Hi Everyone,

 

I am in Indiana living in Rensselaer in a small town. First I was wondering why President would do this to me because I loved my last area. Sister P and I wanted to stay together and work together and I wanted to finish her training. But after my baptism the president wanted to talk to me and I said okay... I thought well he will tell me I am staying and it will all be good right? No that was not the case haha he said I need to talk to you and its important and I said ummm okay I am listening. He said I know you haven't been doing well, he said I been praying and thinking about this so you have two choices: you can go home or go to Indiana. I was in total shock! I told him what??? He said its your choice. I looked down, I was a little upset of course. I want to go flippen home, I have been suffering out here and it's been really hard for me. But I looked at him and said president I will go where the Lord wants me to go so send me away to farm land. He said okay good you will be finishing training sister Payne and I said okay.

 

I still was heart broken though, it killed me to tell my family I have been teaching and the kids who got baptized. The little boys were upset but I told them they have Sister P and Brother Whittle who will take care of them, they have nothing to worry about. When I went to church my last time in the ward I broke down after they were blessed with the Holy Ghost, I couldn't hold it in. I was trying my best not to cry. I failed, I cried bad, I love those boys to pieces and I am still having a hard time being away from them. But yup I packed and got in the car and drove for 2 hours to the middle of nowhere.

 

When I got here I was just still hurt that president did this to me, I was like why? Why do I have to be here? Why do I have to finish Sister P's training? She knows what to do, she doesn't need me at all and Sister P. 2 still needed me because she has been having a hard time. I didn't want to leave her like that, I wanted to help her but nope I am out here. So throwing my dumb pity party of being upset I left. I get to the house actually, its a small house not an apartment. It is way messy and I started cleaning and talking to Sister P. 2, I asked who are we teaching? I found an area book in a box and I told her what's this and she said she didn't know, I was like what? You didn't know about the extra area book? So I went though it, there is about 50 former Investigators and less actives to add to our other area book. That is about 150 former investigators, I ask why haven't these people been seen? She said well my trainer didn't know the area well and just kind of went her way "facepalm". I was like you have got to be kidding me! So I told her what is going on? She said they have been struggling for months and that they are lost and frustrated and don't know what to do. So I said well we are going to take care of that. I have been teaching her the ropes on what to do and how to teach people because she said they don't know how to talk to people. I have been working on that and fixing the area book up.

 

I went to church, its a very small branch about 17 people. I talked to the Branch President, I think he was shocked on how open I was and said okay I am here to help. You tell me what to do and I will do it! Tell me everything about this area, he was really open with me thank goodness because I need that to be able to help. They are struggling but we are working on it. You thought Chicago was bad hahahahaha no that place was safe. Rensselaer is freakin crazy! I told him what??? He said you think it's safe here because of a cute small town but no there are dark places here. He said you watch yourself and I said okay........ Haha He doesn't know me, I am crazy I will go to the dark places! So I told him what places and he said well there is this less active who has pulled a shot gun on sisters and will hurt you. I said okay don't see chick with shot gun. Who else and he says well there is another one who is in a gang and on drugs and she will use you to do it and you will get hurt or in trouble with the cops. I said okay don't see drugy. What else because I found a scary record of a person who is threating and I needed to know. He said there is a man who was mad and threaten to blow up the church and kill me and we had FBI watching out for me, that was last year. I said well good to know, are we safe? He said yup we have people watching out for us and I said okay that's all I need to know. We thought gangster were bad no red necks win!

 

After that my companion said she never has seen the president be so open like that for anyone or missionaries. She said I was the first, she said this is what the area needed. Everyone is like I am sent from heaven. But I am not! I am not and I do not want to be seen as that, I am just here to do the Lord's work and do what he wants in this area. I went to teach this family here and my companion said it is hard, they wont listen. Well I talked to them for an hour and taught a lesson, she was like holy crap! How did you do that? I said they are human beings and they want to know someone cares about them and being out for 10 months you learn how to love people and show God's love to them. There is one girl here, I am going to cry writing about her, she acts like Sethy! She has a tumor and is struggling and the doctors can't do anything right now. I talk to her and she is so sweet and acts just like Seth and does things that he likes to do. I love her but it's hard because I hate seeing her suffer. I need her right now in this area because I feel so alone. I am having a hard time being here....

