NEXT P-DAY IS CHRISTMAS

Dear Family and Friends, 

NEXT PDAY IS CHRISTMAS!!!!! I am so excited to be able to Skype you!!! Also, it will be my 5 month mission birthday the 24th! Craziness! 

  

 Right now our main focuses are working with the members and service. We are trying to fortify the members by helping them learn to serve one another as well as their family and friends. We have been visiting all of the members of the branch to see how they are doing with our branch goals to share the gospel and also if their is anything we can do to help or serve them. One thing that really impresses me about this ward is that all of the members are really passionate about their callings. I hope that we can get some of this same passion for the Obra misional. 

At this Christmas time I have been especially impressed with the example of Jesus Christ and how he was constantly serving. Everything He did was for Us. And Everything He did was the will of God. If we follow the spirit and God´s plan for us we will naturally be serving others as Christ did. I love being on the mission and having the calling to serve my brothers and sisters 24 hours a day. I pray continually to find opportunities of service and to become a better servant of God. 

I wish you all a very very FELIZ NAVIDAD. And family - Can´t wait to see your faces next week!!!!! 

Love,  

Hermana Fuller

Dear MOOoOooooommmmm (said singingly)

how are you and the family. Okay details for next week. We are going to be skyping around 4pm  (MY TIME) which I think will be about 10am   (YOUR TIME) Yayaya So be ready. Then my Pday ends at 6:30 so depending on when we start skyping we will have until that time!!! I am SO excited! And don´t worry Mom! if you want time where everyone leaves and we can just talk, we can do that too. Oh also BE ON YOUR EMAIL. Because I don´t have your skype information. I am going to try to make an account now and send you that information. 

Anyways about spain, here they celebrate the Three Kings. So the three kings that delivered Christ presents are the same ones that deliver them to the children here. But they also have Santa depending on the famliy- Also I´m sending you a package with these amazing christmas treats called Turrón. They onle sell them here during christmas time but they are AMAZING: I´m sending it to Utah because you´ll be there! 

As far as transfers and companions. I still have my same companion and she´s awesome! But i feel like this next transfer coming up I´ll be going. the next transfer is Januray 5. it´s a little nerve wracking but I think I´m up for a change. 

I can´t wait to see the house in Arizona. i am still not sure what I´m going to do when i get back but I still have a while so plenty of time for some personal revelation... I hope. haha 

I love you all and Im glad colling is doing better! Could you send me the russian tea recipe? Thank you!! LOVE YOU MOM!!!

AND TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK ON SKYPE!!!

Love, y our Hija

Hermana fuller

Shifting our focus to service

Hey mom!

 Sorry I have no time this week to write to everyone. Do you remember me talking about the ladies that worked at the Florería. Well, Marta and her family planned this whole excursion and they drove us all around Gijón and such. It was SO much fun but we ran out of time and didn´t get the chance to write. I loved hearing all of your e-mails and sorry I can´t reply more. We are shifting our focus to service so if you have any ideas at all PLEASE let me know :) and here is a little clip from the letter to the president. 

"I would just like to share the highlight of our week, Our new investigator Ricky. We met Ricky in a locutorio where we ended up teaching him the first lesson. This week we have been able to consistently teach him and he has progressed really quickly. He is from Ghana and is muslim but he has the biggest desire to learn more about the things of God. He said he chose to be muslim because all of the different christian religions interpreted the scriptures differently from each other... He relates a lot to the story of Joseph Smith. Our last lesson we had with him we challenged him to pray about getting baptized. I am very faithful and excited to see what happens with him. It has truly been an honor to teach him so far." 

I love you all and I´m praying for you! Can´t wait to talk to you so soon!!!!

Hermana Ariana Fuller

Hard week

Dearest Family and Friends, 

Hermana Cançado and I have had a hard week but we have also seen many little miracles. We have both been striving to live up to our calling as disciples of Christ and serving others. Two of our investigators we found out will be leaving the country in the next month and neither of them will be ready for baptism before. So we continue our search to invite others to come unto Christ. With every struggle we have also received some sort of tender mercy from the Lord. I feel humbled and all I want to do is contintue to become better, a better missionary, a daughter, a better disciple of Christ. 

As Hermana Cançado and I fasted and prayed this week, we both feel we are being guided in the direction to work even more with the ward members through teaching them to serve one another. We have many ideas and things that we are working on that I am very excited about. (If you all have any ideas as well, don´t hestiate to send them my way.) I don´t know if you remember hearing about the packets we made, but this week we received a tender mercy about those packets. One of the ward members, Elena, came up to us and was telling us that those packets were exactly the push she needed. She then told us about 5 missionary experiences she had had that week. Last night we went over to her home and she had a list of Family, Friends, Aquaintences, and Less Actives that she was praying for and looking for opportunities to share the gospel with. We were able to help her with ideas and then pray together by name for each one of these people. I feel so blessed to be working with such amazing people here, both members and missionaries alike. I feel inspired and motivated to work even harder and show God how grateful I am for the love and knowledge that I have. 

