Week 1 in the field

Hola!

President Gelwix is amazing!!! He is even better than they make him seem like on the movie!!! He really sets the standards high for our misison.

California is great! I have two companions, Elder Powers and Elder Matagi (pronounced maw-taw-knee). They are both from Utah. They are pretty awesome. Our area is a little town called Lindsay, California! (It's kind of hard to not think about a certain someone when her name is on everything!) Some people call it mini Mexico. We are Spanish and English missionaries. So it's probably half and half. We are the only missionarys in this town, so we have a lot of work to do. The people here are so ready! It is pretty stressful. We talk to everyone on the streets and invite most of them to be baptized! Most of them say yes. SO it is really hard to keep track of everybody. It is hard to be able to visit and teach them all.

We are a walking/biking mission. The mission has given me a bike to borrow, so that's cool. But Elder Matagi's bike keeps having problems so we just walk everywhere and get rides from members.

I prefer talking to the hispanic people they are a lot nicer and more open to our message than a lot of the white people.

The address to send me stuff is that mission address. Send everything there, and they will forward it to my apartment! like 1814 N Echo ave, Fresno, CA or something like that.

We are about an hour south of Fresno. I love Lindsay California!!! It is a great place to be. There are dogs like everywhere, my Dazzer has come in handy!!! hahaha. We are so busy! We are going on splits with the members a lot this week because we have to many people to visit.

So on sundays we have a English sacrament meeting then English/Spanish mixed classes then after that we have Spanish sacrament meeting. So on saturday night they asked all three of us to speak in the English sacrament meeting. It went well, and then during priesthood they told us that we needed to speak in Spanish sacrament meeting. I spoke in two sacrament meetings my first week here. It was pretty good. I like speaking!

I'm working on being more obedient. One rule in our mission is we can only email family members. So to my friends, If i don't respond to your emails it doesn't mean i don't love you, it just means that I am obeying the rule! But i'll still read it, if i have time.

Another thing, In this mission is once a general authority told our mission if we comb our hair with a part in it, we would double success. So everyday, we get some gel and set a part in our hair. To symbolize setting ourselves apart from the world! I look like a goof, but i really like the reminder!

We are surrounded by orange trees! so many oranges!!! The water here is "not safe". I didn't know that for the first couple of days but I got told!!! Ha haha. SO we just have bottled water and other drinks. We are well taken care of. I've gained like 5 6 7 8ish pounds? I don't know.

Yesterday was our Preparation day, but we email on tuesdays. So yesterday we went to McDermont here in Lindsay with a bunch of the youth in our ward. Its a HUGE indoor place. Soccer fields, basketball courts, laser tag, rock wall, flow rider, skate park, and more!!! So we played a bunch of basketball, football, and soccer.

We hardly have time to study here. SO GET SOME STUDYING DONE BEFORE YOUR MISSION!!!

I love you all!!! So much! I appreciate the prayers!!!

Every member is a misisonary. Remember that!

Les quiero Muchisimo!

-Elder Ferney

In California.....

Hey! My first time ever on an airplane was a success!!! It was very fun! I found a new hobby! Anyways, so we got here to the airport in Fresno, CA and our mission president, President Gelwix was there to greet us! Then I got put with a pro elder and we went out and knocked some doors and contacted people... REAL PEOPLE!!! It was strange... mostly in English. (American's are not as nice as Latinos) And now we are still doing some stuff! Just letting ya'll know that i'm alive and super tired (woke up at 3 am)! But I'm alive!!!

Mucho amor

Elder Ferney

9 weeks down!

Hey everybody!!! It's my last day in the MTC, and i'm freaking out!!! I'm cutting it really close with the weight of my bags!!! and i'm going on an airplane for the first time ever tomorrow!

