May 27, 2014

We had two very good experiences this week.  The first started out with a phone call from the former senior couple from here who called to tell us about a family Jessica and Samuel who they had helped some while they were here but the family was not ready to listen to the gospel.  The family was in need of some help and wondered if we could help them.  Through texting we were able to find them and met with them.  I must admit that I was a little bit judgmental about them.  It seems that too many people here are on the welfare system and feel entitled to a handout but when we met them my attitude really changed.  She was so apologetic about having to ask for some help that I wanted to give her everything I could.  They have a young family and were just having a few struggles.  She said that when the other couple was here she wasn't ready to listen to the gospel message but that now she is at the place in her life that she really wants to make a change in her life.  She was raised in the foster care system until adopted at age 10 by a "pastor who preached one thing on Sunday but lived a different way during the week".  They are both willing to come to church and to listen to the lessons so we will see how it goes.

The other lesson that was very positive was with Saundra.  She lives across the street from the Elders and they saw her scrapping her porch one day so went over and asked her if they could help her and she was willing to have them help and then to listen to a lesson.  We went back with them and had a wonderful lesson.  She asked a lot of questions and seemed very sincere about her desire to learn more.  I could really feel the spirit there with her during the lesson.

Neither of those paragraphs really express how good the experiences were.  It is such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of this work.

Other than that we visited with several other people many of whom are less active but very good people.  I went visiting teaching with one of the sisters which took 4 hours with the travel time involved.  We helped a family move, did some genealogy for a man, worked on a book of poetry for one of our members (82 year old sweetest sister in the world), talked to our non member friends and made a lot of bread.  

The gospel is true.  We all need to be more involved with missionary work.  We love you all.

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Evan and Trudy

Elder and Sister Fullmer

May 19, 2014

The time is flying by so quickly.  Our friends the Yearsley's and my sister in law Sister Hawkins just hit their half way point and we are at 3 months already.  I can sure see that anything less than an 18 month mission doesn't give you enough time to hardly learn the ropes but that the Lord can use us no matter how much time we have to serve.

We had a week of 80 degrees one day and 50 the next with lots of scattered showers nearly every day.  Only one big thunder storm with flash flood warnings though.  The scattered showers just make it humid and muggy here but also has everything so green and gardens are growing.  We have blossoms on our tomatoes and the radishes and carrots that Evan planted in a couple of bales of hay that were in our backyard for some reason are growing.  We have also picked some of our onions.  We have been told by several friends that we will get all the garden produce we can use when their gardens are ready.

This week we got to go to transfer meeting.  Elder D was transferred to Louisville Bike and we now have Elder A.  He is from Canada not far from Edmonton.  Transfer meeting was a time of happiness and some tears.  The Elders going home gave short heartfelt testimonies and the new missionaries looked ready to go to work.  The new companionship's seemed happy with the changes.  We met another Senior Couple who are serving in a small town of 870 people with about 25 in their branch and they still meet in a store building which they have to clean before they have meeting.  We are so grateful to be where we are and at least have a building.  We have lots of possibilities of new contacts whereas they have a more limited number.  President Woodbury spoke and stressed how important it is to have a clean apartment.  He told of his experience of being able to go to a Notre Dame football game before coming out as mission president and getting to go into the locker room.  He said that it was so clean and organized and not what he expected at all from a college football locker room.  He asked the guide if the players had cleaned it up the night before just for this occasion and was told that the last coach had had no standards of keeping anything clean and the locker room was always a disaster.  Notre Dame was going through a really bad time and not winning any of their games.  It had gone on for a couple of seasons and so the coach was fired and the new coach was brought in.  The first thing he did was set standards of how the locker room was going to be kept.  Within two years Notre Dame was at the national finals (whatever it is in football).  The coach said that when your personal life is in order the game would be in order and it certainly showed in their winning.  President Woodbury said that it is the same in missionary work.  They need to keep their apartments and cars clean in order to have the spirit to teach.  I know that when our house gets into disarray we find it hard to be organized about our visiting and teaching.

