4/29/2013

Hey there!

What a blessed week out in Odenton :) I have an amazing new companion Sister Struhs. She is from Blackfoot Idaho! That is where grandpa grew up right? She even went to BYU-I woo woo.
She came in with a fire that Odenton needed! I remember sitting in transfer meeting being so incredibly nervous (almost shaking haha). when she got up to bear her testimony I knew that she would be my new companion. I really have been so blessed to have such an obedient companion. Odenton has been on fire this last week, we got tons of members out to our lessons which are always so beneficial. OFFER to go out with the missionaries in the area. It is such a blessing to have such strong members! We met 5 new investigators since Thursday! Wow! Not to mention we got to end the week great with the baptism of Miss Kim. What a special thing to be a part of! She had been so excited all week. The spirit was so incredibly strong as she was cleasend from everything that has been bugging her about her past. It was kind of funny, a member fromt he ward baptized her, him and his wife have really fellowshipped her and even took her to buy her first dress on saturday morning! They are seriously the best member missionaries! When he baptized her, at first her head didn't go all the way under so he pushed her down more and she started flicking her feet around. When she came out of the font she said that after she realized that brother denney wasn't trying to drown her haha that she felt so much calmness and peace. It was a really cool moment. after she got up and bore her testimony that she knew it was true and that it made her so happy. She also said that she knows that God loves her because we were able to come knock on her door and save her from the saddness that she had. The whole night was just to good to be true. The next day she was confirmed a member of the church and was given the gift of the holy ghost. I don't think I have ever felt so much joy! honestly! She came back to her seat with tears in her eyes. The humility she demonstrates is just so powerful. It really has been an amazing week :) This morning I was studying and the verse in Matthew 5:14-16. I have read these verses probably a hundred times but they have never stood out to me like they did this morning. Heavenly Father has each blessed us with unique personalities and talents. So why do we hide this light? I know that each of you has an amazing responsiblity and role here in this life so stop pretending to be someone else and just be yourself. plain,raw, natural. YOU! Be excited about the gospel :) share it with everyone you see and take every oppurtunity you have to be an example of the believers! "Bask in its life giving light" I love you all so much! Keep praying for me and my companion. Pray for Jean and Jandell this week that they will understand the happiness that this will bring them. I am so proud of you for having family prayer!

Love Sister Fullmer

 Sister Struhs New Companion

4/24/2013

April 19, 2013

Dear Sister Fullmer:

Congratulations on your call to serve as a Trainer for a new missionary!  Elder Holland has stated that this is the most important leadership responsibility there is in a mission.  What a wonderful blessing this will be in your life and the life of the missionary you will train.

“The responsibility to train a new missionary is a sacred trust from your mission president and from the Lord.  A missionary’s first companion has a profound, lasting influence on the development of the missionary’s attitudes, habits, and ability to fulfill his or her purpose.

“Your purpose as a trainer is to help your companion understand and live the principles described in Preach My Gospel so that they new missionary is able to help an increasing number of people “come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end” (Preach My Gospel [2004], 1).

“Your goal is to help your companion be the kind of missionary who, if called upon, could train a new missionary by the end of the 12-week training period.  Make sure your companion has opportunities, from the very beginning, to take the lead in teaching and planning situations, even if he or she is somewhat hesitant or is not yet strong in language or other skills” (Instructions for Trainers).

The Lord has selected you as one who will set the example for being exactly obedient, hard working, 

and effective in teaching the gospel.

May the Lord’s choicest blessings be with you in this sacred assignment.

Warmest regards,

Mark L.  Richards, President

Maryland Baltimore Mission

4/22/2013

Hey Family and Friends :)

It sounds like you all had a really good week. Moab I am sure was lots of fun, it sounds super exhausting haha. Ash! awesome job at the track meet, I hope you do it in high school so I can watch. I got your letter this week, and I am hoping I will have time to write back. Thank you I hadn't gotten any mail all week so i really needed that to cheer me up haha. Its always good to have a letter from someone to motivate ya throughout the day. I was going to send my SD card home last week but I couldn't find the new one. but I found it so I will send it home today ....I promise. How was grandpas preisthood ordination I was praying all day that everything went well. How are you Kade? I haven't heard from ya haha write me a letter sometime.

