¿Tutu ben?

Hello all, 

Well this week has been really good!!! So tuesday was pday and we went to place a little american football with the Zoneleaders which was way fun!!! And then tuesday evening we went around to a few families for Elder Blackman to say goodbye and then I made some fried hamburgurs for Elder Blackman´s last night and then on Wednesday we went in taxi to the offices and there I met Elder Pereira!!! And he´s brand new, he was in his house in Brasil for general conference, and then two weeks in mtc buenos aires and here to mendoza!!! He´s speaks fairly good spanish and he´s a great missionary!!! Really obedient, hard working, talks with everybody and teaches well too!!! Our studies have been really good in the 12 weeks. We´ve been doing lots of practices and great discussions. So yeah, and there in the offices we had a little training with the assistents, he met with Hna Avila, Elder Gibbons was there as well because he´s travel training with Godoy cruz and they had interviews! So I also saw Elder Lafleur, Elder Valencia, Elder Figueroa and Elder Torres from my last pench and ward. It was good to see them all and hear how things are going. Elder Lafleur let me know the Maria Tapia got baptized!!! Woooooooo! And that her daughter in law is listening attently in the discussions! Then we went out to lunch with the Assistents at Mcdonalds, yum.

The rest of wednesday we didn´t really have plans until 8, so we passed by a few houses and then did some contacting in the plaza of Las Heras, Elder Pereira was really nervous at first but after i showed him how a couple of times he was ready to do it and did great! Pretty much everybody he tells he´s from Brazil to mentions the World Cup haha. He´s actually a really good soccer player, he went to Holland and Italia to play in high school. He´s also just 18.

On Thursday night we had a lesson with the familia Palma. They both served missions, he in chile and she in Ft. Lauderdale(!) and he was AP and chofer for Elder Holland when he came to the mission, he was bishop for a few years and then they moved here, were coming a few sundays and then of just their own will started slacking off and not coming to church. Elder Blackman had told me most of this and then we set up the family night with him and then he left and so Elder Pereira and I went to the lesson. We talked about prophets and gratitud and wanted to make it a fairly fun, gain confidence and feel the spirit, which we did and then towards the end we started talking about how they don´t come to church. He said he didn´t ever think it would be this hard to get back to church, and that he often doesn´t even want to. They went to a stake conference a year ago and felt so uncomfortable that they didn´t really want to come back again. But they thanked us for the message and were eager to have us back again. We asked them how their Book of Mormon reading is and they said it does exist right now. And so we set the goal with them of reading every night as a family. We are going to follow up with them on that on wednesday. 

Saturday was also a realllly good day! We found a few miracles! First of all, that morning I woke up and was way down, partly with the familia Gutierrez cause we haven´t seen much progress in them lately and then I was praying a lot for guidance and help and then i had the impression to do a random act of service for another elder we live with. I felt a lot better afterwards. Then in twelve weeks the training progam, Elder Pereira was supposed to invite someone to be baptized before monday and sunday was going to be ful so we put the goal of inviting someone to be baptized. We practiced it a few times evaluated and left. Like nobody was in the street. We knocked the door of an investigator and his mom said we woke her up and that her son wasn´t there. We were walking around without much to do and then saw a guy sitting down not really doing anything, so we went to talk to him. He had read the bible and had a few questions, and he told us he was really interested in obtaining spiritual gifts, we told him that by following Christ´s example and getting baptized we obtain the gift of the holy ghost. We shared some more about baptism and then i lightly bumped Elder Pereira´s foot and he invited juan to be baptized and he said he would, and so we will be passing by this week!!!!!! Meeting Juan was an answer to the prayers we had in our hearts while there was like nobody in the street. Then we went to offer help to an elderly lady who was sweeping. She ended up being a member and invited us in. Her two grandkids Gonzalo 18 and Sherly 20 were there two, they are both baptized but their parents aren´t and they have been wanting to come back and sherly told us she has been wanting their little brother who´s 8 Mateo to get involved in the church because she had such a great experience but she didn´t know how that would work, or like how to come talk to us or what but yeah, the family Ochoa! They are wayyyy cool!!! We will be working a lot with them. And then later that day we met a family and the mom´s sister is a member in chile and she´s always really admired the unity we have in our church and we tried to set up a lesson but they´re really busy so we´ll just be passing by later this week to see if they´re there. 

So yeah it has been an awesome week!!!!! And also for lunch one day a sister made us empanadas and lemon merengue pie. WOW. it was deliscious!!!!!!!

I love it here on the mission! Elder Pereira is a great missionary! The Lord is good. 

Elder Fullmer

Se va y se viene

Well it´s been a pretty good week! It´s a way great pension that we´re in, and we´ve got some really good investigadores. On sunday night we were out talking to people in the street before heading back to the pension, and we bumped into Elder Chamorro and Elder Wyckof who told us that President Avila was about to call us, and with in like a minute he did, so i answered and he asked me how well i know the area and how Elder Blackman is doing with the pain [knee injury, I think], i replied that i know the area ´mas o menos´ and that he still has some pain, and then he talked with Elder blackman for about 15 minutes. There is an Elder getting here from Brasil this week and so that´s why he wanted to know quickly. but he said we would figure it out in the interviews on Monday morning. So on Wednesday we had interviews with president and wow i love interviews. He asked about the district, and elder Blackman and our investigadores. He always has such great advice. He asked me to say the closing prayers and as I did i started to cry, i don´t even know why, a lot for gratitud for having had President Avila as our President and being a part of this mission and this work. Elder Blackman had his interview and then confirmed that he would be leaving on Wednesday and so that I would be the new Brazilian elders first comp, so that will be exciting. We´ll go to the offices tomorrow to drop him off and pick up my new comp. It´s been just two weeks with Elder Blackman but i´ve really grown to love him. He´s a great missionary and a fun to be around. 

