Daniel vs The 2nd Transfer

IM STILL IN YUMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Yay. Some may think, "Ew, why the heck would he still want to be in that desolate wasteland that the military uses to drop bombs on?" and I would agree, but what sucks worse than being here is only being in an area for 6 weeks.

But hey, Yuma is not that bad. We got lots of good stuff coming up.

And, I'm still with my same companion. The first time ever for me. Its going to be interesting.

No really cool stories this week. So just a short email with a few lame stories: First! We went to a dinner who's kids are very good friends with this kid we're teaching who is the number one Cross Country runner in the state of Arizona. And I tell my companion ('cause sometimes I have to coach him on conversations) that we'll save that piece of conversation as like our trump card, when things get awkward and quiet and then maybe they can help us out. So we sit down, have prayer, and then BAM! He busts it out! poorly as well. I was like "noooooooooooooooooo!" They were like "really thats cool" and talked about it for like a min and a half, and then it was a waaaaaaaaay awkward dinner. I was out of it as far as conversation goes, because I was still stunned that he said it right off the bat!

Then, My comp's bike pedal broke, so we were biking home, cruising, taking our time as to not over exert the bikes, and then a member offered us a ride. So we put our bikes in his truck and got in. He was listening to his XM radio, and we generally dont bug people about stuff like that by asking them to turn it off when they're being nice to us, (or ever) but the song "Candles" by Hey Monday came on! I almost died. Its been so long since I've heard that gorgeous voice.

Then! Not really that exciting, but because it was transfers, some missionaries were leaving Yuma, so they wanted Yuma pins for their suits/collections. And because the ex-Mayor is in our ward they wanted us to get them from him, because the ones in the city hall suck. So we went over there, chatted with him for a little bit, and then asked for the pins. He said yes, and reached over and grabbed one off his coffee table and then his wife grabbed a whole bag of them from a drawer by their TV. I got three, one for me, my District Leader, Elder Varner, who asked for one, and then another one, just in case. Then she gave us these City of Yuma "Challenge Coins" its this huge heavy coin with the city seal and logo on it. Its pretty cool. Definitely a good souvenir. But when we went to give away the pins, I gave one to Elder Varner, then the Zone Leader he lives with asked for one, and then some greenie leaving asked for one too! So I had to give away mine! Which is the second time because I gave my original one to this Elder who got his visa and went to Mexico!

So yeah, Told you, boring week.

-LOVE

Elder Feller

Daniel vs Week 5

Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:02:07 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

 

Hello All. Its week 5 of this transfer. Which means transfers happen next week. I'm super anxious! I dont know whats going to happen!

 

Oh, by the way, GUESS WHO TURNS 6 MONTHS THIS FRIDAY! Yeah, thats right. on January 21st 2011 The world will have been missing me for 6 whole months. Thats 1/4th of a mission. I expect lots of birthday presents 

 

Lets see, what else happened...

 

LAST NIGHT I ATE THE BEST PANCAKES IN THE WORLD. Ok, back story time, So there's this guy in the ward who helps the missionaries out all the time. He's just a cool, young, successful guy. We went to ask him something a couple saturday nights ago and he was having a party in his back yard where him and these 400 pound mexicans were jumping off the waterfall of his pool and shaking the ground with the shockwave, then a nice lady made us some carne asada tacos.... mmmm. my favorite. But so he's the type of guy who is married with 3 kids, but plays xbox and does stupid stuff with his friends (i.e. jumping off of waterfalls with ginormous mexicans.) So he had us over for dinner last night and his wife is telling us that this pancake mix is really good. (It was breakfast for dinner) and then we're eating them and I'm like... Holy crap, these are the most delicious pancakes I've ever tasted. Seriously. I cant describe it. Ok, I can, If I were the prophet Lehi, I would be dreaming about eating these pancakes off the tree of life. Then his wife had to go do something and he's talking to use about this mix, and he was like "yeah, I just get tired of bisquick and that kind of stuff, so I heard they were pretty good so I ordered a crate of them from the eastern united states because they dont sell them anywhere arround here." It was awesome. So now, Just like the prophet Lehi, I invite my family to partake. The brand is called "Aretha Frankenstein". Do whatever you can to get ahold of them. They will change your life.

