Week 94 - Cooking Talent Thanks to My Mom!

Hola,

Another week complete and I feel pretty exhausted. We have been working really hard and this week we had a big burden of taking care of a lot of “things” in the Ward (still no Bishop) that fell upon our shoulders. Though it was difficult the Lord blessed us with some great experience but perhaps the greatest blessing was the new investigator we found and began to teach this past week. His name is Edwin and is 20 years old and currently studying in the University here in Puno. He is from an area about 6 hours from Puno and is currently very interested in what we have to teach him. One of his good friends is a member of the Church and we were presented to him this past week at an activity that we organized. As I stated, he is super receptive and has a lot of questions and even came to Church on Sunday. We hope to work more with him this week and plan to put a baptismal date with him as well.

This week also consisted of a great visit with Luis whom we have been teaching for a very long time. He has been going through some struggles lately but thankfully has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. He has almost read all of it and knows that it is true. He even took it to an activity in the University as a book that has changed his life and shared it with other people. He is already a missionary, he just needs to get baptized and get the official call and will help a lot of people. We are working hard with him and hoping that eventually he will take actions and make the decision to be baptized.

We also had a great activity that we organized in the Ward and had all of the missionaries in the Zone participate. The activity basically consisted of us going to the center and shining the shoes of people for free. It may sound like a strange activity but it was a huge success. We got a TON of contacts and a lot of people were really impressed about how serviceable the missionaries from our church are. It was such a success that we plan to go back this week and do it again!

Also in our Ward this past week we organized another activity called “Dulce Mistura”.  It was an activity pretty much identical to the one we had a couple months ago called “Master Chef”. However, this time instead of having the members prepare their best dish, the prepared their best dessert. My Companion and I participated and I made Peanut Butter Cookie Bars (with Peruvian Style M&M´s inside, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, and honey roasted peanuts on top). Honestly I expected my dish to not turnout very good but it was actually really good. I guess I have my Mom to thank for the cooking talent! My companion made fudge brownies and they also were super good. The activity was a great success and the members loved it and was also a great activity to help us meet some new investigators.

In closing this week, I just want to state how grateful I am for the things I am learning each and every day. There has not been a day that has gone by during my mission that has by any means been easy. Whether I am deathly sick, walking all day up hills, or being rejected by every person I speak with, I know that there is a reason for all opposition. We are here on earth to learn and obtain the attributes of our Savior Jesus Christ. The mission has been the place where I have been tried more than ever but also the time in which I have been able to personally strengthen my relationship with him and obtain more of his divine attributes. I love you all and pray that you have a great week in all of the things you do.

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Service in the City Center

Polishing Shoes in City Center!

Typical Native Peruvian Dog

Guacamoli and Chips :)

Doritos Dippas!

Ward at Dulce Mistura

Ward Members

Mazamorra de Maizena c/ Naranja

Arroz c / deche y Mazamorra Morada

Marmoleado do Ap, Blanco y Morado

Elder Fawcett's Cookie Bars

Elder Guarchaj's Fudge Brownies

Budin de Platano

Bollitos de coco, choloclate, meca

Budin de Pan

Rollitos de Platano

Week 93 - "Why Me?"

Hola,

What a fantastic week! It certainly is a blessing to be a missionary at this time. My Companion and I have been working really hard and although we haven’t always had as much success as we have desired, the Lord is blessing us through our daily efforts to do the best we can. This week we found a couple of great new investigators and also ended the week with a baptism.

As I stated last week. Our investigator, Marcia, has progressed incredibly well and although we were met with difficulties, she was baptized this Saturday. Now before I tell you all about her baptism, I would like to start off by telling you about some of the difficulties we faced. As her baptism approached, we were faced by opposition from her parents. Although they had previously supported whatever decision she made, for whatever reason they were a little hesitant to allow her to enter the waters of baptism. Neither of them are religious at all and don’t understand the need for baptism and were even more confused because last year Marcia was baptized into the Catholic Church. Not really knowing the difference, I had the chance to talk to them over the phone and explain to them and share my testimony with them about how important the decision Marcia had made was. After concluding the call, we were relieved as Marcia spoke with them once again and they allowed her to make her own decision.

