Happy Thanksgiving!

So sorry — but once again this is going to be short...  I am still trying to get this computer-time thing all figured out!

Wednesday we had the WEIRDEST. LESSON. EVER. We met with this guy (whom we had met a few weeks earlier), who is this 22 year old gamer who we found out has been arrested a few times. He was trying to impress us by telling us he had been in fights and stuff. We started asking him inspired questions and asked what made him happy. He said, "Well, beautiful women make me happy!" Aaaaand it was kind of awkward. After the lesson he asked us if we had a Facebook. And it was weird. The Spirit left that lesson so fast... and so did we! It was SO NOT GOOD.

As you all know, this past week was THANKSGIVING and Sister Nicol and I were invited to Sister Linksy's for dinner. There were a few other members from our branch there as well, along with Elder and Sister Ellinger (senior couple). We didn't have turkey, but we had some delicious ham and mashed potatoes and it was mmm mmm good!

Me, Sister Hendricks, and Sister Nicol — right before Thanksgiving dinner

Saturday we went on exchanges in Huntington and that was so awesome! Our STL's are the best!! I love them so much!!

On exchanges!!!

Yay for busy Sundays!! We had a member baptism right after church (at which Sister Nicol and I both spoke), and then we had a Bishop Vision Meeting immediately following that. Unfortunately, we got the starting time wrong (the meeting was earlier than we thought) so we went into it not being as prepared as we would have liked. I was supposed to lead but I had no idea how as I have only been to one meeting like this before and couldn't remember many specifics about it! So I followed the Spirit, and Sister Nicol graciously helped me out — as she knew how those meetings were supposed to go. I was super stressed, but it ended up being an awesome meeting and the ZL's even said it was one of the best meetings they had been to in that branch.

The weather has been pretty good. The snow has melted, and it is cold, but not as cold as it was the first time it snowed!

Spiritual thought for the week... At zone meeting on Friday, we talked about the mission tour we had last week. The thing we mainly discussed was love. Loving the people you serve and those you serve with is the most essential factor in missionary work. We are missionaries because we love God, and as representatives of Christ, we must love as He and Heavenly Father love. When we can view others as Christ views them, then and only then can we really help them and guide them as they learn about the gospel and about how they can find true happiness in their lives. We can't make others change, but we can love others, and through our example they will want to change. Love is key. So keep calm and love on (:

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Feil

It's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like... WINTER!

It SNOWED on Saturday! And now its super duper cold outside. And I am always cold. Always. But that's okay!! I'm sure I will get used to it eventually!

First sighting of SNOW!!!

So the highlight of this week was a mission tour that we had on Thursday. Elder Bennett from the Seventy and his wife came and we got to work with him ALL DAY... And when I say all day — I mean 10AM—5PM. It was AWESOME and I could feel his love so strongly. He taught with such power and he really inspired me so much. He talked about our divine role as missionaries, and about how we were reserved by the Lord to serve in this mission, in our assigned areas, with our specific companions, and how the Lord trusts us to fulfill His great work at this time.

Sister Nicol and I with Elder and Sister Bennett

Elder Bennett also spoke about the importance of asking for referrals from EVERYONE. Referrals are there to help us find those who are prepared to hear the Gospel, and as we are diligent in finding, we will see miracles happen. Sister Nicol and I have been asking for referrals like crazy, and though it doesn't always work out, we have seen many blessings come as we have listened to the counsel of Elder Bennett. I have developed a greater appreciation for this work that I am doing, and I am SO EXCITED to find those who are ready for the gospel! Our message really does improve the quality of the lives of those who accept and act upon it. I feel so blessed to have it in my life, and that is why I am here serving a mission in the GREAT OCM!

After the mission tour, Sister Nicol, me, and two other sisters in our district went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner (we were in Muncie for the tour and so we took advantage of the varied and good places to eat that are found there) and apparently we weren't the only ones with this FABULOUS idea as we also saw the elders from our zone there as well! It was awesome.

Enjoying dinner with some sisters from our district at Texas Roadhouse in Muncie

Afterwards we treated ourselves to a peppermint chocolate cup milkshake at Chick-fil-A because well... why not!?

A member taught us how to cook up some pork chops this week. I am grateful to have that added skill in my life.

Also! We helped a member bake pies for a function she had, and her friend that helped us made us some certificates! So hey! No matter what else happens on my mission, at least I can say that I graduated with honors from Sister Linksy's pie baking school. Woot woot.

