[Ma]kenzie Fultz

Monday, January 25, 2016

My First Baptism!

Well hello everyone!

This Wednesday is going to be my first baptism. His name is Bob Miller (our Eternagator). We taught him all the discussions in 2 hours, just to make sure he understood everything. Obviously he did since he's been investigating for 12 years... but yeah! It is on Wednesday at 7pm. I am excited! It definitely isn't a typical baptism. We aren't really involved in it, which is good! But it's not what I expected my first baptism to be. But hey! A baptism is a baptism.

We met with Scott twice this week. He is doing really well! He is a little slow to understand, so we need to slow down with our teaching so that he can soak it all in. He sadly didn't come to church on Sunday. I have faith in him though! He is super solid.

We kind of dropped Jo. He wasn't taking it seriously and wouldn't even try to live the WOW. We still see him, but we are working more with Lori, a less active who Jo lives with. She wants to go to the Temple, so we are helping her with that :) We hope that Jo will come around soon.

We had a missionary broadcast on Wednesday. They went over all the basics of missionary work. It was a good reminder, but kind of boring! Sister Lane made cookies for everyone, and they were happy about that! Also, I made stew this week and our Zone Leaders wanted some, and we gave them some, and they loved it. They wouldn't stop talking about it. Then I made more a few days later and gave them more. Those poor Elders are starving half the time. No one in their ward feeds them. They get fed 1 time a week if they're lucky...

I like Salmon now! There are some members who feed it to us every time we go over for dinner. Haha. I guess I've been forced to like it.

Next week are transfers, and I really do not want to get transferred! I love this area and my companion :( I have been here for 4 months, and I know it's not for sure that I'm leaving, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Friday we had a workshop. When we were about to start our meeting, the power went out! We continued the meeting with the light from our phones, and eventually the power did come on. It was funny and an adventure! The workshop was going over "The Program" and "The Baptism Quadrant". Those are both things I wasn't ever really trained on, so I really enjoyed the meeting!

I have been reading Doctrine and Covenants the past few weeks. Man! It is so good. I love being able to read about the church being formed and about all the Revelation that was received.

We have a less active, Doris Hallums Cook. We had dinner with her. We shared a scripture about church. It was SO AWESOME, because it wasn't the scripture we planned on sharing. When I went to go to it, I couldn't find it. Then I saw this scripture and felt prompted to share it, and it was exactly what she needed. It was amazing and the spirit was so strong. She wants to come to church, but she was raised to always follow her husband no matter what, and her husband isn't a member. She misses coming to our church and knows that it is the one true church. She was telling us that she wouldn't ever want anyone to live like she does. It broke my heart. We are working with her to help her have the courage to invite her husband to our church. She wasn't able to come to church yesterday, so she is planning on coming next week. We are seeing her again tonight :)

I love listening to MormonChannel.org radio. It's approved since it's through the church, and sometimes they play more "wordly" songs...hahahahaha. Like right now "In My Daughters Eyes" is playing right now. Woohoo! The other day they played "Concrete Angel" too. I really enjoyed that. :D

Maxine, a member, is having a hard time right now. Her dog, Charlie, has cancer for the 2nd time, and she doesn't have the money to get it removed. He is also really old, so it's pretty much not worth it. She is going to have to put him down, and we offered to go with her when she does it. Very sad :( She says she'll get another dog. She is 87 and lives alone...she needs a dog.

Not a terribly exciting week, but a good week nonetheless! Missionary work is always good :D

I love you all! Hope all is well :)

Sister Fultz

Monday, January 18, 2016

Shalom!

What an interesting week!

So, I got to buy 2 e-cigarettes this week :) one for a gator, Jo, getting ready for baptism, and his girlfriend Lori, who is a less active. Woohoo! It was kind of funny...two Mormon missionaries buying e-cigarettes...oh my. They are both using them, Lori more than Jo. Lori decided to make it a goal to go to the Temple with her daughter, Jaydenly, and do family name baptisms. I was so proud! She came to that idea herself. Jo is...not getting baptized on the 30th anymore because he drank beer and smoked a cigarette. Bummer. We are still working with him and are going to help him quit drinking.

