Monday, August 25, 2014

I love to see the Temple!

Ok, folks. The day has finally arrived. And I'm scared to say it to jinx it (AGAIN), but...here we go. 

I will see the temple tomorrow. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

We have mission tour with Elder Aidukitis, and our meeting with him tomorrow is in the chapel that's next to the Temple!!!! AAAAAH!!! Well, I'm not even going to say it, buuuut....well, if you'd like to pray really hard today that a miracle happens tomorrow and I can use a wonderful little card with President Hintz's signature on it, that'd be great. The last time there was a MLC meeting next to the temple, they got to...enter....the temple...

This time, nothing weird will happen. I won't let it. Sister Ward and I are very excited!!!! 

This week was good. It was fun to quickly read about Devin's first week! (I'll read the rest later) I laughed about the food. "It's pretty much normal, they just put a ton of sour cream on everything." I could say the same about Brazilian food--or desserts---they just put a ton of condensed milk on everything!!! Seriously, it's big. 

It was so sad to hear about the missionaries in Dalton's mission! We'll be praying for the families of those Elders. 

This week was great. Claudio came to church again. :) I thought of a better description of him for you to imagine--he has Albert Einstein hair! Hahaha. He's so sweet, so pure. Mom, I laughed a lot about your comment about teaching men. Yeah, I've gotten over that. Big time. I'll teach a dog if it'll sit still long enough, and make and keep commitments. 

Oh, I almost forgot--so transfers were last week, and nothing changed. I'm still here with S. Ward, we live with the same Sisters, and the majority of the Sisters we're over stayed the same as well. Who's up for round 2?!!! 

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for the love and for the prayers! Happy anniversary to Papa and Grandma, and while we're at it--August is full of events...happy birthdays and anniversarys for everyone!! 

Love you!

Sister Fuller

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel!

GOOD MORNING FULLER FAMILY!!!! (and others)

I tried to quote it, but I don't think I remember enough to quote anything. Oh, like the other day we were walking and there was a lot, A LOT of wind, and I wanted to sing "Colors of the Wind"...but the only words I remembered were "colors of the wind". It's been a while. :) 

First off--DEVIN, HAPPY FIRST WEEK IN THE FIELD!!! (When you read this) LOVE YOU!!!!

This week was great! The high point was the baptism of Mariana. She's incredible! She invited everyone she knows to come to the baptism, but there was a "three day weekend" (in theory, but that's not what it's called here) and everyone was out of town. Triste. Buuuut...her husband came!! This is BIG. He's ridiculously shy, and doesn't even like to come out to talk to us when we're there. But I think he even made friends while he was there, and he definitely felt the spirit! Mariana told us that the other day they were reading the Book of Mormon together and he started crying. Awwwww. He'll get there. :) 

Another ray of happiness and sunshine was finding Irmâo Claudio. He's a scruffy, adorable old man. A few years ago, Sisters visited him and invited him to church. Well, he tried to go, but got terribly lost! And the Sisters never visited him again! Ahaha he said, "I just kept looking and looking and I found a whole ton of other churches, but none of them were the Church of Jesus Christ!" How adorably sad is that? Well, we found him, introduced him to a member that lives close by, and he went to church on Sunday. Yesterday. Right. Anyhoo, when we asked him how he liked it, he said, "I loved it! It's #1!" Aaaah, he's just so wonderful! He said being there made him want to just keep coming back every week. So we asked him, "So you'll come to church with us every week?" And he said, "Clearly! But if you can't pass by to get me, I'll go on my own--I know where it is now!" Hahaha. Yes, well, we also were hoping you'd go alone. But that's very good that you're willing. He said he wanted to cut his hair before next Sunday, because "everyone there is so well put together!" 

Claudio is very wonderful. I love him. HAHAHA guess what I just remembered! (Yeah, I know, you can't guess...) At church Sergio (recent convert Sergio) was looking back in forth between Claudio and I, then asked me, "Sister--Sister, is he your Dad?"

Hahahaha. You just got a lot older, Dad. And Brazilian. And you have a mustache. 

Well...just so you know, transfers are tomorrow. But no one has called for us yet, so I haven't got a CLUE what'll happen! How frustrating. Tune in next week to find out...

Love you all! 

Sister Fuller


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Feliz dia dos Pais!!

Dear Family, 

I've decided I may be a little...horrible...and that I may have forgotten to say happy father's day on the american one. Well, yesterday was Dia dos Pais aqui no Brasil, soooo....I thought I'd send a very, very happy father's day to my very, very wonderful father!! I love you Dad! Thanks for all you do! 

