Dec 1, 2013
11-19-13 letter home
Dear Family,
I love you! M Renmen Uou! Sak Pase!
We've got a lot coming up. We should have 3 baptisms this weekend. We're very excited for that.
It's hard to find time to take pictures,but Florida's cool. There are wild Iguanas every where.
I want to leave you all with a challenge, either individually or in a group of two or three,to go with the missionaries in the next 2 weeks. It'll be amazing! Try to have a white Christmas with convert baptisms instead of just snow.
M renmen nou anpil. M espere ou ap aksepte augajmen ne te bay nou. Pase bon semen!
Elder Felkins
I love you! M Renmen Uou! Sak Pase!
We've got a lot coming up. We should have 3 baptisms this weekend. We're very excited for that.
It's hard to find time to take pictures,but Florida's cool. There are wild Iguanas every where.
I want to leave you all with a challenge, either individually or in a group of two or three,to go with the missionaries in the next 2 weeks. It'll be amazing! Try to have a white Christmas with convert baptisms instead of just snow.
M renmen nou anpil. M espere ou ap aksepte augajmen ne te bay nou. Pase bon semen!
Elder Felkins
11-24-13 email
Today we had a fun day. WE went to the Swap Shop(which is a massive store that people sell EVERYTHING at for really cheap) and then we walked down the sidwaklk by the beach. WE';re not allowed on the sand, but the beach is gorgeous to look at! The weather here is great today. It's like 76ish. It's been windy and rainy recently. so 76 with the wind chill. The Haitians are freezing, but I love it! haha.
We helped a lady move this week. She had so much HEAVY furniture. We thought it sould only take an hour and then we got there and saw the massive truck stuffed with furniture. It took 4 hours. Then we had Zone Conference this week. President Anderson and Sister Anderson came and trained us on a few things. A lot of it was on repentance and the Sacrament. It was really good.
WE also helped a ward member paint the outside of his house. It took a few fours then he fed us. Then we had a memeber take us to olivegarden, then a thanksgiving dinner with another member, then the ward chilli cook-off. We ate soooo m,uch that day! I thuoght I was going to die! hahai went on 2 exchanges this week. One of them was with a Zone Leader in Hollywood. Super fun. It rained SUPER hard that day. But it's nice to see somepeoples teaching. The other exchange wasn't super great....but it was still good. I exchange once a week becasue elder McMullin is a distrcit leader so he has to work with all the comapnionships in our distrcit.
I don;t think I'll be leaving Ft. Lauderdale in December, it's more likely that Elder McMullin will be. i won;t know until about 6 days before Christmas. For packages it's best to send them to the mission office address and then they'll send them wherever I am. I still probably be in Ft. Lauderdal;e thuogh. We've got a Haitian family singed up to feed us on Thanksgiving. Should be good. :)
This week I hit my 1/8 mark. Whoo! haha. Pretty funny how fast it flew by!
I miss the snow! It's so wired how warm it is! haha It's nice though too.
We helped a lady move this week. She had so much HEAVY furniture. We thought it sould only take an hour and then we got there and saw the massive truck stuffed with furniture. It took 4 hours. Then we had Zone Conference this week. President Anderson and Sister Anderson came and trained us on a few things. A lot of it was on repentance and the Sacrament. It was really good.
WE also helped a ward member paint the outside of his house. It took a few fours then he fed us. Then we had a memeber take us to olivegarden, then a thanksgiving dinner with another member, then the ward chilli cook-off. We ate soooo m,uch that day! I thuoght I was going to die! hahai went on 2 exchanges this week. One of them was with a Zone Leader in Hollywood. Super fun. It rained SUPER hard that day. But it's nice to see somepeoples teaching. The other exchange wasn't super great....but it was still good. I exchange once a week becasue elder McMullin is a distrcit leader so he has to work with all the comapnionships in our distrcit.
I don;t think I'll be leaving Ft. Lauderdale in December, it's more likely that Elder McMullin will be. i won;t know until about 6 days before Christmas. For packages it's best to send them to the mission office address and then they'll send them wherever I am. I still probably be in Ft. Lauderdal;e thuogh. We've got a Haitian family singed up to feed us on Thanksgiving. Should be good. :)
This week I hit my 1/8 mark. Whoo! haha. Pretty funny how fast it flew by!
I miss the snow! It's so wired how warm it is! haha It's nice though too.
Nov 24, 2013
11-18-13 e-mail
Hi Mom!
This week was super good. We saw a lot of really cool people.
Mamie and Jeff are amazing. Jeff is 9 and loves oragami and s really good at it. He speaks Creole pretty well which is unusual for a kid who has lived in America his whio life. Most haitian kids who grew up in the US only speak english even though their parents don;t speak english. It's kinda weird. He goes to school in miami at a private school. They don;t have really anything. But Mamie wants Jeff to have a good education, so they drive an hour to and from Miami everyday in a car that can't take to freeway because it has so many problems. Jefff is super smart. He's quiet, but he's really funny. Mamie reminds me of you sometimes, just becasue she cries whenever she feels the spirit. Not a bad thing, the gift of weeping is a Spiritual gift. THey were found by some sisters when they were harvesting and they passed them to us becasue we;re Creole.
We've taught all the people we've baptized, but the sisters find some for us. If the sisters find someone to baptize and teach them and they have to have a preisthood holder baptize them, but it still counts as their baptism.
WE do creole for the who zone which is a large area, but a small part of that we teach english as well. We rotate Creole and english everyday. So today is a creole day, but tomorrow is english and so on. It fluctuates which language we teach in more. Sometimes more Creole, sometimes more english. It depends on how well we're finding [people in both areas.
Creole is coming. It takes time and soetimes it's really hard. Especailly becasue I still have a hard time understanding them.
I got the music. Thank you soooo much! It was so nice to have the Messiah here. I kind cryed a little when I saw it becasue I love it so much and I miss it. Thank you so mcuh!
Harvesting was so great this week,. WE had been looking for a new place to harvest and we found these apartments that looked really good. We came back the next day and gave blessing after blessing. It was awesome. WE even found a less active member that really needed the blessing. It was awesome. However, none of them came to church and we were so sad! We had worked incredibly hard this week. But, come to find out, a Haitian member had brought her neighbors and they're preparing to be baptized next week. They're an amazing family and such a blessing. God compensates hard work even if we don't always expect it in the ways it happens. The Father, Jean, played volleyball for the Haitian Olympic Volleyball team. He's super cool. Biggest Haitian I've ever met. Most Haitians are pretty small people.
WE don;t know for sure what our part on the temple dedication will be. WE're so excited though!!
I love you! Have a good week!!!!
Nov 13, 2013
11/11/13-email
well, not a whole lot happened this week. It was a really good week with a lot of people who were awesome. We had a bpatism yesteday. Mamie and her son Jeff were baptized. They're awesome!! Mamie just cryed and cryed through the whole service becasue she was so happy. AFter she came up out of the water she just stood in the font crying. The Spririt was so strong through tthe whole meeting. It was amazing! I left the camera, so I'll send pictures next week.
I'll send the SD card home soon, I just haven;t taken a lot of pictures of the area or anything like that recently, so I've been meaning to do that. I'll proabably send it home next week.
Transfers went well this week, they didn;t really affect us though. There is a new Elder in our appartment. There are 4 of us in the appartment and one was transfered. The old one's name is Elder Harral, and the new one is Elder Brakey. Elder Brakey is awesome. Elder Woodard is his companion. We have a really awesome district. It's the biggest in the mission. THere are 5 companionships. 2 are spanish, we're creole and east (english), and 2 elnglish. It's really fun.
I've never told you about our bishop here! He's a fireball! He's a really short balck guy and he's a convert of like 20 years. Up until he was a bishop, he had 5 earings. Hahaha. He always tells us when we laugh at somehting he says:" ya know what elders? It is what it is." It's really hard to discribe him, but he's hilarious. His wife is like the exact opposite of him which is super funny too. They're both amazing though.
WE got to drive passed the Ft. Lauderdale temple a couple times this last week. It's BEAUTIFUL! They just announced that it will be dedicated inbetween the middle of april and the middle of may. We're so excited!!! I'll send some pictures next week.
I love you all! I miss you! I hope everything is going well!
