Like you I as well am excited to find out more about this transfer and how it is going to pan out. Right now the Isle of Man according to my companion is going Ballistic with TT Racing festivities which means the environment and atmosphere in the bigger cities is no where near what it usually is and is no place for a missionary to be for many many reasons. So instead of the usual, we have been visiting many out of the way areas. Even going so far as to tract during the afternoon!!!! Crazy! As I will mention later it has meant we have gone around to many members homes to get to know them and keep us off the street. I will take some pictures mom. As for the sending some, we will have to see.... I will try though. :)
So The Isle of Man..... What Blessed and Wonderful place. Everything about it is completely splendid. The people, the views, where we live, the car we have. I am sooooo lucky to be here right now!!! Woohoo!!! Unfortunately via email you have no idea how excited I am to be here, but I am... A lot. Oh by the way Dad. My new companion Elder Sturt said that his father is the Executive President of Marketing and Business Development at O.C. Tanner. His name is David Sturt. I was just wondering if you knew him?? It would be great if this question got answered. :)
Like I said, this week on the Isle of Man has been a crazy one with all of the festivities going on with the TT Races. This certainly was not what I was expecting coming to the Isle. People from all over the world going crazy on bullet bikes having a good time. The thing is I don't know anything different than what it is now so I cannot really compare the differences, but Elder Sturt says it is one crazy place on the total opposite end of the spectrum of what it usually is. I have been having a good time though working here on the Isle so far. We have been going around and working with many of the members because I only have 4 weeks on the Isle with Elder Sturt to get to know everyone so we are taking this time to meet many of the members and go out to Less Actives.
The thing that I have liked and appreciated most (besides the scenery of course:)) is the ward. Working with many of the members in such a short time and then seeing all of them on Sunday boosted my excitement even more to be here on this blessed Island. The ward is very strong and keen on missionaries as well, always wanting to help and seeing how they can. We have had no problems getting people to lessons or anything like that. At church most of the members came up and introduced themselves to me! What a difference between the other areas. It might have a little bit to do with the fact that in both Preston and Liverpool there were 6 missionaries and here only 2. But still I was very impressed by the ward and their friendliness.
A couple families of Note have been the Sayles. They are a Recent Convert family and are amazing. We actually went with Bro. Sayle to watch the TT Races this morning. Such a great once in a lifetime experience. Sitting 10 feet away from bikes going 180 miles an hour around curvy roads out in the middle of no where surrounded by beautiful landscape. It can't describe how unique it was. The Sayles are one of a kind. I already told you about Hanna reminding me of Keana, she is 12. There is another youth in the Ward Catlin Dangerfield who is 14 and also reminds me of Kjanela and Keana. It is quite uncanny. They said they were going to find you both on Facebook, so don't be too creeped out by it. :) Also Connor Dangerfield is a 17 year old who comes fellowshipping with us in preparation for his mission. (Here in England you can go at the age of 18 because of school rules.) He is a great asset to have and it has been wonderful being able to work with him. He will make a great missionary some day soon.
On Sunday I had the opportunity to participate in giving Linda Preston the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Even though I did not teach her at all and did not know here completely, it was a great experience to be a part of this great work once again helping bless and completely change peoples lives. She sent us a text this morning saying that she felt sooo great and wanted to thank us as her missionaries for bringing her the gospel and helping her come to know God. If only I could have a text like that every morning. Knowing that I have blessed someones life and changed it so much for the better is a great feeling to have and one I will always be thankful for. This is not a work for glory or honor, but for all the children of God, the praise we receive from others is just an added bonus to the knowledge we have that we have helped build God's kingdom in a small way.
One experience I wanted to share with you this week is in regards to a young 23 year old man named Kris Coward. We were tracting a neighborhood and all of a sudden 10 small children between the ages of 6 and 10 pop out of the wood works and start badgering us asking what in the world we were doing. We tried multiple (nice) tactic so shoo them off but there were having none of it. So they followed us around while we tried to talk to people. It got so bad that they were knocking multiple doors and then telling the people who opened their doors not to listen to us. Haha. Persecution from 10 year olds. I thought they were supposed to be innocent like. Most of them were girls by the way. :)
Then we came to a door and we knocked on it. A man opened up and we started talking to him with the kids bantering in the background. After a minute he looked up and said loudly, "could we get some privacy please?" Some of them trickled off slowly until he said again, "that means leave." Haha it was great to have him rebuke the kids. He then proceeded to let us in and we taught him. He is extremely prepared to hear the gospel it is amazing. We taught him the next day. He didn't have a phone so we had to trust he would show up at the church. Then we scheduled to teach him again and he didn't show up. Devastation!!! We wondered if he would show up at church..... and he did!! He apologized profusely for wasting our time. He has been a miracle for us. Amazing. And it came partly because of opposition in the form of little crazy Manx children. The Lord knows how to work his plan he does.
Well that was the experience of the week. I hope all is going well and you all keep safe. Love you. Let me know if you want to know anything specific.
Love,
Elder Fawcett (Water)
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