Estoy muy agradecida por cada una de vosotros y por mi oportunidad servir también. Yo sé que Dios contesta oraciones y que tenemos una grande potencial como hijas y hijos de Dios. Tengo un testimonio fuerte que esta es la Iglesia de Jesucristo, y mediante él y su expiación podemos hacer todas las cosas. Os quiero muchísimo. 

Hermana Ariana Fuller

Starting from scratch

Querida Familia,

This week we are finding that we are going to have to start from scratch. None of our current investigators are keeping up with their committments or seem really interested. However, I feel like we have some promising future investigators:

Mara and Isabel- Mara is an employee at a Panadería that we love to go to. We have become friends with her and she always recommends yummy pasteries for us. She is 27 and has a little boy. One day we as we were buying pasteries we started talking about our beliefs with her. She invited us to go get drinks with her and her friend. Of course we couldn´t get "drinks" but we were able to meet with her and her friend and share more about the gospel. Her friends name is Isabel and she has a little boy and a husband. They both are from España and grew up here together. They loved talking with us and want to bring their husbands next time to meet us. 

Tomás and Sandro - Two men we contacted from France. We contacted Tomás first and then when his friend Sandro walked up he asked him if he believed in God. His reply "Are you drunk? Do I look like I´m drunk?" We talked with them for a little bit before we had to leave. Then a few days later we saw Sandro outside of a grocery store. He remembered us and was pleased to see us. It was raining really hard and he didn´t have an umbrella so we gave him one of ours. If anything I am happy that he has a better opinion of our church now and that we were able to serve him. 

Alejandro - Alejandro is a homeless spanish street musician that plays the guitar near our piso. Everytime we pass him we say hi and talked with him a little. One night we passed by him and he was terribly drunk and depressed. He began telling us about different things that had happened in his life. We stayed with him for a while to give him comfort and we read him a scripture. We went back everyday after that to try and find him with no luck. The other day we were walking in that area and we hear "Hermanas." We turned around and it was Alejandro. He was looking so much better and getting help. He was really grateful for what we did for him. We are going to try to start teaching him.

Marta and Her Mom - Marta and her mom are from Gijón and own a flowershop on a street near the capilla. We met them one day when we were buying flowers for Isabel for her baptism. We ended up having an hour long conversation with them. They were so sweet and said if we ever needed anything they were there for us. We are hoping to have a Noche de Hogar with their family and begin teaching them. 

Paulino and crew - One night as we were contacting near the capilla we ran into a couple of old spanish men. As we began talking with them about the gospel more and more old spanish men came in a joined the conversation. Paulino doesn´t believe in anything; religion, God, life after death. Basically what he told us was that serving the mission was stupid and that we should go home and spend time with our boyfriends. It was a little crazy with all the different opinions and beliefs going around but with the help of God my companion and I were able to hold our own and speak with the spirit to the point that at moments they were silent. The next day we ran into them again and it was almost like Paulino was a different man. This time he defended us to his friends and said if it wasn´t for the mission we wouldn´t be there learning a new culture, language, or talking with him. Overnight he went from thinking we were wasting our time to defending us. It is amazing to see how the spirit works on people. I am excited to see what miracles the spirit can work on this man. 

Carlos - Carlos is an Evangelist pastor that has the bible memorized and has read the Book of Mormon twice. The first time we met with him was really difficult and he was trying to tell us why our religion was wrong. The next time we met with him was literally the complete opposite. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and we were able to teach about the Restauración of the Gospel We teach him with the other set of hermanas in Gijón and after that lesson we were all in shock. It was a miracle. 

From all of these experiences this week I have learned so much about life, people, and missionary work. The best way to be a missionary is to be a friend. As we form relationships with all of these people around us they are more willing to hear our message and their hearts are open to feeling the spirit. This is especially true with the people of Spain. As I form these friendships with the people of Spain I can feel how much God really loves them, as He loves each one of us. He cares about every single one of His children. I love serving this people. The people here are stubborn and prideful, yes, but they are also passionate, dedicated, and full of love, and once you touch their heart you are there forever. Everyday, through little miracles and tender mercies, I see how much God loves this people. I am excited for the miracles that God has in store for me and the people of Spain.

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Ariana Fuller

ISABEL IS BAPTIZED

¡Hola!