Spencer,
Break a leg this week! I'm soooooooo excited for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you'll do great and don't get stressed. Something I alwyas did right before I went on stage was pray. I found a spot by myself backstage and said a quick prayer and that always helped. Just have fun with it. :D Wish I was there for it. Love you!
-Elder Felkins
(I ask him about less active family that are preparing to go to the temple, and some the new converts)
They go to the Orlando Temple. It's a 3 hour drive.
I'll send the SD card home soon, I just haven;t taken a lot of pictures of the area or anything like that recently, so I've been meaning to do that. I'll proabably send it home next week.
Transfers went well this week, they didn;t really affect us though. There is a new Elder in our appartment. There are 4 of us in the appartment and one was transfered. The old one's name is Elder Harral, and the new one is Elder Brakey. Elder Brakey is awesome. Elder Woodard is his companion. We have a really awesome district. It's the biggest in the mission. THere are 5 companionships. 2 are spanish, we're creole and east (english), and 2 elnglish. It's really fun.
I've never told you about our bishop here! He's a fireball! He's a really short balck guy and he's a convert of like 20 years. Up until he was a bishop, he had 5 earings. Hahaha. He always tells us when we laugh at somehting he says:" ya know what elders? It is what it is." It's really hard to discribe him, but he's hilarious. His wife is like the exact opposite of him which is super funny too. They're both amazing though.
WE got to drive passed the Ft. Lauderdale temple a couple times this last week. It's BEAUTIFUL! They just announced that it will be dedicated inbetween the middle of april and the middle of may. We're so excited!!! I'll send some pictures next week.
I love you all! I miss you! I hope everything is going well!
Spencer,
Break a leg this week! I'm soooooooo excited for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you'll do great and don't get stressed. Something I alwyas did right before I went on stage was pray. I found a spot by myself backstage and said a quick prayer and that always helped. Just have fun with it. :D Wish I was there for it. Love you!
-Elder Felkins
(I ask him about less active family that are preparing to go to the temple, and some the new converts)
Felkins Family wrote:
Do they have a date set? Is the family that where non members interested?
WEll one of our recent converts is going to do baptisms for the dead in a couple weeks, but the fmaily that is nonmembers doesn't. We haven;t been able to work with them much lately.
(ask which temple they go to)They're doing very well. Ronald is going to the temple that same day and Vivialdi is too young, but his older Brothers and sisters should be. All of our recent converts are AMAZING! I love them! They're progressing so much.
They go to the Orlando Temple. It's a 3 hour drive.
11-5-13 email
(I ask him if he do's facebook)
We don't do any social media here. We have so many people that we can find the old fashioned way that need the gospel that it wouldn't be as effective.
(I ask about his companion)
He's a great companion. I love our district too. They're so amazing. I'm sad to see some of them be transfered, but there are sooo many great missionaries here I'm excited to get to know.
(He ask what christmas sheet music to send,they are supposed to put together a christmaas fireside or their investigators)
Send me any and all the Christmas music you want. I don't need to sing strictly motab. I have a copy of Gesu Bambino in the white binder I left at home that I could use and then I would DESPERATELY love a Handel's messiah book. I'm going to miss it soooo bad and I was asked to sing something from it possibly. Other than that, just send whatever. I just love Christmas music. :)
This week was good. Halloween is boring here. Haha. But we had two dinner appointments that day. That was great. I went on 2 exchanges this week. I go on a lot becasue Elder McMullin is the District leader. It's good to be with him and learn about leadership with him. Exchanges can be crazy sometimes. I was in the other Elders distrcit for a day and the other exchange was with a Zone Leader and we took over our area. That was a crazy day, becasue we chased less actives all day. We drove a lot, but got to go by the beachat night which was awesome. The city of Ft. LAuderdale is beautiful. We stay in the Ghetto most the time, but occasionaly we'll have a less active or something to visit in the rich part of town and it's a coool city.
WE also do comp studies with the Sisters in the District becasue he can't exchange with them. I love comp studies. The sisters are awesome! WE have a great district.
YEsterday was crazy! We ran into a guy who asked it if we were mormons. We said yes. Then he proceeded to say somehting like this: "SO I heard this thing about mormons. I have a question about it. I heard that you beleive after you're like.,...or you were had spirits, but....then after you were spirits you like turn into dragons..or something?" It was so funny. I wanted to ask him if we could come over later and show him what we looked like when we turn into dragons, but I figured that's not a very funny joke. Haha.
WE gave a blessing to an 18 year old that is bipolar or autistic. He's been in and out of the hospital a lot. THat was a great experience. I was glad I did that research paper last year on autism and music therapy becasue it helped me understand him a little better.
I love harvesting. We meet wo many wonderful people!
The picture attached is of Norzilia, our recent convert that was super pregnant when we baptized her. She called and asked if we woul dcome visit her in the hospital. WE stop by everyday becasue she gets super bored. haha. Her Babay, Olivia is soooooooo cute!!!!!
I love you MOm and Family! I'm doing so well. I love FLorida! This time of year is great. It's not too hot ALL the time. Haha. The natives freeze, but I love it. haha
Love you!!
-Elder Felkins
We don't do any social media here. We have so many people that we can find the old fashioned way that need the gospel that it wouldn't be as effective.
(I ask about his companion)
He's a great companion. I love our district too. They're so amazing. I'm sad to see some of them be transfered, but there are sooo many great missionaries here I'm excited to get to know.
(He ask what christmas sheet music to send,they are supposed to put together a christmaas fireside or their investigators)
Send me any and all the Christmas music you want. I don't need to sing strictly motab. I have a copy of Gesu Bambino in the white binder I left at home that I could use and then I would DESPERATELY love a Handel's messiah book. I'm going to miss it soooo bad and I was asked to sing something from it possibly. Other than that, just send whatever. I just love Christmas music. :)
This week was good. Halloween is boring here. Haha. But we had two dinner appointments that day. That was great. I went on 2 exchanges this week. I go on a lot becasue Elder McMullin is the District leader. It's good to be with him and learn about leadership with him. Exchanges can be crazy sometimes. I was in the other Elders distrcit for a day and the other exchange was with a Zone Leader and we took over our area. That was a crazy day, becasue we chased less actives all day. We drove a lot, but got to go by the beachat night which was awesome. The city of Ft. LAuderdale is beautiful. We stay in the Ghetto most the time, but occasionaly we'll have a less active or something to visit in the rich part of town and it's a coool city.
WE also do comp studies with the Sisters in the District becasue he can't exchange with them. I love comp studies. The sisters are awesome! WE have a great district.
YEsterday was crazy! We ran into a guy who asked it if we were mormons. We said yes. Then he proceeded to say somehting like this: "SO I heard this thing about mormons. I have a question about it. I heard that you beleive after you're like.,...or you were had spirits, but....then after you were spirits you like turn into dragons..or something?" It was so funny. I wanted to ask him if we could come over later and show him what we looked like when we turn into dragons, but I figured that's not a very funny joke. Haha.
WE gave a blessing to an 18 year old that is bipolar or autistic. He's been in and out of the hospital a lot. THat was a great experience. I was glad I did that research paper last year on autism and music therapy becasue it helped me understand him a little better.
I love harvesting. We meet wo many wonderful people!
The picture attached is of Norzilia, our recent convert that was super pregnant when we baptized her. She called and asked if we woul dcome visit her in the hospital. WE stop by everyday becasue she gets super bored. haha. Her Babay, Olivia is soooooooo cute!!!!!
I love you MOm and Family! I'm doing so well. I love FLorida! This time of year is great. It's not too hot ALL the time. Haha. The natives freeze, but I love it. haha
Love you!!
-Elder Felkins
10-28-13 E-mail
He didn't say a whole lot this week in his email, but here are parts of what he emailed me.
On 10/28/13, 8:39 AM, "Kyle Felkins" < wrote
On 10/28/13, 8:39 AM, "Kyle Felkins" < wrote
I
was thinking today I really wish I could have my Viola. I never did ask
president, but I don't think He's let anyone else. Christmas will eb wierd without
it.
On 10/28/13, 9:13 AM, "Kyle Felkins" wrote:
THought you might want to see a picture of the bike. It's
super nice! I love it and want to ride it.
I've
got to go. I love you and I should be sending a letter this week. I love
you!!!!!!!!!