We had 5 people at church on Sunday! One was the daughter of a lady in the ward and we set up a lesson with her for this week and then 4 that are family and a friend of Pablo, a recent convert in our ward. We´ve been teaching them and one does have a date for this week but we´ll be going by tonight to solidify that. So yeah it really has been a great week. I love feeling the spirit and the clarity it brings to everything. One thing that´s been coming to my mind lately is how we can apply different things to the gospel. On Sundaythe [Gospel] principles teacher wasn´t  there, so I being the oldest missionary there taught it. It was about covenants. We talked about the many blessings and power that we recieve by making covenants and also about the great responsibilities that come with them. I quoted uncle Ben [from "Spiderman"] who said ´with great power comes great responsibility´ Then last night in bed before falling asleep, I was telling stories to the elderes and i was just telling the story of harry potter, and it came to my mind the importance of having good friends and also the importance of our desires in getting to our destiny. After the mission, i wanna read harry potter in spanish and with lots of movies and books i want to write about comparisons to the gospel. 

So yes, it has been a good week, no, i don´t want elder blackman to leave. yes, i´m excited to have a comp from brazil, and yes i do hope he cooks. 

I love the mission, I love the Lord, and i love you all!

Elder Fullmer

San Miguel

So it´s been a good week of goodbyes, changes and hellos. 

On tuesday we had a zone meeting, and the schedule changed again!!!!! So now we have half an hour of personal study, an hour of comp, leave at 9:30 to go work, and then no matter what we have to be back in the pench at 2:30 to finish studies and no matter what out at 5 oclock to go work. 

And then after the meeting, we were waiting at the bus stop to go to have lunch (Asado!) with a family, and we were going to be pretty late, but then the brother drove by and we were able to go with him!!! Wow was it good. I love asado. 

Then a few more goodbyes that night and packing and writing little letters to lots of families one of the families that we saw was Claudio and Cyntia. They are sooooo cool. A family complete changed through the Gospel. and then wednesday, finish packing and chau, off to the terminal. It was weird saying goodbye to Elder Lafleur, good meeting Elder Blackman, and I know Elder Lafleur and Elder Rossler will do great in carrodilla B. I also got to see Elder Magdaluyo! ELder Blackman is from Kayesville Utah, he´s got about 7 months out and is a great missionary. 

I like the area a lot, without going into detail i´d probably compare it to old mead downtown or somewhere in downtown jackson. We´ve got the church like a block away, fairly close to centro, a fairly well functioning ward, and plenty of recent converts to work with that have friends and families that aren´t members! We live with Elder Chamorro, and Elder Wycoff who i knew pretty well from Guaymallen. The pench is small but i think i like that. it was really dirty, but we gave it a good clean this morning and will do more later. 

One of the recent converts is named Pablo, he is in his mid twenties and got baptized with his wife and son in february. He is working to get the melchezidec priesthood. He´s super super cool! Lots of his friends and family are listening to us as well. 

I love the work here! 

I love you all, 

Elder Fullmer

P.S. http://easter.mormon.org/

Wow, this video is awesome. I listened to it without sound in this little internet shop and it was amazing. This week of easter along with every week, I am so deeply grateful for all that He has done for us! I loved something i heard on a video between sessions of conference, that not only is He the savior of the world, but also MY savior! I love to think about it like that cause although His atonement really is infinite and extends to all mankind, it is also something very personal and special for each of us individually! I love being a part of His work, and am learning a lot as I strive to be more like Him!

Me voy

HOLA! 

So, i´m leaving Mayor Drummond/Lujan/Carrodilla B, and I´m going to the Mendoza Zone, the zone just north of godoy cruz where i am now. I´ve heard it´s a great zone. I´m going to an area called San Miguel and to be with an Elder Blackman, I don´t know him but i think he´s got like 6 or 7 months. 

It will be sad leaving Elder Lafleur my companion and ´hijo´ in the mission as well as Elder Gomez and Elder Valencia that we live with, as well as the members that we´ve worked with and the investigators that we´ve taught! But changes are good. I have learned a TON here capped off with General Conference this weekend. It has been hard, but I feel that we´ve worked well with the members, done a good job, and should be having a baptismthis saturday of Maria Tapia! I´m excited about the new area and companion! 

So Maria Tapia, we taught her on wednesday and then on friday again, and we set a baptismal date with her for the 12th. We inicially invited and she said yes, then invited her to prepare for that day and she asked what that will take, and so we explained that the main part will be stop smoking and assured her that we will be there to help and that she truly can. We went by saturday morning to give her a plan to stop smoking and then as we were leaving she told us... ´hey so my daughter in law has never gotten baptized in any church and wants to start talking to you guys to see how that would be´. That is like the sentence that every elder dreams of hearing. We haven´t taught her yet cause she has always been working recently but we will make sure to teach her soon too. 

Then Maria Tapia came to conference on Sunday morning! Which was way good! I think Elder Uchtdorf´s talk was great for her since she lost her husband in a tragic accident a few years ago. 

And conference........WOW! I loved it so much. I went in with two questions of ´how can i serve with love unfeigned?´, and ´how can I better recieve revelation?´, and obviously the conference wasn´t made just for me, but I feel hugely blessed by the anwers i recieved. I have so much to study and ponder now. I know that we are lead by a living prophet today!!!

Love, 

Elder Fullmer