ISABEL IS BAPTIZED!!!! We couldn´t be happier. It was seriously an amazing experience. She got baptized Saturday evening at 6. I spoke at the baptism. Actually, funny story, 5 minutes before the baptism I realized that I had forgotten my talk that I had spent all of my studies that morning writing. I knew that I had to give this talk and in order to do so I really needed to have the spirit with me. The baptism started, I got up there, and with the help of the spirit, gave the talk. My companion told me that it sounded exactly the same as when I was reading it for her that morning. I also had so many members of the branch come up to me and tell me how much better my spanish has gotten. (Whaooo) We seriously can do all things with the spirit, and all things are possible to us because we are children of God and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins. Because of the Atonement, we can do anything. 

Working with Isabel truly has been inspiring and blessed my life significantly. Her testimony has grown so strong. She has been really impressed with how close the members of our church are and how everyone supports her and truly cares about her. We really do have a special bond as ward and branch families, and we can be such an influence of good on the lives of people who are struggling with their testimonies or who are not members of the church. Part of the reason Isabel desired to be baptised was because of the unity and love she felt from the branch members. 

One thing that we did this week to work with the members better was making Packets. We made a packet for every family in the branch that contained: Conferance talks by Elder Ballard and Elder Giffor Neilson, Convenio del miembro misionero, Calender for november that has days of branch activities, Pamplets from the first three lessons in preach my gospel, pass a long cards, and a Book of Mormon. We made the goal with the branch to do what Elder Ballard said in his talk and share the gospel with at least one person by Christmas. The members were all very excited about it and I can´t wait to see the miracles that come from it. 

Right now we are really in need of new investigators but we are really struggling to find them. The phrase that we hear the most while contacting is "No creo en nada" or "I don´t believe in anything." It breaks my heart to see so many people with out any faith. However, the phrase that I constantly repeat in my mind while we are contacting is "El mundo necesita el evangelio restaurado de Jesucristo" or "The world needs the restored gospel of Jesus Christ." I learned this phrase from my first companion. The world really does need our message, and especially the people here in Spain. They need faith and hope. They need the word of wisdom and law of chastity. They need the Plan of Salvation and Book of Mormon. They need the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Chirst. They need God. And I am responsible to help them find it. I am humbled by my calling and also motivated to work harder to bring the people of Spain this glorious message. Every morning my companion and I recite Romans 1:16 "Porque, no me avergüenza del evangelio de Cristo, porque es poder de Dios para salvación a todo aquel que cree." I love this scripture and I hope we can all apply it to our lives.  

Os Quiero Muchísimo, 

Hermana Ariana Fuller

We have seen a miracle happen

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, this week has been Fantastic! 

First off we have seen a miracle happen with our investigator, Isabel. She is on date to be baptized this coming Saturday!!! None of us could be more thrilled or excited for her. She realized that she is free to make her own decisions and do what makes her happy. When we went over the baptismal interview questions with her she got really emotional and told us she wanted to be as pure as possible when she was baptized. She is so prepared and it really has blessed my life being able to know her and teach her. 

We also started teaching a very promising new investigator. His name is Roger and he is from the Congo. During the first lesson when we were talking about the Book of Mormon he stopped us and said, "I have no doubt in my mind that this book is true." .... Hermana Cançado and I just looked at each other and tried not to freak out. Since then we have also taught the Plan of Salvation where he said "I want to do everything I can to get to the Celestial Kingdom." He has so much real intent and desire. The only problem is that he will be leaving soon to visit his family for 45 days. We are going to see how much he progresses before then. 

We are also trying to work miracles with our 9 year old investigator, Estefanía. Yesterday we fasted with her for her to be able to be baptized in January before her family leaves for Ecuador. She has the desire to be baptized and I faith that through fasting and prayer her father´s heart will be softened and this miracle can happen. Yesterday we also had a Noche de Hogar with her, Katy, and her mom (who is an inactive member and doesn´t have a testimony) Sonnia. We talked about fortifying the family through the gospel. The spirit was really strong. I think that through both of her daughters testimonies, Sonnia´s heart will be softened as well and she we´ll start to gain a testimony of her own. 

Both Hermana Cançado and I are feeling very happy, motivated, and united in the work. I am excited to keep working hard and seeing what miracles the Lord can work through us. 

Love,

Hermana Fuller

Eating Octopus

Birthday Dinner: Hermana Cancado(Standing Ari's Comp),

Hermana Grover, Hermana Diezi, Elder Castaldi (Short Dark Hair),

Elder Alhouvori (Blond Hair)

Birthday Cake

Blowing Out the Candle

Tengo 20 años ahora

¡Hola!

¡¡Tengo 20 años ahora!! Wow. Thank you Mom and Grandma for the birthday packages. My companion and the other hermanas have been dying for me to open them for a couple weeks now, but I waited until my birthday. During Medio Día all of the missionaries and a man from the ward named Carmelo, went to lunch. Then that night I had a mini fiesta with my companion where we opened my packages and had a brazilian dessert called, Palia Italiano. Mmm. Both my companion and I are really excited about all the things that you sent. I have a bunch of pictures I´ll try to send a little later.

