges twice with the members of my district who live in my house. The first time I went out with Elder Riddoch, and we had a good time in his area. I always seem to learn more than I teach when I go on exchanges.  And the second time I stayed inside most of the day with Elder Lichtenstein because of his hurt feet... He had like 3 ingrown toenails. 

Also! We ate dinner at this guys house and his Christmas lights were set up like the vision of the tree of life! He was pretty funny. He said, "The only problem with it is that I live in the great and spacious building!" Picture below! 

Not much else happened this week. We're kind of out of options right now. But things are always looking up! Christmas is next week, and transfers are the Wednesday after! We'll see what happens! Dont mail me stuff if it wont get here before the 28th! 

Colten and Sierra Porter's baptism

Do you ever find yourself in Lehi's dream?

This is what happens when you tell me you dont like Christmas

Daniel vs Surprise Baptism!

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:21:16 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

You wont believe this.

On Tuesday was had a meeting scheduled with Shannon, the investigator who's daughter had passed away and we attended the funeral. She had been coming to church for a few weeks and so we tryed to set something up again. We texted her to confirm the lesson and she said, "Can we just bypass all the lessons? I have done a lot of research. I just  want to talk about baptism." So we met and she was telling us about all this research she did were she went to every anti web-site and then looked up all the church doctrine. She said the only thing she couldn't find was the process to be baptized. We didn't understand at first, because she didn't sound like she wanted to be baptized, so I was like, "... well... first you meet with the missionaries, and then..." and she cut me off and went on this tangent about the articles of faith, and then I got it. She was asking me what she had to qualify for. So I showed her the interview questions and said that you have to pass this interview. She looked over the questions and was said, "ok, I can do that."  So I asked her if she wanted to be baptized, and she said yes. Then I asked if she believed in the church and everything and she said yes. And so we put her on date for Saturday and she was baptized! It was a tottal surprise. 

But getting to the baptism was a little harder than that. We found out Tuesday evening. She also said she didn't want anyone to be there, because she's terrified of being in front of people. We also had her interview on Wednesday morning, where, thankfully, Elder Case got some of her understanding on the right track. Some people don't realize how important the commandments are, especially when they do their own homework. Then Wednesday night we told our ward about it all and they were happy, but the Ward Mission Leader was going to be out of town, so I had to get everything done for the baptism all by my self. Then, we had to move the time up because of the stake baptisms that day, and also, the Stake was getting mad at us because we planned the confirmation for Saturday because she is terrified of people, because the handbook says it has to be on Sunday at church, even in her situation and with the Mission President on my side. And then Shannon didn't get back to us about the program until the day before. So we spent all Friday night trying to find some members to help us make it. We ended up at this guys house who when we ate there for dinner, just told us all these funny stories about dumb stuff he did on his mission, who said to come over if we ever needed anything. So we got the program all set at 9 o clock the day before, but the Bishop still didn't know the time changed, because we couldn't get a hold of him all day. But we call him again at 9:30 and he tells us that the Sake President had sent him an email about how Convert Confirmations need to be in sacrament meeting because the handbook says so. So we have all this drama coming from the members! (again). But the Baptism and confirmation went off without any problems on Saturday morning... except I forgot to tell the person conducting that the time had changed... Oops. 

Lesson Learned: Don't have me do a whole baptism by myself... 

But Shannon is awesome. She has found the truth and wont let it go. She's a pretty funny person. She's super intelligent, and really stubborn. Hence why I don't even have a picture of the baptism. She didnt like meeting with the missionaries to get information, so she found it all out, and because of her already strong relationship with God she was able to discern the truth by the Holy Spirit. Which is a testimony booster of the converting power of the Gospel. 

That was most of the craziness this week. The rest of it will develop at a later time, and I'll fill you more in then. But get excited. 

Love,

The Key is too big!

Daniel vs Being Busy

Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:38:10 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We had a crazy week! Tuesday was interviews with the Mission President. It was really good. Except we didnt get home until about 5 o clock so the rest of our evening got thrown off. President Howes really amazes me at how well he knows every single missionary. In my interview he just talked about my District, each person specifically and their needs. It was crazy!

