Everything is going well in good old England! This last week was very good, very good indeed. It is always an amazing experience to see a person go from having relatively no knowledge of the gospel to having that glow around them when they are answering the questions or expressing their feelings about the gospel. They both were also able to recieve the Priesthood on Sunday after their confirmations and I they appreciated that opportunity and blessing very much. I also had the honor of confirming them the Aaronic Priesthood. Their names are Wayne Somerville who is a university student here in Preston at UClan. He is 22 and from Northern Ireland. The other is a 40 year old or so man from Hungary. He is actually going back to Hungary for a while this week. So we are praying that he will be able to find the ward there and continue to strengthen his testimony. From what I know, I think he will do so. Such amazing spirits they both have. As of now I have only taken part in the baptisms of foreign to England people. I think you might call that ironic....
This week I have been studying PMG ch. 10 about the importance of scriptures in teaching and how to use them to their most value. I first learned about introducing the scripture to the investigator and how that can help them understand the principles or doctrine much better. Then when reading the scripture with them I learned the importance of having them read it, then going over it again to really take in the meaning. Lastly the most important part in using the scriptures is helping them to identify the key points that they can use in their lifes to help them the most. When we apply the scriptures to ourselves it becomes easier to see the importance they can and should be. The BoM is the key part of conversion in every recent convert.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been working with three or so chinese students and they are doing well. One has committed to stop smoking and to come to church every week (Max). He had not been to church in a long while and we told him that we could no longer visit him if he was not willing to come to church because both we and he knew that he could not progress any further if he did not come to church. We were very happy to see that he understood that as well and came to church with us this Sunday. The other two chinese investigators that we have are doing well (Liu/Sun), they are reading and praying regularly and are making the efforts to come to church. They both have a couple of problems with some of the commandments but we know they can overcome those problems with the continued reading, praying, and coming to church.
This week I have learned quite a bit about the gospel and the reason why it is so important to me and a part of my life. They are all based on some of the experiences that I have had this week, so I would say that yes, this week has been very blessed indeed. The first experience happened a week ago today. We were street contacting and ran into a young man who looked like a chav and I was not sure if we should talk to him but we decided to anyways. His name is Daniel and he is from Deutschland. I started to talk to him but right away he said, I am already a Mormon. It threw me for a second but then I figured he was just messing with me so I continued. He stopped us again and said, no I am already a Mormon. Turns out he is.
He is 19 and going to college here and is living by one of his sisters. He told us he is from a family of 11 children and that he and his sister are the only inactive ones at the moment and that he has a brother in the Berlin, Germany mission. All of his older brothers and sisters had served missions except one sister who was less active with him. We talked to him for a little bit and scheduled a time to see him the next day. We met with him and had a great lesson about Faith and Prayer. He told us that he believes it is all true.
It was from here that I learned something important to me. He told me he has been doing some things he shouldn't be doing in regards to the word of wisdom and that is why he is no longer in the church. He said he has the belief that the church is true, but he is not able to act on that belief, or in other words, he does not have that faith necessary. Daniel has had all the support and knowlege necessary from his family and friends, but he has decided to not act on that belief he has that the church is true. He wants to come back, but he doesn't know if he has the ability to do so. We will be going over the atonement the next time we meet him. We met with him again and also invited him to come to investigator Futbol on Saturday. He came and it was good for him to actually get out. Unfortunately he did not come to church..... It just teaches me that people can be really good people, know that something is true, but if they don't have that faith to act, that faith will do nothing for you.
Another point I learned this week was the importance of the Restoration as the first lesson when you teach people. We were going through the area book of dropped investigators and there were so many people that had only been taught once and they had not been taught the restoration. We learn in PMG and know that our unique message to the world is the Restoration and the BoM is a tesament and evidence of that. If we only meet with someone once and they don't know that God has reached down in his love and called a Prophet on the earth today and that there is revelation in our time, we have FAILED as missionaries. The Restoration is what everyone needs to hear all the time and should be referred to quickly and frequently EVERY time we talk to someone about the gospel.