Anyways, this week has been good. We had a District (or Stake) Conference in León yesterday. All of the meetings were centered on La Obra Misional, which was very exciting seeing as I´m a missionary. This is a very exciting time to be a missionary. We also have a Zone Conference (missionaries) tomorrow, So a lot of big meetings and groups of missionaries.

This week we have been working really hard to find new investigators and people to teach. It is so critical to have and follow the spirit. Without the spirit you are left to your own defenses. Literally you against the world. But when you have the spirit you have the power, authority, and guidance of heaven. When you follow the spirit you use your gift of the holy ghost. Your words and actions become more meaningful and powerful. You become useful to the Lord and His work. You become like Christ. It is amazing to feel the spirit working through you to touch the hearts of others. From following the spirit, this week my companion and I have seen miracles in finding new people to teach. I am exciting to see how things go.

One other thing I have felt this week is that God is Totally and Completely aware of us and our needs and our wants. It is easy to get caught up in worry - worrying about money, time, people, etc. When this happens all we need to remember is that God knows. God knows what we need, better than we even do. God knows what we want, and yes he cares about that too. All He asks us to do is our best. He tells us to do our part and then He´ll take care of the rest. I have seen this happen time and time again in my life and especially on the mission. Whenever I start getting worried about something God provides me with whatever I need. Maybe this is His way of telling me to quit worrying and just work hard? Whatever it is, I feel very humbled by the help I receive and the Love I feel from God. I pray that you all can feel that too and always remember that God is aware of you. Do your part and everything you need with come to you when you need it.

I love you all and I pray for you everyday. Thank you for giving me to support and strength to work harder everyday.

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Ariana Fuller

First week of my second transfer

¡Hola!

This week was the first week of my second transfer and the first week with my new companion Hermana Cançado. She is from Washington (the state) and is 22 years old. Her parents are from Brazil so she speaks portuguese as well. I Absolutely Love her. She is very sweet and we get a long very well. We are the same person in so many ways. I am also learning a lot from her. She has a very different working style than my last companion, Hermana King. It has been different but I´m learning that there are a lot of ways to do missionary work.

This week has actually been rather tough. Our investigator, Carolina, is really sick and we´ve only been able to meet with her via phone. We also found out that she encountered some anti-mormon literature online and all that jazz. However, we can´t work anything out until we can meet with her. It has become a really complicated situation. I love this girl so much and I know that this gospel will bless her life so much. Please keep her in your prayers.

Then there is our wonderful investigator, Isabel. Isabel was on date to get baptized the 31 and now that has been postponed as well. Everything was going wonderful with her until she told her family about getting baptized. Her son told her that after she got baptized he would want nothing to do with her. To Isabl her family is the most important thing to her. (as it should be) She has a son, daughter-in-law and beautiful grandson. When she told us all of this in the lesson we had with her she was devastated. We all were heartbroken and cried together. However, the lesson was amazing. I am so grateful for the Spirit that we were able to bring to lift her spirits and strengthen her faith. We are still continuing to visit her and teach her. I pray that God will help us work miracles here in the lives of these two investigators.

It breaks my heart to see so many people that have negative feelings about the church. I love the people here and I pray that I can change some of the feelings that they have and that I can help them find faith in God and Jesus Christ.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Even though we have tough moments, I am so happy. I love serving others and I am learning a lot. I know God is completely aware of us and his Love is unfathomable.

Until next week.

Hermana Ariana Fuller

I am currently companion-less

Dear Family and Friends,

I am currently companion-less. My companion, Hermana King, just got transferred to Madrid and left this morning. I was very sad when I found out. We got SO close. The thing about missions is everyone knows it is going to be hard to leave your family and friends back home. What they don´t realize is that it is just as hard to leave the family you make here; companions, districts, members, etc. I am excited to get my new companion though and start the next transfer. 

It has been a crazy week. Our investigator that was on date to be baptized on the 19th is encountering a lot of opposition. She was just diagnosed with anemia (or something of the sort) and is not able to meet with us that much. She has to go to the hospital a lot for testing. Her parents are also discouraging her from rushing into getting baptized. And on top of that, she recently broke up with her boyfriend of two years. So as of now, we are not really sure when it is going to happen. She is very amazing and very prepared. Please remember her in your prayers and I know she will be able to make it through these trials and come out stronger because of them. 