Officially graduated from 'pie-baking school' at Sister Linsky's

Funny story! So one of our referrals of the week was a neighbor of one of our members... and this guy just happens to be INCREDIBLY well—off. He was an extra in Godzilla and in Hawaii 5—0 and has met a handful of the US presidents. We had a lesson with him and then he gave us a tour of his house and WOW! He had so many collectables it was insane:).

This cold weather we are having is also insane... Because like I said — it snowed on Saturday and went from being breezy to being just plain cold almost instantaneously! Oh Boy! I hope I get used to this cold weather fast.

Hope you all had a great week! Love you!

Love, Sister Feil

TWO MONTHS OLD!

Holy cow I am two months old today... Time flies by so fast, it's insane!

So this letter is not going to be very long because I'm Running Out of (computer) Time....

Sister Nicol and I attended a baby shower of someone in the branch on Saturday, and it was awesome! We got to meet some nonmembers and even handed out a book of mormon.

For one of our dinner appointments this week, we went to Pizza Hut (which is pretty much considered a 'high-end' restaurant here — haha) and the sister that took us is awesome! She brought along her twin and they were so sunny together, I was cracking up the entire time.

Sister Nicol and I with Sister Stibblefield and her darling twin sister at Pizza Hut... These ladies are SO ADORABLE!!!
(Sorry the pic is blurry)

We had another dinner appointment with a less active, and we briefly mentioned that we only get a certain amount of money on our MSF cards every two weeks for groceries and things (we do a lot of our own cooking) and she was like, "WHAT!?! That's not enough!" And so she sent us home with paper towels, toothpaste, a little food and some other stuff! She was so sweet! And then the next night, she called us and said that she and her daughter were at the store and asked us if we'd like some popcorn and a couple of other things... Of course we didn't turn them down! And then they came to drop it off at our apartment and turns out they literally bought us a ton of food that should last us through the next month. It was like Christmas came early — WaHoo! They were so sweet to help us out! That was (probably) the highlight of the week!

Groceries a sweet sister in our branch bought and brought to us!

Early Merry Christmas to us!!!

Funny story! On Thursday this week, the wind was crazy insane! Like we thought a tornado was on its way, and then we thought we heard sirens and we were a little scared and I thought we were going to die! So we called an investigator and she told us that what we were hearing was trains, not sirens, and that we would be fine. Haha — Guess I'm just a little worry wart!

Anyways, the Atonement is real. With it, we can become better versions of ourselves with every passing day, and be on the path to reach our full potential that God knows we can reach. Continue to pray and repent, and always always always act on the revelation you receive so that you can improve in a way that will benefit your life. Keep on keeping on. (:

Have a blessed week!

Love, Sister Feil

Halfway done with training!!!!

Hey everybody!

So this week is transfers, and thankfully I get to stay with my lovely companion, Sister Nicol, for at least one more transfer!!! 

Woo hoo! And It's official — I am halfway done with training!!! Yay! It seriously has gone by so fast so far... it's crazy!

Anyways, this letter won't be very long, but pretty much this has been another amazing week!

Wednesday we had specialized training in Ft. Wayne, and afterwards we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and it was awesome because I love Chick-fil-A!!

Another cool thing about Ft. Wayne: part of our area covers the south end of it, and we were doing some work there and came across this little mini city. Like, literally, it was a miniature city, with a McDonalds and Pizza Hut and streets that were much smaller than they should be.

The mini city was fenced in, but there was a police officer locking it up and so we went up and asked her about it. She said it's used for field trips to teach children about safety.

Her name was Joyce and she was so nice, she actually gave us a tour of it — so we got some cool pictures.

Selfie with Joyce - the officer who gave us the tour of the miniature city :)

Saturday, Sister Nicol and I got together with the Senior couple missionaries in our area, the Ellingers, and they came with us to some lessons and then took us to dinner. We went to Cracker Barrel in Ft. Wayne and we had such a great time! The Ellinger's are the best, and they were so kind to take some of their free time to come work with us. It was the greatest.

So, a member invited us to his house for lunch yesterday and fed us some bear... that he had hunted himself. Last week, he cooked up some deer he had hunted and invited us to try that. And I gotta tell you, they are both really good! Haha! Never thought I'd ever be able to say that I've eaten bear, but there you go!