The last thing I learned this week came from a lesson/experience with an investigator named Isaac. He is 21, 6,6 and 300 pounds and playes rugby. We were going to teach him the word of wisdom but decided to go over the simple lesson of obedience first. We went through and explained the importance of obedience and why God gives us commandments, afterwords we asked, "as you learn about the commandments, will you strive to be obedient and follow the will of God." Then everything went really south. His countenance literally darkened and he got all strange. He then said, no, no, I hate that word, referring to obedience, and then said again, no, I can't do that.
We asked him why and he started rambling about obedience and how itwas next to subservience and that being trapped by rules andregulations is not right. Me and my companion were really confused and we didn't know what to do. We then gave him an analogy of a Dog on a leash and a Dog not on a leash. The one on the leash is constantly pulling on his master and trying to get away while the other obediently follows his master when he is needed by his side. We asked him which one was more free and he told us that the one on the leash was. That the one without a leash was being held without his power by command of voice. He continued to say how that was a perverted way to keep control on others. (Needless to say he completely missed the whole point of the analogy) He then got really quiet and asked us to leave without letting us say a prayer.
That was the strangest teaching experience I have had yet but it taught me something very important about obedience. I mean, I already knew this, but it was just brought to my mind more clearly as to why it is important. When we follow the guidlines or commandments of God we are truly more free to do as we wish. Obedience is the first law of Heaven and that is what will make us truly happy. So siblings, remember that the rules given by the Lord, through the church and then through our parents are important, and that as you follow them you will be blessed in your life to have the freedom to do as you wish and receive more blessings from it. Daniel thought he was choosing the best way going to drugs, "doing as he wished". Now he is struggling to loose himself from the bands that choice has made around him.
Family, I love you and I hope that you are all doing well and are appreciating the gospel as much as I am right now. Keep doing the small and simple things and you will be surprised at how effective and happy they make you. Then again maybe you won't be too surprised that they work, because of course, they are from God. I want you all to know once more that this work is real. The church is true and we are very lucky to be a part of it. I love what it does for me and you as my family. Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know for next week!!
Love,
Elder Fawcett
February 21, 2011
I was on an exchange with Elder Merl from Austria and we talked about our friends and how they were doing wherever they were. He explained to me how back home he wasn't the best person and didn't always do the things he should have. Those things were done with a particualar group of friends. When he righted the ship and moved away from doing certain things his so called friends jumped ship and left him to his own way.
This is such a testimony to me of how your true friends are the ones that will accept, respect, and also appreciate you and your values. Those who don't are not worth keeping around. Remember my young brothers and Sisters, you have a sure foundation from the gospel, keep it that way and help your friends build theirs. They will thank you in the future I can testify of that.
This week we had some interesting experiences with different people with different views. We had some run-ins with anti's who told me I was an angel of the devil and then later that day I was called a false prophet and to go back to America. It was a lot of fun. :) Some people are so crazy and I seriously had to laugh at what he was saying because it was ridiculous. Then another interesting experience was when a man stopped his car in the middle of the road and threw a BOM at us saying it was not true and to once again go back to America. I don't know what it is about everyone who thinks I am American. :) Do I look American or something?!
Truthfully though, those experiences are the ones that make the work go easier. When people are just crazy like that you know that you are doing the right thing and that anything they say won't effect your work. I love being able to be a missionary, no I don't love all of the persecution that comes with it. But the persecution comes with the opposition that MUST come when the truth is there. So in a round about way I am saying that opposition means success WILL come.
This week we were able to see an investigator really grow in the light of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Her name is Sun. She has had a hard time wanting to come to church but we have been able to get her there these last two weeks and she has been blessed because of it. Her whole attitude towards what we teach her has changed and she appreicates our visits and what we teach her more and more. Sometimes we have to prod her along but she eventually moves by herself. It was funny because she asked me what I was going in to when I am done. I said maybe business and she replied that that would be good for me because of my powers of persuasion. Haha, yes persuading men to do good is a good feeling to be sure.