We also had zone conference which is always a learning experience.  We were trained on what to say when someone asks us about The Book of Mormon musical which is coming to Louisville in July.  We can just tell them that the musical will entertain them  for a couple of hours but we can teach them of the book which will change their lives forever.  It is nice to be prepared ahead of time in case we are asked.

The rest of the week was spent with meeting more less actives and teaching with the Elders.  There has been a lot of sickness causing a lot of cancelled appointments but we press on.

Much love to all

Mom and Dad

Grandpa and Grandma

Elder and Sister Fullmer

 

 

This is a picture of our house.  

The 2nd picture is of a barge going down the Ohio.  It was actually two loads long full of gravel.

May 11,2014

The real highlight for this week was the opportunity for us to actually teach a first lesson.  We were given a referral by a member who thought it would work better for us to teach this man than the young Elders.  It was a nervous thing to face but it seemed to go well.  We talked about the restoration and what it means to us.  The member also helped lots in the discussion.  Bill did agree to read from the Book of Mormon and also to have another appointment.  Evan and I seemed to work well together each teaching parts of the lesson.  I guess those role plays that I dislike so much at meetings are helping us be prepared.

 

We had a treat when Sister Halvorsen called from the mission office to give us a message from Elder Yearsley in California.  Her son lives down by where Gary and Wanda are serving and as her son was driving down the road he saw a man in a white shirt and black pants moving mattresses so stopped to help him.  He told Gary that his parents were filling the same role on their mission in Louisville Kentucky.  Gary told him about us serving in that mission and to have his mom tell us to have a good day.  Thanks Gary for the wishes.  It is a small world.

Evan spent one day helping a less active who has become such a good friend.  Between mowing lawns and cutting wood they have really good gospel discussions.  We know this man will come back into full activity.  He feels the spirit and loves the gospel.  He feels that we were sent here to help him.

We learned that one of the young men that we have been teaching doesn't know how to read so we asked him if he would like us to help him learn and he was very receptive so after the discussion on Wednesday and the rest of the group left we started trying to help.  I had made cards with sight words on them but it became apparent very quickly that he didn't know any of them and we found that he can write his name but that is about all of the alphabet he knows so we started working on his alphabet.  I think he knows more than he lets on because when we would ask him about the letter that would make a certain sound he wouldn't point to the letter but he would look at it.  I think he has been told for so long that he is stupid that he is afraid to even try.  We went to the library and then to the Dollar Tree afterwards to get more materials and we will see how it goes.  He says he wants to continue but we will see if he puts out any effort to practice what we gave him to do.

 

We were able to take a sister to the temple on Saturday.  Another sister had planned to go but had to back out at the last minute.  We schedule a monthly temple trip as one of our responsibilities and it was rather nice that this one ended up just being the three of us as it gave us a chance to really get to know this sister.  We did a session and then a few sealings which made for a nice day.

Gas prices are still going up which makes it tricky where we buy gas.  If we can find a reason to go into Kentucky we can pay from 10 to 20 cents less for gas so we are always checking the prices.  This week is going to be pricey because we have a trip to Louisville and one to Evansville.

One of our Elders received a transfer so we will take the Elders to Louisville for transfer meeting and then bring the new companion back.  We hate to see Elder D. leave because we enjoy him so much.  We can see why people get attached to the Elders and have a hard time when they are transferred because that is how we feel.  I am sure the new Elder will be just as great as Elder D. and we will love him also.  These kids are all remarkable missionaries.

I talked to all 11 kids on mother's day.  It was good to have even a short visit with each of them and find that generally all is well.  We are anxiously awaiting our trip to DC to meet out newest grand daughter Madelyn Quincy who was born on Saturday.  We will also be blessed with another grand daughter this week.  

Brother and Sister Parkinson-I talked to Sister Lunt at the temple on Sat. and she said to tell your son Hi for them.  She remembers him well.

We love you all and would enjoy hearing from you.