Quite possibly the bear I ate... (this was in the member's home who fed us BEAR!)

Okay, funny story... we were in Berne trying to contact a less active, and they weren't home so we decided to try talking with their neighbors. Their neighbors were this cute old couple from Guatemala. They have lived in America for about 28 years and are mainly Spanish speakers! But they invited us in and showed us picture of their children and grandchildren. Before we left we asked if we could pray with them, and they grabbed our hands, soo... I held a boys hand!!!! It was awesome though — he prayed in Spanish for us, and they were like squeezing our hands the whole time and it was great.

This was the cute couple from Guatemala... aka I held his hand.

Anyways, have a blessed week!

Love you all!

Sister Feil

"Eternity Ahead!"

Halloween and other stuff...

Hey everyone!

This week was a crazy busy week for Sister Nicol and I! Monday was cool because Decatur has this huge event every year called the Callithumphian Parade (it's a lot like the Candy Cane Lane parade at home in Visalia) and it occurred that night! It is such a big event... like HUGE! Absolutely everyone goes to it and the funny thing is that we discovered that Deactur isn't nearly as small as we thought it was — haha!

Anyways, Sister Nicol and I were riding bikes during our Pday time...

Selfie I took riding my bike... literally almost crashed trying to take it. I don't recommend taking pics while riding a bike!

Our bike ride view

...which happened to be right during the time people were setting up for the parade and one of the golf carts was pulling a trailer full of bags of popcorn and some fell out. They didn't look back, slow down, stop or come back to retrieve it, so we did the only thing we could possibly do and saved that poor popcorn by taking it home with us and giving it a place to stay (haha).

'Saving' the popcorn

After Pday was over, we went to the parade and talked to quite a few people. It was pretty cool.

Tuesday we had zone conference...and it was AMAZING! President Porter and his wife are incredible teachers, and I learned so much from them that day!

My cute companion and me

Wednesday was the branch 'Trunk or Treat,' and literally this branch goes all out! Every year they decorate a room in the church to be a 'haunted' room and this year they had a lot of decorations so they decided to set it up in the chapel (our building is very small and doesn't have a cultural hall and we use foldable chairs for church and such) and so literally there was a haunted maze in the chapel... it was definitely INTERESTING. I felt kind of weird about it but the branch loved it! There were a ton of people who attended this activity... so that was super great!

Branch 'Trunk or Treat' activity... Bet you all want to know what kind of toothpaste we use - lol!!

Thursday, we weekly planned, and, because we had run out of miles in our car, we walked everywhere that day. While walking, we came across a house that was decorated to look like a haunted face, and when we were taking pics in front of it, a little girl said "hi" to us from across the street. She was with her older sister and her grandma, and we immediately went over to talk with them, and they were interested! We have met with them every day this week and they even came to church with us this past Sunday! It was awesome! They are some of the sweetest girls, and that was definitely the miracle of the week:).

The scary house with the 'Haunted' face that led us to meeting our new investigators!

Friday was the genealogy night at the church, and that was totally cool! Sister Linksy is a genealogical genius — haha. There was a lot of great food there, too! We helped Sister Linksy make some pies... so I made my first ever apple pie (made with buckets of butter and sugar — it was completely the opposite experience of everything my mother ever taught me about baking in making that pie.... there were no 'healthy substitutions' or 'let's cut the sugar and/or fat in half,' etc., — sorry mom!! lol) but yeah, that was so much fun and that pie turned out to be really quite delicious.

Saturday was Halloween! We went to our good friend Sister Gimbel's home and read an amazing talk with her, and then we stayed for a bit as she passed out candy. We returned to our apartment early (7PM) and pretty much tried to spend the evening doing productive things, so I just did a lot of extra studying because studying is the best! I literally cherish my study time because I learn so much!

Yesterday was awesome because Sister Nicol and I had a lot of places to go to reach our weekly goals, and we were able to reach them! We taught 11 quality lessons, and it felt SOOOOO GOOD. Being productive is seriously the greatest. Today we will be going to play basketball with our zone in Huntington, and I am pretty stoked for that!!! Woo hoO!

In closing, I just want to encourage everybody to choose faith. I tell myself those two words every day. Having faith really makes the greatest difference in everything. And it is a choice. So choose faith! I promise something totally amazing will happen!

Have a great week all!

Love, Sister Feil