Elder Taylor Fawcett: Week 34 - Flooding in Juliaca

Hola,

Time sure just flies! Already March, heck I feel like its still October! Anyway, let me get down to the week. This week I got the chance to do divisions, this time with and Elder named Elder Perry. He is from California and we had a super fun time. We cooked cinnamon rolls and ate pizza because they really don’t exist much here in Peru. Other than that, this week was super crazy busy because we are getting ready to host Multi Zone Conferences here this week in Juliaca. There will be a total of four Zones here for it, so like a hundred missionaries or so. It’s been crazy busy planning for it but we are excited to host it this Friday. Let me now tell about my week as far as stories and experiences.

So this week it was raining really hard! When I say really hard, I mean I have never seen anything in my life like it! Not only that, but it started hailing really hard as well! It hailed so hard that the ground became covered in white and it looked like it had snowed, when really it was just hail. To top all of that, the combination of all the rain and hail caused some super severe flooding here in Juliaca. I put on my rain boots and took some pictures in the river. To describe how bad the flooding was, I will just say that in parts I couldn’t walk because if I had, the water would have gone up to my knees.

With all the flooding, I had a really funny story that happened. So since I had rain boots and none of the other three Latinos I live with didn’t, I had to carry them over parts of the street where it was super deep. Everyone who was out on the streets and saw what was happening thought it was pretty interesting since a Gringo was wading around in the river of the streets while carrying Latinos. I guess that wasn’t a very normal daily thing to see for them. Haha!

Now with some spiritual stories for the week. First off, one of the big highlights that happened was we were teaching two of our investigators names Nely and her daughter Melsy. They have been really receptive to everything so far, but were looking for a concrete answer to whether everything we taught was true or not. After several visits this past week, we asked them if they had received answers yet. They looked at us and the Spirit filled the room as they said that after praying, they felt a feeling of happiness and knew with surety that it was an answer from God. We are continuing to prepare them for baptism.

One of the other big highlights is we got to watch the placing of the first stone for the Temple in Arequipa, Peru. Even though the Temple isn’t actually in my mission boundaries, it was still an incredible experience! The joy of the members here in Juliaca was so tremendous because this new temple will become the closest one for them to attend. It’s about 5-6 hours by bus from here to Arequipa, but the people were so thrilled and excited for this experience to see the start of it. I myself felt the same joy for the people because I miss the Temple so very much. I am so grateful for the blessings I have received through attending the Temple. Back home we take it for granted and all of the Temples that just surround us. After being here, I realize how incredible it is to have Temples so close to home. Though my mission doesn’t have a Temple within the boundaries, I know that someday it will. I work every day with that mindset. The people I am helping, the people I will help and those I have yet to find, will someday all have their own Temple. It could be years off, but I know someday it will be built.

I am so grateful for this work and for the blessing it has been in my life. Two years is such a short time to teach the key of salvation to the children of God here in Peru. I love doing this and I would never change where I am or my decision to be here because I know that this is one of the greatest things I could do!

Love,

Elder Fawcett