Week 81 - Delicious Lomo a lo Pobre!

Hola,

What a week! The biggest news of the week is about Luis. We were super busy teaching him all week and he has progressed a whole lot! It truly is incredible to see someone who almost seemed unteachable become someone who has kept his commitments well and is progressing a lot! I am excited to announce that this coming Sunday he will be having his Baptismal interview so in a little less than two weeks we will be baptizing him! He is very well prepared and has even been talking about leaving on a mission a year from now. He turns 18 in April, so his parents had to authorize his baptism (which they did). He is pretty mature for his age and who knows, he could be serving with my little brother a year from now!

One of the other cool experiences of the week occurred when we least expected it. We had a visit set up with one of our investigators but when we went, the visit fell through. It had been a pretty hard day with not much success at all. As we were thinking and praying about where to go next, we were interrupted by a young man who asked “Hey are you Mormon missionaries?” Surprised we told him we were. As we began to talk to him it turns out he had gone to church with his uncle when he was little but had never been baptized. He said that he felt a big hole in his life and that he had felt inspired to talk to us. So we set up a visit with him and so far he has accepted everything we have taught him 100%. He is about to turn 17 in a few weeks and also has huge desires to serve a mission in the coming year. We are hoping to have his baptism the week after the baptism with Luis!

One of the other cool experiences we had was with a new family that we received as a reference. As we were out proselyting we decided to pass by a reference from some other missionaries. As we knocked on the door we were greeted by a lady who was very happy to see us. It turns out that when she was contacted by the other missionaries they set up a visit but neglected to tell us that they had set up the visit. Thankfully we were able to set up another visit with them for this coming week and we are really excited to go out and visit this new family!

Today we do not have P-Day (only email is allowed today) because President Herrera is coming this Thursday to have a special P-Day with us. However today we received an invitation to eat with one of the families in our Ward. The Oliveira family has become one of my favorite families to visit here in Manco Capac. The father of the family is the First Counselor in the Stake Presidency and with his wife they have 3 sons. It has been really fun to get to know this family because they remind me a lot of my family. There oldest son, Jonathon, is 17 and is getting ready to go on a mission. He reminds me a whole lot of myself 3 years ago when I was 17. As we have gotten to know this family it has been fun to get to know them. As I stated, today they invited us and the Sisters to eat and I can honestly say that the restaurant we went to made a very delicious Lomo a lo pobre!

In closing this week, I just want to close with my testimony that I know that our Heavenly Father guides us each and every day. Sometimes we walk to places as missionaries and do not know why we are there and quickly realize why. I know that we are personally led as Representatives of Jesus Christ to where he knows and needs us to be as his servants! I love you all and pray that you all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Lunch with President and Sister Oliveira Today

Elder Fawcett and Elder Vargas

Really Delicious Lomo a lo pobre!

Did I Tell You I Love Mangos! Ate Both the Same Day!

Elder's and Sisters in Manco Capac!

My Comp and I For Some Reason Thought This Would Be a Funny Pic!!

Week 80 - Mango Season in Perú!

Hola,

Its mango season in Perú! During the past 19 months I have learned that Mangos are the best fruit in the world. No question! Hahaha! This week was pretty crazy! To start off I just want to tell you the big story of the week. Now I don’t tell this story to scare anyone or anything like that but to tell you of the Power of Prayer and the Priesthood. About a week and a half ago I started to get really, really sick. Throughout the mission I have had parasites several times, multiple stomach infections but never had I felt as sick as I did. Knowing that it was growing worse I went to the hospital this past Tuesday and gave the doctors a pretty good scare. After several examines they had an IV put into me and I laid in the hospital room for about 6 and a half hours as they pumped countless medications into me. It took a long time but when they finished I was told that I had a severe intestinal infection that was causing my intestines to internally bleed and was also treated for coughing up blood as well (due to having thrown up so much, sorry for the details but in order for me to tell the story it is necessary). They then told me I would heal but I was bed ridden all day on Wednesday and had to take a lot of medications and have a special diet of pretty much soup and rice. After several Priesthood Blessings and many prayers offered on my behalf, I can tell you that today I am feeling 100% well. The doctors were really worried about my body being able to recuperate fully but I know that it is due to the many prayers and blessings given to me that I am healthy again. It was a long week in the aspect of health and President Herrera’s Wife almost had me airlifted to Cusco to be treated but I know that our Savior Jesus Christ was at my side the entire time. Not one moment passed that I didn’t feel his presence with me. There is work for me to do and I know that it is thanks to him and his healing power that I can continue my working in this incredible work.

