OCM Life

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an awesome Christmas! I loved being able to talk to my family.


This week involved a lot of walking... in the rain. It hasn't snowed yet in Ohio... just rained A TON. We are running low on miles (we can only drive 1,000 a month), so we walked two days in a row. I feel bad for all the Elders that have to walk all the time. I realized that I need to get rainboots super bad... my feet were soaked in my cheap Walmart boots...haha! It was fun walking in the rain though. It was a great workout!


Nothing terribly exciting happened this week. Besides the Mission Christmas Devotional. That was awesome! Story time... All the sisters in the stake were going to meet at the stake center to carpool. We met at 6:30 AM. When we got there, everyone was there except one... the hebron sisters. We kept calling them and they weren't answering. One car left to go to the meeting and not be late, then Sister Lane, Mickelson, and I went to their apartment to see if they were there...they weren't. At this point we really didn't know what to do. We called President Porter and told him and he said just to leave for the meeting. At this point it was about 8, and we needed to be there by 9, and it was an hour drive. We were having a mission picture and we were probably going to miss it. We managed to get there at 9:05, and President made them wait. When we walked into the gym everyone started clapping. It was epic to say the least. So we made it for the picture, and the Hebron sisters were there, they forgot their phone and went to the wrong building to meet for carpool. Woops.


The first part of the meeting was a "talent show". It was hilarious! Then we had the devotional, which was a lot of musical numbers. Then we had lunch, and after President and Sister Porter talked to us. It was a really spirit filled meeting!


Christmas was great! Got to open presents, skype family, and take a nap! An ideal day for sure.


Gators!


Amie- didn't come to church
Carla- didn't come to church
Heather- Carla's sis in law, didn't come to church. Had a really awesome Restoration lesson.
Jo- didn't come to church. His step daughter who is a less active did!


Hope everyone is doing well! I love you all.


Sister Fultz

 Brother and Sister Taylor's daughter in law with her baby

 Christmas Devotional

 Brother and Sister Taylor

Sister Lane drawing the Plan of Salvation on Amie's porch

Merry Christmas From The Buckeye State

Hello all!


I said see ya later to my "mom", Sister Nielsen. She is back in Idaho! My new Companion is Sister Lane, and she was actually the first Sister to serve in Cincinnati area a little over a year ago! Exciting. SO it's nice that she knows the area a little bit as well. It helps a lot! We have been able to reconnect with some of the gators she taught while she was here, and now we have a really solid teaching pool. Sister Lane is really awesome, I love her! It's funny too, she only has 2 transfers left, so I might be "killing" her as well just like I did with Sister Nielsen! If I kill 3 missionaries in a row, I'm a serial killer! Haha. One down, two to go ;) Nothing terribly exciting happened this week, so I'll give ya'll the run down of our gators:


Carla- she was going to come to church, but then glt sick. I WAS SO SAD. I was really excited when she texted us Saturday night saying that she was coming, and then that was ruined when she texted the next morning saying that she had been throwing up all night. Satan made her sick.
Amie- Sister Lane taught her when she was here a year ago. Other Sisters have tried teaching her, but she just wasn't ever as open. Now that Sister Lane is back, she is a lt moore receptive!
Althea- She is a good friend of a member named Angela. Angela has wanted us to teacher her for the longest time, but she wasn't ever hlme. Angela said that she was going over to give them a Christmas treat, so we went. We finally got her as a new gator!! I am so excited.


That's really it for gators right now! I am syper excited about them though. Especially since Althea is married with 3 kids-- eternal family!!!!


I am excited to skype with my family this week! Our ward mission leader is letting us go over to his house at 10:30 (8:30 in Utah), and Skype. I seriously love our WML. He really knows what he is doing and is motivated! This is ging to be an awesome transfer. This transfer is also a week longer, so 7 instead of 6. More time to get people dunked!


Christmas is a hard time for missionaries. No one really wants to talk to us (who wants to talk about Christ around Christmas time?). Hahahahaha. So we have been spending a lot of time with members and less actives, which is really good because it guves us a change to build trust with the ward. No snow here in the Great Ohio... only rain! Hopefully we will get at least one snow storm.


Remember to have charity for those around you this season. Christmas time is a happy time for some, and a really unhappy time for others. Give all that you can to others, and that doesn't always mean physical gifts. Even just smiling, saying hi, or stopping by for a quick visit. It is the small and simple things that great things can happen. I have seen that to be so true this passed week! A small thing can make a big difference.


I love you all! Merry Christmas!


Sister Fultz

Amie's daughter and friend reading to us "If You Give A Pig A Cupcake"!

My 3 Month Mission Pictures!

 A sunset in Northern Kentucky

 Bengals truck

 Elder Cromar (I forgot to zoom back out)

 An apartment building named Mackenzie! If only they spelled it right ;)

 The chalkboard at our last district meeting

 Madisonville bridge

 Sis Mickelson looking like a librarian reading Sis N the white handbook

 A weird tree in Madisonville

 Elder Rudd, our district leader

 A Bavarian garbage can (GERMAN)

The black thing on the street is...a weave

My 3 Month Mission Birthday

I'm not getting transferred! Yay! I will be getting a new comp tomorrow. I am very excited for that.