On 10/28/13, 9:02 AM, "Kyle Felkins" > wrote:
On 10/28/13, 9:02 AM, "Kyle Felkins" > wrote:
i forgot to tell you that the only music
we're allowed to listen to in our mission is the Mormon tab choir.
On 10/28/13, 8:51 AM, "Kyle Felkins" wrote: (answer to how he is)
Good!
Really good! Last night we had a brizilian bbq. Best steak I've ever had! So
I'm doing really well! haha
Oct 27, 2013
oct. 6 and oct.30, 2013
Oct. 6th
:) No snow here. Haha. It's still hot, but the evnings feel great. WE hd a couple of pretty big rain storms this week. The ghetto is great. Haha. Lots of cool people. The laguage is coming. I understand more and more everyday and that is the hardest part. I loved general conference this week. It was sooo amazing. It flew by. I just wantede it to keep going and going.
We'rve had alot of members feed us lately. Their food is soooooo good. I talked about it in kids emails, you'll have to read it there becasue I don;t have a lot of time. (fried Alegator)
WE got a few less blessings last week, but this week we plan on getting a lot. It'll be really exciting. THis week is going to be realy good becasue we're all charged on conference.
I'm excited for all the missionaries at home. I got a letter from the institute in Roosevelt that ahd a list of all the missionaries who lleft recently and who have receiuved there calls. Itw as great to see. :)
Love you sooo much! I feel your prayers here! Love you!Elder Felkins
I've only got time for a quick story. This Is Ronald. He's the most amazing man ever. WE taught him an baptized him. He loved everything we had to tach him. When we taght him the REstoration, he was confused about why people didn't know about the PROPHET joseph smith and why they don;t know baou tliving prphets. He has soooooo much faith and loves Christ and prgressing in the gospel. He work picking up trash at the appartment that he lives at. One day he picked up a pass along card and called the number on the back. He commintted to being baptized over the phone and he was trasfered to us. He is an example of a miracle. I love him. If Ronald was smiling, you would see he has about 3 teeth. He;s so funny. I love him. He plays the bass guitar and was the bass guitarist for his old church. Haha. Tell Kaylee he has 4 bass guitars that are SWEET!! He lives a really meager life, but he's got some cool guitars.
-Elder Felkins
This is Vivaldi. love him. :)
Elder Felkins said this about our new callings:
Dear Family,
I forgot to tell you Elder Oaks is coming to do a mission conference w/us on 19th of October. jWe're so excited! He's also going to visit the stake here and our ward is bursting with excitement. I was asked to sing at the mission conference with a missionary choir handpicked by sister Anderson. We get to drive to Miami and practice every wed, for the next two weeks. i'm really excited! We live in the best apartments in the mission. I love our apartment. I'll have to send pictures of it. We have a car here. It makes it really nice because it is soooo hot. haha Because i'm new elder, we study for the entire morning and don't get out until about 1. We have to do training stuff every day. I got to eat Haitian food my first day. It's really good. They season it really well. We had what's called greed(not sure of his writing) another day. They fry pork with a layer of seasoning, season it again and then deep fry it a second time. They also gave us fried plantain patties and pi elis, which is like calslaw w/a spicy seasoning. It's sooooo good. They like rice and bean paste stuff too. We also had some soul food. Soul food is original black people food. It was san(?) stake rice and black-eyed peas. Really good food here. HaHA. And they like it Spicy :) I love you all and can't wait to hear from you!
Love
Elder Felkins
on the email he sent:
WE're singing abide with me. It'll be good. I'm writing my own part for it bnecasue it
s only three part right now.
Thank you for your prayers. I can feel them. I love you all sooooo much!
(speaking of the song "If the Savior stood Beside Me"
I love that one too. Most of the Kids here speak english and Creole unless they just moved from Haiti. I've had one investigtor ask me, but i haven;t yet(ask him if he gets to sing at investigators homes). I still will transate it in Creole becasue people would love it. I always try too. I just practiced fopr a little while and my voice needs practice. haha. Oh boy
Oct. 14,2013
Creole is going okay. I was getting a little frustrated this week becasue I just wanted to talk, but can't teach very well. THe good thing is that I can say my testimony to a point they can understand about anyting that we are talking about. I still need lots of practice. Every training companrionship does extra study to train.
I had a crazy week. WE had to drive to Miami and practice and it was a huge waste of time. WE spent the whole time deciding on a song. I wished they would have had one picjked out for us. There are 5 of us singing, all elders and they're....ok..singers. It'll be good though. Then we spent WAY too much money on lunch. SOme oif the elders wanted to go to this resteraunt and we didn;t think it would be very much becasue we're all broke, but it ended up as like 17 dollars for a Japanese buffet. It was good but way tooexpensive when you don;t have a lot of money.There were a few things tghat have made me upset this week, but I've been studying patience and I'mstaying happy.
Whod did you call to be your concilors? SOunds like quiote the first day. It'll get better. God called you for a reason so he'll always be there to help you.
I hope it's a fun weekend! You'll have to send some pictures.
Yesterday Elder Mcmullin got proposed to by a lady who was at the home of a previous investigator that we are baptizing this next5 sunday after the stake conference with Elder Oaks. It was a miracle that we found the investigator, but SUPER funny that her friend wants Elder Mcmullin to marry her. haha. It was super funny./ WE had a couple of youth from the ward with us and they were like 'what the heck." haha it was so funny.
I've been going to ask you. Could you get me a digital voice recorder that I can plug into the computer? Their super popular to have becasue I can just record you a messge and email it home and record the testimonies of our recent converts. I think Elder Mcmullin has a SONY one. It works really well and it would be super usefu;.
I love you a lot. THanks for the email!
-Elder Felkins
Oct. 21, 2013
Hi Mom and Family!! Sounds like you've had a great weekend! I miss having everyone arouind for hunting season. It's been quite a whule since we've done that.
I'm glad things are pulling togther for the calling. Continue to work hard. It'll pay off sooooo well.
At the mission conference was amazing!!!! having Elder Oaks here was amzing! WE ALL GOT TO SHAKE HIS HAND!!!!!!! It was so amazing!
He and President talked a lot about making sure our REcent Converts get to the temple. Elder McMullin are going to work ereally hard on that. I LOVE our recent converst. thinking about them I get teary eyes becasue I'm so happy for them and I love them so much. We were so blessed to have THREE more baptisms this weekend! 5 baptisms so far in my first transfer! We're so blessed.
Anyway, at the stake conference, there was A LOT about missionary work. Elder Oaks talked about missionary work and so did Elder Thompson, the70- he had with him. At the mission conference elder oaks also talked about testimony. He said it wsn;t something he usually did, but he felt prompted to. it was so cool to have him there and to see him laugh and interect with us and the members here. It was awesome.
Some other cool stories:
There is a guy in our ward who has died before and woke up a few days latter in the morgue. CRAZY story! I wish I had tmie to write it all. He was baptized about a year after that when the missionaries found hi. He;s been a member for 4 years now. I got to hear his story this week.
Haitians are VERY sensivtive to the sSpirit and often have their prayers answered in dreams. I had my first Haitian dream experience this week. Cherlyne was just going to have her daughter get baptized. She wsn;t enitely sure if she wanted to yet. She was worried about a lot of things. But shje was pratyer and reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Well, she prayed abnd went to bed one night and had a dream. In her dream she was getting her kids ready for school and sent them on their way. She looked up in the sky and way a massive storm. She started to pray and ask god to help her children be safe and successful in life and to guide them. In her dream, God told her that she has to lead her children in this life. Then God told her to be baptized. So the next day she told us her dream and was baptized this weekend. That dream answered a lot of her prayers, more than just getting baptized. It was so amazinf!
The other lady we baptized with Cherlyne and Sechly, her name is Norzilia. She is 8 1/2 months pregnant. I think I mentioned her in my last emial. We had to baptize her in a chair. But she was so ready for baptism. It was awesome!
The other picutre I sent is of a car that was crazy. There's a bunch of them down here. A lot of drug deealers drive them, but hey are super expensive cars already and then they god and make them CRAZY! I don't like them a lot, but they're fun to see. haha I'll take more pictures of cars becasue there are A LOT of nice cars in south Flroida!
I love you all soooo much! I'm glad our family is making steps to live together forever. I'm seeing more and more why it is important.
