This last week was wonderful thank you! I am getting along much better thanks to your support and to my renewed efforts to do the Lords work in his way and not mine. I love it here even though there are some things I could do without. I am getting more settled in and feel more at home now. I guess I will just give you a rundown of the week and go from there. I guess that is kind of organized right? :)
So Tuesday we had a Chinese meeting which included all the Chinese Elders in the Manchester and Leeds mission. That totaled about 12 Chinese speaking missionaries. (there are only 4 in Leeds) I learned some new things about my mission. I am 1 of 4 missionaries that were specifically asked for and assigned to my mission. All the others are natives or previous Chinese speakers. I thought that was really interesting and very humbling. I know I was called here for a specific reason, now I just need to fulfill that calling.
The meeting helped me realize what my purpose as a Chinese speaking missionary in England really is. I need to make a more focused effort in learning Chinese because that is my calling. I won't always have a companion who speaks fluent Chinese. (This has actually been proven a hindrance thus far) We had a companionship inventory and focused on the problems that we had, and hopefully they can be fixed. I just need to do my part. SYL!!! Unfortunately there is not much of SYLing available. But I must try!!!!
On Thursday we had our Sports day. Can I just say SUPER COLD? Because it was. I ended up playing American Football and Basketball. Both of which were not the best because of the amount of people and the restrictions on play. For example we played 5 on 5 basketball on a small half court church gym. It was super crowded and you couldn't do much. Especially since there were not very many good players. :) Also we couldn't keep score in Football so it was hard to get into it for me. Don't get me wrong, it was still fun and I really enjoyed to break. It just wasn't enough to satisfy my competitive side. :)
Also at the sports day we received the mail. The way mail works is that when you send it to the address it sends it to the mission office and then at big events it is distributed to all the Elders who received mail. That means you get mail about once a month in an ordinary transfer schedule. Unfortunately the coat package didn't arrive, but thankfully there will be another group meeting I should be able to get it at in two weeks. So no worries. I am just borrowing my companions extra coat until then.
That night we went to the Ward Mission Leaders house for Thanksgiving Dinner (Brother Bogh) It was great, I didn't think I would get a real Thanksgiving dinner in England, but I did. Except it was not turkey, and there was not tons of food. It was great nonetheless. It just wasn't the same without the family there. But I was thinking of you so don't worry. It is kind of cool to think that our immediate family was celebrating Thanksgiving in 3 different countries. Canada, England, and of course the U.S.
Really nothing else different happened this week, just lots of teaching and proselyting. :) There are 2 specific things that I really thought were great this week that I would like to share with you real quick. The first being about an experience I had street contacting. We were on exchanges with the Zone leaders and There was Elder Jin, Elder Kersey (originally from England but family now in Highland Utah) and I. We were in a University area and we were literally talking to EVERYONE. Part of that everyone were two men that we were passing and one of my companions started telling them about our message. One of the men mockingly said "I don't speak English" and kept walking away. (Sorry if you have heard a part of this already)
I decided to follow them and started talking to them. At first they were somewhat rude, but as we kept walking they softened up a little. We ended up stopping and talking for 30 minutes or so. Now this is not the most effective use of time I have been told, but I like actually talking to people and getting to know them while sharing our message. I found out that they are two military men who have seen much war and death. They didn't believe in God.
Through talking to them I was able to tell them the message, enlighten them, and make them think about Jesus Christ and God and who they are. One of them specifically said, "If doing nothing else right now by talking to me, you will have made me think deeply about God. I will be doing so on my drive back to Manchester tonight." That alone made the whole thing worthwhile to me. But not only that, I gave one of them my book of mormon and he promised to read it.
I didn't know for sure if he really was, but I got his phone number and followed up by calling him on Wednesday. He told me that he had read some, he was really busy, but in some of his free time he started reading. He said he was very surprised by what he found in his reading, it was nothing like he had thought it would be. He had actually read through the middle of 1 Nephi. I am going to give him a call on Wednesday again and set up an appointment to talk to him more and invite again to come to church.
Now I don't know if he will accept, but I learned a couple of things from this experience. You can't just talk at someone about a message and expect them to believe it no matter if it is true or not. You have to take the time to actually get to know them a bit, show you care, and then you can have a much stronger impact. I also learned that no matter how someone looks, you never know if they would want to hear the gospel or how your talking to them will effect their life.
OK maybe that wasn't too quick but this one will be. We have a Chinese investigator names Eric. Or Ping xu. I met him on the street two weeks ago and set up an appointment. He ended up being a friend of a recent convert Chinese student. To me that is a miracle. We have been teaching him, and he is going to be baptized on the 18. I am so happy to be here on a mission and I know that we can all effect peoples life's no matter where we are.
Well I am off everyone! Have fun and be safe and remember who you are until next week!!!!
Then I will remind you.
Love you,
Elder Fawcett
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