Yo! This week has been CRAY-CRAY!

Sister Bukhara and I went on exchanges on Tuesday and that was pretty cool. (:

Sister Bukhara and I on exchanges!

Wednesday I had the incredible opportunity of attending Leadership Council at the Mission Home in Cincinnati... and it was AMAZING! I could never get tired of hearing President Porter speak — He truly is inspired! We talked about the role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion and dissected Elder Bednar's seminar that he gave in the recent missionary broadcast. It was really powerful and I learned a ton!

My Mission Family ~ Sister Jones trained Sister Nicol... and Sister Nicol trained me... And we love each other SO MUCH!!!

We are a bunch of goofballs whenever we get to be around each other. (:

Following the Council, Sister Bluder, Bukhara, Lovell, and I went to this Belgian waffle place and got chicken and waffles and it was delicious!

DIN DIN after Leadership Council

GOOD STUFF!!!

Today we played volleyball with our district and ate Grater's ice cream (which is the most delicious ice cream in the world).

SO! I came across the following scriptures in my studies this week and they are my new favorites! The path to eternal life isn't too difficult if we only TRUST in Christ's Atonement and in our Heavenly Father's love! He will carry us to the land of promise! I invite you all to read these verses and ponder them...

 Alma 37:
 44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word ofChrist, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass,which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.
 45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For justas surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.
 46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us.

The way is prepared, and if we will look — we may live forever.

Love ya'll ~ bye!

Sister Feil

Man shall not live by baguettes alone...

The weather has been super nice to us! The sun has been out like for three days already this past week — right now even, it is nice and sunny and breezy outside! It's incredible! I hope we are done with snow already... That would be luxurious!

The highlight of my week was probably interviews with President Porter on Wednesday! We went to Montgomery (where the stake building is located) and had our area books and planners checked and role played with the ZL's and STL's. Then we interviewed with President Porter and with Sister Porter... And they are fabulous! I have a firm testimony that not only are missionaries called to their specific mission, but they are also called to their specific mission presidents! President Porter is just one of THE GREATEST guys I have ever met, and we had the best talk. I know that he loves God and Jesus Christ and I also know that he loves every single missionary in this mission... I have no doubt about that! Same with Sister Porter. While I sat talking with them, I could just feel the love they have for me individually, and to have that kind of support is incredible! So that was my favorite day this week. (:

On Thursday, we met a cool lady named 'A' who actually lives pretty close to us. She told us that she and her boyfriend were actually looking for a church and that she really wanted to meet with us again! We exchanged numbers and she asked us if we could go out to lunch sometime, and so we scheduled a time for Saturday, and we are planning on teaching them The Restoration! Woo hoo! I will update you on how that goes. (:

On Friday, I went on exchanges with the lovely Sister Lovell... again! She has been my STL my whole mission and I love her to death. We stayed here in Eastgate, and went to help out at this organization in town called Inter-Parish Ministries, which is an organization that helps out families who are in need of food and clothing. It is really a top-notch organization, and hopefully we will be volunteering there every week from here on out!

On Saturday, we went to visit a family that ended up not being home. On our way out of their apartment building, we ran into some people that were just moving in and so we offered our help... and they accepted it! We ended up spending over an hour helping them and that was like the first time someone actually took us up on our offer of service! It was pretty cool.

Yesterday was a fabulous Sabbath! We had ward conference and our stake president spoke. President Bradley is just plain awesome! He is an amazing stake president and has such a strong testimony and an even stronger love for all those in the stake.

The funniest thing that happened this week actually happened last night... we met up with the Elders in front of our Relief society president's home because they were going to give us some bread (they have this super nice hook-up from Panera!) and Elder Van Alfen grabbed a baguette and was like, "What if we just had a sword fight with these baguettes?" So we did. And the RS president heard us and came out and started chatting with us, and we all were cracking jokes and whatnot. It was pretty funny. The lengths we sisters will go to for a loaf of bread — lol!

Have a blessed week!

Love, Sister Feil

Happy Late Valentine's Day e'rebody!

First off, I just want to give a shout out to my brother, Nate Feil, who recently got engaged WOOT! WOOT! Congrats to you and Lyndsay!! Also, shout out to my sista-in-law Kayla Feil who recently HAD A BIRTHDAY! And another shout out to my sista Hannah who is HAVING A BIRTHDAY on Friday!

