week 23

This week went by extremely fast! But then again, I think every week is faster than the last.

We were able to pick up a new investigator, named Dan, who is very active in his church, but is willing to meet and discuss things with us. We taught him the Restoration, and when we invited him to read the Book of Mormon at the end, he told us he didn't feel led to read it at this point. But, we know that once he does put it to the test, he will definitely come to know that it is true.

We also taught another new person this week, named Nick. He had a lot of really good questions, and really wants to read the Book of Mormon and learn more about what we teach. The only problem is that he's really busy, so he said it would be best to wait until January to meet again.

We had our Ward Christmas Party this past Friday, and Elder Burningham and I some how ended up in one of the skits! We sang a parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas," replacing all the "gifts" with tools and construction supplies. It was complete with costumes and props, too!

I have been studying Testimony a lot lately, and I was wondering this morning, "What should we strive to have a testimony of?"

I then read Moroni 10:5:

 "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

Just like it says in the scripture, we can have a testimony of "all things" if they are true. 

However, I read another scripture in 2 Nephi 28:30:

 "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

Even though we can learn the truth of all things, there is a pattern set forth of what we must learn first. If we are willing to follow that pattern, that is when God will build upon the things we have already learned and show unto us all things that are true. But first, we must be willing to learn the basic principles that God wants us to learn first. I came up with 5 fundamental building blocks that I think we all need to continually strive to strengthen our testimony of:

1. God is our Heavenly Father, and He loves us infinitely and eternally.

2. Jesus Christ is His son, the Savior of the World, and the Redeemer of all mankind.

3. The Book of Mormon is true, and is God's word.

4. Joseph Smith was a prophet called by God, and Thomas S. Monson is his successor today.

5. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom once again established on the earth."

I know that if we continually strive to strengthen our conviction of these basic truths, nothing will ever shake our testimony.

I love this Gospel, and I love all of you!

The Church is True!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

week 22

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you enjoyed the turkey, pie, and time with family and friends.

This week has been a bit slower, mostly because of the holiday, but I had a neat experience that I'd like to share:

Last night I was lying in bed, when a question popped into my head: "Why do we share the Gospel?" Seems like a funny question for a missionary to ask. But I was thinking about this for a long time. I couldn't get to sleep because of it. It just kept coming back. Eventually, I asked myself, "Why does God command us to do anything?" Heavenly Father's sole purpose is to make us happy. Everything He does is geared toward helping us achieve "immortality and eternal life," in essence, eternal happiness. Every single commandment, scripture, and experience that He gives us is for the sole purpose of making us happy. So Why are we commanded to share the Gospel? Because it makes us Happy!

One of the greatest scriptural examples of the joy that's found in missionary work is found in Alma 26:11, when Ammon is rejoicing in the change that has occurred in so many lives: "But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my JOY IS FULL, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God." This "fullness of joy" is mention many other times throughout the scriptures, but as far as I know, it only comes when we see OTHERS increase their faith in Jesus Christ.

In 3 Nephi 17:20, we see this same joy that comes from seeing others increase their faith and come unto Christ. This time, however, it's Christ who experiences this joy: "And they arose from the earth and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my JOY IS FULL."

We as members of the Church have the opportunity to feel that same joy that the Savior felt when he saw the faith of the multitude. There is so much Joy to be found in doing missionary work, but Satan is trying his very hardest to deceive us into thinking that missionary work is hard or awkward or that they won't be interested. But he is lying!! Missionary work is easy! It's natural, and EVERYONE in this world NEEDS the Gospel more than anything else.

Alma, another Book of Mormon missionary, experienced this same joy from sharing the Gospel in Alma 29:13: "yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the work unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my JOY IS FULL." 

This is how I feel about missionary work: it makes me so happy to see others coming to Christ and finding the joy of this Gospel.

But, Alma doesn't stop there. He continues in verses 14-16: "But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is MORE FULL because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi. Behold, they have labored exceedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward! Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy."