This week was full of ups and downs. People really didn't want to talk to us this week. We only got 4 new gators! Ouch. Oh well. People don't make time for Christ I guess ;)

Sis N had her departing interview with Pres Porter Saturday morning. The mission home is about 45 minutes away, so we had to leave at 6:30 in the morning to get there by 7:45. I just sat in the living room of the mission home and updated our area book, wrote in my journal, and read the Book of Mormon. Sis N said it was a really good interview with PP, so that's good for her! She was really nervous going into it.

Stef won't be able to find out about the spots on his lungs until after the new year when his insurance starts over. He is very at peace with it all. I admire him for that.

We had a "blitz" this week. A blitz is just when Sis N and I both go to the STL's area to work for the day. I don't really like it...I don't like leaving my area for the day. It's like leaving my baby! haha. It's all good though, it's for training and to help us to be better. It's nice to see how other missionaries work.

We had our first and last district meeting of the transfer! We have had so many meetings this transfers it's crazy. It was a super spiritual meeting! I learned a lot about how I can better love and help my gators.

We had our ward Christmas dinner on Friday. The food was delicious of course. Lots of potatoes and ham. The primary did a cute program (classic).

Jo, who was going to get dunked on the 26th, isn't anymore. He had to get surgery on his back...and he doesn't really want to marry his girlfriend or move out. That situation is going to take some time!!

We had the strangest experience. So on Sunday we saw Anthony while we were waking Stef up for church. We talked to him a bit and he said that he was walking home from the church across the railroad tracks. We said we would stop by later and say hi. When we did, we talked to Nae Nae. We told her that we saw Ant earlier that day walking home from church. We didn't talk long because they had to go have dinner, but Nae was acting really weird...On Tuesday while we were on our blitz, Ant calls us and asks if we told Nae that when we saw him that he was trying to break into cars...first off, no. Second off...we didn't even say anything that could sound like that! Nae was so insistent that we did. They ended up calling us 3 times, and we just told them the same story every time. Brandy, Ant's GF, was super confused why we were saying one thing and Nae was saying another...ugh. Nae seemed mad at us on Sunday and so I think she just wanted to get back at us...for what I have no idea. So we are just going to leave that situation alone...

Well...nothing terribly exciting this week! Other than transfers tomorrow!

I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Sister Fultz

Sister Nielsen is going home and Stef has lung cancer

Hello everyone!

Sister Nielsen goes home next week! So sad, I'm working her hard this week :)

Stef was going to go to the temple on Saturday, but he had to go to the hospital for breathing problems. They did an x-ray and found black spots on his lungs. He has to go to a specialist this week so they can do a biopsy and find out if he has cancer. He used to be a smoker, and also cancer runs in his family. He had two uncles die of lung cancer who weren't even smokers.

We had exchanges this week and I got to lead the area. Sister Mickelson was with me, and we did a lot of walking. Luckily it was a warmer day, thank goodness! We got to talk to a lot of people and set up appointments! I called Zac Efron "the Fron", and she thought that was the best thing ever, hahaha.

This week was interviews as well. I was really nervous to talk to President Porter. All we talked about was Stef and whether or not I'm doing everything I need to (waking up on time, doing studies, doing my 12 week training). I am doing all of those things :) I also found out that he told Sister Mickelson (she is a sister training leader by the way) that she needed to help prepare me to lead the area, so I guess it is safe to assume I won't be getting transferred next week :)

Even though Stef didn't go to the temple, we went (now we have to take time out of our pday....oh well). We got to see Jeanie (the Elder's recent convert) do baptisms for the dead. It was awesome! It was worth going, even though Stef wasn't there. When missionaries go to the temple, they can only go if one of their recent converts go. If they go anyway, they have to take the time that they were at the temple and take it out of their pday. So because it took 6 hours total, we have to take it out of our pday! But it's all good. It was an awesome experience! I've now been to the Louisville and Columbus temples.

Now to the peeps we are teaching!!
Anthony-- we are still giving him space, but we saw him on Saturday walking past Stef's house! We went by later, but we didn't get to talk to him.
Mike-- He won't text us back. Whenever we stop by he's asleep or not there.
Jo-- He is still on date for December 26th! He just needs to get married or move out of his girlfriend's house. That will be a tough one for sure!
Carla-- Sister Nielsen found her last month while on exchanges with Sister Witherspoon. I finally got to meet her! She is such a sweet girl. We taught the Restoration with Sister Taylor (our ward mission leaders wife) and it was amazing! Carla loves it. She said she has heard really great things about our church and wants to come! She didn't come this week sadly. Next week hopefully!
Veronica-- Stef's niece. She has been flakey, so we aren't really getting anywhere with her.

