Weekly Update... 1 year mark (February 27th, 2012)

 Dear Fullmer Family,

This week has brought many new changes and wonderful experiences. To
start off I will tell you where I am. Surprisingly I did not go north
but actually south! I'm in Key West! Just kidding... Ha ha. No I have
been transferred to the area of Killian East which is in Kendall
Florida. My new companion is from Salt Lake City, UT. He went to Skyline 

High School and lives about 5 minutes from our house :) He has been out 

about 1 1/2 years and was actually my Zone Leader 2 transfers ago. 

We are both serving as Zone Leaders of the Miami Zone. There are so 

many things that I'm learning but so far. I love being a Zone Leader! 

I get to help all of the wonderful missionaries in the zone work more 

effectively and it's great to be apart of that. My apartment is really nice! 

I, again, have my own bathroom, and we have a car! I couldn't be happier!

Well this week has been so wonderful! Before I left my last area. The mom 

and daughter we were teaching were both baptized! It was such a wonderful 

way to leave the area and a great feeling to see them be baptized! I heard that
they got confirmed yesterday and were just super happy! Nothing better
than that! My former companion  is now with another Latin companion in 

NMB and I hope they're doing well.

While I've been in Killian, so much has been going on. We had a
baptism yesterday morning for _____________. She is 87 years old
and was so happy. Her daughter who lives in Utah came down for a
business trip with her husband and was surprised to hear that her mom
would be getting baptized this weekend. The daughter was baptized 26
years ago and has been praying for that long that her mom would get
baptized. It was a very spiritual experience. The other daughter and
her family who are not members... YET... came to the baptism and
definitely felt the Spirit strongly. I have a feeling it won't be long
until they get baptized.

I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE this ward that I'm serving
in. It's an interesting ward because it is bi lingual so it's pretty
much Spanglish ward. There are translators so if you don't know both
English and Spanish you put on the headset and get the translation
when you don't understand. It's very different but it's nice because
we can teach whomever we meet! 

Yesterday a family of 5 came into church and the moment they walked 

into the chapel there were like 5 different families just waiting to fellowship them. 

They sat by a family and so many people came up and welcomed them! This 

ward is like a well oiled machine! That was one of the biggest problems in my 

last areas but this ward has it down to a science! I love it! The Bishop
came with us to a lesson the other day and he is such a powerful
leader. If you can't tell already I'm happy where I am!

The other day we were teaching a person named *****, who is mostly
blind and autistic, on the campus of the local collage here. Miami
Dade Collage. As we were teaching him about the word of wisdom a girl
came up to me wanting to know if I could tell her about the church. So
while my companion was teaching the person in English I was teaching this
girl from Cuba in Spanish about the Restoration. She is very
interested. However being on a collage campus there were so many
people waiting to go into a class listening to us. One girl
inparticular was standing in a corner and as I glanced over to her
after I was teaching about the first vision I saw her crying. We're
not really sure why she was crying, if it was because of the message
or something else, but we know that other people learned more about
what we believe. It was a great experience!

Another cool thing that I love being a ZL is that we get to do more
baptismal interviews. This is one of my favorite parts! I love it
because you get the special opportunity to see these investigators
differently than anyone else can. You can feel their desires and their
testimonies of the Gospel. This past week I was able to give 2 of them
and both were such great experiences for me!

Sorry one more thing about why I love this area... People don't slam
doors in faces! Everyone, for the most part, is so nice! They don't
all let you in their house but they will talk to us and politely say
no. It's so much better than my last areas. Now I don't mind knocking
doors. I love this area! I think that's like my 5th time saying that
but it's true.

Again I have the opportunity to split this ward with Sister
Missionaries. They are awesome and have such strong testimonies! They
bring a special spirit to the ward. I was able to share my testimony
in the ward yesterday and then after me the new sister,
went up and just had so much energy! I had energy but just quite not
as much. After her a sister got up to give a talk and said, "I want to
apologize that I will never be able to have that much energy."
Everyone started to laugh.

