Untitled 07/30/2012

Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:59:01 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week was kinda crazy. Lots of good and bad.

Monday I went to the departing dinner at the mission home with all the people I came out with going home. Because its just going to be 4 of us going home on the 14th, they let us come to this dinner. It was weird... I was there, and everyone else was headed home, and I just went back to my area the next day for district meeting. We ate dinner, and half way through I just started feeling nervous... Then afterwards we watched the slide show with everyone's pictures. Then we did departing testimonies. I was the very last one, and no one really cried a lot, but because I was last and it just kept building, when I got up there, I lost it. It was kind of embarrassing, but it was all good. haha. I was choking up the whole time, and when I sat down I started crying a more. It was tough. Then that night we all spent the night  at the AP's house. I went on a tour of ASU campus with Elder Gibby on our way back to their house. The next morning I got up with them, and went to the office, and they all got in the action-van to go to the airport, and I sat in the mission home with Elder Lindquist and talked with President until our ride came... It was weird. But I get to do it again in two weeks.

Tuesday I was wiped out all day. As soon as I got back to my area we went to Circle K to get some Mountain Dew so I could stay awake for District Meeting. Then we watched 17 Miracles because it was Pioneer day. It was good.  That night I taught Gibson again. He tried to drop me! (I was on splits with our WML, Matt Parisek) I wasn't having it. So we tried to get him back, and we did a pretty good job. Its all up to him now. We talked about how he was going to come to know God. He is really against it. That makes it tough. So we'll see how things go in the future with him. 

The rest of the week is so hard to remember!  Wednesday we snuck into transfer meeting even though we're not getting transferred. I was supposed to have a temple recommend interview, so they let us come. It was my last one! It was a good time though. Our zone kind of got rocked again. Two areas whitewashed... but one of them was for a good reason. Our problem DL and Elder Parrott are gone. Which is sad. But they're both doing well now. We got Elder Krueger back in his old area! He's a new senior comp! and his companion is kind of struggling. But he'll do a good job. Its weird that he's back, but whatever. Its cool. 

Thursday was ZLC again. It was actually a good meeting. We talked about a lot of good stuff. Including the "new P-day policies" they're making. There was a pretty big discussion about it, and no one really got anywhere, so they asked us to fax in the next day what our version of the pday policy would be. So Elder Schick and I photocopied the white handbook and faxed it in. I hope they get the message. Its funny, because there's always big dumb discussions (I wont say arguments) in that meeting, and people are always just trying to sound a little bit better. But Elder Schick and I just sit there and when they're talking we turn to the answer in PMG. Its not hard, people just need to do what they're supposed to.

Alex also fell off date again this week! His mom left us a message saying he wasn't ready, and wasn't committed enough. I think she's trying to avoid us a little bit because she didn't get back to us. We're still trying!

Saturday was a rough day but it ended well. It was awkward all day because everyone was busy doing their own thing and no one really wanted to talk to us. But that evening we taught a new guy. His name is Hunter, and he plays football for ASU. He visits the Penrod family every weekend because he has no other friends from Arizona. He just graduated from High School, and he's from the Bay Area somewhere. He's awesome. We watched the Joseph Smith movie, and he seemed pretty touched. They told us after we left he started reading the Book of Mormon right away. Which is awesome. He's going to football camp for the next few weeks, so I wont teach him again before I go.

Sunday we taught Lance again. He is doing so good! We're getting ready for his baptism this week. His girlfriend's mom called the Bishop kind of freaking out, and so he talked to us about making everything perfect. I guess she's just "like that" which isn't a problem. But its funny. Bishop said he even pulled the "Zone Leaders" card to get her off his back. We went over to talk to the mom to calm her fears about the baptism a little bit. It worked.  But the mom told us that Lance said, "Even if we break up, I'm still getting baptized." So that's always good to hear. He's awesome, and fits in the ward really well. Everything is good. AJ is still looking good for the 11th too. He even brought his little sister to church this week, and were meeting with her next week. 

Love,

Daniel

Elder Jackson and I 

The Temple 

San Tan Zone 

Schick and I messing around in the car

Daniel vs Elder Schick

Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:46:14 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

 

My new companion is Elder Schick! I've known him for a long time, we lived in the same house in Queen Creek for a transfer, and he's been in the San Tan zone for a while. We're super excited to get things going in our area and the zone. The Zone has been doing great! We should end June with 13 which is awesome for this zone. 

 

Elder Jackson's last few days were good. On Monday night we taught the Boccella family about the tree of life. They are on vacation right now, but they are doing so good. Its so awesome to see the change in their lives, even from the day before the baptism.

