Elder Alex Fielding, Louisville, KY, Mission

Miracles Everywhere!!!!

2010-07-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ok so big news. 1st, Khavasha and her family are solid to get baptized this next saturday, Everyone is so excited for that. Elder Foutz and I have fasted every saturday for the past 2 months now and the blessings that come are amazing, besides my migraines haha but in sacrament meeting yesterday i look over and khavasha is just bawling and shes covering her face and we didnt know what was wrong. Then after sacrament she told us that she knew her and her family needed to be baptized. There was a talk being given on baptisms for the dead and how 9 out of 10 people in the spirit prison accept the gospel. Khavasha has alot of deceased family and she said she knows there is alot of her family members up there waiting for her to be baptized so she can go and do her temple work for them. Shes so excited. So that was her big confirmation answer for her. Oh Elder Foutz and I got to go to the temple on thursday with our ward and with chris stivers (Our recent convert). We got to do baptisms. It was amazing. oh mom i got the subway card but no shirts yet. prob today. i find out if i get transferrred or not this sat. Oh and jordan i cant believe u didnt know im in my 2nd area. When i got called to train Elder Foutz we got double transferred into a new area. Other than that Elder Foutz punched me in the face last monday hahahaha on accident of course but we were playing dodge bal with a bunch of missionaries and we both chased after a ball and i got it and he got scared so he starting swinging and kicking all crazy and straight up decked me right across my left cheek. It was ridiculous. The whole room went dead silent. I just tried to calm down and i walked away. He immediatley said sorry cuz he didnt mean it but it was fine. I saw some stars for a second haha but im fine. other than that our district is going hiking out by our apartment so that will be fun. I love serving the lord. Its honestly like a drug. I love pushing my limits everyday. Honestly if i wasnt a missionary and if i didnt have the spirit with me i would NOT be able to work as hard as we do. My body wouldnt be able to take it. I love feeling the spirit all day every day. It seems unfair to everyone else. Thats why i need to bust my butt to share the spirit with everyone. I love you all so much. I cant believe im almost out a year. Its just flown by soooo fast. I also can beleive im gonna be 21 in a month tooo ahhhhhhhhhhhh CRAZY. im an old fart. talk to ya soon.
Love, Elder Fielding

Im not getting transferred!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And im the new DISTRICT LEADER!!!!!

2010-06-21T13:09:00.001-07:00

Soooooooooooooo BIG news....

Elder Foutz and I are staying together and I got a call from my mission president on saturday and he asked me to be the district leader for the West End District. Im sooooo stoked. Its gonna be way fun. Theres 3 missionaries going home in the district and the other 2 elders that are serving in the ward are being double transferred out and 2 sisters are being put in the ward. That will be intense. I get to conduct exchanges with the whole district. I love exchanges. There a blast. I went on an exchange with the previous district leader this past week.(Elder Fisher) We went to his area in the deep west end. STRAIGHT RUGGED GHETTO. Its crazy out there. Its just 2 miles north from our area but we were walking on the sidewalk to go and tract these homes and all of a sudden this little white car pulls over next to us and this lady gets out and she is from cuba and doesnt speak a word of English and she hands me her phone and its some guy talking in really bad broken English and hes trying to tell me to help them get to this funeral cemetery place. I tell him that i would help give her directions to get there. So Elder Fisher and I get in the car with her and her husband and we helped get them to this funeral without being able to understand one another at all. hahahaha it was one of the most random experiences in my life. That would only happen as a missionary too hahaha Elder Fisher and I were dying laughing. We got them to the funeral and then they dropped us off on the side of the road. A good 10 miles aways from where they picked us up hahaha so we had to catch a bus back home. Crazy peeps out here. I loved it tho. Khavasha is doing good. They didnt come to church but shes praying to see if either July 11 or 17 will be a good day to be baptized. So please keep her and her family in your prayers. I gotta go. I love you all.....

Love, Elder Fielding

CHRIS STIVERS GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!

2010-06-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

So Elder Foutz and I had our 1st baptism together this past weekend. It went amazing. After he got confirmed and reacieved the Holy Ghost in sacrament yesterday he got up and bore his testimony at the pulpit. It was awesome. Hes so solid. Hes going to be coming out teaching with us this week. He said he wants to take 2 years off online school and go serve a mission. He's 32 though so maybe when hes older. Hes so pumped to come teaching with us. I cant remeber if I told you all but we found another family like 2ish weeks ago. There from Liberia, Africa. I love there accents haha the parents are Eric and Naomi and they have 4 daughters. There all way cool and very reverant in all the lessons. The oldest is Ericline (15) Theresa (11) Winnie (11) There twins and little Erica (2). Half of the family came to church yesterday. Winnie and Naomi couldnt make it but Eric and the other girls loved it. There having a hard time with authority though but were working with them. There pretty solid. Khavasha and her kids are kinda struggling right now. We havent been able to get in contact with them. One of the babies daddies said they went downtown for the weekend to visit some family and khavasha wont answer or return our calls. We had a big fast yesterday for her to make sure things will go well for her baptism. We will get her back on track. But thats all i got to write for today. i love you all and miss ya like crazy. I love being a missionary. everyday is a new adventure. I love meeting all kinds of different people. The church is true and i know it brings joy and love into families lives......

Love, Elder Fielding

SPIRITUAL BOOST!!!!

2010-05-17T11:23:00.001-07:00

This week was off the hook. We have been teaching off the chains..In a bike area our best week was i think 12 lessons in one week. Since ive been in a car we have hit 20 lessons a couple times and that was solid. The standard of excellence for the mission is 20 lessons a week. Now this past week we hit 30 lessons!!!! We are so stoked. We have been bustin our butts. Ive never been so spiritually and physically exhausted in my life. But its an amazing feeling. Were supposed to be back to our apartment by 9pm every night but if were teaching a lesson we can be out till 930pm. We were out to 930 every single night this week. It was ridiculous. These people just cant get enough of the gospel. Elder Foutz and I have been fasting a ton lately. it brings blessings and saves money hahaha Its a win win. But we set a baptismal date with Khavasha and her 4 kids for June 12th. There so exicted and so are we. There the funniest little black kids. Chris stivers is still way solid. He will be baptized june 5th still. Everything is going amazing. I think were going to fast again this week. I love you all so much. Your all in my prayers.

Love, Elder Fielding

I WENT TO THE ZOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

2010-04-19T13:30:00.001-07:00

Hey hey hey EVERYONE,

Alright so i just got back from the Louisville Zoo. It was pretty sweet. This investigator we just found this past week took us. Hes a way big photographer for the zoo. His house is covered in sweet pics of tons of tigers and lions. Its sooo sick. He ordered some extra prints last night to give to my companion and I. Were going to cover our apartment with them and instead of being in Daniel and the lions den were going to call it Elders in the lions den hahaha Fo real. But this investigators name is Steve. Hes a way chill guy. Things are going good so far and today was a good bonding time for us with him. Were teaching him tonight with a member. Things are going really good here in the new area. The ward is very loving and so down for missionary work. The sad thing is that hardly anyone shows up for church. Maybe 40 people were at church yesterday. Theres over 450 people on the roster but no one shows up. So were going to be working hardcore with the Less actives and inactives. Were teaching this kid named Da'Quan. Hes 14 and loves to skateboard. Ive been showin him some of my old skills haha i havent skated hardcore since back in hawaii. But when u got the lord on your side u can land anything haha jk. Da'Quan should be baptised on May 9th. We have alot of other people progressing strong. Its getting really pretty out here. Everything is turning green, theres always a nice breeze. We drive through the country with the windows down singing gospel music haha The mission life is off the hook. We taught 21 lessons this week. Thats the most ive ever taught in a week. Ive like 18 maybe 19 before on an awesome week but Elder Foutz and I just dominated this week. Constantly busy. Elder Foutz is doing awesome. Hes really getting the hang of it. Hes slowly coming out of his bubble ahhaha jk Hes legit. We have had alot of fun together so far. Oh my new address is 251 Starlet Court #134, Fairdale, KY 40118
Now I can start getting mail from everyone. I knew there was a reason why i havent gotten any mail since i got here and it was b/c i forgot to give everyone my new address. my bad hahahaha

I hope everything is going great with everyone. Your all in my prayers.