This week we also had an awesome visit with our new investigator Juan Carlos. After teaching a very powerful lesson he had the desire to be baptized and we invited him to prepare himself to do so. He is currently preparing for a baptism here in a few weeks and we are praying a lot on his behalf so that he can continue to learn and gain a testimony of our Savior and his divine role for each and every one of us.

On Friday we had a special Ward activity that us as missionaries put on Called “Viaje a Hawaii” (Trip to Hawaii). Basically what happens is everyone boards a “plane” to go to Hawaii and a video is shown in which the plane crashes and everyone dies. We then are guided through the plan of salvation and it is explained what happens to us after this life. The activity went very well and we had a great turn out of both investigators and members who made the activity work out good! Perhaps the coolest thing about the activity is one of my converts who I baptized a year ago, Jhon, surprised me at the activity. He is doing super well as a member of the Church and has learned so many things in his year as a member. It is such a great blessing to see someone who took us 6 months to baptize, who is now one of the strongest members in Puno.

Rainy Season has started once again in Perú which means there was also some nice new rivers for us to walk in and take pictures of. It rains pretty much every day and every time my shoes get dry; they are immediately drenched again. But it’s alright because the rain makes people stay home, and contacting is sometimes easier. Also we are now starting a special time of the year for the people down here in Puno. I may have mentioned it before but every year around this time there is a huge month long celebration of the Virgen de la Candelaría.   Basically it is a huge tradition in the Catholic Church of this special virgin. There are dances pretty much every day but yesterday (Sunday) they had an enormous parade in which people danced and there were TONS of Bands. It is a huge belief that everyone has down her and more than anything a tradition that has been going on for a long time. Even the members of the church go to the parades which made it a very difficult day yesterday (Sunday) to find many people to teach. Literally everyone in the entire area of Manco Capac goes to the parade and it lasts all day long. It’s really neat to see but also, it is very difficult for us to work when it is going on because literally nobody is home. Sadly, we are just starting the celebration so it is going to be a difficult few weeks for us. Thankfully we have the Lord on our side and his work is going to continue progressing and miracles are going to continue to occur.

In closing this week, the last cool experience of the week occurred this past week in Sacrament Meeting. We were greeting members as they arrived to church when we were then privileged to meet two MTC Presidents who were visiting Lake Titicaca (the floating Islands) as a trip to end their mission (they finished last week). The two MTC Presidents were the President from the Argentina MTC and the President of the Chile MTC. It was a privilege to spend the 3 hours of church with them and their wives and to get to know them better. One of the Presidents asked me how I was planning to end my mission. Although I had not mentioned to any of them that I only have 5 months left, he somehow knew that the end was drawing near. I thought about my answer for a second and before I could answer he answered the question for me. He said “Finish your mission, the way the Savior finished his.” I have thought a lot about that and know that our Savior Jesus Christ finished his eartly mission with such honor. He completed things that none of us can comprehend. He worked miracles and served every single second he could until he finished his earthly mission. As I have thought about it, I have realized that although I can never serve even close to how the Savior did, but I can try my best every single day to do so. I love him and know that he will continue to walk with me every step of my journey and help us to find the chosen people who are prepared to receive us. As one of his missionaries and representatives I know that I will be blessed to see miracles as I work to serve the children of God in Perú. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

                                                                    Giant Slide for P-Day! 

                                                         Portions of the Virgen de la Candelaria Parade

Trip to Hawaii

Elder and Sister Missionaries

Elder Fawcett and Jhon

Members on the "Plane to Hawaii"!

That Time Again! When it Rains, it Pours!

Meat in the Open Market Possible Source of Parasites???

Just Like When he was "5" at the Parade!

Parade

Week 79 - The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways!

Hola,

What a week full of some incredible miracles. To start I just want to tell you about what happened with Luis! Now I know that last week I said that he was having some difficulties and we were forced to stop visiting him, well this week it all changed completely! I will not go into the details of it but let me just say that I have always known that the Savior has the power to do anything, but the fact that such a great change occurred in Luis is too me unexplainable. It is simply a miracle. We had a super powerful lesson with him this week and let’s just say that the lesson ended with us inviting him to be baptized and setting a date for him to have this ordinance preformed. He accepted and we are currently preparing him to be baptized here in a few weeks!

