week 4

Hi everyone!

It's been another wonderful week here in St. Louis. It's been getting pretty hot and humid an few of the days we've been out tracting. I've been sweating A LOT, which is even worse in slacks and a collared shirt, but I'm surprised how easily I can forget how uncomfortable it is and love the work that I'm engaged in. 

So we have been working really hard the past week or so to focus on finding new investigators, and we have been blessed to find people who are prepared to hear our message. We found one lady, Kristy, and had a wonderful first discussion with her about the Restoration. She was super receptive and we're excited to keep teaching her. We also met two girls, Samantha and Haylie, who recently returned to live with their dad who has congestive heart failure. They are running his lawn mowing business and paying all the bills for their family. Amazing. We also ran into an older Philipino lady who was baptized about  20 years ago and is really interested in coming back to church. We also met the Jones family, who lost their dad about 4 years ago. There are 18 year old twin boys and then the mom, who is super excited for us to talk with her sons. We went over there yesterday to teach them, but they weren't there, which was disappointing. We are going to try and stop by there this afternoon to try and catch them. Our Ward mission leader, Brother Holland, is super devoted to the work. And He is actually a radiology resident, just like you, Dad! The Bishop here is also completely committed to missionary work, and it's awesome to see so many people working so hard to move this work along.

We had Zone Conference this past Friday, and I got to play "Oh how lovely was the morning." It was really fun to get back at it again. The Conference was amazing. I felt the Spirit so strong in every meeting. Afterwards, Elder Petersen and I stayed and chatted with President and Sister Morgan. They are so amazing and I can tell that they love each missionary so much.

So a scripture for this week that I stumbled upon is John 16:33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." In that scripture, Christ doesn't say "If we have tribulation," He says "ye SHALL have tribulation." This life is going to be hard. There is no way around that. What a comfort it is, though, to know that Christ suffered more than any of us ever would, so we each can turn to Him for peace and comfort. I'm learning so much all the time out here, and I love every minute of it!!

The Church is true!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

week 3

Hi everyone! 

So we got up at 3:30 Tuesday morning last week to get to the train, then another train, and then finally to the airport. I also got to see Sister Shogan at the airport, which was cool. So we got to St. Louis, and met President and Sister Morgan, who are both extremely nice. I can already tell that they will be wonderful to serve with and seek guidance from. We stopped by the St. Louis Temple before going to the mission home. (The St. Louis Temple is HUGE compared to Spokane's) We spent the night at the Morgan's home and then went the following morning to Transfer meeting. I met my new companion, Elder Petersen (Again), and when I first met him, he ran up and picked me up in a huge bear hug. (As you can see in the picture, he's a lot bigger than me) So we are serving in Fenton, which is a suburb South of St. Louis. Mom and Dad, where did we live in St. Louis? We are also White washing, meaning that neither Elder Petersen or I have served in this area. So that has kind of added to the stress. We have one progressing investigator that we just barely met yesterday, so we have been tracting a lot in attempt to find new investigators. I was surprised that door knocking really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! We went to church on Sunday, which was really nice. In Gospel Principles, we talked about Prayer. It was made mention that the purpose of prayer is to align our will with that of God, and so if we go into it with an attitude of humility and real intent to follow God's will, we really shouldn't be afraid to go to him with any of our concerns or wants. We will also have much more meaningful prayers as well. We pray SOOO much here in the mission field. It's wonderful. Oh and we get to go to a Cardinal's game tomorrow. YAY!!! Alright well I'm out of time now. Miss you all! The Church is true!

week 2

Hi everyone! It's amazing how slow the time goes by, but how fast the days go by. It's crazy. So I'm feeling more and more comfortable here at the MTC. We passed our halfway mark a few days ago, but now we only have two days left! It's crazy! I'm just going to share a few highlights from the mass of Spiritual experiences that I have had this past week.

     On Sunday night we watched a video called the Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. He talked a lot about how when the natural man would normally turn inward and be selfish, Christ turns outwards and focuses on other people. He said it a lot better than that, but it was a really cool talk. Then a few nights ago we did a Book of Mormon read with Brother Welch where we just really  delve into the Book of Mormon and dig deep into the doctrine. We read in Moroni 7 about Charity and how important it is to try and be able to love people as Christ does. He also pointed out that the goal is not to "posses" charity, but to be "possessed of it," meaning that we want our lives to be dominated and led by charity.