Then on Thursday we had a visiting General Authority! Elder Wilson of the second quorum on the 70 came and spoke to us. It was from 9 in the morning until about 4-5. President and Sister Howes spoke, then Elder Wright, the area 70 here, and then Sister Wilson, then Elder Wilson. Then after lunch Sister Wilson talked about the common born-again argument against the church about "grace and works", which was a very complex answer that a lot of us didn't completely get, and then Elder Wilson talked again and opened the floor to questions.

Friday we spent applying our new training from the Assistants on our weekly planning, but then I had to bike way into Mesa in my suit to do a baptismal interview for the sisters. It went really well, except in the middle of the interview the girl I was interviewing told me I had pretty eyes, so I wrapped it up quick... It is really cool to interview these people who are so ready to be baptized. Its awesome to see the excitement in them as they are preparing.

Then Saturday we had to help Amanda move, and then had a ward Halloween party at night. We sat down and were eating food next to some of our friends in the ward, and at the same table was some non-members and no one told us! She got up and left to go get food and then her friend came over and was like "that was my neighbor!" and we're like, "Why didn't you tell us!?" Remember: It is impossible for missionaries with 300+ members at any given time to know who's who. I had 1200+ members in Queen Creek. You have to tell the missionaries if you want them to talk to them!

Then on Sunday we had to go to church, hurry and hop over to another ward to try and catch some investigators that didn't show and then race back to the other building to speak in the singles ward and then we left early to go prepare for Amanda's baptism, then we had a baptism and after we had to get a ride over to another church building to interview the other sisters candidate for baptism, then we went home to take some study time so I could prepare for District Meeting, but then we couldnt because we had to go to Amanda's house to give her some church DVDs we forgot to give her.

Whew.

But the baptism was amazing! The spirit was really strong and she really felt it. Her and her son Joseph were baptized, and after he went to church yesterday, her other son Christopher wants to get baptized as well. Joseph asked me to baptize him, and that was really cool. Amanda asked the Bishop to baptize her. She jokingly said it was because she wanted to make sure it was the right authority! We explained that lots of people could do it, but she still wanted the bishop. So it was really good. It was the first baptism of my mission that came from street contacting, even though I wasn't here when they started teaching her.

Also, wait let me explain, So Elder Krueger has my number back in Queen Creek so he could call me if he had any questions, because he was so fresh and didnt know the area. He called me before and told me that Bro. Powell had told him that he wasn't really waiting to talk to his parents, but he still believed that the Catholic church had that authority, and I was devastated! I felt like I had failed! But then called me on Sunday night and said he went over and had a throw-down lesson with him about the restoration and bro powell got back to him later and said he thought about what he said and would probably get baptized this year! It took me a second to realize that there's only two months left this year and then I was supper happy!

Love,

Elder Feller

Finally Pictures! These computers at MCC are bad at pictures, but I have conquered them!

Amanda's baptism

Last day in Queen Creek

Presents for Elder Krueger

This was taped on my desk, which is across from my companions desk.

Daniel vs Time

Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:40:36 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This has been a long, slow week. We hardly taught!

Ada got in a car accident early on in the week and then because of it she drank again, which she had really been trying not to do. But it worked out, we had a really good lesson with her. She talks a lot and usually we can guide it to where she works out her own problems. I pointed out at the end of the lesson that she used the phrase "I know.." 3 times in connection with her new found testimony of God and her relationship with him. She had been struggling with faith a lot and so this was a huge and amazing step! But everything is going really well now. Her faith is continually growing. Now we have her focusing on the Book of Mormon, and we're still working towards baptism.

I did my first District Training and exchanges this week! I trained on effective study and preparing to teach and Elder Netzley and I tore it up in his area for a day. It was really fun, and I definitely learned more than I was able to teach taught. But we didn't really have much time because of everything going on.

We were able to put Amanda and Joseph back on date on Sunday! Our lessons got delayed all week so we made sure we got them to church by scheduling a lesson right after. We focused on Joseph, because he's 8, making sure he understands everything so he can be baptized. He's a really smart and really good kid. He remembered pretty much everything from the Joseph Smith movie at the visitors center. So the plan is for them to be baptized next Sunday evening.

Friday morning we stopped by a garage sale advertized as and "LDS Book Sale" and I found a copy of Mormon Doctrine for a dollar! The funny thing was, our Mission Nurse showed up before I could buy it and gave me $20  to buy stuff. So I got an old D&C and some stickers of the LA Temple, and still have $17 to spare!

