Hola,
Another real quick week. This week we were super busy getting ready for
the visit of Elder Uceda from the seventy (he is the guy who talked about Cusco
in General Conference in October). So it has been really crazy getting ready
for that along with all of the changes that are happening today in the mission.
Overall everything is going well so far, just a whole lot of work for us here
in Cusco.
Anyway so to get started this past week, I just want to tell you all
about how the work is going with some investigators. First off, I think I told
you all about Hugo and his story. Well, we are still continuing to teach him, his
wife, and his son. But he is beginning to progress very well. This past we had
a really powerful lesson with him in which the Spirit testified to him very
powerfully. Perhaps the coolest part was the miracle that happened after
testifying to him. With tears in his eyes he told us that he would be at church
on Sunday and that he felt something as we taught him. He said he really wanted
God to give him an answer in his life and really wanted to do all he could to
get an answer, so he told us he would be at church. He seems to be progressing
very well and although at times it’s not always as fast as we want it to be, I
know that our Heavenly Father is slowly preparing him.
This week we also had another really cool lesson with the little girl
named Juliana and her mom. Her mom is super hard to teach. Literally any
concept we try to teach them, her mom whips out her Bible and is always trying
to find a scripture that proves us wrong. However, we used to always respond
with another and it would turn into a big mess. So in this visit we had this
week, we were going in with the mentality that we wouldn’t respond with a
scripture and not try to prove ourselves right but rather to let the Spirit
convince her that we were right. As we went into the visit we started teaching
and the mom started trying to bash us but as we did continued without
responding, we bore testimony that the things we were teaching were correct and
as we did this there was a change in the eyes of the mom and a new desire to
listen to us. For us, it was a miracle because we know that slowly our Heavenly
Father will also change her desires to learn and someday be baptized.
One other big thing that happened this past week is for the past like
month or so there has been strikes in Cusco and really just all over Peru
because all of the teachers here want to make more money. So they have been
doing way crazy things such as blocking off the cities so that no tourism buses
can enter, taking over Machu Picchu for a day and also throwing rocks at taxis
on certain days that they are strike. So it literally has been super crazy here
in Cusco for the past month or so and we are hoping that at some point the
government will do something. But in the meantime the strike just keeps getting
worse and this week the government declared a state of emergency in Cusco one
night and we had to be inside past a certain time. No need to worry though, we
are all good here as far as missionaries go, no one does anything to us because
the all know who we are and who we represent.
Finally like I have previously mentioned before since I am in the
office, we have our P-Days on Saturday before changes and this past Saturday we
went to Salkantay (elevation 20,600 ft) which is a way cool mountain a few hours from
Cusco that has a really incredible and beautiful lake called Lake Humantay
(elevation 13,800 ft). If you have ever seen pictures of it, you would think
that I was visiting the Caribbean except for the fact that there are huge snow
topped mountains behind. Overall the trip was really cool and it was a very
interesting experience to hike up to it because it’s very steep and the
altitude is way high. So most tourists take like 2 hours to get up it because
they quickly lose their breath in the high altitude and have to sit and rest
for a while but all of us were able to get up it in like 45 minutes because we
are all super acclimatized to it hahaha!
In closing I just want to wish you all a very Happy Pioneer Day! This
week I have been doing a lot of reflecting on the sacrifices of my ancestors.
Those who made the sacrifice to become members of the Church and those who have
continually lived it. I am so grateful to be a member of the Church and for the
sacrifices that my ancestors and parents have made for me to get me to the
point where I am now. I love you all and hope you have the best week!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
Lake Humantay and the Salkantay Mountains
The Salkantay trek is one of the most difficult to undertake from Cusco
and National Geographic lists it as one of the top treks in the world.
Besides the stunning beauty of the Cordillera de Vilcabamba, the Salkantay
Mountain was one of the most holy places in Inca religion. Indeed it is one of
the two most holy apus (mountain spirits that protect indigenous communities),
in part because the Southern Cross appears directly above this snow-capped
mountain on the summer solstice. At the
foot of Salkantay sits Lake Humantay which sits at approximately 13,800
feet. This hike to this majestic lake is
listed as Moderate to Difficult.
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