It's been a great week here in Rivadavia!

Hey family and friends!!!!

It´s been a great week here in Rivadavia. I´m way glad that i´m staying here. There is so much still to learn and so many new people to meet! We also got a ward mission leader this week and he´s way excited to be working with us

The ward is going to chile for a temple trip!!! Lots of people are going for the first time and a wayyy cool family that we love is going to get sealed!!!!!! 

We´re working on teaching more with the members here in the zone and we´re continuing mate de la vida to get the members excited about missionary work! Yesterday we had a really good first lesson with the college student that invited us to go speak english in his class. He is way cool and understands things really well. He´s going to read and pray about the book of mormon and should be coming to conference this week!!! WOW i´m sooo excited for conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! took out the middle page of the last conference liahona where it shows the prophet apostles and other general authorities. We show it to everybody. 

Also yesterday in church i loved a story that was told. An eagle egg fell out of the eagles nest, rolled down a hill and into the chicken coop. the chicken mom raised it up, and it grew up thinking it was a chicken, not flying and just eating oats all day. One day he looked up into the sky, saw an eagle flying and thought, wow how i wish i  could do that too. He went and asked his mom if he could do that too and she said ´No, you´re a chicken, keep eating!!!´ so he bent over his head and kept eating. The brother speaking said that often we find our selves in a similar situation, among people who would have us think we are less than we are, and would have us do things that God wouldn´t have us do. I know that we are all children of a loving heavenly father who wants us to live up to our potential and to be happy, I´m so grateful for the opportunity that i have to be here on the mission!!!

Love you all, 

Elder Fullmer 

'on the short side today'

Hello everybody

We got here to cyber really late and wanna go play some soccer so it will be a little on the short side today. 

We painted a school, we talked in english to a college class about what we do as missionaries, I´ve been eating lots of eggs, we did a sweet activity in the ward where members of the ward put blinfolds on and followed the iron rod to the tree of life where the sisters in our ward put white fruitshaped papers and candy. Then afterwards the members wrote down their friends names who they wanted to share the gospel with, and ate the candy of course. Transfers were made known last night. I´m staying here in Rivadavia for my fourth transfer! I´m pretty content too. It´s been way fun here with elder garcia. My new comp is from honduras and his name is elder turcios! I´m pretty sure i´ll be training my last two transfers. I went back to albardon this past week. It was sooo much fun. The elders there are great! We went to visit the munoz family and this time everybody was there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everybody goes to church pretty much every week except the dad. It was way fun to catch up, talk about old memories and everything aswell. I shared two scriptures, Mosiah 5.5,15 with them. And invited the date to start coming back to church. And we encouraged them to start making plans and working to be able to attend the temple. Enzo Correa was ordained as a priest. Hna Correa was called as the second counselor in the young womens. I´m loving the mission, learning a lot, and starting to think about having only 4 months left!

Have a great week!!!

Elder Fullmer

The week that I was transferred to Chile for 5 hours

This transfer has gone by way faster than any of the others, probably because i{m past the 18 month mark. We´ve had sooo much going on. 

Last week on tuesday we had our zonemeeting. Elder Garcia and i made licenses to place date, baptize and confirm for all of the missionaries in our zone so that they lose their fear and always focuse their teaching on helping people live the gospel of Christ. Each missionary had to come up to one of us and invite us to be baptized to be able to recieve their licence. We also shared Mate de la vida with them. When we were planning the meeting I felt like we needed to include a video called ´missionary work and the atonement´, which is a ten minute video of clips from two talks by pte eyring and elder holland. It is amazing. At the end of the meeting there was very little time left or rather,we had gone like 40 minutes over and the elderes were going to get late to lunches and i was thinking maybe we should just cut the video but elder garcia decided that we would go ahead and watch it. It was a great end to the meeting. The spirit was really strong and an elder, that i{ve been in the same zone with for like 10 months and part of that the same district, and has a hard time being serious about the work, got emotional as he said the closing prayer. 

After the meeting we did exchanges. I went to be with a fairly new elder from nevada. I love serving with new elders. We brought two books of mormon with us and had a prayer in our hearts to be able to hand them out. We met and taught a lady that was a little interested but then we went to visit some members and two nonmembers were there. We had brought the restoration for another lesson that we were going to have but then decided to watch it with them. They loved it and really got a lot out of it and had great comments. We left them both with a book of mormon and invited them to read ponder and pray. 

On thursday we had a zone conference where president and hna goates came. It was great! Lots of activity and really fun and spiritual. We are going to be working a lot more with new converts. We invited President Zanni to come for a segment we had about working with members and leaders. He gave a great presentation. He invited all the missionaries in our stake to work more with the members and help them to have missionary experiences by coming with us to lessons to share their testimonies. 

On friday we went with a priest to go visit a few investigators including sabrina salinas. She is doing well and has been reading!!!!!!!!! woooo! She has also not been smoking as much. 