 

Tuesday we spent a lot of time packing and stuff. But in the evening we ate dinner with President Riggs, he used to be the stake president but he's leaving this week to be a mission president in DC. We ate Joe's BBQ, a famous place here in Gilbert. It was good. He had a lot of questions about the mission. He's going to be a great mission president. Then we walked out of his house, to his next door neighbor, ate a second dinner, (ribs and potatoes) and taught this family's neighbors. They are moving to Maricopa AZ, but we taught them about the Book of Mormon to try and get them interested. They said they'll read it! So that was good. 

 

Wednesday was the transfer day. I was so scared! My options for companions were not looking good when I got there. I wont go into that though, because when President Howes read "In San Tan, Elder Feller and Elder Schick" I was waaay too happy. It was one of those transfers that makes everyone laugh or gasp or something. It got loud and Elder Schick Jumped on me and I carried him to the bench.  

 

Thursday was Zone Leader Council. All day meetings! Yaay. It was good though. We talked about a lot of good stuff. President told a story about how when he got hired at this company he sold a ton of this one medicine that was supposed to be terrible, but no one told him that, and he sold a ton of it. He related it to faith, because someone mentioned that they didn't feel like they could reach the success they used to and President basically asked him who told him that. It was cool. That's been something I've been thinking about a lot, being in this zone. Some people get down for no reason... But we're putting a stop to that. 2 Nephi 29:7-9.

 

Nothing really eventful happened the rest of the week. We had a few lessons cancel due to fathers day.. But that was it.

 

Love,

Elder Feller

 

Elder Parrott and I in the Palm Tree Farm on exchanges



I was trying to catch the dust storm that was coming in. You can kinda see it.

The Temple in Rear View

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! 

Daniel vs Meetings

Date: Mon, 7 May 2012 11:01:07 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week was crazy... But not a good missionary crazy. Like, meetings and stuff crazy.

Monday we taught the Boccela family. They are doing great. We finished talking about the Plan of Salvation, but mostly talked about Prayer. At the end we were just finishing up and I was asking if they had any questions, and I specifically asked the daughter, Avery, and she started crying and talked about her friend who died. We talked about it, and she felt a lot better. It was really cool, and then we talked about praying for comfort, and asked her to say the closing prayer. She said she figured that was coming, and we knelt down, and then the funniest thing ever happened. The dad, Al, got a charlie horse while kneeling and freaked out and fell on the ground saying "Ow! ow! ow! ow! ow! ow!" and we all started laughing. Bro Smelser went to go help him stretch it out and he got one in the other leg too. It was funny. The spirit that was there was gone, and then Avery said the closing prayer. It was still good. But really funny...

Tuesday we taught Alex again. He's doing well, but his mom is still crazy. She's putting a stop to everything, and saying he needs to read the whole book of mormon and stuff... I dont know whats going on there, but the sisters tell us he has been at church, so thats a good sign... That night we had a crazy time trying to figure out what to do and where to go. It was fun though, we stopped by the singles ward FHE activity and saw Danielle. She's doing great. We also found a ride to transfer meeting.

Wednesday we went to transfers meeting, and took Elder Howard home with us. He was down from Show Low and came to our area for the day. It was fun. We got our long board we bought from Cole Warner, the fellowship for Carly. Its custom made! Picture below. But the rest of the day wasn't to productive. It was mostly people being happy to see Elder Howard time. It was a good day though.

I'm emailing from a High School Library its kind of weird.

Thursday was Zone Leader Council. It was mostly uneventful. The biggest thing we did was talk about the activity planned for Friday were we read from the Book of Mormon from 8:00AM to 8:30 PM. The purpose being to help us build faith and unity. It was no secret that I didnt agree with doing the activity at first, but after I heard Presdient and Elder Potts talk about it I felt better about it, and we had a good time on friday. But I seriously sit in that meeting sometimes and wonder how smart people actually are. Some of them always try so hard to "aspire" as we call it. They were asking about wearing suits the whole day while we did it and most people were like "heck no!" but one ZL was like "I like it! Then we can cary more pens in our pockets!" and I just said straight out loud "I have pockets on my pants..." and Elder Case laughed really hard at me. But, in the end, President wanted us to wear suits. So we went in on Friday and wore suits for like 20 mins, and then gave everyone permission to take off their coats. The meeting went well though. We also prepared for the training were going to do at the end of the month. That was pretty cool. And its always good to see my friends from all over.

Friday was the Zone read-a-thon. We got together at a church building and set up tables in the releif society room and read the Book of Mormon aaallllll day. It was actually really good for us. And surprisingly, everyone kept really good focus untill about 7:30. We started reading out loud as a group and did that for a long time and then switched to individual. It was cool to see themes that were common across the whole book, that you wouldnt normally catch in just a few chapters. At 8:00 I was on Mosiah 27, and I brought everyone back together and we read Moroni 10 as a group and then talked about what we learned untill 8:30.

