The Hall Family Makes Missionary Work Worth It

Hey everyone! This week was really cool.

Melissas son got the flu so we weren't able to see her, she couldn't go to the womens session of conference or to church. It's okay though! We are just praying that he will get better soon.

This week Sister Peardon also got sick and we had to stay in all day on Tuesday. She is feeling better now though! I was able to read a lot of the Book of Mormon and clean up the area book.

We taught a cool family this week, the Halls. We first met the mom, Michelle, and she was really interested in having us come back, but she missed our appointment. Then we met her daughter, Isabell, who was also really interested and missed our appointment. Then we met the dad, who really just wanted us to talk to Isabell and give her direction (shes our age so he thought that would help). We called Michelle and she invited us to come over on Sunday. We went and it just went so well! They were so open and had a lot of good questions. The dad was a little more like "meh I don't like this Joseph Smith guy" and was bringing up conspiracy stuff. I always get nervous with stuff like that because I don't want to say the wrong thing, but Sister Peardon handled it really well. Overall the lesson was great and we are seeing them again next Sunday!

I hope that you all have a great week! Talk to you next week.

Sister Fultz

3

Hello everyone! What a crazy week here in the 45244

I lost my name tag this week and I was so distruaght. I was just like "I literally have like 2 weeks left and I lost my only magnet nametag". So I called all the different places we went that day but none of them had it. That night we went to Crossroad for a church swap with Greta. While we were there the magnet of my name tag fell out of my dress, and so I took that as a sign that I would be able to find the rest of my name tag. But before we get to that part I will talk a little bit more about Crossroads. It's a really big church here in Cincinnat. It's motto is that its a church for people who have given up on church but not on God. Greta and her husband go there and they invtied us! When went on Saturday night and it was so cool! They played a really great song about how God is good and talked about how imporatant it is to have community support to help people through trials. I really liked it but I was really glad that the next day was Sunday and we had to chance to go to church ;) So the next day at church a member came up and they had my name tag! I had come off the day before when we were in the chapel and it flew under the benches so I didn't see. Hallelujah!

Melissa Metz: She came to church again!! We saw her on Saturday and she had already set up her ride! We were able to figure out where she is at right now as far as Joseph Smith and her desire to be baptized. SHE BELIEVES THAT JOSPEH SMITH WAS A PROPHET! SHE WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED. I am hoping that she will be able to commit to a baptismal date in the next few weeks.

On Wednesday we got to do the combined youth activity! We talked to them about missionary life, played a game, and showed a video for them to share online. It was the best! The youth were all really involed and they really enjoyed it. I am glad we had that chance to connect more with the youth.

This was such an amazing week! I love you all :)

Sister Fultz

March 13th 2017

Here is an update on a few people :)

Melissa: We met with her last Saturday and went into more detail about the Plan of Salvation, it went really well! She said it goes along with what she already believes which is super cool. We also met with her on Thursday and read the Book of Mormon with her. She's been reading it here and there by herself and she has been praying to know if this is the true church and if this is the path that Heavenly Father wants her on. We saw her again Saturday and taught about the Doctrine of baptism and then she came with us to the Lynch baptism that night. Then she also came to church the next day! She is so awesome.

Greta: She is a potential that we met last week and we have been doing service for her. She is 32, works 3rd shift, is married, has a 7 month old daughter, and is in the army. She has fallen behind on a lot of projects that shes wanted to do and its really stressed her out. We have really been an answer to her prayers as we have helped her with various projects. She is the one that wants someone to help her sew, so if anyone knows how and is willing to donate their time we would really appreciate it! The other day we told her we were asking around for someone who can sew and she said "Would it help if you told them that I am considering Mormon?" then we said "Well, are you?". Her response was "Well... the Book of Mormon is still a little crazy to me". She is such a cool lady with a strong relationship with our Savior. We really think that she could progress soon as we just continue to serve her and be friends with her. Shes having us over for dinner today and then we are helping her with some more projects on Thursday!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I am now 21, and its crazy to think! I also go home in 3 weeks, which is even crazier to think! Wow, time goes by so fast when you are in the service of the Lord.