" Its not about how hard you can hit, Its about how many times you can get hit, but keep moving forward" - Rocky Balboa

Love ya tons. Ill send pics soon

Love, Elder Fielding

YO YO YO LOVIN THE NEW AREA.....

2010-04-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Thanks so much for all the awesome emails this week. It was really hard leaving my first area but the new area im in is pretty sweet. Its half in the city and half in the country. We get to drive through tons of hills and big trees. I love it. We live in between the city and country. Theres tons of hicks everywhere haha. My greeny is Elder Foutz. Hes off the hook. Hes 6,5 and a beast. Hes a walking spiritual teddy bear hahaha Hes got a dry sense of humor and we get along great. Hes from Mapleton, Utah. Hes doing awesome already. Way better then i did when i got out here thats for sure. I forgot to write down my new address to give to you all but ill get it next week. If you want to send me anything right away you can send it to 1325 Eastern Pkwy,
Louisville, KY 40204

I dont have much time today because we gotta go give some other Elders a ride to go shopping. But i love you all so much. Please keep me updated and ill write more next week.

Love, Elder Fielding

P.s. General Conference was off the hook. I hope u all got to watch it....peace

IM BEING TRANSFERRED AND IM TRAINING!!!!!!!

2010-03-29T12:22:00.001-07:00

Ok so big news out here in Kentucky. So first off, Im being transferred to the Southwest area of Louisville. Which isnt all that far from where I am now. About a 30 minute drive. Just to give everyone an idea of what its like, If anyone is familiar with downtown Phoenix where all the crime goes down hahaha its way worse than that haha no joke. An Elder got held up at gun point out there when i got out here and then he went home b/c he was too scared. But ill be serving in the out skirts of the main downtown so it shouldnt be that bad. Even better news is that i got called to train a brand new missionary. Im sooooo stoked. Hes fresh out of the MTC. Ill be meeting him tomorrow at transfers. Im way sad to be leaving this area. Its so amazing. I love all the people so much. It was a way sad day at church yesterday. I took a bunch of pictures with some families in the ward so that was good. Last night we had dinner at Debbie Amerkanians. (Recent convert back in December) She made me Lasagna. Shes the best. Im gonna miss her so much. When i told her I had to leave last night she started bawling and of course it made me start to cry like crazy. She said ive changed her life for the better. I just lost it. One of the main reasons i came out on a mission was to change peoples lives.When she said that it hit me so hard. It made me want to go out and change everyones life asap. It makes me want to work so much harder. 2 years is such a short amount of time to serve the lord. Ive already been out 7 months and its just flown by. I wish i could just start over knowing what i know now. Oh by the way my new greeny and I are being double transferred into this area. So were not going to know a thing at all. Elder Davis and I were double transferred into the area im in now. So were going to get things movin asap. Im excited. A member hooked me up with some dumbbells that he said i can take with me so im stoked about that. I heard that the area im going into has a car so that will be sweet. Im honestly not down with driving a car because when ur driving you cant talk to everyone you see. A bike is perfect because you just pull right up to anyone and start talking to them. Ill probably just not use the car that much. Only for church and other meetings. Im way sad to be leaving Derek Ghose. He has to be re-baptized since he was never confirmed and plus he violated the covenants he made at baptism. Hes like my brother. I love that guy to death. We also set 2 more baptismal dates this week with this awesome couple Damon and KC. There in there 30's. Damons a big black guy. Way chill. He makes beats and does alot of video editing. They will be baptised on April 18th. So there will be 4 baptisms this next month. Plus this guy named Sheldon just received his answer to knowing the book of mormon being true. Hes been out of town for the past 4 days but were going there tonight to set a date with him. So im leaving my area with 5 baptisms coming up. im so bummed. Oh well, im just happy there making this commitment in there life. Oh so sad story. So Emily Zaborowski (Recent Convert. Dereks Girlfriend) Her dad Chris is in the hosptial for really bad blood clots. It started out in his left leg and its now spreaded to now being clotted from his waist down. Its really bad. Hes been like an Uncle to me out here. Hes never been interested about the church but hes always had us over for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other family parties. He's awesome. Weve gone downtown to visit him in the hosptial a couple times already. Were going there again tonight for my last night to be with him and the family. I did a fast for him yesterday. We gave him a blessing as well. We hope and pray that he will be ok. Other then that things are going really good. I hope everyone is doing great. Sorry ive been such a slacker at writting every week. Ill try and get better at it. I love you all and i cant wait to hear back from you all. Tell my dad i say happy birthday if you get to talk to him on his birthday. Tell him ill whoop him in the powder when we shred it up again one day hahaha

Love, Elder Fielding

7 months already!!!

2010-03-15T15:35:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I cant believe ive already been out on my mission for 7 whole months. It has just flown by. It feels like just yesterday i was out shreddin it up at the lake. I feel like im going to blink and ill be home. Im working as hard as I can out here. I love this work. Alot of good things are happening out here. The baptismal date that we had with Mark is getting bumped back a few weeks because he is struggling a bit with tithing right now but were doing a fast with him this friday. We set a date with Crystal Fuller. Shes the mom of the big black family we found in january. She was in ohio for a month so things were delayed for a bit but were back on track now. We have been working with Derek alot lately too. He's struggling. I feel so bad for him. I love that guy to death. He got out of rehab about 3 weeks ago and 3 days after he fell right back into drinking and smoking. We tried to go by everyday but he would never talk to us or answer the door because he felt so guilty and ashamed. SO finally this past week we got in contact with him and he opened the door. We asked him if there was anything we did to make him upset but he said no and that he felt so ashamed. His apartment was just trashed. Piles and piles of beer cans everywhere. It was ridiculous. He is a true alcaholic. Its so sad because he wants to change so bad. He just has crazy flashbacks of the war and his PTSD makes him go nuts too. So he gave us a key to his apartment so we can come by whenever we want to wake him up and have a little spitirtual lesson. He said majority of the times that we came over he was just passed out. So he told us to just come on in and wake him up. One thing about Derek though is that when you wake him up he starts swinging fists like crazy. Its because he's always have night tares of the war. So this morning we went to go to the batting cages and we went to go invite Derek and we went in to wake him up and i stood about 15 feet away and kept yelling his name to wake up and finaly after about the tenth time i said his name he started kicking and punching the air like crazy for a second hahaha it was scary but also hilarious. He felt like crap so he never came to the batting cages. but Us and the Bishop went over to see him yesterday and that really helped him out. He likes the bishop. So things are slowly getting better for Derek. He still hasnt gotten confirmed yet, so were working on that. Alot of other things are going good with our other investigators as well. Elder Wright and I are doing good together for the most part. Every companionship has there struggles.....So do we...hahaha its all good. thats what the mission is all about. I feel like im pretty easy going for the most part. Ive been eating healthy lately. Today I bought milk, bread, some iceberg lettuce and 3 cucumbers hahaha Mom you would be so proud of me. A few days ago i cooked some broccoli and ate a huge bowl of it. it was good haha. So im working on my healthyness. I came out weighing 215 and im still at 215. So i think for the most part im doing ok. We have been playing tennis like crazy lately. We wake up at 6 and go play at our apartment complex courts till 7ish. My companion is getting better at it. Well i think thats all the news I have for now. I hope everyone is doing great. I miss you all. PEACE YO

Love, Elder Fielding

Its finally getting warm again!!!!