While this has been very difficult and discouraging, we have another AMAZING investigator that is now on date to be baptized on the 31 of this month. I believe I´ve talked about her a little bit. Her name is Isabel and she is an older divorced woman from Spain. We found her door contacting and she is a Golden investigator. Her whole life has been full of charity and service. She is the most giving person - every time we go over there she tries to give us something else haha. It has been very inspiring for me to teach her and be apart of her conversion. On Sunday she came to church and bore her testimony. Her faith and courage is incredible. In one of our lessons she expressed the concern she had about her families reaction to her decision (her son, daughter in law, father, etc) As the conversation went on we realized that she was worried that she was going to have to where a Nametag when she joined the church. You would not believe how relieved she was when we told her only full-time missionaries where the nametag. haha What impressed me is that she was still willing to join the church even if that was what was asked of her. In reality, we all wear nametags. At baptism we all covenant to take upon ourselves the Name of Christ. To always be a witness of Him. While we all physically may not wear nametags, we always need to remember that we are witnesses of Jesus Christ and members of His church. We all have the call to be member missionaries and carry Christ´s name on our heart. 

I would like to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers and supporting me on my mission. Please take care of the missionaries currently serving in your ward and area. I am very blessed by the amazing ward members here that support me and help me in learning (especially with Spanish). Praying for the missionaries is amazing. The missionaries need your prayers and your faith. But Prayer and Faith alone is not enough. Faith without works is dead. The missionaries need your action. Elderes and Hermanas are not born perfect missionaries. They need the support of the members around them in order for them to become tools in the Lord´s hands and work miracles. Support them. Be there for them. Teach with them. And as always, Continue to Pray for them. I know if you do that for the missionaries in your area, I will be taken care of by members here as well. 

And if you want to see miracles in your life, here is a little something I learned from studying my conference notes:

Recipe for Miracles

Desire - Prayer - Faith - Action - Miracle :) (Repeat) 

¡Os Quiero!

Hermana Ariana Fuller

PS. Me and the two other sisters I´m with (while I´m waiting for my companion) JUST FOUND THE BEST THRIFT STORE!!! I´ve never been more happy. And I think I´ve converted them to second hand shopping. 

New Photos

Best Experience

Dear Home,

Everytime I sit down at the computer to write this letter I have so
many things I want to share and so little time to share them.

I want to start out with the best experience I have had so far with
one of our very new investigators, Carolina. She is 23 and from
Ecuador. We found her street contacting the other day and she ended up
being a friend of another recent convert in the ward (this is why we
need to be member missionaries!!!) The first lesson we had with her
the spirit was so strong we were all in tears. We saw her on the
street the next day carrying her Book of Mormon and then she told us
she could meet with us everyday if we wanted.... talk about Dream
Investigator. The second lesson....I had the opportunity to committ
her to baptism! She is going to be baptised the 19th of October. She
is the epitomy of a "Preach My Gospel" investigator. She is so
prepared and really in need of this gospel in her life right now. I am
so excited for her and I love her to death. We have only had three
lessons with her so far and it already feels like she is a member of
the rama. In our lesson last night we taught The Gospel of Jesus
Christ and we all ended in tears again. Even though teaching in
spanish is still very hard I am still blessed to be able to contribute
with the help of the spirit. I am praying God will lead us to more
"Carolina´s." I know they are out there. They are all over the world.
People to prepared to hear this glorious message and we all need to
have "Missionary eyes, ears, and hearts." This week I have learned a
lot about how important the members are in missionary work. We Cannot
Do This Work Without You! We need your help finding. We need your help
teaching. We are in this together. Missionary work changes when the
members and full time missionaries become united in purpose.I
challenge you all to be member missionaries. Invite the missionaries
into your home to teach your neighbors and friends. Apply Alma 6:5 (or
6:6 I can´t remember exactly) to your lives. I know as we share this
message to others it only becomes more important to us and we are
blessed more than we can even comprehend.

Another cool experience I had this week was with our 9 year old
investigator, Estefanía. She is the younger sister of a recent
convert, Katy. Their mom in inactive and father not a member.
Estefanía wants to get baptised but her dad won´t let her until a year
and a half when she turns 10 and a half. However, we still continue to
teach her almost everyweek. This week we talked about profets and how
General Conference coming up. When she heard about General Conference
she got more excited than I´ve ever seen anyone get over General
Conference. She was smiling from ear to ear and couldn´t stop. It was
the cutest thing I´ve ever seen. It was also so humbling for me. We
somtimes take for granted the fact that twice a year we get to hear
from prophets and apostoles of God. It was humbling to see how what I
have taken that for granted all these years, meant the world to a 9
year old girl in Spain. I hope everyone will really contemplate this
conference coming up how blessed we are to get this opportunity. How
blessed we are to hear from the Prophet.


Some cool things we got to do this week: We went contacting in two
different towns outside of Gijón, Via Visiosa and La Camocha. La
Camocha is so beautiful - exactly what you imagine when you think
about the Spanish countryside. We didn´t really have any success but
one man gave us some red corn and another lady gave us this huge bag
of hazlenuts so that was pretty awesome.