Saturday was catch up day. We started off doing service on the Indian Reservation south of Chandler. One of the Elders in our Zone has been asked to start working out there. We went in and cleaned up the semetary that was across from the LDS chapel. It was cool. The Reservation is what I expected Arizona to look like when I came out here... dusty and shacks everywhere... It was like the Wild West! But service was good. They put a lot of stuff on the graves because they believe it belongs to the person. And of course, we were cleaning up this pile of garbage, and Elder Parrott was like "I think thats actually a grave..." and we told him it wasn't and cleaned it all up and then we looked at it again and realized it probably was... and we were stepping all over it and throwing away his stuff. We left it alone after that. It was really funny, because at the end the native guy incharge asked us to say a prayer for the people in the graves, and we took that as protection for us for taking his stuff... haha. Saturday afternoon we had a huge long meeting with our district leaders about all the problems in our zone...

And sunday was.... typical sunday. I had a huge headache from fasting, and we were still trying to catch up... Nothing to exciting.

We got mission T-Shirts! and also, someone in our district made district T-Shirts! Pictures below.

Love,
Elder Feller

My New Longboard

Me Riding my new Longboard in our front yard this morning... I'm still really bad at it... 

The Mission T-Shirt (and new logo)

District Shirt front and back. The back is "the Watering hole" with all of our "Spiritual Animals" drinking from it. I'm the big black bear. 

Elder Krueger got transfered! 

Daniel vs Work

Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 10:53:03 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Time is short this week because I have a lot of other stuff to take care of.

Not too much going on this week. Kinda slow, lots of things cancelled. And when things cancel they usually get pushed off to next week. Its funny how our time passes differently than the members time.

Tuesday we trained the zone. That was fun. San Tan is a tough zone and no one prays them self here, if you know what I mean. So it was good. We talked about the purpose of missionary work.

Wednesday my bike pedal fell out so we had to drive... I got it fixed on thursday at Zone Leader Council, but it was a looong day...

Thursday we had our secret zone leader meetings. I barely slept the night before so I had a huge headache and it was hard for me to pay attention. But it was overall good. Not much to say. There was only one disputation, and it was because the AP who was trying to get us to understand wasn't explaining what he wanted very well at all, and I really didn't want to call him out for it... So it turned into a little dispute as everyone was confused. But it ended well.

Thursday night we taught Aubrey Preston. We found out more about how he feels he needs to be baptized, but wants to do it for him. We found out that he doesn't understand a lot of things we thought he did, but we ran out of time, so we'll adress all that later.

Friday we biked all day, and taught Danielle at night. It went really well! We finished the Plan of Salvation, talked about baptism and she liked church, and committed to watch conference. The next day we talked to Bro. McConkie and he told us that they were talking after and Danielle said, "When I get baptized will you baptize me?" and he also told us that she said she was feeling giddy the whole time, like she wanted to laugh. That's the spirit. So we're going to extend a date next time.

Saturday was conference. It was awesome. Sunday too. We taught Shelby on sunday. She's pretty set on waiting until after summer to get baptized like her mom said... So we talked about how Satan is going to try to keep pushing that back and getting in the way. And we talked about how important being built on the Gospel is.

But yeah. That's it. Things are going well. We're playing Volley ball today.

Love,
Daniel

San Tan Zone!

Elder Howard and I cruising

Make a weird face. 

Elder Howard and I at Transfer meeting

Gilbert Temple Progress.... (Our hospital parking spot.)

Greek Strained Yogurt is all the rage among healthy Arizona moms... mmm... gross.   

Daniel vs 20 Months

Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:59:10 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Did you guys realize I've been out 20 months now? Woah.

Crazy week this week. We spent most of the first couple days with Elder Howard saying goodbye to people. Monday night we taught a guy named Jeff. He had been taught by Elder Howard for the last 4 months and actually wasn't in our wards, but in one of the ones that split off, and he got caught in the split. We still taught him because he hates getting completely new missionaries and he and Elder Howard got along really well. The lesson that night we tried teaching about the plan of Salvation, and it wasn't going all that great. He knows it all, just has trouble with faith, then his wife, who is a member, came home from her first day at work and just started crying when she saw their daughter. Then Elder Howard bore testimony on everything for Jeff, and everything he wants in life, eternal families and happiness and everything. He cried. It was really powerful. Then he told them when they got sealed he wanted to hear about it. They laughed, and she asked Jeff it that sounded weird, and he said a few months it would have, but not now. So were making good progress there. I'm going over tonight with one of the Elders who is actually in their ward.

Wednesday I got my new companion. Elder Jackson from West Jordan Utah.

