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Ello,
   My mind in a nutshell, "shgfiaw8bcvy2b8werf/gb>hwebfgyuber....yup".

 that basically describs this past week. it has been one **** of a week. what? i said heck. anyway,
mom. As far as your questions, transportation: elder Allen and i share a car with the sisters in our district so every three days we switch off. one of the past sister missionaries left her bike here and I've kinda been using that for the time being. elder Allen say's I should buy a bike in case she wants hers back, but she's been gone for about 8 months now, so I dunno. it's a nice bike. its a trek bike like Braden's with the pneumatic shocks. i'm actually not the first elder to be using it. when i got to the apartment, the brakes on the bike where worn down so much that the calipers where rubbing on the tire to make it stop. i bought a cheap pair of brakes at walmart and replaced them though.

   haha, funny story, elder Allen and i went to dinner with a member and she started talking about church stuff (naturally) and she was talking about something from this podcast she listens to about church stuff. I'm thinking, "i wonder people know of the cultural hall out here." so i ask her, "what's the podcast?" she says, "the cultural hall." "haha, my aunt is on that show a lot." "who's your aunt?" "Joni Haws" "NO WAY!!! Joni Haws is your aunt?!?!" "yup." people know my aunt. I'm related to a famous person. Her name was sister Alvera.

   let's see, what else? I don't know if I've told you about tyron  yet. (tie-run) not (tie-rone) Anyway, tyron is an investigator we got from the Hermanas. we met him 2 weeks ago and had a lesson on the restoration and challenged him to baptism. he has a baptismal date for July 5th. we're having trouble getting him to church though. but every Saturday, we have a awesome lesson at the church and he tells us that he can't wait for Saturday cause he has a good strong feeling at the church. so he's pretty cool.

   so, i have my camelbak, right? well, i keep getting weird looks like, "what is that?" i tell them it's my camelbak and show them the bladder, to which they say, "that's amazing! Where'd you get that?" I say, "Amazon" meaning amazon.com. they say, "Oh you've been to the amazon jungle?" (insert southern facepalm here) ((Southern facepalm is where you do a normal facepalm, but then wipe away the sweat on your face))

So, things have been a little better emotionally. i had a minor freak out, but i'm good now. thing is, i've heard that talk multiple time about pres. Hinkleys father telling pres Hinkley, "forget yourself and go to work." but, i don't want to forget myself. I'm awesome. i know I'm out here to serve and all, but there is a story of a prophet of old who was lying under a tree and when a man came up to him, he asked him why a man of god was laying under a tree and not working. the prophet then asked for the mans bow. the prophet asks the man, "do you keep your bow strung at all times?" the man replied, "no. if i did, the bow would lose it's spring." "so too, would I." same with us/me. we're given time to unstring/unwind but not much.

not much else to write. 

                        love y'all. -Elder Felix

Some random photos of the area:

 

 

                                     

Reality is setting in

Hey y'all,

       I was/am far from ready for this. I'm trying to have a positive out look on this but......ya. I've been able to meet a few wonderful people but for the most part, everyone out here is all, "I've already accepted the lord Jesus as my savior." and slams the door. or, we have a lesson on the restoration and explain how the priesthood is essential to baptism and the church. then when we challenge them to baptism, "I've already been baptized." "do you believe it was with the priesthood authority of god?" "yes." we just told her that all the other churches have partial truths, but not the full priesthood. lead a horse to water but cant make it drink.

   I'm also having a hard time learning my way around. back in Utah, all the streets have numbers. out here it's Enon springs road and old Nashville highway, Sam Ridley road, so on so forth.
   Happy fathers day to all the fathers out there. what'd you guys do to celebrate?
   So, I got a little sip of home this past week. in Smyrna, there is a airport of to the north. it used to be an old army base. but anyway, i got out here just in time for the Smyrna airshow. they had the blue angels from the navy come and perform all sorts of loud stunts. we three, yes three I'll get to that in a little bit, elders where driving from church on Sunday and the blue angels were out flying for the show and they flew right over our car. if timed right we probably could've thrown a baseball at them and hit them. then when we got home, we knocked out our neighbor/investigators door and started talking with her and all of a sudden the whole place was shaking there was a loud WWWHAAAAAAAAAAAA we couldn't see what was going on cause we were inside, but it sounded like a cargo plane, so throwing a guess in the wind, i said, "sounds like a C-130" later we found out it was Fat Albert. the blue angels C-130. really wish i could've seen that. oh well.

