Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Father's Day

Hey everyone!


I hope everyone had a great Father's Day yesterday....because mine was great! Well, at first, I was kinda down because I was not able to see or even speak to my father, but in sacrament meeting, one of the speakers spoke to the congregation about perspective. Sometimes, we as people get so caught up in the storms of life that we miss out on the sunshine that is always going to come. We should focus ourselves on the good things in life, brave out the storms, and then give thanks for the joy that follows. It helped me realize that even though I'm far away from home, I can still enjoy Father's Day. I have a wonderful dad who has been there for me and I love him. I have a wonderful family who support me, bring me joy and laughter with every breath, and I have great friends who are always there to help with the things I go through in life. I also would like to give thanks to my Heavenly Father. He is the reason I am here, and the reason I have such great happiness in my life. I encourage all of you to reflect on what your Heavenly Father has given you. I love all of you!

Elder Brad Fellows

Monday, June 14, 2010

June 1, 2010 - It's a bird!! It's a plane!!

...Nope! It's not Superman, but we did have the opportunity to see Elder Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (it's kinda fun using his whole title).


Elder Nelson came to our mission this past Saturday, and the whole mission was invited to attend this very special meeting. So, a little over 200 missionaries came from the four corners of the mission; from Eastern Oklahoma, from Eastern Missouri, from Southeastern Kansas, and even from Central Arkansas. It was truly a wonderful experience to be in the presense of an apostle of the Lord, a special witness of Jesus Christ. He took the time to shake each missionaries hand. As I stood there in front of him, Ifelt like he knew me personally. It felt like a screen had appeared behind my head and was showing him my life. There were also a couple members of the First Quorum of the Seventy that accompanied him to Tulsa, and they also spoke to us. The topic they seemed to have focused on was an interesting one: The Holy Ghost. Elder Gong of the Seventy focused on being in tune with the Spirit at all times so that you can help the children of our Heavenly Father, even when they have "unique" spiritual experiences. Then, Elder Maines of the Seventy spoke about the two greatest gifts our Heavenly Father has given us: His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Isn't it interesting to note that the two greatest gifts are members of the Godhead? Then, Elder Nelson spoke. He took the time to answer any questions that we had. A few questions were asked, and then he proceeded to speak to us about our mission president and his wife. He quoted Hebrews 13:7 (if you want to know what it says, i invite you to read it), and told us that they, the mission president and his wife, are here to help us and to strengthen us in our glorious cause of inviting all to come to unto Christ. He then impored us to forget what we have done in the past and to move on and progress in the great plan. He, then...bestowed upon all of us, his apostolic blessing...to continue to go forth, with health and confidence, declaring this gospel. He also mentioned other things in the blessing that I do not wish to repeat at this time, but the feeling I had when that blessing occurred was pure joy, a glimpse of eternal joy.

That is the news.

Sincerely,
Elder Fellows