You asked about Max? Well fortunately he is doing much better with smoking. Only 1 or 2 a day. But he is losing the desire to stop smoking and to truly meet with us. Yes he enjoys our visits and likes it when we come over, but he doesn't like them for the right reason. Not for the spirit or the learning. But for the cool Americans who happen to speak Chinese. Unfortunatley we have told him that unless he shows his commitment and comes to church we can no longer teach him. Please keep him in your prayers that he will have that desire to come and learn for the right reasons. Thank you.
Well I must now come to a close. Know that I love all of you and that I am keeping you in my prayers. This work that we are a part of is very true and very real. God plays a role in our lives and we would do good to appreciate that role and thank him for it. Sometimes I don't do that as much as I should, but being a missionary sure makes it easier to remember him in our lives and realize that so much happens because of his love for us. The most important thing to remember is that the faith we have cannot lie dormant if we are to continue to progress. Faith is a principle of ACTION!!
I love you all very much, good luck with this upcoming week!!
Elder Fawcett
This is such a testimony to me of how your true friends are the ones that will accept, respect, and also appreciate you and your values. Those who don't are not worth keeping around. Remember my young brothers and Sisters, you have a sure foundation from the gospel, keep it that way and help your friends build theirs. They will thank you in the future I can testify of that.
This week we had some interesting experiences with different people with different views. We had some run-ins with anti's who told me I was an angel of the devil and then later that day I was called a false prophet and to go back to America. It was a lot of fun. :) Some people are so crazy and I seriously had to laugh at what he was saying because it was ridiculous. Then another interesting experience was when a man stopped his car in the middle of the road and threw a BOM at us saying it was not true and to once again go back to America. I don't know what it is about everyone who thinks I am American. :) Do I look American or something?!
Truthfully though, those experiences are the ones that make the work go easier. When people are just crazy like that you know that you are doing the right thing and that anything they say won't effect your work. I love being able to be a missionary, no I don't love all of the persecution that comes with it. But the persecution comes with the opposition that MUST come when the truth is there. So in a round about way I am saying that opposition means success WILL come.
This week we were able to see an investigator really grow in the light of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Her name is Sun. She has had a hard time wanting to come to church but we have been able to get her there these last two weeks and she has been blessed because of it. Her whole attitude towards what we teach her has changed and she appreicates our visits and what we teach her more and more. Sometimes we have to prod her along but she eventually moves by herself. It was funny because she asked me what I was going in to when I am done. I said maybe business and she replied that that would be good for me because of my powers of persuasion. Haha, yes persuading men to do good is a good feeling to be sure.
You asked about Max? Well fortunately he is doing much better with smoking. Only 1 or 2 a day. But he is losing the desire to stop smoking and to truly meet with us. Yes he enjoys our visits and likes it when we come over, but he doesn't like them for the right reason. Not for the spirit or the learning. But for the cool Americans who happen to speak Chinese. Unfortunatley we have told him that unless he shows his commitment and comes to church we can no longer teach him. Please keep him in your prayers that he will have that desire to come and learn for the right reasons. Thank you.
Well I must now come to a close. Know that I love all of you and that I am keeping you in my prayers. This work that we are a part of is very true and very real. God plays a role in our lives and we would do good to appreciate that role and thank him for it. Sometimes I don't do that as much as I should, but being a missionary sure makes it easier to remember him in our lives and realize that so much happens because of his love for us. The most important thing to remember is that the faith we have cannot lie dormant if we are to continue to progress. Faith is a principle of ACTION!!
I love you all very much, good luck with this upcoming week!!
Elder Fawcett
February 14, 2011
Happy Valentines Day!!
Well for me life as a missionary is going well enough. This week has been a interesting week full of fun or at least learning experiences. There were just a couple I wanted to hit on specifically. About a week ago me and Elder Peterson had the opportunity to teach a very interesting Lesson with 7 college students all of them being English. I learned many new things from this lesson that will help me throughout my mission. The first one being Fake it till you make it.
