Just be myself? As a missionary around girls, being myself is very awkward. I just stay away from them.... Ok not really. Yesterday I was actually able to get to know a couple new people who have joined the ward. Some of the Relief Society included. Yes the pergola looks absolutely great!! I am very happy to hear that Dad has somewhat got a job lined up for the next few months. How long is it for actually? I have now heard from multiple sources that President Uchtdorfs talk was brilliant and now I am even more excited to have General Conference this next weekend!!! Some of the best weekends as a missionary!! There is a great talk I read recently called perfection pending and it helps me understand more of what you said, that perfection is not going to come for a long time or by ourselves. We just have to have the faith and hope to continue to do our best.
This past week I have been privileged to go on exchanges with both Elder Suess and Elder Starr in our District here in Stretford. Also in our district is a Senior Couple The Cannons. They are such a wonderful example to all of us missionaries. Elder Cannon served his mission in Taiwan a while ago but his Chinese is still really good. He is quite intelligent. One of the first things I recognized in Elder Starr and Suess was the love that both of them had for each other and how they both really respected and wanted to help the other. I admired that aspect of their companionship and work. Both Elder Starr and Elder Suess are doing well and are continuing to be happy despite any opposition or setbacks in their work area. I enjoyed the time that I had to go out onto the streets and buses and work with them. Learning myself and hopefully helping them learn as well.
This week we have been blessed with many new investigators and having 3 of those come to church with us yesterday. All of our investigators that went to church were Chinese, so as Elder Chan says, "it is good that we are fulfilling our calling as Chinese speaking missionaries." It is really interesting to see that even though it is hard working with the members fully here in the YSA ward, we have done our best and the work has seemed to progress even more so because of that effort. Blessings seem to be coming out of the street cracks and in the rain that seems to consistently fall every other day. Elder Chan and I both feel that God has blessed our efforts and given us much to work with this past week. Now we just have to continue to work hard to convert this people from just investigators to members of the church with full blessings attached.
Along with all the many blessings we have received we have had some sad moments when multiple of our investigators either told us they were no longer interested or they have stopped accepting our calls or answering our texts. It is always hard when this happens no matter how many times it happens because you gain an attachment to all of the people you teach and you truly love and care about them. Then when they tell you they are no longer interested in receiving the blessings God wants to give them it is a sad situation. Oh how much we wish we could help them understand. It was pretty funny, last night after someone dropped us Elder Chan said, "why do the Chinese get to use their agency, they just don't understand." "These people are good souls." I agreed with him, once again, lack of understanding makes the work much harder, and unfortunately most of the Chinese don't understand, even when they feel the spirit they don't quite get it. We are excited to help the ones we have now to more fully understand and makes those necessary steps.
This past Saturday we had an opportunity to be of service for the Manchester South ward while they were having a ward activity called Family Fun Day. It was a day that all the ward would invite their family members and friends to come to the church and have a carnival type activity. Most of those friends and family were not members of the church and the activity was centered around helping them understand more about the church and who we are. It was not necessarily by the activities themselves, but by the examples set by the members that made the day such a success. We were asked to come and be of help and also to just be available for people to speak to us. I was an amazing experience to be able to do missionary work in that way. This was the first activity of this kind that I have been a part of on my mission and it was great. Honestly it is the best way to do missionary work and this ward understands that. Our assignment was to work a tin can booth: A pyramid of tin cans that young children threw a ball at to knock over. So for a couple of hours we were bending over and picking up cans at the will of children. It was great!! kind of reminded me of the activities in Nauvoo.
I love you and hope you keep having a great month. Tell me your favorite talks from General Conference ok?
Love,
Elder Fawcett
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