Really, nothing much else happened this week.

Love,

Elder Feller

Daniel vs Falling Off Date!

Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:07:46 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We had a crazy week.
So when I got to this area there was 5 people on date to be baptized, now there are zero. Its not my fault though! But were working on fixing it.
Three of them was Amanda and her two kids. One of her kids is 12 and is pretty typical. Kinda lazy and not really into anything. So its hard to get him into the lessons and keep him on track. But the rest of the family really wants to be baptized! We took her to the visitors center and watched the Joseph Smith movie, and after we went to see the statue of Christ, and she told the sister missionary there that she really wanted to be baptized. She said she would definitely be at church this week but she wasn't... I guess her younger kid was sick.. So she cant be baptized this weekend, but hopefully next. She's gotta get to church!
Then the next one was this guy named Bob. He talks a lot and gets off on tangents about how he's not a stalker and this girl named Carla needs to forgive him... Its pretty interesting. But I asked him why he wanted to get baptized and he said, "So I could hopefully get a job." Yeah... then we talked to him about what baptism means and he texted us the next morning saying "Tonight might be our last meeting, I think you guys are trying to convert me." So we made plans to go over, but the ward made me do splits with the priests, so I went with some of them to visit some poeple the bishop gave us while my companion, the ward mission leader, and a priest went to go teach Bob. The verdict was that he still wants to go to church, but doesn't want us to teach him anymore... So maybe someday.
The last one is Ada. She's an awesome investigator, but has some big concerns and is struggling with her family accepting her changing right now. She has two crazy concerns, the first is that she doesnt even know if she's feeling the spirit, or just her emotions. So we're building her faith to cope with that. And the other is she doesnt feel worthy to be baptized yet... And we're working on that too. She is excited to be baptized though. We took her to the Mission Presidents Fireside last night and she met President Howes. They both joked a little bit about taking the missionary who was here before me away, and then President asked her why she wasnt baptized, and then encouraged her to prepare to do so. It was pretty intense, especially when her family came up. But it was good, hopefully. She was kinda weird about it after, but I think it really made her think.
And were not the only ones with people falling off date. The whole zone is having a problem with it. I set a pretty high goal because we had lots of people, but we've lost a lot of them... so my goal is a little over the top now... The district is having a hard time, but were really working on it. Its just tough out there! But I've been praying about what skills we need to work on, and we're going to talk about it in district meeting.
Love,
Elder Feller

Daniel vs Transfers

Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 12:01:39 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Transfer calls are not in yet! They messed up and havent decided on whats going on yet. So we dont know where were going. President called me last night and asked me to be a District Leader, and also said "See you on Wednesday(transfer day)" So I do think I'm leaving Queen Creek.

Conference was awesome! I hope everyone got the chance to watch it all. The Priesthood and Sunday Morning sessions were my favorites. I was blow away.

On Tuesday Elder Krueger and I were going on our "Late Night Date Night" through the park. Every few days when we have nothing late at night we walk through the park and talk to some scary sports parents watching their kids play. We ran into the Mendozas and we got to talk to them there. Just seeing them makes me happy. We visited with Sis. Mendoza and her mom for a little bit while they were watching Bro. Mendoza coach their kids softball game. They're doing really good. Even the mom, who caused a little opposition is all into it now. She said she fell asleep watching the BYU channel, and is planning on going to church with them. 

We had another lesson with our new investigator Linda. She's doing good. The Air Conditioner in her house is so loud that it makes it hard to teach. But it shut off just for a little bit while we finished the plan of salvation. And she said she would be baptized when she knows its true!     

Lindsey FINALLY got baptised. Its about time. And all went well. The baptism was amazing and she was really happy! She really felt it. And I'm so grateful for that because I really wanted her to feel that it was different than her baptist baptism. I get to confirm her in sacrament meeting if I'm still here next week. I feel so bad for her and all the stuff she had to go through just to get baptized and especially because that opposition had to come from the ward. Her fellowship, Sis Sanders, told us that she was really frustrated and discouraged alot. She even said "Why is the bishop forcing him to baptize me if he's being so mean!?" It makes my heart hurt to hear that kind of stuff. But the whole ward thinks the bishop did a good thing because they don't know the whole story. Whatever. It all worked out and it seems like her husband is luckily having a change of heart.