-Elder Kyle Felkins
We'rve had alot of members feed us lately. Their food is soooooo good. I talked about it in kids emails, you'll have to read it there becasue I don;t have a lot of time. (fried Alegator)
WE got a few less blessings last week, but this week we plan on getting a lot. It'll be really exciting. THis week is going to be realy good becasue we're all charged on conference.
I'm excited for all the missionaries at home. I got a letter from the institute in Roosevelt that ahd a list of all the missionaries who lleft recently and who have receiuved there calls. Itw as great to see. :)
Love you sooo much! I feel your prayers here! Love you!Elder Felkins
I've only got time for a quick story. This Is Ronald. He's the most amazing man ever. WE taught him an baptized him. He loved everything we had to tach him. When we taght him the REstoration, he was confused about why people didn't know about the PROPHET joseph smith and why they don;t know baou tliving prphets. He has soooooo much faith and loves Christ and prgressing in the gospel. He work picking up trash at the appartment that he lives at. One day he picked up a pass along card and called the number on the back. He commintted to being baptized over the phone and he was trasfered to us. He is an example of a miracle. I love him. If Ronald was smiling, you would see he has about 3 teeth. He;s so funny. I love him. He plays the bass guitar and was the bass guitarist for his old church. Haha. Tell Kaylee he has 4 bass guitars that are SWEET!! He lives a really meager life, but he's got some cool guitars.
-Elder Felkins
This is Vivaldi. love him. :)
Elder Felkins said this about our new callings:
Letter home on Oct. ?As a missionary, you can see why it's importnat for everyone to do their best in callings becasue you get to work with the results of poor work sometimes with less actives and in ward meetings.
Dear Family,
I forgot to tell you Elder Oaks is coming to do a mission conference w/us on 19th of October. jWe're so excited! He's also going to visit the stake here and our ward is bursting with excitement. I was asked to sing at the mission conference with a missionary choir handpicked by sister Anderson. We get to drive to Miami and practice every wed, for the next two weeks. i'm really excited! We live in the best apartments in the mission. I love our apartment. I'll have to send pictures of it. We have a car here. It makes it really nice because it is soooo hot. haha Because i'm new elder, we study for the entire morning and don't get out until about 1. We have to do training stuff every day. I got to eat Haitian food my first day. It's really good. They season it really well. We had what's called greed(not sure of his writing) another day. They fry pork with a layer of seasoning, season it again and then deep fry it a second time. They also gave us fried plantain patties and pi elis, which is like calslaw w/a spicy seasoning. It's sooooo good. They like rice and bean paste stuff too. We also had some soul food. Soul food is original black people food. It was san(?) stake rice and black-eyed peas. Really good food here. HaHA. And they like it Spicy :) I love you all and can't wait to hear from you!
Love
Elder Felkins
on the email he sent:
WE're singing abide with me. It'll be good. I'm writing my own part for it bnecasue it
s only three part right now.
Thank you for your prayers. I can feel them. I love you all sooooo much!
(speaking of the song "If the Savior stood Beside Me"
I love that one too. Most of the Kids here speak english and Creole unless they just moved from Haiti. I've had one investigtor ask me, but i haven;t yet(ask him if he gets to sing at investigators homes). I still will transate it in Creole becasue people would love it. I always try too. I just practiced fopr a little while and my voice needs practice. haha. Oh boy
Oct. 14,2013
Creole is going okay. I was getting a little frustrated this week becasue I just wanted to talk, but can't teach very well. THe good thing is that I can say my testimony to a point they can understand about anyting that we are talking about. I still need lots of practice. Every training companrionship does extra study to train.
I had a crazy week. WE had to drive to Miami and practice and it was a huge waste of time. WE spent the whole time deciding on a song. I wished they would have had one picjked out for us. There are 5 of us singing, all elders and they're....ok..singers. It'll be good though. Then we spent WAY too much money on lunch. SOme oif the elders wanted to go to this resteraunt and we didn;t think it would be very much becasue we're all broke, but it ended up as like 17 dollars for a Japanese buffet. It was good but way tooexpensive when you don;t have a lot of money.There were a few things tghat have made me upset this week, but I've been studying patience and I'mstaying happy.
Whod did you call to be your concilors? SOunds like quiote the first day. It'll get better. God called you for a reason so he'll always be there to help you.
I hope it's a fun weekend! You'll have to send some pictures.
Yesterday Elder Mcmullin got proposed to by a lady who was at the home of a previous investigator that we are baptizing this next5 sunday after the stake conference with Elder Oaks. It was a miracle that we found the investigator, but SUPER funny that her friend wants Elder Mcmullin to marry her. haha. It was super funny./ WE had a couple of youth from the ward with us and they were like 'what the heck." haha it was so funny.
I've been going to ask you. Could you get me a digital voice recorder that I can plug into the computer? Their super popular to have becasue I can just record you a messge and email it home and record the testimonies of our recent converts. I think Elder Mcmullin has a SONY one. It works really well and it would be super usefu;.
I love you a lot. THanks for the email!
-Elder Felkins
Oct. 21, 2013
Hi Mom and Family!! Sounds like you've had a great weekend! I miss having everyone arouind for hunting season. It's been quite a whule since we've done that.
I'm glad things are pulling togther for the calling. Continue to work hard. It'll pay off sooooo well.
At the mission conference was amazing!!!! having Elder Oaks here was amzing! WE ALL GOT TO SHAKE HIS HAND!!!!!!! It was so amazing!
He and President talked a lot about making sure our REcent Converts get to the temple. Elder McMullin are going to work ereally hard on that. I LOVE our recent converst. thinking about them I get teary eyes becasue I'm so happy for them and I love them so much. We were so blessed to have THREE more baptisms this weekend! 5 baptisms so far in my first transfer! We're so blessed.
Anyway, at the stake conference, there was A LOT about missionary work. Elder Oaks talked about missionary work and so did Elder Thompson, the70- he had with him. At the mission conference elder oaks also talked about testimony. He said it wsn;t something he usually did, but he felt prompted to. it was so cool to have him there and to see him laugh and interect with us and the members here. It was awesome.
Some other cool stories:
There is a guy in our ward who has died before and woke up a few days latter in the morgue. CRAZY story! I wish I had tmie to write it all. He was baptized about a year after that when the missionaries found hi. He;s been a member for 4 years now. I got to hear his story this week.
Haitians are VERY sensivtive to the sSpirit and often have their prayers answered in dreams. I had my first Haitian dream experience this week. Cherlyne was just going to have her daughter get baptized. She wsn;t enitely sure if she wanted to yet. She was worried about a lot of things. But shje was pratyer and reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Well, she prayed abnd went to bed one night and had a dream. In her dream she was getting her kids ready for school and sent them on their way. She looked up in the sky and way a massive storm. She started to pray and ask god to help her children be safe and successful in life and to guide them. In her dream, God told her that she has to lead her children in this life. Then God told her to be baptized. So the next day she told us her dream and was baptized this weekend. That dream answered a lot of her prayers, more than just getting baptized. It was so amazinf!
The other lady we baptized with Cherlyne and Sechly, her name is Norzilia. She is 8 1/2 months pregnant. I think I mentioned her in my last emial. We had to baptize her in a chair. But she was so ready for baptism. It was awesome!
The other picutre I sent is of a car that was crazy. There's a bunch of them down here. A lot of drug deealers drive them, but hey are super expensive cars already and then they god and make them CRAZY! I don't like them a lot, but they're fun to see. haha I'll take more pictures of cars becasue there are A LOT of nice cars in south Flroida!
I love you all soooo much! I'm glad our family is making steps to live together forever. I'm seeing more and more why it is important.
-Elder Kyle Felkins
Oct 6, 2013
e- mail 9/30/13
I love Florida! It honestly isn;t htat hopt but it is really humid. That'
s ws kills me. Haha. I was dripping with Sweat whenevver I twitched
the first coupkle of days. Tjue plane ride was funa dn it was good to
talk with you. :) I lvoe my mission Pres and his wife they are awesome
and they have some amazing visions for this mission. Sis. anderson
also makes great food. :)
We had a great Transfer meeting on Wed. with lots of instruction. I
was assigned to the Ft. Lauderdale East area, but we pretty much have
the whoole Ft. Laud area beacause we are Creole speakers. We also have
a small english area, but we teach the haitians there too. We spend
most of our time in the Ghetto. haha. Look up Sistrunk in Ft.