Mom and Dad

Elder and Sister Fullmer

Evan and Trudy

The picture is of the five of us who live within 80 miles of each other in Idaho.  Elder Fullmer, me, Sister Wadley from Shelley, Elder Holt from Chubbuck and Elder Gerard from Idaho Falls.  We all serve in our district so this part of the mission is in good hands

 

May 5, 2014

Another week has flown by with beautiful sunny mornings and cloudy cool afternoons.  The trees are all budded out and it is green everywhere.  We have had a busy week of service.  Evan spent several hours helping a member cut and haul some trees from the hill behind his house that he was afraid would blow over onto his house.  I just spent time reading President Monson's biography while they did that.   We also helped a non member family move some of their things with the Elders and the help of our neighbor who lives across the street.  We couldn't find a member with a truck that was available so just went across the street and asked Jerry our other non member friend if he would help.  He at first thought Evan just wanted to borrow the truck and said sure and then Evan said we wanted him to help as well and he said "Oh, I see what is going on."  He came and helped and he and Evan really hit it off.  Jerry now calls Evan Preacher Man and me Sister T.  On Sunday Jerry was sitting out on his porch so Evan went over to talk to him and he asked questions about how our church operated, what our preacher got paid, how the priesthood worked and about resurrection.  For someone who says he isn't interested he sure asks the questions.  He also thanked Evan two different times for getting him to help move the Parkers.  He said he really enjoyed helping.  We have less than 16 months now to help him learn more of the gospel and to bring him closer to our Savior.   On Saturday Evan wasn't feeling well but I went to help our Branch President and his wife Penny work on their house they are trying to get ready to sell.  It is a beautiful old home but the renters trashed it and it needs lots done.  The Elders had one of our less actives Tom with them helping which he loves to do.  We worked for several hours and got a lot done but there are still many hours of work to do.   Saturday evening we met with Jeff Taylor and watched the Joseph Smith movie.  Jeff really felt the spirit and did commit to coming to church on Sunday.  He has such confidence issues that he usually just says he can't commit to coming because he doesn't know what is going to happen but this time he actually said he would come but when Sunday came Jeff didn't.  Scott Keller did come and brought his granddaughter with him.  Later in the evening we went to Scott's house and taught his granddaughter a lesson.  Evan asked Scott when he last read the Book of Mormon and Scott said it was three years ago.  He must still have a testimony and now that his anti-Mormon wife has passed away maybe he can make a change in his life and hopefully in the lives of his other children.  We had the best testimony meeting I think I have ever been in on Sunday.  We have a little boy Jackson in our branch who is just 8 and was baptized just before we got here.  His father is a less active member and his mother isn't in the picture but his grandmother is the real force in his life.  Jackson bore the most beautiful, heartfelt testimony about his Savior and Heavenly Father that  I have ever heard from a child.  Brother Hinkle later bore testimony of the great ones spoken of in scripture and said that we have one of those great ones in our midst.  I feel that it is Jackson but he isn't the only one in this branch.  There are some amazingly strong people here facing some daunting things.  Every testimony borne was an addition to the spirit.   Of course later Jackson had a meltdown in Primary because he couldn't say his 4th Article of Faith right.  The 8 year old showed through then. We love you all. Elder and Sister Fullmer Evan and Trudy

 

 

April 28, 2014

Monday 21

P-day with usual breakfast for the Elders, some laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping. We went to the viewing for Margaret Keller.  We met Scott, Joanna and Billie Jo Keller.  We also met Margaret’s brother who is a preacher for another church in Utah but he said” you Mormons are the best people on the earth”.  I guess because we did most of the lunch for after the funeral..  

 

Tues 22

We left at 8:30 for Owensboro for interviews.  President and Sister Woodbury were both there and we got to talk to both of them. He gave us his feelings of our purpose in being in Tell City.  It coincides with our feelings as to why we are here.  He gave us permission to go to DC in June to see Kellie and Shawn. 

