Manhattan Temple Week 59

Hey everyone,

Things are going great! We get to go to the Temple today. I am super excited to go especially because they have a new video. The people in the video are from the Scarsdale Ward here. They will be releasing a second video in English in the near future with members from the Harlem ward in it. There is also supposed to be a Spanish version of the video as well. It will be weird knowing the people in it. This Saturday we are having a baptism in the ward and then the following Saturday we will possibly be having 4 more baptisms. The work is going so well right now!! We are still working with the two girls Nia and Paris and trying to get them ready for next Saturday but things are really up in the air as to whether they will be ready or not. If you don't remember or in case I forgot to tell you we have had three baptisms of investigators in the ward in the last month.

Haha Elder Alivio is a great guy. He was so excited to write you guys a letter especially after having received two packages from you. I love getting to proof read all of his letters and help him learn English. It definitely makes me realize how little English I know when I have to try and explain to him the grammar. It usually takes him about 4 or 5 drafts when he writes someone a letter so its fun to see him finally send it off.

That is cool that Mikey has still been able to run so far. I hope and pray that he stays healthy so he can continue running. It is such a great experience and makes school that much more fun. That is funny that you made him finally clean his corner. I can only imagine how much stuff was shoved back in there. What is Spencer up to? Is he just working still? That is no fun that Staci is sick... Hopefully it goes away or at least gets a little better for her. How is Rob doing? Is he still working at that lab place with John Nelson? How is he dealing with Staci being sick? haha How are Bryce and Crystal doing? Is Bryce still helping figure out the technology stuff for the school district? What is Crystal doing? It really sounds like Cara is doing well. She seems like she is quite the little character.

Sorry but we gotta go if we are going to make it on time to the temple. Love you guys!

Elder Fuller

New Apartment Week 58

Hey Family,

So this past week was pretty good. We finally got all moved in and are all situated in the new apartment. Now I'll probably have to pack again in another 3 weeks. Woo.... hoo.... haha So I got a prescription cream from the doctor and Elder Alivio got an ointment from him as well. He said it should go away very soon. We both got your packages on Sunday. Thank you for sending those. The socks work great by the way! Elder Alivio was very excited to get the peaches and the pin. He wrote you guys a letter. You should be getting it today or tomorrow. You guys are going to like it. He made me pre-read it for errors but there were too many to fix all of them so I just helped him with grammar so that things kind of made sense.

Thats not a bad time. Thats just a little slower than what he ran at American Fork. Has he still been feeling very healthy (aside from the sinus infection)? I always found that if I just kept working out through the small illnesses the better I felt. I guess even though I am on the other side of the country as you it doesn't stop me from getting sinus infections the same time you guys do. Mine just started yesterday. Hopefully it won't get too bad I don't wanna call the Dr. and ask for a prescription, he isn't a very easy person to talk to.

So I don't know if you guys heard anything from the churchwide broadcast about 3 or 4 months ago on missionary work but they said that the missionaries around the world would soon be getting I-pads to proselyte with. So this past week we found out that before Christmas every missionary in our mission will have an I-pad mini and each companionship will have an I-phone as well. We will be using the I-pads to proselyte on Facebook with our investigators and people we meet. We will also be able to skype, and facetime, and blog, and tweet, and whatever other things we can to advertise the church more. It will be very interesting. All of the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leader's are already starting to use Facebook just on the computers at the church. The mission is going to completely change very soon. The church wants us to use all of our old accounts for Facebook and things so the Zone Leader's have been trying to edit and clean up their accounts so that they are missionary approved. Elder World and Elder Hall keep telling us that it is pretty hard to do and takes a ton of time. It is exciting to be having all of these changes happening.

So I wanted to go down and see the Freedom Tower and 9/11 Memorial today but none of us were allowed to go down there. I can't believe it has been 12 years since it happened. I also can't believe it has been a full year since I have been out. It feels like just a month or so ago that I was with Elder Nevarez and it was 9/11. Time goes by way too fast.

That is exciting news to hear from Staci!! I can't wait to hear more!!  Again time goes by way too fast. I can't believe I'll have to miss this one as well!

This past week we visited a less-active family who had their 9 year old son in the hospital with leukemia. They are from the Yonker's ward so I had never met them but we were asked to go give the son a blessing. It was hard to see and I couldn't help but be reminded of Spencer being in the hospital. He was in a lot of pain from the IV's they had him hooked up to and was nervous for the surgery that he was getting ready to have. They put a tube into one of his veins leading almost directly to his heart. The tube dangles from his chest so that they can hook him up to dialysis a lot easier and so that he can get the platelets he needs. This is the 5th procedure he is having to try and get rid of it and he has scars all over from all the past attempts to get rid of it. This is a new procedure and he will be like the 20th child to try it. The parents have lost a lot of hope and trust in the Lord. It was quite the experience giving him a blessing and feeling the peace that came over him and his family. I have never felt the Savior's love more. It made me think about you Mom and Dad and I wanted to know how you both made it through. I also wanted to know how Spencer was able to be so brave through everything. It really helped me be able to relate to the family and comfort them a little having had the experience with Spencer. The boy really hated having to have tape on his body because it hurt to take it off. Come to find out they still use the orange stuff to help and the boy is very ticklish. So with a little tickling and some orange stuff we helped get his tape off. It was definitely quite the experience.

Anyways I gotta run. Have a great week ya'll! Love Ya!

Elder Fuller

Iris Elliston Week 57

Hey guys,

First of all Happy Late Birthday Mom! I want you to know that I didn't forget when your Birthday is I know it is the 27th, wait the 29th?, or was it the 23rd?, I dunno.... anyways... all of the days just kind of blend together here and I just really don't know what day we are on. It really threw me for a loop when we walked into Walgreens the other day and they had up Halloween decorations and had out all the boxes of candy. I thought I missed a whole month!