Well, that's my week! Don't forget about the true meaning of Christmas. So cliché, but it's true! I know that Christ was born, he lived, he died, and he was resurrected. All for us. I am forever grateful to Him for making it possible for me, and all of you, to be forgiven of our sins, be resurrected, and live with our Heavenly Father again.

Love you all!
Sister Fultz #OCM

P.s. Did you know that OCM is one of the most obedient missions? True story.

Thanksgiving Email Pictures

 Jesus

 Sunset

Sick Picture

Thanksgiving!

Hello all! I hope all of you had a better Thanksgiving than Sis Nielsen and I had! 

We got home Wednesday night, I just felt horrible. Around 10:00 I threw up everything I had eaten that day. After that I was throwing up all night every single hour. Sis N threw up about 3 times. She got the better end of the stick. We had to stay in our apartment all day. We just slept. It felt weird to stay inside sleeping all day. We did go out around 6, but we went to a members, Stef's, house and watched church movies about the temple. Stef got baptized back in September before I got here, and HE IS GOING TO THE TEMPLE THIS SATURDAY. He is going to do baptisms, and it's going to be so awesome! We get to go with him since he is our Recent Convert :) We are most likely going to go to the Louiseville temple with him. We also have 2 other RC's (the Elder's) Jeanie and Jamal (Mother and Son) that will be going as well. I am so beyond excited for that! When Stef was getting his bishop interview for his recommend, we waited outside the office so we could know if he "passed" or not :) Which he did so it was awesome.  Stef invited one of his nieces over for us to teach without telling us! Haha. But it was awesome because we got her as a new gator. She was kinda drunk when we taught her though... so we will see how much she remembers! 

One of our area's, Oakley, was full of surprises this week. A less active recent convert lives there. We went to go see her when we saw 2 teenage boys. We talked to them on got them as new gators and set a time to go see them the following week, all was grand. We went to talked to out LARC and then we went back to our car. When we were sitting in our car setting up the GPS to where we were going to go next, we heard a knock on the window. It was a lady. I rolled down the window. She asked if we recognized the two boys who we had just talked to an hour earlier. She told us that we scared them and that she and the other mother were very angry that we talked to them. She made us cross out their names and addresses and told us never to talk to them again. Well then! It was depressing. She was rather rude as well, but it's okay. Now we know not to talk to any kids in Oakley  (just a side note, we are allowed to teach children as long as they are 8 or older).

We had a zone meeting on Friday. Ralp Sr, one of the funniest members, made our whole zone breakfast at the church. It was awesome! He usually makes us breakfast every Friday morning anyway. This time he just did it for the whole zone. Also, Ralph has a deal with Kroger that he goes and takes all the bread and "baked goods" ,as Ralph Sr says, that they are going to throw out, and he gives them to the missionaries and the poorer people of the ward. We get a lot of doughnuts from him. Our zone meeting was super awesome! I loved it and took a lot of notes. Elder Bluth is one of my favorite zone leaders. He is so funny and you can tell that he really cares about our zone. Our zone used to be "Celestial Cincy" but now we changed it to "Cincinnati Command Center" or "CCC". Which is funny because Sister Porter (President Porter's wife) has 3 C's that we don't do in this mission (at least we aren't supposed to do them). They are Complain, Criticize, and Compare. She also added sarCasm, that's a hard one, especially for me. Anyway, the meeting was so spirit filled. Our leaders talked to us about Charity, Consecration, and Change (3 C's again!). It made me realize that I need to have more love for our gators. I love talking about consecration, but I also hate it. There is always something new I realize I need to work on. That's a good thing though! We as followers of Christ need to always be changing and becoming better. It's hard to admit when we need to change, but once we do, Christ is able to help us! We also set a goal to extend December 19th for baptism. Then our zone will have a huge baptism service that day, and then it'll be our "White Christmas"! 

Just so you all know, if you are ever in Madisonville, never shine red lasers. Sis N's mom send us some, and we were shining one on our gator (on his chest, not his eyes--don't worry mom). He FREAKED out! The reason why is because the people in M-Ville really dislike police... and police have red lasers to aim on their guns. So when they see the red light on them, they think they're about to get shot. He got very upset, and then asked us to leave. It was awkward. We were very embarrassed and felt super bad. So the reason we were shining it on him was because we wanted his daughter to see it. We were just trying to make her laugh. It ended up turning into something bad. So we left and Sis N felt stupid because she was the one that did it. I told her not to worry. Anthony (the gator) has been shot 6 times, so it's kinda like he has PTSD because of it. Now we know sort of his deeper need and how we can help him more. A few days later we took him cookies and he said all was well. Unfortunately we haven't been able to see them since. They say every time we stop by that they'll call us... I really really hope they do soon! 

Jo, a really solid gator, is falling through the cracks :( we extended Dec 26th to him, and he hasn't accepted it yet. His GF is a LA, and so she knows what needs to happen before he can be baptized--they need to get married or he needs to move out. Once we talked about that with the, is has been harder to get Jo to keep appointments. He came to church still, so that's a good sign! We're just going to keep trying to see him everyday and encourage him.

