Email address: lauren.fullmer@myldsmail.net

Monday, April 4, 2016

April 4, 2016- Stealing shoes

"No matter how intense the darkness of doubt, we choose how long and
to what extent we allow it to influence us."
"There is no darkness so dense, so menacing, or so difficult that it
cannot be overcome by light." venn p. Stanfill
I remember this Science class when I was about 10 years old learning
about light and dark. The different types a light and how they work
and what is seen and what isn't. I remember my teacher asking "What is
the opposite of light?" I of course thought it was a plainly simple
answer ,so in unison with my classmates we said "dark." My teacher
smiled but shook her head "no, that's wrong there is no such thing as
darkness. Only the absence of light." I was a bit confused at the time
by the answer because I had always thought light and dark were
opposites. How could light not have an exact opposite? I have since
then thought about the concept of light and dark. I've come to the
conclusion that my teacher was right. Not just Scientifically
speaking, but in a spiritual standing as well. We can not sink so low
to a place that is complete darkness, with no way out. No matter how
dark of a place you've been or go to, you are not without light,
without hope, It's not possible. You have a Savior, who's been there,
who has felt the pains and sorrows that you can't even comprehend. In
Japanese the word " ou" means to carry on one's back. And he did
precisely this. He carried all the pains and the sorrows on his back.
All of them. He is the life and the light of the world, that will
never go out. Even if you feel like you are in the dark, I promise you
aren't, there might be a little flicker of a flame ,but if you don't
search for it, it's pretty hard to find. Because of Jesus Christ we
can have hope and feel the infinite love he has for us. I know that
hard times will come, but he is our light that always burns brightly
before us.

 It's starting to get warmer here and the Sakura
are blooming. :) sadly they bloom for about a week or two then they
die. So there's all kinds of Sakura festivals and everything has a
Sakura flavor. I can't describe Sakura flavor it's almost like eating
something that's beautiful. Sorry I can't describe it even if I wanted
to. Anyways, yes the island is warming up and we get to see beautiful
Sakura for a week.

Last week was fun. We set up an appointment to meet this one member
named sister Yagi to visit her on Monday night. She's about 20 really
nice and some what active because she's a college student ,so we
decided why not visit her. When I asked her if we could visit she said
"ah no you don't want to visit me I live far." "No, no, it's okay we
have bikes!" "No seriously, I live far. Really far!"... We talked for
some bit and finally she said we could visit her. So Monday night
rolled around and we were off. Turns out she really does live really
really far. About 1 hour and 30-45 minutes on bike. Good thing the
appointment was at like 7:00. We found her house, and she invited us
in. We had a nice chat and taught her a little bit about missionary
work and sharing the gospel and we gave her "I am a Mormon" pass-along
card to give to her friends. She said "Wow talking about the church is
easy! I can totally do this." As we left, she gave us some Okinawa
treats (she's from Okinawa) and then we slipped on our shoes and left. As we
were walking away. My shoes felt a little weird, so I told my
companion to wait a second so I could fix them. I looked down and
realized I was wearing bright blue boots that were not mine. I ran
back to the door, laughing and swung the door open. Yagi shimai was
surprised as I pointed at my feet ,and apologized for trying to steal
her shoes. She laughed too. We said good bye again, and we left. See
when you go into someone's house in Japan you always take off your
shoes, and when you leave you put them back on. I guess the bike ride
wore me out enough to so I didn't even notice I was putting on bright
blue shoes..  I think she likes us. Even though I almost stole her
shoes. I hope we can work with her in the future!

We decided to go visit some members that don't get visited very often.
And now I know why. They live over this mountain on the other side by
a lake. 2 hours away by bike. Yes we biked it. But we got to teach
them and talk with them for a bit. Cars are blessings y'all, but bikes
are awesome because you can stop people on them. If you stopped people
while you were in a car, that would be way weird and creepy!

We had interviews this week, with the mission president. Gosh, I love
interviews. Every-time we have interviews, we get to talk with the
mission president one on one and learn how to be a better missionary
and how to better help people. It's awesome. He said something in mine
that made me laugh. "You are always happy! Or do just act like you are
happy when I see you?" I said, "well, I rather be happy than sad, so I
guess I just choose to be happy." "Well, sister Fullmer that will
serve you well in life." I thought it was funny mostly because I
prefer to be happy than sad. I bet anyone does.  I've always thought
you can just choose to be happy. As they say, "you can see the glass
half full or the glass half empty."

Update on lice, they are gone. Every time I
scratch my head, paranoia kicks in, and I get a little scared
thinking, "Oh no I have lice! I have to burn my clothes, chop off all
my hair..etc"I now know too much about lice. A mission prepares you 
for life after the mission, so if anyone needs help with their lice problem call me.
I know how to get rid of them, but you are going to have to get
someone else to pick your head for you. 

