HEY!!!!

Hey Ya'll, Bubba, Babes, Babies!
Those are all pretty common names here! I get called them daily. Well, I am a real life missionary now. I have been in Tennessee for a week! I left the MTC on March 23rd at like 3 in the am! It was the worst haha. We rode a bus to the train and then the train to the airport. We were able to call at the airport and I had bought a calling card but, when I tried to call it wouldnt go through. I guess I just wasnt supposed to talk to yall. Anways, I sat next to Elder Allen on the plane. He is spanish speaking but like he is such a missionary. It was great. He was telling me all about how he was writing his 10 yr old sister and letting her know she needs to change her life. It was funny. He read me the whole letter. We also played Sudoku. We flew to Atlanta, Georgia and then to Nashville. The mission president, his wife and his counselors Elders were all at the airport. We started proselyting at the airport. It was nuts. Then we went to the mission home. There were nine sisters who came and five Elders. We role payed, ate some delicious food and studied alot. The next morning we woke up and had a district meeting and then went to the transfer meeting. It was cool. There were 24 missionaries going home that day. Crazy. They all spoke and gave us new missionaries some advice. This one Sister was so boss. She made a slam poetry piece which was like a rap and gosh it was the greatest. One advice that stuck with me is.. "you can either go big or go home and you cant go home...." how true is that so i am out here goin big. You better believe that. I got assigned to my new companion, Sister Halbeisen. She is so great and I am the most blessed person to have her as my "mom". She is so nice and just ah! so great! We have been tracting a ton. We meet a lot of new people every single day. I wanna write about everything but that will just take too much time. So I will just tell of a little bit...

Sister Halbeisen and I. First day!

There are cats. Everywhere. Seriously like it is the worst. Also, SO MANY CHURCHES. Anyone can make a church and they do. It is insane. Every person has the grossest smelling house. I have been in a total of three houses that do not smell. Mostly it smells like pee, cigs, poop, throw up or mostly just a combination of everything. We went to this trailer the other day and the four year old boy is always in just underwear and he clearly had pooped his pants and he was climbing all up on me and I honestly wanted to cry. As that was happening there were big ol cockroaches crawling all over my shoes. My companion kept lookin at me to say something but I just couldn't even focus. It is cold here. It really isnt but i am always cold. Everyone who we go to teach ends up preachin to us. It is great. People sure do LOVE Jesus. I am grateful for that. We have something in common. One house we had an appointment with.. we went in and start teaching and the couple both get on their laptops and started playin video games. It felt uncomfortable to bear testimony while they were shouting I AM GONNA KILL YOU to each other. Being a missionary is so great. My companion and I got pulled over the other night haha pretty funny. At another scheduled appointment we get there and walk out of the car and the lady starts FREAKIN out. She was like, "Run away !! There is a crazy dog fight going on. They will bite you!"  It was weird. Then the dog started comin haha. Crazy things happen all day every day here and I love it. It is so fun and weird hahhaa. This old guy asked us to exercise in his bedroom with him. We respectfully declined. Oh! I don't know if I ever told you.. while I was in the M.T.C., there were protestors like everyday and that was insane. People are crazy, bless their hearts. <<< I learned from a member that I can say anything mean that I want as long as I say, "bless their heart" after I say it. People say that to us a ton hahahah.

K, let me tell you about the good stuff....
We teach two awesome ladies. Both their names are Nancy. They are GREAT. They both have been coming to church and just progressing so much. We teach them everyday. We brought Nancy with us to the Women's Session of General Conference and she LOVED it. After it, I asked her, "How was it.?"and she goes, "Well I am ready to get baptized." My jaw dropped to the floor for a solid minute. It was crazy. I was so happy. They both have such strong testimonies, but they don't realize it. Hopefully they both get baptized soon. We have an awesome ward. A girl, Loretta, is about 21 yrs old, comes out with us a few times a week. SHE IS MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER. She has like a manly voice, but like she is great. She never talks, but when she does it goes something like this.. "Loretta how has prayer influenced your life?" She answers, "I mean it's usually pretty positive." and that is all she says. She cracks me up. I love her.  Another girl named "Paige" comes out with us too. She is 15 and is pretty solid. Oh, I am in the Tullahoma mission. It is just great. We are the only missionaries in this town. I wish yall could meet everyone that I meet. I love it here. I am learning a lot but it sure is hard. I love my Savior and I am SOOO excited about general conference! I hope yall watch it and just get super pumped!

Sister Halbeisen and I with a girl in our ward. She comes out and teaches

with us weekly.  She is great!!!!

Tomorrow is zone meeting and I will be getting my ipad. I can check emails every night but I can only write back on Pdays. (Mondays). It seems like yall are doing great without me. I am so proud!!! I love yall so much!!! And I miss ya quite a bit, too. My companion always says "you are catching on to the sayings here" what she doesnt know is it is stuff i have said my whole life. So maybe I have always just been a Tennessean at heart. ;)

I love hearin from ya!!! And anyone else, too! I don't know like anyone's email so send em on to me!!!!


Love,
Sister Felshaw

I also forgot to tell this awesome story. Yesterday at church, Brayden, a twelve year old investigator told us he wanted to bear his testimony but only if sister halbeisen and I bore ours too. So we did. He got up there and told me he was nervous but knew exactly what he was going to say. That he did. It was the best testimony I have ever heard and it came straight from the heart. It was awesome. He sounded like a prophet. He knows the church is true but his mom won't let him get baptized. I feel so bad. I am grateful to have parents that raised me in the church. Also, Nancy Bomar came to church and we didn't know but she has a niece in our ward and her niece went up to bear her testimony and she was like oh my gosh! I didn't even know my aunt Nancy was seeing the missionaries I am so excited and then Nancy says from the congregation "can I come to ya baby? Can I come to ya?" And she said yes so she said yes and Nancy went up there and bore her testimony. It was awesome!!! I love the people here.