Week 64 - I Will Be On Your Right Hand And On Your Left

Hola,

Being on a mission is great! I really hope that all of you had a fantastic Conference Weekend! I know that I did! Let me update all of you on how our investigators are doing and progressing.

Diego came to Conference and he really loved it! He said it was something like he had never experienced before. Although the Prophet was not present, he knew that each of the people that talked were called of God to stand in front of the World and declare the Word of the Lord to all of us. He is progressing well but still continues with his doubts in a few things. It seems that no matter how many times we try to resolve them, they always come back and cause further doubts as we progress. Tonight we have a family night planned for him that we are going to and we hope that it can be a positive experience that can help his doubts and also help him have more desires to be baptized.

Billy is doing well! He came to a session of Conference as well and said that he really enjoyed it. His biggest problem is that he has a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon since it is in an older type of writing. We have been praying and hoping that he will continue to progress more but things are still moving slowly. Thankfully the older son of our Penchanista who is 20 is helping us teach him and has been amazing because he has been there to help and be a friend of Billy. We have another visit with him this week and hope to continue to prepare him for his baptism.

Now for a quick story.  So this week we were walking after finishing up dinner and were stopped by a guy who was super drunk.  Normally we try to be quick and friendly when we talk to a drunk guy but this week we ended up talking to him for several minutes. Every time it makes me super sad to see someone who has turned to drinking to try and get away from the problems in their lives. We explained that through Jesus Christ we could not only get away from our problems but also have him as a permanent solution to the problems we face rather than something that would only solve our problems for a short time while also creating and causing more problems for us. I could tell that the drunk man could feel the Spirit, so he gave us his address and information which doesn’t usually happen (most the time we are yelled at by drunks). We are hoping to pass by this week try to help him out even more.

The big Conference weekend thing that happened was on Friday night a HUGE rumor started going around Cusco that President Monson had passed away. We were at a Stake activity with some of our investigators where the Cusco Orchestra was playing some cool music when the rumor started going around the room. I am not exactly sure how it started but there were a lot of members down here who were super worried about it and were even crying about it! It seemed to spread like wildfire as everyone in the activity was sending messages back and forth about how the Prophet had passed away. Eventually everyone found out that the rumor was actually false and that the Prophet was alive. The following day we were privileged to have a great Conference in which we were blessed to hear some great messages from the Lords Modern day Prophets. Something that really stood out to me was that that several of the speakers quoted or made notion to the scripture that is on my missionary plaque that hangs near the Bishop’s office in my Home Ward. D&C 84: 88:

“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

As a missionary I can personally testify that the Lord has been on my right hand and on my left. There has never been a time in my life when I have literally felt the Lord with me so strong then when people have accepted us into their homes and let us share the message that my Companion and I have prepared our entire lives to share with them. I have personally felt the Lord’s Spirit in my heart and have had the privilege of using that Spirit to not only change the hearts of others but also to change my own. The Lord’s angels have indeed been round about me as I have not only been protected physically from danger but have also been protected spiritually from the dangers that are so common and normal in today’s world. Finally, I know without a doubt that the angels of the Lord have been there to bear me up throughout every day of my mission. Some people may think that this has been the easiest most positive experience that I have ever had but despite all of the positive things that I have had occur on my mission, there has most definitely been days where I have struggled. Days where walking up the hill and knocking on the next door was far from what I desired. Days when walking in pouring rain just flat out made me want to give up. Or even days when I really wanted to stick up for myself when that drunk guy insulted me. But I have personally witnessed the Spirit of the Lord in my mission. I have felt that Spirit strongly as it has prompted me to do something that I wouldn’t normally do or something that I wouldn’t ever think of doing or saying. I have even felt that Spirit more strongly than ever when I have seen the life of someone permanently changed forever as they have entered into the waters of baptism to take upon them True Discipleship and have a desire to follow Jesus Christ for every second of every day after their baptism. For me this message is only one of the many things that has helped me realize how much the Lord has been in my life and also been in my mission. I am so thankful for modern day Prophets who can see what is coming for us and how we all need to prepare for it. I love you all so very much and hope that you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

The Sun Was Out When We Started Tracting But, Then It Started To Rain Just a Little

Completely Soaked By The Time We Got Home, Took 2 Days In the Sun For My Suit to Dry

Today My Zone Went Paint-Balling

My District

Entire Zone in Beautiful Cusco Peru

Week 63 - Where's Your Jacket!!

