What a great week. First off I just wanted tell you all about an interesting experience that I had this week. So we were out visiting a very humble less active member when after the visit they invited us to have soup. Now as you all know, it’s very rude to not accept food but as I smelled the soup I got a little worried. As it was served we prayed and then I quickly said another prayer in my head that it wouldn’t make me sick. After the prayer I commenced to spoon little pieces of the soup into my mouth as I did so I noticed little pieces of meat floating around. Knowing that it was not chicken or beef I didn’t ask what it was until I finished. After my Companion and I had both finished, I asked what kind of meat it had been. The lady looked at us and said that it was a type of rodent that I would just rather not say what it was exactly. I will say that up until this point, it was probably the worst thing I have ever eaten. But I ate every bite and managed it with a smile! :)
This past week we had a multi-zone conference and interviews down here in Puno. As I sat down to have my interview, the first thing that President says is “Wow Elder Fawcett, time sure has gone fast! You are almost done!”. I had to try not to laugh as I realized that my Mission President is a little trunky. Haha! It was really funny because after talking to all of the missionaries going home with me, he made the same sort of comment to all of them! It was a great interview that gave me some goals to think about as I finish the last few months of my mission. The conference was also fantastic and it was great to see a few of my old Companions and friends I have made here in the mission.
My Companion and I worked super hard this week! We found a bunch of new investigators and I just want to take a few minutes to tell you about all of them. First off I just wanted to tell you about the older man that we helped last week with the bags of cement. His name is Sergio and is 70 years old. He has 14 children and a total of 30 grandchildren which makes it a possible number of 44 potential future investigators if everything goes well! He is currently a member of the 7th Day Adventists Church, so it should be interesting as we talk about church attendance.
We also found a great new family to teach. But before I tell you about them I just want to share a cool experience that we had with them. So as my Companion were headed to a visit, we stopped and contacted a really nice lady named Lucy, who seemed really receptive. She said we could pass by whenever so the next day we passed by. As we approached her house, we noticed a huge German Shepard dog sitting in front of her door. We tried to approach but the dog growled and barked. We tried praying and doing everything possible, but in the end we were unable to visit her that day. The next day we passed by and the same thing occurred. We prayed and without any luck we left, hoping that we would get the chance another day. Finally, on the third day we arrived to visit the house again and once again the big vicious dog was guarding the way. This time, we didn’t want to give up so we prayed again and this time as we said amen, a cat ran right past our feet and the next thing we knew the dog was down chasing the cat down the street! As we approached the door, Lucy happily let us in to her home to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her family. We haven’t had the chance to meet the father yet but we met the 3 children that they have. Her oldest, Dominic is 10 years old so we have been working with him and his mom and hope to have a visit with the father this week as well! After thinking a lot about this story I have realized that every person who begins to know the Church has some sort obstacle to get past, for Lucy it was just a matter of getting past the dog!
In closing this week, I just want to take the chance to share how grateful I am for missionary work. It has been such a blessing in my life and I am very grateful for each and every experience that I have had and am having. There is no greater work on the face of this earth than the spreading of the truth to every single soul. I am grateful for the people who I have personally been able to help get to the waters of baptism and all of whom are all still active in the Church, with 1 of them currently serving a full time mission and other preparing to do so. I have seen countless blessings in my life but perhaps the one of the greatest blessings was watching my younger brother Tanner, open his mission call this past week (with the permission of my Mission President I was able to see him do so) to serve in the Pachuca México Mission. There is no greater joy than to see people you care so much about take steps to do just as you do each and every day. I am proud of Tanner and just as I tell each and every young convert that recently has joined the church, the chance to serve a mission is special and the things you learn will change you and others forever. I love you all and pray you have the best week!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
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| 3 Brothers at Tanner's Mission Call Opening! |
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