So the past few days have been AWESOME!!!! To start off with I got to baptize Iris Elliston on Saturday. It was fun getting to perform my first baptism. Then on Sunday Elder Alivio did the confirmation. He was really nervous but did a great job. I got to see Jen Fish baptized my second cycle and then confirm her so it was cool that Elder Alivio got to see someone baptized and then confirm them his second cycle. Then because Sunday was the 1st it was fast and testimony meeting. First of all those are always funny in this ward every person who gets up is not afraid to express things as they really are but it was cool because we got to see Iris get up and bare her testimony. It was incredible to see the growth she had had and to feel the spirit that accompanied her. I was truly blessed to have the opportunity to teach her. Then if you remember we as a mission had a goal for every companionship to baptize someone in the month of September. We are still working hard on preparing Nia and Paris the two girls of Yesenia (the less active who stopped us the one night she was drunk). Our zone which has 13 companionships had 6 baptisms this weekend. We were kind of bummed because Saturday was only the 31st so the baptism wouldn't technically be in December. Then our Mission President pointed out that baptism isn't complete without the confirmation which took place on the 1st. So that means technically we already had our September baptism. :) We are still working hard however to get another! So you know the whole situation with our shower (the food comes up the drain, it often times smells like poo, and it takes forever to drain when we shower so we end up standing in our own filth) ya well over the past week I have developed some kind of fungal infection on my feet and my companion has it on his hands. We get these little blisters that itch like crazy then they pop and the skin dries out and cracks and starts peeling. (if you thought this was the blessing its not but it did lead to the blessing). We talked to Sister Morgan and she talked to her husband and told him that we aren't allowed to live there anymore. haha I guess even though he is the Mission President he still has to follow his wife. :P So over the next few days we get to move out and move back in with the zone leaders. So this will be my 4th apartment in my 6 cycles in this area! haha I love it!!

That is awesome that Mikey got to race down there. That is a fun race. Hopefully he continues to stay healthy so he can keep competing. That is funny that they went to Mesa Verde. Just last night the senior missionary couple in our ward the Finlayson's and another couple from our ward were talking about Mesa Verde and I was thinking way back to when we went as a family. That is cool hopefully they had fun!

Thank you so much for sending the packages. I can't wait to get it and see the surprise! That is funny how Cara eats. I wish I was there to see it. That is crazy that it has been that hot there this summer. The weather is finally starting to break here. Yesterday was beautiful it was like 75 degrees with a nice breeze and very low humidity. We ended up walking everywhere rather than taking the bus or the subway because we wanted to enjoy the weather.

I love you guys. Have a great week!

Elder Fuller

Apartments Week 56

Hey guys!

I did have a great week thanks! The baptism for Iris is still going on this weekend! I am so excited to see her get baptized!!! This will be the 4th baptism of somebody I have seen the whole way through the process. It is pretty rare in the mission to see people the whole way through the teaching process from the day you find them to the day they get baptized. So it is cool that I have seen so many. I guess it does help that I spent 4 cycles in Poughkeepsie and am working on my 6th cycle here. I have enjoyed not being moved around too much. (knock on wood) I'm almost positive I'll be moved this next cycle. I kind of hope to go back upstate for a little bit.

Who is brooks bingham? And where did Bryan Engstrom go? You did tell me that Spencer was going to be helping coach. That is so sad that they only have 40 kids. That was part of what made cross country and track so much fun was the big teams. Tell Mikey to keep up the good work! I want to hear about all of his races. How are Murphy and Heffner doing?

It does seem very weird having only two of us in the apartment now. It is very quiet and the fridge is very empty (mostly because its the end of the month but still...). haha However, lately when the bathtub backs up it has been smelling like poo. We called and told the senior missionaries over the housing and they called and talked with the Leasing group. They said that someone would be out Monday (and they never came) then the senior couple called back and they said someone would be out yesterday (they still didn't show up) so I don't know exactly what is going to happen. Needless to say it was a boring past two days. We just sat at home waiting for someone to show up and they never did. It kind of sounded like the leasing group would let us break the lease early though so pray real hard that we can move out soon!

Holy cow! That is a lot of awards for the court of honor. Have you not had one for a long time? Or did they go to a scout camp where they do lots of merit badges? I miss getting to mow lawns and build fences and do stuff with my hands. As crazy as that may sound it is true!

Really the only thing I need is some socks. The ones I have are getting pretty thin. I will need to buy another pair of dress shoes sometime in the next month or two especially before winter starts. The Bostonians I have had since the beginning are starting to finally give way.

So I have talked a little bit with Jake but not very recently. He shouldn't be coming home until December unless he is coming home early for something. What is going on with Jonny Jensen? I haven't heard anything about him.

Love ya

Elder Fuller

Transfers Week 55

Hey everybody,

So Elder Alivio just barely got a camera from Sister Carson (his sponsor) so he doesn't really need one. So I think he is doing ok! He is still obsessed with his canned peaches! haha He has to buy a couple cans each week and he just opens it and then puts it in the fridge and he will come sneak some anytime no one is looking. It reminds me of what Michael used to do when you would make frosting. haha And why are you even thinking about who will come to my homecoming?!?!? It is still 11 months away!! haha

Will you send me Alex Dickerson's missionary email? I need to write him. I would send him a letter but he is going to the Mexico MTC so I think emailing would be easier.

How are both sides of the family doing? Hopefully you told them all hi for me. How is Mikel's husband? What did they do for the reception?

