Bronx Cheers Week 27

Hey Family,

I just want to send you my greetings from the Bronx!!!! haha I did get transferred and I will be serving in the Kingsbridge Ward in the Bronx. I don't know exactly where the area covers yet but I will let you know more next week. I do know that Yankee Stadium is in my area though. I am super excited to get to see more of New York finally. I am sad that I have to leave so many good friends here in this area though. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone and I am pretty sure I have somehow doubled what I came to the mission with. It took me three tries to pack everything. My new companion is Elder Holzer. He served up here with me for my first two cycles. He is a really good missionary and super obedient which I am REALLY looking forward to. I am also looking forward to the cultural diversity there. Most everybody here is Caucasian but down there Caucasians are the minority. I guess there are a lot of Jamaicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. It will be exciting. :)

That sounds like some really crazy weather! Things here were better than last week (not as cold) and certainly better than what you guys got. It has just been overcast and kind of rainy again. That is awesome that Cam got his call. Tell him congrats for me. San Fernando will be pretty nice! I know Pierre is in California as well I want to say that mission but that is probably not right. It would be cool if they got to serve together though! Is Cam just English speaking? Well my time is short this week but I will write you more next week and let you know all about my new area.

Take care.

Love,
Elder Fuller

Slightly Larger Family week 26

1/24/13

Hey slightly larger family of mine!!

Congratulations Bryce and Crystal! That is so awesome! She is a beautiful little girl! I can't wait to see how she starts growing. It will be weird that she will be almost exactly a year and a half when I get home. That is so exciting! Cara just demanded to be born on a holiday like her favorite Uncle! haha Sounds like she barely made it though.

I'm sorry the weather has been so bad there in Utah it hasn't been too bad here. This week has been the coldest so far this winter the temperatures have stayed in the high teens almost everyday. It still isn't too bad though. It sounds like you were all pretty busy this week. Staci and Rob I need to see some pictures of the new pad.

So you guys asked about the lunch with Alicia and Ray. First off she did a pretty good job getting things ready. I was so surprised how much effort they went to to have things ready. It was funny so we got there and Alicia turns to me and says I need your help. I agreed and she pulls a bowl of stuff out of the fridge and some cans of crescent rolls. She turns to me and goes you've made these before right?... and I was like ya...? So I have to sit and make all of the chicken bakes. She made us black bean soup, macaroni and cheese, the chicken bakes, breaded chicken tenders and the brownies. So the brownies.... First off she said she mixed everything together and then realized she hadn't added the sugar so she added the sugar very last. The brownies tasted pretty well but she made them in a smaller cake pan so the brownies were really thick. The outside was cooked just about right and the inside wasn't hardly baked. It was pretty funny! I still can't believe she went through all of that effort for me. I have thanked her like a million times. Everything else turned out really good!

So we had an appointment last week with this guy, Mr. Wright. He was a referral from a member in our ward. The member promised us that he would be there to introduce us and to stay as we had the discussion. We show up and are waiting for the member. The member doesn't show up and we call him and he says he ended up going down to the city and won't be able to come. Well Mr. Wright already knew we were there waiting. So the member begs us to go talk with him anyways so we go in and introduce ourselves. Turns out Mr. Wright wasn't interested in the church he just wanted to argue with us and try and prove our church wrong. Everything that we tried to tell him about he would say "show me in the Bible where it specifically says that" and he wanted dates and places and names of everything that we were talking about. It was probably the worst discussion I have ever had with someone on my mission. We both ended up just bearing our testimony after about 20 minutes of trying to talk with him, left him a copy of the Book of Mormon, told him to read it, and we walked out of the room. It is amazing to me how people can be so hard-hearted and so stubborn. Even though I couldn't prove with hard facts and evidence the reality of the Book of Mormon I have never KNOWN the truthfulness of it more than I did at that point.

So yesterday we went to the walkway over the Hudson with our roommates. It was the coldest day of the year (it was about 17 degrees) and because you are on a bridge the wind comes sweeping down the river and the water makes it even colder. It was about 0 degrees in the middle of the bridge. This is in part why the email is coming today because my companion took forever to do things yesterday and we didn't get a chance to do it. Anyways we still had fun and I will send the pictures.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Have fun with the new daughter/granddaughter/niece.

Love Elder Fuller

Little Miracles Week 25

Hey guys!

That is funny that Mikey got to ref the Elder's game. I can just imagine all of those older larger guys getting mad at him. It probably helps that Michael has grown a good couple of inches he is probably close to the same height as some of the other guys now at least. That will be fun for Michael to go on Trek! I loved the experience I had while on Trek! Do they know if they are doing the Livestock ranch or the Martin-Willie Trail?