 

Well I love you a lot and miss you all and hope you are all well! Funny story of the week a Brother gave his daughter the Aaronic priesthood during her blessing and he kept going. After he had to say undone. Haha if only I had that power to say undone haha because when you make a promise with someone and if you break it you have to swallow a 1,000 needles. Well I love you all!

 

Sister Fengel

Hi Everyone!
 

So this week has been good but very stressful... its good for me though. We are teaching tons of people in our zone, we have the most investigators haha. We have more dates for baptism in our district and we get calls from the district asking how in the world are you doing so good?? I am just like, I have no idea, its not us it is all God's work. We are just here helping duh. We have 2 kids getting baptized which I am so excited about, they are so smart and I love them. They read the Book of Mormon 30 mins a day and pray too. They are Matty and Tyler's age, I want the best for them so much. They live in a bad area which scares me almost everyday, there parents want to move and I don't blame them. They have so many shootings and gangs there. One time we went there to teach and we were walking across the street and this black car passed us and its hecka dark. We couldn't see in and then he backs up to us and we are like great we are going to get shot or kidnap... Well it ended up being a cop and he said did you hear gun shots? Did you just get here? And we were like what?? He said you need to get in to a house because there has been shootings going on. We were like ummmm okay.. Yeah we ran to our lesson as fast as we can haha. But the kids will be baptized this Saturday which I am so happy for, they are so ready.
 

We are teaching this other family who are awesome, they like fell out of the sky. We were looking for someone and my companion walked up this drive way to see if this house was it. A girl came out and said can I help you? We said oh we are just looking for someone but we end up teaching her instead and gave her a Book of Mormon. She has been reading it and we have been teaching her and her husband and they are so ready for this in their lives. We don't know how God put us there but he needed us at that time in that area to find her and teach her. She said she has been praying for something and then here you are, you helped me find what I was missing. My companion and I were like wow! It is amazing how people are so ready to hear the gospel.
 

Then we are teaching some other people and it has been crazy. They either think I am there baby or honey and I am like NO I AM NOT! Gosh it sucks sometimes being a girl! I was trying to set a time to see this guy to teach him and he was flirting with me. He said what are you going to bring me?? I said the gospel because you seem like you need it right now! I keep telling myself they are God's children and to love them, I just get done getting hit on by old guys.
 

My companion and I are good, the only thing that gets hard is that we are soooooooooo alike that we butt heads and if one is angry with the other one we don't talk about it. It sucks for me because I have to act like the adult and say okay we need to talk about this because I know she wont bring it up. We need to because if we don't the spirit is not there and it drives me crazy. But so far we are doing good.
 

Transfers is on the 29th, I will let you know what happens. Oh by the way things have changed here, I have big news! I will be taking over my facebook again but only for mission work here. They told us we will be getting ipads and that we need to teach people on the internet so just so you know not to go on my facebook anymore.
 

I have been good for the most part, I got a bad cold and its getting worse which sucks. I am dealing with it hoping I get better soon. Yes I did get the stickers, I loved them thank you!! 
 

I love you all and hope you are all doing good. I will write you more next week and that you will see more of me because I will be writing a lot on facebook about  mission work everyday. Okay love you bye!
 

Sister Fengel <3

Hi Family and Friends!
 

So this week has been good, a little boring haha. But we had a great week, we taught so many great people. The ones getting baptized, when we went to teach them the lesson was amazing. It went so well, we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit was so strong in that room. You can tell they all felt it. The kids who are getting baptize know so much and I am grateful I get to see Gods hands in their lives. The older brother gave a prayer in the end and me and my companion started tearing up because it was so heart felt. He is so ready to be baptized. We have been teaching tons of new people, we are hoping they will start progressing soon. I never thought I could feel this great love for people I just met but I do. I am so filled with God's love for his children, its so hard to hold it in. I cry at night for them, I am pleading for God to help them and to not give up on them. I want them happy, I want them to take this gift God has for them. I know even though I have about 7 months left, even if its hard and days I don't even want to get out of bed I do because I know God needs me here. I need to be what he needs me to be.
 