I gave a talk this week in Sacrament. I spoke about how to obtain a testimony, perfect for a missionary! Really how we can obtain a testimony is through prayer, study, and experience! We need to be praying and studying every day, and then experiences we have because of those 2 things will help is obtain and/or strengthen our testimony. 

I love you all!

Sister Fultz

First item of ward business (hahahaha) I get to drive now! I got my tiwi (tiwi is what is installed in all mission cars here in the OCM. It tracks our speeding and aggressive driving). The roads here are a lot different than the ones in Utah. The curve. All. The. Time. It's gonna take some getting used to. I also have to try to remember not to speed... 

We put Nae Nae and Anthony on date for baptism this week...neither of them stayed on date. Which was a little depressing, but it'll all work out. We went to go see them Saturday night and talk to them about church. The kids let us  in and we were sitting on the couch with Brandy and Anthony were arguing in the kitchen... it was awkward needless to say! Brandy was calling Anthony a liar and there were cuss words flying left and right. Sis Nielsen felt like we should leave, but me, being as nosy as I am, wanted to stay and see if Brandy was going to kick Anthony out (she never did). Brandy walked out of the kitchen and saw us (cussed) and then apologized. She then went on to say that she doesn't care if we hear because she has nothing to hide (obviously). Anyway. I didn't get to teach Anthony, all we did get to do was share a scripture with Nae Nae. She isn't on date anymore because her mom said no. Anthony isn't on date because he didn't come to church (gators have to come to chruch 3 times before they are baptized).

Jo, one of our less active's boyfriend, is doing really well. I don't remember if I said, but he fell off the roof and fractured his back. Turn out it was kinda a good thing, because now he wants to be baptized! Haha. Lori, the less active, has been more involved with his lessons. We see them a few times a week and they are just the best family ever. They always send us home with food to eat, and the food is super delicious. We have taught the restoration, the Book of Mormon, and the Plan of Salvation so far. Which actually is as far as I have gotten with any gator thus far in my mission. He has already said yes to baptism, and this week we extended Dec 26th to him. They said they would think about it. They would either have to get married or one of them would have to move out. So that is going to take some time to figure out.

Mike has this routine where he will talk to us for awhile and we will teach his really awesome lessons, and then he'll stop talking to us for a little bit. We taught him about he priesthood, extended baptism, and taught the Plan of Salvation this week. when we taught the Plan of Salv, we had a member with us and it went super well. Buuuut we haven't seen him since then. So I guess we are back in the mode when he ignores us. Darn.

This week we had our Mission Tour. We went on Friday to a church building in Montgomery where ELDER BENNETT OF THE 70 came and talked to us allllllllll day. Elder Bennett is seriously the best. He is so funny and very smart. He taught us how to ask for referrals in a better and nicer way, and how to have more spiritual role plays. It was so amazing. One of the best meetings I have ever been to. One of the things that really made me think was when President Porter asked "what are you fighting?" What are we fighting over with our Heavenly Father? We all have something we can improve on in life, but we don't want to admit it--so we're fighting it. Stop fighting. Just do it. Promise Him you will do it. One thing I felt like I was fighting was using my morning time more wisely. If I didn't feel like I needed to full hour to get ready, I would lay back in bed. That time can be used for better things such as writing in your journal, reading, or even cleaning. So I promised my Father in Heaven that I wouldn't go back to sleep in the morning, but that I would be more productive during that time. It may seem kinda silly, but now is the time to prepare to meet God. We need to be doing to little things. In the end, the little things make a big difference. I encourage all of you to think of what it is that you are fighting with God about. In end, you'll lose. Let's be real. Heavenly Father knows you better, and He will beat you in any fight any day. Just give up before you make it harder on yourself to make that change that He wants you to make and that you need to make. It may be big or it may be small. Either way it is something that will bring you closer to our Savior. 

This week was very spiritually inspired in many ways. I have seen Sis N and I being guided everyday by the spirit. It is unreal. It isn't something I have ever felt before. In our mission song, one of the lines says "I have learned to walk with God". I really have. I feel Him with me everyday. He is shaping me, leading me, and helping me in everything that I do. I have only been out for 2 1/2 months, but it has been one of the most life changing experiences I have ever had. I know that this church is true. I know that Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today. He leads and guides this church through the power of God. I'm grateful that Jesus the Christ died for us on the cross, and suffered for us in the garden of Gethsemane. He did is because we won't be perfect while in our mortal life, and because He loves us. I'm grateful for this church, this gospel, and the opportunity I have to be out on a mission helping others feel the same happiness that I feel. It's almost sad to think that I ONLY have about 16 months left. It's kinda freaking me out that time is going by so fast. Live life to the fullest. The only way we can truly do that is by following our Savior Jesus Christ. 

I love you all! This church is amazing.

$ista Fultz

THE HAIR HAS BEEN CHOPPED

2 WEEKS??

I have officially been on my mission for 2 months! It has gone by really fast, but I also feel like I have been here foreverrrr. But I love it!