By that I mean that as a missionary or anyone for that matter you have experiences and times when you don't know what you are doing and are very much out of your comfort zone and you don't know how you should handle it. Well a wise person once told me that if you start acting confident for long enough you will end up actually being that confident. Well I was out of my comfort zone and I was the one that needed to take control of the lesson. The lesson turned out a lot better than I thought it would, but that is because I acted very confident and they figured I was. This teaches us that the attitude you have is the one that makes the difference.
The other lesson I learned was that teaching seven of any type of person is really hard and most often than not, not very effective. There is too much peer pressure in the world and people who are not willing to stand up for what they really believe because they end up not knowing what they believe. If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything. It is sad to see that the world is full of followers and people who will not act for themselves because they don't know how to. I am thankful that my family has been able to teach me to act for myself and that you do so as well. So make sure you do so!!! :)
This last week we were able to take some of our investigators to watch the new Prophet of the Restoration DVD at the church and I once again felt that strong witness that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that Thomas S. Monson is one as well. That as we follow them, and I mean truly follow them, we will be blessed beyond our capacity to know. There is a reason they are called of God and when they are it means that God is behind them. When they say something it really matters. I love the knowledge that we have that through those prophets we can know how to live our lives best to have the most happiness and success.
In closing I have learned a lot this last week in regards to faith. We have 2 progressing Chinese investigators who have been having a hard time having that faith that is needed to continue to grow. They only sometimes keep their commitments because they don't actually believe that they will be blessed for their efforts. We try to tell them that it is a principle of action and it doesn't come super easy but it does come. My question is what brings faith? Why have faith and what motivates us to have that faith, what motivates us to action. I would like you to ask yourselves if your action and faith is promoted by Fear, Duty, or Love. I have learned that they difference between those answers is huge.
Coming on my mission I was probably at the stage of Duty. I was here because I knew I needed to be here. Yes I wanted to be here and help people, but was Love really my main reason for serving? I have slowly but surely come to understand what true love is and how it compels us to action of faith or any other principle of the gospel. The reason why Charity is so important is that when we have it we are not forced or coerced to do anything, but we WANT to do it because we love God and those that want to help us. I am thankful for this opportunity to learn and grow and to be a missionary to help others find the light of Christ. I would challenge all of us to ask ourselves why we are doing what we are doing, and how we can BECOME better.
I love you all and am thankful for your love and support. Keep up the good work and know that I love you and am praying for you. If you have any specific questions about anything let me know!!
Elder Fawcett
February 7, 2011
You were excited to hear about my transfer? I sure wasn't. It is hard to leave your area especially if it is your first area and especially if it is Liverpool. Liverpool was and is amazing and hope I get to go back there. Preston is a bit different than Liverpool that is for sure. It is much smaller and a University town. That means that most the people there are students and there are not too many of them. I have had a new experience of five or so people in a row just blowing right past me because they know exactly who I am because they have talked to us fifteen times. Fun stuff. Haha. No, we don't get to go to the temple any more than any other missionary does. The temple is actually in Chorley, not Preston, and yes it confuses me too why it is called the Preston Temple.
As of now it is kind of hard to tell you much of anything about the people we are teaching here in Preston because I am new and the record keeping has not been very good. One of the hardest things of a foursome is that people fall through the large cracks between the companions very easily. We are working on fixing the problem they have had in the past. Right now we have 3 progressing investigators. One whose name is Wayne who is from Northern Ireland is doing very well, I have not been able to teach him myself but he is great. Very excited with all the new things that he is being taught and is looking forward to his baptism on the 26th.
The next person is Sun. She is a Chinese student who I have still not met yet but supposedly she is really good. One of her main problems that I would ask you to pray for her about is her lack of enthusiasm in anything. She doesn't have much motivation to do anything and has a hard time being excited and all there during lessons. I hope she can continue to read and understand how the gospel can help her in her life.