It sounds like Mikey will really have fun this year in school. What happened with the split for the new school? The only thing I can tell him about his leg is to make sure he is stretching and drinking enough water. Those were two things that I didn't do as much as I should have and it would have really helped me. The other thing he could do is use that foam roller you bought me. It is in the corner of my closet standing up by my shoe rack. I bought one here and it has really been helping me. You can look up online some different stretches he can do on it.

So this week was transfers. I get to stay for another cycle here in Kingsbridge. This will make 6 in total here. That will be 36 weeks! It is hard to think that I have been here since January. I am ready for a new area but I definitely wasn't ready for a new companion. So I am very glad I'm staying. I decided I want to go back upstate somewhere after this hopefully Connecticut for a while then back to the city right before I come home but I guess I really don't have to much say over it. haha So next Saturday we are having a baptism. Iris Elliston will be getting baptized. I am so excited for her. I have been working with her from the very beginning back in April. The less active named Yesenia, I think I told you about her she was the one who stopped us on our way home one night and was very drunk and wanted to change, has been going with us to the Addiction Recovery Program every Tuesday. She is really moving her life in a very positive direction and is doing so very quickly. I am so excited for her as well! She has two daughters who could be baptized and we are going to have FHE with them on Friday. I love watching people progress in the gospel. It brings such joy into my life.

So Elder Picoli was transferred to New Canaan, CT which is only about 25 minutes from his home in Bridgeport, CT. Elder World and his new companion Elder Hall are moving into a new apartment they bought to replace the one we are living in now. They decided the mushrooms we have found growing from our ceiling aren't healthy. Unfortunately only Elder World and his companion get to move into the new apartment. They have to keep us in this apartment until the lease agreement is up in November or until the Church's Legal Department figures out a way to break the Lease agreement because of health issues. So it looks like we are stuck with the mices, cockroaches, back wash, and mushrooms. Isn't life just great! The new apartment though isn't nearly as close to the church as this one which is kind of a bummer. Also in the new apartment there is about a foot and a half walkway between the tub and the wall and the toilet is crammed in the corner so you can't sit straight on the toilet you either have to wrap your legs around the wall or sit sideways and put your feet in the tub. I guess every apartment has its quirks. haha

I love you guys! I hope things continue to go well for you! Have a great week!

Elder Fuller

George Washington Week 54

Hey!

So Elder Alivio was not offended at all by the tie or the socks. He loved them. In fact that is his new favorite tie. His email is arven.alivio@myldsmail.net. I'm sure he would love an email from you as well as from Jordan Tucker. I know he wanted to thank you for the package. I could probably use another nasal spray. I think I am good on the mucinex and claritin for a while. I still have probably 2 bottles of each. I could really use some new socks though. Preferably mostly cotton or at least a thicker feeling material. The thin spandex-y ones wear thin too quickly.

That is funny that you mentioned the bike racing I was thinking about the TDF this morning. So the weather here today is about 80 degrees and almost no humidity. It was about 60 degrees and a crisp morning when we went to do our laundry at 7 this morning. I thought what a perfect day to be camping. haha Then I was thinking about what I would have been doing at home and realized that I had not heard anything about the Tour de' France. Usually that is a big thing (at least in Utah) but I didn't hear a single word about it the whole summer. I guess the people here in the Bronx could care less about a bunch of white guys in spandex riding around on bicycles really fast. haha That is cool that the race is getting so big. It is really cool that you get a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to watch the TDF live.

That is funny that Mikey didn't want to dance so instead he was out playing with a sling shot. I dunno which I liked more though Mom. I probably would have been dancing with the girls. haha but I does sound like me to be playing with a slingshot. I really wish I had one here. There have been multiple times that I could have used it especially here in the Bronx. I mean the pigeon that pooped on me a few weeks ago would have been a goner. The pigeons that you have to dodge as they try and attack your face would certainly no longer be around either. The mouse problem in our apartment would have been taken care of a long time ago. (we are now up to 13 caught by the way) There have also been plenty of people who could have used a pebble to the backside as well. haha I love these people but some of them really need some bigger clothes or parents who should have taught them how to be a decent human being. I STILL WANT PICTURES FROM TREK!

Does Mikey not like running with Murphy? Or has it just been hard for him to get to the summer practices? Hopefully he has fun running and hopefully he can stay healthy for more of the season this year. Is he excited for High School? What is happening with the new Draper High School? That opens this year right?

So we had a ward bbq this past Saturday. We had a lot of people show up for it! It was a lot of fun. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, and lots of other really good food. There was a big water fight, a big softball game, and a man from Congo named George Washington singing karaoke in French by himself for over an hour ok not all of it was French but you couldn't understand the stuff that he was singing in English anyway so it might as well have been in French. (quick background on Brother Washington he grew up in Congo moved to Russia when he was 30 lived there for 20 years then came to the United States upon arrival here they asked him how to spell his name, seeing as how his name is in only a spoken language not a written language they asked him to pick a name so he picked the only American name he knew George Washington!!) On Sunday we had to sing in sacrament meeting. It didn't go that great... hahah We sounded terrible! About half of us are tone-deaf. Oh well its the thought that counts right?! We sang the first verse of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, the 3 Verse of I Know That My Redeemer Lives, the 4th verse of APWMOG, and the last 3 lines of the last verse of IKTMRL all to the tune of APWMOG. It was a lot of fun though!

Love you guys!

Elder Fuller

Bronx Farm Week 53

Hey ya'll,

Thank you so much for sending that package to Elder Alivio!!!!! It came on Tuesday with the mail. He loved it a lot! Especially the can of 'Just barely's' which are already gone by the way hahaha. It was so much fun to watch him open it! It was like a little kid at Christmas time! It took him like five minutes to open it because he couldn't believe it was for him. He was so confused that he got a package. He was definitely surprised when he started reading the note and saw some Tagolog (sp?) on there. He said it was right except for the first word. So good job! Did you ask Smitty or google translate? Where exactly in the Phillipines did Smitty serve? Good job on picking the tie out Spencer! He really liked it! He is very excited to try all of the different canned fruits. We filmed the whole thing unfortunately it is too long to email. So you might just have to wait until I get home and get the video.

