Weekly Update (April 16th)

Thank you for all of your letters and hearing how everything is going in SLC! I love you all and I hope you're all doing well! I forgot to thank you last week but thank you so much for the Easter package. It was perfect! We used the egg dye kit with the sisters missionaries and we had a lot of fun dying eggs last  p day. I'm excited for some Subway as well! You are the bomb!

We had a tough week as a zone only having 12 gators at church together which was the lowest since I've been here so that was a bummer. The two that we had were, who else but the people who came last week! They are so incredible! Without a doubt the most amazing investigators that I have ever met. FYI most of my letter will be about them :) We had an appointment with them last Monday and when we knocked on the door no one was home... We gave them a call and they were so sorry because they weren't home. Where were they? They were at the store buying their CHURCH CLOTHES!!! Ha ha. How amazing is that? We went by on Tuesday where he showed off his new white shirt with cufflinks and his sweet tie! He didn't know how to tie it so for part of the lesson we taught him. So much fun! We taught them the Restoration lesson where we watched the DVD about Joseph Smith. They loved it! About 10 days before we taught the lesson, the man we are teaching had a terrible dream where he was surrounded in darkness and didn't know where to go. He was scared and then a white horse came and guided him out of the darkness. I don't know if you remember but in the video, Joseph's father carves a white horse out of wood and gives it to his son.  Our investigator loved that part and knew it was there for him. Also during the first vision he couldn't get over how incredible it was. When we finished the video The woman investigator was sharing a story about something and the male investigator got the DVD ready to give it back to us but we told him it was his. A HUGE smile came on his face and put the DVD back in the TV, changed the language and fast forwarded to the first vision, leaned forward in his chair and smiled. Words cannot describe how, much I love them!

The next day we went over to teach them and the male investigator had a really special experience at work. So while he was painting a house with one of his co workers, the other guy left for a while so he thought it would be a good time to pray. So he got down, knelt on the floor and prayed. As he described his feelings he said, "I felt something right here (pointing to his chest), I had never felt it before but it felt really good. What was it?" We described to him it was him feeling the Spirit for the first time. I have never had an investigator describe the Spirit for the first time. It was a special moment for me.

Then we got a call Saturday night saying they were talking to someone on the bus about us... which scared me at first that they were talking bad about the Mormons, but then he said, "We invited her to come to church with us tomorrow. Is there enough room in the car for her?" They are incredible! All three of them came to church and it turns out the friend was baptized into the church about 10 years ago but fell away and wants to come back! They are going to be great members! They are planning to be baptized on Saturday at 10AM. Please pray for them to be baptized. They are the strongest investigators I've ever taught but we fear there will be a lot of opposition this next week.

Last Monday, like I said, we dyed eggs with the other Sisters. They surprised us by making us Easter baskets and hiding them in the chapel. It was a lot of us and reminded me of home!

Wow~! Mindy's engaged?! That's crazy! I'm not really surprised about James or Brianna though but Mindy was a shocker! I'm happy for her though. Also, I got the taxes sent in last Monday Dad. Thanks for doing that for me!

This past week we were starting to leave the house when we realized it was a very cool day, a little cloudy and since we were low on miles we took the bikes out. Where we went was pretty far from the house but we went out anyways. As we were knocking doors in the area we planned on going it started to sprinkle. We didn't think anything of it because the storms usually come and go and nothing happens. But that time it was different... It started to POUR!!! We got on our bikes as fast as we could but the apartment was so far away that we. got. soaked! I hadn't gotten rained on in a while so it was fun! My Spanish triple got wet in my backpack though. It dried pretty well though. I thought my backpack was waterproof but apparently not... Oh well! The joys of riding bikes!

Well it's been a really fun week and also one that was filled with spiritual experiences! Thank you for all of your prayers and I know that the Lord is blessing us. I love the book, "The Continuous Atonement." I as well am about half way through.  If you haven't read it you should. I've learned a lot about grace and how we are saved by grace. I've realized that there is so much I do not understand.

Here is a quote that someone said in church yesterday while she spoke about reading the Book of Mormon. "God can't guide a parked car" I like it! Well that's all I've got for this week! It was a long letter... sorry... I love you all and I know that this is the work of the Lord! There is no greater joy than helping others realize their divine potential and the blessings that are waiting for them. Have a great week!

Con mucho amor,
-Elder David B. Fullmer

P.S. Non compromiso would be no pressure. Thanks Dad~!