 

So yesterday we also rode out bikes like all day. Because we're a little over on our miles for the month. It was pretty fun. I'm sure you're all thinking "oh its pretty chilly in January that must have been nice" but no, it was 85 degrees in Yuma yesterday. Pray for me to leave this place before summer... But seriously biking is pretty fun. We can talk to a lot more people that way. and in a car, you finish everything so fast. But, I am grateful for our car. because missionaries are always late. And bikes dont help. And my bike didnt fall apart this time!

 

So we're teaching this couple named Ashley and Robert. Robert is a less active member from forever. He doesnt know anything about the church. But they are super nice, and very interested. We found them because Robert is the brother of a sister in the ward, who was in the exact same situation a year ago! A boyfriend/girlfriend where one wants to do the whole gospel thing but the other one doesnt want to get married first! So its super funny when we teach them because his sister and her husband will call them out and tell them they have to do this. And it works because they are the perfect example. Well... not really perfect, but they work. Its really good. We're hoping to make some progress on them.

 

Also! I dont know if I've mentioned Bob before, but he's an old guy who lives in a trailer park and the thugs there pick on him. He loves the church and wants to join. But he doesnt want to stop smoking weed. And he's 63. So we're trying to help him move because people keep messing with him and breaking into his house. So once we get him moved, we're going to take his weed and say no more! Then he'll get baptized! He's hilarious. He was in the military in Korea and still swears like it...

 

Things are getting boring. Yuma is still hot. I hear all the old people leave when it gets hot. They all come from Utah and other cold places. Can you imagine that!? Moving every season change. Gosh. Just move to California...

 

Next week I promise to have some pictures. Maybe even show you guys all the ties I've collected!

 

Speaking of ties, Please dont forget that I'm always on a hunt for ties. Especially nice silks. Like, nice thick quality silks. The thin ones arent that good. But I need more nice Church/Meetings ties! I dont like to wear my old grandpa ties with a suit.

 

My dream tie, is a nice, thick, silk, with Paisley and Stripes. Its hard to find..

 

Got to go. Times up.

 

Love, Elder Feller. 

Daniel vs Interviews!

Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 11:07:27 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week we had a baptism! Wooooo. Bro. Henry Florez decided to write his name in the book of Heaven. He is an awesome guy. He's a doctor here in Yuma who was born in columbia and went to college in New York. in his second marriage, he married a member of the church. He dodged the church and the missionaries for a while, but as we found out in Sis. Florez's testimony, they were having some marital problems and then he asked his friend why they were always so happy all the time. His friend replied, "well, its the gospel of Jesus Christ" and then 6 weeks later he's baptized. I didnt really get to teach him too much, just the word of wisdom. And I helped him understand and then get over coffee. So it was fun. The baptism went really well. Lots of tears were shed. haha, and he was a little late, so we didn't get to get the traditional baptismal suit picture. But that's ok. Hahaha. The funniest part of the whole thing was: They had special musical numbers in the middle time while he was changing, and his son gets up there and plays "families can be together forever " on the piano. One note at a time, and very good for a little kid. Then my companion gets up and plays this ellaborate version of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" And totally blows this little kid out of the water. I almost laughed out loud and some people did. But it was ok, the kids feelings weren't hurt or anything. But it was way funny. My companion didn't even realize untill I told him later.

Neeeeeext. We had Interviews! President Howes and the AP's came down to Yuma for interviews! I love opportunities to learn from the President and APs. They are always good. President got up and told us that there were more missionaries than ever before in Yuma right now (6 English and 10 Spanish) And that he anticipated growth in the Church here. The first thing that came to my mind: in ward council meeting our ward had been reading the handbook. They got to the end of section 4. Next meeting they will be on Section 5. The missionary work section. So, because of my enlightened understanding of the Ward Council Process and the Church General Handbook of Instructions, I took that as I need to kick my wards into gear! So that's my plan as of now. To get these wards doing some serious missionary work! via a ward mission plan! 

