Daniel vs 2 Years

Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:48:25 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

I hit two years last Saturday!! Its crazy. I'm supposed to be flying home tomorrow, but I'm not! Its kind of a weird feeling. I have my departing dinner tonight with all the guys I came out with. Then they leave and I stay.

This week was crazy. We had a ton of lessons so it was really good.

On Monday we taught a new guy. His name is Gibson, he's from New Jersey but his family came from Haiti, but he works at a prison here. He came to the singles ward with a girl. It was a tough lesson because he told us he didn't believe in God... So we tried our best. We're meeting with him again soon.

Tuesday we taught Alex again. We finally pinned him down to a baptism date! August 11th. And I told his mom I was going home after that to guilt her into keeping it on that day... Was that bad? I thought it worked really well...

Wednesday we taught AJ in the morning. He is seriously doing amazing. I cant even believe it. We talked about the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel, and he just gets it! He's super excited about being baptized on the 11th. We talked alot about repentance, and then we could tell he was thinking, and then he told us, "I think I've started my repentance process without knowing it." And we were blown away. The next day we went to the visitors center with him in the morning as well. He was pretty touched by it. It was good for him to visualize everything that happened.

Wednesday night we also taught Mason, the guy who was excommunicated. The lesson went really well. We tried teaching one thing and then ended up teaching another... We just talked a lot about the Atonement. Then we gave him a blessing after. It was a super spiritual lesson.

Thursday we had another incident with that same district leader I talked about before. He was accusing his companion of not having a testimony that Joesph Smith was a prophet, because he was writing in his journal at 10:30 at night, when he was supposed to be sleeping. Its ridiculous, I know. This guy is a tool. That's the only way to describe him. We went over at 8:30 in the morning, and ... corrected him... Sharply. I had had it. I was done dealing with him. So I just let him know exactly how I felt about everything he's done. It was not nice.

On Sunday, we taught Lance again. He's doing great. Still on track for the 4th. We taught him all the commandments, and he's all good. We settled some things about the baptism as well. I guess his girl friends mom was freaking out because she wanted the program to be perfect, and I guess she thinks we've never done this before or something. haha. That's ok. We'll try extra hard. 

That was all the highlights from the week! 

Love,

Elder Feller

Daniel vs crunching time!

Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:56:23 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

We have had a pretty good week. Sorry I dont have a lot of time to write today, its Presidents Day and we're using the members who's guest house we live in computer. Arizona is beautiful right now. And the work is going really well. We have a lot going on this week. On Valentines day we had a baptisimal interview for our investigator Venice. She's 9, and unfortunately it looks like her dad isnt going to be able to baptize her... But everything is still on track for this weekend. Its weird because I've hardley even taught her... We also went to the visitors center this week with two of our investigators Isaiah and Marquon. They're friends of a priest in one of our wards. It was pretty cool, as the visitors center always is.

We ate dinner with our High Councelor over Missionary work, Brother Joseph Feilding McConkie (He has quite the name... He's related to Joseph Fielding Smith and Bruce R. McConkie) and taught a lesson at their house to their friend Danielle, who is going to be in the singles ward. It went really well. She is pretty cool. She's 23, and wants everything the church has to offer, a happy family, and everything. She's pretty mature, and has good standards. We're trying to get a fellowship from our Singles ward to come to the next lesson with us so she'll come to church. I think if we can get her arround the members of that ward she will progress really fast.

The rest of the week went well. I dont really remember. but Sunday was a crazy day! Elder Howard started feeling sick Saturday night, and then woke up on sunday sick, so he slept and we missed some church. We only made it to Sacrament meeting of our last ward and then we had to run from a lesson to dinner and a lesson, to two more lessons. It was pretty awesome.

I've gotta go, I'll write more next week about the people we're teaching!

Love,

Elder Feller  

Daniel vs Time

Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 10:44:54 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

The weeks are flying by.

We went to the visitors center a week ago with Joey. It was awesome, it really helped him understand the story of Joseph Smith, and he really felt the spirit. 