Okay, enough shout-outs. This week has been fabulous... It has been snowing, and it was my turn to drive!!!

Oh... THE SNOW!!!

Therefore, it was my very first time ever driving in snow! 

Sister Bluder and I being silly :)

And we are still here and breathing so I must not be too bad at it (it didn't snow much last year in Provo when this California girl was at BYU - lol)! YAY... SUCCESS! 

Wednesday we had a Zone meeting in Georgetown and that was pretty sweet. We went over Elder Anderson's talk that he gave at the missionary devotional that occurred not too long ago. We are really emphasizing the whole theme of "teaching repentance and baptizing converts." This week we have just been contacting A TON of people and fulfilling the huge list of assignments that we have from the different presidencies in the ward. It's been pretty cool! 

There is so much great work ahead of us, and the cool thing is that I am always learning something new or something more that I can do to really help with that work. No matter how much you think you know, or how much you role-play and practice and study, there is always more to be learned, and the Spirit will always guide you and teach you about how you can be a better disciple of Christ. I love my Savior. I know that because of Him, I can be a better person tomorrow than I am today. And I'm stoked because my whole life gets to be like that! I'm on a spiral staircase, taking one step at a time, and God is helping me with each one of those steps.

Have a blessed week!

Love , Sister Feil

Beastgate!

Yo. I've been transferred y'all! I am now serving in the Eastgate Ward, which is a suburb of the grand ole' Cincinnati, and my new companion is... wait for iiiiiit.... Sister BLUDER! She is the bomb. She is a convert to the church and so I love listening to her testimony. And she is such a hard worker. I seriously love her so much! Needless to say, I am very excited for this 7-week transfer (the extra week is a one time thing and is due to the newly implemented 3-week-instead-of-two-week MTC stay extension being put into effect for English speakers)!!!

Me and Sister Bluder (I LOVE that we both have German last names!)

Anyways, we live in a house — yes...  A HOUSE!

My current home away from home!!!

And we are serving in a ward with a set of elders, Elder Van Alfen and Elder Hullinger (who is a new missionary) and they are great. This area is completely different from my first one, so I pretty much feel like a new missionary again myself, haha!

Tuesday was transfers, and miraculously I was able to fit all of my stuff into Sister Gimbel's car, and by 2:00 that afternoon, Sister Bluder and I were already back to work in Eastgate! This area is SO MUCH SMALLER than Decatur and so we have been able to visit A TON people, and it's been great! I dislike the fact that I don't really know anyone yet... But realize I just gotta give it a couple weeks — because the few people that I have met are incredible!

While visiting a ward member named Sister U, I saw that she had a cookbook that my mom uses called Six Sister's Stuff and I told her about the lemon cake recipe that is one of my favorites! Well, the next day she came out with us to a lesson (which ended up falling through) and afterwards she surprised us with... LEMON CAKE and it was AMAZING! Quite the nice little surprise:).

THANK YOU Sister U... You are THE BEST!!!

Thursday, we had zone weekly planning, and so I got to meet everyone... Our zone seems pretty chill and I am excited to get to know them all! Sunday was cray-zay because our church starts at 1:00! I don't think I have ever had church start that late! Actually... maybe I have, but it has been a while! So that means that all of our meetings on Sunday don't usually start until 10, so we have plenty of time to deliver breakfasts to people before church and then we have the afternoon to visit. Ahh, it was quite a refreshing change from the 9 o'clock church I have had for the past three transfers. And I was the lucky one who gave the opening prayer in sacrament meeting, and I also bore my testimony so that I could introduce myself to the ward. There are so many people (HUGE change going from a small branch to a large ward!)... my goal is to try hard to learn and know all of their names!

