WORDS FROM MOMMA FELSHAW

We got a call from Sasha saying that she would be coming home from her Tennessee mission.  We received a call from the mission president on Tuesday telling us how much he loved her, how much her companion loved her, and how much the Tullahoma ward loved her.  He told us that she had a strong testimony of the atonement of our Savior.  When asked what she was going to be doing for the next week, he told us that she was out doing missionary work! On Monday, April 13, 2015, Sasha came home!  I would be lying if I said that I wasn't happy to see her.  I have missed her, even though she has only been gone a month.   She has always been a ray of sunshine.  She is so fun and full of life. Sasha has been home a week!  She wrote the following on face book:

Sasha Felshaw I just wanted to clear something up: I didn't choose to come home and I surely didn't want to but, I had some things I needed to take care of so they decided that I had to come home. A lot of people have asked why I just randomly got sick of my mission. I never did. I loved it. It wasn't my choice to come back.  

I love and admire Sasha and am so proud of her.  It took a lot of courage, honesty, and a strong testimony to take advantage of the Savior's atonement and take care of something amiss in her life.  She absolutely loved her Tennessee mission, loved the people of Tennessee, and loved the people she was serving with, making her an awesome missionary.  You could tell that from her writings.  I just wanted you to know that we love and support her.  I am thankful she realizes that as long as she is good in the sight of the Lord, that nothing else matters.  

If I Die Young..

I did die young. (Mission style).

So I am home now.

One morning I woke up and got ready for the day like usual. But, right before my personal study i had been praying over if I should go home or not. I prayed about it often but this time I got my answer... I was supposed to go home. It was clear as day. I called my mission president and we talked over a few days. It had been decided I would go home. I was heartbroken, devastated and scared. I knew how much I would miss the people in Tennessee. I loved them. I still love them and always will. There is no place like the south. I was scared of what people would think. If my parents would disown me... Just everything... It is scary but for some reason I wasn't scared. I had so much peace. I knew going home was the right thing to do. 

I love my companion so much. She is the best momma missionary in the world. I will forever be grateful for her patience, love and kindness towards me. We had so many fun times, good conversations and she is the ultimate example to me.

I love my mission president. Never have I felt the spirit so strong by just being around someone. He radiates the spirit. I know he was called of God. I'm thankful for his kindness and understanding towards me. He does so much for everyone.

I love the people of Tullahoma. They love Jesus and I love it. Not everyone accepted the gospel or our teachings but I know they will someday as they further their relationship with their Savior. The people there are straight up crazy but I would not have it any other way. I am so blessed. I don't deserve it at all. But, I am forever grateful.

I love Tullahoma. It is beautiful. It's a home away from home.

Missions are the best. I know that they change people. I know that it is the best thing I've ever done. There is nothing that I would trade for that experience. It was my favorite experience of my entire life. I learned so much. I grew so much. 

I am also thankful for everyone at home who loved, supported and prayed for me. I wouldn't make it where I am today without ya'll. I love you.

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on this earth today. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God. I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and me. I know that our Heavenly Father loves each of us unconditionally for eternity. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I know that because I know these things that I can and that I do have joy. I am eternally grateful to have this gospel in my life. I know families can be together forever and I am sooo thankful for mine. I am thankful for the knowledge that I have.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

RANDOM PHOTOS!

Erbody and their cat has this sign.‏

My companion (mom) and Sister Pinrod (grandma) and Jesus

Disclaimer: not their real name. But this is what investigators text us....

EASTER

Happy Easter, Ya'll! Also, today is Jesus' birthday. Isn't that the neatest thing ya ever did hear? So this past week was EXTREMELY crazy and just wow. This email might be a bit wild cause we don't really know what's happening today.

Anyways, Tuesday we ended up having zone meeting in Sparta which is a couple hours away so we left at like 10 a.m. and didn't get back from the zone meeting til around 6 p.m. I learned a lot and also got my iPad. It was a sister in my districts birthday so we had cake and things and it was fun. :)

Wednesday, we had a district meeting which was also a couple hours away. We also had mission president interviews so we were there til like 7 p.m.   Another meeting of all day.  I was exhausted from not doing anything.  The trainings were good but I wanted to be out doin work.  President Anderson is my mission president and him and his wife are extremely awesome. I love them so much and am so grateful for all they do for us. There are 240 missionaries in our mission so we sure do keep them busy. 

Thursday, we had weekly panning which takes up a good chunk of the day.

Friday and Saturday we went on exchanges.

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference.

Okay, now that ya know the outline of things I will tell ya a couple things that happened this week...

I've tried a lot of new food. We are supposed to write miracles to our mission president each week and this week I almost wrote.. "It's a miracle that I'm still alive after all the new food I had to try." But I decided to say something spiritual instead. But, I tried lamb. I actually made it. I have eaten SOOOO many vegetables. I swear everyone here is on a low carb diet or some kind of diet so all we eat is vegetables. And I am not the biggest fan of that. Also, I don't like tomatoes at all and one meal that we had was just stuffed tomatoes. It honestly took all my strength to not throw up. I was so nervous that I would and I almost did but, I am a champ. That's pretty much all I eat... Vegetables. Not quite what I expected. I am grateful for the people that feed us, though! Funny blonde moment: I like weighing myself now because my weight changes so drastically. So I weighed myself this morning and I was like wow I really gained some weight over night then realized I was holding my scriptures haha. Bless my heart.

 

We eat weird food.