     We then got to hear from Elder Anderson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Tuesday night. It was absolutely amazing. He and his wife talked about the nature of the Holy Ghost and how it speaks to each of us. Sister Anderson said something along the lines of "nothing in this world is worth having it means forfeiting the presence of the Holy Ghost. One of the coolest parts of the devotional was being able to receive revelation from the Holy Ghost, even if it wasn't what was being said. I distinctly received the impression that there are people in St. Louis who have been and are being prepared to hear the wonderful message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from me specifically. It was amazing to know that I am called by a prophet of God to St. Louis specifically for the people there.

     We had a discussion with Isa, one of our investigators, and we just read from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 25 about how much the Book of Mormon testifies and can bring us closer to Jesus Christ. When she said the prayer at the end I received a very strong impression that since the Book of Mormon brings us closer to Christ, it MUST be true because nothing that is evil will bring us closer to Christ. It was amazing.

     Well that's about all for this week, but I love being here in the MTC!! It's so wonderful learning so much and experiencing so much and learning how to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Amazing! I love you all so much and hope that you all are well back home or wherever you may be. I love this Gospel and know that the Church is true!

Love,

     Elder Fullmer

week 1

Dear family, friends, and whoever ends up reading this,

     My first week here at the MTC is going great!! When I first got here, it felt like I had been sucked into a tornado because there was so much stuff I was given and so many places I had to go. Overwhelming for sure, but after the first day, everything started to seem to slow down and I seemed to get a hold of myself.  It keeps getting better and better every day. I love it! The first evening we had a devotional with the MTC presidency. Of course President Nally called me up to bear my testimony. I met my new companion, Elder Peterson, who is from Centerville, Utah. He's awesome! I can already tell that he has a strong testimony and a sincere desire to work hard and share the gospel. 

      On Thursday, Elder Peterson and I had to go to the nurse for Immunization stuff, so we left class. After we were done, we had no idea where our zone had gone and where we were supposed to be. So we were walking around with some other sisters in our zone trying to find out where we were supposed to be. We didn't find them, so we decided to go back up to our classroom. On the way, we finally thought to say a prayer, so we said we would once we got up to the room. We got up to the room, nobody was there, so we folded our arms, and even before Elder Peterson said a word, he noticed a note on the board that told us exactly where our zone was. It was pretty cool to see that the Lord is mindful of each of us and willing to bless us if we will only reach out and ask Him.

     Later that night we went to our first meeting with the Branch Presidency. While we were being interviewed, the rest of us were discussing quotes and scriptures. Once I got back from mine, I made a comment how Heavenly Father is offering us Eternal Life, or in essence, all that He has, and so we as missionaries shouldn't be at all afraid to give all that we have for only two short years. Then Sister Oswald, the Branch President's Wife said that my companion had said almost the exact same thing while I was in my interview. It is cool to see already that our companionships really are inspired by our Father in Heaven. 

     At the end of that meeting, Elder Peterson and I were called as the Zone Leaders, which means that we will be administrating around 28 missionaries, or our "zone." I'm excited to learn the ways of leadership!

     On Friday, we talked a lot about the Doctrine of Christ, which is essentially the steps of Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentence, Baptism by immersion, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, and I finally understood that Baptism essentially cleanses us of our sins, just as you can wash something with water, and essentially brings us back to ground 0, but then the Holy Ghost, or the "baptism by fire," goes even further and purifies us, much like fire can purify precious metals, elevating us to a higher level. We also taught our first lesson to our investigator, Isa, which went really well.

     Oh and Happy Independence Day to everyone! We didn't think we were going to celebrate at all, but we went to a devotional and ended up watching 17 Miracles and then getting ice cream and watching the fireworks outside afterwards. It was great!

     Alright well that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well back home and wherever else you may be! I'm so glad to be out here serving my Heavenly Father! The Church is true!

Love,

     Elder Fullmer

P.S. - I'll try to send some pictures, but it looks like it might not work on this computer.