2010-03-08T11:45:00.001-08:00

Yo yo yo everyone.....

Sorry I havent written much lately. Ive just been crazy busy like usual. Things have been really good lately for us out here. We set a baptismal date with an investigator named Mark. He's in his late 30's. way chill and down to earth. His wife is from the Philippine's and speaks little English and shes a member. She has been making us some bomb food from the Philippine's. its so good. But a member took us to downtown Louisville this morning to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum. It was pretty sweet. He took us around the city a bit too. The west end part of downtown is straight rugged. Tons of crime all the time. A missionary got a gun pulled on him a few months back and went home b/c he was sooo scared. Pretty nuts. But its finally starting to get warm so thats good. Ive been in a short sleeve shirt these past few days so its been real nice lately. I hope everything is going good with you all. I hope to hear from you soon...Peace out....

Love, Elder Fielding

2010-02-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

2010-02-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

I DIDNT GET TRANSFERRED...SOOOO HAPPY

2010-02-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

So bomb news. im staying another transfer here im my first area. im soooo stoked... i love it here so much. its been sooo brutal on a bike lately with the crazy weather that we have been having. tons of snow and super cold weather. our whole district went sledding yesterday and we made a sick jump and half the district almost broke the tailbones haha ill try and send pics and maybe some videos. but Elder Wright and I have some sweet goals set up for this transfer and were going to make them happen fo sho. Were pumped. I hope everyone is doing good. I hope everyone had an amazing V-day. I sure did, i got to spend it with my companion.....We had a lovely evening of tracting and we tracted into a member who hooked us up with some v-day goodies haha so that was nice. But sorry its so short this week but i gotta get back out there....peace and love....

Elder Fielding

Sorry im a slacker at writting lately....BOMB NEWS

2010-02-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Ok so im sorry i havent been great at writting lately. But alot of stuff has gone down lately. First off, its been freezing lately but so much fun. My companion and i took a sweet new shortcut last cut last night on our bike and deciding to charge through a 2 foot deep river. I decided to go first b/c my companion is a girl and I did and got soaked but made it through without falling so that was nice. My legs were numb at our next teaching appointment but its all good. The spirit warmed me right up haha. But I also need to say that I love my mission so much. I love the area im in so much. Ever since ive gotten here, we have been able to change it around for the better. So many good things are happening here. This week it will be a whole 6 months that ive been out. THATS CRAZY. It has just flown by. I feel like ill be home in no time. Scary thing is that transfers are this saturday. I dont want to leave this area but its a big possibility. I just wrote a long letter to my mission president telling him i cant leave hahaha. hopefully he will keep me here. But if im needed somewhere else I will understand. I have gained such a strong love for the ward here. There amazing. Our ward mission leader is off the hook. Nicest family ever. His wife bought me a brand new pair of pants the other day b/c i took a really nasty fall about 2 weeks ago and shredded my pants and shirt. I got a minor concusion but good thing i had some percacets to take care of that. Im totally fine now tho. I happened 2 weeks ago on a saturday night and I woke up with my knee killing me and i gnarly headache so sunday morning i popped a pain killer and had the best 3 hours of church that morning haha Dont worry i havent taken anymore since. But things with our investigators are going good. Brain Schlacter was supposed to get baptized last Sunday but he ended up telling us he was gay last minute so that really bummed us out. Were still meeting with him and were having a fast with him to ask for a miracle that he wont be gay anymore. He feels like god didnt put that its a sin to be gay in the bible. But he has such a solid testimony of the bible and book of mormon. He will be baptized. Its just a matter of time. I wont give up on him. All my recent converts are doing awesome. Derek gets out of the hospital this week on friday. Hes been in a 28 day medical AA detox program to overcome all of his bad addictions. He should be confirmed here in about a week or 2 hopefully. Debbie is the best. Most likely my favorite person that ive been able to work with out here. SOOOOO FUNNNY. A member in the ward bought her a really nice scripture set with her name engraved on it and a case and on sunday she came running up to me at church and goes hey guess what? and showed us the new scriptures and say Im a cool mormon now hahahaha shes hilarious. Other than that things are great. Trying to stay warm for the most part. Pray for me that i can stay in my area longer. I love you all and I hope all is going great in your lives.....BOOYAH

Love, Elder Fielding

HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR

2010-01-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an amazing day off school and some off work. I had a great day thats fo sho. Let me explain it, So sunday night after we already planned for monday which was supposed to be out P-day, We got a call from our zoneleaders saying that our mission presidentjust told everyone to go out proselyting on Monday b/c its a holiday and that people/families should be home and its a great day to find people to teach. (basically to tract all day haha) Our mission president knew that we had no set plans on monday b/c its our P-day so there was no reason why we couldnt go out tracting all day. I personally like tracting. Its fun, I love talking to tons of random people, and plus Elder Wright and I have been getting really good at remixing childrens primary songs and beat boxing them to a beat while tracting. We've got mad skills ahaha. it gives me something to write in my journal haha. So monday morning we get out and start tracting right away and not a single person answered there door. So then we took lunch around 1 then went back out to tract somemore. The whole day of tracting and we only talked to one guy for 2 minutes. I thought atleast some big black families would be kickin it at home or something. But nope, nothing. So that was my day and i loved it haha. We got to go to the Temple again last thursday. it was awesome. It was our ward temple night and since were right next to the temple I called my mission president to get permission to go with the ward and he approved. It was so sick. We found out then next ward temple night is feb, 4th so we will be going then as well. Transfers are Feb, 16th. Its possible that I will be moving to a new area. But i dont want to. I love my area here. its awesome. Hopefully ill stay a bit longer. but this week we committed Crystal Fuller to be baptized. Were shooting for Jan. 30th but her family wasnt able to make it to church this past weekend so it will have to be moved back. but shes solid. All her kids are awesome. Kenneth the 18 year old played on the adult church basketball team this past week and he dunked over everyone haha everyone at church was talking about him haha it was so funny. but i think i forgot to tell everyone but i finally got to talk to my dad on the phone like 2 weeks ago i think. It was so good to hear from him. It sounded like hes doing ok for the most part. But Brian Schlautcher is still on tract to being baptized Feb 6th. Hes solid too. Im doing great just trying to get through the cold. I love you all. Keep me updated.
Love, Elder Fielding

HAPPY NEW YEAR (A week late or 2 ha)