Also, my interview with President was very good. I learned a lot. It was funny, because he started talking in Business terms, and I understood it better. hahaha. Basically he told me that some people grow leaps and bounds coming out of the MTC and then flatline on my improvement, but at this point for me, it would take steady effort to continue to improve upward.

Then the APs talked about getting referals from everyone, and the way to go about it right, in order to get good referrals.

That's pretty much it for this week. Other than that, we have got a few new peopel to teach. Which is always awesome. And we got one of them to say the closing prayer last night, and she had never prayed before, but we felt very strongly that she needed to be strong in prayer in order for her to come closer to Heavenly Father. And so she was all nervous about prayer and I just said,"what do you think you need to pray for?" and she paused for a second and said "to understand what I'm learning" and I said, "if thats all you need to pray for right now, just say that" and then she offered an awesome and every ernest prayer. It was amazing. And the spirit was so strong.

That's all for this week!

Love,

Elder Daniel Feller

What Yuma looks like

Me, Bro. Florez after baptism, and Elder Workman

Bro. & Sis. Florez's whole family.

A awesome billboard here in Yuma.

Christmas Phone Call from Daniel

On Christmas we all got an opportunity to speak with Daniel.  He sounded great!  We are proud of him and all of his great work!  Keep making us proud Daniel!!!

1st Week in Yuma

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:04:11 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

So this email is coming late this week... 1 day late because yesterday, my regular p-day, I had to take a very long car ride after transfer meeting.. to YUMA!

So yeah, I dont really know what to say about my last week in chandler.. EXCEPT ELDER LESH AND I BAPTIZED TWO PEOPLE! Rembember how we took over another missionaries area? Well, the first day we had it, a member called us and said he had someone for us to teach. We go by, and teach him a little bit, come back the next day and his friend is there too. They've both been going to church with this family for a while, and we baptized them last saturday. It was super funny. This whole family and these two kids that practically live with them are all so funny and goofy. But it was a great experiance for them to come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We confirmed them on sunday as well. And then their friends, the family's two brothers, had to bear their testimony in Church and they both were crying, which made Brandon and Zack start to cry and they were all embarased because they're teenagers and it was funny. Then during someone elses talk, she started telling this story about Jesus that someone wrote and Brandon was like, "oh no, here it comes again" and stuck his hands over his face. It was hilarious.

Lets see... what else.

Oh, we also started teaching another person in that same ward, who was dating an older member. He wanted to join the church and marry her. We made sure he was spiritually ready, and then put him on date for baptism for Christmas day. He was so excited. He's a funny guy too. He used to be a marine, then was a bum for 7 years and then got involved with a born-again church that helped him out a lot and he got back on his feet and got a good job in Arizona, and now has a house and two cars. He sees "Mormonism as his next step in his progression, like he's been led here his whole life" hahaha. He's awesome. But I'll miss the baptism now that I'm in Yuma, and not Chandler...

Oh speaking of, my adress in Yuma is:
Elder Daniel Feller
1600 W 12th st #1323
Yuma AZ, 85364

So at least for the next couple weeks you can send christmas packages and letters there, because the mission office is going to be booked! But its ok, whichever still works. And after like.. 4-5 weeks, start sending stuff back to the mission home. I appriciate all the Christmas presents and all the letters and everything I've recieved thus far! It means a lot that people still remember me... because I'm going on 5 months pretty soon!

HOLY CRAP ITS RAINING IN YUMA RIGTH NOW! That means lettuce will be super good this year, because Yuma produces 90% of the worlds lettuce...

Anyways, Uh, not much else happened. I ran into an Anti guy I met a while ago, again. He said Nephi was a murder and a bearer of false witness and God would never tell him to do that. We told him to read the old testament, and gave him some examples of God using the rightous to bring judgement on the wicke.... hahaha. Then he held up his phone that he was looking up bible scriptures on and said, "what do you think this is!?" and Elder Lesh said, "thats a word search." BOOM! We handeled it well but he still left being stupid. I told him if he wouldn't pray and ask God about the Book of Mormon, and not question some 20 year old kids on the street then we can do nothing for him and walked away.

The End!

NEXT WEEK!: Hear more about my adventures in Yuma!

