I love my new companion

HI Mom!!!!

So you´re prayers have been answered because I LOVE my new companion. She is the cutest thing. Her name is Hermana Pavez from Argentina (mar del plata y viedma, rio negro) but her family is currently living in the South of Spain in Malaga. She is also 20 years old and she wants to go to BYU after the mission and study journalism. She actually speaks English really well and wants to learn it perfectly so she can study in Utah. So she helps me with my spanish and I help her with her English. She also has diabetes so I´ve learned quite a few things about that, she always has to give herself shots before she eats. She asked me that if there was an emergency would I be able to give her a shot... I haven´t given her the answer to that question yet haha. She also does not know how to cook food... So I´ve been doing all the cooking. All I know is that my companion says it tastes good so I hope she´s right. And yes mom, she is definitely a kindred spirit.  So the new area is super different that anywhere else that I have served. The area is a lot bigger and I´m closer to the center of Madrid. I´m also serving in my first Ward which is really interesting. There are 8 missionaries in our ward 6 elders and 2 sisters (us). This sunday there were also two visitors from utah that came to visit so I had to transalte for them... It was pretty interesting. I think I´d really love to learn how to translate really well. and Yes they do have some stakes here in Spain although I´m not sure how many. (But the north, where I was serving in Gijón is only a district). I´m super excited to get to work here and see what miracles are waiting for us. 

So this week I have been reading in Alma 46-50 about Captain Moroni. I have particularly focused on how Moroni, with the guidance of the spirit, prepares his people and the city to defend themsels against the lamanites. This has made me think of the wonderful verse in Ether 12:27 that says that if we come unto Christ he will show us our weaknesses, but that through him, weak things may be made strong unto us. Our quest to overcome our weakness and become more like Christ never ends. In fact, the more we come unto christ the more weaknesses we realize that we have. But it is through the atonment and merits of Christ that we can overcome our weakness. (Alma 49:14)  Just like Moroni strengthen his people and his city against their enemies, we too can strengthen ourselves, our spirits, our testimonies, and others around us to be able to withstand our temptations and overcome our weaknesses. This spritual strength that we need comes from Jesus Christ and consitently living the things he taught us. and being obedient to his commandments. (because obedience simply means to be more like christ.) I know that through Christ we can overcome our weakness and we can become strong in Him. (Alma 26:12).

We have some really great investigators that I have met. We have Naomi who is a 9 year old girl, Alexia who is 12, Bartolomé who is 75ish, a really sweet family from El Salvador, and a sweet dominican lady named Charo. Naomi is going to a catholic elementary school and they are currently getting ready for the first communion. Her mom is a member and she just barely decided to come back to church. In our last lesson she told us Naomi told us that she had a testimony of the restaration and that she wants to be baptized. She has a baptismal date on May 30! I´ll let you know more about our investigators next week once I get to know everyone a little better:)

Tell everyone Hi and I love them and the mission is AWESOME. I´m super happy and learning a ton. Be member missionaries.

You are all in my prayers:)

Hermana Ariana Fuller

Simplify

Dear Mom


Thank you so much for all of the recipes and for the family history stuff! I´ll see what we can get going  here.

Welp, this is the last week of this transfer! How crazy is that? Really anything could happen next because both my companion and I have been here together for three transfers. So we will see what the Lord has in store for us now. My companion and I have also gotten super close. Everynight after we finish planning we end up having almost hour long deep gospel conversations until we realize we only have 15 minutes to get ready for bed. Also, contacting and teaching have gotten really funny lately because we keep saying the same things at the same time. Don´t know whether we´re super united or if we´ve just been together for too long. 

My companion and I have also been super inspired this past week to simplify everything. Our companionship study in the mornings has turned into arts and crafts time as we have been making a bunch of visual aids and coming up with ideas to really help our investigators understand the doctrine of the gospel. If you have any ideas for that (we´re talking on primary level - I remember you doing some really cool things when I was in primary. What was that thing that we made the treat inside the bag??) please let me know! Ps Mom, I think I take after you because my whole district here calls me the Primary President. 

As we all know, Fast sunday was yesterday. The past few months it has been really really hard for me to fast. And I believe the hardest fast I have ever had was yesterday. After only about 3 hours of fasting I literally felt like I was going to die I was So hungry! I told my companion multiple times that I didn´t think I was going to make it. Well, when we got home that night I took a mintue to say a quick prayer to ask for help with my fast or else I was really considering breaking it. After I knelt down and finished my prayer, immediately after I did not feel the hunger or thirst any more. I felt 100% completley fine. It is amazing the power the comes from a humble prayer of faith. God is always there willing to help us, He just aks us to get on our knees and ask. The next day I was able to bear my testimony to one of our investigators by sharing this experience. Isn´t God just so good us? 

I don´t have anymore time because we are going bowling! But Mom I love you so much and I can´t wait to skype with you on Sunday. I always love reading your emails.:)

Te Quiero Chica,

Hermana Ariana Fuller

The Atonement is everything

Dear Family

We have realized that a lot of our investigators or even just the people here in general do not understand who God is, who Jesus Christ is, and what they mean to them. So we have focused many of our lesson on talking about who they are and the atonement. (Because the Atonement is Everything!) We have showed just about every single person we teach the Easter Video from the church (easter.mormon.org or pascua.mormon.org). I love this video. It helped me consider even more what the atonement means to me and the people I teach. On Wednesday my District leader asked me to speak on Helping Investigators Overcome Addiction in our district meeting. I talked about how it is our job to help the people we teach learn and understand more about the atonement, because it is the atonement that makes everything possible. It is through Christ´s atonement that everyone can change and overcome the natural man. I decided to show that video and after we had finished watching it we sat in silence for about 10 minutes. The spirit in the room was so strong that none of us could speak. At the end I bore my testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that there is so much I still don´t understand about the Atonement, but my understanding of the atonement has grown tremendously on my mission. I have this overwhelming feeling that I can be and become whatever I desire (whether is be for life or for death Alma 29:4-5) , because of the atonement. And this gives me so much responsibility to desire God´s will for me. I encourage all of you once again, to study about the atonement of Jesus Christ and then to act according to the knowledge that you receive. It will change your life. 

Last night we also had a really cool experience. We were visiting with Eva and one of her friends from Argentina was there. We asked him if we could share a scripture with him before we left and he accepted. We ended up sharing the Easter video with him as well, and then sharing Alma 7:10-12. We also shared the Book of Mormon with him and Eva (His Friend!) was able to bare her testimony of the book to him. He was very grateful to have received the book and we´re planning on seeing him again this week! Just like it says in Preach My Gospel, we don´t know who God is preparing to receive this gospel until we act. Now is the time to act: repenting, living, and sharing the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Oh and mom, did anything ever happen with sharing the book of mormon? And I´m so sorry I just realized I never replied to your question for your relief society lesson! How did it go? 

And a couple favors... Could you send me some mesh garments. They don´t sell them here in Spain

. probably the second to the smallest size. And could you see if they have any one pieces?? And also we are going to try to get some family history things going here, could you send me a few family history stories and maybe pictures?? 

Thank you so much mom!!! I love you:)

Hermana Ariana Fuller