Grandma & Grandpa - Jun 30

Dear Elder Grandson,

Where has this month gone?  How are you doing?  The weather there looks nice.  You should be doing lots of tracking and teaching. How is that going?  We have been praying for all your investigators. We hope you have a baptism or two scheduled.

We have finally got about two inches of rain.  Things will now start growing and turn green again.  This weeks will be really hot and humid. We still have the balcony area and the end of the house to paint.  Little by little it is getting done. It was nice not to paint everyday because of the rain.  All we did was spend time in doctor offices for appointments though.

We really enjoyed your pictures last week.  You are "Feidler on the Roof"!  The fireworks were early. Hope you have a great 4th. Hopefully someone will invite you to a BarBQ.  We aren't doing anything special that I know of. How are meals going in your ward? I hope they are feeding you.

Now that you are senior companion, are you doing all the driving? Are you taking good care of your car?

Myka will be 15 months old in July and you are going to be out 15 months. Time is marching on.

Well, we really haven't done anything special.  We don't have any travel plans.  We are very boring around here. 

We want you to know how proud we are of you and the work you are doing. Be happy, have some fun and stay close to your Heavenly Father. Sending a letter tomorrow to you.

Lots of Love,

Grandpa & Grandma.

Grandma and Grandpa,

The month decided to get up and walk away! Thank y'all so much for the letter last week! We have been knocking so many doors lately! Sadly we haven't found anyone willing to listen to us. I have gained some bruises on my fingers from knocking doors! :) We have one investigator right now. She is 81 and doesn't want to do anything too quickly. She wants to get baptized  May 31st of 2015. We also were teaching two girls from the Brewers family that are up for the summer to visit there dad, but their mom won't give them permission.

For the 4th of July we have to be in at 6pm. The ward is feeding us 5 out of 7 days a week. Every week it usually ends up being the same people that feed us. I am the one that gets to drive! It's nice to be able to do that. Hopefully this next week is full of success!

Love and miss y'all

Elder Graham Feidler

Jun 30

Dad:
Elder Feidler,

Well it is the end of June and it feels like summer in Texas! This past week we had some good rain and we needed it. The yard was getting really dry and I was starting to consider a sprinkler system again. Then the rains came and it has greened up again.

I was looking on Facebook and found out my old Lotus was crashed!  The insurance company considered it totaled and so Akshay has it no more.  But another company bought the car and rebuilt it and it is online in Florida for sale for $24,900 and looks like new again.

He hit a truck!

The other bad news of the week is I did not win the bid for the really big job that I had worked so hard on.  But, I have had a great 3 months and I still have some good sales to make this next month so we are certainly being blessed.

Good news is we had two convert baptisms in our ward yesterday and one of the converts from the first of the year got called as my assistant clerk over membership today.

Also, we got a new child bike seat so Myka can go cycling with Chelle and me.

We went swimming yesterday for the HOA 4th of July bash. It was fun!  Maddie went swimming for 5 hours with a friend and now she looks like a red lobster. Poor Maddie.

In further news. Myka loves green sauce at Gringos!  Yum! We ate there last night.

I hope you are having success in the work. We are praying for you and your investigators. Have you tried any new ways of finding people?

The kids have one more week before they leave on the Nauvoo Trip. There will be 4 buses going from the stake center and they will be gone Mon-Sat. Sounds like they will have lots of fun and get to visit several church historical sites and see two big plays/pageants in Nauvoo.

Have a great 4th of July this week!  We will probably be going down to Chelle's mom's house as her brother Aaron is coming in to visit from Utah.

Keep up the hard work, we love you and are super proud of you!!

Graham:

Dad and Family,

You should send some of that warm weather up here! This past week we spent most of our time knocking on doors, trying to teach, and offering service. Sadly we didn't find anybody willing to listen to our message.

Poor lotus! It still has that homemade license plate on the front. Maddie does look like she turned into a lobster. The youth here went on a lake campout last week and they all showed up at church sun burned.  The green sauce sounds so good. I can't wait to eat some again! Sorry to hear you didn't get the playground bid. Sounds a lot like our work this past week. Hopefully this next week will be better. On Tuesday of last week we went to the library to have Mormon.org time when a guy walked up to us with some sort of bible. He kept telling us that he wanted to get off of drugs and find Jesus. He wouldn't really listen to what we would tell him.