So I found out this morning that I am staying here in Odenton but I will be training!! Man. I am so nervous. But I have praying super hard since I found out that I will be able to have peace and that I will feel confident. Pray for me extra hard this week and my new companion that all will go well and that she will have a easy time adjusting. I can't beleive she is at the MTC right now just like I was a month ago. I remember feeling so nervous about who my new companion would be. I am excited I get to train someone and help them just like Sister Long helped me. I will miss Sis Long a ton. She is awesome and we have had some really good times together.

Annapolis was so fun. I can't wait for you all to see the pictures that I took when you get my card in the mail. It was absolutley beautiful! The spring here is gorgeous. We were on bikes this week and it actually was a ton of fun haha. I am gonna have buns of steel. I did have to buy a GPS today at the store so I can't navigate until the one you sent out gets here. I will just have to return the one I bought. And I had to get a new skirt that is easy to ride bikes in. So maybe just check my balance for me and deposit some in if needed.

We were able to take Jean and Jandell out to the temple visitors center this last week. It was incredible and the spirit was so strong. I have learned out here that not everyone is going to be the 3 week miracle convert you hear about. It takes real conversion. I don't want these people to just go less active as soon as they have been baptized. But this Saturday we have a baptism at 2 for Miss Kim. She is so excited :). and then for Jean at 7:30. Keep them in your prayers. I know this week satan will do everything in his power to get them to be tempted. so pray hard for them that may have strength. We are helping miss kim try on the baptism suits tonight so I am really excited :)

I love you all. Keep me in your prayers this week and send me a line of encouragment or your testimony or ANYTHING haha. I will need it. I love you!

Sister Fullmer

4/15/2013

Hey Everyone :)

WOW! What a crazy week! So it all started with a zone training out in annapolis on Tuesday and that night I got to go out for an exchange in Kent Island!! I was out there for 48 hours. Man, it is so beautiful. It was neat for me to be in a different area and be able to recognize how much the spirit really works through me and others. I witnessed so many miracles out there for such a short time. I went out with a sister named sister logue and her companion stayed in Odenton with Sister Long. The first night we went to a less actives home for dinner. Sister Logue warned me it probably wasn't going to happen and that she has never let them in her home. Well...we got there...and she did. We had steak of course ;) yummmmy. Anyways..this less active has lost her son a few years ago in an accident where he was hit by a car. She has been very depressed. We talked alot about faith in the atonement with her, the spirit was just pounding. out of the blue I just felt so impressed to tell her that her son who died at 15 was doing missionary work on the other side in the spirit world. She was silent and broke down into tears I was a little nervous at first I was afraid I had offended her but I continued to not say anything and just let the spirit speak. she finally looked up at me and said thank you. she said that right before her son died she had the missionaries at the time over for family home evening. She explained how they had planned a whole lesson but at the last minute they told her they decided they felt super impressed to talk about missionary work with her son! That was just a few days before he died. What a miracle. She was so touched and she knew it was an answer to her prayers. It was truley a beautiful moment and we could all feel her son watching over her. She told us she was ready to give up smoking and wants to go through the temple to receive her endowments and prepare her sons name to have his work done. We also went and saw another less active that has never let them in before. She let us in! She was this awesome hippee lady haha. She is super into holistic healing/ natural eating and such and I talked to her about my back haha she made me this herbal salve too! But what was really neat was earlier this week I had studied alot abou the word of wisdom and how so many members just brush it off because they dont have a problem with smoking or drinking etc etc. I realized while studying that it is so much more than that! More than half of D and C 89 is about eating healthy! I was able to share with her a few things I had learned and it was cool to see how the lord really prepared me to talk to her that night.
She was touched and thought what I had studied was super neat! ....everyone at home. TAKE THE WORD OF WISDOM SERIOUSLY. haha take care of your bodies eat healthy foods, excercise, get enought sleep. Our bodies are a precious gift so we need to take care of them.