So heeeey.... I cut my hair... like 6 inches. Sorry Mom. It is so much healthier now! Everyone said they like it. So that's a good sign. It is a lot easier to do. Don't judge the picture. I'm not wearing any makeup because #pday. 

On Tuesday we kilted it with getting members out to teach with us! Anna Tensmeyer came out and we got a new gator named Essence with her. Essence is kinda crazy and somewhat full of herself lolololol. Later Doug Gullino came out and we taught 2 lessons with him. AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE DAY. We went to Tracey Blackwelders for dinner. She has a son that recently got home from his mission, Jake. We went over at 4 and he answered the door. Since we assumed he knew we were coming, we just walked right in. He was like "what up...?". We walked in to the kitchen and we didn't see any food on the table, and Tracey wasn't anywhere to be found. We asked if she was home and he said no. Then we told him that we had a dinner appointment with them tonight. He said he didn't know anything about it and that he would go call her. THE WORST PART was that Sis N was like "well we are going to go wait outside because we can't be in here with you...." then we just waited on the porch and felt like such idiots. Tracey did eventually get there and we were able to have dinner. Id on't know if we will ever recover from the awkwardness with Jake, He probably won't come out with us ever again....haha. 

Wednesday I got super mad at one of our (kind of) gators. He is from India and doesn't really claim a religion. Long story short he told us that we shouldn't be out on missions because we don't know what we're talking about. He said we're immature and we're wasting out time. OHHHH MAN it was so hard not to just snap at him. All of you that know how I can get should be proud that I didn't full out yell at him. But anyway. Towards the end of our visit we got to talk with him a little about the bible, and he seemed interested. He even let us say a prayer and then we were outta there. 

We have another gator named Bob Miller. He has been a gator since he was 18 and he's like 60 now. He attends church regularly and has a scout calling.... but he isn't baptized. He didn't get baptized because he didn't have his wife's permission. President Porter a couple weeks ago went and talk to him, and told him that he doesn't need her permission to get baptized! So I don't really know what he's waiting for... maybe he want to have his wife's permission anyway. Who knows?

Thursday we got our new district leader and out new zone leader! Our DL is Elder Rudd, and our new ZL (Lemeuix is still here) is Elder Bluth. Elder Bluth showed us an awesome new way of how to do our weekly planning everyThursday. When he showed us, he paused, looked off into space, then suddenly and boldly promised that if we plan in the way he showed us, we WILL baptized before Sis N goes home. But he didn't stop there! He promised me that if I plan that way during my whole mission, I will baptized DOUBLE of what I want to. Dang Elder Bluth! Welcome to the Celestial Cincy zone! Hahaha.

Tonight we saw a long time gator, Jo. He is dating a less active named Lori. We extended baptism and he said yes. We extended the 28th of November... he said no. DANG IT. I bet he will though. He wants it. He just has a few habits he needs to kick. But he knows that he needs to stop some habits, so that is a good start. Also Lori is getting more involved with the lessons which will help a lot. 

Friday the 13th!!! WE TAUGHT STEF'S EX WIFE KIM (she lives with him...weird I know). She said she enjoyed it more than she thought she would and she also said that she wanted to go to church on Sunday. Sweeeeeet!  We taught Nae Nae tonight the BofM lesson. It kinda sucked to be honest. It was a weak lesson with a weak baptismal date extension. Sis N just really hope that her mom will get more involved so that we can put her on date for baptism!

Saturday was so great! We taught a ton of lessons and reached all of our goals! Stef got to be at a lesson with us, which is always interesting. He has such a weird view of things. The gators name is Zion! I thought that was so cool. 

We tried to get Brandy to join the lesson with Nae Nae. She did... for like 2 minutes then left without saying anything. Oi vey! At least we tried. Small and simple things. We went by Debbie Merritts after. She is a less active. She said she was going to go to church, and asked if she could follow us there. YAY! She hasn't been to church in 5 years.

Sunday morning are always busy. We make breakfast for our gators to help them come to church. We made pancakes and took some to Jo, Kim, then Nae Nae and her family. Jo and Kim both came to church, but Nae Nae didn't :( Debbie followed us to church! She was so happy. She was smiling the whole way to the church. She didn't have any dress clothes, so after sacrament she left. She was embarrassed. I'm glad she came though. I hope she will continue to come. 

We planned a FHE at a members home for Nae Nae and her family. They said they were going to come, but when we went to their house so they could follow us to the house, they canceled. UGGGG. Sis N and I are starting to lose hope. But Anthony, Nae Nae's dad who we were originally teaching, said that he wants us to start teaching him again. I hope he means that and I hope it all goes well.

Our ward mission leader, Jeff Taylor, is seriously the best. Every Sunday when we have correlation, he always makes good use of the time. He is just so smart and awesome at helping us. I just love him and his wife! I am going to miss them when I (eventually) leave. 

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY EMORY! II can't believe that little brown child is 9 years old... crazy.

