Hola,
Time sure seemed to pass super crazy this week! I am now entering the
last week of the change and next P-Day we have changes. So this week is going
to be very busy getting ready for that. First off, let me tell some cool stories
and experiences for the week.
So one of the super cool things about my mission is that a lot of the
people in the older generation know and can speak Quechua, the ancient language
of the Inca Empire. It happens so often when we are frequently out contacting
people and when someone doesn’t want to listen to us, they start speaking in
this language. Well, since I bought a dictionary to translate from Spanish to
Quechua, I have learned various phrases and words. So this past week we had an
old man who started to just speak Quechua to us and I didn’t understand much of
what he said. I just knew how to respond with very, very little I know. When I
did, his eyes got wide and then he started speaking in Spanish to us. Long
story short, we got his address and we are going to pass by and visit him.
As well, there is a lady in our Ward who is a member with several other
family members. We found out that her Mom however is not. So we set up an
appointment to pass by and teach her Mom. When we went to the house, we greeted
the Mom, but quickly realized that she didn’t speak a word of Spanish… just
Quechua! It was then that we also found out the daughter spoke both Spanish and
Quechua, so we asked her if she would be willing to translate for us. She
agreed and we began teaching, her daughter translating as we did so.
This week we also had a very unique experience with one of our
investigators names Gonzalo. After teaching a lesson in the nighttime, it is very
common for the investigator to serve you something to drink. Well, most people
don’t drink coffee here in Peru, but they do drink a TON of tea. As we sat
there, we were served mugs of a drink that we didn’t know. As I was served my
mug, I got the distinct impression to not drink it, as well as my Companion,
Elder Melo. It was then that we were told it was green tea and we had to tell
him we couldn’t drink it. The funny part is after he offered us Black tea which
we had to reject and then coffee, which we had to reject as well. In the end,
we ended up drinking just a cup of ECCO (Toasted Barley Drink).
Lately it seems to have been really difficult to get investigators that
will progress really well. It seems we have met and taught so many new people,
but no one seems to progress at all. This past week after doing a fast with Elder
Melo, we had a visit with our investigator named Denis. After the visit, we
were finally able to set a baptismal date with him. I am so grateful to know that
prayer really does work and I know that it really can make miracles happen.
Elder Melo and I have been super crazy busy lately it seems with doing
Zone stuff because this past week we found out that President Herrera is opening
another sector in our Zone. Making it a total of 22 missionaries and one of the
biggest Zones in the mission. So we have been crazy busy getting ready for that
to happen with the changes next Monday.
Another quick experience I want to tell you about has to deal with some
new shoes I was able to acquire this past week.
Now every day, we do a Lot of
walking on dirt roads and although I am only coming up on 10 months in the mission
field and I brought 2 new pairs of shoes with me, one of the pairs is just not
holding up as good as the other ones are! (Elder Fawcett mentioned the pair
that is not holding up but we took that out, if you want to know which pair not
to buy, just ask his Mom). Now I have a size 15 foot and most Peruvian's have a
shoe size that is half of that. Well,
they have a market down here in every City that is like the left overs from
what would be the DI back home. Well
while in the market this week, I saw these brown shoes that were huge compared
to all the others and when I picked them up, I saw that they were size 15 Rockport’s
and were just like brand new.
In closing, I just want to testify how precious the time of a
missionary is. Time goes by super-fast. Every day it is so important to make the
most of it because each day is one day less I have to be a missionary. I Love
having the chance to serve the Lord in Juliaca Peru along with all the
missionaries here.
Love,
Elder Fawcett
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| Elder Fawcett on the Roof of His Apartment, He Forgot to Tell Us Why He Had a Flag |
