Hola, So today it is pretty much dumping rain. I know I have stated many times before how much it rains but today it became a whole new level of rain. We pretty much looked like we had jumped into a swimming pool by the time we got back to our new apartment. Thankfully we are almost out of the rainy season though! This week was fantastic and although we struggled at times to find new investigators the Lord blessed us so much through our efforts to knock on every door possible and talk to every person in the streets.
To start off, this past week Luis put a goal of going to the Temple with all of the youth in August. He has gained a testimony of pretty much everything, he is still just waiting for his Dad. This past week his Dad was super drunk when we went to visit him so we were not ever able to talk to him. This coming week we have made it a goal to get the permission and baptize him as soon as possible. I know that although it has been incredibly hard, Luis is going to make a great member and convert to the church. He has a lot of goals including serving a mission, which has also been a great motivator for him to gain a testimony of the things which we are teaching him.
Also this week, we had the chance to find 2 great new investigators. First, we found a young adult named Marcia (yep Mom same name as you, ;)). She is the niece of the Stake Secretary and the very first visit we had with her went great! She has a ton of questions about the church and as we began teaching her Lesson 1, she was really happy to learn that our Heavenly Father has restored the original church of Jesus Christ to the earth. As we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, she was really anxious to learn more about it. This week we have another visit with her so hopefully she will continue to have more desires to learn. The other new investigator from this past week was a reference given to us by 16-year-old young man who is the only member in his family. He gave us the reference of one of his friends named Maria. Maria is also super interested in the church and even came to the activity that we had this past week as a Ward!
This week we had a Ward activity that my Companion and I planned with our Ward Mission Leader called “Master Chef Manco Capac”. It was a HUGE success! We have planned a whole lot of activities in the Ward to try and get the members more involved in missionary work and this activity was the first activity that we had almost all of the Ward members either present or participating. It consisted of each family preparing a plate of food and judges (we asked members from other Wards to help judge the competition) who would judge the food based on 3 things: 1. Taste 2. Smell 3. Appearance/Presentation. It was a huge success and the members went all out on the things that they prepared. My companion and I also participated in the activity and we each prepared our own plate. The plate I chose to make was some food from back home. Sloppy Joes, Corn (although I had to use the Peruvian Choclo, the big corn which isn’t the same because normal corn doesn’t exist here), and Banana Vanilla Pudding. It turned out super good and although I have not cooked much during my mission due to having a Pension, all of the members complemented me on everything I cooked and asked for the recipe! In closing this week, I just want to share my testimony of how grateful I am for the people I have the chance to work with each and every day! The Peruvian people are incredible and as you get to know them, they become some of the greatest friends you could ever have. They are such humble people who would literally take the shirt off their backs and give it to you. I absolutely love serving them and am very grateful for the ways in which I have learned from them. I love this Gospel and the ways that it has blessed my life and the lives of the people I have had the chance to teach. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
Our New Apartment! (Had to Move Due to a "Business" that Opened Above Us) Various Pictures from Master Chef of Manco Capac!!