That is great that you were able to get appointments for Spencer so fast. Hopefully that is all that it will take is one visit and they will just sign everything. That is cool that he will hopefully be out by his birthday.

That is great to hear the news of where everyone is going. I'm assuming Ashley will be French speaking? You guys will have to tell her congrats for me and if you can find an address for her could you send it to me? That will be fun for her though. Have you heard anything about Gilly going on a mission? That is sweet that Maria will be going to Peru. As far as Devin Zundel I don't think I know him, I went to school with a girl named Taylor Zundel so maybe they are related?

That is cool that Staci and Rob almost have the house. I can't wait to see some pictures. The video of Otis was hilarious by the way!! I was so excited to hear the news about the baby this week! Thanks a lot for letting me down guys! haha Good luck, I can't wait to hear everything next week though!

So we finally reset a baptismal date for Maria Ganley this week. She broke up with her boyfriend who wasn't willing to keep the law of chastity with her and she has finally given up drinking despite her family and friends efforts to keep her from doing so. She is working towards the 23rd of February and is really excited about it. Susan Caulfield is still working towards the 9th of February. She is quitting smoking and has finally overcome some health challenges and has the determination to make it to church every week despite her health. I am so excited for these two women to make this big change in their lives. Other than that though this week has been pretty uneventful. We had a lot of tracting time this week and so far it hasn't provided any immediate results.

Oh I remembered a miracle that just happened last night actually. So we have been going out with a member from our ward to look up less active members. We have had to remove some names of people who have moved out and if we don't find the person home we leave a note asking them to call us. We went to see this guy named Jeff. We knocked on three different doors (that is the one bad part about houses here you can never tell which is the front door). We left the card and started to walk away and as we were walking down the stairs and an old lady opened the window and started yelling at us. She told us that Jeff didn't live there though. We had already left the card and Elder Picoli asked me if he should go grab it. He turned to go get it and the lady was still watching us so we just decided to leave the card. About 3 and a half hours later we got a phone call from Jeff. We were in our dinner appointment and missed the call though.. So we returned the call and no one answered. We were kind of bummed. We were saying our nightly companionship prayer and I was asking that we would be able to get in contact with Jeff and not 5 seconds after I said that we get a call. I paused and we both looked at each other. Elder Picoli grabbed the phone and turns out it was Jeff! We talked for a while and unfortunately he had been moving around a bunch lately and was in Louisiana right now. He knew that he was coming back to New York in about a year though. He was telling us that he loved the church and wanted to stay in contact with it so he is looking up a church in Louisiana to attend for now. He was so happy we called though, he thought that the church had forgotten about him because they hadn't tried to make contact with him for almost two years. He told us also that the old lady was his mom and his friend is living there now as well and when the friend got home he saw the card and gave Jeff the message. It is incredible the miracles you can see while on your mission.

Hope all goes well this week for you guys.

Love ya,
Elder Fuller

Rockaway Beach Cleanup Week 24

What's up Family?

It was great to hear from you. That is crazy how cold it is there. We are still between 25 and 40 degrees everyday. I am glad it isn't quite that cold here. haha That is so cool that Spencer is getting to help teach those new member lessons!!! They are so important and that is exactly what he will be doing on his mission! He should love every minute of it and really get to know those lessons from Preach my Gospel. That is wonderful to hear that all of those kids are coming to the mission prep class. I wish I would have had something more like that when I was there. Oh well, not too much I can do now. That is sweet that Cam is waiting for a call and that Spencer is getting his paperwork in. Is Jonny getting paperwork in yet?

So things are going well mission and teaching wise. Elder Picoli and I still have our disagreements and they aren't getting any better. President has told me to just continue doing what I know is right and just set a good example for him and that something good will come from it. Sorry I didn't write you guys yesterday. We meant to send emails off and because Elder Picoli was running late again we didn't have time to before Brother Smith and Alicia took us to the city. It was so cool to see everything you are going to love some of the pictures! We went up the Empire State Building, we saw Radio City Music Hall, Central Park, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and we rode the train into the city so we got to see Grand Central.

On Saturday, we got to go down to Rockaway Beach which is in Brooklyn to help do more service. Our entire mission went down (which hadn't happened yet) and we met up with the entire South mission. We were doing pretty much the same stuff we were doing the first time I went down. Just helping people tear out drywall, helping move moldy, wet, damaged items, and helping lift people's spirits. It is amazing how bad things are still down there. The worst part is that the city won't do anything more to help them out and every organization is working completely against the home owners. Parks and Rec. won't allow anything on the beach, the city won't allow anything on their front yards, and public sanitation is starting to limit what is allowed on the street. They are making all of the homeowners hire private contractors now to remove things and help clean up. So volunteers are no longer being allowed. People down there were still super happy to see us though and they all trust us so much. I had people stop me to ask for directions ( I had no clue because I have never been there in my life, but because of the vest they asked), I had some little kids ask for me to help pump up their bike tires, and I had little old ladies ask me to help sweep their sidewalks and porches. It is so much fun to help out!