Around Christmas time Sister Peardons mom accidentaly sent her a package of toys that she meant to send to herself for the kids. So long story short we had all these kids toys in our house. We decided to give them to the Allreds, and their son Seth really like the talking baby doll, it was pretty hilarious and I had to take a picture!

I have been teaching Sister Peardon to play the piano and I tried to take a video, but as she says in the video, I caught her on a bad song, haha.

I love you all!

Sister Fultz​

More Finding!

One cool thing that happened was when we tried a potential. She wasn't really interested, but she said we could walk with her and her dog and tell her about what we believe. We taught her the restoration and when we got back to her apartment she invited us in and we spoke more. At the end she still wasn't interested, but what was cool was that we were an answer to her prayers. She was trying to find answers as to what job she should take, we talked to her about it and really helped her figure it out. We also offered to help her with any projects, she was so shocked that we offered! She started crying that we were willing to help her. We are going today, even though its P-Day, to help her with a project. That night when we read PMG in companion study about going about doing good. It was cool to see that that was exactly what we did! I'm excited to help her.

On Saturday we taught our most progressing investigator Melissa. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying! We taught her the plan of salvation again to make sure she understood. It went really well and she said that it goes well with what she already believes. She is starting to think that this may be the church that Heavenly Father wants her in! She has been progressing really well even though we haven't seen her very much. This week we are going to try to see her more than once and also try to get her to a baptism that is on Saturday. 

Yesterday a member fed us and we forgot to tell her that I can't have gluten. The entire meal was gluten... so needless to say I didn't feel well after. It's confirmed that I am gluten intolerant! Woo.

I love you all!

Sister Fultz

New Companion

I have a new companion, Sister Peardon! She is from Roseville, California and she has been out about 10 months. We have had so much fun this week and I just love her! I am teaching her to play the piano and we try to play Pokemon together.

We tracted a bunch this week in efforts to building our teaching pool. I have tried most of the potentials in the area book so we are trying new stuff out. It was my first time really tracting and it brought forth some good things, but mostly just being tired, haha. We are still working hard to build up our teaching pool!

A funny story from this week: We knocked on a potentials door and her son answered. He started saying how he is a "TI", which is a targeted individual. We asked how he became one and he acted all weird and said "various ways". Well okay then. He said that he thought we were trying to break in the other day when we knocked, but it wasn't us. Then he said "I thought some redneck gangster was breaking in to kill me and my mom". Later we asked him what religion he was and he said "I feel like I shouldn't say...the one everyone hates." Well okay then. As you can imagine we probably won't be going back there.

A member took us to Red Lobster this week, and I loved it! I used to hate fish but since being on my mission I have grown to love it. The member that took us was baptized last year and is now less active due to work. He is one of the coolest people I have ever met, he has the most interesting conversion story. He used to be heavily into drugs and he says that if he hadn't started meeting with the missionaries he probably would be dead. He has to work every Sunday to support his ex wife who he pays a ton of alimony to and also he has two daughters who he pays for to go to school. Since he is a single guy we can't meet at his house, instead he takes us out to dinner every single week! We try something new every week and its been fun to get to know him. This week we found out that he likes Tumblr. He also freaks out when there is something with gluten that I can't eat. I just love him!

Yesterday after church a kid got hit by a car in the parking lot. I didn't see any of it happen I just heard. It was the son of our primary president and they had to take him to the hospital. He's okay now from what I have heard and is back home. But how scary is that! I'm glad he is okay. To makee the story a little less scary, an investigator saw it happen and yelled the "S" word and I thought it was pretty funny.

I love you all! Talk to you next week.

Sister Fultz

Another Week

Hello everyone!

This was the last week of the transfer. I will be staying in Eastgate and will be getting a new companion. Her name is Sister Peardon and I am seriously so excited to be with her.

The zoo on Monday was so fun! Not many animals were out due to colder weather, but we saw enough to make it worth it (aka the elephants).

We got a new investigator this week named Gary. We found him looking for his dad who passed away (those situations are always a little awkward). Gary wonders what the truth really is and how you can tell it, and he really has real intent. The sisters found him on exchanges so I wasn't there, but when I first met him his dog pee'd on my foot. Reminded me of home.