As Saturday arrived, Marcia arrived early to her baptism (arriving early in Peru is not something that happens for the Peruvians) because she was so excited to be baptized. The program started and we had very few Ward member presents but her Aunt and Uncle were able to accompany us and it was a very spiritual service. She asked me to baptize her and I know I always say this but anytime I have the chance to baptize anyone, I am beyond grateful for the privilege to do so. Perhaps the greatest blessing of seeing someone baptized is the smile on their face as they leave the font. The Spirit is so powerful and you really can feel that the person has changed.

Other than Marcia´s Baptism we met with several investigators who are all struggling with various different things. We are still trying to help Luis out with the problem of him wanting his Dads support. It has gotten very complicated but we have been praying a lot. He has a testimony of the church and I know the Lord will help him see the importance of the decision he needs to make.

Also this Saturday we continued with our Mutual activities with all of the youth. This Saturday we had a service activity which was deep cleaning the church for Stake Conference in 2 weeks. There were few youth that showed this week but at the end, I prepared brownies as sort of a reward for those who had come to help (brownies don’t exist here in Perú). One of the biggest things I have learned by doing these mutual activities is how much our Heavenly Father cares about each and every one of them. You truly can feel it as you serve them.

In closing this week, I just want to close with my testimony of how much serving here in this area has blessed me. It has been quite a challenge having to constantly lead the Ward and members and carrying the big load that comes with that along with the load I already have of training a new missionary and just plain out being a missionary. It has been beyond difficult and at times I have asked myself why I have to be the one to do it. I have come to the conclusion that it is to better teach me the load that our Savior Jesus Christ personally carried for me. I know without a doubt in my mind that as he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane that there was a moment when he was thinking about me. Thinking about all of the adversities, temptations, pains, and afflictions that I would go through throughout my life. So many times we always ask ourselves, “Why me”. As I have thought about it we are all so selfish to think that thought for even a second. The greatest man who ever lived suffered on behalf of every soul that would ever live. Literally everything that every single one of them would someday feel or go through. We cannot even begin to comprehend what he went through on behalf of each of us. It is for that reason that whenever I have that thought come to me, I replace it with a prayer of gratitude to him. The one and only pure soul that there ever was and ever will be. I love you all and hope that this week is great for each and every one of you.

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Congratulations Marcia!

Marcia, Elders Fawcett and Guarchaj

Marcia, Elders Fawcett and Guarchaj

Ward Member at Marcia's Baptism .

Marcia and Elder Fawcett

Congratulations!!

Week 92 - Nothing Abnormal, Just Nasty Cheese!

Hola,

For starters this week, I didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary thankfully. But I did get a little sick again from the nasty cheese that they sell in the street here. I may have talked about it before but the cheese here is absolutely disgusting. I do my best not to eat it but sometimes, I have no choice and just pay the price later. It is all good though, they are just experiences that are helping me learn and grow more just like everything else I have the chance of going through as a part of my mission.

Mutual on Saturday was once again a huge success. My Companion and I taught the youth how to make tacos since most of them have never even tried a taco (they don’t exist in Peru). We taught them how to make tortilla dough which is pretty simple, along with delicious guacamole, topped off with some great taco meat (made it without taco seasoning since it doesn’t exist and it turned out way better!). It was a great experience and almost everyone from the Ward showed up for the activity. Not only that but once again we were blessed to meet some new nonmembers who we are hopefully going to be able to teach in the coming weeks.

This past week we had a great miracle occur with our investigator Marcia. She sort of disappeared for a while but this past week we found her and continued to teach her. We asked her about her feelings on baptism and she said she wasn’t sure about whether she should or not. We invited her to pray that night to receive and answer about what she should do. That night, she did so and had an amazing experience that she told us about. It is a really sacred experience so I don’t want to share it right now but I will say that she received a very clear answer in a dream following her prayer. After receiving her answer, we were able to finish teaching her all of the lessons and on Sunday she passed her Baptismal interview. The only thing left for us to do is getting a family member to sign her baptismal register (she is only 17 so she cannot legally sign yet). Her parents live a long way away from Puno and she is studying alone here so she called her Mom for permission and she told her that it is her decision. So we are going to hopefully have her Aunt and Uncle who are members in another Ward sign it for her this week with her Mom’s permission and have her baptism on Saturday. It truly is a miracle how our Heavenly Father can so quickly change some one’s heart!