2010-01-11T14:37:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had an amazing holidays, i sure did, Things slowed down for a bit but there definitly picking up again. Not this past week but the week b4 was terrible. Elder Wright and I worked our butts off, Honestly probably the hardest I have my whole mission. We tracted a ton and every single appointment we had fell through, EVERY SINGLE ONE. We only taught maybe 3 lessons that week. No new investigators. We were pretty bummed out. worst numbers ever. But this past week was off the hook. We were going through some former investigators and we stopped by this one ladys name Crystal fuller last monday, She let us right in and we got to teach her and she told us that the reason she stopped meeting with the missionaries a year ago was because her 16 year old daughter had leukemia and was just way too busy so they werent able to meet with them anymore, So Crystal is a Single mom of 5 kids. A big black family haha there awesome. The oldest is Stepanie (20) Kenneth (18) Cherie (16) Chris (16) Devonte (12) There all way funny. They all have these hilarious black ghetto slang words they say haha its so funny, but anyways we taught Crystal last monday then we went back the next day and taught the whole family together. it was so cool. The most ive ever taught at once is 2 people and never really any kids. So it was a new fun experience. We gave them all Book of Mormons and we went back 2 days later on thursday and they all read the chapter we left them to read. Then we taught them the Plan of Salvation and it was kinda scattered b/c everyone had tons of questions but it was a good outcome. Then we invited them to church but there car has been broken for like 3 months now so they have been using the buses everywhere but out church is way out in the middle of no where. a good 20 min away from our apartment. So we told them we could get them a ride no problem to church so we arranged2 vans in the ward to pick them up sunday morning and we went with the members to pick them and we went inside to get them and I think it was one of those moments where you just had to be there but just picture the movie home alone where there getting ready in the morning to catch the plane how everyone is just running everywhere and yelling at eachother haha cuz thats exactly how it was. They were yelling at eachother in a loving way though haha you just had to be there i think. So the whole family came to church and they all loved it. They have grown up going to a Baptist church where when they sing they stand up and shout and dance and for the ending Hymn in Sacrament the chorister made everyone stand up to sing and Lil Devonte is gettting all ready to dance and shout haha but i had to tell him we dont do that here haha he was bummed but it was funny. Kenneth is like 6,6ish and a big b-baller. So everyone was trying to recruit him to the church basketball team haha. hes down to play too so that will be cool. Also Brian Schlacter made it out to church and we were able to set a new Baptismal date with him for Feb, 6 so that was really good. He enjoyed church alot. But things are looking really good for the Fuller Family. Were hoping to set a baptismal date with all of them this week. So please keep them in your prayers. One of my main mission goals is to baptize a big family, So this is it. Other than that things are going really good. its been freezing lately and snowing a ton. People here do not know how to drive in the snow. The zone leaders came to our district meeting on friday and they gave us a ride there and the church parking lot was covered in 1-2 feet of snow. Lets just say we had alot of fun in a big snowy/icy parking lot in the car hahaha i think we got3 maybe 4 full 360's till we came to a stop hahaha we were safe though i promise. oh last thing. Theres a missionary here named Elder Ritchey, We graduated from high school together, He just graduated this past year though 09, but we use to work out at the gym a bunch and he just got transferred into our district. Every P-day all the other Elders in our district have been coming over and workin out and playin tennis and hes coming over to work out so that will be sick, hes a stud. Hes only been out a transfer longer than me so 6 months is all. I cant believe ive already been out 5 months, CRAZY. its just flying by. but i hope everyone is doing great. I cant wait to hear from ya soon, Love ya
Love, Elder Fielding

YO YO YO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

2009-12-21T12:28:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone is having an amazing christmas season with there familes. i miss you all like crazy. I am so excited to finally talk to my family on christmas, Even though it seems like yesterday that i just left home for the MTC. My mission is just flyng by, its ridiculous, Ive been out about 4 1/2 months already. crazy. but this past week was really good. We found 5 new investigators and debbie was confirmed yesterday. it was awesome. We got that window paint stuff and after church Elder Wright and I ran out to Debbies car and wrote JUST BAPTIZED on her back windshield hahaha she loved it. but other then that things are going good with our investigators. no crashes this week on that bikes so that was good. Were going to emilys house for christmas. Oh i dont think i mentioned this b4 but Derek ended up not moving to Az b/c he realized his Gf out there was crazy so he called that off and decided to stay here and now him and emily are back together. There meant to be haha there so much fun to teach and be with. There great. ELder Wright and I have been doing tons of service for her parents lately. there awesome. we painted there whole basement and kitchen. were gonna take down all there old wallpaper in there family room then paint it. SO its been a fun project. Emilys Dad, Chris is starting to come around and so is her mom, Robin. There such great people. Last night Chris said ya i wouldnt mind coming to church but im not signing up to be baptized hahaha hes funny. total business man. But robin loves how were so dedicated. Its starting to hit her that what we have to share is really important and true. So they will come around one day. But christmas will still be fun even though i am away from home. I love you all and have an amazing christmas.....PEACE
Love, Elder Fielding

DEBBIE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!

2009-12-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Alright so great news. Debbie got baptized. it was amazing. i got to baptize her and I messed up 3 times. I cant believe it hahaha it was ridiculous, 1st time I messed up on the wording, 2nd her foot came out of the water, then 3rd time I messed up on the wording again, Then I finally got it right, I felt so bad but Debbie just laughed haha shes awesome. The whole service was great. She at first asked the bishop to confirm her on sunday but yesterday she said she wasnt able to sleep and that she felt like Elder Wright should do it. So that was pretty cool. But things with our other investigators are going pretty good. Things are slowing down a bit. People dont want to talk at all b/c they say its too cold haha its ridiculous but were still workin hard. Im loving the work. Elder Wright hit black ice the other day on his bike and took an awesome fall hahaha i just laughed at him. Hes fine tho, just a bruised hip. but i love you all. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas
Love, Elder Fielding

2009-12-08T10:50:00.002-08:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-08T10:50:00.001-08:00

OK so this past week was awesome. I felt like without Elder Davis i would be nothing but i realized this past week I actually know what im doing out here haha jk. My new companion, Elder Wright is a great missionary, He just lacks a few things but its all good. He said he feels like im training him haha i felt kinda bad b/c he has been out for 10 months and hes the senior companion and the District leader but then i feel like im the one leading all the lessons and all the planning. Which is totally cool with me b/c I love being in charge but hes supposed to be in charge but its all good b/c we work really well together and thats all that matters. So to update you with Debbie, her batpism is this Sunday and this past saturday we went to go teach her and she told us shes not ready to be baptized and that shes not sure if the book of mormon is true. So that really threw us off, but i started to ask her questions like How do you feel when you read the BOM? and she said, "I feel great, it's encouraging and it helps me not be tempted to drink coffee", So once she said that i opened up to Galations 5:22-23, where it talks about the fruits of the Holy ghost and then to John 14:26 where its says the spirit will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, After i read those to her it clicked in her head that when she would read and pray about the BOM that she was feeling the spirit and that it was testifying to her that what she was doing and reading is true. At the end of the lesson she still was unsure about being batized or not so she said, "Maybe I should fast?" and we thought that would be perfect, and since this past sunday was fast and testimony meeting it was perfect for Elder Wright and I to fast with her. So we did and at the end of church on sunday Debbie came right up to us and says, "Elders, I need to tell you something, with a big smile on her face, She says, I got my answer.....It's true. It was a miracle right in front of us. I was so happy. Then after church we taught her in a members home so that was good. So shes back on board and is going to be baptised this sunday at 5PM. She asked me if I would baptize her so im excited about that too. Some other good news is that this man named Brian Schlachter, who we have been teaching for about a month or more now has set a date to be baptised on january 16th. Were so pumped. We had such a spiritual lesson last week with him that i felt prompted to ask him to be baptised. It was awesome. Were super pumped for him. Other then that its just cold, and im sorry im such a wuss when it comes to the cold, being on a bike in 20 degree weather all day with numb toes and hands isnt exactly something i look forward to do, but working for the lord is something i look forward to so its a win lose situation haha. I hope all is well. Happy Holidays and i love you all
Love, Elder Fielding

Baptizing off the chains!!!!!