Love and miss y'all,

-Elder Graham Feidler

p.s. Thanks for the letter in the mail. I got it today.

Dad:

Make it a great week!   Find lots of people ready to listen.  It will happen.  I'll take you for Gringos as soon as you're home.

Luv and miss you 

Grandma & Grandpa - Jun 23

Dear Elder Grandson,

The weeks just seem to fly by and I feel like nothing gets done and we are so tired.  I guess that comes with getting OLD. We are still painting and it is going so slow.  Hopefully tomorrow we will try the new paint gun out and it will work right and get the carport done and move to the upstairs patio.

We hope you had a good week. Congratulations on your baptism last week.  They look like a very nice family.  I noticed that their baby looks a lot like Myka. 

You have been getting a lot of rain and we need rain so bad here.  It has been going north of I10 and not any in Port Arthur. It is dry in Pearland too.  We are thankful you are in a car also with all that rain. 

We sent you a letter on Friday, so be looking for it this week. Grandpa wants to know how you like the long daylight hours.

There is really not much to tell you since all we do is paint, eat and sleep and go to doctor appointments.  Grandpa has another injection in his back on Wednesday.  I was hoping the house painting would be done before he got it so he could enjoy no pain longer.

We love and miss you a lot.  Have a great week and have fun when you can.  We pray for you to find those people out there wanting to hear the gospel.  Keep up the good work.

Love,

Grandpa & Grandma
 

Grandma and Grandpa,

The sun here never goes down! It's still light out when I go to bed and the bright sun wakes me up at 5am. I like the sun a lot more then the darkness.

Sounds like y'all need to start the rain dance over there or maybe try washing a car. This past week was a great and busy one.

Love and miss ya!

-Elder Graham Feidler 

Jun 23

Dad:
Hello! The days are the longest of the year!  This morning I left for Bishopric meeting about 6:20 am and it was light outside and one of the neighbors was mowing his yard!!!  It was light until almost 9 pm.

We sent you a package this week. I hope you got it.  I got two bags of the yummy tasty item in there for Father's Day and split it with you. Enjoy.

It has been really hot here. The grass is looking really dry and I have watered it twice this week. No rain here this week.

Today at church Zack gave a talk on home teaching and did a great job! He was looking up lots and addressing everyone.

Your littlest sister is such a cute girl. Check out her pretty blue eyes!  Daddy loves her and I'm sure she is going to love her big brother Graham!

Well as summers usually go around here we are seeing more people move out of the ward and we will start getting new move-ins too.  Nothing else new going on here.  I sure miss Zack and Maddie since they are staying at your mom's this month. It's very quiet around here. Myka doesn't say any words yet.  She just points and grunts or screams when she wants something.

Thanks for being such a great example.  I often think what it would be like at our ward council meetings if you were the missionary there.  It's exciting to see the Elders report on the investigators' progress.  I miss you lots!

We got your letter in the mail on Friday this past week. It was great to get a written letter.  Thanks!!!

Ideas for finding people?  Service!  Ask the members if any of their neighbors could use help on any projects or yard work. Street contact as if you;re taking a survey and lead it into purpose of life questions. See if there is a local newspaper and if they will print an intro letter about you and your companion serving in the area.

Accident!  Maddie is here visiting and Myka just stuck a pen up her nose. Now Maddie's nose is bleeding......I think she will survive.  Ice pack is in place and paper towels.

Back to our regular scheduled program..  Well that's it for excitement today.

I keep wishing we had a swimming pool but it is too much money and probably dangerous for our little one.  We don't have any vacation plans this summer, but I sure would like to get out of here and go somewhere.  Maybe we will go to Oregon again!  That would put us very close to you.

Have a great week and keep up the good work!  We are being blessed at home for all your hard work.

Love you,
Dad

Graham:

Dear Family,

It has been another great week here in the Penn Cove ward. We found 3 new investigators and received 7 member referrals. We gave this past week our best and just barely fell short of standards for the mission. :( In the cove all week long they had many sail boat races!

The sun here seems to be out day and night. It wakes us up around 5am. We found a new place to daily plan every night!

​There is a window in our spare bedroom that leads out to a pretty flat roof on top of our garage.

​We are literally preaching the word of God on the roof tops. :) Right as we finished planning someone decided to start the 4th of July early so we had a little show.