A lady in our ward taught Sister Halbeisen and I how to make some name quilts and that was neat. But, don't know when I will ever have time to actually make it. 

On exchanges I was with Sister Pinkston. She is a rockstar. All our plans fell through so we went tracking and met some super awesome new people. All the people we met were young! Like 20-30 yrs old. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. I swear I only know old people. It was cool. It was nice to be able to really relate. There were to guys who were 25 and they said they love having religious arguments so they really wanted us to come back. Great.... They told us they had been meeting with a JW and they were leanin towards that... Another great. Most people just wanna hangout with us. Lots of people invite us to their bbq parties which is nice of them..

So Friday night while on exchanges we get a call saying there was a tornado warning.. If ya know me ya might now that tornados are my worst fear! As a child I would have nightmares about them errrnight. Well, I found out that where I live is tornado alley and it is the start of tornado season! How wild! So I'm calmly freakin out but sister Pinkston is not so calm about it which made me nervous. So we were out visiting some AWESOME new converts and there is one who works at dollar general and when we pull up the sky is like a creepy green color but it wasn't raining or anything so we go in and invite terry to watch conference and then walk out and it is POURING. There is a reason that windshield wipers have that super fast setting. We couldn't see anything so we just prayed we could drive home. This was at about 6pm so we got home and were instructed to wait in our bathrooms for the rest of the night. I think I watched all the Mormon message videos. Good times. But, no tornado ever came luckily!

One night we tracted all night and EVERYONE was a baptist. They aren't fans of us. 

My favorite part of the week was conference!! Holland and Uchtdorf are such spiritual bosses. Their talks were my favorite but they were all so good! We watched almost every session at the church building. We had an investigator go to the Saturday morning session and after he talked to Estaban who is thee coolest and newest convert here. He is a Mexican and has the sweetest dreads! Every time he talks he preaches and it is just the best! Gary was glad he talked with him and we set up a time to meet with him again. Nancy R one of our progressing investigators came to all sessions. She is such a trooper! It was new to worry about what someone else was getting out of conference. Saturday afternoon session we watched at a members home and Nancy came with us. It was so good.

All I have to say about Conference!

One night it was raining and we were walking at an investigator ran after us for five blocks just to give us umbrellas. It was hilarious.

We were so blessed for Easter. We got a lot of cards, letters, emails, baskets, and I have chocolate Easter bunnies for days!!! We are so grateful.

I just wanted to share how grateful I am for the atonement. How grateful I am for my brother, Jesus Christ and for the love Him and Our Father in Heaven have for all of us. I would invite ya'll to really study the atonement and if you haven't to watch general conference! They are words from a living prophet! How blessed are we!!! Also, I would like to invite you to read your scriptures everyday. They bring stacks on stacks of blessings.

Sorry my email doesn't make sense but ya'll should just know I love Tennessee and the people here! Everyone is awesome! I love and miss ya'll so much!

Love,

Sister Felshaw

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.

THEY'RE HERE!

Thanks for lending them to us.
TENNESSEE NASHVILLE MISSION

    WE RECEIVED THIS PICTURE IN AN EMAIL FROM THE MISSION HOME  AND THEN LATER RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM A SISTER DEAN CONTAINING THE FOLLOWING PHOTO:                                        

Sister Dean said:

I thought you might appreciate seeing your sweet missionary on her way to Tullahoma. I have twin sons out serving now and it means so much to me when nice folks send a pic or a quick note to let me know how they're doing.

My husband is the ward mission leader so we will do our best to help your missionary. Thanks for sharing her with us. 

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE FOR REAL THIS TIME!

I am  on the airplane to Tennessee right now!  It is not real yet.  I said goodbye to Sister Murakane last night and that was REALLY hard.  We both cried a lot.  She was my best friend in the M.T.C. We were seriously like sisters.  But I am SO thankful that I was able to meet so many people at the M.T.C. that made saying goodbye hard!  I loved the M.T.C. so much.  It has changed my life.  I learned so much!  I grew a lot.  I gained some pounds as well.  My skirts have trouble zipping up.....no big deal.

We got to watch "Meet the Mormons" last night, which was fun.  Sunday night devotionals are always the best, too!  The man who was speaking had the whole first row come up and say what they were sacrificing to be on a mission.  Most talked about family , sports, school, family, and more family.  One Elder said surfing.  He was from Australia and by his accent you sure could tell!  You could literally see all of the Sisters fall in love when he introduced himself.  Another missionary said he sacrificed the relationship with his girlfriend.  The speaker had everyone stand up who had already been "Dear Johned" or "Dear Janed".  There were about six people who had.  It was so sad!  Most had only been out a week!

Mission goggles are a real thing.  The Elders I would NEVER find attractive in real life are pretty good looking now.  And the Elders who have been in the M.T.C. for around 9 weeks find me somewhat decent so I know they are struggling with it.  I heard some Elders talking about how hot the Mia Maids would be when they got back. Haha!

I don't know if I already told you, but I had a M.T.C. stalker.  He left me cards, notes, letters in or on my stuff all the time.  I don't even know how.  I've spoken to him once.  It is nice, though.  My talk in church went horrible yesterday.  I compared everyone to my butt....it was just yeah.  Everyone else did great, though!

I am sitting next to an Elder who is going to Nashville as well, but he is Spanish speaking.  It is really cool to be able to talk to him and see the differences in M.T.C. experiences.  Well, I love this gospel!  I love you so much.  Miss and pray about you!
Love, Sister Felshaw