Serving is Arizona has taught me alot. I feel like it would have been a breeze to serve in Mexico and knock on a million doors. But because I hate doing things ineffectively, and the best way to find is through these members, I have to work with them. It literally forces me to learn and grow. I'm thankful for that, but at the same time it is so stressful, annoying, and frustrating.

Im out of time!

Love,
Elder Feller

Oh I forgot! Pictures of Lindsey and her Family!

Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:00:57 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Hello! The most imortant thing that happened this week was the baptism of the Mendoza family. It was so amazing! On friday we did all their interviews, and the first one took so long, we had to call in another guy to help out. Ray is a talker... But its all good. The interviews were good spiritual experiances for them. Then on sunday evening we had a really good baptism service. My companion got to baptize them, and I confirmed them. The spirit was very strong and all their non-member friends and family were there. So it was good all arround. They are an amazing family and a living testimony to member missionary work. They were so prepared by the Lord to recieve the Gospel, and have a great work to do. I plan on coming back to Arizona in a year to see them sealed in temple.

Pictures below!

Lindsey should be baptized this coming week sunday after confrence. Its been a long hard journey, but she's still doing good and is super ready. We're all excited for it.

Not much else important happpend this week. We had a health fair on Thursday and we all left feeling more stressed than when we went in because now we recognized it. Haha. I liked living in innocence more... Then on friday my companion went to the foot doctor that made a presentation at the health thing, and got a huge wart frozen off, and a perscription.

Love,
Elder Feller

Elder Krueger right before the baptism.



Elder Krueger, Brother Whiting, Ray Ray, Ray, Savannah, Danielle, Me.

Mendoza Family

Daniel vs Africa

Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:49:41 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Transfer week! I'm staying and my companion is leaving.

The Mongane's baptism went AMAZING. It lasted an hour and a half. In the talk on baptism, she included a little bit of the family's story, about their journy fleeing from Africa, to here. I dont konw how much I've written already, but Roy Mongane fled The DR Congo after being arrested at a peace rally. He escaped from prison, got a visa to America, and ended up being found by a man here and joining the Church. Meanwhile, his family was moving to different countries, waiting until he could get them to America. For 6 years, the lived in different countries. They started going to Church over there. When they finally made it here, there was so many problems and delays getting to the airport. They got held up in Customs in Dubai, and his youngest son, Joseph, (named after the Prophet) screamed about getting to America to see his dad, because he had never seen him before. Then again in LAX. The next flight wasnt for a while, so the members here in Queen Creek got ahold of a Bishop in LA. He took them in for the night and sent them on a plane to Pheonix the next day. After getting settled for a month or so, we were able to teach them. Last saturday they were baptized. Roy was able to baptize them. He got into the baptismial font, and started moving and splashing arround. Then he started singing "Count your Manny blessings" in french or Swahili. His wife, Rachel, came down into the water and started singing with him. Everyone was silent, and the spirit was so strong. He then baptized her and his two daughters, Ansi and Alice. Then in the talk on the Holy Ghost, the man to took him in and introduced him to the Church in Virginia spoke on the Holy Ghost. He talked about how the Holy Ghost had prepared these people to come to America. And, since Roy is a decentant of Ephraim, how a literal dicendant of the House of Joseph was brought to the promised land.
The next day in Sacrament meeting, during the confirmations, there were so many people in the circle I could hardly get my hand in there. But it was amazing as well. Roy did an awesome job giving some wonderful blessings to his family. His wife cried, and one of his daughters hugged him and said "thank you daddy!"

It was really amazing. Nothing Else that happened this week matters.

