Email #19 - "Whose up for ROUND 2!"

January 17, 2017

Huntsville, Alabama

FAMILIA! Como estan ustedes? This week has been a blast! We have been doing ton of stuff this week! I don't have a lot of time today so I'll have to keep it pretty short.

This week we had a lot of hysterical experiences street contacting and tracting. The other night we were walking down University Dr here in Huntsville and we met these skaters from Montgomery. We talked to them for a minute and shared a scripture and got their contact information. They said, "Hey can we take a picture with you?" MAN I GOT SO PSYCHED!!! So we took a picture with them and you are going to die at this picture. hahahah! So dang funny!

This week we were tracting some Hispanic apartments and we had a lady open up and talk to us for a minute and we taught her the restoration. The First Vision never fails to bring the Spirit into the lesson so quickly. I am amazed every experience we have to share it. It is the greatest! The experience that Joseph Smith had was miraculous. We have had many experiences sharing the Restoration of the Gospel this week and it has been amazing.

This week I have been reading in Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and about Abinadi and the courage he showed. Would we defend the word of Christ and the Gospel of Christ unto death? We have some amazing role models in the Book of Mormon that I look up to so much. The Book of Mormon is the greatest and I love being able to share it with everyone. Every single time we read a scripture with someone I can feel the spirit with the people we talk to. It is true. The Book of Mormon is true. Please share it with others and help others come closer to Christ through the Book of Mormon. Everyone is watching us as members of the Church and we need to be, act, and do as Christ would. Be an example to others in all you do. I love you family! You are all such great examples to me and all you do! Thank you for being you! Have an amazing week! #fourthfloorlastdoor

Strength and Honor

Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #18 - The Uhaul Movers

January 10, 2017

Huntsville, Alabama

FAMILIA! COMO ESTAN??? I hope you are all doing just "FANTABULOUS!" This week has been pretty great! Once again a week of service. The missionary work in Huntsville is a little slow so we try to do a lot of service to help others and open their hearts to hear the gospel. We helped four families move this week! "It's a new record!" We had to fit a family's stuff in a 10x20 Uhaul into a 10x10 storage unit and everyone said we couldn't do it. But I had FAITH! I learned how to pack from my father! ha! We did it and still had room to spare! So you can just call us "The Uhaul Movers" now!

This week we were at Los Bahena's for Dinner and I shared this spiritual thought with them and I thought I would share it with y'all! We read in Mosiah 3:19

19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

So the question I ask all of you is what does it mean to put off the natural man? What does it mean to become as a child? Submissive? Meek? Humble? Patient? Full of Love? and to do what the Lord seeth fit? I asked everyone in the room what these attributes meant one by one. We are all constantly trying to become more like Christ and what can we do to develop these attributes every day? I love this scripture because I believe that we truly can develop these attributes as we do the Lord's will. I am so thankful for the scriptures and they help us come closer to the Lord as we study them. I love you all and I am so thankful for each of you. I hope and pray that you all have a great week! I love you all!

Strength and Honor

Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #17 - El Año Nuevo

January 3, 2017

Huntsville, Alabama

Familia! Comó estan ustedes? I hope you are all doing well! I don't dare type much more in Spanish or nobody will understand it. Except maybe Brian and Greg would understand Voy a la playa y la bibloteca. ha! Well Happy New Year! El año nuevo! 2017! The Year of total Missionary work! How exciting! So I don't have a ton to report on this week but we did have some fun stuff happen. We helped a lot of people move and we raked leaves and did service.  We couldn't do a ton of proselyting this week with all the people being with their families and all that jazz but we did do a lot of service! So I honestly don't have a ton to tell you all about! But! I do have lots of pictures to show you all!

This week we have been doing either follow up appointments and stuff like that or doing service. So the other night I was going through some potential investigators we had phone numbers for and I ran across this man that we met store contacting at the mall! His name is Shirish. We taught him the Restoration and he was super interested so that was super exciting! So I called him up last night and asked if we could come by and share something with him. He was excited and said “of course!” So it turns out he is really into a sport called Cricket. I don't know much about it but I made a deal with him. I said, "Shirish, if we come and teach you a lesson will you teach us how to play Cricket and then maybe we can get some people together to play every once in a while?" He was super pumped! So I am going to be learning about Cricket. I was told a quote that comes from the former president of the Alabama Birmingham Mission, President Hanks. "Service Softens Stoney Souls." So that has been our focus this week. So I encourage y'all to serve others and to serve especially those that have hardened hearts against the church. Service opens doors that you never thought would open. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week full of the Spirit!

Strength and Honor

-Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #16 - Feliz Navidad

December 20, 2017

Huntsville, Alabama

Family! Merry Christmas! It's pretty crazy that I get to talk to you this week! I'm super excited! This week has been super good! So I'll get started right from the top!