My companion and I are doing way better haha. For 2 days we kinda wanted to kill each other but we are both alive so that's good. We talked it out and we are soo close, I never have been close to a companion like this before, its nice. We have become best friends. She is amazing and I love working with her. The only reason we get done with each other is because we are twins, we are the same person haha. We love each other and we have each others backs because we don't let anyone mess with the other one which is good.
 

But other then that I am good,
see I have a smile on my face :D I love you all and hope you are all well take care love you!!

Sister Shelby Fengel

Hi Everyone!!

This week has been crazy fun. We have been very busy with trying to find more people to teach so that has been our focus. We have been tracting and trying to contact people. Some areas are sketchy but hey we are alive so we are good, no worries I promise. My companion and I have been working hard. We are both independent and opinionated so we bump heads together but it is just fun and jokes. We really get along which I enjoy, we have been good for each other. She used to play rugby so I fell in love with it. When I get home I am going to join RUGBY! I am excited for it! She has helped me a lot to relax because I was having one of those days. There have been crazy storms here but we were at the apartment and she said lets go outside. I said no, there is a storm! She said come on, so I went with her. But then she ran in the storm with pjs on and jumping around and dancing, I think she is crazy at this point. But she comes to me and said you need to learn how to dance in the rain sometimes. She was dead right, we had tons of fun in the rain running around! We had huge lighting and thunder going on and we were soaked but we loved it. She was right about learning to dance in the rain, I have been so busy and just working. I have not been enjoying any of it because how I have been feeling. It made me think about trials and how they are not desirable or easy but they help us and either we can be miserable in them and be bitter or we can enjoy life and learn from our hardship and let it change us for the better. So that is what I been doing now.

 

I did enjoy General Conference! I loved Jefferey R. Hollands talk, President Eryings talk and Russel M. Nelsons talk, they were so good, they helped me a lot. Our Investigators came to one session which was awesome, they loved it. We were watching it once though during Saturday and a huge storm came and the signal was gone. I freaked out because I was missing my favorite talk so we ran outside, got soaked and went to the Mission Presidents house. We asked if we could finish watching it at their house, thankfully they let us in We were so wet but they let us in anyways. We got to finish it there and I was happy! No weather is taking General Conference away from me!

But other then that this week we just been teaching tons of great people and trying to find people to teach. I sent you a package so let me know if you get it please! I hope you did! I love you all and hope you are all doing good and I miss you all and will write you more next week!!

Sister Shelby Fengel 

HI everyone!!
 

So this week has been long and stressful. I was in court (no I didn't get in trouble this time) I had to get my investigator out of jail............ It's a long story but yeah we had to rush there when we got a call and went there in our pjs to get him out of jail. I called Brother J, I felt so bad because when we got there he was there. He canceled all his plans for us, we felt so bad. He came to pay bond for our investigator, I felt sooo bad..... I kept looking down and apologizing, he said it was fine but we still felt bad. We were there in court watching the judge and the cops and the prisoners, my companion was so excited for the thrill of adventure. I was just tired of all this happening to me on my mission. I got sick because I didn't eat after I took my meds so Brother J was going to take us out but I felt bad as it was so I said no I will be fine and he said NO you need to eat! He ended up having a lunch in his car so he gave it to us to eat but we had to go to or investigators house so Brother J followed us to make sure we actually ate the food. He is a good Dad. We got our investigator out, that is all that counts. If anyone needs to get out of jail just call us, we will come get you out. We are sister missionaries that fight crime!

Other than that we went to a member's house to do service for them we had a blast there. I built some toy boxes, that's right I use tools and didn't hurt myself! Then we were talking because I went to eat at someone's house and I told them "yeah I went and saw my little boy" (that is what I call my investigators baby). He is soooo cute! The person thought I meant my baby and I said "yes I have a kid on my mission, they let me stay here even if I had a kid. The daddy lives in South Chicago haha. My companion laughed so hard!

 

 That's right I am hood.

My companion had her birthday, she is 20 years old now. She is not a little girl anymore haha. I love her sooo much, she makes me tired but she is so much fun to be around. She makes my day even though she worries me because she has this problem where she faints. It happens almost everyday and it freaks me out. I keep telling her if it happens again I am making you go to the doctor! It is from rugby, she got something in her head so that is what happens. Hopefully it stops because it freaks me out when she falls over.