Thursday we were supposed to go on splits with the singles ward. They wanted us to take them to places, and I was kinda frustrated because we don't have enough to do, and them just coming out with us to go do stupid stuff isn't really going to do anything... I think the assistant ward mission leader could tell I wasn't happy with the whole thing. The singles ward is awesome at missionary work... but they just don't get how it works here. But, it turns out that when we talked to the guy before and asked if he knew anyone, he did, and everything worked out and we taught his friend, Alex. Alex is a quadriplegic, and this guy works for him, helping him out. He met with us and just asked us questions about plan of salvation stuff. It went good and we set up another time.

Friday we parked our car and biked all day... and nothing happened. It was a long day...

Saturday we taught Danielle again. We were going to do her reading assignment with her, because she hadn't done it last time, but she did it and so we were going to read a chapter, but I was talking with her about a part in the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and I really felt we needed to talk about the Plan of Salvation. I still don't know why, we taught it and it went well, but not amazing. But I really felt we needed to do that, so it was a cool experience for me.

She and Alex were both at church on sunday and so we had a good day. Our Sacrament meetings were pretty funny. We go to all four, so we have lots of opportunites for crazy things. And we serve in two stakes so in one stake it was fast sunday, and in one of the ward in the other stake, A guy, for part of his talk on fasting, compared the starvation of the American Bison in the winter of Yellow Stone National Park to fasting. In great detail... Comparing the months of -66 degree weather to the 24 hours of the fast. It was hard not to laugh really hard... Then in the fast and testimony meeting in the other stake, the Stake President and his family brought a friend to church, and so they warned the ward council not to let testimony meeting get out of hand. President Riggs was pretty nervous, it was funny. It went really well though, the testimonys were all very nice, with the exception of a young married guy who got up and quoted a notoriously inappropriate comedian...

It was a good week.

Love,
Daniel

Daniel vs 30 Hours

Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:36:38 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We had a pretty good week this week. On Tuesday we taught three teen aged girls at the Penrod's home. One of them was new, the other two we taught before. We're meeting with them again tomorrow. We taught them about the Holy Ghost, and receiving answers, because religion is a pretty new concept for them. It was awesome though. We actually taught that same lesson like 4 times this week. Its funny, a lot of the times all your investigators need the same thing at the same time.

I finished the New Testament in my studies. It took a while, but I really wanted to understand it. And I took some breaks to study other stuff, like Jesus The Christ and The Book of Mormon. It was pretty awesome. Speaking of, I got schooled by Joseph Feilding McConkie again. Remember him? Great grandson of Joseph Fielding Smith and Grandson of Bruce R. McConkie? He has a knowledge of the scriptures and a memory like Bruce R. McConkie too. We asked him about instances in church history of people being re-baptized and then I was asking him about the Sacrament. He taught me, through the scriptures, that we are forgiven of our sins through the cleansing of the Holy Ghost which we receive a new every time we take the Sacrament. Meaning, partaking of the Sacrament keeps us in perfect harmony with God. (from: Mormon Doctrine)

We had a pretty bad day on Friday. People kept yelling at us and our lesson cancelled. But we found three dollars on the ground and so we stopped by Sonic and got some ice cream cones on the way home.

Oh! Big story! Elder Howard and I are professional detectives. Two of the missionaries in our zone went on exchanges and went to walk around Mill Avenue (party street for ASU) and Phoenix for fun... Kinda a problem. So we had to deal with that. We found out from someone else they told and then we didn't tell the AP's until a few weeks later. They already knew too, but kinda chewed us out for not telling them. We kinda figured that getting in trouble wouldn't really do them much good... But that was wrong of us. President called us and told us that too and then gave us 30 hours to find out who took them there. It was like that show 24! The clock started! So we stopped by one of their houses to "drop something off" and I went into their closet to "look at their ties" (a common practice) and I called Elder Krueger in to ask him something. I asked him if he knew who is was. We did this twice. The only info we got from him was that he was in the other guys wards and that he was sent home from his mission in Chicago. Later on we found out this was false on both accounts, because we brought it up to Elder Kruegers companion after he had an interview with President and he told us he thought we caught him by seeing some pictures, and he showed us a picture of him and this other missionary and this guy that I recognized in front of the Diamondback's Stadium. So I knew who it was, he's in a different stake but he would give the Elders rides all the time. So I called the APs and I assume President has now handled it. whew. Some missionaries do stupid things. I wish they were smarter... But I am glad that going to Phoenix is the worst of our problems.