Happy Easter (April 9th letter)

Dear Fullmer Family,

First off Happy Easter! It's been one of the best one's that I've had and I hope you all were able to have a great day as well. It was a great day because we were able to have eight investigators at church. The other missionaries in the ward (sister's) brought six, so in our ward we had 14investigators at church. This has never happened in the ward and the Bishop is loving us. He told us that before transfers he was praying so hard that all of us would stay. He said, "I prayed to stay!" He loves us and we love him. He's an incredible Bishop! Needless to say, I'm happy I'm still here. I would be just fine if I finished my mission here.

Anyways, Easter was great! We kinda forgot during the week that we were supposed to sing in church, since we were super busy, , so we sat down for a little while to figure out what we were going to do. We
came to the conclusion that we wanted to do "Come thou Fount" but a version that isn't very common. There is an arrangement on the video, "Reflections of Jesus Christ" if you haven't seen it I invite you to
do so. Dad you will love it! So a member in the ward had the video so we listened to the song and decided it was what we wanted to do. However, we didn't have sheet music. It's a good thing I have an amazing companion who listened to the song, found out the chords and memorized it. We did that Saturday morning and got it done! He played the piano and I sang a solo. It turned out really well and it was nice. We performed it Sunday at church as the closing song. As we were going back to see our investigators a member came up to us, Brother  __________aka coolest guy in the ward, and asked if we could come to
his house that night for Easter dinner with four of his non member friends and sing the song there... Apparently it sounded alright. Haha. Of course we accepted since we didn't have anyone to eat with on
Easter. But before we get to that point there is a lot that happened during the day...

I'm going to rewind a little bit and talk about what happened on Saturday. So probably at around the time you were all dying eggs, My companion and I were Harvesting trying to find people. We weren't having much success in one area and both of us realized we needed to go to another complex close by. We went there and after a while we knocked the door of a great couple. They immediately let us in and we left a blessing with them. They asked afterwards if someone told us to come there and we responded, "No. We pray every morning to know where we need to be and we came here." He shook his head and said, "I have no doubt that God lives." The woman had a pretty major surgery the other day and wasn't doing well. We invited them to come to church for Easter Sunday and He readily accepted. She said, "We have someone
coming over tomorrow..." Then he said, "I know that this is much more important! We'll be there!" Guess what? they came! They absolutely loved Sacrament meeting! They stayed for gospel principles which was on the Priesthood. I thought it was a strange topic for Easter but it turned out great because while the teacher was talking about baptism The man turned to my companion and said, "Neither of us have been
baptized..." My companion smiled and said, "We can help you with that." We went over later that day and set them with a baptismal date for April 21st! They are so cool! We talked about the Book of Mormon and
they accepted it immediately! And above all... THEY"RE MARRIED!!! Miracles still exist! It's been a great Easter!

Oh yeah, the dinner last night. So as we walked up to the door, it smelled incredible, not the door but.. you know... We walked in and he showed us what's for dinner. It was Cornish hens. So delicious! So we ate with his co-workers. He's a physical therapist and travels all over the world as a keynote speaker... Kinda like someone in our home ward. We then had a spiritual message where we watched "He Lives" from LDS.org and then we sang the song. We then bore our testimonies of Jesus Christ and said a prayer. Very powerful! I wish all members would do this. It was so non compromiso, I can't think of it in English... not anything like challenging but that's not the word, I hope you get what I'm trying to say. I hope we get to do that again soon.

Anyways, I love you all so much and I hope you had a wonderful Easter! I know that Jesus Christ did rise again and that He lives! He loves us and is guiding us. I love Him with all of my heart and it is the greatest
privilege in the world to represent Him. I pray that I will be able to be worthy of this calling and to serve with all the energy of my heart to share this truth with those who stand in need of it. I love this work! I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you!

-Elder David B. Fullmer

South Miami Zone pictures

His zone wearing a shirt that the YSA sisters made for each one. There is a symbol like a wave with an arrow going through it which is the symbol for baptism. So they say, "Baptize Miami" David says "They're pretty sweet. Enjoy!"

Elders in the Riverside District doing the Haka

Weekly Update (transfer week April 3rd)

Dear Family,

Well yesterday we got the calls about transfers and finally nothing is happening to me! It's been about 4 transfers that nothing has happened to me but I'm very glad that my companion and I get to stay together for another transfer. The zone that we are leading is doing better than it has ever done before. We ended the month with 15 baptisms and our goal was 14. The last record for the zone in mission history was 9. As a mission we hit our goal of 100 baptisms and hit 106. It was incredible to be a part of that and see how much the Lord has blessed us.