We also got in with Seth again. He hadnt been reading or praying like he said he would, so we sat down and read 3 Nephi 11 with him and taught him the 3rd Lesson from it. The we talked about prayer a lot. He was afraid to pray, and didnt really know what to do, or what to think, or how to get an answer. So we talked about it a lot, and I told him the only way he was going to know would be to just do it. And he said ok and closed us with a prayer out loud. It was awesome. I love hearing someone's first prayer. He felt great after, and so I think it will be something he and his girlfriend keep up. We meet with them again soon.

The weather here is amazing! Its so nice outside everyday, and then chilly, but not too cold at night. Just perfect. 

I realized when we were at church that I had been slaking on setting up an appointment to teach the other two kids of the family that just got baptized. Also, Shannon's kids have been coming to church with her, so we'll see about that as well. We're really trying. 

Things are going.

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 Mormons

Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:26:01 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

So recently we have been preparing the Arizona area for the new add campaign from the church "I'm a Mormon." and Mormon.org. The church is going to be pumping tons of adds into the TV, Internet, and billboards here. We're really excited! They have asked every member and missionary to make a profile. I'm really excited because they have done this in other areas and have seen good results, but this time, they are fixing their mistakes. Previously, they haven't prepared the members to be ready when the adds come through, because studies have shown that the biggest result from the campaign was 54% of members were approached by non-members and asked the question "Why is your church doing this?" So the church, through the ward leadership has sent out a presentation that we saw in every ward as to how to prepare to do missionary work when the opportunity comes. Problem is, in my mind everyone around me is stupid and doesn't know what to do! We had a ward completely skip the "what to do when you're approached" Steps. But, the Mission President is on my side and in Zone Conference last Friday we talked about what more we have to do to get ready. They asked us to meet with every member again, emphasize the points and role play talking to their friends with them. We have like 1000 people in all our wards and so we're going to be doing this in church meetings. I'm so happy! This is the perfect excuse to teach them member missionary work, and the perfect reason for them to listen! Statistically, 54% of them will be approached, but in Queen Creek I think that will be higher, and my goal is to have every member talk to people, by approaching them! So we're setting goals and making plans for that. The Elder Feller & Elder Krueger trainings will start next Sunday and... never stop. Member missionary work is way to important.

Other news, Everything is going pretty good.

We went to the Mesa Temple Visitors Center with the Mendoza family. They loved it. Every bit of it. Then on Wednesday we taught them the commandments, and she was drinking a Iced Tea while we were doing it, when we taught it, she was bummed, and then just simply put it on the ground. It was an awesome lesson. Then this morning we got weird text messages because her mom was telling her all this crazy stuff about how we believe God is from Outer Space, and we believe in moon men and all this crazy stuff. We resolved all that. It was cool because she kept saying "us Mormons" and "we". I could tell where her heart was. We talked about how you feel when you go to church or meet with us, compared to when she hears that garbage. She agreed and we're back on track. I was worried for a second because I got up in priesthood yesterday and announced the baptism and told everyone how it came from a simple invitation, and they can all do that as well.

Lindsey is also doing good. The bishop still messed things up with her and her husband and we're working on that. I wont go into too much detail. But on the positive she called us last night and gave us a new date that she, her husband, and the bishop decided for her to be baptised on.

Jacob is doing good too. He's having trouble talking to his parents... Understandably. He's in a really tough position, and since he's not moving forward to much, we're afraid of him moving backwards... But he'll do good. He's a good kid.

Love,

Elder Feller

...And I'm a Mormon.

Daniel vs Nice Weather

Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:49:53 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This past week has been pretty slow. We had a lot of cancelled apointments and people were so sick of the heat that there was no one outside. But starting on friday the weather got nicer. It was only 100 degrees outside at the hottest part of the day. We were hoping to talk to a bunch of people on saturday when the weather was a little nicer but only mormon people were outside! So it was a rough week. Not too much happened.

 

Lindsey cancelled on us this week because she was having an argument with her husband that day and didnt want to pull us into it. The situation is still rough there, but I think the bishop is feeling the pressure on him to get it together. He basically created a problem... and theres nothing we can do fix it. I talked to our ward Mission Leader, Bro. Larsen about it on saturday, and he was just as mad as me, if not more.. It was really funny because he was trying to maintain a neutral position, because he has to live here forever... but we could tell. We we went to give him the progress record and he said "I'll crumple it up and throw it in his face and say 'wow, I didnt know there was a form for regression!'" It was pretty funny. But, through it all, Lindsey is still strong and wanting to be baptized. She's pretty confused and shook up still, but she's still on the right track. She was sick this week and couldnt make it to church... 