Lauderdale on google maps. It's great. ;) My trainer/Conmpaion's name
is Elder McMullin. He;s from Canada. he's cool. He's the Disrtict
leader, so he's on the phione a lot. he's funny. WE call him a tool
becasue he is, and he says it too so it's great. haha
in this mission we don;t really tract, we do something Pres invented
called Harvesting. We good from door to door tellingpeople we are
representitives of Jesus Chruist and he has sent us to leave a
blessing on the their home. We bless threirt home (not a dedication
though) and then we ask how they feel and ask them to be baptized an
come to church immediately after. It works really well. We have on the
of the most successful missions.
This week is what we call miracle week and transefer day is miracle
day. WE got 8 blessings on miracle day whiuch is really good.
I've seen so many miracles this week. one of my favorites was while we
were harvesting on my first day, the very first person we spoke with.
There was a man standing outside of an apartment building and we
approached him and he readily accapted us having a prayer with him. He
didn;t live in the apartment comlpex we were at, so we just prayed
with him on the sidewalk. There was a man trimming the edges and it
was very loud and we could barely hear, but the Spirit was very potent
and it was so exciting. He accepted baptism and everything and he told
us that he knew there was a erason that he was outside by those
appartments that day and it was so he could pray with us. It was
awesome.
Another was we harvested on Friday and we met a lady named Angela who
we decided to go and visit the next day. The address she gave was
wrong, but at the house we found a couple and we blessed their home.
They both wanted to be baptized and ven though we didn't find Angela
there, it was a miracle because we found someone else that needed us
that day.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to baptize a boy who turned 8 last
week. His mom is not a member and his Dad is who-knows-where, but all
of his Siblings are ercent converts and they basically raise each
other. He's awesmoe though. I love hiom. His nam,e is Vivaldi. (sweet
name!) his mom is haitian, but the rest of huis family speaks english.
I was so excited to get to baptize him, and I actually didn;t know I
was going to do it until ike 10 min befiore. It was awesome tough. The
ward here is awesome. The bishop is a fireball and LOVES missionary
work. i've been told it's the beswt ward in the mission. It's a mixed
language ward. So there are alot of enlgish and hitian spekers, but
the spanish have thier own branch.
WE also got a media referhal for a man named Ronald. We taught him
abouthte REstorationan was so excited! /He was so confused by why
people don';t talk about the modern prophets and apostles in other
Chruches. He's going to be baptized next sunday.
I love our investigators and this mission.
-Elder Felkins
3900 W
broward Boulivard Apt. 302. 33312.
I've only gopt a sec, but I did see Lindsey and it was great. I love
florida nd I get to speak with Haitians everyday. :)
I got the package. WE erscheduale for a teaching apointment. Our
distrcit had 11 baptisms thois month. Our mission had
140ish...thismonth I think.
Sep 29, 2013
sept.23rd email- week 7
Hello Family!!!!! M renmen ou anpil anpil anpil!!!
Oh boy. It's really hard not to type in Creole sometimes. I'm not great at typing in the first place. Haha.
This was the most uneventful week at the MTC for me, up until Sunday.
Monday- Sent off the Elders going to New York and Tampa in our distict at 3am. Was tired the rest of the day.
Tuesday- Sent of the Elders going to Boston at 4am and was tired all day. haha. Had a good lesson in class that day, but it was wierd that there is only 5 of us left. of the 18. The devtioanl was great that night, and the Speaker was great too. I think the highlight was the choir number. We sang a great arrangemnet of Joseph Smith's first prayer. I think it was arranged be the Beebe's. I wrote it down somewhere. :) There is so much power in the truth of what Joseph Smith saw.
Wednesday- The new Creole district arrived and we're getting to know them. There is 5 of them, 2 to New York, one to Tampa, one to Boston, and one to Ft. Lauderdale. It's crazy to see the difference between the new missionaries and those of us who are preparing to leave. Then we studied all day. We share teachers with the New distrcit of Croele speakers, so they teach them most of the time and we just study A LOT. Got to give my first blessing of Council to an Elder in my district. It was an amzing experience. The priesthood is amazing.
Thursday- Fastest day yet at the MTC. Studied all day. A Sister, Sister LeVitre, who is learning portugese asked me top sing with her a couiple of weeks ago after I sang at the misision conference. She's been studying Opera at..USU....ithink...anyways. We auditioned with 'I heard him come' and we recieved the letter that day that we would be singing at the Sunday devtional. Then more stidying. haha
Friday- Another quick day of mostly studying. Said goodbye to one of our teachers and took pictures wioth him. Studied. Studied outside. Studied inside. haha. Said goodbye to another teacher. last day of gym.
Saturday- We taught a TRC in English. That was wierd, but really cool. it was a great lesson. Taught an investiogator and were reminded that we need to focus on their needs. Studied.
Sunday- AMAZING day. We were advised to give blessings to our companions beofre we leave, so our district did that. It was great both to recieve and to give a blessing. Loved it. The devotional was great. I got to sing with Sister LeVitre there. The song teaches really well about the first part of the missionary purpose "invite others to come unto Christ..." I know Christ lives and he knows everyone and can heal us all. The speaker congratulated us from the stand and asked if we had sang with each other before. It was funny. Some of the presidency talked with me afterword and Pres. Roach in particular said something I will never forget. To paraphrase: "You have an amazing gift that you share so humbly. Thank you for being humble. Do you know how I know you were humble? Becasue we felt the Spirit." It wasn;t exactly like that, and I hope it's not not humble of me to share it, but I'm only sharing it becasue there is a great lesson in it. Humility brings the Spirit. I hope I really was humble, becasue I really wanted people to understand my testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I've made some lasting friends here at the MTC, learned some lasting lessons, but I can;t wait to get out to the field.
-M renmen ou anpil!!!
-Elder Felkins
Oh boy. It's really hard not to type in Creole sometimes. I'm not great at typing in the first place. Haha.
This was the most uneventful week at the MTC for me, up until Sunday.
Monday- Sent off the Elders going to New York and Tampa in our distict at 3am. Was tired the rest of the day.
Tuesday- Sent of the Elders going to Boston at 4am and was tired all day. haha. Had a good lesson in class that day, but it was wierd that there is only 5 of us left. of the 18. The devtioanl was great that night, and the Speaker was great too. I think the highlight was the choir number. We sang a great arrangemnet of Joseph Smith's first prayer. I think it was arranged be the Beebe's. I wrote it down somewhere. :) There is so much power in the truth of what Joseph Smith saw.
Wednesday- The new Creole district arrived and we're getting to know them. There is 5 of them, 2 to New York, one to Tampa, one to Boston, and one to Ft. Lauderdale. It's crazy to see the difference between the new missionaries and those of us who are preparing to leave. Then we studied all day. We share teachers with the New distrcit of Croele speakers, so they teach them most of the time and we just study A LOT. Got to give my first blessing of Council to an Elder in my district. It was an amzing experience. The priesthood is amazing.
Thursday- Fastest day yet at the MTC. Studied all day. A Sister, Sister LeVitre, who is learning portugese asked me top sing with her a couiple of weeks ago after I sang at the misision conference. She's been studying Opera at..USU....ithink...anyways. We auditioned with 'I heard him come' and we recieved the letter that day that we would be singing at the Sunday devtional. Then more stidying. haha
Friday- Another quick day of mostly studying. Said goodbye to one of our teachers and took pictures wioth him. Studied. Studied outside. Studied inside. haha. Said goodbye to another teacher. last day of gym.
Saturday- We taught a TRC in English. That was wierd, but really cool. it was a great lesson. Taught an investiogator and were reminded that we need to focus on their needs. Studied.
Sunday- AMAZING day. We were advised to give blessings to our companions beofre we leave, so our district did that. It was great both to recieve and to give a blessing. Loved it. The devotional was great. I got to sing with Sister LeVitre there. The song teaches really well about the first part of the missionary purpose "invite others to come unto Christ..." I know Christ lives and he knows everyone and can heal us all. The speaker congratulated us from the stand and asked if we had sang with each other before. It was funny. Some of the presidency talked with me afterword and Pres. Roach in particular said something I will never forget. To paraphrase: "You have an amazing gift that you share so humbly. Thank you for being humble. Do you know how I know you were humble? Becasue we felt the Spirit." It wasn;t exactly like that, and I hope it's not not humble of me to share it, but I'm only sharing it becasue there is a great lesson in it. Humility brings the Spirit. I hope I really was humble, becasue I really wanted people to understand my testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I've made some lasting friends here at the MTC, learned some lasting lessons, but I can;t wait to get out to the field.