Better news, last night we taught Danielle again, at the McConkies home. We brought Matt, the Ward Mission Leader from the singles ward to help us get her coming to church. We were hoping young singles and some flirting would get her initially interested in coming to the ward. It worked! Haha, just kidding... kinda. Her and Matt hit it off pretty good, I think. We taught about the Holy Ghost again and everything went really well! The spirit was really strong and she felt it, she even cried. So we're making good progress there.

Also, last night late we got our transfer calls. I'm always super anxious on calls night. But it wasn't as bad this time because I thought I was staying, and I cant really get a new assignment. When we did recommendations we recommended that Elder Howard and I train a new missionary as a joke... And when Elder Gordon called he told us we were going to train and we got excited. But then he said just kidding and that Elder Howard was leaving... Lame. Not too much is changing in our zone. Just the things we really expected. Someone who's been here most of his mission is leaving. and also the two Elders that got in trouble for going to Phoenix.

Love,
Elder Feller

Daniel vs

Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:08:37 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

You'll never guess where I was transfered! I'm now the new Zone Leader in the San Tan Zone, (Which is just south of the Gilbert Zone where I just was, still in Gilbert) In the area that has the Gilbert Temple! (see picture below) My companion is Elder Howard, who Iived with in Queen Creek a while ago. My new area is pretty legit. But first...

 

My last couple weeks in Gilbert were pretty good. We were pretty busy trying to make something happy. We're always busy either doing things or making things happen. But it was good, it built my faith a lot. Which is really what I needed. The funnest thing I did last week was go on exchanges with the Spanish Elders. It was fun being super busy, and trying to speak Spanish. And I joined in on Elder Lanier's pass time of hunting bottle caps. Theres a picture of my first day's find below. I've found a few more since then. haha. It was pretty fun. We were also able to teach the two other Porter Kids and put them on date right before I left. I'm sad I'm going to miss that!

 

My new area is pretty good. We go to a gym every morning, because my companion has permission because he hurt his foot a while ago. Its nice. We also have a car. We started off with a red Corolla, but the seat was broken and wouldn't slide back so I didn't fit very well. So we traded some other missionaries for a for a Chevy Malibu. Its pretty nice, roomy, and has 6 cylinders. Theres lots of work to od in my new area. This is the first time in a while I went into an area that had people ready to be baptized. Its nice, but kinda weird. There's lots to do, and everything is awesome. The members are really great. Its kind of a more wealthy area again. The lead singer of Linkin Park lives in a neighborhood we taught a lesson in last night.

 

I'm happy.

 

Love,

Elder Feller

Daniel vs Members

Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:04:37 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We did lots of hard work this week. We've been in kind of a rut on  teaching and everything the past few weeks. But we broke out of it a little bit. It was pretty good. The baptisms that we were supposed to have easy this transfer kept canceling on us for the past 3 weeks, so that's not going to work out. If I stay, definitely next transfer though.

Speaking of which, transfers are coming up next week. So don't mail stuff to my house, unless it will get there before Tuesday. I know right, its crazy. When I was younger, I never thought I would reach the day where I was out for 18 months on my mission. Its crazy to think about, but it doesn't feel real. I'm now one of the oldest missionaries in the mission. My transfer and all the transfers after me were really big, so the mission has grown a little bit, and we're old now! 

Not much progress to report this week. We have been teaching this guy who has it pretty rough. He's 19, and just got out of jail. He was supposed to get baptized before. So he cant get baptized now, because hes on probation. So we go over a few times a week and meet with him. To keep him on the right track. 

Joey was able to come to church this week! That was awesome, and he'll be able to come next week as well. He really enjoyed it. There was also a bunch of other random people there. A member brought a friend from work, another young woman brought a friend, and then these two teenage girls showed up after their own church to see if what their church was saying about us was true. The members reacted very well, and are keeping in good contact with them. Hopefully we'll be able to teach some of them soon. 

I've been doing a lot of work with the members here. I don't know if anyone know, but Gilbert is like little Salt Lake City. Well, most of Arizona has tons of members everywhere. But especially in the Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa, Queen Creek, and Show Low Areas. Which is where I've spent pretty much my whole mission. The missionaries here cannot find people on their own here. It all depends on how we work with the members. And we don't know how sometimes, so we just kind of do our thing and hope. But I've been a lot more proactive about it in this area. And I hope its working. The members of the church need to have a huge shift in their understanding. They not only need to know how valuable they are, but how to actually be useful to missionary work. A lot of members don't understand the doctrines of missionary work, even all these returned missionaries. The younger ones, the ones who used Preach My Gospel get it. But sometimes are not proactive enough. The missionary purpose in Preach My Gospel, on the very first page, says INVITE others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel though Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I pains me to hear people say, "we're setting an example, and someday maybe..." If its not inviting, its not missionary work. Being an example is what you covenanted to do when you were baptized. Inviting is not even hard, especially when you're already talking about it. If every gospel conversation we, as members of the church, had included an invitation to do something that will increase their faith, the convert baptisms of the church would double, like President Hinckley said. I've seen families be baptized simply because they were invited to church. The converting power of the Gospel is real. There is a sweet spirit that is there, and that they will recognize, and that sometimes we forget. Never forget that! 