I'll give a quick opinion about the church policy change. GOOD! It is protecting the children of same sex parents from confusion.  If missionaries were to teach the child, it was cause so much confusion and contention in the home. It wouldn't go over well. It's similar to how we can't really teach Muslims because sometimes if they convert to any other religion they can be killed. Obviously it's not quite on the same level, but it's a similar principle.If any of you haven't yet. I encourage you to watch the interview with Elder Christofferson. It is really awesome. We were required as missionaries to watch it. If you don't agree with it-- pray about it. I can promise you that is it from God. This is how God wants to be right now. He knows better what we need and what the world needs than we do.

I know this church is true!I just want to scream it from the top of the mountain! Too bad there isn't any here. I'll go to the top of a hill, close enough. 

I hope everyone is doing well! God loves all of you and is aware of you.

Sista Fultz

Transfers!

YAY! I am not getting transferred! Neither is Sister Nielsen. I can breathe now!

So last Monday, we had a zone fun day in Lawrenceburg! It was about a 40 minute drive from Cincinnati. There are some members there that invited the Lawrenceburg missionaries to go to this haunted forest that they do. They asked if the whole zone could come and they were down for that! But funny story, the didn't know the address, so we were going to meet at a church buidling, but Sis N and I didn't get there soon enough, and so they had to try to tell us how to get to were the actual haunted forest was. Let's just say that Elder Lemeiux isn't the best at directions, especially since he had no idea where he was going either! When he was telling us where to go, we accidentally got back on the interstate! Gosh dang it. Sis N was so upset. I felt bad for her. She's been the DD for about 6 months now, she's sick of driving, this situation just made it worse. When we FINALLY GOT THERE, it was so fun! It was pretty scary even though it was during the day and they didn't have the whole staff there. It was very well put together! If you're ever in Indiana, I recommend "Haunted Hike".

Tuesday (Nov 3):Maxine had us rake her leaves today. We only had about an hour to do it, and she told us just to do as much as we could. Our hour was just about us, and I was setting out the tarp to put the leaves on. Sis N sat down for a second, and then Maxine freaked out! "You're just sitting there waiting for the time to pass by and hoping you won't have to do anything!". She is such a grumpy old lady sometimes, but I still love her! She's so sweet and kind... when she wants to be. She fed us lunch after! That was good. 

Wednesday (Nov 4): We had a member, Jake Blackwelder, come out teaching with us today. He's awesome! He recently got home from his mission in Malaysia. He almost died!! He got malaria. Scary!! We had an appt, but they weren't home (happens a lot), so we started walking to go try someone else with Jake. We started talking to a young man named Latrail. When we were setting up an appt with him, his sister walked up! So we got both of them as new gators. BUT THEN, their friend walked up and we got him as a new as well! Woohoo! It was so awesome. We later visited on of our favorite Indians, Pree and Vick. Pree is crazy! Haha. He tried to rub Sis N shoulders... talk about awkward! But they are super nice and give us free drinks from their store and Vick bought us Subway. I hope that by us being friends with him that he will want to know more about the Gospel! 

Thursday (Nov 5): SPECIALIZED TRAINING! My first one! It amazing and so much fun! Oh, but before we had zone meeting, and we set a goal of 22 baptisms this month as a zone! We can totally do it. Sis N and I set a goal to get 3 for our companionship. I'm having a few doubts right now, but I know the Lord will help us! In ST, we practiced extending baptism and extending commitments. They taught us a good way to get gators to keep their commitments. We pretty much just keeps asking "how are we going to help you remember to do this?". It actually works really well! We have done it a few times since, and it has worked beautifully. When we got back to our area, we had a dinner appointment with Bret Anderson. He is a single man, and so he invited a few other people so we could be there. It ended up being Bret, Randy Blanton, Bishop and his 4 kids, and then us! Bret made us Japanese Curry, and oh man was it good. It was so delicious! After dinner we played a trivia game. It made me feel kinda stupid... I didn't know the answer to pretty much any of them! Take me on in a Gospel trivia though and I will school you! After dinner we drove to Northern Kentucky for exchanges! Woohoo. This time Sis N and I both when to Kentucky, which is called "blitzing". This time I got to be with Sis Whitherspoon and Sis N was with Sis Mickelson. 

Friday (Nov 6): Nothing terribly exciting happened with Sis W and I. We had a decently productive day. They have a 10 year old boy that is getting baptized on the 14th, but his mom, who is a less active member, keeps trying to find every reason to push back the date. She wants him to know more before he gets baptized. But what's frustrating is that Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to know everything, especially not when we're 10 years old! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ lessons, which was actually my first time, and it went well! But his mom is still trying to change the day. Oi vey. When exchanges were over, we met at Wendy's and got some food and went over our day. Sis W committed me to stay awake during personal study, and to lead in personal contacting. I am not good at studying in the morning, I'll be reading and I'll fall asleep in the middle of a sentence. 