I'll be in California for maybe 2 weeks -> 6 weeks... Maybe. I don't know. Whenever my visa comes. Spanish is cool. It is just starting to hit me that I am leaving the mtc. Crud. I don't know spanish!!! haha. Oh well. Mucha Fe (Much Faith) Last wednesday our zone got a new district, (we done got new missionarys in our group) and two moved into elder Nieves's and my room. Last night one woke up screaming. So that's exciting, freaked me out though. It is cool to see people coming in, but i'm leaving so that's even cooler!

Oh! My mission president in CA is the famous Larry Gelwix! You know like on the movie Forever Strong? He's the coach. But not the actor... the actual coach in the true story. So that's cool!

Thank you for the packages and letters, I'm sorry if i forgot to respond to any of them!!! love the apron!!!

Advice for all you not preparing for a mission:

-Go on a mission!!!

Advice for all you preparing for a mission:

-Study the scriptures and ask "Who am I in this story?" A lot of times I think i'm more like Laman and Lemuel than like Nephi... They always still do what they are told. But they complain about it... The scriptures were written to us!!! Specifically!!! Also, Moroni chapter 10 is straight to us in the latter days. It's cool.

-Read preach my gospel. especially chapter 3. Know chapter 3.

-Obey the strengh of youth pamphlet and other commandments.

-Stay worthy of the Temple and the Holy Ghost.

-Pray on your knees every morning and every night.

I'm scared to leave the MTC. I love it here. It is safe and the real world is scary! but I came across a scripture in Joshua chapter 1 verse 9 it reads:

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

I'm still freaking out about all of this... but this helps!!!

"God brings us to our low point so he can launch us to our highest point yet." - Elder Nick Ferney

Les quiero muchisimo!
-Elder Ferney

Pictures-

-3060- Last packages in the MTC

-3070- Map of Fresno, CA mission
-3081- Our district with our teacher, Hermano Frey

-3117- This morning when we dropped Elder Nielsen off at the travel office at 6am! (The rest of us go tomorrow at 4am)

8 weeks down

Hey!!!

So, how was the Superbowl? Funny story. On Saturday our teacher was like, "The super bowl is tomorrow." and I was like, "Oh." We had no idea when it was or who was in it. Shows you that we really are in-the-world-but-not-of-the-world. Funny story right? Oh.

Entonces, pues, So it is crunch time!!! We are scheduled to leave the MTC on Monday and we don't know if we even have our visas. So today we (about 50 missionaries heading to Argentina) had a 4 hour meeting with the visa agents for Argentina. And by 4 hour meeting, I mean 3.80 hours sitting there doing nothing and 0.2 hours getting our fingers printed. Cool. Then tomorrow we have a meeting with the Argentina Consul who apparently doesn't like Mormons, so we'll see how that goes!!! It should be good. The lady told me that 1 of 3 things is going to happen to our group that is supposed to leave next week =

1. We get our visas and travel plans and leave to Argentina on Monday.

2. We stay in the MTC for 2ish more weeks then leave to Argentina.

3. We leave on Monday to a temporary reassignment here in the US for 6ish weeks then go to Argentina.

So in the end, we get to Argentina. Cool. I kind of want to go in the states for a while!!! (Maybe to serve with an old friend? That would be fun.) Cause this little Utah boy has never gone outside of his little bubble and never been on an Airplane and is scared out of his mind. But yo tengo mucha fe, entonces con Jesucristo yo puedo hacerlo. So it'll all be okay. I'll keep you posted and try to do my best to make some memories to write to you!!!

Thanks for the letters and packages and the prayers and the love!!!

Les amo muchisimo

-Elder Ferney

Note to you:

-Make a profile of yourself on Mormon.org it's cool

-watch "Betelehemu" by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir It's also cool

Pics

-My luchador I drew

-Me and Elder Reedy at the Temple

Week 7 in the MTC

Hola mis amigos

Well, Lets see its hard to write the things that we have done here in the MTC because it is the same schedule and the same things every week! The other day it was very warm and then the next day it rained. Then the rain froze and ice was everywhere. so that was fun! Then it snowed a lot. It is snowing right now...