We have been spending an hour or two everyday tracting, Knocking on doors, looking for someone who is prepared. This past week one of our new investigators, Dustin, invited us back over to teach him more. He really needs the gospel in his life and he knows that. We are just hoping he is willing to change.

On Saturday we moved two less active families out of the ward and painted a deck for one of our investigators. My companion gave a talk in church yesterday and so that investigator told us she would be there to hear it but gave us a call 5 mins after church started and told us she no longer wants us to share our "Mormon lessons" with her. Feels like our investigators use us for service out here.

Not much else I can think of that's new. Our other solid investigator nearly dropped us this past week. Please keep Margaret, Joyce, Dustin, and Max in y'alls prayers that they progress. On Wednesday I found out I'm now the senior companion! Pretty exciting. Also I got your package! Thanks so much for the beef jerky and the B-dubs sauce!

Hope ya'll have a great week

-Elder Graham Feidler

Dad:

Glad to hear you are doing well!  Preaching from the roof tops!  Just don't get kicked out of the apartment complex..... and be careful.

I'm at the office right now.  Love and miss you! Enjoy the Asian Zing!  Get some chicken strips and add flavor.

Jun 16

Dad:
Hi Elder Feidler,
It's been a great week here.  Today is Father's Day. I got some new jeans and shirts! Also some great cards.

We had a good church today although the number of people there was less. Myka was happy and could hardly contain herself as Zack entertained her.

Maddie and I matched wearing blue and orange.

She likes her brother lots. Here he is reading to her.

This past week I went to Ft. Worth for a trade show. I passed a sunflower farm on the way.

It was pretty cool. It's been another hot week here. The kids came home yesterday for Father's Day and spent the night and went to church with us today. Maddie got set apart as the Mia Maid president today and Zack got asked to give a talk next Sunday in sacrament on Home Teaching.

We sure miss you and hope the work is going well. Keep studying and praying for direction and you will have lots of success and fun. Remember that His plan is a plan of happiness and you are to have joy.  It's not about finding joy as the destination but it is about finding joy in the journey.

Enjoy the summer!  Zack applied for a job online at Old Navy and when he went to the store to follow up on the application someone asked him if he was your brother even before he introduced himself!  So I guess you are still famous at Old Navy.  And I guess Zack looks a lot like you. He still hasn't found a job yet but also applied at Panera this week.

We love you and miss you. Keep up the good work.

Graham:

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

Family,

This past week was a great one! I don't want to say much because I wrote a hand written letter last night and put it in the mail this morning. Saturday we had a baptism that went great! Tomorrow is transfers but neither of us are sure if we will be leaving. Lately the sun has been missing and the clouds have taken over. Last p-day we had a BBQ picnic with the missionaries in the district on the beach. 

​It was a blast. We met one lady who the sisters started teach on the beach and she asked if she could get baptized. She lives in our ward boundaries but doesn't want to be taught by men. The sister missionaries are teaching like 5 people in our area that wanna get baptized but don't want us to teach them :( We have been spending most of our days tracting lately trying to find new people to teach. We have 2 investigators we are teaching right now.

The beach coast out here is full of rocks and drift wood.

​Let the rain come down! I'm so thankful to have a car.

Jake Baxter was baptized on Saturday at 3pm! We had too big of a turn out. There was only standing room. His wife has been trying to get him to join the church for 20 years. Since I've been here I have seen such a big change in Jake. He went from going to the baptist church alone every Sunday to getting onto his wife for doing laundry on Sundays. 

Just got news that both my companion and I are staying here for another 6 weeks! I'm glad to hear Old Navy still remembers me! :)

Hope ya'll have a great week!

Love ya'll

Dad:

Wow.  What a great week. I'm so happy for you.  Missions are great!  Congrats on the baptism. I'm really happy you could help complete an eternal family.  I'm sure his wife is thrilled!   We will be watching the mail.

Jun 15 - Snail Mail!!

Jun 9

Elder Feidler

Hi from home. It's summer and it's in the 90s.  Hot hot hot. The grass has been growing like crazy.  So it's back to mowing every week. Zack and Maddie have gone to your mom's for the month so it is pretty quiet around here.  But Myka tries to make as much noise as she can. Yesterday we took Myka to the pool. She was a little scared and wanted to be held. All the time. Even though she is tall enough to stand up in the kiddie pool.