I absolutely loved General Conference as always. This year there was a big focus, I don't know if you noticed, you probably did, on familes and contention in the family. The quote from President Monson in his last talk about ending problems now kinda struck it home! Also there was a lot of talks centered on the Priesthood and unrighteous dominion... I wonder what's in our future... but it was an incredible conference. I would love to talk about the 26 pages of notes that I took but I just don't have much time today... :( That is incredible how you were able to track down Mom's stolen phone!

However, I'm not really surprized. You've got Mr. Computer as a son.

Haha. Technology is incredible!

I'm pretty short for time today, we have a lot of work to do for transfers but I want to share a story with you. I love stories. So yesterday since it was the end of the transfer, we got permission from President Anderson to have a Zone Event during the day. We all came together and we started with a testimony meeting talking about how the challenge, (which was to give your very best effort and ask the Lord every night "wilt thou accept my very best effort") affected them this transfer. It was such a powerful meeting hearing story after story of the missionaries giving their very best every day. It made me proud! I cant' wait for this next transfer, we've got some cool things in store!

After the meeting we had lunch. So the plan was to have a bbq because the church that we were having the meeting at has a bbq. However you know that after we buy the meat and all of the toppings and everything, the thing wouldn't start. It had gas but for some reason it wouldn't light, I even asked a lady on the street if she had a lighter because none of the stores around had matches. Even with that, it wouldn't start. So we were wondering what we were going to do because everyone was hungry and it wasn't working.

So we went into the kitchen because there is a range in there so we thought we'd cook them in a pan. We tried to turn it on and... it didn't work. We pulled it out and it was plugged in and everything. Not gunna lie, i was frustrated. So I had the thought to check the control panel or fuse box, whatever it's called, and the only one that wasn't one was the range. We were in business! haha. We finally got it to work and your other son, no not the computer genios, no not the new assemblies chair, but the chef make 20 hamburgers on the stove! Haha. It was funny! Frustrating but funny. Haha.

Well I love you all so much and I hope you all have a wonderful Easter. I think this one will be better than the MTC.. I hope! I know that the Savior lives. He lives. I know it. As we come to Him in His infinite love He relieves us from the pain that the world causes. I'm so grateful for His Atonement that He so lovingly gives us. I wish I could understand more about it but everyday my understanding grows because it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we are able to do hard things. I love you all and have a great week!

-Elder David B. Fullmer

Moving and new apartment pictures

Weekly Update: March 26th

Dear Fullmer Family,

Como estan? I hope you all are doing fantastically well! I love you all and I really hope you're doing well! This past week has been another fantastic one! As a zone we were able to have 6 baptisms and 29 investigators at church! It was fantastic! As a mission we are sitting at 88 baptisms for the month of March and we just need 12 baptisms on Saturday to hit the goal of 100! It's looking that it's going to happen.

We are finally all moved in and confortable in our new apartment. It is super nice and I really hope i never leave it! Haha. I've got pictures to send (which are posted on the blog)

Everything's been going pretty well for our investigators as well! However we had an interesting thing happen this past week as we visited with one of our investigators and her family. So, on Monday we went over for our appointment and guess who was there?.... Their pastor from their other church. We walked in the apartment and the feelings that we felt were absolutely terrible. He looked like he wanted to kill us! He was wanting to fight over everything but we knew that wouldn't help at all and would most likely hurt a lot of things! We don't teach anything, the Spirit teaches everything. If the Spirit is not there we can't do anything. So we asked if we could come by another time and then we left. We were kind of confused about what to do but the next lesson we taught was super spiritually powerful! They know what they need to do, now they have to choose. It's one of the hardest things to do. I don't know when they'll get baptized, hopefully this next weekend, but they will get baptized. Three of them came to church yesterday and the grandma, bore her testimony of the power of Jesus Christ. It was amazing to see! I also bore my testimony of an experience that I had this past week... Drum roll please....

So last Monday, we got a call from a member of another ward saying someone got in a car accident and was in the hospital close to our house. We called the mom of the boy to see when she would like us to come and give him a blessing. We set it for 7:00. Since the lesson with our other investigator that night ended quite abruptly we headed over a little earlier than planned. The minute we walked in the door someone came up to us and asked, "You're here to give a blessing to my mom right?" We said, "Yep!" We had no idea who that was but he waited for us as we checked in and followed him to the room. We came in and everyone in the room was crying. They saw us and smiled. The mother was very old and was very sick... She had been praying for someone to come and give her a blessing. When she told us what her name was, it was not the name of the person we were called to give a blessing. We gave the blessing and they asked how we knew she was in the hospital. We said we didn't but the Lord did. It was so cool to be used by the Lord to answer a prayer in need. We were right where we needed to be at the exact moment! It's incredible how the Lord works things out. Later we blessed the young man who was in the car accident and after we left that, the mother asked us if we could go to the other boy who was in the car at the same time. Both were in ICU. It was a very special experience!

