Monday, February 24, 2014

¡Transfers!

Well it´s been a great week here in Carrodilla B. 

Tuesday waiting for the bus, we saw our first bike race which was pretty cool.  

On Wednesday we had a lesson with a man that came to a church activity a couple weeks ago with. His name is Roberto Carlos, and he lives right infront of a young family in which both of the parents are returned missionaries. We had a really cool but short lesson with him (since we got there late after we got lost). 

Thursday and Friday elder Lafleur was a little under the weather and we came home late. But Fridayour lunch had fallen through and we got to go to lunch with the Hunts again!!! I love going there! Elder Villegaz (who we said goodbye to this morning cause he´s finishing the mission) kept asking about advice about returning home. They gave him some great councel about finding a wife, about looking for not just the first hot compatible single in sight, but someone who has compatible ambitions, goals, and desires, someone who can be a really companion and friend. I like that advice. And I should be putting it into practice in about a year from now haha. 

Saturday morning, service project!!! We went to the neighborhood of our ward mission leader and helped him to flatten out a dirt trail that tons of people walk on, and we made it so that the water would run to the side and not the path. It was a way fun morning! We worked hard and got a little burnt! Lots of people stopped to tell us thanks and admire all the work we had done, and a few people bought us pop or cookies. After a hard mornings work we went to hermano becerra´s house for lunch! They´re from Peru and wow I didn´t know I loved peruvian food! They made something called cebiche, it was way good but supposedly due to a lack of fresh fish and other ingredients it wasn´t as good as it is in Peru. Saturday evening we went to the familia Diaz to do a family night!!! It was way fun! I understand a lot better now why we always did family home evenings growing up! So we prayed, watched ´finding faith in Christ´ talked about it, what we liked about it and how we can apply it. And then we ate a cake that we had made for a two day late birthday of Mariela (who just turned 8!), and then we played a quick game and hit the road! I love FHE´s. They committed to coming to church the next day. Also, Yail came to a primary activity on saturday!!! We called a family to pick him up and it turned out that he is good friends with a kid in the family!!! 

So then we made a few more calls to confirm and went to bed that night. On sunday we got up and were on our way to church (members had committed to picking up Norma and Yail, and la flia Diaz) but then the hermano that was going to take norma and yail called and was sick, so we went to go with them on a bus but they couldn´t come right then and were going to come later, we we went to wait for the bus, and by that time we were going to be pretty late, but then the hermano that had just picked up Antonio and Sandra was passing by on the same street and we jumped in and got to church!!! Norma and Yail didn´t end up coming, but we will be working with them this week so that they can come next week! We think Antonio and Sandra liked it but we definitely have to go see them to answer a few questions tomorrow. I also gave a talk at church about Elder Oaks talk from April 2013, Followers of Christ. I think it went pretty well. After Church we had ward council!!!! It was awesome!!! It was the 4th one i´ve been to here and the 2nd one that there has been representation from almost every quorum/organization. This ward is really supportive, and we had some great stuff to talk about since we had investigators at church and Yail at the activity. It was awesome. Then last night Elder Froughton (another elder that´s finishing his mission), came from his area way down south to spend the night in our pench before going to the offices this morning with Elder Villegaz. We made shakes and french toast and yum it was good. Things are going really well here. Elder Lafleur and I are both staying here. He is doing really well. Halfway done with his training already wow! He´s definitely going to be ready to train next transfer if needs be. We are doing better and better at working by the spirit. I love the work, the people and the Lord!

I hope you all are well!

Love, 

Elder Fullmer

... Shout out to Nash miller who got his mission call to Russia!!!

Monday, February 17, 2014

¡1 año!

¿Que tal?

It´s been a great week here in Carrodilla B!!!
The main highlight of the week was finding a ton of new people to teach!!!

On Tuesday we did intercambios again with Carrodilla A, and we
definitely know the area pretty well now... although we did get lost
on friday.