We had fun and later took her to eat a snow cone.  This week I will be going to Fort Worth on Thursday and Friday for a work grade show. So I ordered a new retractable banner for our booth.

The only other excitement around here is Madde had her iPod touch stolen at school in 5th period a week ago, Friday. Then this past week a girl in her 5th period class "found" the iPod in a storm drain at her bus stop over in another section of Southfork!  I went and removed the man hole cover and got the iPod back. It was wet and the screen broken.

The place it was found you could not see from the street so the girl who found it is the primary suspect. I feel sorry for Maddie because she just got it at Christmas and she had taken good care of it and not broken the screen, then this happens. We dried it out and it works, but with a broken screen and water damage visible under the screen.

Church only had 160 people there today.  I think summer vacationing has taken many away.  Next Sunday is Father's Day!  You have made me a very proud father.  Thanks for working so hard and serving a mission!  I love and miss you.

The Brown Family from Pearland ward is moving to Washington state. Rachelle and Aaron Brown. We are not sure what city they are moving to but they said they will be visiting the island where you are.

Also, tell Bishop Keyes that we know Loni Jenks. She is in Silver ake ward and related to him.

Have a great week!   I hope the weather is great for you.


Graham:

Dear Family,

This last week was kinda a ruff one. I got really sick last week after emailing. My stomach no longer digest foods or so it seems.Good news is that Jake is finally scheduled to get baptized this Saturday. Hopefully this time it will actually happen. This morning I get sealants put on my teeth to prevent cavities. 

Dad:

Feeling better now??  I just ate BBQ and am headed home from TX city. Who's in the baptism pic? Great pics!!!  Love them.

Graham:

The baptism pic is of Allen and Jocelyn Jones. I'm feeling a lot better now but still not completely better.

Dad:

It's a jeep day for me today!

Here's my Texas City playground under construction.

Get well and have a great week!  We will be praying for your scheduled baptism.  

Graham: Not to much else going on here.

Jun 2

Dad:
Elder Feidler,
Wow how the year is flying by.  It's June and summer is here. This week is the last week of school for Zack and Maddie. Seminary's last day is Tuesday and we can start sleeping in until 6:30am!  That's about when Myka wakes up. Once she is up she is happy to sit on whoever will play with her.

Today was Stake Conference. It was good. President Scott asked us all to take notes on what was important to us. I got read scriptures and pray.

This past week was busy at work. In ended up being a great month of sales.  I'm hoping this week to find out if I get a big Harris County park job that I bid.  I spent a lot of time designing it. My design had over 80 activities on it.

So it's Sunday afternoon and we just ate nachos and are relaxing now. 

How's the missionary work going?  I hope well. I bet it's nice there as you enter summer.

I think last time you asked how Zack broke the mower. He was trying to restart it after mowing some art work into your moms back yard and the rope start return got damaged.

I kind of fixed it so it is working again.  But your mom was stuck with the word MOM in the grass.  Or WOW depending on which side you look at it from.

We love and miss you lots!  I hope all is well. You get another month's support money today so budget wisely. I'm hoping you will be ready to budget properly when you go back to school and get a job to support yourself. :)

Graham:

Dear Dad/Family,

I can't believe how beautiful today is! Couldn't ask for a better day. This morning I went to Bishop Keyes dentist office and got a cleaning, fluoride, x-rays and a sealant done. Bishop is the best! Sadly I haven't been brushing my teeth as much as I should so I have 3 cavities. He won't cover the cost so if ya'll could pay for those that'd be great :) haha Just kidding! My teeth are perfect. My companion on the other hand still has his wisdom teeth and they are growing into the other teeth. :(

No more seminary! Yay.

No more school! Double yay!

Yesterday we had a BBQ at the bishop's house to break the fast. He invited several families and his neighbor over. He sets a great example for the ward when it comes to missionary work. He referred us to one of his friends who is 81. We had a lesson with her last week and she was so excited to see us. She wants to be baptized so we hope to have another baptism in a month. We had two investigators in church. 

Thanks Aunt Ann for the letters! It makes my day to get stuff in the mail and I can always count on seeing a letter from her :)

Hope ya'll are doing wonderful! Love and miss ya'll,

Elder Graham Feidler