On saturday and sunday we had stake conference. It was great. We have a great stake presidency! Really focused on missionary work. In priesthood they showed the numbers from the past 7 years of converts and atendance levels in the stake. They showed how if we had conserved all of the fruits from those 7 years our stake could have split by now. We will be working with lots with the members and leaders to activate and rescue those people. 

On thursday the mission secretary called me because theres a group of us that have to go to chile to be able to renew our visas. Elder Magdaluyo and Elder Conolly were both in the group. We went to the offices on sunday night and got on a bus monday at about noon the was full of elders and sisters from two other missions here in argentina that also had to renew their visas. So we spent 3 hours going their a couple hours waiting at the border then we went to the first town in chile to go eat and then came back waited a couple more hours and then came backto argentina at about 7 oclock in the morning on tuesday. We watch the testaments, work and the glory 2 and 3, 17 miracles and ephraims rescue. It was way fun! It was also great catching up with elder magdaluyo. 

Also, family, I love the ties and pants and insoles you sent, but not as much as you you see, but i still love the ties and pants and insoles, always and forever. Really good taste on the ties! I got it all in the offices yesterday. 

Last night we taught a couple of really good lessons. One to the nonmember dad of a part member family. It was great!!! He{s really interested in discovering for himself if its true. This week on friday I{m going with another elder from the states to the college class of an investigator we have, to teach them in english about what we do as missionaries and what we share. So that will be sweet! Then on saturday morning we are getting together as a zone to paint the school where an investigator in the zone works. So that will be wayyy cool! Then saturday evening we will be having an activity where we will put all of the members through lehi´s dream!!! and then transfer calls on sunday night. 

I love the mission and I love you all!!!

Elder Fullmer

I love you all

[A few photos from the trip to Chile]

[Argentina flag on left, Chile on right]

who's area is this anyways???

Hey everybody!!!

It´s been a way good week here on the mission!

A few funny little things that happened. 

Well we had mission counsel and it was really great. It gets crazier and crazier each session of final testimonies. This time i felt like i learned or realized how much I love the argentina mendoza mission. It really is sacred ground for me.

We also presented Mate de la Vida and that went well! I sent a picture of the stickers that we´ve been giving to members and will give to missionaries in the zone tomorrow. [This is the background from his letter a few weeks ago: "last week i recieved divine revelation. ´mate de la vida´. or the mate of life. like tree of life. Mate is a drink that everybody drinks here. everybody in a room shares the same cup, so as we were sharing the story of the tree of life with the fam correa last week, this idea came to mind, all of the members a more than willing the share mate with a friend, so why not the gospel. Right now we´re working on making a design of a sticker or flyer to give to members where the mate cup says mate of life,  with the straw of iron that lead to the mate of life, the herbs desirable to make one happy and the sugar most sweet and white that i had ever before tasted. hahaha. We have also created 1 Nephi chapter 8 according to elder garcia and elder fullmer AKA elder garcia and elder fullmer translations #apostasy #justkiddingmomanddad :)"]

On the way from mission councel to the terminal to take the bus back I saw 3 people from my last area. I felt like those were little blessings from the Lord. 

Then from wednesday to thursday we did exchanges. I was with a brand new elder from bountiful. Elder Cheney. It´s wayyy fun being with new elders. They´re excited about working and teaching and really give it there all! I really would love to train next transfer or if not, my last two transfers. But i´ll be happy wherever. We got to teach a few lessons. One of those was with the family aciar that i think i talked about last week. Way cool family and the parents have baptismal dates for the 20th. We were in their house about to start the lesson and then their little kid comes to the door and says hey mom and dad someone wants you and guess who was at the door!!! Two other elders in our zone!!!!!! haha they had shown up there with a councelor from their bishopric. They were looking for someone else but ended up knocking that door to ask for directions. So right now we all aren´t really sure who that part belongs to. Because in some of the maps it says its theirs but then the members from there are in our directory haha. It was like such a weird experience for them to show up there i felt like i was in a dream or something. It was funny, crazy and a little sad cause we´ve been teaching lots of people there. We had actually taught a lady that had accepted a baptismal date just before going to the aciar family. But we´re going to talk to the stake president cause the members here tell us one thing and the members in the other ward tell them somehting else haha. So we were a little bummed about that happening cause it seems like it´s probably theirs but the Lord sent us a couple of blessings. 1 we met a new family that used to talk to the missionaries. We taught 5 people but theres like 11 that live there. 2 it was raining when we left the lesson. I love the rain! It hasn´t rained for like 5 months or so.

So things are going well. We have a really busy week now. zone meeting tomorrow, zone conference on thursday and then stake conference friday and saturday!!! Lots to do!!!!!!

Love, 

Elder Fullmer

[Here are a few more photos that he sent:]

(Subliminal message that he needs some new pants.)

(Looks like skinny ties are in! Not sure what the brushing teeth is all about. Maybe just to let us know that he is.)

(He didn't include any explanation for this or the following.)

Lots of lessons

HOLA!