This week we went to the temple!! It was much needed and I loved every minute of it. We went to the Columbus temple with the Cherry Grove sisters and Sister Allred from our ward drove us. I ended up losing my recommend somewhere at the temple and couldn't find it after we were done. Luckily President was able to give me a 3 month one. After the temple Sister Allred took us to a classic place called Bob Evans. It turned out to be a really great day.

Today we had a zone fun day at a members house and they had a basketball court in their house! The only downside was that it was decked out in Utah State University... but alas I played on it. They also had a pool table, ping pong and chess. The members also fed us pizza (I just ate the cheese and toppings),

Love,

Sister Fultz

 The Elephants!

 The Columbus Temple

 Sister Winterton and I in the car going to the Temple

 Sister Winterton and I driving around Eastgate

 Our District :)

Sister Winterton and I at the zoo

Hello!

The work here is getting better, more people are letting us in! Hallelujah.

We taught Melissa the Plan of Salvation this week and it went really well. She wasn't able to come to church this week sadly :( But she is planning on it for next week! She is so awesome and understands things really well. I love teaching her! Well, I love teaching everyone, but especially her.

In Ohio you always get an earful from people about all the heroin and weed problems that are everywhere. I love listening to it honestly, its so interesting to me. It's hilarious when one of your investigators tells you that another one of your investigators is selling heroin. Woo!

On Saturday we got to go to Lakeside Park, Kentucky, to help with a Tri State Priest-Laurel activity. It was so fun! We helped with the games during the race, we did the puzzle room. The youth were so funny to watch and it reminded me of when I was in their place :)

To add to the time with young people we also taught Primary! We taught the 5 year old kids and they were a handful. Two of them just loved to talk and didn't know what "shhh" meant, haha! One of them commented on my deep voice, and I just smiled. Awkward when little kids just say what they think, I love it.

We are going to the Cincinnati Zoo today with our District, the assistants, and President and Sister Welch. I will send lots of pictures next week!

Love you all!

Sister Fultz

Best Week Thus Far

What an amazing week!

When I was in Cincinnati at the beginning of my mission, I had heard of two boys name Lamatrics and Lamaine Coleman. I could tell that the ward really loved them and cared about them by the way they talked about them. Members in Ward Council talked about how they weren't sure where the boys had ended up, but that they thought they had moved to Western Hills ward. I left the ward after 4 transfers and never head much about the Coleman's. I was lucky enough to go back to the Cincinnati ward training a new missionary. Ward Council still was talking about the Coleman's a few times every now and then. One day we were driving to meet the Highland Heights sisters for exchanges. We stopped at UDF to get ice cream, as we usually did. While we were ordering our ice cream, the boy scooping the ice cream said "Oh hey, I used to be Mormon". I looked up at him and read his name tag and it said "Lamatrics". I talked to him briefly about his love for the Blackwelder's in the Cincinnati ward. The next Sunday I told the ward council whereabouts the UDF was, and they were confused because it wasn't anywhere near Western Hills. They then gave my companion and me the assignment to go see his grandma Mamie Parker. We had limited miles and she was very far out of our area. We weren't ever able to get a member to drive us out there and we didn't ever end up fulfilling the assignment. My companion and I got transferred away from Cincinnati, and I ended up in the Eastgate ward a few transfers later. We got a call from the Cherry Grove Sisters to go see a member in our ward whose records aren't here. The members son in the Western Hills ward told them about her. We finally were able to go and see her a few weeks after they told us. Turns out... it was Mamie Parker along with Lamatrics and Lamaine Coleman!! I had finally found them month after I had heard about them in the Cincinnati ward. It's amazing how I am the only missionary other than my companion that would've known anything about them. I really have been wondering about them for months and have always wanted to meet them. The Lord led me to them in the last place I thought  would find them! Mamie and Lamaine both came to church on Sunday as well! I am so excited to help this family progress and to teach Mamie's grandson who isn't a member yet.