I came home to a construction zone haha they had ripped the ceilings off in our apartment because we are having such a hard time with the pipes leaking. We are currently living at a members home. Her husband is deployed so it works out perfectly. She is taking us out to annapolis today to see the harbor!! I can't wait! we also started riding our bikes this week which has been fun. My bum is sore. We used the subway card so thank you! I was also wondering if you could send me out that extra GPS we talked about, my Sperry shoes that i got at graduation and some more of my pills.

I am so excited for tomorrow! Even though I am across the country I will be there with you guys when grandpa gets set apart :) I have smiling all week because of it.

We had five investigators at church yesterday! MIss Kim is praying really hard about being baptized this sunday! We hope she gets there and we have 2 other baptisms scheduled for the 27th! we jsut want to make sure they are truley ready to be baptized for themselves and not just for us. We are taking Jean and Jandell to the temple visitors center this week which should be awesome and they both are progressing so well! Thank you for sending out the talk and the quote from confrerence I am definantly going to print them out and use them.

Have fun in Moab! send me some pictures and I will send the SD card home tomorrow! Love you all and read your scriptures :)

Love, Sister Fullmer

 No Car this week

Mission Apartment has some leaky pipes

4/8/2013

Hey family and friends :)

So this week I am not gonna lie was kind of slow. We have four progressing investigators that are doing great and working towards baptism :)! We don't have many other investigators at this time though so we started to have to tract alot ( we call it spirtiual knocking because tracting just sounds like a very boring word haha ). I am telling ya if the members would just give us referrals life as a missionary would automatically become alot easier. GIVE THE MISSIONARIES IN OUR WARD REFERRALS! Seriously have the goal to always have a referral in mind whenever you see the missionaries. Invite them over for dinner and continue to offer to go with them to teach! There is nothing better than to have members at the lesson, or better yet having the lessons in members homes. The spirit is automatically there and the member always ends up saying something that the missionaries never have thought of that really impact the investigator.

CATCH THE WAVE OF MISSIONARY WORK. Nothing will make you happier than to be able to share the gospel with friends and family. I think it was interesting in conference how they stressed that so much. so catch that wave and never ever get off.

Miss Kim is working towards being baptized April 20th which is right around the corner and one of our newest investigators, Jean, is as well. Both were ablle to come to conference and enjoy the words and the spirit that the prophets bring. It was soo good. Conference out here is better than any christmas I have ever had. I was so excited all week and it definantly was needed after such a slow and exhausting week. We were able to watch it at the church, although most members watched it in there homes. It was fun to be with the other missionaries from our district and to get to know them better!

What did you guys think of conference? Man the speakers were SO bold! it was great. I loved hearing about how to strengthen homes and familes. I know with out a doubt that being on my mission is preparing me better to have a strong home and family in some of the crazy times yet to come. I have learned so much of what I want for my future home and family ( good thing I have always had a good example of that)

One thing that Richard G Scott said really stood out to me " prayer, scripture study, and family home evening, should be the weight bearing beams in a christ centered home" I loved that! I also really liked the talk by Stanley G Ellis...WE ARE NOT SPIRITUAL ORPHANS! how comforing to know that we have a heavenly father and mother who loves us so individually and perfectly. We are of divine design! We are special to him. Christ is not just show us A way. He showed us THE way. "NOthing will startle us more than to realize whenb we pass throught the veil how well we know are Heavenly Father and how well we recognize HIs face."