We had training by the AP’s and it was awesome.  We first talked about including the members and ward or branch mission leaders in our work and then did role plays where I was the member and Evan was the ward mission leader in our group with the Hermanas.  That is a role play I could feel comfortable with and I did speak up and talk.  We then went on a walk in the church building and looked at some of the pictures of Christ without talking or asking questions.  We ended up in the chapel and talked about the sacrament and the meaning.  It was a very spiritual feeling and made me realize that I don’t spend enough time getting spiritually prepared to partake of the sacrament which gives me something to work on.  It was such a great meeting.  

Elder Holt came home with us in Elder Davis' place on exchanges.  We went to a Mexican place for lunch and my food was okay but if we ever go there again I will get the fajitas like Evan got because they were really good.

We went with the Elders to Melissa’s house to teach her.  She is a sister to Darin Sandage who is a member but less active.  She seemed very receptive and we are going to meet with her at the church on Saturday so that I can take the kids into the nursery and maybe it will go better without her kids climbing all over her.  

We then went to Cannelton and met with Nick (long time investigator).  He and his wife Angie were really excited about the gospel before but he couldn't quit smoking and then Elder Jones left, the Godwins left and he seemed to fade a little.  Hopefully starting over with the lessons will help him get interested again.  It makes you wonder if he was converted to the missionaries or the gospel.

 

Thursday

Evan took the car to Vince to get the air conditioning fixed. We picked the car up at about 4:30 and it looks nice and the ac works wonderfully well.   

We took the Elders to Cannelton to visit with a new contact but it was a no show.  It was a 15 year old girl that lived at Cotton Mill Apartments.  We noticed on the way home that Cassie was at home so we stopped and visited with her for a little while and learned that she is moving into Tell City and the Elders set up helping her move.

 

Friday

 We went with Elder Davis and Elder Edwards (exchanges) to visit with a lady named Lorraine.  We talked to her on the porch and she kept saying that she knew we were doing good things because we were teaching of Jesus but after trying to give her the Restoration lesson she just said that she didn’t want to offend us but she was okay with her love for Jesus.  Good practice for us though.  After taking the Elders home we went back out to Walmart because we wanted French fries but just wanted to buy some to cook.  When we tried to start the car it wouldn’t start.  We thought it was because I had left the charger plugged in but a man came along with some jumper cables and it still wouldn’t start.  Evan tried getting under the car to see if he could see the started motor and turn it a little but he couldn’t.  He did get a white shirt really dirty.  Bob and Laura were there so went home and got Chris’s truck and came back and pulled us to Cannelton where we left the car for Vince.  He doesn’t work on Saturday or Sunday so it will be at least Monday before we have a car.  
 

Saturday 26

  We got to the temple at 9:45 and the session was very full but we got in.  After the session there wasn’t room in the celestial room to even sit and pray so we just left. This temple sure does some things differently but the spirit is all the same.  We went to Corydon and ate lunch at Ryan’s buffet.  It is like a Golden Corral and was very good.  The best cornbread I have eaten.  We got home about 3:00 but with no car we couldn’t do anything.  I did call Roseann Sturgeon and talked to her for a few minutes.  She really wants to come back.  We will keep working with her.  It would be really nice to see her get to the temple before we go home.   We were supposed to have meetings with Melissa and Jeff at the church but they both canceled.

 

Sunday 27

The Elders picked us up for church.  We had nothing planned for the day because of the car.  We were going to go with the Elders to meet with Jeff Taylor but he canceled again. A couple of weeks ago I started reading President Eyring's biography so  I finished reading that.  What an amazing man.  Reading the book gave me so much respect and love for him and all he has done and is doing for the church.  What a spiritual giant.  His talks will be even more meaningful now.  I am hoping Sister Zellers has more biographies I can borrow.

 

It was a rather slow week because of the car issues but we did have some really positive things happen with a couple of less active members.  Hopefully are car will be fixed soon and we can get back into full swing.

 

The gospel is true so what else matters.  We love you all and would sure enjoy hearing from any of you.  Especially those  six missionaries that I wrote to faithfully ever week while they served their missions and their siblings.  Is that enough of a hint or guilt trip?

