I Stand All Amazed

Hey Every one!!

I have a lot less time to email this week because we went to see the Sequoias!! Those BIG HUGE TREES. It was so humblings to see them and "I stand all amazed" at god creations.

But quickly I would like to share some things I learned and went through this week. This week was honestly super hard. Probably my hardest week of my mission so far! Many appointments with investigators fell through and what was the biggest bummer of all this week was that none of our investigators came to church. That was so hard. My companion and I were doubled into the area, so we do not know the members of the ward very well yet. We are still working on gaining their trust. One of our investigators committed to go to church but they needed a ride. We called a member to take them and at the last minute they couldn't take them so we didn't have enough time to find the investigator another ride. As missionaries we are not allowed to drive anyone to church. We invited all of our investigators to church and every single one of them fell through. 

We believe we figured out something very important because of all of this. We prayed and pondered and we received an answer that we need to focus on the members more than our investigators. If we focus of the members and less actives we will be able to find investigators through them. Also the investigators will already have a friend at church and a fellowship-er which will increase their chances of coming to church. Its very important as missionaries that we  baptize converts. Which means we baptize people with the desire to endure to the end and seek the blessings of the gospel the rest of their lives. To do this THEY HAVE TO COME TO CHURCH Brothers and Sisters, church is so important, it shows god we want to endure to the end and that will bring his power into our lives. We must renew our covenants through the sacrament every week!!

Ok so I have a second to talk about an experience my companion and I had this week with one of our investigators.  Her question for us was why does god let bad things happen. She told us that she had a miscarriage when she was 7 months pregnant with her baby and from that experience she didn't believe god loved her. When my companion and I heard this we were silent for a good 30 seconds. Then the spirit took over. We told her that god doesn't want bad things to happen but he allows them to happen so that we can know the bad from the good. We told her that god loves her so much and through the gospel she can gain understanding. After this life she will be able to see her baby again and have the chance to raise it.The gospel is such a beautiful thing. She was crying and we all felt the spirit so much.

Love you all,

From Elder Fuller

Sorry I ran out of time this week 

Week 2 in Fresno: Everyone Read!

Dear Friends and Family,

Alright, I want to dive right into what was probably the most spiritual experience this week. I obviously can't tell you everything that happened this week. Sorry to leave you all wondering about things sometimes. But hey, the scriptures leave us wondering what happened next all the time. Sometimes we don't need to know everything we just need to move forward in faith.


So this week our investigators struggled to keep their appointments and some of them are not progressing as fast as we want them to. We were out trying to track down one of our investigators and they were not answering so we decided to go knock the doors close by to see if we could find someone who was interested in our message. What happened next was the most rejection I have seen so far in my mission. We knocked on one door and a man came up and we could see the anger in his eyes, if we would have tried to give him anything he would have probably yelled and us. He said he was catholic and he was not interested. We felt like we were on this street for a reason so we kept going. The next door we knocked on was a lady who was super tired, we gave her a restoration pamphlet but she didn't listen to us. The next few doors they would not answer, sometimes we would know they were home and they would even look out the window or something but they wouldn't answer. One lady we walked up to while she was taking out the trash and she straight up told us no and walked away. This was very weird because usually latino people are so nice and willing to talk. But still, even though we had a lot of rejection we knew there was someone we needed to find. So We stopped on the side of the sidewalk and prayed to heavenly father that he would lead us to the person we were supposed to find. Then we looked up and immediately saw some people walking down the street so we went up to them, and what did they do? Said no ha. But we kept going and saw another guy, listened to us, but not interested. Then we finally found them!!!!!!!! We saw some people outside of their house and a lady came out and talked to us. We told her about our church, the BOM of Mormon, and out of nowhere  she said "you guys are different." She then explained about the local catholic church and how their priest tries to scare them into accepting Christ. We then understood why we were being rejected so much because many people around there feel like if they were not loyal to their priest they would go to hell. She told us about the Jehovah witness missionaries that came and did the same thing, trying to scare her into religion. But then we came and she noticed the difference. She noticed we weren't forcing her but we truly wanted her to be happy. It was so cool to see someone recognize the truth like this and it was so spiritual. We have a lesson with her and her family this week.


Okay, I have a challenge for each of you. Pick a time during the day, maybe a specific moment at work, school, home, grocery store, park, etc. and stop what you are doing and say a prayer that you can find someone that needs your help. Say it with sincerity and commitment, then look around, search, and I promise you that you will find someone and have a spiritual experience that will be memorable. 