Highlight of the week was on Sunday we had a prompting to go to the Tensmeyers (members). So we did the only logical thing and went! They gave us a referral a few weeks ago, but it never really went anywhere. When we got there, Sister Tensmeyer said "I'll text Scott and see if he wants to come over for a lesson since you're here." She did, and he came!!!!!! It was just so dang awesome. Scott got there, and we taught the Restoration with Brother and Sister Tensmeyer. It was one of the best lessons I have ever taught, and the spirit was so darn strong! Considering we didn't have anytime to prep a lesson or tell the members what was going to happen. We have been trained to ward members of certain things we will say, such as extending baptism the first lesson. We also like to set them up for opportunities to bear testimony. The Tensmeyers rocked it! They were so in tune with the spirit, and they bore amazing testimonies. In our lesson we do something called BDAW, to help teach the Spirit. Before During After Warning. We share a scripture that talks about the spirit. Then we point out the Spirit during the lesson, and then we talk about it after. The warning is just warning them about the opposition they will face because Satan knows this church is true and he wants us all to be miserable like him. They helped with BDAW without even knowing about it. Sister Tensmeyer shared an awesome warning scripture that just brought it all home. Scott also said yes to baptism. We are seeing him again tonight at the Tensmeyers. So that is what we call a "New investigator, member present, member home, member referral contacted in a member home, and extension with a return appointment" NIMP MH RCMG EXT RA. Just so you can get an idea of how awesome it is not only because it was an awesome lesson, but it looks really good when we report our numbers ;) Scott is seriously so awesome! He is going through a really hard time and is looking for guidance. I hope I don't get transferred.

Transfers are February 2nd. So if any of you are wanting to send me anything, do it soon and send it directly to my apartment (you can get it from my parents). But if you don't send it soon, send it to the mission home. Just in case any of you decide to send some love :) ALSO, I LOVE GETTING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. You really have no idea how awesome it is for a missionary to get hand written letters.

It's mighty cold here, so our car wouldn't start yesterday morning or this morning. Luckily we had people who could jump start our car, and we got a new battery today. Woot woot!

We are meeting with our Eternagator (Eternal Investigator) with our Bishop and Mission Leader. We are going to set a day for him to get baptized!! We are so excited. We may even do it THIS SATURDAY. Or next. Hopefully this Saturday. I would love that, and he would be my first baptism!

We had specialized training on Friday. It went from 9-6. It was an intense day. President and Sister Porter talked about having power with us every single day, and how to get it an keep it. We as missionaries often "dip our toes in" when it comes to real power, and so they talked about just "diving into" it. It was a really amazing and spirit filled day. I managed to stay awake the whole time as well. During it we watched a video of a boy with Autism who managed the boys basketball team, and got to play in a game. It was one of the best and most touching videos ever. I cried, naturally. Made me think of my "bumbalee" or "bagagee" back at home. I love my Reilly!

The snow didn't last very long, it already melted. Laaaame.

Fun Fact: Sister Lane likes to rub feet. You can imagine that I take full advantage of that!! I seriously love my companion. She and I are a good team!

I love you all! Thanks for the support.

Sister Fultz

Monday, January 11, 2016

Miracles Come Only After A Trial Of Your Faith

This week was a slooooooooow week. Gators haven't been really committed, and we haven't been able to find any new. We started a competition with the AP's (Assistants to the President), to see who could get the most new. We did it so we would have more motivation to find some. The deal was that whoever found the most by the end of the week won, and the loser companionship had to buy greaters. We totally lost, because the AP's do this thing called poaching... they drive around until they see a family then jump out of the car and go talk to them. For real! I guess it works...haha. But anyway, we lost, but the AP's won't let us pay up on our deal...what gentlemen! Haha!

I have a confession... I have 7 cavities! Oh my goodness. We went to the dentist and when they told me I was so embarrassed!! No joke. I got 4 of them filled this morning, and I am getting the rest done tomorrow. My mouth is still numb.

It finally snowed! It's funny, I didn't even know it snowed until after our district leader texted us. We live in a cave, and I don't see the light of day until 10 or 10:30 when we leave to go work. It was so funny. It's really super cold here now! I feel so at home! :)

There is a gator named Bob Miller... he has been a gator since he was 17, and he is in his 60's now. He has had all the lessons and had read the entire Book of Mormon multiple of times. He even has a calling...assistant scout master, hahaha. But anyway, he originally couldn't get baptized because his wife wouldn't let him, but President Porter told him that he didn't need her permission, that was about 2 months ago. I guess he wanted her to approve it, so he still wouldn't commit. WEEEEEEELL... she finally gave him permission! He told Bishop Blackwelder that he was ready, and asked how fast he could get baptized. Woohoo! We are meeting with him on the 17th (that is the earliest he can meet with us--he is a busy man) to talk about what day. We as missionaries still have to go through all the lessons with him again, but that won't be hard since he has a testimony of it already. I hope that he gets baptized before the end of my transfer (Feb 2) because I really feel like I'm not going to be her much longer :( I really do not want to leave Cincinnati! I love it here. I can't imagine serving anywhere else... mostly because I haven't...hehe.

