Monday, February 13, 2017

Week 31 - First Week As a Zone Leader!!!

Hey Everyone:

What a week it has been! A lot of stuff happened so I will just get right to it!

Tuesday, I had to say goodbye to my good buddy Elder Barrios!  It was tough because he and I have become such great friends.  But, even harder than that is the fact that I had to say goodbye to my home for the past 6 months.  I Love Puno and all of the lifelong friends I had to leave there! Puno is a place where I have grown more as a person that at any other part of my life!  I will miss it so much along with all of the incredible people I met there!

The new adventure began as I got to Juliaca and got right to work!  Elder Aguilar, my new Companion, immediately began teaching me everything I would need to know about our Sector and about being a Zone Leader.  It is pretty different I will tell you all that!  It is a TON more stressful having to not only worry about the work in your own Sector, but now also having the stress of worrying about the entire Zone!  It was a stressful week, but I am learning and growing in ways I never imagined possible!

Now for a few highlights of the Week!
  • First off, 2 days after arriving in Juliaca, my Companion and I left for Cusco on Thursday to do divisions with the Assistant’s to the President!  It was way fun and I learned an awful lot from them.  I was way nervous to go, but it ended up being a super cool experience!  As a side note, the AP’s have a super nice house to live in, it almost felt like living in a Hotel compared to my new House in Juliaca but I will tell you more about that in a minute.
  • When we returned from Divisions in Cusco on Saturday, we got right back to work here in Juliaca.  While we were walking to the Church on Saturday night for an Elder’s Quorum activity, we had a man named Denis walk up to us and the first thing he said was “Hey, my Family is having troubles and I read on your website that you can help us have an Eternal Family."  That is way strange for Peru, people don’t surf the internet for that type of stuff but apparently he had been having problems in his Family and was now separated from his Wife and young Daughter and wanted to be happy as a Family.  He had found our Church on the Internet and had contacted Salt Lake City.  They had given him the address of the Church and he was waiting out front for us.  We took him into the Church and gave him the first lesson and he immediately accepted the invitation to be baptized.  He is really progressing fast and looks like a great investigator.
  • Now a couple of things about my new Companion Elder Aguilar, he is awesome!  He is from Lima Peru and only has a little while left on his mission.  In the picture below of the two of us, you might be able to see some of the drawings he has done. He is an awesome artist!
  • My house here in Juliaca is not quite as nice as the one in Puno but it will be ok!  We live right across the street from the Bus Terminal on the corner.  I will send pictures next week but a Google Map search can show you where we live.  Also, I am the only Gringo in the house with 3 other Latinos so it is pretty awesome!

As I write this, I am once again in Cusco today!  We left early this morning for Cusco to have a Special Leaders meeting with the Mission President until Wednesday!  Life as a Zone Leader is different and has lots of travel but it is great to serve.  My Trainer Elder Iza is here as well and I am SUPER Excited to see him after more than 3 months!

I just want to end by Sharing my Testimony of the Truthfulness of this Work!  My mission has been far from easy, but through my trials I have grown as a person and at the same time gained a knowledge of what it means to be a True Defender of our Savior Jesus Christ!  I Love Him and am so thankful for his perfect example in every aspect!!! I look to him as I go through the struggles of the daily life of a missionary!

Love

Elder Fawcett

Click on the Link to See Where I Live!


Across the Street from my New House (Behind Me) in 
Juliaca Peru

Elder Fawcett with His New Companion Elder Aguilar