Saturday (Nov 7): Awkward moment of the day... we stopped by a less actives home to see him, turn out he passed away a few months ago! Awkward!! I felt so bad. Today we tried to go to Oakley and get out of Madisonville for a change. We met these people, and this guy kept asking us if we wanted to smoke a joint, and we said no every time. He asked maybe 20 times. It was getting frustrating, that's for sure! We didn't get them as new gators, mostly because they were high and/or drunk. The guy was kinda funny though, until he smoked his weed and blew it in our faces. Let's just say that I know exactly what marijuana smells like now... So we decided maybe the people of Oakley aren't quite ready for us yet... haha. An not so awkward/funny moment of the day... Stef (our recent convert) smoked. He hasn't smoked since he got baptized in September, which is actually really awesome. It broke my heart to see it though, and I was so afraid he was going to fall away from the church! After we talked to him, and shared a good scripture about repentance, and he said that he isn't going to do it again, and that he only did it because of stress. I have faith in him! I know that just because he smoked once doesn't mean he's going to fall away, but it could end up leading to other things. As long as we continue to see him and the ward gets more involved, he'll do well. 

Sunday (Nov 8): Church went by so fast! Sacrament was about gratitude, and the talks were awesome. I found out that one of the members was in Jordan about 6 years ago. He felt this prompting to buy the travel insurance stuff that costs like an extra 60 bucks. It would cover any emergency stuff and all that jazz. Well, while he was there, he got diagnosed with cancer!! With the travel insurance he bought, that paid for all his chemotherapy and all his treatments! I don't have all the details, but ya'll get it for the most part. That is so miraculous! Listen to promptings you receive!! Sunday school was all about the Gather of Israel, and I really enjoyed it. I was secretly hoping that would get the members to get involved more in missionary work ;) haha. Relief Society was about being a good shepherd--again, missionary work! Sweet. We went home after, and Sis N is sick so she took a nap and I cleaned the kitchen. We had a ton of dishes and I did them all and cleaned the stove top. It's so clean now! We had the chance to teach Nae Nae the Restoration. She is such a smart 10 year old. She pretty much taught herself about everything. I really think she's going to get baptized this month!

It was a really good week! We didn't reach all of our goals, but we reached a lot! We got fed a lot this week as well, which I am very grateful for. Elder Dahl, our district leader, is getting transfered tomorrow :( I'm only kinda sad. He didn't like me very much I don't think... oh well! He's a good missionary and was a good DL. I'm gonna miss him! He lives in Roy, so hopefully we'll be friends after our missions. His companion, Elder Nielsen, is staying. E. Nielsen just got out of training. I wonder if he is going to be the new DL... I don't think he would be that soon out of training, but you never know! E. Nielsen is from a small town next to VERNAL! I already asked if he knows any of the Talbots... nope! But he went to Union, Uintah's rival! Haha. A lot is going to change this week and I'm excited to see who gets transferred in. My favorite part of a new transfer... getting a new planned. Woohoo!

I love you all! Thanks for your support. I want you all the know that I know this church is true. Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins. I know prayer is real, and that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I believe so much in miracles! I see them almost everyday. Our Heavenly Father knows us perfectly and knows what we NEED. He loves us and He wants the best for us. I am so grateful to be in Cincy, teaching people about this message of happiness! Go out and do something more, than dream of your mansion above. Go out and doing something for someone! The Lord will bless you. 

Sister Fultz

YO! Oct 26 - Nov 2

WHO DEY!!!! GO BENGALS!! 

Monday (26th): The first p-day that we didn't have to be running around. I got a nap in! Today we had dinner with some members, the Smith's. They have a son named Hyrum--clever! They are actually a blended family, and they are so funny. The kids are Wessel, Hyrum, Charlotte, and Jace. They are the cutest! They love us. Dinner was so good as well. After, they took us to graeters ice cream and let us get 2 scoops! I got the blackberry chocolate chip with blueberry pie. Yum :)They also gave us a ton of leftovers! A missionaries dream. Tonight I got to plan, and I saw someone named Maiya that knows our best member friend Angela. We texted her asking about her, and she said she was just about to text us about her! Inspired! We planned to see her tomorrow with Angela. Woohoo!

Tuesday (27th): We got to see Maiya today! She just had a baby and hasn't been doing too well. When we asked if she went to church she said no, and that she calls herself a "free spirit".... okay. She was very sweet and has the cutest kids! We went to see a less active, Dorris, today with Maxine Blotter and Janet Blackwelder. We went with them because they are  Dorris' visiting teacher, and they weren't really doing it. So we helped them out a little with that! While we were driving to Dorris', Maxine was driving kinda crazy. But this guy behind us would not stop honking at us! I couldn't figure out why either... we were at a stop sign and there was a car in front of us. I stuck my head out and told him that we were waiting for the car in front of us (I did no nicely), then he told me to shut up! Wooooow. You need Jesus! ;) When we finally got to Dorris' house, she has the most annyoing Shih Tzu! He is eviiiiiil. Not even I like him! But I love Dorris, so it's okay. Tonight we had dinner with some other members-- Britton and Jennie Martin. We taught them the Doctrine of Christ lessons #2. It was so powerful! I loved it. Faith isn't just something you say you have. It is a way of thinking and is an action word. So get out and show your faith! Then we went and taught the Doctrine of Christ lessons #1 to the Taylors :)