Love ya!
Fullmer shimai

Kochan.. My favorite little kid ever. 




March 28, 2016- Egg hunt



Hey guys

I am tired. We've been busy this week. And I am just overall tired.

This week we met with this guy named Peter. He is from Canada and he
is a university professor, married a Japanese woman and lives here in
Takamatsu. When we talked about music, he brought up apparently a
popular artist Springsteen? Springstein? and asked if we knew who it
was and he said. I've heard of the name and I said "I've heard of him
,but I don't know him.." His response "you don't know him?! He's like
Elvis Presley!  did you live under rock? Not to be rude ,but where you
not exposed to things?" -_- yes I was exposed to things. He went on a
rant about how we need to be exposed to things such as drugs or
alcohol. He was surprised when we learned we haven't ever done drugs
or drank alcohol. We talked a lot about being able to choose want we
want because we have agency.

So we got to teach one of our investigators about temples and and she
thought it was really cool and she also came to the Easter party and
almost to Easter Sunday.. So close! She's a funny one. She's interesting 
She seems so much happier now and I love that.
She's been progressing so much now we just need to talk about
tithing.. And we will be on our way!

Easter party.. So yes it was good. I was bummed out though because
there was a woman who tried to get here ,but she couldn't find it and
I called her and we couldn't figure out where she was so she didn't
come. Dangit. So close. Hopefully we can meet her again! On the
bright side Kana came and so did these cute little girls from English
class. Yessss.

Happy Easter everyone! I know it's late ,but I hope all of you had a
really good Easter.
But please don't forget the true meaning which is Jesus Christ's resurrection.
Helaman 14:17
17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even
all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.
Because of Jesus Christ we can and will live again. He saved us from
our griefs and our sins, our sorrows. We celebrate not his death ,but
his life and sacrifice for us. I am incredibly thankful for the
atonement of Jesus Christ because through it We can become something
more than what we are right now.

Have a great week!
Fullmer shimai

When kids steal your iPad





March 21, 2016- Sleepy legs

Hello folks. Wow. Just wow.

This week was busy really busy. We've got really wonderful members here who want to help us so much. They are fantastic! One awesome sister is Shiraishi shimai. Gosh she's so cool. She told us last week "hey you guys are coming with me on Wednesday and we are going to go visit my friend, and some less actives ok?!" Okay no problem sounds great to me. So she took us to go visit her friend. We did a tea ceremony. You'd think after being here for so long I could sit on my knees without the pain or my legs falling asleep. Well, my legs still fall asleep and ache. 

Sitting in seiza reminded me of this memory from my first area. 
One time when I was a younger missionary, my legs feel asleep as we were teaching(we sit in seiza, which is on your knees, it's a polite way to sit) a lesson and I stood up and fell over. Well when I fell over I whacked my arm on a table next to me and cut my arm. Well The people we were teaching  freaked out and wrapped my arm in gauze so tightly that when we had to bike home I couldn't bend my arm to ride my bike normally. That was like 9months ago I think. 

Anyway, we were sitting, and doing this very elaborate tea ceremony thing, without the tea(we just used hot water) and we re-did it at least 5 times because we would mess up the words or not bow the correct way. I can't believe there are different ways to bow. It was determined that I was the least graceful one and that it was a good thing I'm an American because we don't have to be graceful. I already knew I'm not graceful, I thought it was funny because I got told ya.. You probably shouldn't ever try to graceful things. Dangit. No grace. Also we finished and my companion and I struggled to stand up because our legs were asleep and we kinda had to shake them to wake them up. 

That's okay though, after the tea ceremony, Shiraishi shimai's friend played this weird drum thing for us and sang this really old song and it was cool. Interesting pretty interesting. We taught her a message about God and Shiraishi shimai bore her testimony like amazingly, so hopefully we will get to teach her. After that, Shiraishi shimai was driving us to this less active members house and we passed this shop and she said "sugarcane!" "Do you guys like sugarcane?"  We went to this little shop that made pure sugar cane candy in cute shapes and she bought us some. It was so good. It was pure sugar that melted on your tongue like cotton candy except it was little blocks.  After that we went To this less actives member's house and shared a small message. I discovered something really sad. Riding in cars is really hard and I get really really sick when I do. So by the end of the trip I was pretty sick, but overall it was a really good day.