One thing I love about Spain: Spiderman. You may be thinking...
"Spiderman????" First of all, I LOVE Spiderman. Second of all,
Spiderman is literally The superhero of Spain. Like the Only superhero
in Spain. Lucky for me :)

One thing I´m working on: My RR´s. I practice every where I go by
repeating, "Para ra, para ra, para ra." Í am making a little progress!
haha Also a lady from the rama let me borrow some Children´s books to
help me learn spanish :)

My funny story this week.... so we have this Parrot. Okay, we don´t
have it but one of our neighbors does. Everymorning during our
personal and comanionship studies we hear "Squuaaaack Squaaaack." ....
"Squuuuaaack".... "Squack Squack Squack Squack" Then an old lady
shouts "¡Caya Loro!" Every. Single. Morning. haha

Until next week! Thank you all so much for all you do.

Amor,
Hermana Ariana Fuller

AMAZING

Hola Everyone!

 

Mom! Thank you for the package! It was the best!! (: I´ll will try to reply to the letters next P-day!! Seriously everything in it was so great. And my companion is very thankful for the chapstick! I love yoU!

 

Sorry I have almost no time this week. We had a barbeque with members of the rama and we got back late. It was super fun though. I hung out with one of our investigators, Estefanía, who is 9 years old. She is the cutest and she helped me a lot with my spanish. Children are very patient and willing to help you. Well, it has been a rough week but everything is still great. We are really struggling to get any of our investigators to follow through with their appointments. On some days we have 4 or 5 lessons planned and they all fall through. It can be really frustrating but in this work you don´t have time to be what I call Selfishly-Discouraged. You just have to move on and keep working harder than you were before.

 

Although many of our lessons fell through we did have 3 investigators at church which is AMAZING. They were the first ones we´ve had since I´ve been here. One of them we just taught the first lesson the day before, her name is Isabel. We met her when we were door contacting in an apartment building. She told us to come back the following friday at noon. On Saturday after another one of our appointments fell through we decided to go see if another man in her same apartment building was home. After he didn´t answer we both felt like we should go try her door. She was home and let us in and we taught her the first lesson. The spirit was super strong and she really opened up to us about her life. She is an Española and Catolica so it was very surprising she was so nice and willing to listen to us. At the end of the lesson she told us she had really grown to love and care about us the 40 minutes we were there. She is seriously one of the most selflish and amazing people I´ve ever met. We are meeting with her again tomorrow so I hope everything continues to go well.

 

Funny story, every Tuesday we go and eat at Carmelo and Vicky´s house. Carmelo is a member of the branch presidency and they are fantastic cooks. Well, first they served us this delicious lentil soup. We all got very full from that (side note: When a Spaniard asks you if you want more, they are not really asking you, they are telling you. And you HAVE to take more.) Little did we know... that was only the first course. Next was Lasagna. When I found out there was more I couldn´t decide between laughing or crying because I was already so full, but eat is what I ended up doing. After the lasagna... dessert, of course. It was this delicious cheescake with toffee sauce. After I had finished that and was about to explode Carmelo saw that my plate was empty and asked me "¿Quiere mas?" I usually try to politely say no gracias and watch as they serve me more anyways, but this time I looked at my plate and thought "When is Spain..." then I replied "¡Si!" To which everyone at the table started cheering. haha If I gain wait I´m blaming it all on them. haha

 

A little bit more about the missionary life here. In Spain we wake up at 7:30 rather than 6:30, have medio día from 2:30-4:30, then go to bed at 11:30. Instead of having a separate hour for dinner and lunch we just have the two during the middle of the day for medio día. I rather like it. Seriously, If the Spaniards got one thing right, it was medio día.

 

Welp, I´m out of time. Everything is going great and Spanish is "poco a poco."

Sending you all my love,

Hermana Fuller

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

Hello Everyone!

Every week I probably say this, But I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I am loving every second that God is giving me to be here in Spain serving others around me. This week hasn´t been the most succesful but it still has been great. I am finally understanding why missionaries say appointments fall through... alot. Because, well, They do. One day this week we had four lessons planned in a row and one righ after the other cancelled. We ending up contacting for about 4 hours. I was okay with that because I love contacting. I´m horrible at Spanish but I don´t have any problem saying "Disculpe, Somos Misioneras!" haha (This creepy guy is sitting next to us at a computer and he keeps smiling at us....haha) Anyways, This week again I want to testify of how much God loves us and that He truly hears and listens to all of our prayers. Not only this, but he also listens to the desires of our hearts and the words we speak. This week during planning we were talking about one of our investigators that is not progressing. She has a difficult sittuation, and her 10 year old son has recently passed away. Usually if an investigator is not progressing you need to drop them. As we were talking about her we both felt like we needed to keep seeing her and just help her in whatever way we could. On our way to her piso she called us and said she couldn´t meet. This is about the third time she had done that this week. A little frusterated I said outloud, "Why did you want us to keep meeting with her, Heavenly Father? Why?" Not kidding, less than 5 minutes later we got another call from her saying we could come over them. After she hung up my hand went up to my mouth and I shockingly said, "He heard me!" I don´t know why that was such a big deal to me but it truly testified to me that God really hears us and takes care of us. He takes care of His missionaries. He takes care of His Saints. He takes care of His Children. We are so blessed to have such a loving and merciful God.