Another great thing that happened this week was Melissa. We found her in the potentials list, and she has had missionaries come every year for 16 years, and so she is taking it as a sign. We taught her the Restoration on Saturday and the spirit was so strong. She said she would study and pray, and she's already started praying about it. I can tell that she has real intent. She even came to church yesterday! She almost didn't. The member we had set to give her a ride got the flu, and to make it worse we forgot our phone when we went to ward council. We ran home after before church started, and we got home at 8:40 when church starts at 9:00. That's when we saw the text from the member. We started to panic because we weren't sure who to ask. We called Melissa and turns out the members husband just decided to give her a ride despite that he would be alone with her, he just had a video call with his wife to be safe. So she was able to come to church! It was so amazing. She stayed for all of it and was so involved. At the end she said she had a lot to think about and pray about, she also expressed that she felt so welcome. It was so amazing. I really can see her progressing in the gospel.

Here are a few pictures from last week! We had a district meeting, and made a Title of Liberty and then us at a less actives house :)

I love change!

The most exciting thing that happened this week was the missionary schedule and key indicator changes. They changed up our morning schedule so its more relaxed and we can decide ourselves what to do. The council decided to give us more agency in deciding how we want our mornings to go. It's been a lot of fun to have a different schedule! They also took us from 9 key indicators down to 4. They have identified what the most important things to conversion are, and that's all that we report. Missionary work is a lot less stressful now, which is great :)

We almost got sucked into a Bible Bashing this week. I got really nervous because I try my hardest to avoid those... which I didn't used to, haha. They seemed really nice at first but then they started asking probing questions trying to get us to say the wrong thing so they could prove us wrong. Luckily, and of course, they couldn't get us with anything. We stayed pretty calm and politely answered questions. We did leave them on good terms by letting him rant to us about Donald Trump and how it is related to God. It was interesting to hear his point of view, and mostly his wife just sat there and listened to him rant. Once we were finally able to get out of there we went and had a great dinner with the Allred family, some members in the ward, and it made it all better.

Well, that is all for this week. Love you all!

Sister Fultz

We are pro at catching mice!

Hello Friends and Family!

This week Sister Winterton got attacked by an old woman at the nursing home where we do service. It was hilarious! We were playing with a parachute flapping it up and down with balloons in the middle and I guess the lady didn't like her for whatever reason. She started hitting her pretty brutally and then she grabbed her shirt and hair and pulled her. I was sitting on the other side of the room and I couldn't get to her, so I just had to watch. The nurse turned around and yelled "Martha! Let her go!". Martha had a pretty tight grip on her so it took a second to get her off. As she was getting wheeled away in her wheelchair, she pointed her finger really angrily at Sister Winterton. Later when we walked out I saw her and she said "Don't give him anymore" while pointing her angry finger at me. Then on Sunday morning we caught a mouse in one of the sticky traps that a member gave us, and then another Sunday night. That makes 4 total that we have caught in our house since Christmas. We need a cat! I hope we don't have anymore, but I have a feeling we do. We live in a members house and all there is under it is a crawl space. Our house is coordinator is coming over today to check it out, so we might end up moving!

Chris is still MIA. The other Sisters tracted his street and couldn't find him.

One of our investigators ended up in the hospital this week for attempted suicide. She's home now, which probably isn't the best. Her grandma told us to keep going back to help her. She is such a sweet girl with just a skewed thought process. I am praying a lot for her and hope we can help her.

The weather this week was so nice! It's been warmer and we don't have any snow. It's prime missionary work weather! Although I do wish there was some snow... but I hear Utah has a lot! I'm not sure I would want to missionary in that much snow. The past two winters in Ohio have been so mild, I am blessed!

Sure love you all!

Sister Fultz

My first week in Eastgate

My first week in Eastgate was eventful!

My first full day we got a member referral for a man in the hospital where this member worked. We went and met him, his name is Chris. He took the lessons in California where he almost got baptized, but then he was attacked and stabbed (crazy, right?!). Then he lost contact with the missionaries. He since has moved to Ohio to be near the better hospitals to treat his lupus disease. We taught him the Restoration and gave him a new Book of Mormon. He remembers pretty much everything! It was so amazing to meet him. Since he has been discharged from the hospital, and we kind of lost him. He didn't give us his address, and he doesn't have his own phone. WE HAVE NO WAY OF CONTACTING THIS PREPARED AND ELECT MAN. We literally lost him. Oh my. I don't know what to do! He told us he lives on a street which is actually in Cherry Grove. I told the Sisters they just need to go tract that street so they can find him, haha. Pray that we find Chris!