-M renmen ou anpil!!!
-Elder Felkins
Sep 17, 2013
Sept. 16th email
Bonjou tout moun!!
Awesome week! Here's a summary.
Tuesday- Elder Kendall went home for health reasons. it was sad, but he was a great example, and has a huge testimony. Elder Skidmore is now compamions with Elder kendall's old companion, Elder Coulson. our branch president told us his conversion story that night in our district meeting. It was amazing. he;s a cool guy, and his wife is going to make us all borritos after iour missions. hahha.
Wed- hosted again. Good stuff. Found out that everyone in the MTC wishes they had as cool of a district as we do. Some of the portugese like to come talk with us in our classroom, and the French wish they were as united as we are.
Thurs- We had in-Field orientation form 8am to 5:30 pm. We learned about a lot of the technical things about being a missionary. It was all the stuff i thought we would be learning the whole time we were here. haha. I also ran into Annie Iverson.(Friend from Snow) She was with her sister helping with a TRC. She's going to be a great missionary in a few months. :)
Friday- Had a lesson with an MTC teacher that usually teaches French, but she came and taught us a chapter from preach my gospel about our calling as missionaries. It was amazing. The teachers here are all sooo amazing,. I am very grateful for my teachers here. Fre Magre, Fre Hall, Fre (ti or small) Nelson, and Fre (gwo or tall
) Nelson. They are amazing, and great examples.
Saturday- Finished teaching our 'inverstingator' and 'baptized' him. Like I said previously, role plays feel so real, and they are based on real people. It was a great experience. It was our last class day with a lot of our district becsause they are all leaving tomorrow, or they left today, execept for those going to Ft. Lauderdale. So on Saturday, our teachers showed us pictures abnd told us stories about their missions. We also learned how to Haitian dance. Every year at Carnival in Haiti, they invent a new dance, and some of them stick, others don;t. We learned two of the more popular ones. They're really silly, but fun. Love haitian culture. We learned about all the members we need to have feed us in Ft. Lauderdale becasue 3/4 rteachers went to FTL.
Sunday- I was asked to be District Leader for this week because the rest of our district leaves before 5 of us. It's a really amazing assignment, excpet for the extra meetings, but it's worth it. :) We had a testimony meeting on our temple walk. We sat in the shade under some trees. I felt tlike the testimony i bore was one of the most piowerful testimonies I have ever born. Everyone in our distrrict bore amazing testimonies and I love them all so much. Today stunk watching 7 opf them leave, and 3 more tomorrow. We had our departure devotional and our Sunday devitional. The Sunday one was given by the man who p[roduced the 17 Miralces movie and his new one Ephriam's Rescue. He showed us some clips from it, and I can;t wait to see it in 2 years.after that, We watched a movie from a talk Elder Bednar gave at the MTC years ago about answering with doctrine, not applications. That was really good, and gave me a lot of direction for what I should be doing in personal study. We need to look for 'why' to do things, not 'how.' The how is easy. Then we had a bit of a celebartion in our residance for everyone leaving. We all sang and prayed together, and then I gave a spiritual thought. Sunday was amazing.
Monday (today)- We all got up at 3am to send away the 7 who left. It was really hard. I care for the Elders so much. We are very close friends now, and that's amazing.
i find it's getting inceasingly difficult to write iin english. haha.
Well, everybody, I love you all. I love being on a mission. This is the best things that has ever happened to me.
-Elder Felkins
p.s. I leave the MTC next tuesday. If you send a Dearelder to the MTC after I leave they won't forward it to me. just fyi. :) i appreciate everyones letters!
Awesome week! Here's a summary.
Tuesday- Elder Kendall went home for health reasons. it was sad, but he was a great example, and has a huge testimony. Elder Skidmore is now compamions with Elder kendall's old companion, Elder Coulson. our branch president told us his conversion story that night in our district meeting. It was amazing. he;s a cool guy, and his wife is going to make us all borritos after iour missions. hahha.
Wed- hosted again. Good stuff. Found out that everyone in the MTC wishes they had as cool of a district as we do. Some of the portugese like to come talk with us in our classroom, and the French wish they were as united as we are.
Thurs- We had in-Field orientation form 8am to 5:30 pm. We learned about a lot of the technical things about being a missionary. It was all the stuff i thought we would be learning the whole time we were here. haha. I also ran into Annie Iverson.(Friend from Snow) She was with her sister helping with a TRC. She's going to be a great missionary in a few months. :)
Friday- Had a lesson with an MTC teacher that usually teaches French, but she came and taught us a chapter from preach my gospel about our calling as missionaries. It was amazing. The teachers here are all sooo amazing,. I am very grateful for my teachers here. Fre Magre, Fre Hall, Fre (ti or small) Nelson, and Fre (gwo or tall
) Nelson. They are amazing, and great examples.
Saturday- Finished teaching our 'inverstingator' and 'baptized' him. Like I said previously, role plays feel so real, and they are based on real people. It was a great experience. It was our last class day with a lot of our district becsause they are all leaving tomorrow, or they left today, execept for those going to Ft. Lauderdale. So on Saturday, our teachers showed us pictures abnd told us stories about their missions. We also learned how to Haitian dance. Every year at Carnival in Haiti, they invent a new dance, and some of them stick, others don;t. We learned two of the more popular ones. They're really silly, but fun. Love haitian culture. We learned about all the members we need to have feed us in Ft. Lauderdale becasue 3/4 rteachers went to FTL.
Sunday- I was asked to be District Leader for this week because the rest of our district leaves before 5 of us. It's a really amazing assignment, excpet for the extra meetings, but it's worth it. :) We had a testimony meeting on our temple walk. We sat in the shade under some trees. I felt tlike the testimony i bore was one of the most piowerful testimonies I have ever born. Everyone in our distrrict bore amazing testimonies and I love them all so much. Today stunk watching 7 opf them leave, and 3 more tomorrow. We had our departure devotional and our Sunday devitional. The Sunday one was given by the man who p[roduced the 17 Miralces movie and his new one Ephriam's Rescue. He showed us some clips from it, and I can;t wait to see it in 2 years.after that, We watched a movie from a talk Elder Bednar gave at the MTC years ago about answering with doctrine, not applications. That was really good, and gave me a lot of direction for what I should be doing in personal study. We need to look for 'why' to do things, not 'how.' The how is easy. Then we had a bit of a celebartion in our residance for everyone leaving. We all sang and prayed together, and then I gave a spiritual thought. Sunday was amazing.
Monday (today)- We all got up at 3am to send away the 7 who left. It was really hard. I care for the Elders so much. We are very close friends now, and that's amazing.
i find it's getting inceasingly difficult to write iin english. haha.
Well, everybody, I love you all. I love being on a mission. This is the best things that has ever happened to me.
-Elder Felkins
p.s. I leave the MTC next tuesday. If you send a Dearelder to the MTC after I leave they won't forward it to me. just fyi. :) i appreciate everyones letters!
Sep 15, 2013
Sept. 9th 2013 email
Bonjou!!!!!
I hope everybody is doing well. I've just got a short email today, but here goes. :)
First, I love my bramnch [presidency. They have so many amazing stories. The second council worked in Hollywood doing makle up for actors. I guess he was favored by Robert Redford, and did his m,ake-up for a lot of his films. Bro. Liddiard knew well enough to call him "Bob." haha
I got to host new missionaries this week. That was fun, but sort of depressing watching them all say goodbye to their families. They'll love it soon. :)
I love teaching in Creole. It's a very visual language. It paints some amazing pictures of the gospel.
Also found out that the 5 of us serving our missions in Ft. Lauderdale in the Creole District are leaving a week later than the rest of our district. So, I'll be off on the plane on the 24th. And I love My district! I wish we didn;'t have to go all over the place and all 17 of us could go to Ft. Lauderdale together.
had a great experipence with 2 Nep. 7 this week. It's an Isaiah Chapter, but I learned a ton from it. The scriptures are such a blessing.