We rearranged our apartment, mostly our bedroom. It is a lot better now! It feels like a place that I can actually be lived in now. Our apartment... is too big, and too far away from our area. We are on the very edge of the ward boundaries... its really hard because all our people are about a ten minute drive. That doesn't seem like much, but when you can only drive 1,000 miles a month, it is a lot. Also, our apartment IS TOO BIG FOR MISSIONARIES. Like for real, it would be nice if we actually had furniture to make it less empty. We just have a lot of extra space and it's kind of awkward, but we can't move until the lease is up. Oh well! It's a nice apartment at least. I like it. It's one of the nicer apartments in the mission. I hate to kill those bragging rights, but the sisters really do need to move. It would make more sense.

That's really it for this week. Sorry no pictures, my camera died and I couldn't find the charger (don't worry Dad, I found it!).

"You are nurturing spiritual infants and sick children. Missionary work is a thankless ministry and remember it was only one leper who came back to thank Jesus for the healing but it doesn't mean that you aren't helping to heal and mend broken hearts. And Jesus still healed ALL ten. Never give up on the people who let you in. It is an HONOR and a PRIVILEDGE to be let in and to see the inner workings of an individual's life and that my missionary friends is truly sacred ground."

I know that Christ is our Savior, and I know that as we come to understand His Gospel that we will have a better understanding of His purpose for us.

Sister Fultz

P.S. Hey! My mouth isn't as numb Woohoo

Monday, January 4, 2016

Pretty Slow Week

First off, I had the best new years ever! You may ask, how can a missionary have a good new years when they aren't even allowed outside? Well, I will tell you how!

Once upon a time, in the Greatest Ohio Cincinnati Mission, Sister Fultz and Sister Lane were talking to their District Leader, Elder Holman. He was talking about how we have the stay in our apartments for about 36 hours. Sister Fultz and Sister Lane were so confused! They thought that we only had to stay in from New Years Eve at 6 to New Years Day at 12... but nope! They had to stay in from NYE at 6, to January 2nd at 12!! They thought to themselves, what are we going to do that whole time? They decided that their amazing mission president, President Porter, would have a great packet for them to study all day. When it came time to go inside, they opened the first letter given to them from PP, and it said to clean their apartment for 2 hours. Sister Fultz was happy about that! After cleaning their apartment, they read a short talk and then went to bed with instructions to open the 6th letter in the morning. The next morning they woke up, said their prayers, and opened the letter...there weren't any talks to study...just the simple instructions to... read the entire Book of Mormon in 16 hours (6:30 AM- 10:30 PM). HOLY COW. So, they started to read as fast as they could. In order to read all 531 pages, they would need to read 33 pages each hour...harder than it sounds. But nonetheless, they conquered it.

My eyes still hurt! But it was truly an amazing experience to spend my entire day reading the Book of Mormon and have the chance to increase my understanding of it. While I do not recommend you all read it in 16 hours, I do recommend that you, just once, read it as quickly as you can. It helps you get just the basic story line (for lack of a better term), and gives a good foundation for you to later go through and read it more deeply. I know that the Book of Mormon is true!!

Still no snow here in the Great Ohio! Only rain. Wonder how long that will last.

This week I tried Skyline for the first time. I got a cheese coney (chili cheese dog with mustard and onions). SO GOOD. I loved it.

Carla's (one of our gators) dad asked us to stop coming, and that Carla wasn't interested. We are sure how true that is, but there isn't much we can do! I'm very sad about it, I loved Carla very much. We are hoping that she will text or call us soon.

Jo is back on date of baptism! He fell off date due to his back surgery. He told us his back is better and he is ready for baptism! So we committed him to January 30th.

We were at our bishops house, and his daughter came in telling us she backed into our car...woops! Just a little scratch though, most of the damage was to their car. We still had to file an accident report. Oh well.

That's all for now, folks! It was a slow week, but I am excited to see what happens this week!

Love you all! This church is so true.

Sister Fultz

Monday, December 28, 2015

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

Monday, December 21, 2015

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