letter numero 35.

hello familia!

 

              So, yesterday we had this giant meeting all day so today is our p day.  Not forever, just this week.  So it sounds like everyone is doing great! thanks for the letters.  Mom, your letters are soo funny every week.  i can totally see you swimming in the lake during the hurricanne but not gonna lie, i wasnt expecting to hear that the Morriss' did it with you! hahaha that is too funny.  But i love all your letters, thanks for writing! 

             Right now, Elder Golden of the Seventy is here touring the mission.  thats the meeting we had all day yesterday.  It was amazing i loved it.  He's a really great guy from South Africa.  The meeting was from 8 to 5.  Really long but it was soooo good.  I learned a lot and I think im going to change the ways i do some things.  I think thats rerally important, to always be trying to improve, trying out new things, seeing what works and what doesnt.  Im trying trying to come up wih some new ideas on how to do things.  get creative and find ways of doing things that are more effective.  We've got some ideas so im gonna see how they go. 

           So, this week was..... interesting.  haha we had kind of a hard week.  We had such a great week planned with so many member present appointments but instead we just had so many cancellations.  hahaha a lot.  but its ok.  i guess it just happens sometimes cuz people DO have their agency.  im just trying to figure out ways that we can help so that it doesn't happen as much.   But Im grateful for those hard times that we get to have.  All part of the experience.  And We have these trials for a reason, not just to give us a hard time.  They help us learn and grow more than anything else.  I learned a lot this week about humility and patience.  haha ...a lot about patience and enduring things well.  I think i learned more this week than i have in my whole mission.     And when you have those hard times it just makes the good times that much better.  I've really learned that when you have done ALL you can do and still fall short, the Lord makes up the rest.  We had some days this week where we just got worked all day.  Door slams, cancellations, people yellin at us, all that stuff.  But almost every time, at the very end of the day, when it was late and dark, is when we got to see little blessings.  We were blessed to find some really great people who im really excited to teach.  I love my mission.  i love everything about it, the good parts and the hard parts.  I love this opportunity i have to be a missionary and be a servant of the Lord.  2 years doesn't seem like enough time.  Theres so much to do.  The things i've learned on my mission and the things i'm learning everyday i cant put a price on.  i dont know how to explain how i feel when im kneeling in prayer with a man who lives in nothing but a dirt shed and only has bread to eat, and he prays for me and my family.  Im having humbling experiences i honestly cant explain.  These people and these experiences change you and they have certainly changed me.  Im teaching these people but i think im learning a lot more from them then they are from me.  I dont know what i would do without my mission.  i am very grateful for my mission.  anyway, im out of time.  I love you all and love you very much.

 

love, elder foulger

letter numero 34.

hellooo family!

 

        So yesterday was labor day so we couldnt email so today were doing it.  So thank you for the letters.  mel, the pictures of the kids in nh are soooo awesome.  i've got some cute sobrinos.  Im loving all the pictures.  But thanks for all the letters everyone, sounds like everyone is doing great. 

        So this week has been... interesting.  haha So this area like i told you has been totally dead.  Like nothing going on.  haha so its taking some time but were working hard and its getting better! slowly but surely.  We've knocked a lot and found some great people.  We've got about 4 SOLID investigators now and were still looking for more.  Whats so great though is this ward is amazing.  (im still in spanish btw)  Such a missionary based ward and EVERYONE is always willing to come out with us and help out which is sooooo helpful.  Almost everyone in the ward is a convert of just a few years and so their sooo excited about missionary work and sharing their testimonies.   help the missionaries!  And what i love is the youth in this ward.  Their amazing.  Their always asking us when they can come out with us.  haha and right now im like, let us find people to teach first! haha but so we've brought the youth out with us to go finding.  And they love it.  haha their so cool, they all look like punk teenagers, a little like cholos, but then when they get in a lesson their amazing.  you'd never expect it. The strongest testimonies ever. They all look up to missinoaries so much and they are just soooo anxious to be missionaries themselves.  (ps price a youth in the ward taught me how to shuffle and jump style) hahaha But the ward is just so great and helpful.  that makes all the difference.