Con amor Elder Fuller

PS: This is my companion. He is super spiritual, obedient, motivated, and loves his mission so much. He is always willing to correct me when i'm doing something wrong which is great!! It teaches me humility. One day I wore my Utah jazz tie and he told me I couldn't were it cause its a mission rule not to have logos on our ties and it was probably the hardest thing ever to take it off. But that's okay, I got to be willing to obey in even the small things. I love my companion and we will have tons of success.

Finally in Fresno!

WOW! This is the Place. It is a feeling I can not describe to finally be out in the field. It's something that god has been preparing me for my whole life. If you haven't heard me say this already, this is the work of the lord and it is so true. 

Ok I am going to walk you through my experience on the last day of the MTC and since I have stepped foot in Fresno. First of all, what put the cherry on top of my MTC experience was I got to be right there to welcome one of my best friends ever, DALLIN REED, to the MTC, when he stepped off the bus. It was an amazing feeling to know that he is on the right path as well and I know he will bless so many lives in Saltillo, Mexico. We had a great reunion together and it was difficult to say goodbye again to the Young Man that influenced me so much the last two years of High school. But the Lord was calling me and off to Fresno California I went.

Funny story, when my MTC district and I arrived in Texas and were on a layover a lady said, "Hey elders!" to us as we were walking to our next flight. We all then said HOLA!! To her because we were all so used to greeting people in Spanish. She looked so confused haha. It was really funny. After the layover we got on the flight to Fresno. I was tired and I was planning on sleeping on the plane but I had the feeling I should start a conversation with the man who was sitting by me. At first glance this man was an intimidating, buff guy with tattoos. However, as I got to know him he was actually a genuine down to earth man. We then talked the entire 3 hour plane ride about the church, politics, his family, Fresno, everything. I even shared a few scriptures with him. One powerful moment during our conversation was near the end when he told me that I was the sharpest 19 year old kid he had ever met. In the which I responded that I owe everything to god and the good feelings he had was the spirit teaching his heart that I am a servant of god. I invited him to learn more about the gospel. I could see water in his eyes and I know he felt the spirit. He also told me I had his vote when I run for president in the future hahahah. But I then asked him where he his from and he said Visalia and come to find out... THAT IS MY FIRST AREA AHHHHH. Brothers and Sisters who are reading this email. That is not a coincidence!! Our heavenly father is in the details of our lives and is putting people in our paths and we just need to open our eyes and our hearts to follow the will of Him. Think of it, the man who I sat next to on the plane is from my area. Now, I don't how this story will end but I know I was meant to meet that man on the plane.

Ok, so now I am in Fresno, and we arrive to the mission home and there are about 50 elders and sisters cheering for us, going crazy, and they made us hug every elder before we could go inside haha it was awesome but definitely not what I was expecting. Then they pared us up with experience elders and we went out and proselyted for about an hour. I got paired up with elder Pacer. It was pretty intimidating at first because we literally when up to every random person we saw on the street an talked about the gospel with them. About half of the people we encountered knew english. So I used my greengo spanish to explain the BOOK of Mormon a few times. But what surprised me the most was how open people were to the gospel. We actualy even gave the baptismal commitment to two people on the street and THEY SAID YES! My goodness this place has got to be one of the most prepared places in the world. Granted we didn't tell them all the commandment and things like that in order to become baptized. But the point is, god prepared this part of his vineyard, they feel the spirit, and they say yes because they feel the spirit. They just need faith to keep on going.

Ok so we then got to meet our companions. My companion is Elder Nielson, and we have allready have had so much success. In two days we got 5 new investigators and set 3 baptismal dates. My spanish is still pretty bad but my companion is really good so he helps so much. So my ward has 7 elders in it! Isn't that crazy? God know this is a prepared part of the word and we need to harvest his fruit. Elder Nielson said this is the most prepared he has ever seen though out his whole mission. How blessed am I to serve here! On Sunday I felt like I should bear my testimony in church, which is always intimidating when you don't know the language that well and you are in a spanish ward. But when the Spirit PROMTS YOU, YOU DO IT! So I did it. My companion said my spanish was great during my testimony hahah. I dont know if I believe him;)

Anyway, I better stop writing so much because many people probably will not finish reading this whole thing but just know, like the prophets in the book of mormon say I can not write even a hundredth part of what I am experiencing. When you are doing missionary work you find that to be the case. Love you all, spread the gospel. By spreading the gospel, you have nothing to lose and the person you are sharing it with has everything to gain.

Con Amor Elder Fuller