I am glad you were able to get a route that you wanted, Mom. That will help to make working a little more fun! What were you sick with on Sunday? I hadn't heard anything about that! Have the Dr.'s said that is what it is? It sounds like you had a busy week cleaning and doing yard work. Hopefully Staci's home passed the inspection! Does she know when she will find out? Wow it feels like the summer just blew by! I can't believe they have already had the Pepperwood reunion. Did most of the family make it this year?

So we are continuing to work hard. Iris Elliston who is a 60 year old Jamaican lady has finally accepted a baptismal date for the 31st of August. After a dry spell of 4 months we finally have another baptism scheduled. I have been working with Iris since about the end of March. She is such a sweet lady. Unfortunately she works as a home health nurse so she can't make it to church all the time so that has been holding her back. Not more than 3 days after we set the date did President Morgan decide to challenge everyone to have a baptism in September. We debated moving it back just one day to meet President Morgan's challenge but decided not to. haha  So we are still praying to find someone who could be ready for September. We got a whole bunch of online media referrals the last two weeks so we are hoping one of them will turn into something!

So we got to do some service on Saturday. My entire time here in the Bronx I haven't done any service. There just really isn't a whole lot you can do aside from working in a soup kitchen. One of the other Elders found a little community garden that they work in every Saturday. They just started trying to clean this one up. It had been over-run by weeds and garbage so they are getting it back to where they can plant things. We picked up garbage on Saturday and we found all sorts of interesting things. We found 3 knives, a handful of syringes, a bottle of prescription medicine, enough broken pieces of glass bottles to fill a Catholic church with stained glass windows, a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition calendar, some pirated DVD's, about $6 worth of plastic bottles and cans (each is worth 5 cents), and about 7 mismatched shoes. haha We also filled about 5 large garbage bags of weeds. We did this as a district so there were 8 of us there. It was a lot of fun! It was especially nice to get dirty after about 8 months of not being able to. haha

I love you guys!

Elder Fuller

Just Barely Week 52

Hey Family,

So my heart was crushed this week. In talking with Elder Alivio I found out that his family back home is very poor and his family doesn't have a computer or access to one. That means no email. So I asked him how he was communicating with his family. He said the only time he has talked to them or heard anything from them was on Mothers day when he got to talk to them for about 2 hours. He was telling me that even if he wrote them a letter it would probably take about 2 months for them to get it with how the mail there works. I can't imagine not being able to at least stay in some kind of contact. He is truly dedicated to serving the Lord and has a happy attitude about doing it even with not being able to talk with his family. I was thinking if you guys had time to take $20 from my bank account and maybe send him a package with some goodies. I know he likes Pringles and chips and chocolate. Not so much candy bars but regular chocolate. I'm sure he would really love and appreciate it. Thank you for always sending me packages and being able to email me. It really made me appreciate all that you can do for me more.

That sounds like you guys had fun last week! Lots to do! I don't know if she told you but Aly's one year mark as a member was 4 days before my one year mark as a missionary. How is Cara's hand healing? That sounds pretty painful!! Hey now... I still have a year left to serve a mission... I 'm not thinking about jobs yet!! haha but ya I would definitely consider doing the bus attendant stuff. I think when I come home I'll probably just work a whole lot until the spring semester starts.

So I love being with Elder Alivio he is so funny and relaxed with things which seems to be hard to find. Lately there have been a lot of missionaries having problems with companions and not getting along especially in my zone. It makes things kind of awkward and uncomfortable because the spirit can't be around. So on Monday a member took us to this little "Chinese buffet" which had a selection comprised of about 1/3 chinese food (fried rice, chicken and broccoli, and egg rolls) about 1/3 Spanish food (yellow rice and beans, fried plantains, nachos) and 1/3 american food (mac-n-cheese, french fries, spaghetti). They had a bunch of fruit as well. Elder Alivio hasn't had a lot of fruit before because its very expensive in the Phillipines. He had only had grapes twice before, he had never had peaches, strawberries, or cherries. So over the last week he has tried a lot of those fruits, turns out he loves all of them especially the canned peaches from the restaurant! Afterwards Elder Picoli asked Alivio what his favorite food there was. Elder Alivio turns to me and asks, "What was that orange fruit I ate?" I ask, "Just barely?" Elder Alivio turns to Elder Picoli and proudly announces that his favorite food was 'just barely'. hahahahahaha Oh man I laughed so hard. I then explained what just barely meant and told him that he just ate peaches. There has been lots of other funny experiences like that as well. For example we had zone conference yesterday and we had 'beagles' for breakfast I mean bagels for breakfast. Thankfully he is a good sport about all of it! :) It keeps ours days interesting though! (haha well at least my day interesting)

I have also been learning Tagolig. (spelling?) I don't know how to spell any of the words but I will tell you phonetically the few words I know.

bok-bok (kind of like the noise a chicken makes)- a lady of the night haha (we see lots of them here as you can imagine)

ba-boy- fat/pig

iyum- dog

ponget- ugly

wok-wok (not to be confused with bok-bok)- vampire

muh-booty- food (haha this ones my favorite) :)

As you can tell I learn words as they come up! haha

Well I would email pictures if I had remembered my SD card reader. Maybe next week. Have a good week everybody!!

Elder Fuller

One Year Week 51

Hey everyone!