          So one day last week my companion and I planned on knocking and contacting for a long time, almost the whole day.  The morning of we got a map of our area and prayed for a long time to try and figure out where the Lord wanted us to go.  It took awhile but we got it down to this one little area.  We went their and knocked the first complex and it was sooo great ! we found this one lady named Sylvia who we are teaching now who was like looking for the right church.  Her husband is a different religion that she doesnt like and she was sooo happy we came.  The next time we came with a member and she was explaining to the member how she felt the day we came and how she felt something "different."  It was the best.  And that same day of knocking we met this lady who was like, yea I went to that church for a couple times but i lost my car and i havent been able to. hahah we were like.. hhmmm, we can fix that.  it was just so cool.  it was very inspired that we went there that day.  And then just the other day we went knocking in that same area.  We went to this other complex and the door to the complex was open so we started knocking.  The place had kind of a bad vibe and it didnt seem like anyone was there.  So we decided to go somewhere else.  We were leaving and the door to the complex was locked  this time and people were waiting to come in. I didnt notice it but my companion did.  The door would like slam shut and lock every time.  but for some reason it was open when we first got there.  Which i dont know how cuz it wouldnt stay open after.  We figured we should stay and knock cuz there was someone there we needed to find. So we stayed and a couple of doors later we found this woman and she seemed to be moving.  We were like can we help? and she was like yea, help me out with the word of God.  and she grabbed two chairs and put them in front of herself and her other friend.  hahah she was really nice and happy so we sat down and started talking to her and her friend.  She was in a hard situation with her family and it was a pretty emotional talk.  It seemed to be just in time.  It was great.  And she's got a punk teenage kid and when we finished to talk we made him and his friends help us move their furniture to the truck.  haha it was funny.  We've got a cita with them this thursday which im excited about and were bringing a cool youth kid. 

Its amazing knowing that this truly is the work of God.  And if we trust in Him and not in ourselves, little miracles happen all the time.  It is such a great feeling being lead by the Lord in everything we do.  Especially when we dont realize it.  I love it.  So this area is getting better! slowly but surely.  we have a ton of work to do but it will be great.  thanks for your letters, keep writing! love you all !

 

 

love, Elder Foulger

letter numero 33.

herro family!

 

Candace! i got a picture of brady! (mom said she stole it) he looks just like you! he seems so cute! that is so weird you have a baby but at the same time I feel like you've been a mom for awhile.  Mom, thank you for the box.  haha A LOT of candy.  My companion is really enjoying it. and i loved the letter.  Mel, the pictures went to my last area but my old companion is sending them.  and appearantly james mack wrote me too! i cant wait to get it.

      So one week in North Hollywood down! It is definitely different over here. So i love being on bike. (btw i changed my bikes name to bethany) i dont know why but i felt like i needed to.  ANYWAY!  yea i love bike.  Its so much better than car because its not just driving from appointment to appointment but now i can talk to more people along the way! i love that. And our area is smaller which i love so now we can kind of focus more on a specific spot.  It has been crazy hot.  over 100 like everyday.  haha so... this area is...dead.  yea, its completely dead.  We have some investigators but their not that into it.  yesterday my companion and I went through the investigaotrs and we decided we kind of need to start new.  Start this area fresh.  haha but thats ok, im excited! i love finding.  Because knocking in spanish work is actually really affective.  i mean dont get me wrong refferrals are much better but knocking works.  and its fun!  Its going to take some time and a lot of work like my last area but it will be good.  Were going finding for those who the Lord has already prepared.  i know their out their, we just need to find em! Kind of like what happened in my last area.  So, we've got a lot of work to do! My companion doesnt love to knock but we went a couple times this week.  It was great.  We found some nice people and had some great lessons.   