The last is Liu. Once again a Chinese student studying International Business Communications. He was dated for baptism but we had to push it back another 3 weeks because we found out that he doesn't really have a belief in God and doesn't know how to find one. We shared with him the importance of Faith and Prayer and how he can find out for himself. He said he wanted to know for himself and that he would really try. He came to church yesterday but left after Sacrament Meeting because it is really boring for him. He doesn't understand a lot and he is a university student. I can't blame him too much. I
would ask you to pray for him to read and pray for himself so he can find out for himself.
The ward here in Preston is good. Not the strongest ward, but those that are there really seemed to enjoy it. I have been told that it is really hard to get the members to come out with us, but I hope we can change that here soon. We were able to do a role play on how to give out pass along cards. Hopefully that and the talk on missionary work from the Bishop will get them pumped to go DO something. The slight problem is that there are 6 missionaries in a ward of 60. That makes it hard to spread out the labor and have enough to go around. I am really looking forward to getting to know the ward members better and once again making good relationships for the rest of my life.
Preston is small as I said and we are only ever around the University area looking for Chinese students. We end up talking to alot of the same people again and they are starting to get annoyed with the continued efforts of us to talk to them. This is fun challenge that I look forward to tackling. Hopefully because we see people multiple times we can get good relationships with them. Hopefully. :) Also Preston is much much much rainier than Liverpool. It has rained constantly for the last two days and I have gotten soaked through 10 times now. I love it!! Kinda. It is a good thing I have a coat now,
thanks again!!
So as I told you, we are in a foursome with Elders Moss, Peterson, and Chan. We switch off companions every day depending on who needs to teach what. When we have a chinese investigator it usually ends up being me and Elder Chan or me and Elder Peterson. This has been a great challange for me to learn how to become more of a leader. How to take control of a lesson and guide it along best for the investigator. It has also been a test and builder of my chinese. I have already noticed a little change in my progress in Chinese because I don't have a fluent companion to rely on. Hard, but fun and rewarding at the same time.
I thank you for all of your love and support and letters. If there is anything I can help you with let me know. :)
Love you all,
Elder Fawcett
As of now it is kind of hard to tell you much of anything about the people we are teaching here in Preston because I am new and the record keeping has not been very good. One of the hardest things of a foursome is that people fall through the large cracks between the companions very easily. We are working on fixing the problem they have had in the past. Right now we have 3 progressing investigators. One whose name is Wayne who is from Northern Ireland is doing very well, I have not been able to teach him myself but he is great. Very excited with all the new things that he is being taught and is looking forward to his baptism on the 26th.
The next person is Sun. She is a Chinese student who I have still not met yet but supposedly she is really good. One of her main problems that I would ask you to pray for her about is her lack of enthusiasm in anything. She doesn't have much motivation to do anything and has a hard time being excited and all there during lessons. I hope she can continue to read and understand how the gospel can help her in her life.
The last is Liu. Once again a Chinese student studying International Business Communications. He was dated for baptism but we had to push it back another 3 weeks because we found out that he doesn't really have a belief in God and doesn't know how to find one. We shared with him the importance of Faith and Prayer and how he can find out for himself. He said he wanted to know for himself and that he would really try. He came to church yesterday but left after Sacrament Meeting because it is really boring for him. He doesn't understand a lot and he is a university student. I can't blame him too much. I
would ask you to pray for him to read and pray for himself so he can find out for himself.
The ward here in Preston is good. Not the strongest ward, but those that are there really seemed to enjoy it. I have been told that it is really hard to get the members to come out with us, but I hope we can change that here soon. We were able to do a role play on how to give out pass along cards. Hopefully that and the talk on missionary work from the Bishop will get them pumped to go DO something. The slight problem is that there are 6 missionaries in a ward of 60. That makes it hard to spread out the labor and have enough to go around. I am really looking forward to getting to know the ward members better and once again making good relationships for the rest of my life.
