November 17, 2014

This becomes an old song we keep singing about how fast the time flies by and how busy we can keep here.  This week has been no different.  With Evan helping two different families get their winters wood in and the 72 kits project we kept plenty busy.  We also got to enjoy the spirit of zone meeting   I love hearing of the success the missionaries are having simply by being obedient.  The Vincennes Sisters told of how they went tracting one night and ran into a man that they talked to about the restored gospel and they gave him a Mormon.org card.  They asked him to give them a call when they could stop back by.  The next day he called them.  He told them that he wanted to be baptized and asked them to come over.  Then 5 minutes later one of their baptismal dates called them back that they had lost contact with.  Sometimes it seems like doing the small things don’t matter but they all add up.  Determination and diligence totally bring miracles.  We hear these kinds of experiences at every meeting we attend.

The elders have found a family that looks really golden.  They are a young couple with two kids and are really coming along.  They know George, one of our members well and he is going with the Elders to teach.  They are keeping all the commitments and reading the Book of Mormon.  They also found a lady in the Cotton Mill apartments who says she is searching for something at this time in her life.  We went with them for a lesson last week and it was really positive.  In sacrament on Sunday we had 6 non-members and 3 less actives.  Elder E spoke and had invited everyone he has been teaching and got some of them to come.  We were all pleasantly surprised when Bill Z came because his family has all been members for 35 years but he just says his kids can do his work after he dies.  He is 85 and supports his family completely and insisted that the temple be put on their headstone which they have already purchased but resists being baptized.  Elder E is very persuasive and has a heart of gold.  The work is moving forward in our area.

We got our first small snow storm last night.  It would have been nothing at home but they had their first no school day and watching the news tonight show that many of the schools in the area are on delayed schedules for tomorrow.  We just laugh because to us it is really nothing.  However it is very cold and cuts right through our coats.   The wind is whistling outside even now.   Winter has definitely begun.

We sure love all of you and enjoy your emails.  Thanks to all of you who keep us in the loop from home and the temple.  Remember that you are each important to the hastening of the work.  Keep your missionaries busy.  The gospel is true so share the joy.

Love

 Elder and Sister Fullmer etc.

November 10, 2014

The first picture is of the birds on our lawn one day last week.  They kept flying up into the neighbors tree and then swooping around our house and landing on the grass.  They did this several times and also we have had a day this week when they did it again.

Here are a very few of the pictures that I took of the hotel I talked about in the last email.  1st in Evan and I so you can see the hotel behind us.  2nd is the Art Mystery.  Hopefully you can read the information.  The next ones give some of the ideas for the angel room and then pictures of the angels.  The next is of the dome which doesn't give a very good idea of how large it really is.​

 
 
 

These are another better pictujre of the hotel.  The information on the army hospital, a picture of a picture of men bowling and then the bowlling alley which they have not restored yet.

November 10, 2014

Dear Family and Friends

This has been a busy week trying to finalize all the plans and get all the food for the 72 hour kits.  It had worked out to be 72 kits which made it easy to buy things because most everything comes in 24, or 36 count.  However on Wednesday, after I bought all the stuff on Tuesday, one of the sisters gave me her money and wanted just one.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her I had already purchased all the stuff so just scrambled to get single items.  When another lady found out I was refiguring for one she asked me if I would figure for two and do one for her mother.  I so love her mother that I couldn’t refuse so had to figure for two more kits.  It meant some more shopping but today we took all the stuff to the church and got it all set out for tomorrow.  We have Zone conference in the morning so won’t get home until about 4 and need to be at the church by 6.  I work well under pressure.  ;-)

Last Friday we had district meeting and it was amazing.  Elder Fleener our District leader started out with an activity. .  He started the activity by asking Hermana Bennett if she wanted a donut and then asked Elder Russell if he would do 20 push-ups so she could have one.  He then asked Hermana Porter if she wanted one and again asked Elder Russell if he would do 20 push-ups so she could have a donut.  When Elder Fleener first started the activity there was joking and laughing but each time he would have Elder Russell do another 20 push-ups it got quieter and quieter.  Even when Evan said he didn’t want a donut, Elder Fleener asked Elder Russell if he was willing to do 20 push-ups so Elder Fullmer could not have a donut.  As we compared it to the Atonement the spirit was really there as we each thought of how the Savior gave so much to each of us and that it was done for each of us individually and He did it for us even if we aren’t putting it to use in our lives.  Elder Russell ended up doing 300 push-ups and it was not easy for him.  The last 4 sets of 20 he would do some and then have to rest before finishing.  We each wanted to help him but knew we couldn’t.  It was such a spiritual lesson.  I had read about this activity before but actually participating in it was so powerful.   The purpose of the activity was to help us become more focused on teaching of the Atonement every time we teach.  Instead of just teaching lessons and trying to get through all the points we need to continually teach the Atonement.  We then did role plays where we were to teach focusing on using the Atonement more.  The Zone Leaders taught us and it was amazing how strong the spirit was.  They used the Restoration pamphlet and just had us look at the pictures and they taught of our Heavenly Fathers love for us, about families and about our Savior.  With each point they talked about what our Savior did for each of us so that we might feel of the love and joy of being in families and how we can be together forever because of what the Savior did for us.  Once again I say how much I love missionaries and meetings with them.

