Week 69 - Burying the Dead!!!

Hola Everyone:

So once again, this past week has really gone by fast and my time in the mission field seems to really be picking up speed.  So, this past week has really pretty much been just a normal week without anything all that abnormal happening!

Honestly as far as investigators go, things are really just pretty slow right now and we can’t get anyone to advance all that much.  We are contacting a lot of people and teaching a lot, but no one is coming to Church on Sunday’s so we can’t advance them till they do!  I have about 3 weeks of this change cycle and I will probably be leaving so I am working really hard so that I can leave my “kid” some really good people to work with while I am gone.

So, one thing that was interesting this past week was that we were asked to help out with a funeral for a less active member.  They asked us to initially help out with the dedication of the grave which we did, but then after the funeral, they asked us to fill in the grave for them!  So that is something different here in Mexico I have found, when people die, the family is responsible for digging the hole, putting the coffin in the hole and then filling it in afterwards.  Luckily some other people took care of digging the hole, but my Comp and I filled it in with shovels afterwards making sure it was compacted as we went.  Needless to say, we were pretty tired after shoveling all of that dirt!

Also, this past week, we had Zone Conference which was pretty good but afterwards, we all got our flu shots which I hated since many of you know how I feel about getting shots!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week.

Love 

Elder Fawcett

Mexican Cemetery!

Week 68 - Meeting Elder Soares

Hola Everyone:

Well, this past week has been pretty crazy and we have been running all over the place and really working hard. To start off, on Wednesday, we had to travel to Pachuca for a meeting with Elder Soares from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. It was really cool to see him in person and we all got to shake his hand and talk to him. For the meeting with him, he spoke in Spanish so I am really glad that I am really good at it now so I could understand his entire message. He talked to us about being better missionaries and working our hardest. The meeting was really cool and the spirit was really strong as he talked to us.

Back here in Actopan, we have been really trying hard to find people to teach. We are teaching people a lot of 1st discussions but it continues to be really hard to get anyone to progress past that point. Patricia that I talked about last week was unable to come to Church this week because of her work schedule. We have continued to meet with her and I hope that we can get her to progress but so far, we don’t have a date set up with her either. I guess overall though, it is all ok because we are working the hardest, we can and, in the end, that is what counts anyway!

Seeing my MTC group this past Wednesday was really cool and it is great to see how much we have all changed with 2/3rds of our missions now completed. Everyone has grown a ton and honestly it is really hard to believe how much time has gone by.

Well, I hope that everyone has a great week! I guess you guys are enjoying the cold weather by now! Here in Mexico, it is still pretty hot!

Love

Elder Fawcett

Mission with Elder Soares

Meeting with Elder Soares

Member's Hairless Dog

Cool Dog!

Friend We Found Contacting

Week 67 - Helping Make Barbacoa

Hola Everyone:

Well, this week has gone by pretty fast although nothing really that exciting happened.  My Comp and I have decided that we have done a lot of contacting here in Actopan without having a whole ton of success, so this week I decided that we were going to try something a little different.  Around Actopan, there are a few Pueblos that we have to travel a little bit to, but they are still part of our area. 

I wish I would have taken my camera but there are a ton of trees in the Pueblos that we visited and it sort of felt like we were going out into the woods.  Anyway, we talked to a lot of people but no one had much interest in the church, but at least it was something different.

On Sunday, we did have an investigator come to church which was really good, her name is Patricia and she was a referral from the Relief Society President.  We have taught her a few times and it was really good to see her come out to church.  She brought her family with her so we will have to see if we can also teach some of them this week!

Probably the biggest thing of the week was helping out one of the members of our Ward.  For a living, he is a butcher and buys animals that he brings in, kills, cuts up and then sells.  This past week he had a whole truck load of sheep come in and asked us if we could help him out for little while.  For those of you that know me, I loved studying anatomy in school and still remember going to the cadaver lab at the U of U for scouts.  Anyway, I thought it was really cool to help out the member.  Here in Mexico, they do things a little different and we found that most of the sheep were pregnant which was weird.  The whole experience though, helped me gain an appreciation for things in life.  Here in Mexico, they use every part of the sheep for something, from the blood to eating most all of the internal organs.  One of my jobs was cleaning up the stomachs which was pretty gross!  The best part of the day was that after we were done, we made some barbacoa which is pretty good!

Well, I though that Elder Soares was coming this past week but he will be here on Wednesday so we are really looking forward to seeing him!  I hope everyone has a great week, I love being here in Mexico and for the experiences that I am having.

Love

Elder Fawcett

Member Bought These Sheep

They Don't Waste Anything

Got Them Ready for Processing

Cleaning Up the Insides!

Week 66 - Day of the Dead!

Hola Everyone:

Well, this past week again was pretty normal without anything too exciting happening!  Our investigator situation has not improved hardly at all!  We are contacting quite a few people and teaching a lot of lessons but nobody is progressing past that.  People are committing to coming to Church but every week, they simply just don’t show up for some reason or another so we are not teaching them anymore until they commit to coming to Church!

A few weeks ago, I told you about Juan, the guy who had a miracle by going to the ATM when he was really hungry and finding that he had money in there!  Well, he has been out of town on some business for the past few weeks so we are hoping that when he gets back, we can at least build on the experience that he had and start him coming to Church and progressing.

So, this past week, just like back home, it was Halloween.  Honestly it is really not that big of a deal here in Mexico but we did see a few kids walking around in costumes and asking people at the stores for some candy.  The Day of the Dead however is a lot bigger here and it was great to be in Actopan because they celebrated it pretty well.  As you will see in my pictures, they set up some places where people could make ofrendas for their departed family members.  They were pretty cool and most of them are made out of sand and flowers.  Also, we were able to go over to a member’s house and see the ofrenda they had in their home.

Well, not a lot to report on, this week we have been told that Elder Ulisses Soares from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles will be visiting our mission so that should be really cool.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week!

Love 

Elder Fawcett


                                                                         Day of the Dead Ofrenda

Milk Shake with my Comp!

Yea, That is a Donut on Top

Really Pretty Bird

A Well in the Countryside

Tent Set up in the Center of Town

Ofrendas in the Tent

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