Anyways, 

Love,

Elder Feller. 

Daniel vs Gilbert... Round Two!

From: Eric Feller <eric.feller@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Mon, Nov 21, 2011 19:06:26 GMT+00:00

Hello again from Gilbert! Right now I'm sitting in a Library I sat in 7 Months ago. I am back in the Gilbert Zone, but this time a few miles down the street in the Gilbert Stake. Last transfer they made a new area out of two areas and put an Elder who had been a Zone Leader in there to train for his last transfer. So now I'm finishing training, and I cant spell his name yet so I'll get it next week.

 

Sorry I'm a little late this morning, we just came from a funeral for the daughter of an investigator of ours that I haven't met yet. It was at Sun Valley Community Church, so now I can say I've been to another church on my mission. It was a nice service.. very interesting. Not too much to say about it. They had some songs, the pastor spoke, some family spoke. It was really nice. When we were all filing out I did shake the pastor's hand and say thanks... Only because he looked to my tag and then at me! He held a smile though, so I don't think he cared. He might not have even really noticed.

 

We had one last lesson with Ada on Tuesday before I left. It went well. She's really getting there...

 

Not much is happening here in Gilbert. I haven't even taught a lesson yet. They just made the area out of parts of two not so productive areas.. So its struggling right now. But things are looking up, as always. The stake is pretty good about focusing on missionary work. Now I just have to channel all of that into effectiveness. Sometimes I feel like I've figured out this missionary thing, but then its hard to translate that into actual output because you cant just go into a place and tell them what to do. That was a huge lesson I've learned, and I feel like that's a place where I succeeded in my last area. I waited until they trusted me, and then when the time was right, they were open and everything was implemented. So we're working.

 

I will really miss my last district. They were an awesome group of missionaries, full of excitement and enthusiasm. But they'll still do good.

 

Love,

 

Elder Feller

 

PICTURES!!

Mesa Second District: Elders, Koons, Cunningham, Netzley, Feller, Asay & Collins. Sisters, Farthing, Corbett, Baggett & Parker.

Elder Krueger and I at Transfers.

Elder Cunningham and I

The district again, except blurry. 

Daniel vs The World

Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:53:02 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We did pretty bad last week so I was going crazy this week. We were able to get a lot more lessons and had a much better week. But! We got word last night that I was getting transferred again! These past six weeks have gone crazy fast! Its like every transfer goes faster! Also, Elder Cunningham is training! I think I was more excited than him because that makes me a "Mom" (You train, you're a dad, your comp trains, you're the mom) Whooo! The transfer results for my district were pretty funny too. One Sister is leaving, and one set of Elders is both leaving, (we dont know why) and he's going to be a DL. The other set of sisters is staying, and its funny because Sis. Corbett started her mission here, got transferred to Yuma, and then is back here! And the other elders are staying too, and Elder Koons started his mission in the area next to him, and 8 months later got transferred to where he's at, and now he's still there. He'll be in the same stake for over a year!

Last P-day we had a Tri-Zone BBQ at a park near our house with Tempe and Gilbert Zones. So a lot of my friends were there! It was pretty fun, but kind of cold. I almost got ran over after I tripped when we were playing football. It was super scary. I also got to hang out with Elder Lesh one last time, because he goes home tomorrow! But he's sending me a famous tie of his, named "Handicapped Hercules." Get excited to see pictures. Also when we were about to leave, I stood up on the table and said "Oh captain my captain!" It was pretty funny, I have to admit. Also, the sister from New Zealand found out that some words are bad in America, and she also found out this week that the USA doesn't like France.

But anyways. We had a crazy, two and a half hour lesson with Ada this week. Because when we went over on Thursday night, she told us she summed up all her questions to "Where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going" and wanted to answer them with the Bible and Book of Mormon to show that they were the same. After told us the questions we just stared at her for a second and I started laughing. She was confused and we asked here where she got those questions. She just came up with them! And we explained that those were common questions that the church definitely has answers for. We also explained that it asked and answered those exact questions in Preach My Gospel. So the next day we went over and had the 2.5 hour lesson where we answered the questions and explained the Restoration and priesthood authority. Her exact words when she understood it was like "this is like Lord of the Rings!!" So we're still working on it.

