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
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