Ahh... man... It is so good but so hard to hear about the boys going camping. I miss it soo much!!! You guys are just going to have to miss me for the first couple weekends when I get home!! :P That is cool to hear that the boys had fun at scout camp. I can just picture those boys eating all that food. hahaha I remember eating quite a lot at scout camps as well. That's cool that Crawford's cage actually worked! It is super funny there is a store here I think called Al's camping store. They sell guns, fishing poles, nets, bait, etc., tents, and all sorts of other cool things but it is right in the middle of the city. I get a pretty good laugh every time I see it because its like really? who is buying this stuff that lives in the Bronx!!! We randomly see people walking around with big deep sea fishing poles as well which is funny. I guess there really are rednecks everywhere.

That is cool that you will have Aly over for the 24th. You need to show her what it means to celebrate one of my favorite holidays. I bet that was fun getting to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma and getting to see all of the floats as well. You will have to each tell me about your favorite floats. I Man... It is so weird not celebrating the 24th! I mean at least for the 4th of July some people were still outside having barbeque's and some people were lighting off fireworks so I still got to enjoy the feel of the holiday. It just seems like nobody here cares about Pioneers! haha Well I am very thankful for Pioneers! I mean the Chinese people who pioneered firework's are probably my favorite pioneers of all time, whoever the guy was who pioneered hamburgers and hotdogs deserves an award as well. The people who pioneered floats, and salt water taffy, and the red, white, and blue streamers everywhere deserve a great place in history also. haha Really though all joking aside I am truly grateful for the Pioneers who made their way through hardships and trials across the country to keep this wonderful gospel alive and ever growing as well as to establish the land (Utah) that I love so dearly. These people truly do deserve rewards for the things they went through and I am sure that our Father in Heaven is well on top of handing out those rewards. :)

That is cool to hear that Dad was called to a stake calling. What exactly does the calling entail? Is Spencer still doing the ward missionary stuff with Brother Swensen?

Holy cow!!! Cara is so big! I can't wait to see her when I get home.

So for my year mark I will be ceremoniously changing my sheets and burning a shirt. As you know they tell us to bring two sets of sheets well a lot of the missionaries here only use 1 set for a year then the other set the following year. So I get to change those. We also burn a tie for our 6 month mark, an old nasty shirt for our year mark, and an old pair of dress pants for our 18 month mark.

You will have to tell both sides of the family hi for me when you see them at Mikel's wedding and at Steven Kirk's homecoming. That will be a lot of fun. I hope you guys have a good Pioneer day today!! I love you all.

Elder Fuller

Elder Alivio Week 50

Hey ya'll,

Well that is exciting that you will be done with working the 10 hour shifts. I'm sure Dad has been really stressed lately. Usually things get really bad for him. That is fun that the boys get to go to flaming gorge. I have only been there once I think and I don't really remember it. Are all of the young men going there? What kinds of activities are they doing? Crawford always has to have a new weapon to play with when he goes to camp!! hahaha I hope they have fun! Do you know if Joey is going? I have been kind of worried about him now that he is out of school and doesn't really have some of the greatest friends around. That is cool that the boys got to go see that soccer game. Have they been able to use their passes all that much? What things have they gone to do? I am jealous that they got to see grown ups 2! haha but then I remember that I can see it when I get home in one more year (can you believe it has gone by that fast) and that I am living in New York and get to see all of the cool things here so I can rub some things in there face as well! :P haha Did they like grown ups 2? How do the ads look for that movie RIPD: Rest in Peace Department look? I see the posters everywhere for it but it just looks kind of dorky.

So Elder Alivio is AWESOME!! haha We have been having so much fun this week. It is cool because the pressures of training a new missionary aren't really there. Normally the trainer is stressed about making sure the new missionary is doing everything right, making sure they teach most of the lesson, and making sure they pass as much of their knowledge to the new missionary as they can. I realized I can't worry about any of that because he probably won't understand a lot of it anyways. This is his first time being out of the Phillipines, so not only do I get to teach him how to be a missionary I get to help him learn English as well as ebonics, how to use money both cash/coins and debit cards, how to strategically avoid all the garbage and doggie doo everywhere, how to jay walk, how to ignore the crazy people, and how to enjoy being around such different people. Had he not got to spend 6 weeks in Utah he would think that all Americans are extremely lazy and disgusting thankfully he understands that it is just a condition of living here. haha He tells me all the time how none of the stuff people do here would be acceptable in the Phillipines. For being almost as tall as me and weighing only 135 lbs. he sure can eat a lot. haha He is used to eating 4 meals a day at home all of them consisting of a big bowl of rice. So needless to say he loves that we have a rice cooker and can buy 20 lbs of rice for $10.

Elder Alivio is a convert of only 4 years. He is 22 now so he joined when he was 18. He was walking along the beach one day right before a big tropical storm hit and he saw two white guys in shirts and ties walking past. I guess it is very customary for Phillipino's to treat white people almost as royalty. He said it is very easy to teach people there. He told them there was a big storm coming really soon and upon finding out where they lived told them they wouldn't have time to get back to their house. So he invited them to his house without his parents permission. The missionaries ended up spending two days with them and taught them a ton about the church. Elder Alivio was the first in his family to be baptized and his parents shortly followed him about a month later, his only other sibling his older sister is still not a member yet because her husband won't really let her join. So it is pretty rare for Phillipino's to serve there missions in other countries. I guess it is pretty hard for others to get in there so usually they just keep missionaries there so the 10 Phillipino members in our ward here were nicely surprised to meet him.

Thank you so much for the package. It was great to get some of that stuff. We haven't caught any mice recently thankfully so now I don't really know what to do with the poison. haha Thank you for putting some money on my account as well. I really appreciate it. I told Staci that it is always comforting knowing that I have it there in case of emergencies. Especially where I am still waiting to get all of my money back that was stolen.