Luckily, I do have the calender Mom sent me, so I don't really have excuses to miss anything. Like your anniversary! I promise I didn't forget--I was with Sister Garner on the 5th and I even commented about it! (Side note: she's excited to meet you! Because she realized she'd meet you on our last day here...and I realized she hadn't met you yet. Haha. I hope you're ok with the fact that you now have three daughters!) Hey, exciting news! This week I was companions with Sister Garner for a day! It was wonderful, actually. Words don't describe how much I love her! 

Time really is flying by these days, it's crazy. Transfers are next Tuesday! We'll be finishing up this one with another 2+ exchanges, a zone service project (this is NEW, our mission didn't do this before!), and Mariana's baptism!! 

This week I had a lot of opportunities to serve as a Sister Training Leader, and I loved it! We had a lot of contact with our Sisters, and two exchanges. It's so wonderful to be able to pass what I've learned because of my experiences on the mission. I've learned a lot about how to deal with stress, how to work diligently, about prayer...lots of things like that, and also things like teaching techniques, planning methods, etc. Lest you think that came easy...let me assure you, it did not! But I LOVE everything I learned, and I know how important these things are! It is so incredibly satisfying to be able to know how to help one of our Sisters because of something I've already passed through. Also, if I can help them learn what I have without it being quite as hard, that's great too! Sister Vaughn always says that we're only successful in serving other missionaries if we manage to pass all we've learned to those around us. Anyway, what I'd like to say is...I love being able to help. I love feeling the Lord use me to bless others, both investigators and missionaries! :)

Mariana is doing wonderfully! She's announcing her baptism to her family, friends, neighbors, anyone she talks to....she'll be a great missionary! She's so excited. She also figured out how to download the Gospel Library Ap, and is really excited about all the books she has now. Maybe a little more excited that she doesn't need to carry everything with her! She is INCREDIBLE, and the gospel is blessing her! Do you remember the scripture that says, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you"? She's cashing in on that promise. (Is that even an expression? Sometimes I really doubt my English skills) She's just glowing, more and more each day! Just imagine how she'll be after her baptism! 

We also had a family come to church, so we are counting our blessings! The mom was embarrassed because she didn't have good shoes for her children to use, just flip flops. But Sister Ward told her, "God doesn't worry about what shoes we put on our feet--He only worries about where our feet are going." (Yeah, you can put that on your wall! Or Pintrest. I liked it!) Anyway, this faithful mother gathered her children--9, 7, 5, 1 and was waiting outside their house for us when we walked by to pick them up. Very special. :) 

Well, I should go. Thanks for all you do for me, family. I sure do love you guys! 

Sister Fuller

Monday, August 4, 2014

Somos os Soldados :)

Dear wonderful people that I love,

Well, here's another week that's gone by. Doesn't time just fly? This week had a lot going on for us. Tuesday we had exchanges, and I saw my companion for a quick 5 minutes before we switched again. Wednesday was exchanges...guess what! Miracle! While I was in the other area, I ran into Sergio, our recent convert! Woohoo! We even had a quick lesson with the friend he was with! Tender mercies. :) Thrusday was normal, but Friday was leadership council. Most of the day was spent there or traveling--get this! We live so close now, we can walk there!!!! It takes about an hour, and saves money. Soooo we do it! Serving in Sorocaba has it's perks! 

Sad news. Cristian and Tatiane don't want anything yet. But I know Heavenly Father wanted us to find them, so maybe it was just to make sure we put them back in the Area Book for another missionary to find them. He has a plan for them! Serginho's moving along slowly...but he'll get there. Hey! Did I tell you about Mariana last week? I don't think so...here we go! 

Mariana was a street contact. She passed her address, but said she was hardly ever there. "But just let God do his work", she told us. 

Well, we finally passed by when she was home, and we taught her about the Restoration. She understood really well, and we felt good about it, but she said she had a commitment in her church, and couldn't leave. So we started praying for a miracle! 

In case you're wondering, Heavenly Father works by miracles. Now I'd like to talk about a little miracle that's available to all of us...the Book of Mormon! 

We left the Book of Mormon with her, and told her to read and pray, etc...all those good things. Well, she read the chapter we marked. Then she read it again! Then apparently, she liked it so much, she read it out loud to her husband! (It's already going great, but just wait...) Then, she started at the beginning and read until chapter 20 of 1 Nephi. And all of this in 3 or 4 days. 

Well, that was just the begining. Just think about whatever you think would happen with a golden investigator, and that's probably what happened with Mariana. She's incredible!! She'll be baptized this month. :) 

I don't have a lot of time, but I want you all to know how much I love you! Big, big hugs from across the world! 

So crazy that Keaton's going home! I thought he had two weeks. Haha (....and then there were 3)

Thanks for your emails! Love you all! 


Sister Fuller