There is an awesome video that you all need to see!!! On youtube.com on the Mormon Channel it´s the first video on the page called "Earthly Father, Heavenly Father." I love this video with a passion! It is so cool! I love mormon messages!

"Moments that matter Most" is also a great mormon message! When I watched this video, I noticed that monst of these things involve family. I am so grateful and happy for the family I have!!! I love you guys!!! Family is amazing. I miss you all. But other peopld out there in this twisted messed up world need to hear about this glorious messages that families are forever! And i'm just the guy for the job! We are all children of God! And he loves each and every one of us!

You know what? We are so so so very blessed to live in this world! this place is truly a gift we don't deserve. But we have it anyway! Isn't that amazing? It's crazy.

Just go on the Mormon Channel on youtube and turn on the playlist 'Mormon Messages.' Do it.

We are so lucky to be members of this church, and to be able to live in this world at this time. We are so lucky to have the gift of the Atonement. "The Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ makes all things possible." - M. Russell Ballard

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!!!

-Elder Ferney

Pictures - January 2013



Elder Nielsen Roping

Love this! It was in a magazine.




Elder Holland

Studying





Temple Fountain




Temple




Me and the Temple




The Temple




My head

Week 6 - Week 6 at the MTC

Hello Everybody!!!

So remember last week when I wrote that email saying that nothing exciting had happened and I promised that I would have some exciting things to say this week? Yeah, Listen here...

Last week we are sitting in the Tuesday night devotional and we are just waiting to find out who will be speaking to us... Suddenly in walks, JEFFREY R. HOLLAND! Jeffrey R. Holland! Are you serious!!! I was so excited!!! I leaned over to Elder Nielsen and I reverently whispered "I am pooping my pants right now, I'm so excited! Elder Holland is here!" I was ready for a beat down! You know how excited Elder Holland gets about everything! He said a lot!!! I got 6 pages of notes from him, (well, it is kind of a small journal.) He said, "I COMMAND you to come home from your mission with at least one convert, and it better be you!!!" he also said, "Sometimes I wish I could just get rid of free agency!" ha ha ha. What a hoot! He also told us that if we come home from our mission's and leave the church and grow a beard and have a beer in our hand he said, "Don't see me in a dark alley! I go Crazy!!!" He's one of my favorites!!! It was really neat!!! At the end of his talk he said a dedicatory prayer to rededicate three buildings here on MTC campus! It was pretty spiffy!

Another thing that happened this week is Elder Arnold went home. He hadn't cleared things up so he had to leave. We all bawled when he left. He is an amazing guy! And I am so proud of him for being able to do that! He and I were beatbox buddies. Anyways, I know he is doing the right thing.

I was thinking about that experience and I realized that the Lord needed him to come here to the MTC to learn from all of this and now he is doing what the Lord wants him to do. I am figuring out a bunch! The song "I'll go where you want me to go" has a whole new meaning! I know that as long as we are kneeling every day and night and pouring our hearts out to the Lord and as long as we are feasting on the scriptures with real intent, I know that the Lord will take care of us! No matter what happens!!! In 1 Nephi 3:7 Nephi talks about how the Lord does not give us commandments that he will not provide a way for us to accomplish. I know this is true!

One question arose in class this week, 'Why do we obey commandments?' The only answer I could think of is, 'Because we are told to' But our teacher, Hermano (Brother) Frey helped us learn the 'WHY?' In 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" We obey commandments to protect our Temple, or our Body. The commandments we recieve are to keep our 'temple' worthy to contain the Holy Ghost... Ever wonder why God and Jesus have a body of flesh and bone but the Holy Ghost doesn't? Yeah. Kinda hit me in the face yesterday. He is a spirit so he can reside in our body, If we are worthy of it!