Here is a little story of a cool experience I had this week. So on Saturday all I could think about was a member from the Poughkeepsie ward. I was really good friends with her and her youngest daughter. I couldn't stop thinking about her and finally I determined that I needed to call her and just see how she was doing. Well we ended up getting home late and I wasn't able to call her so I just kind of pushed the thought aside. Sunday I wake up and the same thing. I can't stop thinking about her feel that I really need to call her. So we go home right after church and I give her a call. Turns out she had been having a really rough few weeks. Her oldest daughter, who I only met like twice, is my age and was going to school in Philly and about a week and a half ago got assaulted by some like 40 year old guy. So her daughter is now going through a lot of depression and things because she wasn't exactly doing what she should be with her life. She moved back in with her mom and is trying to get her life back in order now. Then on Thursday the mom's best friend went missing. Even though he lived in New Jersey she was trying to do as much as she could to help find him. They eventually found his body Friday morning and determined that he had committed suicide. The mom had just got this friend to start taking lessons with the missionaries and was looking forward to attending his baptism. I am so thankful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost and the comforting power of the Atonement. She said that she had been praying for someone to talk to about all of the problems she was going through. It was such an incredible experience and I am so grateful that I was blessed with the opportunity to help her out. She was also telling me about how the missionaries up there now never talk to her at all and even though she is at church almost every week asked her if she was new to the ward. The church is true!!

Love you all,

Elder Fuller

Men or Mice Week 49

Hey guys!

So I had a great 4th of July as well. All 7 of the missionaries in our district went to an investigators house and we stayed there pretty much all afternoon. They fed us dinner and we sat around and played games. It was a lot of fun. That poopy puppy firework sounds pretty funny. haha We were actually able to get on the roof of our 7 story apartment building and we got to see some fireworks. Everything here is illegal so it was funny to see how many people were lighting fireworks off. We could also see all the way to Manhattan and we could see the Empire State building all lit up red, white, and blue. I will have to send pictures soon. My computer is kicking me off and I don't know if ill be able to email more. I am training another new missionary. This one is from the Phillipines and the only English he knows is what he learned in 6 weeks in the MTC. It will be very interesting training him. We have caught 8 mice now and I think we are just about done. Thanks for everything. I don't think I still need the stuff for the gym. Have a great week.

Hot Hot Hot Week 48

Hey Guys!

So I actually new about the heat before you told me. We have a telephone number that we can call for the weather and it will let you check anywhere in the U.S. So Elder World who is also from Sandy checked the weather there and the first thing it says is HEAT!! haha That is too bad that it has been that hot. I would still probably prefer that over the 90 degree weather and the 100% humidity that we have been having. It is not fun! Especially having to be in pants and a shirt and tie. haha

That is so cool to hear about the boys Trek experience! I loved Trek and still have very fond memories of it. Man I miss steak! I haven't had a good piece of steak for almost a year. I remember the Bridge's but I don't remember the Wilkinson's. Hopefully the boys took some pictures or they can get some from somebody who did. I would love to see some!!! How many people did they have in each family? Also it doesn't sound like it was that weird for you and dad to have the house to yourself, I see all the exclamation points after being empty nesters! haha

Hopefully you told everybody hi for me. I miss getting to see everybody! I have a feeling I'm not going to enjoy this 4th of July that much. haha It will be real hard not being able to play with fireworks and go to barbeque's with family. We have a family that is investigating the church having us over for a bbq in the afternoon and then we have another family having us over for one in the evening. We have to be in our apartments by 8 and if the landlords allow people to access the roof we can sit on the roof 'til 10 watching fireworks. Hopefully our landlord will let us and hopefully some fireworks will start before then. :P What are you guys doing for your 4th of July?

This week has been pretty rough. It is hard being in a trio. Especially with Elder Picoli.... It is almost impossible to get him to compromise on anything right now. He has really let the little bit of power he has as a zone leader get to his head. Elder World and I agree on pretty much everything but Elder Picoli we think just tries to be stubborn because he can. He also signed up the missionaries in the ward to help this girl move. Guess when he scheduled it?! The time that he is having a meeting with the president and the Sister's will be gone for that as well. So only 3 of the 7 of us will be able to go...! If you can't tell he has really been bothering me. I can't wait to get my own companion again. Also to make matters worse I found out last night that my missionary support debit card info had been stolen. I got my allowance for the month and within two days it had all been spent. So now I have to try and deal with that mess as well. haha Oh the experiences you get to have as a missionary!!! :)

So I told you last week I needed more Gilllette Mach 3 razor blades I could also use one more bottle of body wash, and a little sewing kit or even just a needle and some black thread I lost mine. Other than that I think I'm good. I will have to try and write to Nate then. Also I heard something about Nate possibly being engaged? Does Spencer know if that's true?

Anyways, have a great week and hopefully it will cool down a little bit for you guys. Have a great 4th of July!!

Love you guys,

Elder Fuller

Summertime Week 47

Hey ya'll,

It is so great getting to hear from you every week. Even though I don't get to hear a lot it is fun to at least stay somewhat updated on things. That is cool that both boys got to go on trek. It is such a fun experience! Are they going for a whole week? Where are they doing it at? Martin-Willy or the LDS Livestock? That is cool that they still let Spencer go! Were there any other guys his age that went? I am sure they will have a blast! I still have great memories from when I did it!

That is cool that you got to see Aly again. It is fun that you guys get to meet some of the wonderful people that I get to spend these two years with. It feels like forever since I was up in Poughkeepsie! I officially hit my 11 month mark yesterday. It is super weird! It looks like I will still be here in the Bronx for my year mark as well. President Morgan hinted that I would stay here and train again next cycle.