Wednesday we had a Multi-Zone Christmas Conference so that was just a blast! I played The Prayer for two elders to sing and it turned out pretty well given the fact that I had an hour to prepare and that was it.  I also played a solo which went well considering I had 30 minutes to prepare that one.  It was a little stressful but we're all good! It was a blast to see a bunch of other missionaries and I loved it!

These last few days we have been doing a lot of service and it has been stellar! We raked leaves for a members neighbor and it was like a 5 hour service project. It was basically like raking all the leaves at our 2nd house in St. George. The member who had put the service project together came up to me after and said, "Elder, You sure know how to work!" I laughed and said. "Well, My Dad and Mom taught me well!" So thank you for those Saturday Work Projects no matter how much I hated them. They definitely taught me how to give it my all and work hard.

We had this pretty hysterical experience this week. My companion and I were out tracting and we ran into this guy named Eddy Robinson. We knocked on the door and you just hear, "Who is it?" "It's the missionaries!" "The Police?" "No, it's the Missionaries!" He slowly opened the door he said, "Jesus Preachers! Come on in!" So we were in the middle of the Restoration lesson and two of his friends walked in. "Hey who are these nice lookin' fellas?" They turned out to be high as a kite and so we got outta there faster than you can imagine. But before we left, I asked him if we could help him with anything. he said, "Ya know, I'm movin' in a few days if you could help me move!" So we said of course that would be great! We exchanged phone numbers and got on our way. A few days later we hadn't heard from him so I called him and said "Eddy! How are ya?! This is the missionaries!" He responded, "Oh is this those Mormons?" "Yeah we were wondering when you are moving so we could come help you out!" We set up the appointment to go help him but as we were hanging up the phone he must have not pressed the button or something and he softly said, "Man, I like those Mormons!" It was awesome! The people here are great! You really do knock on the door and people will respond to you without opening the door and say "Who is it?" "It's the missionaries!" "The PO-LICE?" Oh my goodness it just makes my day everytime it happens!

So this week has been great! Can't wait to talk to you on Christmas Dayt! Love you all!

P.S. As of right now I don't have a place to Skype. If worst comes to worst I'll skype at the church here in Huntsville.  Can't wait to see all of your beautiful faces!!!

--

Strength and Honor          

-Elder Noah Featherstone

Email #15 - #ILUMINAelMUNDO

December 12, 2016

Huntsville, Alabama

Family! How are y'all? Figured I should probably adapt to the southern speech sooner or later even though I still really dislike the word y'all! But this week has been pretty good! I had a really cool experience this week.

Since I was transferred to Huntsville it's been a little rough with my companion. So for all of you future missionaries know that you don't always get along with your companions.  So I was super stressed last P-Day and I decided that we should just go tracting. So Monday night we went tracting around our apartment and we knocked probably 7 or 8 doors. The first guy opened up and wasn't interested but was still super nice! That's the thing about the south. Some of the people may not be interested but they are still the nicest people you've ever met! The next door that we knocked opened up and the same thing happened. A few doors later we knocked and had a great lesson with this guy named Brandon Pair. We got talking and turns out that he is a gospel music artist and so I got super excited! I asked him if he had any CD's or anything. Without thinking he just said "Of course! Just hold on a minute!" I was like wait... What? what did he just say? 30 seconds go by and he comes back to the door with 4 CD's... 2 for me and 2 for my comp. Ha! He just gave us some of his music for FREE! How cool is that?! So that was an answer to prayer as I was super stressed and frustrated. The Lord answers our prayers and he looks out for us. It was a pretty amazing experience!

So every year the Huntsville and Madison Stakes here in Northern Alabama have a Christmas Concert.  Last night was the concert. Since I came here, everyone has been talking about it! Like you will run into people on the street and they say, "Hey do you belong to that church that has the crazy cool Christmas concert every year?" Like this is a big deal! People all over the south go to this thing! At first I was like ok maybe people are talking this up a little... But wow.... Boy was I wrong. We went to the concert last night and Wow. I honestly was thoroughly impressed. It was like listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! and that is not an exaggeration at all. They sang the Hallelujah Chorus and it was one of those songs where you get the chills every 15 seconds the entire song.  It was amazing. We talked to a lot of non-members who came because it was free and probably one of the best Christmas concerts in Alabama. There were some of the most amazing people there and it was super cool! That was super amazing to be able to go to that this week!

Also, on a different topic... This Wednesday the north part of the ABM is having a Multi-Zone Conference and I was 1) asked to be the pianist during the zone conference. 2) asked to play a piano solo in the conference 3) there is a talent show and I was asked to play another solo in the talent show. 4) I was also asked to accompany two elders. So you could say that its going to be a pretty crazy day for me. Then I am speaking in the Spanish Branch either this next Sunday or the one after that! So It's going to be a pretty crazy week!