Hola,

Serving here in Cusco is such a cool experience. This past week we had some way cool experiences happen that were seriously the best! First off I just want to talk for a second about how awesome the people here in Perú are. So as most of you know I was always the kid who was outside in shorts and a T-Shirt when everyone else thought it was cold. Well here in the mission all of the natives think it is really cold and sometimes it is but most the time it’s like 60 degrees so I am just fine out in a short sleeve shirt. Well, this past week we were out and it was exactly like that. Everyone thought it was freezing cold and for me, it was warm. Having learned from experience I have learned that I should always wear a jacket or else the people get mad at you, but this past week I was in the process of washing mine. So when we went to visit a member in our Ward, he looked at me and said “Elder where is your jacket? You are going to freeze out here!” He then commenced to take off his OWN jacket and hand it to me. “You need this more than I do!” He said. Well here it is really offensive to reject things from people so I kindly tried explaining to him that I was perfectly okay. After promising to him that I would immediately go and get my jacket off of the clothes line where it was drying at our house, we saw the little man who recently was converted to the church that only speaks Quechua walking down the street. I am not sure if I have explained what he does for a living but the little Quechua man picks up plastic bottles for a living (old soda bottles, 2 liter bottles, anything like that). Noticing that the little man was shivering and not wearing a jacket the member walked up to him and handed him the jacket that he had wanted me to wear. The two of them spoke in Quechua and I didn’t catch all they said but when the member came back he explained “I gave it to him to keep because he needed it more than I do.” This experience really taught me how we all should live our lives. So many times we are so concerned about our own needs that we fail to recognize the needs of others. During the rest of my time in Perú I would really love to continue to learn these loving characteristics from these incredible people.

As far as my week this week as you all will see in pictures I sent home I had the chance to baptize this really awesome lady named Wendy this past week! Wendy was inspired to join the church through the example of the way that her Uncle who is a member has lived his life. She is awesome and it was a really cool experience to be able to perform the baptism.

This week we also taught our new investigator named Billy that I mentioned last week! Billy is super awesome! He has so many desires to learn and grow and in the first visit that we had with him the Spirit was super strong and he accepted the Restoration very well and completely believes the story of the Book of Mormon and everything. He has been reading it and is loving it! He is progressing super well, he came to church and we also put a baptismal date with him! We are hoping and praying that we can get him as ready as possible because he is going to make a great member of the Church!

Diego as well is progressing well. Unfortunately things aren’t going as well as we thought because he isn’t going to be ready to be baptized quite yet. He hasn’t gained that solid testimony that he needs to be a member, which is really important because as missionaries we aren’t just here to baptize anyone who is out on the street. We are here to baptize people who are not only willing to fully take Christ's name upon them but also people who are ready to help build up Gods kingdom on earth. If you would all keep him and all of our other investigators in your prayers that would be awesome because I know that would really help them a whole lot! 

Last story for the week! So this past week we were doing some work in the office when we heard a knock at the door. Outside we were greeted by a short little man who was homeless and looking for somewhere to work. He asked us if we were the ones that hired people to work for the church but we explained to him that we weren’t. After that we explained to him that we were missionaries and our job was to help other obtain the happiness that our Heavenly Father desires for all of his children. He looked at us and at first was a little hesitant because he didn’t believe that God actually wanted him to be happy because he literally has nothing but after explaining to him that true happiness isn’t found in material things, he started to understand a little better. Although he didn’t accept to listen to us, we did invite him to Church. As Sunday rolled around we were outside greeting people as they entered the Church but there was no sign of the homeless man. Today we were talking to a few Elders in another Sector and overheard them talking about a homeless man who had randomly shown up to their Sacrament Meeting. After talking to them for a second we realized that it had been the same person that we had invited to Church. It just goes to show that sometimes, we cannot fully see the effects of efforts as we serve the Lord. 

