Shannon Fuller Tales

When I was growing up, I had my life planned out.  I was going to graduate from high school, go on a mission, graduate from college, get married and have a family.  Everything was going as planned, except for the last part.  Infertility took me by surprise.  After not getting pregnant for 4 years we decided it was time to consult a fertility specialist.  We started out with lots of tests which showed that there was no reason why I couldn't get pregnant.  David's sperm motility was low, but not so low that we wouldn't be able to get pregnant.  We decided to try some treatments.  During the first year we did 3 rounds of intrauterine insemination without success.   At that point I was getting kind of bored at home, so I went back to work.  I took a contract position selling Allegra with the same team I worked with previously.  The contract was just for a year and I was hoping I would be able to get pregnant through invitro fertili...

When I returned home from Costa Rica, I started interviewing for real jobs.  I had met some pharmaceutical sales reps while working for my dad who wanted me to work with them, so I applied.  The pharma industry was in high demand at the time, but somehow, without any real sales experience and before I was officially graduated from college, I landed a job.  For training I flew to Kansas City, MO for 2 weeks.  When I got back I did some in field training and then started working in my territory.  My base salary was 36k plus bonus, I was given 4 weeks of vacation plus 4 flex days, good health insurance, a 401k and a company car.  I thought I had hit the jackpot.   This was my training group.  I'm center, blue shirt The goal of my job was to convince doctors that my drugs were superior to others in the same classification so that they would prescribe my drugs for their patients.  I was selling Allegra and Amaryl in the beginning and was very...

We started our life together living in the basement apartment of our friend Sharon Watson.  We had a long talk about us and I agreed to give our marriage a try for a year.  I continued to work full-time and take night classes.  David was just going to school.  He said that I was smarter than him and that he couldn't do school full-time and work too.  We were very poor.  I think I made $10 an hour.  Luckily, we didn't have to pay rent, we just paid the utility bill for the house.  After awhile I told him that it didn't seem right that he was sitting at home most of the day while I was working.  I wanted him to get a job so he got a job at Home Depot.   Intimacy was really difficult between us. I had a UTI for the first several months of our marriage and wanted nothing to do with sex.  Things were not good.  I felt like I was stuck in a marriage that I should have never entered and I was depressed.   About 8 months...

Well, we went forward with our plans to get married.  We scheduled a date 3 months later and starting planning everything.  We picked a photographer, flowers, cake and I bought a wedding dress.  His family bought tickets to come for the wedding and I just kept telling myself he was a good guy and we could make it work.  Mindy called me one day and we talked about it and she told me I needed to call it off, but I just couldn't.   The day of the wedding came and I was so nervous.  While in the temple I had the worst feeling come over me.  I didn't know if it was just the jitters or if I needed to cancel the ceremony.  But everyone was already there.  As we sat waiting in the celestial room, I was crying.  Not because I was excited, but because I was terrified.   We went through with the sealing and took pictures.  We enjoyed a yummy wedding luncheon and then headed to the church to set up for the reception.  During...

I returned from my mission on a Thursday and my dad asked if I would like to start working as his nurse on Monday.  What??  I wasn't a nurse. Jenny had been working as his nurse, but she wanted to quit to be home with her kids.  I was nervous to say yes, but he promised to train me well so I agreed to do it.   I gave my homecoming talk that Sunday and started to work on Monday.   During the first two weeks Jenny trained me.  I followed her around and learned how to take vital signs and place patients.  On day one my dad taught me how to draw blood.  I watched him do it, and then I drew his blood.  I was totally freaked out, but I did it.  I learned how to call in prescriptions and assist with small surgeries.  I did not feel prepared, but after two weeks, I was on my own.  My dad was very patient and continued to teach me as I was working.  I worked full-time.   In January, I started back to school....

The last three months of my mission were a whirlwind.  I was serving in Barrio La Florida in Rosario.  My new companion was Hermana Tapia, another Chilena.  She was solid, a hard worker and obedient.   Hermana Tapia Our apartment was a garage There was a dog that would follow us everywhere. He would sit outside our apartment all night. He was our dog angel, our protector.   One really funny thing happened while I was with her.  We were headed to have lunch with a member when we noticed that black rain clouds were approaching quickly.  We were walking fast, trying to get there, but didn't make it before the rain hit.  It was a downpour.  The streets filled up and we were knee deep in water.  We were walking in the street, so I tried to make my way over to the sidewalk.  I forgot that between the street and the sidewalk was a ditch.  The dirty water from the houses drained into the ditches.  Often they were filled ...

At the end of April I was transferred to Rafaela.  I was told that the area had not had any baptisms in over 18 months.  I was determined to break that trend.  When we arrived, I told the district leader that we would find someone.  Just a week later, the elders were knocking doors and found a woman who wanted to listen to their message.  Since her husband wasn't interested, they asked us to teach her.  Her name was Mari.   When I got to Rafaela I was feeling pretty good about the work.  The new apartment was much nicer than our last one and the ward seemed great.  My new companion was Hermana Allen.  She had been in the mission 7 months but was still really struggling with the language.  I had been there 9 months.  She seemed cool, but wasn't a hard worker.  I found that it was very difficult to do the work when we weren't on the same page.  Soon after I got there I started coughing a lot.  I would cough al...