Well that's about all that's been going on with me this past week...
It's been a lot but it's been really great! I have seen myself growing
so much already this past week and I'm very excited for this next
transfer. Ohh yeah, one more thing. As zone leaders we came up with a
challenge that we are giving to our zone this next transfer called,
"Wilt thou accept my very best effort?" As part of this challenge we
tell the Lord every morning that we will do our very best that day.
During Companionship Study we will tell our companion how we will do
our very best, for example, "today I will focus on talking to everyone
I pass on the street." Or "When I bear my testimony I will give
everything I have." Something like that. And then as we end the day at
night we ask the Lord, "Wilt thou accept my very best effort" and then
wait for His reply. As we have been doing that we have been seeing so
many wonderful miracles and we've all been growing and strengthening
each other. I love it! I invite all of you to try and include this in
your days and give it your very best! I love you all so much and I
know that the Lord is guiding us and is helping us in every step that
we take! Please keep me in your prayers!
With Love,
-Elder David B. Fullmer

Transfer Week - February 21, 2012

Dear Fullmer Family,

How is everything going? Well, yesterday we got the transfer info yesterday and it turns out that I'm going to be leaving and my companion is going to be staying. It's a little sad but i feel like it's my time to leave. I love North Miami Beach but i feel like there are other places that I need to be and other people to meet. Every companionship in our zone is being affected by transfers. It's going to be crazy.

 

So on Sunday we got the good news that the baptismal records for the husband and father of our investigators came in so we can baptize them. So we went over to tell them the good news yesterday., the mother asked the golden question, "So when can i get baptized?" We told her asap! So they were thinking about it and the dad said, "How about the next Sunday?" I had a very strong feeling that I was going to be transferred on Wednesday, so I was praying that I would be able to be at the baptism. All of a sudden the 8-year-old daughter jumped in and asked, "Why not tomorrow?!" They all thought... Why not tomorrow? The mother asked, "can we do that?" We said of course! So I called up the bishop and the ZL's for an interview and everything is going to work out! I can't wait! 

 

This past week we got a new bike for my companion.. Finally! It's nice to be back on bike believe it or not! The charge yesterday was because I needed new brake pads and new pedals. The bike shops love us missionaries!

 

This past week we were able to be part of a zone conference where Elder Gavarrett of the First Quorum of the Seventy came and had a mission tour. He's an incredible person! It was really hard for him to give the conference in English. He's only been learning English for about a year, however,  when you really focused on what he was trying to say the Spirit helped us understand! It was a really good experience.

 

I don't think i need a shirt to burn (for the one year mark) mom, I'm good. One of my pens broke so I've got a shirt to burn! I really don't think i need anything! The other investigators in our area are doing really well and I'm really excited for my companion to be able to teach them and take over the area.

 

Well, sorry that this letter is a little short this week. I've got a bunch of stuff to do... pack up all of my stuff and then have a baptism tonight at 7:30! BUSY BUSY! But i have to say it's the best way to leave an area with a baptism! Please pray so that everything will work out today. I love you all and I know that this church is true! This next transfer will be really good, i have a good feeling about it! I love you!

 

-Elder David B. Fullmer

Weekly Update (Valentines Day)

How are you all doing? Happy Valentine's Day! This holiday doesn't really make any difference in the work... Haha. Well this week has been a pretty good one. Sorry if my letter doesn't make much sense this week. I've got a lot of things on my mind and it's kind of hard to focus on what to write... However here we go!

This week we've seen some great things happen. My mission companion and I have been working hard trying to find new people to teach. One day we were knocking doors but couldn't find many people who spoke Spanish, which was hard because I was the only one speaking because Elder ***** doesn't speak much English. However we said a prayer to find someone that needed us and the next door we found a couple from Cuba. They were on their way out the door and I had a strong feeling to talk to them, so we did. They gave the excuse that they were leaving and asked if we could come back another day. We asked if we could just leave a blessing in their home and they accepted. We left the blessing and they loved it. We asked if we could come back and share a message with them and they said, "Could you come back tomorrow? No wait, we can't tomorrow, how about the next day?" They definitely felt the Spirit and wanted us to come back as soon as possible.

