Hola!!!
Well this week I officially hit my HUMP DAY!!! To be
completely honest with you, I am really sad that I have only a year left here
in Perú. I absolutely love my mission and I have learned so much. Looking back
and reflecting on the first year in my mission and before I left, I realize how
much of a different person I am now! I would have never imagined what my life
would be like now as I stepped on the plane and began my journey here to Perú.
I feel like the Lord has blessed me with so many incredible experiences,
miracles, and many difficulties these past 12 months of my mission. As I
remember the person I was a year ago, I know that these changes have been
exactly what our Heavenly Father wanted and that I am learning what he intended
for me to learn. The mission really is the University of Life that everyone
talks about. It teaches you and prepares you for the future in ways that no
other experience could. If I were to picture myself as I walk off the plane
next year, I know that I will be even more different then than I am now. I am
so grateful and blessed to have been called to serve in this beautiful mission,
to these humble and incredible people, in this very special and sacred time of
missionary work. One of my goals when I left for the mission was to give my
mission all that I have. To Serve with All of my heart, might, mind and
strength and I can honestly say that this past year I have done the very best
that I could and given it my All. I look forward to the coming year and the
challenges that I will face and pray that the Lord will be at my side through
every moment, just like he has been through this past year.
This past week seemed to go unusually fast. I haven’t
even hit the year mark yet, but it seems like I am already just flying down the
hump as far as time goes. To talk about this week I just want to start and tell
you about what we did for P-Day today. So as you all have seen, on P-days, we
are literally touring and going to all of these super incredible ruins that
there are to see here in Cusco and surrounding it because there literally is so
many places to go. Well, today we went to 3 areas that were really neat. First
stop was a Catholic Cathedral (I know a Mormon missionary at the Catholic
Cathedral, probably interesting sight) that was built by the Conquistadors when
they came to Perú and started attacking and forcing the Incan people to become
Catholic or be killed. Well, this Cathedral was built and is the place where
many Incan people were forced to attend church and participate in the religious
ceremonies. We had the chance to go inside this church and I can honestly say
as I entered, I felt the Spirit leave just as I entered the church. It was
really quite interesting and just by being inside you could feel that this was
a place where the Inca people had been. It was prohibited to take photos inside
so I sadly was only able to take some outside. Today we also went to Rumiqolqa
and Pikillaqta which are 2 Incan ruin cites that we visited located relatively
near the Cathedral. The more ruins I see, the more of a testimony it is to me
that the ruins were built by the decedents of Lehi. It truly is incredible to
live in such a historically and archaeological place, I seriously love it!
As far as the work goes this week, my Companion, Elder Ordoñez and I have been contacting like crazy and finding and teaching lots of new
people. It certainly is not as easy as teaching all day, but we know the Lord
will bless us as we continue to look for the people that he has prepared for
us. One such person we have been working with is named Felix. He is the father
of a family that consists of member and nonmembers. Throughout the years, he
has had visits from various missionaries and has had many opportunities to hear
the Gospel. As we found him and began to get to know him, I immediately felt
that we needed to begin visiting him again. Even after having so many
missionaries through the years, I know that it may just take him hearing the
right testimony to get baptized. Whether that is from me, my Companion or
missionaries a year from now, I know that the Lord needs him on his side.
Another cool thing this week is we were teaching a family
that also has been listening to the missionaries for several years. We were
getting ready to drop them because they were not really progressing all that
well and didn’t really seem to be all that interested anymore. The last visit
we planned to have with them, we talked about the importance of the Savior in
each of our lives and how important it is to follow him. As we testified of the
Savior and his love for each of us, we realized that we shouldn’t give up on
them quite yet and should be patient with them, just as the Lord has
continually been patient with me in my life.
Final story for the week. So there is this little man
that is probably 4 feet tall (his feet don’t even touch the floor when he sits
down, really small guy), around 75 years old, and speaks only Quechua was
baptized here in Cusco awhile back. He speaks literally no Spanish and collects
plastic soda bottles on the side of the road for a living has started attending
our Ward. Like I said, he literally speak NO SPANISH and there are only a
select few people that can talk to him. His story goes that he one day had a
dream in which God told him he needed to come to our Church, so he began
attending and the missionaries (with the help of a translator) baptized him. He
has been to Church every Sunday since and since he doesn’t speak Spanish I
don’t know that he actually gets much out of the lessons. But the one thing I
do know is that he has a testimony. This past Sunday I walked up to him and
spoke to him in the tiny bit of Quechua that I know and welcomed him to Church.
With a smile on his face he responded. Expecting not to understand his response
I turned to leave when he responded and somehow I understood enough to know
that he was saying that he was happy to be here.
So in closing, I guess the point I am trying to get to is
first off God can bless you with the gift of interpretation of tongues (I do
not know hardly any Quechua) and secondly that there are people who have it
harder than YOU do. This guy hasn’t missed a day of Church since he became a
member and yet he doesn’t understand what is even going on in the meetings, but
still he knows what he is doing is that which is correct. As I have served my
mission I have learned countless times that there are people who sacrifice so much
more to be members of this Church than we can even comprehend. The least we can
do as members is to do my best to Keep the Commandments 100 percent of the time
and do exactly what the Lord asks of us. I know that he does live and that he
really does love each and every one of us. I have felt his love for the
Peruvian people as I have served them this past year and can honestly say these
people are the people the Lord intended for me to serve. I love them and enjoy
the blessing of serving them each and every day. I never knew how much a call
to serve a mission would change my life in just a year and I am so grateful I
have a year more to give the Lord my best in the short time I have left. I love
you all and wish you all a great week!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
Elder Fawcett's Penchanista Really Takes Care of the Missionaries
She Makes Sure they Celebrate Their Native Holidays!
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Ruins of Rumiqolqa | .  | .  |
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Ruins of Pikillaqta  |  |  |
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