That’s not the end of the miracles for the week! Every week we have a Family Night with our Ward in which we invite investigators to and this week Luis came and introduced us to one of his good friends named Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos is awesome! The very first visit we had with him was great and everything we taught him made perfect sense to him. After he asked to have a tour of the Church so we showed him around and when we got to the baptismal font he was very interested and asked if it was possible for him to baptized. We told him Yes of course and tonight we have a visit and plan on putting a date with him as well!

Also this week we had a visit with Milder and it was awesome. Since he owns a barber shop he competes with other barbers who work nearby. Let’s just say a rival barber passed by his shop right before we arrived and told him that his barber shop was worthless and that his was better. Now I know it sounds silly but it made Milder really upset and he wanted to go and beat the guy up that insulted him. It was at that moment that we arrived. We were able to talk to him for a while and explain to him that Jesus Christ always turned the other way when people insulted him. He understood and at the end he got really emotional and thanked us for always being there and for always being his good friends.

We also had another amazing experience this week when an older member from our Ward gave us a call on Sunday night and asked if we could give a blessing to his neighbor who had been ill for quite some time. We immediately went and were presented to his neighbor and his wife. We explained to him what a blessing was and that he needed to have faith in the Savior in order for it to work. He understood and we gave him a powerful blessing. At the end of the visit we were invited back by him and his wife and this coming week we are planning to have a visit with the two of them.

President Herrera came down for interviews this week as well and it was great to see him and his family again! It has been strange not seeing them as much as I used too when I was in the office.

In closing this week, I just want to bear testimony that I know that Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father work in ways that we cannot understand. It has been extremely difficult for my Companion and I lately but this past week everything seemed to begin to turn around. I know that miracles do happen. Sometimes they occur when we are least expecting them too and in ways that we never thought they would. The Power of the Priesthood is real and I know that being a holder of it is a blessing and I am thankful for each and every day that I have to worthily exercise it and to work as the Savior would work. I love you all and pray that you each have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett



                                                                    Traditional Dancing in Peru! 

Drawing Pictures in Primary Yea, I am No Artist and We Got Sister Missionaries in the Area!

Catholic Cathedral in Manco Capac . .

Week 78 - 4 Foot Virgin Mary Statue!

Hola,

What a week! This week I just want to start off by saying that I tried a new food! Even though I thought I had tried everything in Perú at this point I was surprised today as a plate with a Rabbit foot was put in front of me. Now I know it sounds a little weird but at this point, anything is normal to me!  It tasted really good except perhaps the occasional burnt hairs that my Penchanista had not been able to get off! I love the Peruvian food whether its rabbit, guinea pig, or even a cat (that’s an experience I will talk about after the mission…)!

So as for investigators go we had another sad experience this week as we had to drop another one of our new investigators. I do not want to go into a whole lot of details other than to say that Luis has changed a bit, he is struggling with a problem of a bad spirit possessing him. Like I said I do not want to go into lots of details other than to say that we Had to stop visiting him.

Despite the slight set back we did not let that affect us as we went out and found another great new investigator named Lourdes! She is 57 years old and is very Catholic! She is so Catholic that she has a literal Catholic Virgin Mary statue (about 4 feet tall) that she prays to in her house. Being Catholic she believes in a lot of different things but she is willing to listen to us. The interesting thing about her is that her family members have a lot of problems with alcohol and drugs. One of them was drugged out on the couch when we contacted her, if that explains anything. There are a lot of people in the home that need our help and we are trying our best to help Lourdes first so that she can be the example to the rest of her family members!

This week I went on divisions with our great District Leader, Elder Boelter! When we were on divisions we both got an awesome idea of a new way we could find and contact new people. So on Sunday we went to one of the biggest plazas in Puno with all of the district and set up a table with pamphlets of all the discussions, contacting cards, and two big signs. As we were there we were able to talk to a ton of people and it worked really well because a ton of people came directly to us and were interested in what we were doing. We were able to get a bunch of great contacts for the Area so we are hoping to be able to go out and visit them this week!

Milder is progressing super well! On Sunday we had an awesome experience with him as we were talking. He told us what great friends of his we were and how much he liked the things we were teaching him. He was a little ill so my Companion and I took the chance to ask him if we could give him a blessing to get better. He accepted and I had the chance to give him the part of the blessing. The Spirit was super strong but perhaps the greatest miracle was we saw him today and he told us that he was feeling normal and knew that it was because of the blessing.