Sorry for the shortness of the letter but I have a bunch of pictures for you! Hope you guys have a great week. Say hi to everyone and tell Crystal that I am excited to hear the news about the baby and tell Rob and Staci I am excited to hear about the house. Love you all!

Elder Fuller

New Years Eve Week 23

Hey hey!

Thanks for sending that package. It will be nice to have them. It sounds like you guys had a pretty fun week! That stinks that it had to end today! Hopefully Michael stays a little healthier this year. Geez Mikey! What are you gonna do with all of that money?! You might have to send some of it to me so I can help you spend some of it! haha

That is weird to think that Spencer can date college girls. haha Man you guys must feel old! That is cool to hear that Whitney and Zach got there mission calls. Both of those missions sound like they would be super fun! Who is Kyle engaged to? Are any of the guys from the ward getting ready to turn in their papers? Are they all still attending the Dad's mission prep class? How is that going? What kinds of things are you guys doing for it?

That is crazy, we haven't had that much snow in a while there in Utah. On Wednesday night and Thursday last week we got a TON of snow too! We got almost 4 and 1/2 inches of snow!!! hahaha Businesses were closing early on Wednesday to avoid the storm and the roads were completely empty before it even started to snow. Nobody did anything on Thursday because they didn't want to venture out in the snow. So we got to go shovel people's driveways all day Thursday. It was super wet and heavy. Needless to say after about 10 hours of shoveling wet snow we were all pretty tired and pretty sore. Friday about half of it melted and then we got about 2 more inches on Saturday.

Saturday was a lot of fun we got to go to a baptism of a little girl from the ward. We had to do our car fast on Saturday because we hadn't been able to do it the rest of the week. So we walked the 6.8 miles to get to the church. It was actually pretty fun. We stayed at the church to study and then helped set up for a wedding reception in the evening. We then got to help shovel and snow blow the church grounds. Afterwards we got to attend the wedding reception. It was really cool. They got married in Utah because that is where the wife is from and then had a reception there. They then had a reception here for the husband. The reception here was set up like a country picnic/fair. They had homemade quilts hanging around the gym they had cotton candy and face painting and some little carnival games. It was really cool I had never seen such a laid back wedding reception. Nobody was dressed up (except for my companion and I haha) even the bride and groom were just in jeans and flannel shirts.

So for New Years Eve we had to be in by 6 pm. So we borrowed apples to apples from a member and came home and played that and ate junk food until we were sick. Unfortunately we didn't even make a dent in the mountain of junk food that we have on our table that people from both wards just keep adding to. We brought in the New Year in each of our dreams as we were all in bed and passed out by our 10:30 bedtime. It was fun though to be able to celebrate at least a little bit.

Unfortunately we haven't been able to do to much actual missionary work with all of the snow and the holidays and the other things that we have had going on. Everyone has been out of town as well so the past week has been super slow. Things are rapidly returning to normal though!

Well I hope you guys have an excellent week! Have fun with all the snow!

Love,
Elder Fuller

Christmas Week 22

From:	Ryan Fuller (ryan.fuller@myldsmail.net)You moved this message to its current location.
Sent:	Wed 12/26/12 5:09 PM
To:	BLAIR W FULLER (bwkjfuller@msn.com)

Howdy,

It was great to see and talk with all of you yesterday! I wish things would have worked out better so that I could have talked with Bryce and Crystal and Rob and Staci. I bet things will be better on Mother's Day, things will be a little less chaotic. We had such a wonderful day yesterday. We stayed at the Skankey's for a while longer then went to the Pineda's (they are also from the second ward). We had dinner there, Staci would be jealous, we had authentic home-made papoosa's (spelling?). They were SOOO good! We then went over to the Oliva's house and had dessert and played some games. It didn't feel like Christmas at all though! In fact there were multiple times where I forgot that it was Christmas haha. Thanks again for everything that you guys sent! I loved it all!

This week went by so fast, I have no idea where it even went. We didn't do anything on Friday because we all got together for a mission wide Christmas Party. We didn't do anything on Monday because we had district meeting and then we helped pass out Christmas Cards for the Ward.