Love everybody and hope you're doing well. :)
Elder Felkins
Part of Elder Felkins email to the family:
For auditions you have to have the song memorized if you're singing. you go in on Thursday morning and sing for Sis. Nally and Sis. Hacking who are the wives of the MTC presidents. Sis Nally is ver very very musical and she gives you feedback and helps you with the song if you need it. She also plays the piano really well. She didn;t tell me too much at my audition, jsut to be careful not to push the high notes, but i already knew I needed to fix rthat. Then she tells you if you are a know or a yes, and if you are a yes, you';ll get a letter in the mail a couple of days (for me 1 day) before you perform telling you all the details of what event they will have you perform at, mic check, and all that jazz. It kind of suprised me how quickly they had me sing after my audition, I just got a letter and off I went. haha.
Elder Burgoyne does not sing. He loves basketball and hates vegitables more than anyone I've met in my entire life. All vegetables. He's actually quite the opposite of me as far as personalities go. It's amazing we get along, but we do really well. Haha. he's really negative and and always sees life as a glass half empty, but he loves that about himself. You know me too, Mr. positivity. he's very strong willed, especially about getting to dinner on time, where I'm much more patient. And it's never his fault, nior his companions. It ios always the fault of workers, or the investigators, or the people in line before us. he doesn't like to talk to people he doesn;t know, so I can be really embarasing for him. haha. oh well.
All of our room is going to Ft. Lauderdale.
I hope everybody is doing well. I've just got a short email today, but here goes. :)
First, I love my bramnch [presidency. They have so many amazing stories. The second council worked in Hollywood doing makle up for actors. I guess he was favored by Robert Redford, and did his m,ake-up for a lot of his films. Bro. Liddiard knew well enough to call him "Bob." haha
I got to host new missionaries this week. That was fun, but sort of depressing watching them all say goodbye to their families. They'll love it soon. :)
I love teaching in Creole. It's a very visual language. It paints some amazing pictures of the gospel.
Also found out that the 5 of us serving our missions in Ft. Lauderdale in the Creole District are leaving a week later than the rest of our district. So, I'll be off on the plane on the 24th. And I love My district! I wish we didn;'t have to go all over the place and all 17 of us could go to Ft. Lauderdale together.
had a great experipence with 2 Nep. 7 this week. It's an Isaiah Chapter, but I learned a ton from it. The scriptures are such a blessing.
Love everybody and hope you're doing well. :)
Elder Felkins
Part of Elder Felkins email to the family:
For auditions you have to have the song memorized if you're singing. you go in on Thursday morning and sing for Sis. Nally and Sis. Hacking who are the wives of the MTC presidents. Sis Nally is ver very very musical and she gives you feedback and helps you with the song if you need it. She also plays the piano really well. She didn;t tell me too much at my audition, jsut to be careful not to push the high notes, but i already knew I needed to fix rthat. Then she tells you if you are a know or a yes, and if you are a yes, you';ll get a letter in the mail a couple of days (for me 1 day) before you perform telling you all the details of what event they will have you perform at, mic check, and all that jazz. It kind of suprised me how quickly they had me sing after my audition, I just got a letter and off I went. haha.
Elder Burgoyne does not sing. He loves basketball and hates vegitables more than anyone I've met in my entire life. All vegetables. He's actually quite the opposite of me as far as personalities go. It's amazing we get along, but we do really well. Haha. he's really negative and and always sees life as a glass half empty, but he loves that about himself. You know me too, Mr. positivity. he's very strong willed, especially about getting to dinner on time, where I'm much more patient. And it's never his fault, nior his companions. It ios always the fault of workers, or the investigators, or the people in line before us. he doesn't like to talk to people he doesn;t know, so I can be really embarasing for him. haha. oh well.
All of our room is going to Ft. Lauderdale.
Sep 8, 2013
Sept. 2nd 2013
I've almost finished a month here! That seems crazy!
This week has been completely wild. Soooooo many things have happened.
First, on Tuesday, we had another apostle come speak to us at our devotional with his wife. It was Elder Anderson and his wife Kathy. I LOVE singing for the apostles in the choir. We sang, Lead Kindly Light this time. It was great. His talk was entitled, "First love, then Sacrifice." It was amazing. here's a quote from it: "Love, Sacrifice. We sacrifice for the things we love, we love the things we sacrifice for." His talk was a lot about the Savior and sacrificing as a missionary to be the bast we can be. I loved it. After he spoke, it was raining and storming really badly, so they wouldn't let us leave the Marriot Center yet. So Elder Anderson walked around and shook peoples hands. I was three people away from getting one, but it was amazing to stand 10 feet away from an apostle. it was still raining when we left, but they let us go becasue the thunder and lightning had stopped. (Elder Burgoyne is TERRIFIED of lightning. It's great. Mwahahaha!) We all got back to our class rooms drenched, including our suits. WE are required to wear our suits to the devotionals. But, even in the rain, everyone was smiling and joyous because of how uplifted we were.
I love my personal study time. I take pages and pages of notes in my study journal and I love it. There have been a few times where I have written a couple of pages of notes on a single verse or phrase. Study is sooo valuable.
Lately, the elders in our district have been going outside for gym and playing beach volleyball. It's super fun! Gym at the MTC is great. We ALWAYS look forward to it. I don't know what changed in me. haha
I really like the TRC's. It's fun to hear Haitian from someone other than our teachers.
On Thursday, i audition for a musical number with 'O, Divine Redeemer', on Friday, I recieved a letter saying that I would be singing on Sunday at mission conference! Let me tell you, that is a wold song to sing on a fast sunday and especially on a fast sunday at 10 am. haha. It was an extremely precious moment for me. I got to sing my testimony of the Atonement for 3,000 missionaries and other people at the MTC. So much happened with that. All of the Speakers came and thanked me and the MTC presidents and their wives. One old mission president from the Fort Lauderdale mission, who greeted me with "Sak Pase!" or What's up?! Everywhere I've walked on campus people have expressed their thanks and complimented me. Sister Nally (whom I auditioned for and who is also the MTC presidants wife) told me that O, Divine Redeemer is too sacred of a song to sing in most other meetings, and this meeting was one of the few I could have sang it at. She told me an amazing experience where she was asked to play it from memory in front of many of the Apostles and General Authorities, without having played it for a long time and where her mother (who had recently passed away) helped her remember it. Sister Hacking (another MTC presidants wife) cried as she thanked me in her talk after i sang. Sister Dunn did the same after my mic check earlier that morning.On the temple walk, we passed a couple of sisters who looked at me and then each other and whispered "It's the one!" It was hilarious. A lot of the other Elders like to tease me about getting so much attention. But what made all of it so great, was how deeply spiritual it was for me as I sang it. I know that that song IS sacred.
We also got new District and Zone leaders. Elder Lee and Welker are now our district leaders and Elder Robert and Stuart, our old district leaders, were promoted to Zone learders. haha. They'll all do great jobs in their new assignments. We also got a new first counilor in our branch presidnecy because our other one is going to serve as an MTC president in the Ghana MTC. I don't remember his name, but I had an interview with him and I really like him. he sings with his wife, and said that he has performed O, Divine Redeemer many times. it was fun to talk with him.
It sounds like things are going pretty well at home. Schools back on the road, and I'm sure it keeping you all plenty busy.
I think I'll type some of my testimony in Creole for you. It will be really short because it is a lot harder to type than speak: :)
M ap vle potaje temayaj avek ou. M rekonenson pou levanjil nan Jezikri. M kwe ke li vivan ak li renmen te mouri pou tout moun. M kwe ke Joseph Smit wè Bondye ak Jezi ak te retablisman levanjil la nan mond la. M renmen Liv Momon an ak m konnen sa vre. M renmen tanp yo: M renmen tout moun nan Florida ak Ayaiti. Nou nan Jezikri, amèn.
Really short, but it's hard to type. haha.
I'm having a GREAT time, and I'll send more pictures as soon as I get the other SD card back. ;)
I love you all soooooooooo much!!!!!! M renmen ou anpil anpil anpil anpil anpil!!!!!!
-Elder Felkins
This week has been completely wild. Soooooo many things have happened.