       So my companion is Elder Shepard.  i have no idea how to explain him.  haha hes great.  i love him to death.  Really funny, corky guy from utah.  I think were going to have a lot of fun together.  So we live with these really nice members.  We have like our own little house thing.  Its great.  The ward here is amazing.  A really nice ward who are really active in missionary work.  btw family, help out the missionaries cuz they need it and it helps soooo much! but the ward is so great.  It was hard for me to move on though.  This week i was pretty homesick for El Camino Real.  haha wednesday night it just kind of hit me how much i missed them and i was soo sad. haha but its ok, im good now.  i just love those people so much.  but these people here seem great too.  And like i was saying they are all so active in the missinoary work, always willing to come out with us and help out.  Pretty much all of them are converts of just a few years and they just love bearing their testimonies and are so excited about it.  its amazing.  Its weird going to a new area, meeting new people.  i kinda feel like a new missionary again.  And there is an elder in my new district that i knew from byu so thats kind of funny.  He's been out for a lot longer though, hes almost dead.

       So yesterday i saw elder Souza! he was my MTC companion for awhile but got transferred early.  i hadnt seen him for about 7 months,  since the mtc but it was great seeing him! And it was awesome cuz now we can actually speak spanish.  haha in the mtc not at all so it was so fun seeing him again. 

        So i dont have as much time but i hope all is well !   thanks for writing and keep the writing coming! i love hearing from you! Love you all so much!

 

 

Love, Elder Foulger

letter numero 32.

  Well family, its been interesting.  I got transferred.  i kinda knew that i would be so its no suprise but still kinda shocking haha.  So i got transferred to Hollywood.  I'll be in the North Hollywood 4rth ward.  Im really excited for a change but im going to miss this place so much.  Its been my home for the last 6 months.  Anyway, so my new companion's name is elder Shepard.  Hahaha i dont know him but i've heard hes great.  Really dorky but great.  scott, you know that flute thing that Link plays in Zelda? well appearantly he plays that. haha I talked to him on the phone and one of the first things he asks me was.. "do you like boardgames? I really hope you say yes" haha i was like... uhhhhh not really. hahaha this is going to be a great companionship! no im really excited and were going to be on bike which  will be fun.  o about a bike.. So i found an old bike awhile ago while cleaning out an old elders apartment and i've fixed it up and its great now! i have to go get some linings today for the tires but other than that its in good condition and sturdy.  its name is Kathy, she's wonderful. 

           So when i first got here i was with Elder Longhurst who was great and who had been here for foerever.  The only thing was that we were teaching a lot of dead ends, people that werent progressing or couldnt.  So 2 transferrs ago we kind of started this area over.  We dropped some people and went looking for the ones that were ready.  We had a ton of work, we knocked and contacted a ton.  i cant even tell you how many doors we've knocked. haha ALL of teuanita! so it took a lot of time and hard work but its all payed off.  We have found amazing, ready people who are great.  We've been teaching more lessons then ever before. Juan Chavez is getting baptized this sunday, Then this girl named Bianka after him, and then Crazy luis after her! its been great and were finally seeing the fruits of our labors.  haha figures though that im leaving right when all of this is happening. Yesterday at church we had 4 investigators come which was great.  2 were this couple that are soooo great! we had a lesson with them this week and only taught them the importance of coming to church and they did and loved it! their so great.  The mom kept saying how tranquila she felt and it was just the best.  They stayed like an hour after, they didnt want to leave.  And their so excited to come next week too! ahh it was just the best.  