On Thursday the temperature had dropped a good amount and it was
raining a ton as well!!! we went to an inactive man´s house and he has
fallen into soooo many doubts. There are lots of solid questions that
he´s had that he´s let turn into doubt and really hasn´t been using
faith. So we helped answer lots of those and he has more to come.
After that we went to an appointment that we had set up with a man we
met at a bus stop last week named Antonio Diaz. Him and his wife
(girlfriend) were way nice! The let us in and we were able to teach
them and 4 of her daughters Daniela, mariana, mariela, rosio. They all
listened intently as we taught about what we do as missionaries, how
we invite people to come unto Christ, and how the Book of Mormon, as
well as the Bible, can help us grow closer to Him. Antonio is super
super evangelista. He used to be way deep in drugs and live a messed
up life, but has changed around a lot. He used to even preach in lots
of churches. One of his biggest desires is to share the word of God
with people! Missionary! We left them with 3Ne11 to read.

On Friday it kept raining a lot! which i loved. i love the rain. We
had a few citas fall through... but then right when we were walking
away from one of those, there was a kid that started following really
close behind us and then right in front of us, and i didn´t recognize
him but it seemed like he knew us so I asked him if we knew eachother
and he reminded us that we had talked to him and his grandma in the
street last week!!! His name is Yail and he´s ten years old and way
cool! So we kept walking with him and then asked if we could come
teach him and his grandma and he said yes, so we went and she was
really busy but we taught her a quick message about finding faith in
Christ and then left her and Yail with a Book of Mormon and a prayer
and a return appointment for sunday night. It was way cool how the
Lord put Norma and Yail in our path last week and then once again this
week! That evening we went to another ward activity (just the
beginning cause we had to get back to the pench). and one of the
sisters in our area had brought a neighbor to the activity! Missionary
dream! He´s way cool and we´re going to go by and visit him this week.

On Saturday, it was raining a lot again which is good cause I love the
rain. That afternoon we had another lesson with Antonio and Sandra and
her daughters. He had read the chapter that we left with a lot of
interest! He had some really good questions about who Joseph Smith is
and Jesus coming to the americas after his resurrection in Jerusalem,
we were able to answer his questions well and then we taught them the
restauracion. Towards the end of the restoration he had the question
where in the Bible it talks about all of this, so then we asked him
where in the Old Testament it talks about the 12 apostles that write
the new testament, and then we continued to show him through passages
in Ezequiel, Amos, and matthew and ephesians where the prophets, an
apostasy, a restoration and the book of mormon are mentioned, and then
we explained that they all can recieve an answer that these things are
true through reading, pondering and praying. And they committed to
doing just that.

Sunday was good. We didn´t have any investigators at church again, but
next week we are expecting at least 2! We had the lesson again with
Norma and Yail, who are both from peru, and so we invited our ward
mission leader and his wife, also both from peru, to come to the
lesson with us. It was an awesome lesson!!!!!! They hit it off really
well. and the Becerras (wml and wife) shared some great experiences
about how they got to know the Church. Norma and Yail are committed to
coming to church next week and we have another lesson with them
tonight!!!

So it´s been a really cool week, finding and teaching a lot. We´ve
taught more this week than last week even though this past week was
the first one exclusively in our new area. One thing we´ll be working
on doing better this week is inviting people to accept baptismal dates
and inviting members to come to the lessons. We´re excited about
everything happening here!!! I know this work is the Lord´s!!! There
is so much work to do! And i love losing myself more and more in it. I
love you all!!!

Elder Fullmer

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

hashtag samuelthelamanite

It´s been a way hard but great week!!!

I´m a little short on time, but I´ll fit in what I can!!!