So it started snowing pretty good today so we will see how much we get out of it. If there is a substantial amount all of the towns will close down and we won't be able to go do anything... Hopefully that won't happen. These darn New Yorkers can't handle their snow! hahaha I talked to a guy the other day who lives almost at the top of a "mountain" and he says it gets really bad by his house. He says they usually get 4 or 5 inches of snow a few times during the winter. haha I was almost in hysterics.

Well I really don't know what else to say so I'll just get some pictures sent off to you. I hope you guys have a great week and a Happy New Year! :) Don't party too hard! haha

Have a good one,

Elder Fuller

No transfer--Week 21

Hey guys!

So to start off I wanted to say I didn't get transferred so I will get to spend Christmas with "family" afterall. This ward really does feel like family after spending 4 months with them. That is fun to hear that Bishop C.'s birthday was on the 12th. Who was there that had moved out of the ward? That is great that you guys had so much fun with the Jackson family this weekend. I sure missed being there! That is funny that the magicians joke didn't work because Nate really was adopted. What is even funnier is he only had a 25% chance of getting somebody who was helping out that wasn't adopted. Austin and Nate looked so big in the pictures! Oh my gosh! They already look way older and I haven't even been gone a quarter of my mission. I'm sure Michael is the same way!

Are you guys pumped for Christmas?!?! I know I am! :) I can't wait to open all of my presents! You guys will have to take lots of pictures and show me some of the stuff you get when we skype. Also I sent out Christmas Cards to everyone I'm not sure if they will actually make it by Christmas, hopefully they will. There will be a couple coming to the house because I didn't have an actual street address for them. If you would just hand those ones out for me? Plans are still up in the air for what we are actually doing on Christmas. We haven't been invited by anybody in our ward anywhere for Christmas yet but two families that we are pretty good friends with from the 2nd ward have invited us over for the day. So we will see if anybody from our ward invites us over if not we will just go to the other two families houses.

That is wonderful to hear about Mikel! It will be a lot of fun for her to go on a mission! Is there any word yet on any of the rest of the family or friends turning in papers or getting their calls? Did you meet the possible future spouses of Riley and Kaisha? What are they like?

So this past week has been kind of hard I have been struggling with my companion and I have been kind of sick. I think i just caught the flu, hopefully that is all that it turns out to be. My companion and I tend to disagree on a lot of things. Which is pretty hard especially when it is on issues of obedience. He tends to think that he is better than others and is always trying to prove to me that he is better than me. (gee, who does that sound like? haha) You guys always thought I took forever in the mornings to get ready, I get ready in like 15 minutes and he takes almost an hour and a half. We are constantly late to appointments too. Apparently there is something I need to learn from all of this because I am staying with him for another 6 weeks. I'm sure the Lord will help me figure things out (preferrably quickly) so that we can at least agree on more and work a little harder.

Our investigator Maria that had the baptismal date for the 29th fell on keeping the word of wisdom. She went out to a party with some of her friends and they kept pressuring her to drink with them. It is pretty sad because she was doing so good with it. So we are working towards mid-January now for her baptism. We have two other investigators who are getting close to accepting baptismal invitations as well.

So on Christmas Eve we are going to the Cotter's house they are members of our ward. They have the missionaries over every year. They invite a bunch of people over and we are having crab and shrimp and squid and all sorts of other yummy food! Sister Cotter is the one who makes the orange cake that I told you about a while ago. She wasn't planning on making one until I begged her to make it for me. haha :P Of course she couldn't say no! The fire department in the town they live in drives around every year on their firetruck with somebody dressed up as Santa and somebody as Frosty. I guess it is a pretty big thing. It will be quite the party Christmas Eve.

I got to go back to West Point last week and I took some pictures for you guys so look forward to those! I can't wait to skype with you guys on Christmas! I look forward to seeing more pictures from the Jackson Party and from Christmas day! Hope you guys have a great week and I will chat with you again on Tuesday! :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Elder Fuller

Tueller's Week 20

Hey,

That is great that you guys are staying busy. It doesn't even really feel like it should be Christmas yet. What are Mikey and Spencer asking for this year? What are some of the family presents that you guys are getting? So just this past week President Morgan announced that if we want to wear anything more than just a shirt and tie we have to wear our suits and then we can put on a coat. That black jacket was doing just fine keeping me warm but it is the same size as my suit coat so it won't fit over it or under it. So I have to go get a new coat that will fit over my suit. I found one at Sears for $60 that I think I am going to get. So if you see that hit my checking account that is why.

What time will work best for you guys on Christmas for me to call? Then as soon as I found out if I am getting transferred I can figure out when will work best for me and I will let you know next week.