2009-11-23T14:37:00.001-08:00

Ok so Yesterday Emily and Derek were baptized. it was off the hook. such an amazing day. i got to baptize derek and this time instead of the water overflowing, someone drained the font after we filled it b/c we filled it while we were at church so we wouldnt have any overflowing disasters this time. so someone randomly drained it after church so when we got back to the church for the baptism an hour later, it was all drained. i swear nothing can go right on the baptism day haha but luckily we were able to start filling it and we just took a really long time during the opening talk and made it work. i just had to baptize derek below waist length water haha i wasnt sure if i was able to get him all the way under. i basically had to try and drowned him haha i just told him to make sure his whole body went under haha it worked on the first try so it was all good. hes a pretty big guy too. 6,0 about 230ish, so it was a workout just pullin his butt back out of the water haha it was a really cool experience for me, he was really happy. he really struggled with over coming smoking, coffee and his alcohol addiction. hes come such a long way. the gospel has totally changed his life for the better. but he moves to az on dec. 15th to be with his gf there. his parents live on guadalupe and hardy. so just a few miles north and the the west of my house. I told him that all my friends and family will have to go meet him. he loves going to the dunes and riding his rhyno out at sycamore creek and glamis. so jordan, brinton and tyler will have to go chill with him. But this past week was probably the roughest/best week on my mission so far. The begining of the week i was really drained and sick and just felt like crap but when fri,sat and sun came around it basically turned into the best part. it was weird. i love how the lord will just answer your prayers when u really desire something. i think i was on my knees praying more then i was actually walking this past week haha. But im feeling healthy again,,finally ha. i finally have energy and not coughin that much. being on a bike in the cold and being sick is not fun haha thats for sure. but i had a really good work out today so that helped. whenever i start the week with a good workout that always seems to help. Oh last thing, big bummer. Transfers are tomorrow and elder davis is leaving me that punk. We are honestly like brothers. im positive that i wont get along as good as i do with any other missioary out there. We have so much in common its ridiculous. were both solid leaders and love workin hard, we both have rough family back grounds, when he was 14 he went to church but his mom stayed home b/c she said she was "sick" and when he got home her room and everything of hers was packed up and gone and ran off with some other guy and now shes been divorced 4 times since then and shes only written him once on his mission. pretty crazy. so we both know that the lord is here for us during our struggles and that he gets us through the rough times. but hes going to be a zone leader in lexington, kentucky. Hes a bomb.com missionary. im gonna miss that kid. Hes a total business man hahaha he wants to start a wakeboarding company with me after the mission and ill just do demos while he runs the business hahaha but my new companion will be the new district leader so that will be good. i really like running the show though but it will be good. We will do work together thats fo sho. But i gotta go work so ill talk to ya next week. Love ya all.....Peace Elder Fieldng

MY 1ST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

So great news.....Wendy got baptized and confirmed this past Saturday and Sunday. It was so cool. It was such a sweet experience for me and her of course. FIrst off it will most likely be my most memorable baptism on my mission, not just b/c it was my first baptism but also because we had the zone leaders fill the baptismal font at the church and they being dum dums they forgot to turn off the water and they didnt tell us, So we had the service in the primary room and then as we went into where the font was and it was over flowing water into gym hahaha just gushing water everywhere. SO we kinda freaked out and hurried and turned off the water and starting filling up trash cans to have the water level go down. The reason we couldnt tell if the water was still on when we first checked it out to make sure it was full was b/c the jet where the water comes out was at the bottom of the font so you couldnt even notice or hear the water still coming. SO the Bishop baptized Wendy and it was a super cool experience. She loved it. Shes already receieving so many blessings its amazing. She got offered a brand new job 10 minutes after church on sunday that pays alot better. That was huge for her. SO were super stoked about that. Oh and the Bishop gave her the holy ghost as well. But Derek was supposed to be baptized on sunday, but we moved his baptism to this next sunday. Emily and Derek are going to have there baptism together on the 22nd. Derek asked me to baptize him and Emily asked Elder Davis to baptize so that will be really cool. Im excited for that. We gave Derek a blessing last wednesday to help him not have the desire to drink or smoke and hes been doing great ever since then. Emilys family invited us over for Thanksgiving so that will be fun. Her mom is hilarious, she loves us. Were hoping to teach her soon. Her dads a little hard headed though but its all good. We can getter done haha Nothing will stop us. Everyone in the ward is finally noticing that were bustin our butts errr day. So thats good. We havent been eating in members home at all. Emily has made us lunch and dinner a bit so thats been good. SO there doing really good. But Debbie who is going to be baptized on Dec 13th has been progressing amazingly. Shes so funny. Shes so enthusiastic its hilarious. But other than that things are going great. Ive been pretty sick this past week though. Ive been taking air borne like crazy. Just a bad cold. Just super fatigued and out of it with a bad sore throat and cough. Its rough on a bike with no energy. But ive been trying to get better. I feel like i need rest but then i cant work so thats no good. So hopefully ill get better asap. Im just not used to this cold weather. I need to get some cold gear under armor for the winter. All the missionaries out here have it. They say it keeps you so much warmer than thermals and its light weight. So thats something that will be good to have on the bike. Anyways i gotta get going. I love you all and I cant wait to hear back from ya....
Love, Elder Fielding

BMX BIKE!!!

2009-11-09T13:08:00.001-08:00

Ok so ive got a tiny bit of bad news but then i have some amazing news. The bad news is that Wendy was supposed to get baptized yesterday on sunday but she didnt....the reason is b/c her husband is a trucker and she was going to quit her job and go live in his semi truck with him and basically live on the road so she could be with him all the time b/c he had been gone for over a month now. So if she went on the road she wouldnt be able to go to church every sunday or at all basically. Which means she wouldnt be able to keep her promises to the lord by going to church. So it was probably one of the hardest things to do in my life, which was to tell someone that desires to be baptized and receive countless blessings that they now cant be baptized. it was horrible. but she understood why which was good. So she prayed about it to see what was her best option. She came to the conclusion of moving to tennessee into her parents home. She either had to go on the road or move in with her parents b/c she is about to be evicted. So thats why she wasnt baptized yesterday. But the good news is that she is going to be baptized this saturday...SOOOOO STOKED. Shes way excited. She asked the Bishop to baptize her so that will be cool. Im giving the closing prayer haha SWEET. So things are back on track with Wendy. Got bumpy but shes solid again. So the other amazing news is..... Remember Debbie? Well.....we set a baptismal date with her for Dec. 13.....woop woop. SOOOO PUMPED. Thats now 4 baptisms coming up. We are soo excited for them all. We had 5 investigators to church yesterday. The Mission standard of excellence is 3 so we destroyed that. Our mission president asked Elder Davis and I if we wanted to put 2 more Elders back into the area b/c were just crazy busy and we told him NO WAY haha We dont want any other missionaries messing up all the good things we have going for the area. He said its possible we might be getting a car though which might be nice for the winter. But i honestly like the bike. it keeps me somewhat in shape and makes me work even harder. It makes me know that im working hard for all the blessings were receiving. But as far as for Derek, hes pumped and ready to get baptized on sunday. Also Emily is still on track too. She will be baptized on Nov. 22nd. So everything is going good for the most part. I woke up this morning with a bad sore throat and i felt like i got hit by a train so thats no good. I took some airborne today though so hopefully that helps. If it gets worse then good thing Elder Davis has pegs so i can just piggy back on the back of his bike all around town hahaha jk. But we have been averaging 25 miles a day on the bikes....its intense. Plus im on a BMX bike haha I love it. On saturday we got to Build a new deck in Emilys backyard so that was fun. I do work with a drill hahaha We also raked this ladies whole yard the other day. It was covered with leaves. Theres over 20 bags of leaves ready to be picked up by the garbage truck haha It was alot of hard work but worth it. I love serving others. But i hope everyone is doing great. I miss you all and love ya tons. Keep our investigators in ur prayers...
Love, Elder Fielding