Just like Alma, I rejoice when I hear of your missionary experiences. It makes me even MORE happy to see others sharing this wonderful gift with their friends and neighbors. So I'd like to make a simple request to all who read these letters: Whenever you have a missionary experience, please send me an email and let me know what happened! I would LOVE to hear how the Gospel is blessing your friends and family. The wonderful thing about this Gospel is that it is Happy! And the more we share it, the happier we are! Then, we are even happier when we share those experiences with others! It just keeps going and going! The Gospel is eternal, and so is the happiness we can discover by applying it.

The Church is actually producing a Christmas media initiative called "He is the Gift," which is centered around making Christ the center of Christmas. You all should have received information about it in this month's Ensign. It is such an easy way to share the first gift of Christmas with everyone around you. I would encourage you to watch the video at christmas.mormon.org and share it with your friends.

I love all of you, and I love this work.

The Church is True!!!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

So we were driving down the road the day after Thanksgiving, and Elder Burningham saw this Christmas Tree with a "Free" sign on it. So, of course, we took it and set it up in our apartment. Tender Mercies! (Those are Pass-along-card ornaments, by the way.)

week 21

So this past week was kind of crazy with transfers and all happening on Wednesday.

On Monday evening, I was happy to participate in a lesson with the other ward's Elders who I was staying with. We taught a lady who never has been very religious, but feels like there's something missing in her life. It was a very powerful lesson, and I think everyone there would agree the Spirit was present.

Wednesday we had transfers, and I got my new companion, Elder Burningham. He is from Layton, Utah, and he is already an amazing missionary. I'm really excited to get to start working with him. He's excited and ready to do whatever it takes to be successful.

On Saturday, we were able to pick up a new investigator named Tra (sounds like "Tray"). He just graduated from High school this past Spring and is now working. It was a really neat lesson. We were able to point out to him that what he was feeling was the Spirit, which really clicked with him.

Last night we had another lesson with the Robinsons. She was baptized a number of years ago, and he has been investigating for about the last 9 months. We talked a little about the Spirit and how it testifies of truth and then invited him to be baptized on December 20th. He accepted! We were really excited to hear from him that he finally thinks he'll be ready by then. 

It's so amazing to be able to see people desire to change their nature to become more like Christ.

One of my favorite scriptures on that topic is in Moroni 7:48: "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." 

I hope that each of us would make that a personal goal to strive to become "like him." It is the only way to find true happiness and peace in this life, and we get the opportunity to help others around us as we walk that path.

I love all of you, and I love this work!

The Church is True!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

[A few photos that he sent today:]

Elder Burningham apparently likes Ramen a lot

Peter couldn't resist taking some "mug shots" with this license plate they saw at a less-active member's home. 

week 20

So this week has been a different week, considering it was Elder Jones' last week of the mission. He left early this morning, and I will be staying with the other ward's Elders for the next couple of days.

We have been meeting with a lot of members, and we're hoping that this will get their own missionary work kick-started. It's also been good just getting to know the members of the ward. It's amazing how many people I meet on the mission. It's often hard to keep track of all of them!

We also got transfer calls this past Saturday. I will be staying in the Weldon Spring ward, and I will be training a brand new missionary! I'm a little nervous, but at the same time I'm excited to see what the Lord has for me to learn.

I also had a good study of humility this past week. One of my favorite scriptures I came across was in D&C 67:10: "And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am- not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual." I've come more and more to know that that scripture is true. The more we humble ourselves and accept and seek the will of God, we are able to more clearly see His hand in every aspect of our lives. He really does love us, and everything He does is for our benefit and growth.

I love this work, and I love all of you!

The Church is True!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

Peter with the now departed Elder Jones.

week 19

So this week has been a pretty great week. 

It started off with last Monday. We went and met up with a bunch of other Elders in our Zone and we had a giant Nerf War and then afterward we played a game called Bird Flu, which is just another version of Dodgeball. It was a blast, and we were super sore for the next couple of days.