As far as my companion, We are finally getting the hang of working together as a companionship and I can feel success in the distance.Each day I try to work a little harder and be a little better. I don´t let myself get discouraged anymore because there is no time for that. There is no time for feeling sorry for myself. This work is not about me, it´s about my eternal family. I love the people here and I´m doing all I can to communicate with them better and to bless their lives. Thank you for all your prayers. I can feel God strengthening me.

Siempre,

Hermana Ariana Fuller

I AM FINALLY IN THE FIELD

Dear Family and Friends,

I AM FINALLY IN THE FIELD. AND I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH. I am on the coast of Northern Spain in a beautiful city called Gijón. God seriously loves me so much because this is the perfect place for me. I was secretly praying to be sent north. I wanted to come here so badly. As President Jackson was assigning our areas I knew he was going to call my name before he even said it.

 It is very green and is always cloudy or rainy. My companion is Hermana King. She is from Lindon Utah and is 20 years old and went to BYU. She is a great missionary and fluent in the language. She did that program where she took spanish throughout elementary school. I on the other hand am really struggling with spanish. One exciting thing that has happened this week is WE HAD A BAPTISM ON SUNDAY. The baptism was a guy named Felipe who is in the Army. My companion has been teaching him ever since she began her mission. A couple months ago he decided to go on a trip to Utah to practice his english. There he met up with my companions family and spent time with them, going to church and everything. The first time we were meeting with him since he got back was Saturday night. As we were meeting with him, one thing led to another and through the spirit we knew he needed to be baptized soon. We originally challenged him to be baptized on the 14th of this month, but after talking more we decided he needed to be baptized the next sunday morning. Because he needed to be confirmed during sacrament meeting the baptism was held Sunday morming at 9:00 am and the confirmation in sacrament meetin gat 10:30. What an incredible experience I was blessed with just my first week here. 

The branch we have here is very small but very close. There are two elders and 4 hermanas including me and my companion. I love them all. The elders are Elder de Avill from Columbia, Elder Castaldi from Italy, Hermana Diezi from Switzerland, and Hermana Grover from Florida. 

On sunday all of the new missionaries to the branch had to bear our testimonies. I was SO NERVOUS. My spanish is the worst out of everybodys. Even though I couldn´t say much in spanish I felt the spirit so strong as I was bearing my testimony and I knew the members there felt it too. 

I have also gained a strong testimony of fasting since I have been on my mission. I have fasted 4 times in only 7 weeks. The last time was this sunday. I´ve been praying for a testimony of fasting because I never have really gained one. This Sunday I received that testimony so strongly. Not only did we have a baptism but the whole day I was filled with the spirit. I know that if we forget ourselves and give ourselves to God through fasting, we will be filled with His love. It is a very beautiful experience. 

I have loved all of the experiences on my mission so far. God has strengthened me and blessed me so much. I know He hears my prayers because He answers every single one of them. 

Okay now about addresses. My new address is 

Hermana Ariana Fuller

avda. la costa 25, 10ºB

33208 Gijón, Asturias

España

If you sent anything to the mission home I won´t be getting it for a while, sadly. But I apreciate everything you send and write. I love you all and I hope you can feel the love I have for you from miles away. 

Amor,

Hermana Fuller

Officially a Missionary

Dear Parents of Hermana Fuller,

We received your daughter into our mission this morning. We brought her to the Mission Home and fed her lunch. We gave her an overview of the mission and some of the rules and expectations, and spent most of the day with her. She was excited, and seemed ready to get to work.

Later that afternoon, we had a meeting at the Stake Center in Madrid on Temple Square, and met with her trainer to discuss the new 12 week training program. During this 12 week period, your daughter will have an extra hour of companion study each day, and will be given specific things that she must report to the Mission President. We know that this is an inspired program, and will help to make missionaries better teachers and better followers of Christ. Please encourage your daughter in this program. It will help her develop tools that will help her to have a successful mission, and a more successful and fulfilling life after her mission.

Hermana Fuller has been assigned to the city of Gijón, which is on the northern coast of Spain. She will serve with Hermana King, who is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. Hermana King is a happy, obedient missionary, who will be a good first companion for your daughter.

