This week was fantastic! Although the Virgen de La Candelaria festival (A huge Catholic celebration in Puno) is going strong and hardly anyone is home (either drunk or dancing). The Lord has been mindful of us and this week we had Russell come to church with his entire family who have not been to church in years, they even brought one of Russell’s uncles who is not a member of the church either. The Lord has been blessing us in so many ways but perhaps one of the greatest blessings was finding a less active named Abel, who is currently living with (they are not married) a women named Roxanna. This past week we were blessed to find the two of them and teach them. They both even came to church on Sunday which was awesome.
As I stated before, Russell is progressing super well! He is on track for his Baptism on the 17th of February and he is learning a lot. Perhaps one of the greatest blessing was this past week during our visit he made a comment that made us really happy. He stated that he could not wait to go out and teach people as we do each and every day. The work of the Lord truly is great and we honestly have no idea how many lives we can affect through our service.
Perhaps one of my favorite experiences of the week was baptizing an investigator named Ana. Ana is 18 and is the very first member of the church in her family. Every single member of her family is extremely Catholic and when we have talked to them, they have all seemed very uninterested in what we have to say. Ana on the other hand is very different and although it was very hard to leave behind all of her beliefs in the Catholic Church, she was very happy this past Saturday. It is always such a special experience to baptize someone and to say the words “Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ”. It is something so special and sacred that I am always so grateful for the experience and the opportunity I have to pronounce those words and to participate in an event so sacred when somebody makes a Covenant with our Heavenly Father.
Luis is doing very well. This week we invited him to a family night in which we talked about the Book of Mormon. As we were sharing our testimonies about it, Luis interrupted and began to share his testimony that he has gained. Luis has been reading the Book of Mormon very faithfully and has been able to bless the lives of his family members by doing so. He is not quite ready for baptism and we are praying that he can be fully ready to be baptized alongside Russell on the 17th.
Today for P-day we went to a really cool place in a City called Juli. It is off the shores of Lake Titicaca and we went and played volleyball there for the day in the sand. It almost felt like playing on a real beach except for the fact that it is quite a bit colder here in Puno than at a real beach.
In closing this week, I just wanted to share a thought that I have been thinking a lot about throughout the past week. As I have served our Savior Jesus Christ, I have thought a lot about the difference in times where we believe Him and times where we believe in Him. As I have served I know that there has been times when I only did one of the two things. Both of these two things require faith but one requires a much greater level of faith. Faith is the key to miracles but if we are not willing to believe in the Savior and what he can do 100% of the time, we are missing out on the chance to see even more miracles. I know that constant faith is something that we each must constantly strive for, but if we can always believe in our Savior and not just believe him, he will be able to bless us in ways that we cannot understand. I love you all and hope that you each have a great week!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
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