Everything in this life points us to Jesus Christ. If something in your life is not helping you get closer to Christ, then you're doing it wrong. I wish I would have learned all of this before my mission, But I guess God just needed me to get smacked in the face with a realization of these things. Before my mission, I was just lost and confused. I didn't know what to do. I just came on a mission because I was commanded to, not for the real reason. To come closer to Jesus Christ. I was nowhere near ready to go on a mission when I left! So if any of you are questioning whether or not to serve a mission or if you are wondering if your ready, realize this, "You're never ready. But you will be made ready by the spirit and by the savior." - Elder Ferney. If you are worthy and if you have the desire to serve, then the mission is for you! God will take care of you!!! I know he will! And if you are not worthy, get worthy! Get out here!!! The work is hastening, and we need your help!!! He needs your help!!! Don't think your testimony is adequite for missionary service? Well, a common phrase here at the MTC is "Fake it 'til you make it." And I was doing that the first 4 or so weeks.

"My goal in this class is to get you so converted to this gospel that you will NEVER, EVER fall away! It is not to teach you Spanish. The Spanish will come!" - Hermano Frey

Les amo con todo mi corazon!!! I really do!!! You are the best! Thanks for your letters and your prayers!!! The MTC is the greatest! I am so lucky to be here!!!

-Elder Ferney

Week 5 - 5 weeks in....

Hey everybody!!! How in the world are you?

First of all, not only am I frustraited that my Spanish isn't very good, but now, my english is getting worse!!! Aaaaa!!! I can't spell or read or write in ANY LANGUAGE!!! But it's whatever!!! This week has just been whatever... Not too much different!!! I don't know what to write about... Elder Nielsen and I got yelled at for roping... Lame. It is cold here. I must be a guy, because i don't express much emotion in my letters. I forget what happened during the week!!!

Do you realize that everything points to Christ? Another cool thing. Go through the Book of Mormon and find me one page that does not testify of Christ. Whether it says Lord, God, Lamb of God, Savior, Redeemer, etc. He's in there A LOT!!!

Nuestras proposito es invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo! Este es una bien proposito!

I just wanted to let you all know that les quierro muchisimo!!! Y les amo con todo mi corazon!!! Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Also, I am so grateful por all of you!!! You are so amazing! This church is true, and this church is still WAY young! We have a lot of work to do!!! Lets get to work!!! Invite others to come unto Christ!!! We testify of Jesucristo in all that we do!!!

I'll try to do something memorable to write about within this next week!!! The temple was really cool today!!!

OH! Tomorrow we get to host new missionaries!!! We get to bring their bags in from the car and show them into the MTC!!! I'm excited!!!

Keep sending me dearelders and letters! They are Gold here in the MTC!!!

Love you all!

More to come next week!

Elder Ferney

Week 4 - Elder Ferney was here...

Hello!

So this week has been pretty good! Yesterday I was standing in the lunch line with these elders and I began to talk with them. I was talking with this one elder and he is from Ogden. I was like, "hey, I'm from North Ogden!" Then he's like, "Do you know Logan Wood?" I was like, "Yes, of course I know that stud!" (And his sister ;) tee hee) He's like, "I used to work with him at a grocery store." I was like... Wait a minute!!! This guy worked at Lee's with me for like 3 weeks before I quit!!! I just had to laugh at that. We didn't recognize each other at all!!! Forgot his name... but he was a stocker and i was a checker.

Anyways, so since it is a new semester here at BYU we get some new teachers. Hermano Gilmore is no longer our teacher (wah), and now we have Hermano Frey (pronounced like french fry). He's pretty extreme! He comes in and says, "Don't worry about the spanish, it will come! My goal is to make you so converted to this gospel that you will never ever fall away." I am so pumped for all that!!! We still have Hermano Osuna, a short little guy from Mexico! Love him to death!

I was feeling a little sick after that big outbreak last week, but never had it as bad as everyone else. Then i developed a cough. A nasty barky cough! It has lasted for like a week so i went in to the clinic to get it checked so i make sure i'm not dying and she said the cough will pass but apparently i have an ear infection... Okay!!! hahaha. So now i'm taking these antibiotics to cure my apparent ear infection that wasn't bothering me at all... The lord works in mysterious ways. He gave me a cough so i would go to the doctor to discover the early stages of an ear infection. I'll take it!!!