Our Preparation Day is on Monday. Hermana Fuller is instructed to email her immediate family every week. We look forward to getting to know her and working along side her in this great work here in the Spain, Madrid Mission. We can tell she will be a great missionary. Thank you for sharing her with us! We already love her.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Jackson

PS Hermana Fuller will travel by train today, which is about a seven hour train ride. She will arrive in Gijon this evening, meet her companion, and get to work. She will be traveling with Hermana Grover, who also arrived in the Mission yesterday. She is in for a great adventure!

It's our last day in the MTC

Hi mom!

We were allowed to get on really quickly today because it´s our last day at the MTC. Tomorrow I will find out my trainer and first area of my mission. I couldn´t be more excited! Tell grandma thank you for the package she sent me. And thank you for giving her those vitamin packets. I am almost out so include those in whatever you send next! Tell the family hi and thanks for all of the prayers and support. I have to hurry because I have to figure out how to get all of my things re-packed... haha it will be interesting. But tonight we´re having Pizza so everyone is pretty excited for that as well. I also have more pictures to send you! Tell everyone in the family I´d love to hear from them. Also, if you couldn´t get that package sent to Tim that´s alright. Maybe we could save it for Christmas or something. How´s his brother Matthew doing? Well, I am both excited and nervous to get out into the field. I hope everything is going well at home. Have you started any school yet again? I Love You Mom!

Expect an e-mail from me again next monday!!

Love,

Hermana Ariana Fuller

Pictures of life at the Madrid MTC

I am learning so much everyday and their is still so much to learn about this gospel and the will of god in our lives

Dear Family and Friends,

How is everyone? Thank you for the letters from Grandma and Mom! This week has been a truly amazing week. I am learning so much everyday and their is still so much to learn about this gospel and the will of god in our lives. I have a strong testimony that I am doing what God wants me to be doing right now.

This week I am very grateful for the little glimpses into the eternities that Heavenly Father gives us. This started last P-day. After we got back from teh Prado (an amazing museum here in Spain) we ate dinner and then had a devotional. After the devotional we have a distrcit discussion. A few people in my distrct have been going through some trials so the Elders gave them blessings. The spirit was so incredible. I am continually amazed by these Elders here. They all work so hard and have the sweetest spirits and testimonies. I love my district. After the blessings we had a heart-to-heart and all bore our testimonies. It is going to be so hard to leave them. On Saturday my companion for the park was Hermana Galvez. As we were walking we saw this lady on a bench and I knew that I really wanted to talk to her. We decided to ask her where the fountain was but after that we kind of blanked and walked away. As we were walking away I just said I really think we need to talk to her. So we turned right around and decided to ask her where the drinking fountain was. It was actually pretty funny. Well, after that we found out that she spoke english (yay!) And that she was here for 6 months for school getting her PHD in financial law. we had a long conversation with her about places we should go and see in spain. She loves Toledo but doesn´t like Barcelona. Anyways, after we talked I asked her if we could leave her with a message before we left and she said of course. I pulled out my book of mormon and started talking to her about God. She said her and her mom are catholic but she has friends that are mormon. She also said she has a Book of Mormon but hasn´t really read much of it. We read Moroni´s promise is 10:4-5 and I testified of how powerful the book and promise are and how much God loves us. she then told us that she has been going through a rough time and she was searching for an answer to a praywer and we were her answer. How powerful is that? I was an answer to a prayer and nothing feels better than that. I have her name and e-mail so I am going to keep in contact with her throughout my mission. Another cool experience happened when we were bearing our testimonies about the park. Two elders from my district, were istting in the front row. As I was bearing my testimony about the plan of salvation I looked at the Elders from my district and I just knew them as my brothers. They looked at me with so much light and love. It was a glimpse at teh eternal family of God. We have been brothers and sisters for a long time. In my testimony I said, I´m here to find the people that I cam here with and make sure they come home with me. I hope to always remember that throughout my life.

This week we started a game called Whos the Native. Everyday someone is the native and they are always supposed to speak spanish. The next day we all vote for who we think the native is. You get points if the people vote for you. We are getting really into it.

Everyone here loves my oils. I am always healing everyones problems with them Now whenver they smell peppermint and lavender they said they are going to think of me.

Well congratulations Kahana on your job, Kenyra on the baby, and Jenny on your baby. I hope and pray that me serving a mission will bless all of your lives and I´m grateful for the blessings I´ve heard about so far.

I would like to end with sharing something Elder Timothy said, ¨"There is a saying: Hold on loose, but never let go. In life this means that one must keep a distance in all things. That one much learn a balance between havning a hold on something, being involved with it, and keeping a distance so that it does not ruin your life. for when we let go we fall, and when we grip too tight we become immovable. this is the reason that we write. It allows us to hold on loose, without letting go. so that we can keep each other from falling."

I love you all and can´t wait to hear more from you.

Hermana Ariana Fuller