Wednesday (28th): One month since getting to Ohio! Woohoo! We are running low on miles, so we walked a lot today! Luckily is wasn't too cold. Stef (a recent convert) fed us dinner tonight. He made us chicken, mac and cheese, and corn. I loved it! Stef is seriously the best. He is very Bible-smart. While we were sitting on his porch (we couldn't go inside--no other woman was there), one of our gators, Anthony, pulled up. He is a hard guy to get a hold of! It's also hard because he smokes weed and stuff... so he's never really sober. He was being really rude to us, and so that night we decided to stop teaching him :( always a sad day when you drop someone. We finally got a text back from one of our former gators! Jesse and Brian (mother and son), were taking lessons for awhile when someone in the fam died. We have tried to set up a time to see them for a long time, and we finally did! We are seeing them next Tuesday. 

Thursday (29th): Weekly planning! Today we got together as a zone and had family council before going and doing our weekly planning. We talked about how we want to do our family conference calls every night. I'm glad we decided that, I love the calls! They always make me laugh. Oh, funny story. I don't want people to know I can play the piano. So when Sis N and I were alone in the relief society room, I played a little. THEN ELDER DAHL WALKED IN. He's our district leader, and now he's gonna try and get me to play at district meeting! Dang it. But then he said it's okay that I don't like to play with people singing with me. Then he wanted to play, but he doesn't really know how, so I helped him a little bit. When planning was over, the STL's gave us a ride home, and we stopped at McDonalds and got lunch with them. When we got home Stef came out and walked around with us. We got a new gator! One of Stef's friends actually. So Stef... he says that when he has his "spiritual shell" or something, he gets a blue ring around his eyes. When we were walking he suddenly stopped and looked to the right, and just stared. Sis N jokingly asked if he saw a spirit or something. Then he told us to look in his eyes, and he had a blue ring! I don't even know what to think about that. 

Friday (30th): Zone conference! Woohoo. We were at the Buttermilk Pike building from 8:30-4:30. Loooooong day! But it was fun, and we received a lot of revelation! I loved it. I would say more, but it was all very personal :) Once we were done, we drove back to our area and walked around, since we were still low on miles. We got new gators again! One of their names was Quincy, and he is so spunky and funny. Funny story of the day: we didn't have enough miles to go home for dinner. So we went to the dollar store and got lunchables, and sat on a bench and ate! Haha. It was so fun. Lot's of people looked at us weird. A few people (men) offered us rides... awkward. 

Saturday (31st): Halloween! Boring Halloween as a missionary. Angela gave us rides to where we needed to go today, and she fed us dinner. I sure love her! We got to see Anthony today!! Crazy. He was a lot nicer this time, and he even invited us in! We got to meet his girlfriend, Brandy,more and one of her kids. We taught him the Book of Mormon lesson. It was really hard because of all the smoke in the house from him and Brandy. I'm glad we were able to see him, though. Angela picked us up after, and she fed us dinner. She showed us this cool thing-- you take a tea bag, cut off the top, empty it, and then prop it up on our hand. Then you light it on fire. When the fire gets close to your hand, it flies up, and you don't get burned. The lesson is that, we need to have faith even when it hurts, and then Christ will lift us up in the end. I loved it! We had to go back to our apartment at 7, and then we just did paperwork pretty much.

Sunday (1st): Fast Sunday! Church didn't have anything terribly interesting. But we tried to take breakfast to one of our gators, Brian. He wasn't awake, and he wouldn't wake up :/ Stef wasn't at church today, so we stopped by after. We were talking, strangely about zits and blackheads, then, STEF SQUEEZED HIS NOSE AND ALL THIS PUSS CAME OUT. IT WAS AWESOME. If any of you know me, you know that I love popping zits and all that stuff. It was so cool.  Today we taught a Muslim family! We met the mother, Manala, a few weeks ago. Today we met her husband and he kids. They are a cute family! We talked a lot about similarities between our beliefs. It was good to set that foundation of understanding. We taught Anthony again today. Today he invited us in again, and we watched them play Monopoly. We finally got to actually meet a few of the kids and get their names: Todd (16), Nae Nae (Nickname, 10), Charles (7), and Brandon (4). They are so cute! It was awesome to get to spend time with them and build that trust. 

Monday (Today! 2nd): Well, here we are! Today we are going to a haunted forest in Lawrenceburg as a zone. I'm excited! I'll tell more next week.

Sorry this is messy, we're low on time and I wanted to get as much in as a I could! I'm not very good at telling funny moments, I'll try to do that more.

I love this church! I know it's true. It has brought so much happiness into my life. I've already been able to see the difference in those we teach. 

Hope everyone is doing well!

Sister Fultz