On Saturday we went over to teach a man we are teaching and it was one of the most different surprises I've ever had on my mission. We came over and he had three pictures with him... They were of his baptism when he was 14 years old. He forgot he got baptized but apparently he's a member! Haha. Pretty crazy. Now we need him to come back to church.

Yesterday the Bishop came up to us and commented again how much he loved the musical number we did the other week and asked if we could sing again on Easter Sunday. Do you have any ideas of anything we could sing?

Well as you can tell it's been a very busy week! It's been a really great one. I cannot wait for this next week as we have General Conference. I have been praying a lot about having spiritual experiences and answers to my prayers this conference and I know all of the above will happen. I can't wait for the opportunity to hear the words of the Prophet. Being on a mission, the love that I have for General Conference has increased so much and I hope you all have the desire and a listening ear and heart for this next weekend. Search for the answers to the questions that you have. If you listen, every question will be answered! I promise you that.

I love all of you so very much and I pray for you all! You are so special to me! I know that the Lord is listening to every one of our prayers and He answers them. We don't know when or how but He always does. President Monson said, "There is nothing more gratifying to have a prompting from the Spirit and to act upon it and to later find out that you were used as an answer to someone's prayer." I love the Lord and I hope He knows if He has something that needs to be done, David Fullmer is ready. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

-Elder David B. Fullmer

Weekly update - March 19, 2012

Hello Fullmer Family! How is everyone doing? This past week was amazing! Well not necessarily in our personal area but in the zone it was fantastic! We were able to once again get 30 investigators at church, which for the past 4 week average in our zone it is 26 inv @ church which has never happened before. And the investigators aren't just coming to church but they're also getting baptized! We had three baptisms this past week and like 5 for next weekend! Everything is going really well! Sorry that this letter is a little later than usual... We moved apartments this morning. Happy P day activity! I'm exhausted! However it went very smoothly. We had a lot of help this morning from the Sister Missionaries who sacrificed part of their P Day to help us out! We're so greatful for their help! They were incredible. So at 6:45 this morning, us and the 4 sisteYrs went to work. It's a pain to move but the new apartment is so nice! I love it! It'll be a nice change. This past week we were priveliged to hear from Elder Walter F. Gonzales at a zone conference and also at church on Sunday! He's such a funny guy! Whenever he was looking up a scripture, while he was turning the pages he would always say... "I hope it's still here..." Everyone was laughing! But he talked to us about the power that the Book of Mormon brings to the lessons. He said, "Your lessons need to be flooded with the Book of Mormon... but to be able to flood your lessons, your mind needs to be flooded with it first!" He's an amazing man! While he was at church, well he wasn't able to make it to our sacrament meeting.. but I would always pass him in the halls. Whenever I would pass him he's say, "Elder Fullmer, I'm still here..." Every time he'd say, "You thought you got rid of me Elder Fullmer but I'm still here..." In sacrament meeting, since it was invitation Sunday it was focused on missionary work. My companion spoke along with Sister Lake. Then My companion and I sang a musical number. We sang "The Olive Tree" It sounded pretty good I think. Our voices blend very well together. I hadn't sung in such a long time that my vocal cords were out of shape but I think I didn't well with such little practice. A yw in the ward played the accompaniment and it sounded really nice! Unfortuneately we didn't have many gators at church... we only had 3 but they all really enjoyed it which is what counts. We were expecting about 13 but last minute Satan worked on them... Darn Satan... Next week we'll get them though. This past week we've been focusing a lot on gratitude. We actually had a gratitude fast as a zone this past Friday which was really special. I've never done that before... just fasting to give thanks without asking for anything. I encourage you all to try it! It's incredible! That's so cool to hear about the iMac that Stephen fixed! I knew he's do it eventually! And that's also cool to hear about Sam running for Assemblies. He'll do amazing! Keep me updated! The investigator who accidentally went to the Baptist church last week is doing really well! He has a lot of questions about organized religion and why it's important. He would have come to church yesterday but he got sick... He'll come next week! Our Cuban family of our investigator are doing well! Beatris' niece Diana is incredible! It's like having a member with us when we teach Beatris. They were saying how they weren't sure about going to church and she said, "Their church is better than yours... Go to theirs! Haha. She came last week but the rest of the family didn't because they went to a water park... She's gunna get baptized really soon! Well... There's not much more to say today. I'm tired and i'm ready for bed! It's only 3:00 but I'll probably be taking a nap when I get home! I love you all so very much! Talk to you soon! -Elder David B. Fullmer