2009-11-02T09:49:00.001-08:00

So everything is going great. The weather has been ok lately, just gettin colder everyday. All the leaves are changing colors on the trees its so pretty. All throughout Kentucky there is huge green trees everywhere so all the leaves are red, orange, yellow. Its so sweet. But things are going really good with our investigators. Emily (22) is so solid. She just finished the BoM last night. CRAZY FAST. And we got here a copy of The Doctrine and Covenants and she said shes going to read that before shes baptized on Nov. 22nd. Derek on the other hand has been doing good but he has been an alcoholic for the past few years but he has been sober for over 4 months now but a few days ago he got hammered drunk. So thats an issue we are trying to help him over come. He has been going to AA meetings for years now and its helping him alot but he still struggles with it. So keep him in your prayers please. Wendy is doing great too. We've been teaching her in some members homes lately which has gone really good. She will be getting baptized this sunday. Were so excited for her and she is also. How was everyones Halloween? I wanna see pictures of everyone. Our Halloween night was actually alot of fun. We werent allowed to go out knocking on doors so Emily invited us over for dinner and we taught her a lesson then we made pumpkin pie then passed out candy to kids and i gave every kid a picture of Jesus Christ haha They'll be able to be baptized in a few years haha but that was alot of fun. i wanted to go trick or treating so bad haha we were biking home around 9ish at night and this dad says " hey is that REAL mormon missionaries?" haha we just laughed and said yes but he didnt believe us. SO that was our eventful night. Everything is going good, just workin hard non stop. I hope everyone is doing great. I hope to hear all about your Halloween. Love ya tons. Peace
Love, Elder Fielding

2009-10-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

K so tons of amazing things have happened. So as you know we have our 2 baptismal dates set. Wendy price- Nov. 8th and Derek Ghose- Nov. 15th and remember Dereks ex-GF named Emily? well last week we taught her alot and we committed her to be baptized on Nov. 22nd. We are just killin it out here. i love it. Were just blowin the whole district and zone away. AND even more exciting news... we have a solid investigator named Debbie...Shes 36,,,single mom with an adorable little girl named Isabelle (2). We have been teaching her a bit latlely and we taught her in a members home recently too and we feel like shes ready to set a baptismal date with so hopefully we can do that with her in the next week. SO that would be 4 baptisms coming up....CRAZY.. Now from this past january till september, there were a total of 4 missionaries in our area but they all got kicked out and just My companion and I got put in and we took over the 2 areas. One area was a bike area and the other was a car area. So our area is HUGE. And with all 4 missionaries they only baptized 2 people from January till September...Which is soooo pathetic...they obviously were just not workin b/c of the bad rep they left us in the ward. So basically the whole ward is super pumped for us. there startin to realize that we are workin hard non stop.(Which we are) haha but some other good news is that when Elder Hinckely came and spoke to us he committed us to find 1 new investigator everyday for the rest of our mission. Thats really tough. The whole mission averages like maybe 3 per companionship a week and Elder Hinckely challenged us to find 7 a week. Sooo we have been searching like crazy and this past week only Elder Davis and I and our Zone Leaders were the only companionship to find 7 new investigators in one week out of the whole mission. theres 180 missionaries here in kentucky so thats pretty sweet. were super stoked about that. So were just non stop busy. its crazy but i love it. This morning our whole zone got to go to the temple which was really cool. the Kentucky temple is pretty small but i liked it. The temple is so peaceful and relaxing. but ill be writing back on monday b/c thats our original P-DAY so ill update you then. Oh last thing....Derek got out of the hospital and him and emily both made it to church this past sunday and they loved it...sooooo sweet...but i love you all and cant wait to hear from ya. Love, Elder FIelding

2009-10-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

2009-10-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

2009-10-19T10:46:00.001-07:00

So things are going great. Its getting colder by the minute out here. I woke up yesterday morning and it was 32 degrees....wayyyy too cold for me. My hands freeze to my handlebars when i ride haha no joke. but everything is going great with our investigators. Wendy made it to church on sunday and liked it alot. We've been teaching her in members homes alot lately. She's solid. Derek is still in the hospital but hes progressing really well. He's not too sure when he will be getting out but hopefully soon. Last week his ex-gf has been visiting him almost everyday at the hospital and the last 4 times we taught him there she just sat in on the lesson and read with us a bit and we asked her if she wants to learn more and she said yes, so we gave her a BoM to read and she read it that night and really liked it. Last 2 times we taught them together we taught the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. We committed them to live it and they both said they will. SO were super stoked about that. If things keep going good with emily ( dereks ex-gf) then were going to commit her to be baptized if we feel prompted by the spirit to do so. So keep them in your prayers. Also this past saturday. Elder Richard G. Hinckley came and spoke to us at zone conference. It was amazing. He told alot of stories of him growing up with his dad and stories about his dad (President Hinckley obviously haha) which was super cool. He talks just like President Hinckley and acts just like him. He committed all of us to find 1 new investigator everyday and if we do that then each companionship will baptize once a month for the whole mission which comes out to just over 1,000 baptisms a year. That will be off the hook to do. Were all super pumped to do that. But im doing great just workin hard and on the verge of freezin to death haha jk but seriously. I hope everyone is doing great. write me back and let me know how your all doing. I love hearing from you all.
Love, Elder Fielding

2009-10-12T12:15:00.001-07:00

Alright so ive got some good stuff to tell you all... So remeber Derek? well i forgot to mention that hes a medically retired army guy. He got hurt down in irag. Some brain head trauma or something. Hes totally functional and all there in the head he just suffers from post traumatic stress and the doctors think he might have a sympton of bi-polar now. But hes a way cool down to earth guy thats going through some tough times and the gospel is exaclty what he needs in his life. So we went down to visit him one morning and he opened the door and said i cant talk now and just slammed the door in our face....which was really weird for him cuz hes always really cool with us. So we figured he was going through a hard time so we just let him be. So we tried calling him that night and the next few days but no answer then his phone was turned off. SO we tried to stop byt again but nobody was there so we started to wonder where he was and he always talked about this VA hospital which is a hospital for War Veterans and its about 4 miles out of our area. So we called to make sure he was a patient there and he was there but we werent sure if he would want us to come visit him. we werent sure if he would get mad or not. So we prayed about it and felt like if he is an elect person and wants to get baptised then he would want us to come visit him. So we did, and when we got there he was so happy for us to be there. All his buddies in there were tellin us how he wouldnt shut up about the mormon missionaries and how he cant wait to get baptized. it was so cool to hear that. Derek asked us if the hospital Chapplin called us and we said no we just felt like we should come see how u were doing and he said thats crazy cuz he was trying to have the chapplin to get ahold of us the night b4. He asked the Chapplin for a Book of Mormon so he could read while he was in there, he was reading since he got in there on last sunday and we didnt see him till wed. SO he is solid. Weve been going down to see him almost everyday and just teaching him more and reading with him a bunch. Hopefully he should get out of the hospital the end of this week. The doctors r trying to figure out some good medication to get him on. He says he gets really bad night tares and flashbacks of the war in irag. I feel bad for him. but hes progressing like crazy so were super pumped for him. Also some more amazing news. We tracted into this lady Wendy (23). We knocked on her door and a friend of hers inside just yelled not interested and didnt even answer the door. So we started to walk away. But i just had this feeling to go back and kinda ask why she wasnt interested and i kinda bore my testimony saying that this message we share WILL change ur life. Then Wendy answered the door and since there wasnt another male there we taught her on her back porch the 1st lesson. It went good and we left her the Book of Mormon to read and shes been keeping every commitment we left her and have been reading alot and last Wed we felt the spirit so strong to commit her to be baptised and she wants to get baptised. So we now have 2 investigastors with baptismal dates. SOOOOOOOOO STOOOOKkkkkkeeeed. She just wasnt able to make it to church this weekend b/c he husband is a truck driver and he only gets to come home on the weekends to see her so they went on a little trip to visit some family for the weekend. She should make it to church this sunday though hopefully. but alot of good things are happening and im so excited to baptize them. WERE DOIN WORK IN THE SOUTH HAHAHA But im doing good. just workin crazy hard in the rain and cold weather. My companion, Elder Davis said that the harder we work in the rain, then the hotter our wives will be hahahaha So i love workin in the rain hahaha but i hope everyone is doing great. your all in my prayers. I love you all soo much
Love,
Elder Fielding