Preston is small as I said and we are only ever around the University area looking for Chinese students. We end up talking to alot of the same people again and they are starting to get annoyed with the continued efforts of us to talk to them. This is fun challenge that I look forward to tackling. Hopefully because we see people multiple times we can get good relationships with them. Hopefully. :) Also Preston is much much much rainier than Liverpool. It has rained constantly for the last two days and I have gotten soaked through 10 times now. I love it!! Kinda. It is a good thing I have a coat now,
thanks again!!
So as I told you, we are in a foursome with Elders Moss, Peterson, and Chan. We switch off companions every day depending on who needs to teach what. When we have a chinese investigator it usually ends up being me and Elder Chan or me and Elder Peterson. This has been a great challange for me to learn how to become more of a leader. How to take control of a lesson and guide it along best for the investigator. It has also been a test and builder of my chinese. I have already noticed a little change in my progress in Chinese because I don't have a fluent companion to rely on. Hard, but fun and rewarding at the same time.
I thank you for all of your love and support and letters. If there is anything I can help you with let me know. :)
Love you all,
Elder Fawcett
February 3, 2011
Short letter today because of time. Sorry for forgetting to tell you that transfers were coming up, but now you know they have happened. :) And yes I was transferred to Preston. Now I can say that I have gone through the worst part of my mission as of yet. Saying Goodbye.... I just hate goodbyes and this one was especially hard. I am going to miss the recent converts and members and my companions very much, but especially the recent converts. One of the recent converts Haoran cooked dinner for me and gave me a card. I in return gave him one of my BYU T-shirts. :)
Well I don't have too long, but a brief overview of what has happened. I am now in Preston in a foursome. Yes you read it right, a foursome. Who would have thought? I am now back with Elder Peterson, my companion from the MTC, Elder Moss and Elder Chan from Hong Kong. Unfortunately his Mandarin is supposedly worse than mine. Though he is working on it and should improve a lot faster than myself. I will definitely miss Liverpool, but new experiences await me here in Preston. I was able to help plant many many seeds in Liverpool and I know Elder Eliason and Elder Jin will do all they can to bring in the Harvest. Many souls will be saved because of their valiant efforts.
I hope that everyone is having a great week and that you will all be safe but have fun in all your doings. Keep your heads up and know that I love you, but more importantly the Lord loves you.
I love you all,
January 24, 2010
Yes Dad it is true, with 1 hour of computer time in the library sometimes it is hard to find enough time to write to the family after writing to the President and then reading the emails that I have received from the previous week. I also realized last week that I am filling some of my emails with information that is not necessarily useful, worthwhile, or informative. So, I have recommited to sending out better uplifting emails for the family to read. Also feel free to let me know what you want to know specifically or don't want to know at all and then I will write accordingly.
Lets see, the two investigators that we are teaching at the moment are a young man named Luke and a Chinese student named Angela. Luke we have taught twice and he has come to church. With him it is a bit hard because he is young at 18 and somewhat immature. He is very intellectual but doesn't always know what to do with that intellect. He had some good comments in church and seemed apt to learn, the only problem is he doesn't know how much he wants to know if there is a God. Our focus is to help him understand why a knowledge of Gods existence would be beneficial for him in his life.
Angela is a Chinese student who is very bright, has great English, wants to know more but is super busy with school and exams at the moment. We taught her once and she had many great questions and was very interested. We then ran into her on the street two days in a row and were able to find out that she had been reading a little and praying to know. She said that she felt great when she prayed, calm, happy and confident for her tests. She said that she thinks it helped her on her exams. I know it did. She is somewhat of a flirt which you really have to watch out for because we don't want to become the wrong kind of friends to investigators. Overall, after this week is over we should be able to teach more chinese students. Yeah!!!
Why do we get dropped? Whew, great question. Depends on a number of variables why certain investigators drop us. The week that we had double digit new investigators they were almost all college age students. The reason they drop us is becuase of fear of change and lack of commitment and true lack of a broad vision of what this could mean for them. Also they are not willing to take the time to actually see if it IS true. They key in conversion is the BOM and of they are not willing to read the BOM themselves they are certainly not going to find out that it is true, and if they never do that, we as a church are not much different than any other.
