June 29, 2011

Some fun things that I have done this past week.... Zone Conference was truly incredible, sad, but incredible. Then on Monday we went fishing with one of the Recent Converts in the ward. He loves his fishing. After all was said and done we ended up catching 7 or so good sized fish, using live eel bait and casting into the sea from stony rocks. It was a blast and another one of those experiences I did not think I would have being on a mission. Later the Member told us that we had picked the worst day possible to go fishing with stormy clouds and 30 mph gusts of wind. Every time we cast the line would fly back at us. So we had to add twice as much weight to conteract. I have not cast a line in quite a long time. It was worth it. Then we got tricked by the library closing at 5:30 so that is why we are emailing today. Sorry. :)

Zone Conference Manchester England, June 2011

Like you said mom, it will certainly be interesting to see how the mission changes in the upcoming weeks and months. From what I have seen and know, I don't think it will change all that much but President Bullock did tell President Preston to come in to this next Zone Conference with his own vision and mission plan for his 3 years. Knowing how much respect the members in England have for President Bullock and what he has done, not much will change too drastically. It is very rare for the new mission President to know anything about the old one because they never come out of their own mission boundary. Because President Preston comes out of our mission he knows exactly what our weak points are and how we can improve. Honestly it is the best switching situation I could think of. Also President Preston has all the trust in the world with the members here in the Manchester Mission and we think a lot of his emphasis will be on Member Missionary work. All I know is that I am very excited to meet and visit with our new President.

As I said before, Zone Conference was a very powerful and emotional experience for all of us. I never thought it would be as hard to see someone leave as it was with the Bullocks. One of the thoughts and impressions that came into my mind was the concept of so many 19-21 year olds having such an undescribable respect for two people. I have not felt so much love for someone coming from a group of people in my life. The Bullocks to me, have changed a lot of how I look at life, the funny thing is that all they taught us was based mostly on what you taught me growing up. The reason for that I know is that it was based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am once again amazed by the ability of the Gospel to effect people in their individual lifes so much.

Your talk you are giving based on Believe, Behave, Become, mom is what the last 8 months have been for me and I know I have talked about it quite a bit already. The Bullocks vision was 1. Pure in heart, 2. Exact obedience, 3. Preach My Gospel. All of those were based on helping us BECOME Sacred missionaries and staying on the pathway to the promise. Something that they told us that effected me deeply was that in becoming, often times it is not the things we do, but the things we leave undone that matters most. Many people believe that all they ahve to do is not sin to get to the Celestial Kingdom, it is more than that, you have to become Celestial material. Living in a cabin in the mountains not doing anything does not qualify us for the Kingdom of God.

I am once again grateful for this time I ahve here, the support you give me and the people I meet every day. I love you all and hope you have a good week.

Elder Fawcett