2009-10-05T15:35:00.001-07:00

So this letter may be short but im crazy busy today. This past week was really good. We met a guy named Derek (28) and hes a medicaly retired army guy and grew up in tempe,Az and graduated from Marcos De Niza. We met with him last monday and had such a great spiritual lesson that we felt promped to commit him to be baptized on Nov. 7th and he wants to. Hes Excited about it. we have been meeting with him alot and progressing with him a ton. He is so ready to be baptized and have the gospel in his life. So ill keep you updated on him. Also no crashes on the bike this week for me and my companion. No more training wheels for us. Were very proud of our progress. Kentucky is sooooo cold already. The last day of september was 52 degrees. nooooo fun. One day we rolled up to this lady while she was walking her dog and my cheeks and jaw were fozen/numb so i couldnt even talk, i just looked at my companion waiting for him to talk to her haha but we got our investigator Frankie to conference. Hes the one that has the sick Subaru STI...sooooo fast. He gave us a ride in it to conference. We were crusin. But i hope everyone is being safe and doing well. I miss u all and love you tons.
Love, Elder Fielding

2009-09-21T12:20:00.001-07:00

Ok so this week was great...it started off bomb last sunday then got bad then got good. So last sunday we were tracking and got to teach this 32 year old black guy named J.R. and it was such a spiritual lesson. Everything flowed perfectly and he understood everything and we left him with the Book of Mormon to read 3rd Nephi chapter 11 and he was pumped to read and pray about it. When we left he said we could stop by his step moms house and see if she would let her teach her the same lesson but she was in our zone leaders area so we told them to go see her and they did and they said some other missionaries went and shared a message about jesus christ with her step son J.R. and he said that she might want to hear it too and she wasnt interested which was fine but the next day when we were supposed to go back and meet with J.R. again. He called us and said that we offended his step mom and that he didnt want anything to do with us. It was really wack. I talked to the zone leaders that visited her and they said she was really nice and polite and just said she wasnt interested. So it was really weird to hear that from him. I tried to apologize to him and say we werent trying to offend her in anyway. but he said to never come by his house or call him again...soooo we were super bummed about that b/c he seemed so legit to teach and progress with but oh well that happens i guess. Then we were just busy all week trying to find people to teach and didnt have much luck but yesterday on sunday it was pouring rain ALLLLLLL day. When it rains here, its off the hook. Its just huge sheets of rain constantly. its pretty sweet. I guess its suppose to rain alllll week. im stoked for it. i love the rain. its so much fun being on bikes too. Yesterday my companion, Elder Davis, took an awesome fall haha we were riding on this brand new slick pavement and he didnt even turn sharp but his front tire slipped out from under him and he slid on his stomach on the pavement. i was directly behind him so i just watched the whole thing haha. it was hilarious. Remeber that part in Dumb and Dumber where they get that bad guy at the restuarant to eat that hamburger full of hot tamales and he starts choking and falls to the floor and how jim carry just points at him and laughs really hard....Well i did the exact same thing hahaha i started crying it was so funny. Im glad i can relate my companion bike crash to my favorite movie haha. Then after he fell he was fine and we went and tracted some more and was able to teach this guy named Frankie. he looks like hes about 30 years old. Single and seems to be well off. We taught him the first lesson and he liked it alot and said he was feeling the spirit which was bomb. He said his mom used to be mormon but converted to catholic when his parents got married. Hes been to church a few time growing up with some LDS friends so he knows a little about the church. We left him with a book of mormon and a chapter to read and he wants us to come over on wednesday and teach him somemore. Were gonna try and get him to church this sunday. He has a sweet 2007 Subaru WRZ STI. Its so sick. Hopefully he will give us a ride to church in it when he comes haha but he seems to be a solid investigator so far. Pray for him please. But ive been liftin hard at our little gym in our apartment complex every P-day So im loving that. oh and the zone leaders have been coming over and playing tennis with us at the tennis courts in our complex every p-day too. I own them haha they cant handle my serve and back hand haha So thats alot of fun. Anyways i hope all is well and you guys can write me back if you want to show some love hahaha jk but i love you all very much......peace out

2009-09-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Alright so i have a feeling that the mission is just going to keep gettting crazier and crazier each week, because this week was intense....SOOOOOO much fun. i never thought serving the lord could be this much fun haha K so first off i got a letter from my mom on saturday saying that my brother jordan called her and told her my mission president called him and said i got in an accident and i broke my arm and got anmesia and didnt remember much or something along those lines and me and my companion were laughing so hard because something along those lines actually happened...So like i said on my last email how our area was HUGE and how were on our bikes is rough to cover the whole thing. SO on thurday evening we were going to go visit a family in our ward and on our map we have it came out to them being 17 FLIPPING MILES AWAY!!!!!!! Retarded far on our bikes. so we decided to leave around 5pm to make it there by 7pm haha anyways we were about 8 miles aways from the members home and i pulled out the map we had out of my backpack while riding (BTW i mainly ride with no hands on the handlebars cuz im cool like that ha) so i checked the map to see if we could find a short cut cuz we were exhausted but i couldnt find one so i handed the map to my companion to have him put it back in my back pack(while riding our bikes still) and i held his and my handle bars straight so we wouldnt hit eachother and he put the map back in my backpack and for some reason i thought he was done zipping up my back pack so i let go of his handle bars and he had all his weight leaned over towards me so his tire went right into my spokes of my front tire and made me come to a complete stop and i flew over the handle bars and so did my companion and i put my hands out to brace my fall and landed really bad on my right wrist and my companions helmet flew off and he landed on his head and his shoulder and cut up his shoulder pretty good and i cut up my hands a bit and my wrist was killing me but i didnt think much of it at the time. So were laying there in the middle of the street and this lady pulls up in a car and asks if were ok and my companion goes...Yes were fine...Were missionaries from our church, would you like to hear a message about christ hahahahahaha i start bustin up laughing. i thought he hit his head or something and was just in lala land haha the lady just said no thank you and drove off. We both we laughing at ourselves how dumb we were to fall in front of everyone...so we end up getting to the members home at 7pm. It took us a full 2 hours to get there...ridiculous. But the member was a chiropractor and he couldnt tell if my wrist was broken or not and said i should get it x-rayed but i just thought it would be fine the next day. So he gave us a ride home b/c he felt bad for us haha but the next day friday, my wrist was killing me and i couldnt ride a bike or put pressure on it at all so we were on foot all day and then saturday morning we met with our ward mission leader and he said i better get it xrayed so i called the mission doctor and he told me to go to urgent care and get it checked out. i honestly didnt think it was broken, i just wanted to know for sure b/c i didnt want to wear and tear on it while biking and not let it heal correctly so long story short....i got it xrayed and the doctor said its just a really bad sprain. so i felt like a total wuss after that haha but he gave me a legit brace to wear so that helps. So going back to my moms letter....i didnt actually break my arm or have amnesia but i got her letter right when i got home from getting it xrayed so it was just really weird reading it. So besides that the work is going great. We have acheived our goals so far of an investigator to church every sunday. Her name is tera. shes a dental student here in louisvalle. Shes actaully dating a guy named Brandon Schmitt thats in our ward. He graduated from Highland In AZ in 1999 i think so Brinton might know him? maybe not but hes a way cool guy. he grew up wakeboarding and going to lake powell alot so were buds hahaha. But yesterday while tracting, This guy named J.R. let us in to talk with him and we got to teach him the first lesson which was super cool. He said he fully felt the spirit and wants us to come back on tuesday and teach him more. We left him the book of mormon to read so hopefully he will pray about it and come to know to know that its true. Another goal that were working on is Elder Ballards challenge. He says if you have comppanionship study everyday and talk to 20 people outside of tracting and ask for a refferal from everyone we come in contact with then we will baptize once a month. So were working hard at that. but i gotta go. i miss you all. Thanks so much for your support and love...PEACE OUT YOOOO
Love, Elder Fielding