          So saying bye yesterday to the ward was about 100 times harder then i was expecting.  First off, they called me up to bear my testimony to say goodbye and when i got up there i recieved a note that the other speaker cancelled so talk as long as you can.  hahaha it was interesting but i loved it! with white people i think i would have been nervous but not with Latinos.  Their my people now.  i feel so at home with them.  And it was so much easier talking to them cuz i had so much to say. haha it was fun.  ahhh but saying bye was THE worst thing ever.  i've never tried harder to not cry.  It was awful.  I love these people so much i cant even tell you.  They are the most unbelievable people ever.  Hard working, humble and have the strongest testimonies ever.  They have such hard lives and have to deal with so much but they get through it all and somehow find time to serve and help one another.  their amazing.  Saying bye to the lara family was awful.  And Hermano Gonzalez, and Hermano Elias, Hermana De leone!  And the cruz family! the little boys wrote me some really cute notes and drew pictures.  jeeze i wanna cry just talking about them.  goodness,  when did i become such a wuss? (dont answer that melanie) haha ahh im just going to miss this place so much.  Mom and Dad, i am so excited for you to pick me up, not cuz i want to leave but so you can meet these people.  I cant say enough about them.  I look at them and dont understand why I have been so blessed and not them.  I mean they are so blessed because they have the gospel but right now in their lives, they just try to survive.  ha it makes me feel like a jerk.  I just dont understand why i have been so blessed.

Anyway, im going to send y'all some pictures so you can see these people. 

     O so i took this one picture with an investigator named maria.  haha she just grabbed me and in the picture she just put her arms right around me and i was so shocked and didnt know what to do so its a great picture and i have an extremely awkward smile. haha im trying to be completely, 100% obedient but I think thats the only rule i've really broken.  I just had to hug some of these people goodbye.  I hope thats not too bad. 

     Anyway, im out of time.  But my new address is, 9057 Cayuga, Ave.  Sun Valley, CA 91352.  I think its a members house so that will be interesting.  anyway, i love you and cant wait to hear from you!

 

Love elder foulger

 

ps, did i tell you i found a sword in our apartment complex? ...cuz i did!

letter numero 31.

aloha! sooooo ive gotten some great letters from y'all this week.  Thank you mucho! Sounds like the company meeting went well, sounds like that was fun.  Hha i'll definitely be there for the one in 2 years.  So i got some great pictures of Hallie.  She's a cutie.  and really chubby. haha It kills me not being able to hold kids.  Its the hardest one to keep, cuz kids are always jumping on me and asking me to hold them and stuff and i want to cry cuz i cant! haha o well.. small price.  ;)  So sounds like charlie is just a champ in the water and the rest of the kids are just crazy and having fun.  Thats great.  I miss those little guys.  I decorated my planner with their pictures and i show people were teaching and they love it.  And mom told me the NH house will probably still be there when i get home. hahaha i already had an emotional goodbye to that house when i left! bunk house for life!  

      So anyway, we had an amazing week.  really great! So i have been in this area for a long time and im petty sure im going to get transferred this week.  So if your sending me letters or anything, it would probably be best to send them to the mission office.  23504 Lyons Avenue #107, Santa Clarita, CA 91321.  I'm not sure im getting transferred but i think i will.  i find out saturday.  I love this area so much and i've gotten to know the people here so well.  It will be hard saying goodbye and starting over somewhere else.  Ugh i had to say bye to Juan Chavez cuz he took a trip to Mexico for awhile. that was awful! i hope i can come see his baptism if i get transferred.  We've also been teaching this really great girl named bianca which has been fun.  Laltely we've just been so blesed with so many people to teach.  And its amazing talking to these people because when you get to know them and understand their stories its so easy to see how the lord has prepared them their entire lives just to be in this situation to hear and accept the gospel.  I love that.  We are teaching some amazing people.  people who have been through soooo much hardships and trials in their lives.  And somewhow they still have a positive outlook on life.  Almost everyone were teaching live to work so tthey can just survive and provide for their families.  And their always JUST getting by. i dont know how they do it.   Its a completely different world. 

       being a missionary is very weird.  i cant remember life not being a missionary.  its just so bizarre because were constantly doing random things and in crazy situations.  i also think i could be a part time mover. haha but one of the things i love about the mission is the crazy and just bizzarre situations we find ouselves in every day.  now its like crazy things that used to shock me before dont faze me.  haha i dont know how to explain it.  The other night we were in tejuanita and it was kind of a crazy night there.  But we ran into one of our investigators who was searching for her teenage daughter who snuck out and was hanging out with bad kids.  hahaha and so there we were, in sketchy tejaunita looking for some teenage girl with her mom.  It was kind of too bad though cuz the Bryant street gang saw us talking to the mom and we totally lost our street credit. haha we were on the cool side for awhile with them but now were just back to dorky white kids.  o well. haha I feel like were part of tejuanita now. 