Evan and Trudy

Elder and Sister Fullmer

Picture is of one of the gorgeous trees in blossom.

 picture 2 is the Ohio river after our last storm.

 

April 21, 2014

As we get to our two month mark we look back at what we have tried to do and wonder if we have made any difference so far.  We have visited a lot of people who have been offended in some way and are holding on to their feelings even though they probably never even think about it unless someone brings it up and reminds them they should be coming to church and partaking of the sacrament.  Habits become so hard to break.  They are all very willing to let us come and visit but are content with how life is going.  We keep holding on to the thought that we might be the one to touch someone's life as we teach our message and they will feel the spirit and desire a better life.

 

We had our first awkward moment this week.  A couple of weeks ago at District Meeting we were ask to each tell something about ourselves, our favorite quote and an awkward mission moment.  We laughed with the others about some of the awkward moments they had had and told them we hadn't had any yet and they all just said that we would.  Last Wednesday was the day.  We had gone with the Elders to teach a 17 year old girl who has come to church, FHE, a Relief Society activity and really is interested.  We had a meeting with Alicen after she got out of school.  She took us in her house which was a disaster and kept apologizing for the mess because they had just been moving in but to me it looked like just another messy bunch of people who don’t take care.  We were having a pretty good discussion when her brother came in and got on her case for having us there when the house was such a mess.  He went into the other room and in just a few minutes came in and said their mom wanted to talk to her.  We were sitting next to Alicen and could hear her mom telling her to get us out of the house.  She tried to calm her mom down but it wasn’t working and they just hung up.  She said it was alright to continue and we did and the spirit came back as we talked until the door opened and there was her mom loudly telling us to leave.  Her mom is actually a less active member but was very loud in telling us she didn't appreciate us being there. As we left Elder Avilas said well there is your first awkward moment on your mission.  I guess that makes us official now.

 

We did have a mixed good thing happen when we went to one sister.  We have been trying to get in touch with Roseann for several weeks and had finally found where she lived and went with the Elders to visit her. She wasn't home but her son said she was at her sisters so we went down to Kellers who we have also been trying to contact.  Roseann came to the door and told us that Margaret Keller (her sister) was dying.  She was on oxygen for some reason and had tried smoking and the oxygen had exploded in her face and she was burned so badly that they couldn't do anything but send her home to die.  Roseann cried and hugged me so much.  She kept saying that she had to get active in church again and get to the temple because she had had a dream where people in white were leaving her behind and she doesn't want to be leaft.  She had a daughter murdered a few years ago and wants to do her temple work.  We will get with her again after Margaret passes away.  Margaret had been very anti-Mormon but did let her girls attend church when they were younger.  Scott her husband is from Mink Creek Idaho so we have really wanted to talk to him.  We learned on Friday that Margaret had passed away and the branch is going to provide most of the food for the funeral.  Hopefully we can touch the family someway and help them find comfort as they remember what the gospel teaches.

 

Friday we had District Meeting as usual and for the role play this time we did a speed teaching.  We all sat in a semi circle.  I was the investigator and each missionary had one minute to teach me the first discussion.  The DL would tell them when to switch and the next one would pick up and teach.  I was so impressed and the spirit was so strong as they followed each other without missing a beat.  The only ones that even hesitated were the Spanish sisters and I think it was just because they had to think in English instead of Spanish.  Once again I am so grateful to be able to spend time with these amazing missionaries..  The work is going forward here because of these young people.

 

Friday at our branch activity we did have several less actives there.  The primary did an Easter egg hunt for the 7 little boys that were there.  We only have one girl in our primary and she was gone for the weekend.  The people are so open and friendly here that we feel so at home.  

 

Saturday Evan and the Elders went to Cannelton to paint with the Branch President.  He has a home that renters pretty much destroyed that they are trying to repair and put on the market.  They were coming home for lunch and to clean up for appointments but then two of the appointments cancelled so they painted even longer than planned.  Evan rested for awhile and then we both went over and I helped paint shutters.  This home is about 100 years old and was beautiful at one point but the renters had animals and it is in really bad shape now and is taking a lot of work.  It was good to get out of a dress and do some physical labor.