The rest of the week was pretty slow. We are trying to find new people to teach. A lot of people will listen to us, but it's always a question of who will actually commit and do something about what we teach. Like this one guy, we shared the First Vision, and when we were done he said, "That's cool, can we wrap this up? I gotta go." I laughed right then and just didn't know what to say. Needless to say, we probably won't teach him much more.

We tried tracting this week. One of the doors we knocked on the guy looked at us and knew who we were. Once someone knows who you are, a rejection is coming. But there wasn't one! He wanted some "literature" to read. I guess we were amateurs and didn't have any on us. Awkward. He said he would talk to us more but he was....knitting. Priorities, right? We did manage to go by a few days later and give him a Book of Mormon. We are going to see him this week, so we will see what happens!

Today we went to a Jungle Jims with the Cherry Grove Sisters. It is pretty much the best store ever! They have all kinds of food from different places. It was so fun to just walk around and see the weird things they have.

Sister Fultz

Bye Cherry Grove!

I am getting moved to Eastgate, which is right next to Cherry Grove. I am still going to be in the Cincinnati East Stake, and in the same building :) Also I am not going to be a Sister Training Leader anymore, but Sister Lamb will be mine! I am excited to still be close to her. I am going to be with Sister Winterton who is from Salt Lake! She has been out for about 6 or 7 months now.

We had an interesting week... we were supposed to go and work Wilmington (Sister Malloys area) after district meeting on Wednesday. But... Sister Lamb locked the keys to the car in the trunk. So we were stranded at the church for a few hours. The office elders said they were going to come and give us the spare, then an hour later (when they said they would be there) they called and said we needed to get a member to give us a ride to get the key. So we got a member to give us a ride 45 minutes to Western Hills, and then 45 minutes back. Then after we got into our car we had to drive 45 minutes back to Western Hills to give back the spare and then ANOTHER 45 minutes back to our area. No work happened that day. We did manage to make it out to Wilmington on Friday.

This week we went to the farm and walked ponies! Literal ponies. They were so cute! We walked them in the snow, and so it was pretty freezing. It was fun anyway! The elders were there with us and we had a good photo shoot with them. I would send pictures, but Sister Lamb forgot her camera, haha.

I am about to go into my second to last transfer of my mission! It is crazy how fast time flies by. I am hoping that I can finish my mission in Eastgate, that would be the dream. I am sure I will! Eastgate has a lot of potential, and I am excited to be a tool in the Lord's hands to change the area. I love being the Lord's servant and the chance that I have to be changed by it.

Love you all!

Sister Fultz

Happy New Year!

This week was rather uneventful. With it being the holidays no one really wanted to talk to us. Oh well!

We were able to meet an amazing part member family. The nonmember is from the Philippines and she has been in the states for a few months now. The member is her husband and they met online. Sister Lamb has been trying to meet them for a long time now, and we finally did! She has been learning a lot from him about the church. Sadly he is hesitant to have us over to teach, but we talked him into letting us come over just once a week. He seems pretty controlling of her, but we can work with it. We had an appointment for yesterday, but with it being New Years day its no surprise that they cancelled.

A couple weeks ago we got a call from the Sister Missionaries in the Colorado mission. They gave us a referral for a members boyfriend that live in our area. We tried calling him and he didn't answer. But the sisters called us again yesterday and said that he is ready for the gospel! We are so excited to try to see him again this week. The Sisters said that he even bought his daughter a dress for church! :)

So this week we get to be in another trio. Sister Malloy is serving in Wilmington and her companion goes home this week. Everyone going home this transfer is going home a week early in the transfer for school. Sister Malloy will get to be with us until transfers and we will be going to Wilmington 2 days this week to work. It's going to be a crazy busy week!

Hope you all had a happy and safe new year!
Love you all!

Sister Fultz