Love,
Elder Feller

July 4th - No Title (Probably should be Called Daniel vs. the Jungle or the Gauntlet

Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 11:58:27 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net
To: natfeller@hotmail.com; efeller@byu.net

Hello family! This past week was pretty much the same as usual. It was really hot. Most people in Queen Creek seem to dissapear when it gets hot.
Lots of fun stuff!
First things first! We taught the Mongane family! More like, just got them ready for the Baptism this saturday! We were doing to program and stuff. We had to bike outside of our area, like 3 miles, and it was 118 degrees outside. But they're all excited for the baptism!
Also, we stoped by this family's house and they werent home. But they have a jungle built in their yard! Pictures below.
So there were all these signs up for a missing turtle in one of our neighbor hoods this week. They were pretty funny signs. And we were biking in the day and it was really hot and no one was out... and we found the turtle! My companion saw it so I went over to the sign to get the phone number. and I was messing with my companion and reading him the description, making sure it was the right turtle. And these members we know pull up and ask us whats going on. We tell them we found the turtle! Then she gets out of the car, and takes the turtle away back to her house! We thought we were goign to be the heroes. But they did give the reward to us. 15 bucks at cold stone! But our glory and hopefully a teaching moment got stolen!
Also, one of our really good potential investigators, who is the girlfriend of this member, (They're like 50) came up to us at church and told us she got baptized. We thought they were joking... I kind of assumed she wanted to get baptized, but no. She really got baptized without us last weekend. They went up to Utah to go to his daughters wedding. She was talking to their friend up there about some gospel question she had, resolved her concern, and then asked when she wanted to get baptized. She said "how about friday in your pool?" So they called the utah missionaries up there, got her interviewed and baptized... with out us, her actual missionaries... So that was pretty funny. There goes one of our awesome potentials for this month... 
One more weird lame thing, pictured below is the Guantlet. We caught some scorpions and some other missionaries gave us a black widow and we had them fight. They just kinda sat there for a few days. But this morning! The scorpion is huge and black inside.... and the black widow is gone! Scoprion 1... black widow 0. Pretty awesome.
We're still working on finding. I've met with all the bishops and ward mission leaders and am still trying to implement all the stuff they're supposed to be doing. Thats what I feel like God has been telling me to do. So I'm trying. So far its going good. But nothing much to report this week.
LOVE,
Daniel

Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 12:03:05 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

The rest of the pictures..

 

PS I forgot to mention the huge statue of Moroni! Its at this excommunicated guys house who's trying to come back. Its pretty sweet. 

Daniel vs the 200 Challenge!

Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:10:18 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Hello! Last week was a pretty awesome week. Elder Parrott and I succeded in the talk to 200 people challenge. We didn't believe it could be done. So we did it. But now we're thinking we should back off from talking to people at the park... I dont want it to become the place where "the mormons will attack you!"

Breana's baptism went amazing! The spirit was so strong. Some of her family that pretty much kicked her out of the house came. I didnt get the chance to talk to them but I hope they liked it. Breana walked out of the changing room in the white jump suit thing and we went up to her and asked if we could get some pictures. She was like "in this!?" and I said, "yeah just a few" so we went out there to take the standard missionary baptism picture and then like a million people came out and the simple picture became a big event! Haha. It was funny because before she was getting mad at her boy friend for saying he was going to put pictures of her in the jumpsuit up on facebook, and I told her we would be the only ones with the pictures... oops. But yeah, the picture is below.

I went on exchanges with Elder Gunter on monday. That was pretty fun. We taught 4 lessons in one day and they were all really good! It was an amazing day. haha. One of the lessons was with a guy he talked to the other night. We were teaching the first lesson and I was talkng about how God has always had a prophet and he says "wait, is there a prophet today!?" and we're like whoa hold your horses! You're skipping ahead. Then we were talking about the great apostacy and we paused and he said "...and then what happened?" It was so perfect! hahaha. He was all into it.

We also taught another lesson that night to one of his current investigators. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then at the end we asked if he had any questions. He said, "yeah I do. What does faith mean to you." pointing to Elder Gunter. These are my favorite times in lessons, when an investigator almost challenges you like that, because the spirit gets so strong and its perfect for testifying. So Elder Gunter did an amazing job, and then he turned to me and asked. So I bore my testimony on faith and how important it is to me and how it is the building block for everything we believe in. He really liked that. Oh yeah! We preach two by two, double trouble!

Thats all!

Love,
Elder Feller

Look what I made! A tie rack!

I was trying to catch the reflection of an airplane on my glasses. It didnt work. But mom keeps asking if I have sunglasses so I thought I'd show her.

you got flamingo'd?

$70,000 "sand rails" is what people in Arizona do for fun. But it has a corvette engine

Close up of all my poly ties. I keep my nice silks separate.