Elder Nielsen, From Roosevelt, UT, Is teaching me how to rope!!! It's pretty fun, I don't mean to brag, but i'm a natural!!! We go around swingin' that rope and ropin' peoples legs while they're walkin'... Don't worry, we don't let it trip them!!!

We made human slingshots... Elder Nielsen accidentally shot his companion Elder Knight in the head with a tootsie roll and he started bleeding! Just a little. But it was funny!!!

The temple has been closed the entire time i've been here, but now it is opened!!! I'm so excited to go today! It's been a while!!! Do you realize that i have been on my mission for ONE MONTH? Holy cow!!! Just 23 to go! It's going by fast!!! The days feel SO LONG, but the weeks fly by.

I really appreciate all the support you all have given me!!! Really!!! Thank you for all the letters and the packages!!! I'm so lucky to have you all in my life!!! We can do all things! Moroni 10:23

Le Amo con todo mi corazon!

Elder Ferney

(Elder Mella Helecho)

Week 3 - Happy New Year from the MTC

So this week, has been pretty good!!! Today is a lot better than the other days this week. I was going to send some pictures but the computers are sometimes lame sauce and won't read my sd card. So no pictures this week!!! On Sunday we had a devotional and heard from a very well known BYU professor who knows more about Joseph Smith than anybody. Her name is Susan something. Anyway, it was really good to hear from her. she had some good information about J. Smith's life!!! It kind of got me thinking... Okay, the year 1830, when the Book Of Mormon was published, was about 182 years ago!!! I've just realized that this church is very young! I've always assumed that the church is very old because it just seems old. The church was organized two lifetimes ago. 91 years + 91 years.I am so glad to be able to go out and spread the truth of this fairly recently restored gospel. Restored is the key word. This gospel is not 182 years old! But the restored church is.

Sunday night, we watched a video of the MTC Christmas devotional from last year. David A. Bednar spoke on The Character of Christ. He said that Christ turns out when the natural man turns in. We need to be more like Christ. A life changing talk. It was so great!!!

Some things i wish i would have done before my mission are:

1- Get more into the scriptures!!! They are amazing! All I want to do, is read the Book Of Mormon. But I have to do other things, like study spanish, sleep, sing, eat... Whateves.

2- Study more in Preach My Gospel! I wish I knew these lesson's inside and out, But i only know the basics of it... Its a great book!!! Nothing compares to the Book of Mormon.

I noticed there is A LOT of power in the Introduction to the Book Of Mormon! Go read it!

An interesting development has occured here in the MTC. Today, EVERYBODY is sick!!! Really, Like half of the missionaries here are sick!!! We think it might be food poisoning... Elder Nielsen and I are the only elders in our district that aren't sick. We are just sitting here writing our emails while the other 4 elders in our district are back in the residence hall... I have felt sick lately... but today i feel better... I don't get why I don't have what ever it is... because I eat everything!!! Yesterday for lunch i got all 3 entre plates!!! I had a mini pizza, a roast beef sandwich, and a turkey burger, plus dessert and drinks and fruit. I eat a TON! Its good times! Anyways, they just announced that the devotional for tonight is not going to be in the giant room where it usually is, but they will broadcast it to the classrooms... and only well missionaries are allowed to attend!!! The told us no handshakes or hugs either... Wah.

I am doing great! I wish i could send you pictures today. We've got a lot of snow this week! also, Our branch presidency has told us "no more beatboxing, its destracting" so its really hard to breath without dropping a beat!!!

Trying really hard not to beat the snot out of my companion. Yes. He's bugging me. But hey, like my boy J. C. says "As I have loved you, love one another."

It's all good.

I love you all a ton! Thanks for the letters and packages!!! Keep it real!

-Elder Ferney