Ya I actually just got an email from Elder Nevarez telling me he was engaged. It is fun to get emails from friends every once in a while updating me on things as well. Dad told me last week that he was having to move his office. I bet it will be weird for him to work in a new room. He has worked there for quite a while now. Are they doing any renovations to the offices in the theater or just the rest of the building. Why does school start so early this year? Is Mikey excited to be in high school? Is Draper high school going to be done in time?

I bet it is hard for Momma D to send Alex away. It will be an empty nest for the next year but Eric and I will be back soon enough to upset the peace. haha So things have been kind of interesting lately being in the trio. We stay super busy but it doesn't seem like we get a whole lot done. It will be nice to have just a single companion again and just cover one area. Nothing really too interesting has been happening lately other than the fact that we are always rushing to go places because we don't have enough time in the day.

Love you guys,

Elder Fuller

Elder Ryan is gone Week 46

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the short emails the past few weeks. As you know we went to the Yankees game two weeks ago and then last week we went down to the temple. Yesterday the internet at the library and the church wasn't working.This week has been very crazy as well. On Monday we had our district meeting. We went out to get lunch afterwards at 2:00 and while we were waiting for our orders to be filled we get a call from the Mission Office. One of the Sisters who work in the office called and told Elder Ryan his visa came in. She also explained that his plane leaves JFK at 6:00 to fly to Australia. We ended up rushing home and with 6 of us packing his things we got him all packed in an hour which was barely enough time before they had to leave to get him to the airport at 4:00 for him to check in. It was quite the fiasco. This whole time President Morgan was in a meeting of some kind and had no clue what was going on. Elder Ryan was on his way to the airport with the Denison's an office couple who are assigned to our ward when President finally found out. He called me and he was not very happy. Not because of me but because he doesn't like getting visa-waiters and the people in Salt Lake promised him that if he took visa-waiters they wouldn't have them leave until the end of a cycle or they would give him plenty of notice so that he could prepare things for them to leave. Well two hours wasn't enough notice for President Morgan. haha So now I am in a trio with the zone leaders. (yes that means I am now companions with Elder Picoli again, it is ok though we are getting along a little better now.) So the three of us now have to cover both of our areas as well as take care of zone leader duties. These next three weeks are going to be very interesting!!

That sounds like the Jackson Reunion was a lot of fun! Is Grandma riding in the wheelchair permanently now or was it just for that day? Hopefully you told Austin and Nate hi for me. That is my second Jackson family reunion I have missed. Tell them they better plan the one next year a little later so that I can make it. haha That is cool that you guys have been finding all of this information about the family. You are really starting to see the blessings of working hard on it.

Happy Late Father's Day Dad. I never remember any holiday or any birthday out here until the day it actually happens so it looks like everyone will be getting late holiday and birthday wishes from now on. Is Maria going to the MTC at all or is she going straight to the field?

I don't know if you sent another package yet, I know you were talking about getting one put together. I could use more of the gillete mach 3 razor blades. So we got a little visitor in our apartment this week. I had that box of candy sitting by my desk and the mouse went through and ate a little bite of everything that was in it. I was pretty upset haha. He has now started crawling over our brand new couch and across our clean dishes. We have now armed ourselves for battle and the hunt is on. I'll keep you updated when we find him.

Other than this things are going great! We are still trying to figure out exactly how to manage both areas but it is definitely making us work harder and plan for things more effectively. The investigators that I am working with are still coming along. I now have about a dozen new people to help teach as well. Things just never get boring around here!

So I have decided that I love going to Manhattan to just watch for members. We went to the city yesterday and ran into a whole tour group of members. They were doing the Heritage tour which is a bus tour to all of the church history sites. We kept running into different little groups of them every few blocks. It is always fun because you can tell they are members before they even see you. They really do just have this glow about them that sets them apart from all the other people. Not to mention they are usually a little bit more clothed then everybody else walking around. haha

I love you guys and hope that you all have a wonderful week. Talk to you next week.

Elder Fuller

Man of Few Words Week 45

Hey guys,

 

Sorry I don't have much time. I got the package the bag works great. Whose idea was it to use the DVD player bag?

 

Have a great week,

Love Elder Fuller

Yankee's Week 44

Hey everybody!!

So on the retainers I am fine for now. I know we made a mold with Dr. Cook but that's ok! I don't remember hearing about Alex Little that is so cool though! I am glad to hear that Jeremy and Kristie are finally making it to the temple! Are you guys going to go with them? That is good to hear with Bryce and Crystal's house. Do they still have more that they are working on? Are they done moving stuff over and unpacking? Is Mikey excited to be in high school now? I hope he has fun at Lagoon! Is the new Draper High School almost done yet?

That is cool that you guys were able to find some new links with the family history stuff! That is funny that all it took was a little spit. Maybe you should have thought of that sooner! :P That is too bad that the water hasn't been working. :( Hopefully it is just that water filter thing. How much was it? Do you really have to replace all of the faucets and things?

So my companion is Elder Ryan, he is from Sheridan, OR and has lived in Irvine, CA for the last year and a half. He is 21 and loves Asian culture so he was stoked to have the opportunity to learn Vietnamese. So he only stays with me until his Visa arrives. So it could be tomorrow or a few months from now. It is weird not knowing what could be happening. We have been working super hard. It is cool to be able to see the enthusiasm that new missionaries bring with them. We get along great and have lots of fun together. We actually got to go to the Yankees game today! His first P-day here and he gets to go to a Yankees game! How lucky is that especially since it could be his only P-day. I wish I would have remembered last week to have you watch the game and look for us. Oh well! We had a lot of fun the weather was perfect for the game it was about 75 degrees and sunny. It was definitely a cool experience. I will have to try and send pictures from it next week!