In closing this week, I just want to bear testimony that I know that the Lord puts trials in our lives to make us stronger. It seems as though there have been so many trials throughout the time here in Manco Capac. But as we have worked we have indeed been blessed and I know that the Lord wants this work to continue to grow. Throughout the trials we have faced I know that he is making us stronger and that as we continue to have faith in him, that he will bless us and help us to find those who are prepared to receive this Gospel. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Traditional Dish of Rabbit

Prepared with Hair and the Foot!

Division with Elder Boelter

Elder's and Sisters in Puno

Week 77 - Stepping Across the Border!

Hola,

2018! I cannot believe that another year has already gone by! For me, it has been hard to comprehend the fact that this year I am coming home! I Love it here and have loved the work that my Companion and I have been doing! Each and everyday is a blessing and I am so grateful to start this year off doing the work of the Lord!

The first thing I want to talk about this week is our new investigator, Luis! Luis was invited by one of his friends to play soccer with the Ward and it was there that Elder Vargas and I met him and set up a visit. Luis is super cool! He has a ton of questions and a lot of his own personal ideas about life but as we have taught him it has been really easy for him to understand and accept the things he has learned. Perhaps one of the greatest blessings is the interest that he has in the role that the Savior plays in our lives. Perhaps one of the most spiritual experiences of this past week was testifying to him that Christ’s Atonement not only extends to him individually but also to every other person in the world. The Spirit was super strong and he felt it bare witness of the role the Savior plays in each of our lives.

Our new investigator that asked me for the Book of Mormon in the Market last week, Miguel, was unable to have a visit this week as he had a quick business trip to Arequipa for the week. We were able to talk to him over the phone and from what we heard, he appears to be studying the Book of Mormon already and gaining a testimony of it even though we have not even had a visit with him yet!

Perhaps one of the saddest stories of the week is that one of our Investigators, Ronald, who was progressing super well this week moved to Juliaca for his work. He was beginning to grow a strong testimony of this Church but sadly he moved and we had to pass him as a reference to the Zone Leaders in Juliaca, which is exactly the place that I served in about a year ago. Coincidentally he is living across the Street from my old Pensionista which I found very interesting! As I have served as a missionary I have learned that our work is not our work, it is the Lords and for that reason I know that the Lord will continue to help Ronald learn and grow and be baptized. I know that the missionaries teaching him in Julicaca will continue the work that we played a part in here in Manco Capac.

Today for P-day Elder Vargas, a member from our Ward, and I visited a small Little village outside of Puno Called Yunguyo. Yunguyo is a small area of our mission that is located on the Border of Perù and Bolivia. Today, we  traveled to Yunguyo and walked to the Border of Perù and Bolivia. We expected to see some sort of border control, pólice or something but as we arrived there was literally none of that. We essentially walked across the border a bit and were able to buy some Bolivian Candy, food, and the national soda from Bolivia (Simba). It was a pretty neat experience and was very interesting to me because there was not any sort of border control or anything. Nobody seemed to care at all that we just walked into another country. So I guess now I can say that I have been to Bolivia!

In closing this week I just want to share a quick thought I have had as I have reflected on 2017. Last year I remember realizing that I was going to pass all of the year of 2017 as a missionary in Perù. As I have worked this past year I have learned and grown in so many ways that I never thought I would. Last year I put a New Year’s goal of serving with all of my Might, Mind, and Strength in whatever capacity the Lord expected me too and to learn and grow in the ways that he wanted me too. As I reflect on this past year I realize that although I am imperfect and have made mistakes along the way, I know that I have successfully completed this goal. The Lord has made me who I am today and I am so grateful to him for always being with me every single step of the journey. I love Him and am forever in debt to Him for the infinite number of things he has done for me and blessed me with. I love you all and pray that you each have a great week and start to this new year of 2018. The one thing I have learned is that this New Year will be what each of us individually decides that it will be!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Need to Advertise Anything?

The Border

Welcome to Bolivia

At the Border

City of Yunguyo

Statue in Yunguyo

Border Marker

Welcome to Perù

Here is Peru!

Elder Fawcett, Elder Vargas and Our Ward Member

Christmas Was Absolutely Great and the Picture Kind of Sums Up How Our Call Went!