Another cool experience is we were invited by the Oliviera family to celebrate their oldest son, Johnathon’s´ birthday. It was super cool and I always love a Peruvian style birthday with cake in the face and eggs on your head. I got him a cool Real Madrid Soccer Jersey (that is one of the biggest soccer teams down here in Perú, it is based in Spain but plays internationally all over the world) since he is one of my good buddies I have made while here. Celebrating his birthday with him reminded me a lot myself when I turned 16. Reflecting on the past 2 years of my life I realize how much I have grown in these past few years.

In closing I just want to talk about one of the things that has been on mind a lot recently. After General Conference, I made myself a goal to learn as much as I could about Personal Revelation since President Nelson stated how important it is for us as members of the church. As I have been studying it a lot lately it has reinforced my desire to continue seeking it as I strive to work as a missionary and continue to grow my testimony. On Sunday I had to teach all 3 hours of church (talked in Sacrament meeting, taught Gospel Principles, and also the Young Men), which has occurred many times, but as I did so I learned just how useful Personal Revelation can be. It has been a blessing to me throughout my mission and continues to be as I strive to always look for ways to serve others. It is important for all of us just as the Prophet stated and I just want to challenge everyone to try and seek it out in your daily lives. I love you all and pray that you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Fawcett


                                                                    Our New Apartment Again! 

Traditional Peruvian Cheese in the Streets!

Celebrating Jhonathons B-Day!

Jhonathon

Taught Them How to Make Tortillas!

Cookem Up

Chop Up the Vegetables

Socialize

Putting Everything Together

Up the Street From Our Apartment

Down the Street From Our Apartment

Week 91 - Cactus Fruit

Hola,

What a week! So this week’s new food was actually a really good one. I was served cactus fruit and I can honestly say it was delicious. However, I pretty much destroyed my hands while trying to get to the edible part. Once I did, the fruit was delicious and it was interesting to once again try another food that I never have tried. Also, remember how we moved houses about a month ago? Well we once again moved this past week because my Companion and I had been unable to sleep for a week or so due to a dog that literally barked right outside our door every single night, all night long. We are currently living in a nice new building that was recently built. I will send a video next week so that you can all see. In addition this week my Companion and I continued to work very hard and had some great miracles occur.

First off, we started this week off with a whole lot of rejection. It seemed like nobody wanted absolutely anything to do with us. But by the time we got to Sunday it seemed like everything had completely changed. During our time together my Companion and I have contacted our entire area, but after knocking on some doors for the 2nd time we received a different response from people who had slammed their doors or had even gotten upset about us knocking. After knocking on a door, we were greeted by an older woman who had gotten really upset the last time we had done so. Hesitating a bit, we contacted her and after thinking about it for a second she said that she would be happy to hear us. So this week we are headed back to teach her. It truly is interesting how the Lord prepares people in his own time and how sometimes it takes multiple attempts for someone to receive the gospel.

Another miracle we had was during an activity we had with the youth of the Ward. A few weeks ago President Herrera told me that we needed to start having Mutual activities in the Ward to better work with the youth. There is not a Young Men’s or Young Women’s President in our Ward so we are sort of acting as the Presidents to all of the youth. Thanks to having great Young Men’s Leaders back home during my time in the Young Men’s program, it made it really easy for me to plan activities with my Companion. We divided the month into 4 different activities for each month, Week 1. Sports (basically playing a different sport each month because the youth love to play sports). Week 2. Cooking combined with the Young Women (preparing plates to help prepare them for missions and for adulthood). Week 3. Duty to God and Mission Prep (My Companion put a goal to try and help every young man in the Ward receive his Duty to God and prepare to serve a mission). Week 4. Careers (this was one of my favorite things I did in the Young Men`s program, most youth here have no idea what they want to do for their future careers so my Companion and I are calling different adults in the Ward to come and teach us about their careers to get the youth thinking about what they want to do in the future). These are the 4 basic ideas we had and have been praying a lot and have felt it will be a great benefit for all of the youth in the Ward. For the past couple months my Companion and I have been teaching all of the young men in the Ward each Sunday, and we have noticed a great change in their desires to prepare to become leaders and holders of the Greater Priesthood. We have worked hard to activate every single young man and personally visited every single one of them and in the mutual activity and this Saturday we had a great turnout as every single young man in the Ward was present in the activity (we played soccer). The youth even brought nonmember friends whom we hope to teach in the coming week as well!

