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
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