This week was a great change for me from the previous few weeks. After an immense amount of prayer, faith and patience, my companion is starting to change… A LOT! After the past few weeks issues, things really turned around this week. We are now able to work hard and the Spirit is helping us find those who truly do need this message. I know that the Lord truly does answer prayers but not only that, I know he can change the heart of ANYONE!
So, this week as we began to work as hard as possible, we got some terrible news. Lucero (Age 12) and her Mom Geoanna were going to have their baptisms this Saturday. They were ready and had their interviews already! But, the Dad and husband decided that he wanted NOTHING to do with us and so he told us to never come back. It not only crushed every ounce of me, but it also destroyed his daughter Lucero. She cried and told us she really wanted to be baptized and knew everything that we had taught her was the truth. I brought tears to my eyes as I looked at her and promised her that one day, she would have the opportunity to be baptized. I felt as I said this that this had been part of our Heavenly Father’s Plan all along. Though I won’t have the privilege of seeing her baptized, I know that someday there will be others to come and baptize ALL of the family. But for some reason, it was not meant to be at this time.
This week I had another story that really affected me. It was later in the evening around 7:30 when there was a big group of drunk men that started yelling insults at us and about the church. They started throwing stuff and getting pretty aggressive. Not one moment did I feel afraid. It got to the point where they were blocking the path ahead where we needed to pass. As we approached, I felt I just needed to keep going, so I did even though my companion, Elder Sarceño, wanted to flee. Then one of the man yelled, “What do you Mormons want anyways!” That’s when I felt prompted to say what I said. I told them that “we are here because you’re Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ Loves You!” That was all I said and we passed by and nothing more was spoken or said of any of them.
Experiences like this have ready defined my mission, as I have learned to become a True Defender of my Faith and my older brother Jesus Christ. No matter where I am, he has lifted me and carried me!
Now on a little less serious note, I want to tell you a few things about Peru that you might not know about. First off, you can’t find fresh milk down here. Stores with cold gallon milk jugs just don’t exist. Instead, they have cans of milk that are canned similar to like sweet and condensed milk is at home but it is just regular milk. To be extremely honest, it is really not very good to drink. When you open the can it really doesn’t smell very good but we have to drink it when it is given to us and it is really hard to drink. Another thing that is pretty interesting is the cheese which I am showing you a picture of, it comes in big round blocks and it is white. They don’t refrigerate it and it just sits out all day and it is not very good. We eat it a lot on bread but I really don’t care for it. That is the only cheese they have down here, they don’t have any of the other kinds that are at home. One last thing to tell you about is one day we were out tracting at the very top of our Sector and I noticed this stray white lamb that was all by itself. I recognized it as belonging to one of our neighbors and it had obviously gotten free. It kind of reminded me as to why I am here, as it was a lost Lamb separated from the flock so I decided to catch it and take it back to the owner.
I just want to end by thanking everyone for all of the thoughts and prayers on my behalf. I testify that Jesus Lives, he is a perfected being who loves each and every one of us because he understands each of us! I Love you all!
Love
Elder Fawcett
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