Super excited to talk to you in a few weeks! Merry Christmas! Check out the new Christmas Initiative that the Church put out! It's amazing and I love being able to share it with everyone here! Love y'all so much! Have a stellar week!

P.S. The pictures aren't working so you'll have to wait til' next week!

Strength and Honor

Elder Noah Featherstone (The Alabamian)

Email #14 - HUNTSVILLE

December 5, 2016

Huntsville, Alabama

Family!!! How are you all? This week has been pretty good and pretty hard to be honest... We said goodbye to a lot of people this week in Albertville and that was super hard. I have grown to love the people there so much that it was extremely hard to say goodbye... But... on the other hand. I was super pumped to go to Huntsville! It's been a pretty good week here in Huntsville. I had a cool experience the other day! My companion and I were tracting this neighborhood while the other Huntsville Spanish Branch elders were in an appointment. We only had time to knock one more door before we had to go home.  We knocked on a door and a Hispanic family opened and they let us in.  We taught them the Restoration and have a return appointment with them too! So hopefully they turn out to be solid investigators! #fourthfloorlastdoor.  In the Spanish Branch we only do Spanish work so if we talk to any English people we just hand them over to the English Missionaries so it is really good to be able to speak a ton of Spanish and I can already see my Spanish improving! Gotta love it! So Love you all! Thanks for all you do! Happy Holidays! Hopefully I have a longer email for "y'all" next week!

Sincerely the Alabamian.

Strength and Honor

-Elder Noah Featherstone

"An Arabian Christmas" (The town is called Arab)

Dienly 

"Messick and Sons"

Elder Fotu and I at Transfers

Elder Curtis (I went to High School with him)

Email #13 - #Ironbowl #thanksgiving #transfers #breakingnews

November 28, 2016

Albertille, Alabama

Family! What a stellar week! I mean talk about "quacktastic!" I did miss you all on Thanksgiving but this week was awesome! So this might be a long one...  

So starting with the beginning of the week. On Tuesday the "Albertville Boys" drove up to Madison for a Zone Training so that was super good! The one thing that I thought a lot about is are we going to be builders or wreckers? One of my ZL's talked about this. Are we going to build others up or tear others down? Pretty big question right? But it definitely makes you think about what you can do to be better and love others. So are we all going to be builders or wreckers?

On Wednesday we had exchanges and that was super fun as well! Then Thursday! THANKSGIVING! So that morning our ward put together a Turkey Bowl. Like an Alabama Turkey Bowl. Not a Utah one. ALABAMA!!! So that was a blast! There were a few players that play for Auburn that showed up so that was super fun. I ended up getting an interception on one of them. So that was pretty sweet! So if we ever play "Have you ever" I can say that I picked off an Auburn player! ha! Then we had Thanksgiving dinner at a members house in Guntersville and then we were invited to go to another dinner towards Arab and so we had two Thanksgiving dinners and after the second dinner they invited us to play some frisbee golf with their entire family. The Currier's whole family is like close to 100 people. Their family takes up like the entire ward. But they are insanely good at frisbee golf and I could barely keep up with their scores. So man! Thanksgiving was crazy fun! Loved it! That evening we went Black Friday store contacting! Insane.... there were so many people. We taught so many lessons and it was great! Then since we didn't have a meal appointment that evening both companionships in Albertville got together and we decided to do a Missionary Thanksgiving Dinner where we make all the most basic foods that all missionaries make such as Top Ramen, Mac and Cheese, Hot Dogs, I think you get the point. So I'll send pictures of that! Pretty hysterical!  

Friday was the 2nd ever Alabama Birmingham Mission Spanish Conference! So all the Spanish Missionaries in the mission got together and it was a blast!

Saturday was transfer calls and I'm leaving Albertville.... I got transferred to Huntsville! So I'm going to be serving in the Spanish Branch up there so that will be a blast but I'm super sad to leave all the people here that I have grown to love so much! We had a dinner appointment with the Domingo's last night and I have grown really close to Brother Domingo and his family.  When we were saying goodbye he was in tears so that was super hard. I'll miss it. But at least I get to stay in Alabama this time right? So this week has been a blast and super spiritual with all the conferences. I've loved it.

Yesterday we had a few Spanish lessons and I have felt like my Spanish was really struggling since I've been back and it was my turn to share the First Vision and I just started speaking and everything just came. Some of the words that I said I haven't ever heard except for maybe once from a member and so it was a huge testimony builder. The Gift of Tongues is real. I'm super excited to go to a branch so I can speak in Spanish a ton more so it should be fun! So this week was amazing. But thats about it for this week! Love you all so much! Have an amazing week!

Strength and Honor

Elder Noah Featherstone