Week 81 BJF May

Bonjour, Como seva?

We’re coming to the end of the transfer here in Frankfurt Germany. My companion is freaking out about how little time he has left on the mission and I’m only 6 weeks behind him. If I was a Sister missionary I’d be going back to Texas next Thursday. But let’s focus on today because it’s more interesting.

I thought I be a bit more informative on the actual work we’re doing here, and the people were able to work with. Just goes to show that despite the fact we’re two American white boys, anybody can become friends.

We have a wonderful lady from Senegal who loves the gospel but her family is very against it. She gives all the elders nicknames. She named me Mr. Strong and my companion is Mr. Tired, while the Elder before me was Mr. Dangerous.  She also has an adorable little boy who just learned to walk. He’s nicknamed Mr. Problem :)

We have another fellow from Iran who is new to Christianity. He loves the Bible but is reluctant to accept the BoM. He is one of the funniest dudes. He learned English from watching Game of Thrones. We also have this new convert family who are just straight fire. They are slowly learning German so we communicate with simple words and lots of body language. (we have like a dozen Iranians, I think they are E. Garners favorite people) We also had a miracle guy from Jordan but we believe he’s in jail now. Oh, and we’ve got a new fellow as well. I think I’ll share his story today.

So he’s a catholic priest from Nigeria. Shoot, the guy is more like an African sage. We had the pleasure of meeting with him yesterday. He was found a few weeks before I arrived but wasn’t revisited til last week when we attended a catholic Mass, which he was leading. It was really entertaining to hear him read the prayers aloud in German with his fantastic accent. When we met yesterday we got to see into his lifestyle as a priest. He invited us into the Priest housing behind a large church in the Bamberg marketplace. We even got to meet a couple other priests, one of which jokingly asked if we had already converted him. We talked about lots of subjects and he even explained part of the religious history of Nigeria. He told us that he believed no one has the whole truth of the gospel and despite being a priest he was always curious about how other religions function. That was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. I’m not sure why, but we stumbled through our story of Joseph Smith and missed a few important details. However in spite of our mistakes he took great curiosity in the Book of Mormon and I’ve never seen someone accept a copy as he did, I would describe his reaction as graceful. My face was hurting when we left from laughing and smiling too much. 

He taught us a lesson which I found very profound: We should build bridges between people and not set up walls (Trump jokes were made even though these bridges are figurative). 

If we build bridges everyone has many more places to go and many more things to learn. While if we build walls and cut ourselves off from others we have a very narrow perspective with very little wisdom. So quite simply, we shouldn’t be afraid of something just because it is unknown or different to us. We should expand our world by connecting with others.

But yeah, on a less serious note, life is good. 

We got out today and hike up Bad Staffelstein. It’s a popular hike here in the mission and we got to go with some of our homies. Several elders went all out with the German outfit, straight Lederhosen and everything. Was a good time.

That’s all I got for ya,

Liebe -Elder Fuller

Week 75 DTF May

Hey guys! sorry your haven't heard from me.

I got transferred to a place called athi river which is one the rim of Nairobi. it is pretty cool but not bush. My new companion is elder zingoni who is a Zimbabwean who I know pretty well. we were together over lock downs for elections. he is a good dude so we will get on well, plus he already knows im out of my mind so there wont be any surprises for him there. We don't have a flat in our area yet so welive with two other elders in and area called kitengela which is a fun time, but driving back and forth between the areas is killing my money haha, gotta budget hard I guess.

I don't have much time to tell stories sadly. But a short one is that we were waiting for a car to take us back to our areaand this drunk guy came up and said "wei mzungu, nipay kumi ama nitakata migu yako" which roughly translates to "give me ten shillings or I will cut your legs" for some reason I just burst out laughing.....I couldn't take him seriously because he was so drunk and so ugly haha. but he started laughing to and just staggered away.

But yeah for the Skype call I think it would be slick if we did it at 5 arica time so I have enough time to get home. I have talked to the near by couples about having us over and hopefully they will be able to have us over. But yeah I am excited!!!

lOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! 

Cheers - Elder Fuller

For candy and death threats,

Kenya Nairobi Mission
P.O. Box 46162-00100
Nairobi
00100
Kenya

Week 75 RLF May

Wow conference!!!! 

I really loved how in conference they talked all about forgiveness and specifically forgiveness of yourself. That is a difficult process in and of itself I would say.
I had an experience the other day we were talking to an investigator and a menos activo and I can't really remember what we were talking about but I just remember one thing that came out of my mouth that I had never thought of before and it was, if we don't forgive, be it others or ourselves we are literally negating the effectiveness of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Quite literally if we have done all in our power to repent and change and we still don't let go and give the sin to the lord and let him change us and refine us and take our character flaws we are literally saying that the atonement doesn't work and that the suffering Christ did for us wasnt powerful enough. It was we don't believe christ when he tells us that he's got it.
that blew my mind as it left my mouth because it's a concept I've always grasped to some degree but as it was said to our friends and to see the look on their faces and then to hear the words in my mind that said,  have you let him take it?
it was sureal it was absolutely a moment of pure spirit.
I love feeling the spirit working through me, and the more that I trust it and follow the promptings the more I trust him and I think the more he trusts me too. Little by little I am losing fear of doing the things he would have me do.

We definitely had everything confirmed for us on working with the members here as well
We know that the most important thing is to minister to these people here and little by little we can see a huge improvement already
We are going to use the area plan with the three goals that Europe has put forth for the church. This week we are working to teach people how to study self sufficiency so that they can learn to apply it here in Zaragoza barrio 1! Because that seems to be an issue, everyone just seems to be worried about themselves and they're not really service oriented. And the feeling of love and support just doesn't exist here. But with all the talks from conference I'm hoping we will be able to start seeing a change in everyone's attitude

We have many incredible investigators who are somewhat progressing

We are finding it difficult to help people to understand why it is important to not work on Sunday. Here and Spain it feels like it's all or nothing, like you work on Sunday or you don't work... It just makes me sad because their missing the blessings the lord would give them.
That would be something I would love to learn to do better is teach the importance of the sabbath day, we teach it the way that you taught us, and but they can't quite grasp the concept that the lord will make a miracle happen if they give up their work on Sunday. They are that's what I will be studying how to do this week.

We have dehelma who has had the book of Mormon for 3weeks and has already read to 3rd nefi (yeah I know right )
We have Freddy who read the testimony of Joseph smith and said that he knows the book of Mormon is true!
We have carolina who came to church the day after we met with her the first time
We have Fernando and Laura who both said that they know the church is true and that this is the path that they need to take in their lives
But... They all have problems keeping commitments and none of them will come to church... Because they work...
Or Fernando and Laura have to get married... But said they can't do it for 2 to 3 years??? what...?
Satan is working so hard... And I'm afraid that they will not be able to progress. Not just because they won't commit but also because the ward can't support them.
Although we are planting seeds or trying... We are throwing them on dry soil... Rocky earth..
There is so much potential... I just pray that hermana Helton and I can help bring rain.

It's the most amazing thing to be here and I am so grateful for the atonement that can literally take all of our character flaws and literally make us perfect eventually. 

It is absolutely a miracle to see everything in action and to experience the miracles everyday. 

I know the gospel is true and I know that being a good member of the church is so important. We have to give everything we have to the lord... Without holding anything back. 

I know the savior loves us! And I'm so grateful to be his representative. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Fuller