   In the last letter, i gave a brief report on my compianion, elder Allen. Elder Allen is an 18 year old missionary from west jordan, who looks a little like a younger non smoking Christopher walken. he's 6' 5" and thin as a twig. he's kinda hard to work with cause without telling me what we're doing just throws me right on into head on traffic of conversation.

   now, the "third" companion. his name is elder shaver. he's a "service missionary who basically comes with us on the weekends. he has a small mental disability and he's diabetic. so he usually comes to our apartment on Saturday boils 5 hotdogs and comes with us on lessons and tracting. he basically only eats hot dogs. not sure why. he's from Smyrna so everyone knows him as Cody shaver. and naturally being from Smyrna Tennessee, has one of the thickest accents I've ever seen. i can barely understand him sometimes. and he doesn't call them cars and trucks, they are ve-hicles. just another challenge for my mission.

   I'm really starting to get home sick. i keep thinki9ng of things that make me think, "hahaha Merissa or Rachel would love that." or "i wonder if Hayden's heard of ___" or, "how does dad fix this?" but then of course i realize that all those people are miles away. didn't really help that last night I had a dream with all my friends at our park having another party.

            well, that's about all.

                        -Elder Cory Felix.

Hey Dad,

     when the planes flew over yesterday, i couldn't stop thinking of the airshows back home and all that you taught me and told me about the different planes. I've also been fixing different things in our apartment. all of which you taught me how to do. so thank you.

   to answer your question, i look like i jumped in a pool at the end of the day from all that I've sweat. not a fan of the humidity. but oh well.

                                                     -Elder Cory Felix.

Crazy Week

 

Jun 9 at 4:13 PM

Hello Family!!!
     Well, exciting/crazy week indeed. After talking to mom at the airport, we got on our flight to Atlanta Georgia and then a extending flight to Nashville. once in Nashville, we met our mission president and his wife, and the assistants. we then got our luggage, went to the mission home in bentwood, got some dinner, had many spiritual thoughts, and got ipads. the next day was a rush. we woke up, had some breakfast, and rushed to the stake center for transfer meeting. where we, had another spiritual thought, and had our meeting. they asked all the trainers to stand up so we could see who was training. i saw elder eisert from south Weber stand up and i thought it would be cool to have him as a trainer. But instead i got another cool trainer. this 6' 6" elder comes running down the isle and gave me a hug. his name is elder Avery Allen from west Jordan UT. we are currently in the Smyrna Tennessee area in the murfresboro zone in the Nashville Tennessee mission. that's a mouth full. it's been one week so far and already have 3 new baptismal dates. one of which, his name is tyron. he was a referral from the hermanas and he is awesome. he wasn't really liking what other churches were teaching so when the sister knocked on his door, he was ready. so we taught him the restoration and challenged him to baptism and he said yes so we're praying for him.
       on Tuesday night, we had dinner with an older couple in the ward called the vines. they're some of the coolest people you could meet. brother vine is a bit of prankster, but he's funny and nice about it. we had "gorilla milk" (milk with food coloring in it) i, unfortunately was gullible enough to think it was actually gorilla milk. and sister vine is a seminary teacher.
    
    it's really hot and humid out here. after walking 20 feet, my shirt is nearly soaked.

    is rinlee walking yet? is Emmie .......Emmy ..........emy ..........emie .......emiye ......is Risa and Anthonys second daughter in junior high yet? has Eisley gone a date yet? I showed a couple of the sister missionaries in my district back at the mtc the picture with me and my nieces, and the "ahhhhhh" was heard from the floor above even with laundry machines going.
     Glad to hear the family is mostly doing well.
I'm going to be in Smyrna for the next 11 weeks so if there is any physical mail to send, you could go ahead and send it to:

Elder Cory Felix

926 needham dr, Smyrna, TN. 37167

Before I go, I'm going to share something that my companion and I recite every morning.

“Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir men’s souls. This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the Church than all other English-speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth; and as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence they will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands, in your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be temples (plural) in the South States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. The missionaries love the South. We are making great strides and expect to continue.”
                - President Spencer W. Kimball &
                  Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone

              Lovingly/Reportingly,
                                  -Elder Cory Felix