I've grown a lot this week, or at least recognized it. I was on exchanges with one of our Zone Leaders and I was really stressed because I didn't know where the ward mission leader lived and we were going around in circles. I felt judged and embarased, and I was letting my anxiety get the best of me. Then we find out where its at and we start going there and talk to this guy on the way. Of course, he was stupid, and I got frustrated and didn't do the best job talking to him. I tried really hard, but didn't sound confident at all. And before and after that, my zone leader was just telling me to be calm and confident, which made me more mad, so we went and met with the WML and I taught him how we can improve the missionary work in his ward, motivate the ward council, and set up a ward mission plan that will actually work. I kinda focused all my frustrations into it, so it went really well. Afterwards, my zone leader said, "now I see the true leadership of Elder Feller." Then something clicked. So I decided I needed to play my strengths more, and that all my struggles with this area were from trying to do it a way I wasn't good at. So with all that motivation, I set up a meeting with my whole district at a restaurant we go to some Saturdays that feeds us for free, and I taught them everything I knew about how to establish a successful ward, which is something I've been struggling though and working on my entire mission, and at this point, is something I can say that I understand a lot about. The entire mission is having tons of problems with getting members into missionary work, and its so important because that's where absolutely all our success comes from. But the problem is that the missionaries know just as much as the members, nothing. But now my district now understands how to do it, and we'll be doing it again at or after district meeting tomorrow.

Then, last night we talked to this lady on the street somewhere, and it was the best OYM we've had this whole transfer, and maybe the best of my mission. She genuinely listened and wanted to know what we believed. She told us about her experiences in Iraq with the national guard and about a lot of stuff. She asked good questions, and got good answers. When I offered her a Book of Mormon, I reached into my bag and I didnt have one! I already gave it away! But my companion did so we were good. haha. But she even wrote down when our appointment was for. It was really cool. Its always motivating when you talk to someone who is awesome.

That's all the interesting things for this week.

Love,

Elder Feller

Daniel vs The Cold!

Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 13:25:01 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We went from busy last week to nothing this week. All our potentials are falling through and we're basically down to two investigators. One of which was dodging us all last week... But we finally got in contact and are going to set something up soon.

Its getting really cold in Arizona! Its like 60's outside right now. I had to wear a jacket last night while we were biking. I was freezing cold and then I realized that I couldn't even see my breath... So in reality it wasn't that cold... But I'm not used to that. It was 115 for too long!

We've had a lot of meetings with our ward leaders this week. We're really trying to get stuff going in the wards. Yes, again. But they've been good. We're trying to keep up the momentum to get it all rolling, and they some of them seem to be excited about getting it done. That's the most effective thing we can be doing.

Ada is still doing really well. She was sick, so she couldn't make it to church this week. But we had two good lessons with her, where we talked a lot about the questions she had and what we can do to help her get baptized. She doesnt feel like she's repented of her issues with her family, and so she doesn't feel worthy to be baptized. Plus, we have to work on her testimony of the restoration... But we're getting there.

Everything else is cruising along. Transfers are next week, so we'll see what happens.

Love,

Daniel

Getting Elder Cunningham's bike welded.

Daniel vs The Chandler Curse

Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:28:04 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

I'm am now the District Leader of the Mesa 2nd District. But my area is in Chandler! Consider the Chandler Curse fulfilled! (Chandler Curse: Mission legend that if you serve in Chandler once, you WILL serve there either a) Forever. or b) Twice!) My new companion is Elder Cunningham from West Jordan, Utah. He's a good guy, but just kinda quiet and calm. So because no one lives with us, I'm going stir-crazy all the time!
I really miss Queen Creek! I had so many good and bad times there, but I love it. I would definitely move back there. I just wish some certain things that I feel like I went there to do were accomplished before I left. Its hard knowing that those things didn't get finished before it was my time to go. Of course, I blame myself and think I could've done better or tried harder or been more persistent, but the hardest thing to remember is peoples agency. But I'm not done with them yet! I've instructed Elder Krueger well what to be focusing on. Man, I miss that guy too! My last few days in Queen Creek were awesome! Elder Livermore's companion went home and so he hung out with us for a few days. We had a lot of fun. We even got to teach a lesson to a drunk guy who was talking about suicide. Apparently it wasn't out of the normal for him, but Elder Krueger and I were kinda nervous because we didn't know.
But we spent my last day saying bye to everyone.
Not much to report here. I'm pretty sure people are going to be mad at me because a bunch of people fell off date this last week. But these people did not have a firm understanding that they were going to be baptized those days, and so they were not doing everything necessary to prepare for it. But we will be working extra hard to get them there. The goal is to have them all back this week. There was a lot of good stuff going on here before I got here, but I feel like one thing was seriously lacking, member involvement and fellowshipping! So thats a district focus I'm making. It should go good. From a lot of the members I've met, it seems like they're good on doing missionary work! I just have to put the pressure on.
Yesterday, my first Sunday, we did a Mormon.org presentation for the youth in one of the wards. It went really well. They seemed to get into it. This is such a huge deal! Everyone needs to take it more seriously! I've already heard of people who have been asked about it. But in most of the presentations, they still didn't cover what people are supposed to say!
More next week!
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!