     But anyway we had some great lessons this week. I'll tell you about one i really liked. We taught this girl named Rocio who we've been loking for for awhile.  We had a really good lesson with her and i loved it because shes really smart and asks really good questions. She's like 21 and from El Salvador and her familiy hates us. Her dad started laughing when he saw us and at first her grandmother didnt like us either but by the end i think she did and she even made us Tomales! haha anyway,  At the very beginning she told us shes not doing this to convert.  usually if thats not in their sights at all, theirs no sense in teaching them but we felt like we still should and we did.  At the beginning we explained the spirit and how we can feel it and recognize it and then promised her in the name of Jesus Christ that the spirit would be there during the lesson.  right after the first vision she got really quiet.  We asked her how she felt and she didnt answer and finally she said i feel like a want to cry.   We explained she was feeling the spirit and that it was testifying that these things were true.   Shes going to read and pray about the LDM so im really excited to meet with her again.   

     We had some other great lessons too but and im out of time.  i love you all and i love to hear from y'all !

 

 

o! ps! we contacted a guy in Korean! (gift of tongues)

 

pps.  somebody tell j to write me haha

 

love you!

 

love, Elder Foulger

letter numero 30.

helloooooo family!!!!!!!!!!

      We had such a great week! ok! -recap.  So last email i told you that Juan Chavez was too scared t be baptized so we had a fast with him that he would have the strength to make the step and do it.  So the next dayy we went over to end the fast and he was telling us how he feels different about baptism now than he did the day before and he wants to do it! and now he's gonna get baptized at the end of the month! it was amazing! The Lord changed his heart when he showed his faith, it was the best.  That taught me how to fast with a real sincerity of heart.  Ahhhh he is THE man.  And then we ate with him right after to end the fast, his wife made THE most spicy enchiladas ever.  Haha i was dying.  And then yesterday Luis came to church and loved it! He is trying to make the decision as well to be baptized or not right now.  He's such a good guy who just wants so bad to do the right thing.  On sunday morning he said he was sitting on his bed and he didnt want to go to church but just really felt like he should, so he did! it was great. 

       Ok, so this week we had a ton of lessons fall through which was too bad but it was fine because we had a lot of other great things happen.  So on saturday EVERYTHING fell through haha so we had the whole day open.  At first i was a little down but then we decided we were going to knock all day.  We went home, got tons of stuff and camelbaks cuz its crazy hot and then we prayed about where we should go.  We divided our map into a couple of sections and prayed about each of them.  We ended up picking this area we had never knocked before.  Cuz its mostly full of white people.  But anyway we went to a neighborhood, which was like a first cuz were always in apartment buildings, but we felt like we should go to this one neighrborhood.  We knocked a couple doors and they were full of mean people with big dogs who dont like us.(and my companion is terrified of dogs cuz one attacked him in his mission haha).  But then we met this one lady named Pati.  Shes from mexico and is a really sweet lady.  We sat on these chairs outside her house and talked to her for awhile.  after awhile she opened up and told us how much she missed her family in mexico but that she cant see them.  And that day, 5 years before was the day her step daughter was killed by her boyfriend.  She got really emoional.  We ended up teaching her the plan of salvation which she really liked.  It was such a great lesson.  I really feel like that is exactly where the Lord wanted us to go.  To find Pati.  We'll see what happens with her, i hope it all works out.  Then after that lesson we had a bit of a confrontation with the biggest dog in the world.  It looked like the one in Simon Birch.  ( Ahh its a horse!) ..seriously giant though. 