The work here in Perú is moving on well and we are seeing the Lord’s hand in each and every day of our lives. I have truly grown to learn what it means to be a True Disciple of Christ. It is more than just the everyday things we live. It is the way we think, act, and treat others. I have learned what it means to have the Love of Christ in us by trying to love all of Gods children here in Perú, even when they yell and swear at us or try to make fun of our beliefs. I love being a missionary and hope that each of you have the best week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Elder Fawcett, Hermana Wendy and Family
at Her Baptism

Hermana Wendy

Week 62 - "That They May Always Have His Spirit To Be With Them"

Hola,

I am so tired! Honestly every week it feels like I am more tired than the previous. This week my Companion Elder Pinedo and I got some great work done! To start off we are continuing to help Diego prepare for his baptismal date! He seems really excited for it because he has mentioned to people that he is getting ready to be baptized so we are trying to help prepare him for that. More than anything we are trying to help in get his answer. It seems that he is beginning to recognize the Spirit because as we taught him this past week he said that he always feels something when we are with him. We explained the feelings that we feel when the Holy Ghost is present, so he is finally beginning to understand that he is feeling the Holy Ghost in each lesson! He is super awesome and is progressing super well!

Now for another cool story! This week a member presented us to a new investigator named Billy!  Billy has previously gone to church activities but this past Sunday he came to church for the first time because a member invited him to attend. So, on Sunday we were presented to him and were able to get a visit set up for this Tuesday. He also has mentioned to several people that he is getting ready to be baptized in the Mormon Church so we are super excited to start teaching him and hoping that we can get another person ready for baptism as well soon.

We got a really weird phone call this week from a Lady that asked me something very strange. She asked me if we would stop by to explain to her more about the previous lesson we had, had about Joseph Smith. Not recognizing the number nor the voice of the person I asked the name of the Lady. She responded and said that it was Dina (the niece of Ismael and Alieana). Now the reason that I say this is weird is because after we taught her the Restoration she told us that we were a bunch of liars and that there was no way that she was ever going to accept the idea of a 14 year old guy talking to God. We testified to her and told her that the only way she could truly know was if she prayed and asked God. So after talking to her on the phone I got the impression that she took our advice to heart and actually did pray and ask God. This week we were invited back so I guess we will see what happens!

Finally I just want to share a really cool story that happened this week. So my Penchanista was telling us that her son, ever since he was little, is able to see Spirits. Now when I say Spirits I literally mean Spirits. She told us about how there are many times when he will say that there are Spirits in the home and it was at this moment that her son walked in the room. He looked at us and told us that almost all the time we walk into the house he always sees people with us. I looked at him and asked him what the people look like and he said that all of them are in white and that there is always one person with each one of us as we enter. As he made that comment it made me think a whole lot. Each and every day as a missionary we are entitled to have the Spirit to be with us wherever we go. But also each and every single week as we partake of the sacrament we hear the words “that they may always have His Spirit to be with them”. As members of the church each and every one of us is entitled to have the Spirit to be with us but there is also a huge catch. In order to have that Spirit we need to be doing what we should be doing. How many times a day are we doing things that pushes the Spirit away. The Spirit will be with us but if we are not living worthy of it, we have no promise of having it. Each and every decision and choice we make will determine whether or not we are going to have it with us or if we will not. I love each and every one of you and want you all to know that each day I strive to do the very best I can because I know that the work I am doing here as a missionary not only affects the people on this side of the veil but also affects people on the other side as well. This work is a work that affects every one of God’s children!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Based on the Pictures and Video we got today, it looks like the office Elders had a lot of fun today with the Mission President! Unfortunately, the video and some of the pictures would not upload although they show that Elder Fawcett has developed a lot more "adventurous/devious side" compared to when he left home!

Not Quite Sure What to Even Title This One!
(Yea, That is The President's Desk)

Elder Fawcett and Elder Pinedo
(Looks Like His Legs Have Finally Grown Into His Size 15 Shoes)

Elder Fawcett's Office Record, Release Date 26 June 2018