Daniel vs A Baby Boy

Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:57:42 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Transfer Results: I'm staying in Queen Creek and training a brand new missionary! My first "son"! Its pretty exciting. I'm kinda bummed I have to stay in this area again, but at least I get to finish what I started! And I really think training is going to be good for me. Especially in this area. It will give me a lot of new excitement and motivation.

I cant even remember what happened this week...

We taugth Lindsey twice. They both went good. Kinda. The first time she started with an email some preacher sent her... Which was all completely false, (Except he said Mormons believe baptism to be essential... that's true, because Jesus said so: John 3:5) and then her fellowship got into it with her about baptisms for the dead. I was pretty frustrated, so I just waited it out until they would let us start the lesson. We started, and funny enough, we were teaching the plan of salvation, with an emphasis on the spirit world! WOW! So we worked it out pretty good. The lesson went well, except she hasn't been feeling good and got a massive killer headache at the end, so she kinda zoned out. But we taught her again Friday and I discerned that her baptism for the dead concern is because in the past she received a spiritual witness that her grandfather is in "heaven". Hmmm. Its a tricky one. But no big. The second time we taught her last week her less active husband sat in and was pretty positive. It was a really good lesson, but she was sick Sunday and couldn't go to church!

Jacob is still afraid of what his parents will think and is still looking for an opportunity to talk to his parents. But, he got a stress fracture on his food and is out of cross country and football for the rest of the season. All his new free time gives him lots of opportunities to talk to his parents. Just saying. Maybe after he does it I'll heal John Tanner style. (Lame church movie reference)

Bro. Powell came back from his business trip, and to everyones surprise, brought his parents with him! So we actually got to meet them. They were very nice and asked us lots of questions about missionary work, because their step-grandson is going to Zimbabwe in November. We talked and then we were asked to share a message. We read Alma 32 and testified of the Book of Mormon, then Elder Darrington went nuts and pulled out Moroni 10:3-5, testified, and challenged them to read the Book of Mormon. It was interesting to watch the reason our investigator wont get baptised respond to that. He talked about how he's read some of it, and also the Koran, and challenged us to read the Koran when we get back. Which doesn't make any sense because he's Catholic...But he was very impressed by us and our faith.

I'm excited to stay in Queen Creek. I've got a grudge against this area and I will come off the victor! Even if it takes 6 months! Maybe 7.5 months because training is usually a 2 transfer call. But we should have a few baptisms. OH! Elder Lesh is the new AP! Man I miss that guy. But I'll see him soon.

Love,
Elder Feller

Daniel vs 1 Year

Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 10:59:35 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week has been pretty fun. I got a new companion, Elder Darrington (Dear-bear) from Declo Idaho (380 people). I don't remember if I told you about a missionary who put a huge deep whole in his knee mountain biking but he's my companion now. But his knee is getting better so we don't get a car. But we're having fun in queen creek.

The dust storm was crazy last week! I'm sure you heard about it and wondered if I got any of it... Queen Creek is right on the south-east edge of the phoenix valley, so we got it first! I was inside when it rolled in, but I saw pictures. But we biked around in the dust for a few hours. We walked out of a lesson to look at someones giant swing set in the back yard and it was crazy outside! All dark and dusty and windy .. at like 7. which is weird here, the sun comes up at 4:30 and down at  8:30. It was nuts.

Oh, so my old companion, Who was a big guy from Idaho, and was dieing in the heat, got sent to the mountains! In Eager, the little town with the closest stop light to Saint Johns. He's going to love it!

And, I don't know if you're aware, but I hit one year this Thursday!! The time has flown by, I can hardly believe it. I don't ever want to go home.

Oh so we also had a sweet lesson with brother Powell this week. Its been hard to bring up his feeling on the gospel  recently. Almost like he's avoiding it. But we got him alone and I went for it! We found out some of his concerns and then had a really good discussion on commitments and living up to the blessings. I think that's what he fears right now. But it was really good. I almost cried telling him about Brandon and Zach, the first two baptisms me and Elder Lesh had in Chandler, and what a blessing it was. We know more about whats up with him and are better prepared to teach him now. It was awesome.

Pray I have more to talk about!

Love,

Elder Feller

Video of the dust storm

Elder Baird



Dear-Bear and I trying to get some pictures in The Pecans.  Our richest neighborhood.

More of The Pecans



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