Weekly Update - March 11th 2012

Hola La Familia Fullmer!
Como estan? This week has been another fantastic week in Miami! The
weather has been really nice with some rain here and there, which
doesn't bother me because we are in a car. :) This has been one of the
best weeks of my mission.

So since we did so well as a zone this past week in bringing investigators
to church by getting 26, we bumped up the goal to get 35, which is almost
double the amount of the old record from the past year... Well we didn't
exactly hit it, but we were able to come together to bring 30 investigators
at church. We were the highest in the mission by far! I am so proud of all of the
missionaries in my zone and I love working with them.

Funny story by the way. We were out in the area of one of the companionships
helping them plan for the next week and one of the missionaries,
who lives in SLC, actually on 13 east and 19 south went to East
High School. It turns out that he was in choir there and what's even
weirder is that we both sang in that tri school choir with West, East
and Highland. I even think we sat within like 4 people of each other.
How crazy is that?! Well anyways I'm very proud of the zone and what
we're doing. We had 3 baptisms as a zone and we are looking forward to
the next few weeks where we will be having quite a few baptisms. Gotta
love missionary work.
One of our investigators had a really spiritual experience
yesterday. So funny story... We called him around 10 o clock to remind
him about church at 11 and we woke him up. Daylight savings had its
effect on multiple people yesterday. Well he said he'd be coming but
would be a few minutes late. So we waited for him outside in the foyer
but never came... So after the sacrament, which we had in the foyer,
we went inside and we were with our other 5 investigators at church.
However at the end of sacrament meeting we got a call from him who
said, "I'm outside." So we went outside and he came up to us saying,
"Guys, you'll never believe what happened." So it turns out that he
put the address in his GPS but instead of taking him to our church it
took him to a Baptist Church. Ours is hard to find because it's
covered with trees... So he went there thinking it was ours and then
realized after the service that we weren't there and it was a Baptist
church. But he showed up afterwards and stayed for Priesthood and
Sunday school.

In Priesthood we had one of the best lessons that I've
had in my entire mission. At the beginning, a recent convert was
conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained a Priest by another
recent convert who was baptized about 6 months ago. It was a really
cool thing to be able to see. Then the Elder's Quorum President
taught very simply about the Priesthood and what just happened. It was
such a powerful lesson and our investigator was hit by a wall of Spirit. It was
incredible. He was pretty much speechless by the end of the lesson and
said he was definitely coming back for the first hour next week. It
was such a great experience for me and for our investigator.

This past week we were able to give many Priesthood blessings which
has strengthened my testimony of the Power of the Priesthood. One of
which was a call that we got asking if we could come to the emergency
room immediately. We cancelled everything that we had to run over to
the hospital. It was a young man who had an internal blockage in his
stomach or something like that. Before we got there he was just
screaming because of pain. As we got there we gave him a blessing of
health. It's incredible how peaceful he was after the blessing and how
his family was so filled with hope that everything would be alright. I
feel so blessed to have the confidence that the Lord has in me to hold
this sacred authority. It makes me want to be a better person to be
able to help those whenever they need it.
This past week we found a really cool family! It's kind of a funny
story how we found them. So as we were looking for an apartment
complex of a former investigator we accidentally turned into the wrong
one... However as we were driving to the exit we saw this woman and
her son with the trunk of her car open. There were a ton of groceries
so I pulled the car over to go offer some help. We went over and asked
if we could help them move in their groceries and at first she
declined but then we said, "Are you sure? There are a lot of groceries
in that car." She then accepted and we helped bring in the groceries.
At the end she asked, "What do you do?" We said that we would love to
be able to leave a blessing in their home, which we did. She is a
single mother and has 3 boys. We left the blessing and she definitely
felt the Spirit. She said that she would come to church but wasn't
able to come yesterday because of work but said she would come next
week. We will be teaching them this next Tuesday.
Another investigator and her family are doing well! They know it's true
but it's been a real struggle trying to leave her other church. We know they
have felt the Spirit testifying that it's true but now it's their time
to act. They are up in Orlando right now but we'll be teaching them
tomorrow as well.
This next week I am really excited because Elder Gonzales is going to
come to give a training to all of us and cannot wait. He will also be
giving a fireside Saturday night in my chapel and I hope I will be
able to attend. My companion and I will be singing next Sunday in
church because it is "Invitation Sunday" and as we were talking to the
Bishop, who is good friends with Elder Gonzales, said that there is a
good chance he will be attending our sacrament meeting this next week!
I can't wait! We are going to have a bunch of investi"gators" at
church because I know that they will be touched by the Spirit!
We actually will be moving next week... The reason why we are moving
is because the owner of our apartment foreclosed and lost the
apartment. So that is why we need to move. I haven't been able to see
Elder ----- yet. I hope he's doing well though. I hope to see him
soon!
I know that the Lord blesses us so much when we are obedient and are
quick to respond to the promptings of the Spirit. When we do that He
knows that we will answer the call and will entrust us with those that
are prepared and willing to listen to servants of the Lord. I love you
all so much! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Today I will be
making some pies :)

-Elder David B. Fullmer

Some pictures of new and old area

Weekly Update (March 5th, 2012)

Dear Fullmer Family,
Well... I'm old. I'm a year on my mission. I still feel like I've only
been here for 3 months or so, which is good, but as a look around I see that
I'm older than most missionaries and it's a little scary.
Haha. But this will only help me to work even harder to make sure that
I give it my very best!