We came back and taught them about the Atonement. As we were teaching he brought up his concern about how he doesn't like the cross, he believes that there are a lot of things missing from the Bible, and feels like Christ needs to tell us which path to take because there are so many different religions teaching different things... He told us all of these things after the closing prayer... I wish we would have taught the Restoration lesson first. However, we will be returning soon to solve all of his questions! They're really nice people. It was funny, when we started the lesson we started to get to know each other. Like always, they ask why I'm American and know Spanish. The man lived in Peru for a while and had stuff in his home from Peru so my companion and theywere talking about all of the stuff they had from Peru. Then I pointed to couch and asked, is this from America? They all started to laugh. It was a good ice breaker.

Last Saturday as we were riding home along the river and my mission companions bike broke. His gear like bent and doesn't work. So these past couple days have been a little frustrating because we can't work like we're used to. Hopefully it'll all work out soon! So you were saying how many people were asking about how I was doing and you said, "The Shirley's (they were visiting)" They moved?!? Since when?! I can't believe that the Olympics were 10 years ago... Super crazy! Time flies... Well that's all I’ve got to say this week. Sorry again for the randomness of this letter. It's not a very good one. Hopefully next Sunday we'll be having a baptism for the mom and son we are teaching! Please pray for them! Well I love you all very much! Have a great week!
-Elder David B. Fullmer

Weekly update- February 6th- (11th month mark)

Dear Fullmer Family,

How are you all doing? Happy Valentine's Day! This holiday doesn't

really make any difference in the work... Haha. Well this week has

been a pretty good one. Sorry if my letter doesn't make much sense

this week. I've got a lot of things on my mind and it's kind of hard

to focus on what to write... However here we go!

This week we've seen some great things happen. My companion and I have

been working hard trying to find new people to teach. One day we were

knocking doors but couldn't find many people who spoke Spanish, which

was hard because I was the only one speaking because my companion
doesn't speak much English. However we said a prayer to find someone

that needed us and the next door we found a couple from Cuba.

They were on their way out the door and I had a strong feeling to talk

to them, so we did. They gave the excuse that they were leaving and

asked if we could come back another day. We asked if we could just

leave a blessing in their home and they accepted. We left the blessing

and they loved it. We asked if we could come back and share a message

with them and they said, "Could you come back tomorrow? No wait, we

can't tomorrow, how about the next day?" They definitely felt the
Spirit and wanted us to come back as soon as possible. We came back
and taught them about the Atonement. As we were teaching he brought up
his concern about how he doesn't like the cross, he believes that
there are a lot of things missing from the Bible, and feels like
Christ needs to tell us which path to take because there are so many

different religions teaching different things... He told us all of

these things after the closing prayer... I wish we would have taught

the Restoration lesson first. However we will be returning soon to

solve all of his questions! They're really nice people. It was funny, when 

we started the lesson we started to get to know each other. Like

always, they ask why I'm American and know Spanish. The husband lived in

Peru for a while and had stuff in his home from Peru so my companion

and they were talking about all of the stuff they had from Peru. Then

I pointed to couch and asked, is this from America? They all started

to laugh. It was a good ice breaker.

Last Saturday as we were riding home along the river and my companion's

bike broke. His gear like bent and doesn't work. So these past couple

days have been a little frustrating because we can't work like we're

used to. Hopefully it'll all work out soon!

So you were saying how many people were asking about how I was doing

and you said, "The Shirley's (they were visiting)" They moved?!? Since

when?! I can't believe that the Olympics were 10 years ago... Super

crazy! Time flyes...

Well that's all I've got to say this week. Sorry again for the

randomness of this letter. It's not a very good one. Hopefully next

Sunday we'll be having a baptism for the mom and daughter we are teaching!

Please pray for them! Well I love you all very much! Have a great week!

-Elder David B. Fullmer