I love you all so much I hope you really enjoyed conference as much as I did. I pray for you all every night and I hope that you will really be good member missionaries. That is what this church needs..right now! Paint that "missionary badge" apon your heart and never ever take it off!
I am glad Kaden and dad were ablle to go to preisthood session! and way to go for taking grant with you. Look at ya Kader, already doing missionary work!

I am sorry to hear about grandma great. make sure you tell her everytime you see her how much I love here. I can feel her love from clear over here in maryland.

I am glady ashie is having a fun time working! When I get back she owes me a free snow cone hahah. Don't flirt with too many boys there ash ;)

I hope you all are safe this week and dad will be safe out on his business trip.

I love it here and I love the people so much! I love them with every bit of me I have to offer. Everything I do must and always be centered around my love for them. Everytime they are sad i feel that and everytime they have joy I feel that too. I never thought I would love the people like I do.

I love you so much!

SIster Fullmer

4/1/2013

Hey Family :)

What a good week in Odenton. I seriously love it here so much and i love the people more and more every day! I sometimes think to myself that I am having WAY to much fun as a missionary. But it is true! I really love Sister Long. We have so much in common and we laugh all day long. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much, I have been able to be so positive out here. Even on the days I know are obviously hard I cannot help but feel so incredibly happy! Thank you for the Easter lovin :) I am going to admit that all my candy is gone. yes...you heard me. gone. haha I loved it! Getting the little comments from facebook in the eggs was fun. I have so many awesome family members and friends! I really did love it mom. I got a package from grandma too that was super cute. This week we had the car so we had the chance to go out to a place called crownsville in our area. It is a bunch of small towns lining the chesapeake bay. My favorite is Herald Harbor, Its just a bunch of cute houses with porch swings looking out on a harbor with tons of sail boats. and there are soo many trees. It is really so pretty :). We met a new investigator this week. His name is Jean. He is from Africa, moved to France, and is now here in Maryland. Its kind of a cool story he was getting in his car and sister long just felt like she needed to go talk to him. so we went and knocked on the window of his car and scared him half to death haha but he told us to come back the next day at one... so we did...and he wasn't home. NO SHOCK! haha it happens alot. But we were walking up Chapelgate later that day and a car pulled over, my first reaction was oh no great what is going to happen, but we realized it was Jean. He apologized for not being home and gave us his number to meet up with him. We taught him twice this week. once about the restoration and we even gave him a book of mormon (which he is reading). He was super confused why god made good people go through bad things and just couldn't get past it. I remembered a mormon.org movie called mountains to climb that I had him watch. The spirit was so strong. Ya'll should watch it :) He came to church on Sunday which made Easter that much better, and he really liked it alot. He even stayed for all three hours and that is saying alot if they have a car they could leave in! (most of our investigators don't have cars). Jandelle and Miss KIm are still progressing and are scheduled to be baptized on the 20th :) I love the people so much!!

We eat about half at home and half at members. The members here are incredible and do so much missionary work! Everyone get on that at home :) (invite the missionaries to dinner, give them referrals, and go out and teach with them. Be the awesome members that the missionaries love.) But ya we are super blessed in that way. We haven't had to many scary meals but we have had a ton of meat. It has definantly taken its toll on my stomach so I am gonna try hard to stay away from it. It really has made me sick. haha and as I am typing this i am remembering the member that is feeding us tonight told us we were having frog legs sooo that should be interesting. We had a training meeting this week so I got to see SISTER BEETON. Gosh dang it i love her so much. She is doing really good :). The weather is super nice today which is good since we are walking again. We have been busy today we had a zone activity so that is why we are emailing a little later. But I love all of you so much. keep the letters and encouragment coming. ALSO I can email all friends now so put my email on my blog. I had to wait to make sure from the mission president but it is definantly okay now :) Watch conference and read your scriptures every night. I love you!

Lovin from Odenton,

Sister Fullmer

p.s. Sister Long is teaching me how to beat box. Yeah, we are pretty cool ;)