Spiritual thought: This morning, in my studies, I was reading in Alma Chapter 24 about Anti-Nephi-Lehi and his brethren. They knew the Laminates were preparing to go to battle against them, but they had promised God that they would perish rather than use their weapons to shed blood. These new converts were more afraid for souls than for their lives did not want to revert back to their old ways of delighting in bloodshed and hating their enemies. They were determined to avoid this risk at all costs, so they buried their weapons and did not fight. Then the Laminates began to slay them, but when they saw that they would not fight back, their hearts were softened and many of them were also converted, even a greater number than those who had been slain. As I was reading this, I was pondering the question: What weapons of war do I need to bury? In other words, what do I need to do to become more consecrated? What do I need to do so that I can be a greater example to others as a disciple of Christ? What do I need to do to more fully keep my covenants? I invite you all to ponder these questions, and use this week to ask God for your next step in coming closer to Him. I know He loves each and every one of you and desires your salvation. Just trust in Him! He will help you to accomplish you next step as long as you trust in Him and His timing.

Our new shades

Interesting experience from the week: Sister Bluder and I were going to visit an investigator, who ended up not being home... However, his son was home and we ended up talking to him a bit, but he was pretty much saying how he thinks if there is a God, that He is a woman; but that really we are all god, and the only way we can talk to God is if we use 'shrooms and other drugs. He told us, "Look, I read part of the Book of Mormon. I tried out your religion. So will you try out mine? Please, when you get the chance, use 'shrooms, and you will be able to talk to God. Your prayer won't do. Just trust me." Holy moly, it was SO SAD.... He didn't know what happens to us when we die. He had no idea or hope of anything. It was interesting to me how fast the Spirit was gone from this discussion... and I DIDN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL!

Anyways, hope you all have a blessed week! The church is true and the book is blue!

Love Sister Feil

Change.

Well, my time in the Decatur Branch is up for now. After serving in this area for 4 1/2 months, the Lord needs me somewhere else! So yes, I will be getting transferred tomorrow and I'm not sure (as of yet!) where I will be serving next as we are still waiting for that phone call...

Me & Sister Creager and our silly faces and selfies :)

Tuesday we went to Fort Wayne for an awesome training on how to have more effective studies and lesson plans. It was really cool! Afterwards, the sisters in my zone met up at the one and only CHIPOTLE for lunch and I was so happy because it had literally been so long since I have eaten there and it's like my favorite place.

The crew at Chipotle!

Wednesday we had an awesome chapel tour with one of our investigators, and I honestly think chapel tours are the greatest. I want to have chapel tours like all the time now! Friday I went on an exchange with the lovely Sister Hamblin and so I was in Huntington for the day. We volunteered at the YMCA and cleaned workout equipment in the morning, and then I got to meet some of their investigators, including one who was getting ready to be baptized THE VERY NEXT DAY... Which was so exciting! I would love to serve in Huntington someday:).

Me & Sister Hamblin

Pretty much, this week was full of a lot of contacting, and not too many people were interested, but we still received God's grace because we found three new investigators! Seriously, even when we have long weeks where it's hard to find people who are willing to talk with us, there are still miracles happening. Every. Single. Day.

I would like to leave you with this thought: In my studies this morning, I was directed towards the subject of having a repentant heart. I was reading about Alma the younger in Alma 36, where he is telling his son all about his experience with being visited by an angel, and how he desired to have others "taste as he had tasted." As Ezra taft benson explained, "it was the 'born of God' Alma who, as a missionary, was so able to impart the word that many others were also born of God." If we want to help others come unto Christ and thus improve their lives, then we need to be doing that ourselves! We need to live in a way that allows us to change our natures, not simply our behavior. It is so essential that we try to escape the 'natural man' inside of us and focus on what God wants for us rather than what we want, and when our desires line up with His, THAT is when our natures change and we are allowing the Atonement to work in our lives. Therefore, the Atonement allows us to have a change of heart, and when that happens we can bless the lives of those around us.

I am grateful for my Savior's sacrifice for me, for you, and for everyone, for it is Because of Him that I can change my heart and be happy as I learn to do the will of my Father in Heaven.

*Funny story: Sister Creager and I were working in Fort Wayne on Saturday, and towards the end of the day we decided to go contact a potential. So... We get there and ring the doorbell of this family, and a guy comes to answer and pretty soon—like six other guys come and crowd around him, all trying to see who was there! Sister Creager and I were just surrounded by all of these teenaged boys and luckily, we were able to quickly learn their names and so pretty much they became our new friends! It was so fun talking with them. I mean... can you just picture 7 brothers—all being silly with each other, crowding around two sister missionaries? It was the best!

Have a blessed week!

Love, Sister Feil

I don't know why... but kids just LOVE us!