I love teaching my awesome peeps. I am teaching this one family that I just love so much. The kids are on date for Oct 19th. I am excited for the boys to be baptized, they are so ready, I am happy for them. Other than that our goal is finding and it sucks haha. Its hard but we will keep going.
 

I love you Mommy!!!!! :)
 

Sister Fengel

Hi Everyone!

This week was better then last week so that is a plus haha. I am training a 19 year old, she is super cool! She is from New Hampshire and has 12 people in her family, her name is Sister P. She makes me tired sometimes because she is go go go. I am all good with that its just with my meds, I am not the same like I used to be. I feel bad sometimes because she wants to be pushy with the members but I told her if you do that you will loose them.. I told her that you have to earn their trust and build a relationship by serving them and making sure your focus on the work. If they just see you pushy and begging for people to teach they wont help you. So she is awesome but she needs to learn patience and charity first.

Other than that it was good. I helped at the community lawn party our ward threw and I got to face paint for people haha. I have no idea why they trust me with that but it was fun. All our investigators were there which was awesome! Then I got to talk on Sunday, I think I sucked but everyone loved it. It was okay, I could of done way better. Not much happen this week. Oh yeah there has been a lot of shooting because where our investigators are a kid got shot crossing the street. They went to the funeral. Yeah its been getting bad out here but we are safe where we live so we are good. My foot is fine I just pulled something and I am taking pain meds for it so I should get better soon.

Yeah I heard about M, she told me and sent pictures. Um everyone is doing good, E is teaching a lot of people. B is good and J finally is out with all of us now serving in Washington! So far everyone is good.

I love you to Mommy and miss you! I am always praying for you guys :)

Sister Fengel <3

 Hi peoples!!!!!

So let me start off that this last week was horrible haha. It has been a bad week........... Let's start with Monday last week: So me and my companion went on a trip in to the city on bike rides, it was so much fun. We had a blast but the next thing we know we can't find our bikes........ So we look and look walking all in Chicago city and we are getting sick and I am tired because I didn't eat much and my foot started to hurt. My companion looked worse then me so I took her somewhere to eat and I had no money so I didn't get anything. As we are done we try to go find our bikes but then we get lost in the city, the sun went down... it's been 3 hours. Its 8pm now and we don't know what to do. My companion and I get upset with each other because we are stressed and tired and in pain. We sit near a step in the dark in the city crying and done with all this crap. We pretty much said to each other hey lets just go to the airport and go home I know where that is haha. But we don't call the president because we don't want to get in trouble for getting lost and to this day he doesn't know so don't tell him!!!! But back to story of our nightmare: So here we are and we know a member named J who has been like our Dad out here but then we argued who would call him... I lost so I texted him because I am to scared to call him. I told him we need help. Of course he calls and says what happen?? I said well we lost our bikes and don't know what to do, I told him I guess I can take the CTA but he said no it's too dangerous. He said I am coming to get you and I said no its okay I feel bad but nope he got in his car to come look for us. So we walked down this street we don't know and can't see anything in the dark. I get soo tired I fall to the ground and just sit there and say I am DONE! We wait and he finally comes. We get in the car crying and he is trying to calm us down. He finds our bikes, take us to our car and he said if I could I hug you I would I feel bad but we just gave him a hand hug. He saved our lives, if it wasn't for him I would probably had to sleep in Chicago somewhere haha. But yeah make sure you thank J for saving your daughter!!!!

 

Then I had a panic attack, long story............. But I have to go see the doctor this week, I will let you know more on that story later. Then one of our investigators dropped us and we tracted all week. People just slammed the door in our faces and tell us to go away so yeah. Then some of our single guy investigators are mad at us because we don't like being alone with them. We told them it wasn't that, I just can't be alone with you haha. Yeah I was pretty done with last week.... its been a bad week.

 

 

Other than that I have good funny story: My skirt fell off in public, that was fun.... Then my companion and I got transfer calls, I am staying and training again of course and my companion is training and white washing an area in Chicago Heights. I will miss her because she is my daughter! So it will be hard, it was hard for her. She had to hold tears all through church. J the guy that is like a Dad to us tried to make her feel better haha. I told him it won't work, I tried. So I will be staying though and I am giving a talk at church and teaching classes. I am sooooo tired, I just want to go to bed and not get up. But that is my crazy week here in Chicago. I will let you know more about my life next week love you tons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Sister Fengel <3