Things are going great here! Sorry I don't have much more to write you guys about. Hopefully your week gets better for you!

Happy Late Birthday Spencer!!

Elder Fuller

Elder Ryan Week 43

Hey family,

That is great news that you got the roof finished! Hopefully the weather hasn't been too hot this past week. That is cool that you got to go see a movie. I heard Iron Man 3 was really good. I haven't heard anything about Fast and Furious 6 yet. I did see the trailer for it we went to a members house and before they turned off the tv it played. It has also been killing me seeing the posters for it every where. 

So we didn't really do a whole lot on Monday. We had dinner with some members and had an appointment but other than that we didn't really do anything. Thanks for finding the scripture holder for me. You guys are great!

So I am training this cycle. We had transfers today. I am training Elder Ryan! Pretty cool right!?! haha President Morgan announces it, he has the missionary stand up and he introduces them. He goes Elder Ryan... you are being trained by... Elder Ryan...Fuller! haha I am very excited to be training. He was actually called to the Melbourne Australia mission Vietnamese speaking so he will only be here for a little while until he gets his visa. Sorry time is short.

Have a great week!

Love 

Elder Fuller

Roofing Week 42

Hey guys,

So if you still love me and know I am well I guess I don't really need to write an email this week?! haha Thank you for the packages I received both of them last night actually. There were plenty of goodies and the apartment is loving them!! Elder Lartey especially says thank you! He loved the gummy bears! By the way our mission gets spotlighted fairly often in church media. The last church news had a picture of two Sister missionaries on the front from our mission and lds.org has a picture of Elder Lartey (my zone leader/roommate) and Elder Hutchins (one of our AP's) teaching Ryan (our mission President's son) in the streets of New York. Go check it out. haha I would love the saltwater taffy in my next package.

I'm sorry I wasn't there to help out with the roofing it sounds like a lot of fun...... NOT!! haha That is nice that you guys got some extra help though. If it makes you feel any better though I probably sweat as much everyday now as you all did combined while roofing. It has been about 80 degrees everyday this week and about 150% humidity. It gets so humid that often times it will just start misting kind of like fog which only makes you more wet and more annoyed. haha That is cool to hear about Staci and Rob. What kinds of things do they need to get before they could potentially get a child?

That is too bad that the kids didn't do as well as expected at state. That seems to be the history of the teams at Alta to not perform as expected in high pressure situations especially the running teams. Hopefully they at least had fun doing it.

So next week is transfers already and we will be finding out trainers tomorrow and where everyone else will be on Sunday. I can't believe how fast things keep going. I hit my 10 month mark in 3 days. Other than that nothing really exciting has happened for me to tell you about. We are still teaching a bunch of people but it continues to be a struggle to meet with them consistently.

Dad and whoever else wants to give an answer I have a question. What does the phrase 'by virtue of the priesthood' mean? A bunch of us have heard the phrase used quite frequently lately but none of us can figure out what exactly it means. And how else can you use the priesthood to bless people's lives other than by performing ordinances or giving them blessings? Please help! :)

Thanks for all you do! Love you guys!

Elder Fuller

Mother's day Week 41

Hey guys,

So I don't really have to much of anything to tell you guys. It was really good getting to see all of you and be able to talk for a while. I can believe how fast things are going. I was thinking about it yesterday I have already had 2 of my 4 phone calls home and 2 of 4 general conferences. Crazy right! If you look at it that way I'm already half-way done. Thankfully I'm not though I still have plenty of time to work hard and be a missionary. If you haven't already sent the package I could use some more claritin.

I hope you guys have a great week!

Love Elder Fuller

Not quite Mother's day Week 40

Hey guys,

Hopefully Michael's headache has gone away! That doesn't sound very fun! Do they have any idea what caused it? Was he dehydrated? I know that used to happen to me especially when I first started running and wasn't used to drinking enough water.

In thinking about the retainers I know I was clenching my teeth a lot when I first got them but now that I'm used to them I don't catch myself doing it as much anymore. I have been faithful wearing them I only miss one night every couple weeks. I know Dr. Cook thought about me possibly needing a new retainer while I was gone so they took a mold right before I left so that if I did they would already have a mold.

I'm glad you both got your Mother's Day Cards and I am glad that you both enjoyed them. We made them last week as part of our P-day activities.

So you asked about things to send me in a package. I could really use some new garments. They get really dirty really fast here and they are about to get really bad with the summer coming when it will be really hot and humid. You might could even just send me the money to go buy a couple pairs because it is pretty easy for me to go down to the temple to buy some. I love getting beef jerky, granola bars, trail mix because they make for a pretty easy healthy snack throughout the day. Elder Lartey said he would like some gummy bears. haha You could also send me a tube of hydrocortizone for athlete's foot I looked here and couldn't find a tube cheaper than $8. I know you can usually find it for a lot cheaper. I think other than that I am good. Thank you so much for always sending packages. They are so nice to get and I can't tell you the number of times we run out of food at the end of the month and we make it the last 2 or 3 days on the leftover candy or things you have sent. haha

So Aly's brother is only 21 and her mom is a couple years younger than you guys. She likes about the same things you guys do and would be fine with seeing just about anything. Justin (Aly's brother) loves cars and motorcycles. I don't really have any suggestions on places you could go though. I love Utah but there just isn't that many sights to really see. (well at least not compared to New York haha). I think it would be good for Aly's mom Sharon to see Temple Square maybe. I don't know what her standpoint with the church is right now but the Spirit that resides there would be good for her to feel.

I love you guys so much and I will talk with you on Sunday. I'll call you and let you know when I will be able to Skype. Right now it doesn't look like it will be until about 5 o'clock here.  Hopefully you guys have a great week. Give my best wishes to the track team Spencer.

Love you,

Elder Fuller