2009-09-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

Ok so where do i begin...sooo much has gone on...well first off my trainer/new companion is bomb.com....his name is Elder Davis and hes from La, California...hes a surfer and we are exactly alike. We qoute movies all day...its hilarious. we work together so well. were in an area called rolling hills...were on bikes and they werent kidding when they named the area "ROLLING HILLS". its ridiculous. ive always wanted big strong muscular calves and legs and now i have them...my legs will be tree trunks in know time haha but we got white washed into the area which means they took all the previous elders out b4 us and threw us in there. so we both dont know the area or any of the members. There was definitly a reason why they took the elders out b4 us and that b/c nothing with getting done by them. Its a huge area. b4 we came here it was a bike companionship and a car companionship and now its just me and my companion on bikes... its rough. The ward/members didnt really seem to have much faith/trust in the missionaries b4 us as we have been able to tell from there actions toward us haha. they basically ripped us a new one at church and how they expect us to be working hard non stop and when they see us riding our bikes we better be sweating and exhausted from pedaling our hearts out and also to not come hang out at the members homes haha So from that we reazlized the elders b4 us were total slackers and didnt work hard. But the elders b4 us didnt give us any investigators to work with so we have been talking to everyone we see on the sidewalks and knockin on doors like crazy...ive been yelled at by people driving by in cars non stop...they say "mormons suck.....burn in hell....or this one guy pulled up to us and saud that were wasting our time and that there is no god haha i just laughed and said...Sir God loves you just as much as he loves me and he just drove off haha...My companion and I just laugh at that stuff. Our area is just 10 min outside of louisville. Its sooo green and pretty. I love the huge trees and the weather. The grass reminds me of Maui's grass. The humidity isnt bad at all. Maui was much worse on humidity...So its really nice and has a light breeze all the time.
So heres some goals me and my companion have for our 6 week transfer
* 1 Baptism
* 1 investigator to church every sunday
* 4 new investigators each week
* 24 new investigators in 6 weeks
Theres some more but were still figuring them out Some of my goals are
* Finish BoM in 6 week transfer
* Finish new Testament B4 Christmas
* ETTE (Endure To The End)
* Become an amazing Beat Boxer
* stay above 200lbs. (hopefully mainly muscle) Theres probably some more im forgetting haha but thats just an idea what were focusing on out here...
I love the mission field sooo much...its a new adventure everyday trying to find people to teach. This black rapper guy named Cory or C-GEE-Z haha let us in to talk to him and then he showed us some of his raps and beats and they were awesome. Hes workin a bit with lil wayne and some other big guys. So look for him on the radio soon haha but no body out here really has a thick accent. everynow and then a lady might have a lil southern accent but not much. but my P-day is every monday we just couldnt email yeasterday b/c of labor day....oh so funny story haha sooo everything is really open and a bunch of pastures everywhere and normally we have been taking the roads to get everywhere but we were running late to meet someone so we tried to find a short cut through a big grassy field and we get trekkin through this thick grass on our bikes and my companion is like 15 feet in front of me and we start crusing down hill and pickin up speed and on the map we had it said there was a little river called goose creek that we would have to find a way to get over somehow but at the bottom of this hill is a wall of bushes and i was smart and kept touchin the breaks and my companion just got bookin down this hill and wasnt paying attention to the wall of bushes down in front of us and im just watchin him and waiting for him to just ram into these bushes and he ends up lockin up his front breaks last second and nose wheelis into these bushes head first and he front flips over the handle bars into the bushes and if he would of gone any farther he would of landed in goose creek haha it was so funny. i fell off my bike laughing sooo hard. but like 100ft down along the creek was a legit bridge to cross so we got over fine and on to our meeting on time.. So now we use that short cut everyday almost but my companion takes it slow now haha he learned his lesson. Oh last thing. my New apartment address is 1110 Winners Circle Louisville, Kentucky40242

ill keep you all updated on when i get transferred which wont be for a few months. but i love you all and thank you so much for all your love and support...PEACE

2009-09-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Elder Fielding arrived safely Monday about 3 pm. All the missionaries were given the challenge to give a Book of Mormon to someone at the airport before going to the mission home, which they did. We enjoyed an evening of paperwork, interviews with President Glende, dinner, and a testimony meeting before retiring to bed early (9:30 pm).

Yesterday afternoon, after training at the mission home, we went to the chapel next to the mission office where Elder Fielding met his companion, Elder Davis. They will be working in the Louisville area. After lunch and photos all the new missionaries left for their proselyting area to begin their adventure.

I've attached a photo of the companionship and of the group of arriving missionaries (left to right, 1st row: Elder Smith, Elder Maxfield, Elder Leano, Elder Eyres, President & Sister Glende, Sister Escamilla; 2nd row: Elder Bischoff, Elder Jarvis, Elder Miller, Elder Naylor, Elder Platt, Elder Tuescher, Elder Pratt; 3rd row: Elder Walton, Elder Cope, Elder Todd, Elder Fielding, Elder Cockburn).

For your information, Monday is preparation day when the missionaries check their e-mail and write home.

Thanks for your love, encouragement and support of your wonderful son!

Sincerely,
Sister Stephanie Glende

2009-08-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, first off thank you so much for all the great birthday wishes. all the goodies were amazing. i am honestly getting fat. atleast it sure feels like it. i have actually lost 10lbs haha i think it all the muscle fading away but please NO MORE JUNK FOOD hahaha i love getting all the packages and all the love but i need to start eating healthy haha the mtc food doesnt exactly agree with me sometimes. it tends to just go right through everyone ha so if your gonna send some treats how about a protien bar or somethin haha just an idea. if u can forward this on to the rest of the family that would be great but heres some news for ya. an elder in a district got swine flu and is in the quarantine building for the whole week. so were all on some tampa flu stuff to prevent that. an elder last night got an allergic reaction to some cold medicine and broke out in hives over his entire body and his throat swelled up and we had to rush him to the ER in the middle of the night and didnt get back till 4am. so that was fun. i saw an ear doctor in provo last week cause my ear was bothering me alot and he said i had 2 infections in my ear and might had to get surgery so he gave me some steriod ear drops and some strong anitbiotics and i saw him again yesterday and all the infections are gone and its healing really good and he cleared me so i can fly out to kentucky on the 31st. that was a big relief. so im set to go. i might need to see a dr. out there if it bothers me anymore. but i need denise and ricks email and brynlee and laurens, basically the whole fam haha but im loving learning all the lessons, i cant wait to actually be out there in the field teaching real investigators. but i had a pretty bad cold the past few days and was sick in bed for half of sunday but im alot better now. Mom- call tyler and get him a form so he can go see dad and take the kids down there with hillary. im pretty sure hillary sent her form in already. his number is 480-242-8554,,,,,i thinkTyler- call me mom if she forgets-480-276-4900jordan- Whats your new address in omaha? i wrote a letter back to u in queen creek so kim prob has it. let me knowShawna and fam- thanks so much for all the love and the donuts, my room mates love you hahaTell denise and fam thanks so much for the box of goodies, my room mates love you too hahaI wrote my dad finally the other cause i lost his address but i think i left an big brown enevelope either in landons car when he dropped me off at the mtc or in my room. so mom please check for that envelope. it has a copy of my patriartical blessing in it and some drawings that i was supposed to send to dad. i sent him a letter and some fun lake and family pictures on monday. pleae mail my nike bag asap. that will be perfect for my extra stuff for my carry on. thanks. send protein whenever. i need that to maintain my weight or my suits wont fit me anymore haha but i only have 30min to write and my times almost out so i love you all very much. thanks for everything. keep writting letters, thats what i look forward to every week.HILLARY-i love you, thanks so much for the birthday gifts and the memory card. mine is on its way today.PEACE OUT YOOO