Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Week #5

Hey Family,

Did you get my email last week? I answered a lot of this stuff there. Anyways, Elder Nevarez is such a cool guy. He is from Ranchocucamunga (spelling?) California. He played baseball throughout high school. We go running every morning and then do like push ups, situps, and pull ups. He is the youngest of 5 children and his parents are on a temple mission in Denver, Colorado. I love the ward that I am in! The people are super nice and have us over for dinner all the time. It is probably about half the size of the home ward. All of the areas in up-state (the ones everywhere but the big cities) have cars, and all of the others get transit passes to ride the bus and subway or they walk everywhere. We are teaching a 15 year old boy, Danny Sanchez, and he has accepted a commitment to be baptized the 29th of Sep. We are teaching a lady about mom's and dad's age, Sharon Oliva, her parents are RLDS (they believe the same things we do except that the prophets should be in the blood-line of Joseph Smith and they have changed so that females can hold the priesthood) so it is kind of difficult trying to teach her with her parents pressuring her to not change. Her daughter, Ally, who is my age, however, was baptized into our church and is really strong so we will see which influences her the most. We are teaching a lady is a very less active member and her husband and daughter who are not members. The mom has a smoker's hole and gets sick all the time. The dad is kind of crazy but super funny and the daughter is kind of quiet but they are both coming along pretty well, we just can't seem to get any of them to come to church. We have some other investigators but I still have yet to meet them. Every time we get an appointment with them they always end up cancelling. We ate at the Oliva's last night and had chilli cheese potatoes and salad. Ally loves to bake things and is always making up new cookies and desserts. She always makes tons and then gives us whatever we don't eat so we have a big plate of brownies, these oatmeal cinnamon cookies that are a lot like snickerdoodles, and those homemade oreo cookies but with this REALLY good peanut butter creme in the middle. I think so far my favorite meal has been these authentic enchiladas and this bundt cake that was called orange cake.

Ya I went to an instacare to get some medicine for my sinus infection. I told the Dr. I get them all the time and told her I had been fighting it for a week taking the mucinex, claritin, and fluticasone nose spray. She just started laughing and was like wow normally people won't be taking anything before hand and thats when it gets bad. She was like normally thats what I'll tell them to go start taking. She just asked me what medicine I would like and I told her the Z-pack and again she started laughing and was like "wow, you do go through this a lot, that is exactly what I would have prescribed anyways."

We had a zone conference yesterday and the mission president came and talked with everyone. He told us that he is now allowing i-pods (as long as we play them over speakers) and all of the cars have cd players so if you want you can actually just send me the cd's and maybe make a few with like some disney songs or other uplifting fun music like that. Just use your best judgement. Apparently the old mission president had also made a rule saying no one could go past 59th Street (into Times Square). He told us that we are free to go in there now and can look around. The last cycle or two that we are here (6-12 weeks) we can go see a broadway show which will be way fun! If we are ever in the city and there is a Yankees game on a Wednesday (P-days for us) in the afternoon we are able to go. It usually happens 3-4 times a season. I think that would be so cool and can't wait until I get to be in the city because we can go to the Temple once per cycle if we are there as well.

It sounds like all of you are having a lot of fun! Hopefully school starts off well for Mikey. Hopefully that new job treats Spencer well. What does MegaDyne do? and what is Spencer doing for them?
Love you all,
Elder Fuller

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ryans first real letter from Poughkeepsie

Hey Family!
It's hard to believe that I have been gone for four weeks as well! I have been having so much fun here! It is crazy how different everything is! I am serving in the Poughkeepsie 1st Ward which covers the towns of Poughkeepsie (obviously), Wappingers Falls (which is where our apartment is), Wingdale, Hopewell, Beacon, Stormville, Dover Plains, Millbrook, Poughqaug, Holmes, Pawling, and Pleasant Valley. Hardly at all the same size as our little 3 block by 2 block ward at home! haha :P My companions name is Elder Nevarez. He is such a cool guy. He is from Ranchocucamunga (spelling?) California and is going to BYU. He goes back home in November so he is a pretty seasoned missionary. It is great getting to learn so much from him! I love the spirit he brings and his enthusiasm in spreading the gospel! We are sharing an apartment with another companionship Elder Head and Elder Hill. They are both really great guys as well. I have been suffering with a sinus infection since I got here and they have all been taking care of me. Luckily, I haven't missed a day of work yet because of it. The flight out here was awesome! I have never seen so many trees in my life! It is crazy! The upstate part of New York is so beautiful and green!
I love the people in the ward here. It is strange going to a ward only half the size of the home ward. It is also weird because I am used to everyone being born and raised LDS and I think out of the whole ward only about 5 people are. It is really neat getting to have dinner with a different family EVERY night and hearing all of their conversion stories. I love the attitude they all have towards serving the Lord. Everyone here is constantly looking for people to share the gospel with and they do almost daily. They also love their callings in the ward and do whatever they can to do that calling justice and serve everyone else. (I wish the people in Utah had that same willingness) I love it to because it just pushes me to become an even greater missionary! I was so excited, on Monday I got my first baptismal date commitment! Now hopefully everything follows through as planned! :)
 
I love all of you tons and I pray for each of you everyday! I love being here and am well taken care of so don't worry at all about me! Keep sending me emails, that is the easiest way to contact me now, especially where I don't have a time limit on it now. If anyone wants to write a letter or send me a package send it to the mission office address. (The Scarsdale address). Keep having fun and enjoying everything.
Love ya,
Elder Fuller

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ryan arriving in New York

This is Ryan's first letter from New York



This is Ryan with his Mission President and his wife

Notice the lush gardens right behind them.


His new companions name is Elder Nevarez.
His address is:
Elder Ryan Fuller
700 White Plains Road Suite 315
Scarsdale, NY 10583

Entering the MTC

Ryan entering the MTC




Monday, August 20, 2012

Poughkeepsie

Ryan left the MTC last Tuesday, and his first area is the Poughkeepsie 1st ward. We haven't heard much from him yet about how New York is, or who his companion is, but we'll update on here as soon as we hear from him.

Keep checking back for updates on Ryan, and pictures when we receive them. We'll try to post as often as possible. Feel free to leave comments on here, or send emails to elderryanfuller@gmail.com., and we will make sure he gets your messages as soon as possible. (P.S. that gmail address is not his official one, it is maintained and monitored by his family.) :)