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