 

The Mendoza's are doing awesome! We had a lesson with them on wednesday, and dinner with them and another family sunday, and we rescheduled going to the Mesa Temple Visitors Center for tonight. So we're really excited about that. They want to leave a little early and take us to Weinersnitzel because Elder Krueger has never heard of it before... They are planning on being baptized on the 24th of September, but we might have to move it a day because of the General Releif Society Meeting. I told the Ward Mission Leader to just move it and he said he'd call the Prophet. But thats ok, they still are doing awesome, and really want to be baptized.

 

One of the guys we live with ordered 150 pounds of ties. So we've opened all of them and have made a huge ball of all the extra ugly ties. Its massive... but remains unfinished. Pictures next week.

Not too much else, but I have a bunch of pictures since I forgot my camera the last few weeks!

Elder Darrington's backpack sweat

Elder Darrington and I transfer morning...

Elder Krueger and a spikey tree.

P-Day bounce house.

All the ties.

Vaccum sealed bag

Elder Krueger in some of the Ties. This picture does not do the ammount of ties justice.

Daniel vs 4 weeks

 This week was insane...

 

Start with the bad, then I'll get to the good. So last tuesday we had a lesson with Lindsey. We taught the commandments and she had prayed about the 10th for baptism and was wanting to get baptized that day. Her husband gave us a ride home that night and all seemed to be well. Well the word goes arround the ward and Bishop finds out about it, he calls the ward mission leader and freaks out. Bishop wanted the husband to be ready and worthy to baptize his wife.  Its a little late to mention it... We went over on saturday and explain that hes not ready or worthy, and Lindsey is ready now, and she needs to be baptized. On Sunday, the Bishop decided to pull Lindsey and her husband into his office and offer the option of working with her husband to be ready and worthy to baptize her, obviously not on the day selected by us. He says he'll get back to him in a week... but the baptism is supposed to be in 3 days. Lindsey was devestated, and was crying because she was really excited to be baptized. I get a call right before our last ward starts and Lindsey's fellowship says that Bishop told Lindsey she couldnt be baptized untill her husband does it. So I go outside to call bishop. I was pretty mad, obviously. Bishop steped out of his priesthood authority and into mine as a missionary, by meeting with my investigator, and canceling my baptism and essentially hurting my investigator. Bishop said thats not what he said and he would go over and clear up the "misunderstanding"... So I had no idea what to do at this point, and church was about the start, so I decided we needed to be there because we hadnt had the chance to take the Sacrament yet, and we needed to be there for all our investigators at church. So I didnt know what was going to happen and I was having stress attacks at church! So we went home and called Lindsey's fellowship and found out what happened. Bishop went over and the husband agreed to meet with bishop and try to get worthy to baptize her. Lindsey said if he's not ready in two weeks shes doing it anyways. So I'm glad shes still staying strong. The baptism is going to be put off a few weeks. I called President to let him know that Elder Case wouldnt need to come back this weekend to baptize her and he wasnt happy about what Bishop did. He said "Elder Feller he cant do that" and I said, "I know..." "Whats the ward? Whos the Stake President? Whats the Bishops name?" ... So I dont know whats going to happen, but President isnt going to let it go.

 

But the good! I got a call last Monday evening, saying that one of the woman who went to a mission farewell was really impressed by the spirit, and couldnt shake it, and she was crying all day at work and went over the the Whitting's home and got a blessing and felt better. We met with her whole family on wednesday. Ray, Danielle, Ray Jr, and Savannah Mendoza. They cried. Alot. The next day we got a text from Sis. Whitting saying that Danielle texted her and they had a family prayer and it felt really good. Later in the day Ray called her and said he felt the same spiritual impression and was crying all day. These people are SO prepared its crazy. God is not giving them any time to waste. They were at church on sunday, and we met with them again that night, right before the Whiting's son got set appart as a missionary. When Bro. Whitting gave her the blessing she said that something was going to happen is 4 weeks. Last night we kinda put them on date for the 24th of this month. I say kinda because it wasn't to solid of a commit because people were coming in for the setting appart, and the lesson was getting distracted by all the people! But they understand that thats the day they're working towards. 4 weeks after the first blessing. Awesome. We're going to the Visitors Center with them tonight.