 

Sunday after church we had two different dinner appointments.  We went to the first family which included grandparents, kids, grand-kids and great grand-kids.  They have a small house and it was very crowded but enjoyable.  They had lots of food and we tried to eat just a little but the pecan and strawberry pies were just too tempting.  We went home and rested for a couple of hours and then went to the other home where there were only 8 of us.  Another delicious meal but much calmer visit.  This family really do feel like they are family.  

We love you all and would love to hear from you.

Dale and Ivalue-how is it going?  How was the drive?  Our Stake is coming to Nauvoo for Youth Conference and we sure wish we could tag along.  

Wallaces - We love the blog.  Sometimes we wish for a 4 day weekend.  Don't we live in a beautiful world!  It has greened up so much just this last week.  It is gorgeous here.

Samantha - Good luck this week in St. Louis at Worlds.  We love you.

 

Love you all

Evan and Trudy

Elder and Sister Fullmer

April 7, 2014

     We had our first taste of the downer side of missionary work.  We had two days when we couldn't get answers to phone calls and the appointments we did have fell through.  There were many reasons but just the same it made for a bit of a discouraging week.  We have been going with the Elders for some of their lessons and they didn't even need us this past week.

We did go to Arby's for lunch one day just because we had a coupon and a lady came up and introduced herself.  She is one of our less actives but made herself known to us.  We had a really good visit with her and will be able to visit with her and her husband later.  She freely admits that she is just offering excuses as to why she is less active so perhaps we can help her see the importance of partaking of the sacrament each Sunday and feeling of the fellowship of other saints.  One of the sisters in the branch came over and spent 3 hours talking about her troubles and concerns with her family and how she feels we were sent here to help them come back to church.

We did visit with an older couple from the branch on Wednesday.  The sister has Alzheimers but was pretty coherent while we were there.  They were both very fun and interesting people. 

     Thursday we had a baptism for a young boy in the branch.  It was a small gathering because there is some sickness going around but 3 of our 4 primary kids were there. 

 We had been having pouring rain for two days and because the rain and thunder storms cause the tornadoes we got to hear our first tornado siren.  The thunder here seems to go on so much longer than it did at home.  The friends we were with checked to see if it was anything to worry about but it was more for flash flooding.  I wonder if people get to where they don't pay attention to the sirens because they go off as often as they do. 

     Friday was our usual District Meeting which takes a good part of the day with the travel involved. As we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky we could see a lot of debris in the river and the water was very high.  All the way to our meeting we saw so much water. The farmers are beginning to worry because they are usually in the fields by this time of year.  

We have two new Elders in our district and one new Hermana.  One of the Elders is from Chubbuck and the Hermana is from Shelley so with Elder Gerard from Idaho Falls and us we have a really good representation from southeast Idaho.  We didn't have to do any role plays this time and I was glad because I am still not comfortable doing them.  When we told the missionaries about our downer days they all just said welcome to missionary life.  I guess it is to be expected that every day is not going to be easy.

Because it was a rather slow week and not much to tell I thought I would put a couple of pictures on that we have taken.

     The first picture is the Community of Christ or RLDS church in Independence.  It is right across the street from our visitors center.  We stopped here on our way out.



This picture is of the Cotton Mill apartments.  It was originally a cotton mill built in 1849 and was abandoned for years and then refurbished into low income apartments.  It is just as long the other way as this way so very large.  The rock work is really pretty and you can look through some glass they have put up to keep people from climbing the old steps.


This is a picture of the Elders at our first district meeting showing support for each other.  They each sat on a chair, leaned back onto each other and then the chairs were taken away.

     I have lots more pictures but don't know how well this will send.  I am still learning how to attach pictures in a way that can be seen. 

We love you all and enjoy getting any news from you.  Just because our life is so different than it was doesn't mean that your lives aren't interesting to us as well.

Love Evan and Trudy

Elder and Sister Fullmer