It´s been a really good week here in Rivadavia. We´ve taught a ton of lessons and placed several baptismal dates. Pretty much everybody we´re teaching is partmember family or a reference from a family member, which means they´re solid investigators. One of them is the son and family of a less active guy that we´re getting back to church. They are the aciar family. They recognize the spirit really well. The used to have the missionaries over all the time and went to church a few times. They accepteda date for the 20th of this month. They also have three kids which we haven´t been able to teach quite yet. The mom wants the kids to go to mutual and everything to have better influences in their lives. 

Then on saturday we met brother garberoglio who has a wife and daughters that are catholic. He got baptized like 10 years ago and had an amazing testimony. With the time he stopped doing small and simple things that nourished his testimony and started doing small and simple things that held him back. We will be working with him to get him back to church. His wife is amazzzing! She used to tell him to go to church and supports him listening to us. She loved the missionaries who have passed by in the past. She recognizes the spirit and says that even after the missionaries leave the house a peace and tranquility stays there with them for a time. WOW. 

German Correa passed the sacrament on sunday!!! Wooo!!! They are doing really well. We taught the sister in law of sister correa who had a ton of questions and thought we didn´t celebrate holidays or birthdays and didn´t vote. I wonder who she got us confused with. We answered the many questions she had and she was a lot more okay with her family being members of the church. 

Mate de la vida is a go. We´ve presented it to the stake president and his family as well as our bishop and a counselor and their families and they´ve all loved it. It helps them to get more excited to share the gospel and remember to do it every day. 

Things are going really well here. There´s a lack of excitment for the work here in the zone so we´re going to be doing lots of exchanges as well as having a great zone meeting to get things going again. 

I love you all!!!!!

Love, 

Elder Fullmer

Elder Vinas

Well it´s been a great week here in the SJ de ARG. 

We´ve found a ton of people this past week, including an unbaptized lady in a part member family. She´s way cool but can´t leave her house cause she´s on house arrest for stuff i´ll tell you guys about later. We were in a lesson with her and about to finish and then a scripture i had read that morning came to mind from Luke, where the scribes and pharisees ask Christ why he´s chilling with publicans (sinners) and he says that he came to earth to call sinners like them to repentance, and because healthy people don´t need to go to the doctor. We´ll be helping her get healed spiritually!!!

When we went back to Francos house this week we asked how his prayer went and he said he got his answer that the 30th feels right. When we talked to him on saturday he had changed his mind............................ ¨mas adelante¨. More forward.............But he did come to church on sunday. 

 So like 3 times here in Rivadavia, this guy has come up to me in walmart and started speaking in english. he speaks real good ( haha ). And then this past week he finally got to have a lesson with him. Mario. He lived in orlando for like10 years has 3 kids, used to be catholic but got bored of doing the same thing every week at church and then went to the Jdubs cause a cute girl went there but then they wanted him to start paying tithing and stop donating blood right off the bat so he got away from there and now doesnt go anywhere. We had a great lesson 1 with him and will be passing by this week to see how the read has gone. 

I don´t know if i wrote it last week but i recieved divine revelation. ´mate de la vida´. or the mate of life. like tree of life. Mate is a drink that everybody drinks here. everybody in a room shares the same cup, so as we were sharing the story of the tree of life with the fam correa last week, this idea came to mind, all of the members a more than willing the share mate with a friend, so why not the gospel. Right now we´re working on making a design of a sticker or flyer to give to members where the mate cup says mate of life,  with the straw of iron that lead to the mate of life, the herbs desirable to make one happy and the sugar most sweet and white that i had ever before tasted. hahaha. We have also created 1 Nephi chapter 8 according to elder garcia and elder fullmer AKA elder garcia and elder fullmer translations #apostasy #justkiddingmomanddad :) So nobody else knows this but you that are reading the email, on tuesday next week we will be releasing it to the mission leadership counsel. So if you know missionaries in this mission, don´t drop the beans!!!

On wednesday this week Elder Vinas of the seventy came. It was awesome. He  read some of 2ne 2, about how the law none of us are justified, only through repentence and the atonement of Christ. It was amazing how he could read and expand upon the scriptures seemlessly quoting other scriptures and prophets with lots of quotes from Paul. Then he let us all take turns talking briefly about how the atonement shapes our work as missionaries. A few other points that he made were that we don´t baptize, people choose to be baptized. And confessing the hand of the Lord. Which is one thing i´ve been trying to do better this week. On monday and tuesday we got together a musical number, nearer my God to the to see at that meeting and it turned out really well! That was one of the many miracles of the week. 

Side notes... I bought a tie and a pair of pants this morning. My favorite cookies are on sale at walmart. Elder Garcia is a stud and we got along really well!

I want to express my gratitud especially to my family this week. As i´ve tried to become a more patient, happier, cheerful missionary, i´ve been reminded of the great examples and lessons i´ve had inside my home. I love you all so much and pray for you all the time. So, D,M,S,J,M,L,P,A,H,R,J,J,E,G and E, Have a great week!!!

Love, 

Elder Fullmer