That is so funny that you said something about the Jackson Christmas party. I was just thinking about that the other day. I was like hmm... that is weird they never let me hear about the party and it is 2 weeks past Thanksgiving. Also speaking of family gatherings.... Do you know if we are related to a Golden R. Tueller? Elder Petersen one of the 2nd ward elders is related to a bunch of Tuellers. He was asking if we went to a Tueller family reunion ever and I couldn't remember ever having been. Then he said they usually have one every year up at Bear Lake. I thought geez! what a coincidence. How many Tueller families would have a family reunion at Bear Lake? So I was wondering if you guys knew any relation and he is asking about Grandma Tilly. Oh the joys of family history! :)

Momma D. I don't know what you are doing with your time now that Eric and I aren't there to bother you all the time. It is also hard for me to try and be good without you telling me to be every time I leave the house. :) I miss you guys and will miss giving you a hard time about keeping the house too warm with the fire.

So Maria Ganley finally accepted a baptismal invitation for the 29th of December. What a great New Year's resolution right?! I am so excited for her! Hopefully I will stay for one more cycle so that I can see the baptism. Then that would be two baptisms of investigators that I have seen from start to finish.

We are going down to West Point again today. My camera battery is fully charged and ready to take some pictures this time. So I know I will get some good pictures for you guys.

I don't have to much to write about this week so this letter is pretty short. Sorry! Anyways have a great week guys! Have fun at the Christmas Party! Tell everyone I say hi. I can't wait to hear what you guys do this year for it.

Love ya
Elder Fuller

First of December Week 19

From:	Ryan Fuller (ryan.fuller@myldsmail.net)You moved this message to its current location.
Sent:	Wed 12/05/12 2:29 PM
To:	BLAIR W FULLER (bwkjfuller@msn.com)

Hey guys!

That is quite the crazy story! You will have to let me know if they find anything out about Dad. At least it wasn't something too severe. Hopefully they can find out something that it might have been. That is sad to hear that Crystal's Grandpa died. Is she and her family doing ok? You will have to keep me updated each week on the baby now that it is getting close to her having it. That is exciting for Bryce to finally be a dad and I'm sure even more so for Crystal to be a mom! I am sad to hear that Tiffany died as well. She was a really sweet girl. I actually had seminary with her one year so I talked with her quite a few times. Is Brian doing alright? Have you heard anything about him? I know he is on a mission right now.

That is awesome that Kramer is doing so well! I know he went to the Nike regionals did he not make it to Nike Nationals? If you see him tell him I am proud of him and am missing seeing him running.

Hopefully Bryce and Crystal and Staci and Rob can find houses. Is there a reason behind Staci and Rob wanting a house vs. the apartment they are in now? I saw the pictures that Aly took when she was in Utah and I could see that Mikey had grown quite a bit! I told my lil' shweet pea that he couldn't grow one inch while I was gone! At least I know that he will NEVER be taller than me and that he will always be my little brother! :) haha How is he liking 9th grade now? Is he getting excited for Christmas break? As far as me calling on Christmas I have no clue as to what is going to happen because we have transfers on the 19th. So as far as I know I could be in a completely new area with a completely new companion by Christmas. I won't find out that I am getting transferred until like a day or two before so I will have to let you know a little later what will be happening. I got the Christmas package on Monday. I really liked all of the treats and I am trying to exercise a little self control to open the presents on Christmas. (it is really hard with no one to tell you that you have to wait, I know why Grandpa Clair always opens his early now haha) I am really enjoying the present each day Momma D. I love the idea and the scriptures are really clever. My companions and I love trying to guess what the present will be from the scripture.

We had quite the crazy week this week. On Friday last week I got to experience a lot of firsts. I mowed a lawn with a ride on John Deere mower for the first time. That was pretty fun and I want to invest in one when I get home haha. I mowed a lawn in a white shirt and tie for the first time. I also mowed a lawn for the first time while it was snowing. Our investigator Maria really needed her lawn mowed and leaves picked up so we did that before our lesson with her that day. It wasn't snowing a lot so it was fine but there was still just enough to say that it was snowing haha. On Saturday we held a zone conference for the missionary prep class that the stake holds. It was a great experience for the kids to interact with us and to see a little of what its like to be a missionary. (haha I just realized I called them kids apparently I think I am so experienced now that I have been out for a little over 4 months). On Monday we held our actual zone conference and we got to hear from Paul Johnson of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. It was really good he talked a lot about being personally converted and I learned a ton.

I'll send some pictures today but you guys have a great week! Hopefully Dad gets feeling better and Crystal's family and the Howell family will be comforted. Talk to you next week.

Love Elder Fuller