Sunday... Miracles. Last transfer we had skyped this woman who said her friend wanted to come to the church.  The friend called this week and asked if she could come. So we invited her to come. She asked which day and we said Sunday at 10:00. :) she came at 11:00. :( so she missed the best part of church ,but we gave her a church tour, and we asked "do want to hear our message?" And she said "yes." So we went into the closest classroom. We sat down and taught her the whole restoration. Her name is Chiihiro. She's about 24ish and so prepared. We gave her a Book of Mormon and taught her how to pray and she said "ya this just makes sense, little by little I'm going to understand." She's going to come to church next week too, so I'm so so happy!  She's so awesome and has just the purest heart. Gah.. It was so cool, I was on cloud nine right after that.

Today we taught this girl we found last week named Sakiko. She had tried to pray ,but she didn't really know how ,so we explained it a bit better and talked about the meaning of Easter with her. She's so sweet too! Man I just love these awesome girls! 

Update on Haruka: she has disappeared off the face of the earth. I have no idea where she went.

Psalms 27:14
14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. 
I found this scripture the other day and I really liked it. It doesn't say be of good courage and the burdens will be taken away, it says that the lord will strengthen our heart. Make us stronger more able to endure. Trials as awful as they seem sometimes are nothing what the savior experienced. Our trials is merely a drop in the ocean of what our savior experienced for us. As long as we rely on him he promises to strengthen us and he always keeps his promises. 


We have so much swagg we need two g's 




March 14, 2016 - Tokyo girl

It's been a crazy week of transfers.. I hate transfers. Well, I just
wish they would tell us more instead of waiting the night before. So
as I said last email transfers have changed from us finding out on
Monday to finding out at some time. Well.. I'm still here in
Takamatsu. Yay! I'm happy about that ,but the stress of not knowing...
やだ‼️(hard pass/no way) anyway. My companion Folkman 姉妹 got shipped
out to Kouchi and I stayed here. My new companion is sister Carr. I
remember when she was trained I was 4th transfer I think? Gosh time
really does fly, doesn't it. For those of you don't know transfers is
how we know how "old" we are. I am considered old now ,but I'm not I'm
only 9th transfer... :0.
Anyway before sister Folkman left, We got to teach a killer lesson on
Wednesday. We met this girl named Haruka on the train and we gave her
a Book of Mormon and she texted us and she told us that she read a
little bit ,so we decided to meet again and talk with her about it.
Initially we were going to talk about the Book of Mormon ,but when we
got there we taught the whole restoration. That was pretty darn
amazing. We taught her about prayer too. My favorite question
she asked was "should I come to church and pray? Would that be
better?" We invited her to come to church ,but she already had plans
on that day ,so next week :) fingers crossed!
Thursday
I was alone. I waved goodbye to Folkman shimai and ran to catch my
train, wiping tears away because parting with companions and members
is beyond hard. I hate goodbyes so much. So I left and got on a train
headed for Marugame. I sat close to this cute girl and struck up a
conversation with her. She lives in Tokyo ,and was going back that day
,so that was a bummer ,but She was so cute! Her name is Hana and she
said I could come hangout with her in Tokyo anytime. I gave her my
email and she said she would email me. And she did! Woo woo!
I met Carr shimai in Marugame and took her back and it felt way weird
to be back without Folkman shimai. Super weird feeling at first. Kinda
like a companion exchange ,but it's been fun.

So our first day together we did a bit of finding. We were biking up
one way and we stopped this girl in a Kimono to get a picture with
her. We ended up teaching her a bit about God, she said that she would
be more than willing to meet again and we got her information ,so
sometime this week we might meet with her. Her name is Sakiko! We have
a shopping mall. Like an outlet and we let to go up and down there and
find people and everyone was just shutting us down hardcore. I saw
another girl getting ignored hardcore too she was handing out fliers
for a  restaurant and so I thought maybe it would be cool to talk to
her. As we walked over a woman hardcore told her no thanks. And I said
to her "I saw you get ignored.. I feel for you people ignore us too.
Are you okay? That's way rough.." She smiled back and said "ya. It's
not fun, but I'm tough so it's okay" we talked to her for sometime and
then ended up talking about God. She had a lot of interest and she
said we could come by the shop anytime and we could talk about our
message. We got her information too. By the end of the night we had a
couple of numbers and we had ended up teaching a lot of lessons. It
was so cool!
Lately I've been pretty tired, but like a good tired. You know when
you feel like you've accomplished something or you are doing something
great? Ya that kind of tired.

Amazing quote I read:
"When we truly understand what it means to love as Jesus Christ loves
us, the confusion clears and our priorities align. Our walk as
disciples of Christ becomes more joyful. Our lives take on new
meaning. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father becomes more
profound. Obedience becomes a joy rather than a burden." (The Love of
God, Dieter F. Uchtdorf)
 I have no profound thoughts this week. Just love Jesus and be happy.
😍 love you guys!

Love,
Sister Fullmer