Thank you so much for sending me the package.
I loved it! I'm so excited to make some key lime bars and just eat
junk food. Haha. I love it.  Also Ilove the ProActive. It's already working so well!
Thank you for that.
So yes, my area is pretty south. It's the most south I've been. Our
area is the most south in our zone but there is another zone below us
so the Keys aren't in our zone... I love it though! This is probably
my favorite area. By the way, next Monday we will be moving
apartments so if you are going to send anything to me for the next
week will you send it to the mission? I don't have the new address
yet. It's in the same complex and it's actually even nicer than the
one that we're in right now. We went to check it out and there are
hardwood floors, and carpeted bedrooms! Very nice! :) I'll let you
know the new address when it get it.
This past week we were able to have PPI's with President Anderson
(Personal Priesthood Interviews). It was a great time to just sit down
with him and talk about what's going on. As I was sitting there I
compared it to my last interview and I was able to see how much I have
grown in these past 3 months. It was great. It was a lot different
than my past interviews because we pretty much just talked about the
zone and how to be even better. However it was a great experience for
me.

This past friday, all of the zone leaders came together for the
ZLC or Zone Leader Council at the mission home where we talked about
mission goals and progression. As a mission we are averaging way more
baptisms than last year. As a mission from December 2011 to Feb 2012
we had 235 baptisms. In December 2010 to Feb 2011 we had like 120. We
have almost doubled the amount of baptisms and are continuing to
increase. We average around 75 baptisms a month but the goal is to hit
100 which we are so close to hitting.

This past week as a zone we had a goal to get 26 investigators at
sacrament meeting. The record for the past year as a zone was 19. We
were crunching the numbers and in order to get 14 baptisms as a zone
this month we need to increase the amount of investigators at church.
As we made this goal a priority, and fasted and prayed that we could
rise to it we were able to bring 26 investigators to church yesterday!
It was incredible! I'm so proud of my zone! They worked so hard and we
did it. In the zone there are 7 companionships. 5 elders and 2
sisters! I love them so much!

Yesterday the investigators that we had at church were -------- and her
two children and ------' sister. She and her family came last
week and said they would come again. The morning before church we went
to check to make sure they were coming and we showed up 30 mintues
before church and guess what? They were still in their jammies... We
were like, "What are you doing? We have church in 30 minutes." They
tried to get out of it but as we promised how important it is to go
they hurried and got ready. She grabbed her sister next door who came
for the first time. They loved church! The sister, who's daughter
we've been teaching, came up to us, and said she loved church and her
whole family is going to come next week! It was incredible. We will be
seeing them tonight and talking more about baptism with them.

Well this past week something happened that I want to share with you
all. At the time it wasn't very funny but looking back I've been
laughing about it... Alright, here we go. So last Tuesday we went to
an appartment complex to go harvesting and to follow up on some people
we met earlier. So we took the car and parked it in the parking lot.
So as we were heading back we got to where the car was parked and both
My companion and I stopped... We looked and the car was gone... We were
wondering if that's where we actually parked and came to the
conclusion that it was and we didn't know what to do. We said a quick
prayer and started walking around. We saw a man walking and asked if
he had seen a white Chevy Malibu leave the parking lot. He said, "You
mean the one that was on the tow truck? Yeah it left like 10 minutes
ago." Immediately I was stunned and didn't know what to do. So we
found the number for the tow truck, by the way it's like 8:55 at
night, and called it. They said that we would need an original form
for the car or something like  that so we gave an elder in the mission office
a call. Unfortuneately there was nothing we could do
that night but it would have to wait for tomorrow. We ended up walking
home that night and got home right before 9:30. I didn't sleep well
that night. The next morning we needed to go to a District Training up
in Down town Miami so we took the train! It was a lot of fun! Haha. So
the elder drove down from Plantation to get the car and he got it!
We got it that next afternoon. However because of that, My companion
and I get to pay the $124 charge... It was dumb because where we
parked was an unmarked spot and apparently  someone owned that spot
and called the tow truck... We weren't gone for more than an hour...
So if you see a charge for $62 you know why... Live and learn right?
Haha.

Well that's about all I've got for today. I just keep typing and
typing, it's fun to share all of the stories. One more real quick. So
on Saturday we were harvesting a group of complexes where our Elder's
Quorum President lived. We didn't really know where he lived but
didn't think it was where we were Harvesting. So we started to knock
and about 5 minutes in we knocked on his door. He answered and we were
just about ready to give the approach when he said, "Elders! Come on
in, my kids are sleeping but come on in..." We had no idea what to say
to him because he expected we came for a reason but my companion came
up with something and made it sound important. He gave us some water
and we were out. We kept laughing about it all day!

Okay now that's all I have to say! I love you all and I am so glad
that I am serving at this time where I'm at! I know it's where I'm
supposed to be! I know this is the work of the Lord and I love being
able to serve Him daily! I love this work!
Pleas keep me in your prayers! I love you all!
-Elder David B. Fullmer

P.S. AMY GOT MARRIED?!?! That's so awesome! I'm happy for her!

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