      So the other day we went to just stop by one of our investigators from Peru.  She had tonsof family sobrinos there so we got to teach all of them just a little.  We did this tea bag lesson about faith where yo ulight a tea bag on fire in someones hand and if they move it it falls over and isnt good but if they dont then it floats in the air right before it burns you.  So we did it on this one girl and she got scarred and moved her hand and the tea bag fell! haha it was not good.  hahaha but soooo funny.  But then we did it again and they got it. haha It was pretty funny and awkward cuz our investigator wants us to marry her daughter and isnt shy about it. 

        Oh! ok so the other day we had our zone meeting at this place called the rock.  Its this really pretty lookout in our area right next to the ocean.  so we had our meeting at night and we brought Pierre! haha it was tons of missionaries and him and he loved it.  It was such a great meeting where we talked about our purpose as missionaries and then had testimony meeting after.  I was so great.  ahh i hope Pierre goes on a mission, that would be the best thing ever. 

Anyway, its always hard for me to remember everything that happened this week, but was a fantastic week.  Im keeping a video log at night cuz the journal wanst working to well.  I like it, its fun.  I think i just have about 2 weeks left in this area but im not sure.  we'll see!

Thanks for your letters! i love hearing from you! o! and candace i saw pictures of brady! looks like a stud and like he's gonna be an amazing skier! Love you!

love, Elder Foulger

letter numero 29.

Well hello family!, ok, soooo theres a new baby??? i barely heard.  Someone tell me more i'm anxious to hear.  Mom, thank you so much for the packages.  We have a ton of candy now. haha and i love the hucks t shirt too! im wearing it right now! haha Anyway, just another great week in El Camino Real !   I'm loving it here.  So these last couple weeks, we have been teaching more than we ever have and it has been great.  And lately we've REALLY been focusing on member presents which has been helping a lot.  

        So on saturday we asked Juan Chavez to be baptized.  He said he knows its all true, he knows he needs to be baptized, he's scared to die without being baptized, he's just scared to do it cuz its a really big step. We talked him through a lot of it but still, hes scared.  So tonight were starting a fast with him so that he can make the decision to do it. haha i hope it goes well.     

          So one day we had lunch with this lady and then right after we had a cita where we were teaching this guy named Alberto, whos the man.  We had a great lesson with him with  a member and then he was like "I made you Posole" Posole is a mexican soup with tons of meat and stuff that takes a lot of time to make and theymake it for celebrations and stuff so it was a big deal he made it and we had to eat.  haha he gave us the biggest bowels EVER.  They were like fruit displays.  And this was right after lunch.  We were dying but ate all of it and took some to go home.  Then like an hour later we found ourselves in another situation having to eat more.  We were in this house with giant plates of food and it got to the point where i literally could not eat one more bite.  i was trying SO HARD not to throw up.  The family left us in a room to eat cuz they had visitors so we were in a room by ourselves with all this food and didnt know what to do.  So, im not proud of it but we were desperate.  We grabbed some plastic cups and stuffed all the food in them and then put the cups in my bag.  hahaha we had no other choice! It was pretty funny though and everything worked out great! Its amazing how food can really humble you down. haha

          We were blessed this week and had some new investigators at church.  Some really cool guys.  We used to only teach middle aged women but now its like all guys. haha its very different but i like it.  And were teaching a couple great families and couples! i love teaching couples and them learning together.   Recently, great investigators have just been falling into our laps and its been great.  So i think i only have a couple weeks left in this area.  I mean im not sure but i think so.  Its going to be weird going somewhere else.  My main goal is to leave every area better than i found it.  More progressing investigators, more coming to church. 

           Anyway, i can't really remember what happened this week, ahh seems to happen every week.  But hopefully i'll remember more and write it down.  O! so i wasnt verygood at keeping a journal so now im keeping a video journal and i like it so much more! its fun and i think its going to be great in the end. 

      So thanks for your letters, i hope all is well and you rhaving fun!   love you!

 

Love, Elder Foulger