 

So this week was pretty crazy to say the least..

 

I guess its gotten all over facebook that my new companion is from Long Island NY and knows all these famous people. His dad does construction for big clients like Jerry Sienfield, Billy Joel, Steven Spieldburg. Our whole ward knows because of facebook... Welcome to Arizona suburbia... Thats all the coolest stuff. We biked to the top of the montain. Nothing else too big.

 

Love,

 

Elder Feller

Daniel vs Kenya

From: Eric Feller eric.feller@myldsmail.net
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:31:30

"Sacramento California? ... Do they let you go home on the weekends?"

That's a quote I forgot to include last time. But it was said to me in Saint Johns. I also forgot to mention one other thing last week. My last Saturday in Saint Johns we spent all day doing service. In the morning I got to drive a huge Track-Hoe and knock down part of a house. Ill send pictures of it later. next week... I forgot my camera again!

To answer some questions: I dont know how cold it gets in Saint Johns, but I know the snow doesn't stick for very long. But its still a heck of a lot colder than in the Tempe area.

It slows down in the Winter in the mountains, but in the valley it speeds up. Because its not hot anymore, and the Mesa temple does all this visitors center stuff. Soon we'll be taking people to see the Christmas lights and go through the visitors center. Sending stuff through the mission home is still best, just because its safest and it doesn't add to much time. The AP's in our mission right now are alright.. hahaa. People make fun of the APs no matter what though. They are both spanish speaking missionaires right now. One of them is built like a rhinoceros, but is kinda clumsy. But he's a really good guy. The other is just a normal guy. He kinda looks like Klark Kent with his glasses on. He's what missionaries call an "aspire-er" because he stayed on his mission an extra transfer to be AP. But they're just kidding. Anyone who "aspires" to leadership is made fun of a lot... Its kinda like a running joke all the time. I don't know how to explain it..

So Chandler is going pretty well. We have a nice apartment and a car so I cant complain to much. But I will because the car doesn't have enough miles and this area is pretty dead because of the missionaries here before us. That and the fact that the wards are kinda hard to work with. We had a good day at church on Sunday. We ran out of one sacrament meeting in order to knock on an investigators door to remind her to go to church. She made some excuse, and we made it back just in time for the closing song. Then in one of the ward a recent convert from Kenya brought her husband to church. We talked to him and arranged to meet later that day. We showed up at the house, talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and he said " Well, if its the word of God, I'll read it." He is an awesome guy, with tremendous faith in Jesus Christ. He even helped my faith. And when we left my companion, Elder Lesh, was so excited, and he said to me "do you know who this guy is?" I came to find out that our new investigator, Jorem, was a retired Colonel in the Kenyan army who was displaced when his plantation was burned down by a waring tribe in Kenya, that his wife belongs to. He told us he escaped when the mob was within 50 meters. He is so awesome. We are seriously going to baptize him before he leaves in a week.... I think we can do that. Except the last time we went to his house he had decided to try to learn some things about the Mormon Church on the internet. So naturally, when we met with him he had a lot of questions about some stuff. We mostly talked about how he needed to seek answers from God, because that will bring him to the truth. Then his wife came in and bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and how she found her answer to know that it was true, and pretty much told him that he was going to find out that night. So then we left and were late to our dinner appointment. But it was totally worth it.

Thats pretty much the most exciting thing to happen in Chandler this week... Oh, that and the fact that while a missionary was staying with us during a big leadership meeting in Tempe, the three of us got a free portrait from as a gift from our apartment complex, posing in the same exact was at the first presidency's portrait, so in a week we'll get a 10x13 picture and we're going to hang it up in the mission office next to the picture we're imitating. Its going to be awesome!

Thats all for this week.

Love Elder Feller