I am exhausted! This week my Companion, Elder Vargas and I walked a TON! We have been contacting like crazy to try and find people to teach. Opening an Area is very difficult especially when the Ward doesn’t have a Bishop. It makes it so much harder. The apartment where we live has a solar shower and it has been cloudy and rained a ton which means that I have had cold bucket showers all week. But I honestly have loved every single day here in Manco Capac! Cold showers are the BEST! I have never been so excited to get out of bed even though I feel exhausted still, bathe myself in cold water and then walk up hills and talk to friendly and not so friendly people all day! It is the absolute best and each day I feel so privileged to be able to do so! As I stated, Elder Vargas and I have been contacting a ton of people, so I would like to let you all know about some of the incredible new investigators that we are teaching!
The first person I want to tell you about is named Milder! Milder is 25 years old and I met him last Monday when he was cutting my hair. Besides giving good haircuts, he is the father of a little 1-year-old boy and is currently living with his girlfriend. They aren’t married so I can’t call her his wife. As he was cutting my hair this past week I just started talking to him and he immediately started to open his heart up to me and tell me about his life. He has had a lot of problems with his girlfriend and such and has felt so many times throughout his life that God has just abandoned him. I took the time to explain to him that our Heavenly Father really does love him and his family. As we have taught him I have felt of the love that the Savior and our Heavenly Father have for him and we have begun to help him progress.
The next person I will tell you about is another young man named Ronald! Ronald is 22 years old and is super smart. Ronald owns a shop where he sells materials to make pants, suits, and many other things. So this past week we walked into his shop and contacted him. He had a well-worn copy of the Bible sitting on his desk so I knew that he was going to be a really good investigator. We were able to set up a visit with him and went back to teach him. The visit we had with him was awesome! He was really interested in the Book of Mormon and has already read all the way to the Book of Alma! Not only that but the next visit we had with him, we noticed that he had highlighted many parts of the Book of Mormon that he liked and was interested in. He is an incredible person but he knows the Bible super well! Honestly he knows it like the back of his hand. As we taught him lesson 2 he was really interested in what we were teaching. He took notes and everything. But the only problem is that he also has a ton of questions about almost everything we teach. There are a few things he has doubts on but we are striving every visit to resolve them using the Bible that he knows super well along with the Book of Mormon to help him understand even more! Perhaps one of the most spiritual experiences I have had in a lesson occurred when I was teaching him this past week.
As I stated, Ronald knows the Bible super well but doesn’t seem to believe that there is life after death. It seemed strange to me as we began to teach him about the Plan of Salvation because he told us that after we die, there is nothing. As I began to pray in my heart, I wasn’t sure what to tell him. I knew that he knew the Bible and I didn’t want to fight with him on scriptures so I just shared my testimony with him. I told him that I knew that God had a plan for him in his life and that he loved him and wanted him to live in his presence again someday. Ronald began to get emotional and I could tell that he felt the Spirit witness to him that there really was a life after this one. That God really did love him and want him return to live with him someday. I then pulled out a picture of my family and that’s when I knew that he could feel that what we were teaching was true. I explained to him that not only he could return to the Presence of God but he could also return and live with his loved ones forever. The experience was very powerful and I know that he could not deny the Spirit witness to him the truthfulness of the things we were teaching him.
In closing for this week I just want to bear testimony of the reality of the work I am doing here. It is honestly really tough to open up an Area and there has been so much opposition in everything we have been trying to get going. But at the same time I have never seen the hand of the Lord more than I have while I have been here. There has never been a day when I have not felt His hand on my shoulder, pushing me along, telling me to contact that last house! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve as a missionary here in Manco Capac and for the great opportunity I have to share this message with the people here. There are so many incredible people to meet and I know that the Lord will continue to lead and guide us to find them. We are merely his hands to accomplish a work much greater than we can comprehend. I love you all and wish you all a great week!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
New Apartment in Manco Capac
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