Tuesday: Zone meeting. We talked a lot about attitude and how some of the amazingly powerful countries from 2000 years ago are super poor now, and how relatively new countries like australia and new zealand are booming, and how Switzerland has new shore and is in the middle of Europe but has one of the most powerful Navys in the world, crazy new??? As missionaries and human beings, it´s important to be creators of success instead of creatures of circumstances. I know in our new area, we could make excuses all day, but that doesn´t get anywhere, going out each day with faith and hope and diligence is what will bring success. I had the opportunity of speaking for a few minutes about opening our mouths as missionaries. It was great to speak. It really is so important that we excercies our faith as missionaries by talking to people!!! As we do that we invite the spirit to be with us and we find people that are prepared to hear the Gospel and make changes in their lives to follow Christ. 
The zoneleaders asked us all to do intercambios after the meeting. So Elder Degracia from our district came to work with me. We had a really great second lesson with Laura and Pedro. They were able to read a little from the Book of Mormon. They have so many questions about this life and death and what happens after that we decided to teach them the plan of salv which they loved. 

Wednesday: We went into a humble neighborhood in our new area where a few of our members lived to scope things out and contact a few people and as we were leaving a teenager asked us for money and we told him no but shared a passalong card with him (better right) and as we were walking out he threw rocks at us. We didn´t get scared or run or duck, but kept our calm and trusted in the Lord. Scripture stories come more and more alive on the mission (hashtag) samuelthelamanite. 

Friday: We had a sweet ward karaoke activity that evening, which started out with a spiritual thought from us missionaries on why and to what end we all need to share the Gospel. It turned out really well. We set out a mountain of Books of Mormon for people to take as they left to go and share, and a solid 15 were gone! More should be leaving in the following weeks. 

The other days: Working a lot on finding and contacting less actives and old investigators, talking to everybody. Working really hard, with the faith that good things are to come!!! 

I love my comp, I love the mission, I love my family, and I love my Savior. 

Have a great week!!!

Elder Fullmer

Monday, February 3, 2014

Carrodilla B, our area has a name!!!!!!

Hey everybody!!!

Well this week has been a good one. Things are really starting to change. The early part of this week we got quite a few lessons in. More than we usually do. Elder Lafleur is an awesome missionary. He understands SO well the importance of the Spirit in this work. That´s what has impressed me about him. He doesn´t get scared, but really thinks well about what Jesus would do in each situation. I´m really learning a lot from him, and really blessed to have him as my companion!

On thursday we had the blessing of interviews with President Avila! I love interviews! They aren´t too long or too deep, but you always leave happier and strengthened. One thing we talked about was the importance of working with members as we move to Carrodilla B!!! Carrodilla B, is a way cool area! So we´ll be living here in the same pension for a little while still but on Friday we started working out there, we´d already been to a couple of parts before, but other parts are completely new to us. On Saturday we did intercambios. I went with Elder Villegaz, one of the zone leaders, and Elder Inca, from Carrodilla A, to get to know the part that was taken off of C A and placed in C B. Its a way cool area. So that was in the morning, then that night Elder Villegas and I went to the neighborhood where our last bishop lived, we passed by a couple of the members houses, and found some people to start teaching including a young family that we taught. We were on side of this big foot hill to the foot hills of the Andes and we saw this lady out drinking mate and went to go talk to her. Her husband (bf) was there as well and it was really cool getting to know them. She told us the one time she talked to missionaries, a few years ago she was crying and sitting on the sidewalk with her young son. Some missionaries came out of no where and shared a short message with her that helped her to keep going with faith. It made me think about Alma 13:24, because angels really are preparing the people for the Gospel!!! We had a great lesson with Laura and Pedro Campos, our first lesson in Carrodilla B. 

Yesterday we had church for the first time in the Carrodilla ward. It went really well! The ward (relief society) had made a bunch of little welcome notes with candy on them. Everybody got along really well and lots of people came!!! We had lunch with the Elders Quorum President and his wife. Everybody is really great in the ward and people are excited about the mission work! 

I love this work, I love my Savior, I love the little things that I learn everyday. I know that the Grace of Christ is sufficient, to strengthen us, guide us, or comfort us. All we really have to do is take the step of faith toward Him. I know these things to be true. 

I love you all so much, 

Elder Fullmer