Time is flying by and with the holiday months ahead it will go even faster.  The weather is getting colder and I am already missing my wood stove.  As much wood as Evan has helped cut for different members you would think I had a wood stove.  We will be invited to those homes though so I will enjoy the fruits of his labors.

 

The gospel is true.  Missionary work is challenging but so worth it.  Help the missionaries out in your area.  Feed them and learn from them and work together to bring others to the knowledge of their Savior and His gospel.

 

Love

Elder and Sister Fullmer etc.

November 4, 2014

Dear All

The weather has certainly changed in the past week.  Just like home in Idaho it gave us some very cold days, froze everything but now we are having some nicer days.  Cool but not really cold.  It has turned cold enough that we put another blanket on the bed.  It is sweater weather for sure but not like the east that has so much snow.

We had a neat experience at transfer meeting last week.  There has been a young man from Indianapolis serving for 6 weeks with a companionship of Elders while he has been waiting for his mission call.   He actually read his call to tell us where he is going.  He is going to Oregon and leaves in 3 weeks.  It was funny because we have a companionship of Elders who are both from Oregon.  They were late getting to the meeting so when they finally got there President Brough told them about the mission call and how it was taking only one going to Oregon to replace the two who had left from Oregon.  Of course there was much laughter.  I sometimes wonder what the new missionaries think when we have such lively transfer meetings.  President Brough even said he wanted them to see that laughter was an important part of a mission.   There was one new sister and when she was assigned to her new companion there was kind of a silence.  It was amazing how much they looked alike.  President Brough commented on them looking like twins and other than the difference in height they really did.  Transfer meetings are always such a highlight of our time.

Our trip to see some of the country this week was to French Lick Indiana.  It was a beautiful drive through the forests which have turned such beautiful colors.  French Lick has a casino which was built with a moat around it because when it was built it was only legal to have a casino on the water so that is how the owners got around that law.  The moat has since been filled in because the law has changed.  The hotel we went to see was totally amazing.  It was built in 1902, and was called the 8^th wonder of the world because of its dome.  It was the largest dome in the world for many years.  It had over 800 rooms, a bowling alley, a bike and horse track, mineral spas, an opera hall, ballroom and all the elegance of the early 1900’s.  After the stock market crash of 1929 it fell on hard times and was finally turned into a hospital during the 1^st world War and then a school for the Jesuit monks and then finally was just let go.  It stood empty for a number of years until 1996 and then was placed on the National Historical List and the renovation started.  It is such a nostalgic place.  I could just picture women in long gowns or the roaring 20’s styles with all the rich luxury associated with that.  We walked all around the hall looking at the pictures and browsing the shops and then went through the gardens and peaked into the windows of the old bowling alley which has not been renovated yet.  After that we drove down to the casino and other hotel which was built in 1901 and has a list of the famous people who stayed there including Al Capone but we were too tired to walk through.  From the outside it looks fascinating so maybe at Christmas when they decorate we will make the trip back. 

We had District meeting last Friday.  It was a good training.  We started out with a game where Elder Evans who is one of the Elders here in our area, was blindfolded and then Elder Russell was going to get him to the picture of the Savior.  The rest of us were to try and distract him from that goal.  I felt really bad doing it because I knew he would follow whatever I told him.  I said ‘Elder Evans who do you trust most in this room and he said Sister Fullmer” and it was so hard to try and lead him astray.  I finally couldn’t do it any longer and started telling him the right way to go.  It really showed the point that sometimes the people in investigators lives are telling them one thing and they trust them which makes it hard for us as we are trying to lead them to the Savior.

This week the focus is all about the 72 hour kit project.  I finally got a count and the money from everyone and after figuring everything out yesterday we are headed to Owensboro to buy all the stuff.  I like working with numbers but after spending so much time on this project I am really looking forward to next Tuesday when it will be done.  We have had a good response from some of the less actives who ordered the kits and have committed to being there to help put them together.  Even the single men in the branch have ordered the kits and want to help.  It should turn out to be a lively fun activity.

I will send pictures later as we need to head out.

 

Love to all

Elder and Sister Fullmer