Loss of contact is another factor in losing investigators. After you teach them the first time, you really really really need to teach them no later than 2 days later. To do so will mean too much time for the adversary to distract them from the real importance of our message. Rarely do we see a person again if they set up an appointment for the next week at the same time. Constant contact is what brings the people the spirit everyday. Also people are just too "busy". If I had a dollar every time someone told me they were to busy I would be very rich. :)
The saddest thing is that people do not know God and could care less if he WAS there. Everyone is about me me me. They say they want to be happy and they do what THEY think is right to make them happy. Some people are happy without God, but that is because they don't know what more happiness they could have. I don't blame any of them, this world has been raised up to have no belief in God. Why should they listen to people who do. Sometimes I wonder if I would have accepted God if I was not born a member of this church. Fortunatley I was and do know that God lives and loves us. Now to find out how to let other people find out for themselves that he is there....
Have a great week my wonderful Family!!
Elder Fawcett
January 17, 2010
First off, I am sorry something so boring as my weekly letters is the highlight of the week! I feel bad because most of my weekly letters are completely the same now. Went out finding, taught lessons, found new investigators and wallah! There is the week!! :) Haha, I hope that they don't seem like that to you, but just in case I will try to think of more unique or specific items to talk about.
Well for this week.... There is not much new that has happened, but I will try to make it slightly interesting for your sakes. :) Tuesday we had a District Meeting with the focus being on planning. It was a perfect focus for me because our daily and weekly planning has been a little less than good. Our main problem has been planning with exactness and with one purpose in mind. Also one of my three goals for this upcoming year is better specific planning. Once I get down all the specifics about how I will go about completing it and my other goals I will let you know.
On our way to that District Meeting we were a bit late (again) so we were running and Elder Jin hit and edge and twisted his ankle. So we ended up carrying him the rest of the way to the meeting and back home. So we ended up having to stay in that day. I took advantage of that time to study some much needed Chinese. We got him crutches and we were back at it the next day. A bit slower than usual, but back at it nonetheless.
I than had the opportunity to go on another exchange, but this time with Elder Sanders (Elder Moses our DL companion). He came out the same time as me and it was nice to work with him and to help each other out with our goals and improvements. We were up in Crosby and boy did we talk to some crazy people or what. Twice Elder Sanders almost got hit before we booked it out of there and then half the time people were yelling at us. It was a lot of fun. :) It is really interesting to see how people react to you talking about God. It seems to be a subject most people get REALLY uncomfortable with and that results in anger. They figure what does a 19 year old punk in a suit trying to help them out think he is doing. I think I will just yell and swear at him until he goes away.
Unfortunately because of my slightly sarcastic attitude and frustration I say things that I probably shouldn't say. For example: Hello ma'm, we are sharing a message about how God has a pla... Swearing mingled with yelling.... Well ma'm I am only worried about you and your families salvation. Escalated swearing and yelling. Then I leave. :) Then the man next to us had heard us and I try to talk to him and he says leave me alone in a less nicer way and I said, "are you going to yell at me as well." The answer was yes. This world is full of very old babies. :)
I know I need to control myself, but sometimes it is so hard. :) This week was hard at first. We were dropped by all 11 of our new investigators from last week. Then we were blessed because of diligent efforts with 6 new investigators, 3 of which are super solid. I testify that God helps those most who work hard and help themselves while calling on his name.
The other thing this week I really learned was the importance of attitude once more. Lately it has been hard with Chinese and the lack of speaking thereof and I was having a bad attitude towards it and that was effecting my missionary work as well as my companions. I was then chastened because of the love my companion Elder Eliason has for me, and now I know and understand now more than ever the impact attitude has on your life. Now I have recommitted to working hard, and working hard with a good attitude.
I hope everything is going well for all of you and that everyone is having a great week.
I love you all, keep the faith!!
Elder Fawcett
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