Love Elder Feller

A message I left for some people that we didnt see for a while.

Me, Brandon, Justin, Zack, Elder Lesh. Justin Baptized his two friends on his sides

They're goofy

The death of Elder Lesh & I's companion ship, but not our love.

Daniel vs The Mesa Temple

Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 11:07:48 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

This week was insane.... 

We've been super booked every night using tons of miles. We are preparing to Baptize the two teenage guys we met last week, for this Saturday. So I'm really excited about that. I haven't had any baptisms yet because of my area's and stuff. Whitewashing twice and then having a bad trainer doesn't help. But the Lord is blessing me and Elder Lesh a lot, so I'm really excited.

But the craziest thing that happened is that Joram went back to Kenya. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, and he wants to be baptized now, but he didnt have time to do it here, because he wants to have a big party after. hahaha. So he's going back to Kenya like right now. But he's going to find the church there. And here's why. Get ready for the craziest story of the week. We took Joram to the Mesa Temple to see the lights and the visitors center. (Which is AWESOME and a great missionary tool) So we're walking around the inside and Joram's wife sits down and there are these other Kenyan people there, and they start talking, then the all start talking in Swahili and Joram meets all these members of the church that joined in Kenya, including one of his own tribe, who can speak his tribal language. And me and Elder Lesh are like, "yes, this is awesome." Then this white guy walks up and starts talking to them in Swahili. He's a returned missionary who served in... you guessed it- Kenya! So he's talking to all of them, and eventually he starts to tell Joram where the Church building is in Nairobi, the city where he lives. Apparently, its like... in walking distance of his house. like across the street or something. So Elder Lesh and I are freaking out in excitement because now we know he's going to find the church there for sure. And they all celebrate, and Joram's wife gets some new friends from Kenya to help her and support her. And later, Joram tells us that it was no accident that all that happened. And I agree. It was definitely a miracle. Joram is planning on coming back to the United States to get baptized someday.... We told him if that doesn't work out soon he needs to go do it in Kenya. But he wants "his first missionaries to be there" hahaha. So its a way cool story.

But speaking of the Mesa Temple, it is such a beautiful place. We went through it today. And we've been there twice taking investigators to the Christmas lights. If you ever have the opportunity to go there for Christmas, do it! We are going all the time this time of year. And during the Easter Pageant, which is hear is also amazing.

Thats all for this week. Next week we'll have baptism pictures and all sorts of fun things! 

Love, 

Elder Feller 

Daniel vs Two Areas!

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 10:54:12 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

I have no idea what to say this week! Not too much happened...

... oh we only absorbed another area so we cover 5 wards and have whitewashed twice in one transfer.. new record. So we're super busy. And our area is now 20 square miles... which, p.s., is kinda huge. Which is good because we're super busy.. and bad because we're super busy. Its kinda stressful. Especially on my OCD companion. hahaha. And we were out of miles in our car for the last couple days, because we live 1.5 miles out side of our area and 5 miles to the closest residential neighborhood in our area. It was super fun to bike there on NOT my bike because the pedal fell off again! So I have to use a bike I borrowed from our Zone Leader that is super slow, hard to pedal and uncomfortable. So i'm going to get that fixed in Tempe... AGAIN. But taking over there area for at least 3 weeks isn't that bad. We had a member call us up like the first day and say, "hey I've got a kid living with me, who has been going to church a little bit and wants to hear 'the discussions' and will most likely be baptized." So we meet, teach a little bit, come back the next day and he's got another friend who has been going to church for 4 years and wants to be baptized. So we are most likely going to reach our baptismal goal of two for this transfer because of that. Our other prospects are not looking too good right now, unfortunately, and I think this is the Lord blessing us to meet our goal, because of all our hard work.

So the problems with the other two people from Africa we were going to baptize are: 1. Rosemary's work schedule got messed up royally, so we couldnt meet last saturday, like usual, and set up a date, and its been really hard to contact her. and 2. Jorem is now saying he was already baptized, and doesnt need to be again. We're working on that, we told him to pray about it last time and are going back soon.

thats pretty much it...

Love Elder Feller