I think the best part of this week has been the plan we have been forming to begin working with members. President Morgan at Stake Conference encouraged the missionaries to become engaged with the members. Then Elder Martino talked about working with members to plan out how they are going to do their own personal missionary efforts. So, we have been calling almost every member on the ward roster and are trying to set appointments where we can get to know the members and plan out with them how they are going to do their own missionary work. Then possibly the most important part is to follow up on the commitments we leave with people. So many times we ask members to do things and then we and them both forget about it the next day. So, we are now putting a heavy emphasis on making sure whatever we ask members to do gets done. I really now understand the importance of following up, especially after reading Elder Ballard's talk entitled, "Following Up." It really is how any organization gets things done: by assigning tasks and then following up until they are accomplished. We already can see that this program is beginning to work. We have 26 appointments set up for this coming week!! Most of them are with members, but we really hope that as we continue to encourage and follow up with members, they will begin to catch the fire of missionary work and start finding us people to teach. 

It has been such an exciting thing to feel the Spirit guiding both Elder Jones and I as we have made plans and learned things that have prepared us to get this ball rolling. We are so excited to see this work.

It brings to mind a wonderful scripture from D&C 68:6: "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come."

I am so grateful to have that wonderful calling to proclaim to the world that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of God, sent to the Earth to atone for the sins of the world. He opens His arms wide open to receive us, and it's my privilege to lead others into those loving arms. My heart is filled with joy and love when I think of what my Savior has done for me and for everyone in this world. The cleansing, redeeming, enabling, and changing power of the Atonement is real. I get to experience that every day as I seek to more fully do the will of the Father by following the guidance of the Spirit. 

I love this work. I love all of you.

The Church is True!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

week 18

So it was a pretty fun week this week, with Halloween on Friday, and then Stake Conference Saturday and Sunday.

In the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference, pretty much all that was talked about was missionary work! It was awesome! One of the biggest points that was emphasized was the power that the members have in sharing the Gospel, and how essential they are in the conversion process of EVERY investigator. It makes me so much more motivated to work more with the members and help them learn how to better do missionary work themselves. Elder Martino, of the 2nd quorum of the 70 was the presiding authority there. The Stake Presidency was reorganized, so it was cool to witness the change in leadership that happens in the Church, and the many testimonies of how these men are truly called of God.

One really cool scripture that Elder Martino shared was in Alma chapters 9 and 10, where Alma begins to preach in the city of Amonihah. At first he is rejected, but then he is commanded to go back and again testify to the people. So he is obedient and goes back. He finds Amulek, who Elder Martino thought was a Less Active member of the Church, and strengthens Amulek and all of his household. Then when Alma goes to preach again, he is still rejected by the people. But then Amulek gets up and testifies of what Alma had taught. In Chapter 10 verse 12 it says, "And now, when Amulek had spoken these words the people began to be astonished, seeing there was more than one witness who testified of the things whereof they were accused, and also of the things which were to come, according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them."

Elder Martino pointed out that it wasn't until the member got up and testified that the people "began to be astonished." The missionaries are here to teach, but the members of the church are here to testify and really bring people into the fold. It's through members that missionary work works best, because they are the ones who can talk to their friends and really show love to those who they already know. I would encourage every one of you to think of your friends, and make an active effort to invite them to come unto Christ and partake in the wonderful blessings that God is just waiting to shower down upon them.

I love this work, and I love all of you!

The Church is True!

Love,

Elder Fullmer

He's not sure why this was in their apartment, but said if anyone needs a large print copy of the Book of Mormon... :)

week 17

So I don't have a lot of time, but It was been a really good week this week.

The cool part of this week was teaching a couple, Russ and Sandra, who have been going to the employment office for the past couple months. They have become really good friends with the missionaries there, so they had us all over for dinner. We got to teach them the Restoration, wich went really well.

I have also been studying Happiness this week, and how we can find joy amidst the trials and hardships of life. A few of the most prevalent paths to happiness that I found include gratitude, service, obedience, and trust in the Lord. 

One of my favorite scriptures about that is found in Mosiah 2:41: "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God." 

We truly are happier when we obey the Lord's commandments.

I love this work and I love all of you!

The Church is True!

Love,

Elder Fullmer