First, on Tuesday, we had another apostle come speak to us at our devotional with his wife. It was Elder Anderson and his wife Kathy. I LOVE singing for the apostles in the choir. We sang, Lead Kindly Light this time. It was great. His talk was entitled, "First love, then Sacrifice." It was amazing. here's a quote from it: "Love, Sacrifice. We sacrifice for the things we love, we love the things we sacrifice for." His talk was a lot about the Savior and sacrificing as a missionary to be the bast we can be. I loved it. After he spoke, it was raining and storming really badly, so they wouldn't let us leave the Marriot Center yet. So Elder Anderson walked around and shook peoples hands. I was three people away from getting one, but it was amazing to stand 10 feet away from an apostle. it was still raining when we left, but they let us go becasue the thunder and lightning had stopped. (Elder Burgoyne is TERRIFIED of lightning. It's great. Mwahahaha!) We all got back to our class rooms drenched, including our suits. WE are required to wear our suits to the devotionals. But, even in the rain, everyone was smiling and joyous because of how uplifted we were.
I love my personal study time. I take pages and pages of notes in my study journal and I love it. There have been a few times where I have written a couple of pages of notes on a single verse or phrase. Study is sooo valuable.
Lately, the elders in our district have been going outside for gym and playing beach volleyball. It's super fun! Gym at the MTC is great. We ALWAYS look forward to it. I don't know what changed in me. haha
I really like the TRC's. It's fun to hear Haitian from someone other than our teachers.
On Thursday, i audition for a musical number with 'O, Divine Redeemer', on Friday, I recieved a letter saying that I would be singing on Sunday at mission conference! Let me tell you, that is a wold song to sing on a fast sunday and especially on a fast sunday at 10 am. haha. It was an extremely precious moment for me. I got to sing my testimony of the Atonement for 3,000 missionaries and other people at the MTC. So much happened with that. All of the Speakers came and thanked me and the MTC presidents and their wives. One old mission president from the Fort Lauderdale mission, who greeted me with "Sak Pase!" or What's up?! Everywhere I've walked on campus people have expressed their thanks and complimented me. Sister Nally (whom I auditioned for and who is also the MTC presidants wife) told me that O, Divine Redeemer is too sacred of a song to sing in most other meetings, and this meeting was one of the few I could have sang it at. She told me an amazing experience where she was asked to play it from memory in front of many of the Apostles and General Authorities, without having played it for a long time and where her mother (who had recently passed away) helped her remember it. Sister Hacking (another MTC presidants wife) cried as she thanked me in her talk after i sang. Sister Dunn did the same after my mic check earlier that morning.On the temple walk, we passed a couple of sisters who looked at me and then each other and whispered "It's the one!" It was hilarious. A lot of the other Elders like to tease me about getting so much attention. But what made all of it so great, was how deeply spiritual it was for me as I sang it. I know that that song IS sacred.
We also got new District and Zone leaders. Elder Lee and Welker are now our district leaders and Elder Robert and Stuart, our old district leaders, were promoted to Zone learders. haha. They'll all do great jobs in their new assignments. We also got a new first counilor in our branch presidnecy because our other one is going to serve as an MTC president in the Ghana MTC. I don't remember his name, but I had an interview with him and I really like him. he sings with his wife, and said that he has performed O, Divine Redeemer many times. it was fun to talk with him.
It sounds like things are going pretty well at home. Schools back on the road, and I'm sure it keeping you all plenty busy.
I think I'll type some of my testimony in Creole for you. It will be really short because it is a lot harder to type than speak: :)
M ap vle potaje temayaj avek ou. M rekonenson pou levanjil nan Jezikri. M kwe ke li vivan ak li renmen te mouri pou tout moun. M kwe ke Joseph Smit wè Bondye ak Jezi ak te retablisman levanjil la nan mond la. M renmen Liv Momon an ak m konnen sa vre. M renmen tanp yo: M renmen tout moun nan Florida ak Ayaiti. Nou nan Jezikri, amèn.
Really short, but it's hard to type. haha.
I'm having a GREAT time, and I'll send more pictures as soon as I get the other SD card back. ;)
I love you all soooooooooo much!!!!!! M renmen ou anpil anpil anpil anpil anpil!!!!!!
-Elder Felkins
Sep 1, 2013
Aug.24 2013 letter home
Dear Family,
I'm sorry I haven't written as much lately. It's hard to find time. You ask what my daily schedule. Here 's kind of what it looks like on most days of the week:
5:45-wake-up/shower(we have the earliest assigned breakfast time)
6:30-Breakfast
7:00 -personal study
8:00-class
-Language lesson
-teach progressive investigator(our teachers act as investigators and we teach them. They base them off of real people,and you really love who you teach).
-Comp study (prep for who you are teaching)
11:00-lunch
The next few things are mixed throughout the day. Not always the same order.
11:45-additional study
12:45-Prep for gym,gym,prep after
2:45-TALL(Tech assisted language learning. It's like rosette stone made for missionaries).
4:00-Dinner (eat to much)
4:45-class
-P.I.(progressive investigator)
-PMG(Preach my Gospel)lesson or MTC experience handbook lesson
-CMS(coaching something,or help us in companionships with what ever we want)
7:45-Additional Study
9:00-planning
9:30-return to residence
10:15- quiet time
10:30 lights out
It varies day to day, but that's close. Sometimes we have more study time. Today we have service and personal physical exercise in place of a couple of things.....
We learn that when you're having a hard time, you should turn out when you'd normally turn in. If you 're frustrated by how much you've got to do, work harder do it for someone else and the light of Christ in you will shine brighter....
Well, family,
I love you all.School will be hard sometimes,but if we never get stressed, we'd never get any better.
Love you all!
-Elder Kyle Felkins
Aug. 26,2013 email
I'm
preparing to audition of Thursday. :) My week was great. I'm learning sooooo
much! haha. There's a saying at the MTC, Days feel like weeks, weeks feel like
days, and it is RIDICULOUSLY true. Last Monday, we had a food eating contest as
a district, and I ate three entrees and a side in 12 min. Well, I won.
hahaha...by a lot.
The picture you sent is just the 6 or us in our room. There are 12 more people in our district. Haha. But from left to right there is: Me, elders burgoyne, Skidmore, Mullins, Nelson, and Jackson. We have a great time together. Elderr Mullins is...wild.....I wish I could explain how much of a character he is.
There 5 of us going to Ft. Lauderdale, 1 going to orlando, 3 to Tampa Bay Florida, 5 to Boston, 4 to New York.
Thrid week is almost over! Weird! We had our first TRC (training recourse center...or something) Random people come and act as themselves and we have to teach them. They were all members, and that was difficult, but we taught one guy that is native to Haiti. That was neat. Elder Burgoyne and I are getting increasingly better at teaching. We've had our best lessons yet this week, and I love it. I'm getting more fluent in Creole. Is there anything specific Spencer wants to hear in Creole? I'll write some.
M kwe ke Jezikri sji Eksyasyon la e fe possible pu mwen ap gen pardon pou peche mwen. Me renmen fanmu mwen, zanmi mwen, Bondye, ak Jezikri. Me rekonenson pou opportunite ap preche lavinjil la nan Floride.
Love you!!!
-Elder Felkins
I forgot to tell you, I did sealings in the temple today. It was cool. We can only be sealed as children of course, but it was awesome.
The picture you sent is just the 6 or us in our room. There are 12 more people in our district. Haha. But from left to right there is: Me, elders burgoyne, Skidmore, Mullins, Nelson, and Jackson. We have a great time together. Elderr Mullins is...wild.....I wish I could explain how much of a character he is.
There 5 of us going to Ft. Lauderdale, 1 going to orlando, 3 to Tampa Bay Florida, 5 to Boston, 4 to New York.
Thrid week is almost over! Weird! We had our first TRC (training recourse center...or something) Random people come and act as themselves and we have to teach them. They were all members, and that was difficult, but we taught one guy that is native to Haiti. That was neat. Elder Burgoyne and I are getting increasingly better at teaching. We've had our best lessons yet this week, and I love it. I'm getting more fluent in Creole. Is there anything specific Spencer wants to hear in Creole? I'll write some.
M kwe ke Jezikri sji Eksyasyon la e fe possible pu mwen ap gen pardon pou peche mwen. Me renmen fanmu mwen, zanmi mwen, Bondye, ak Jezikri. Me rekonenson pou opportunite ap preche lavinjil la nan Floride.
Love you!!!
-Elder Felkins
I forgot to tell you, I did sealings in the temple today. It was cool. We can only be sealed as children of course, but it was awesome.
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