Our investigators are all slowly continuing to progress as well and I know that as we continue to work hard, miracles will occur for each and every one of them. I am so grateful to be a missionary. Missionary work is so much more than teaching and baptizing people. It is about loving and serving as the Savior Jesus Christ did. I love him and am grateful to serve each and every person that I can here in Peru. I love you all and pray that you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Cactus Fruit

Our New Place, Video Next Week!

Good Ole Puno!

Boat on Lake Titicaca

Week 90 - Popping Fish Eggs

Hola,

Another great week. This week was highlighted by the fact that we had Zero Electricity or Water for 5 of the 7 days this past week. To bathe we put buckets out to catch cold rain water and to see in the dark house we used candles. It was a pretty interesting experience and it took an entire day to be fixed once the Landlord got back but we thankfully have electricity and water again. It was pretty much like glorified Peruvian camping but it was fun either way. Other than that, I really enjoyed watching General Conference. It was incredible to listen to our Prophet and hear him talk about something that I have learned so much about throughout my mission, Personal Revelation.

This week we had divisions and I was able to go out with my old Companion, Elder Pinedo, to work in his area and to meet some people that he is currently teaching. It was a cool experience to go out and teach with him again. My Companion and I found a really interesting new investigator this week named, Edgar. As we were out contacting, I noticed a man who looked familiar. As we got closer I knew that I had seen him before. After talking to him I found out that he is the brother of a member from my first area who was the Elders quorum President. After talking a bit more, I also found out that not only did I know his brother but I knew him because I had taught him about a year and a half ago with his brother in my first area. It was an interesting experience but I am looking forward to working with again.

We also continued to teach Marcia this past week. She is progressing very well and we are hoping to have her baptism very soon hopefully. Along with Marcia, Lucy and her son Dominic are also progressing very well. They have a lot of questions for us and are always interested in what we are teaching them.

This past week we also found a great new part member family we are teaching. The mother is a member, but her husband and daughter are not. We have been working on teaching them but so far only the daughter, Rosey, is progressing well so far and even came to conference. Luis, whom we have been teaching for a while, also was able to attend and stated that the Spirit was incredibly strong as he was heard the prophet speak.

This week I also had another interesting food experience, although this time it was thankfully not rodent. Since this past week was holy week, a lot of people with a Catholic background cook some very interesting dishes. One of these dishes I had the chance to eat in the home of a member. Once again, an interesting bowl of soup was placed in front of me. It smelled very interesting and as I began to eat it, I noticed little egg looking things inside. As I finished my stomach began to hurt and I asked what the soup had in it. I was informed that it had fish guts along with fish eggs. Now I have had fish guts before with no problem but as I ate the fish eggs, they “popped” inside my mouth and honestly it was all I could do to swallow them. Now at that point my stomach already was hurting but as we left the house, I had a nice pleasant experience vomiting in the middle of an alley way. Luckily no one saw me and I was alright. Just when I thought I had tried everything here, I tried another very interesting traditional Peruvian Plate.

In closing this week I just want to state how grateful I am for living Prophets. I personally took so much away from General Conference but my favorite talk was by President Nelson. Personal revelation is something that has helped me every single day throughout my mission. So many times, I feel the Lords Spirit guiding me and helping me to know what it is that I need to do. Although I am imperfect, the Lord has blessed me as I have strived to have the guide of his Spirit. Personal revelation is something we all must have in our lives and I know that if we follow the Prophet’s council to strive to receive it in our lives, we will be guided to know what it is we must do. I love you all and pray you each have a great week.

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Our Stake Volleyball Tournament, Our Ward Took First Place!

Seat Cover in a Taxi Cab I Took This Week!