Week 65 - Meth and Crickets!!!

Hola Everyone:

Well, this week has been pretty slow for contacting people so we have spent a lot of time visiting people that we have contacted in the past but have not heard from for a while!  I honestly have to say that it didn’t go all that well either because we were unable to get any of them to advance much!  So, basically, this has really just been a very slow week!

But I do have a few stories to tell you about this week.  One of the people that we visited with offered us something to eat while we were over at his house.  As it turns out, it was a plate of crickets that are pretty much all over here in Mexico.  I guess they just catch them and kill them and then put salsa on them.  They actually were not that bad; they sort of tasted like chicken!

At another investigators house, the guy we were teaching told us that after talking to us, he wanted to start changing his life so he went over to a table and picked up a card off the table and handed it to me.  He then told us that he had been doing Meth and wanted to stop and told us to take it out of his house.  Needless to say, we left really fast but got rid of the card just about as fast as we left the house!

So last P-day, we went for a hike on the outskirts of town and I took some pictures.  We ran across a pretty cool shrine and it was really great to just get out and hike around for a while!

Well pretty short letter today but it has been one of those weeks!  I love being a missionary here in Mexico despite some of the hard times that we go through.  I know that Serving the Lord is what I am supposed to be doing right now in my life and the experiences I have will help me the rest of my life!

Love

Elder Fawcett

Side View of Dinner

Front View

Whole Plate of Them!

I Tried Not to Chew Too Much!

Country Side

Nice Hike

Shrine

Another Shrine

Pretty Cool Wall

Week 64 - Nancy and Ruby's Baptism!

Hola Everyone:

Well this past week has pretty much just been another normal week here in Mexico! My Comp and I have been working really hard trying to contact new people to teach but that has been going pretty slow honestly! We are able to teach 1-2 lessons per day but people are really just not that interested and it is hard to schedule a second lesson with them. We have been trying to involve the members of the Ward in our lessons and that has helped out a little. We do have a few investigators that are past the first lesson but we just don’t have a baptism date scheduled for them yet. We are also still working with the members on the inactive people in our area as well as trying to get new member referrals to teach.

So the highlight of this past week was that we were finally able to baptize Nancy and her daughter Ruby on Friday! Nancy asked me to baptize her and Ruby had my Comp to baptize her. It was really great to finally get them into the baptismal font and it was a really great experience! Both of them got confirmed on Sunday and that was also great to be a part of. Demetrio received the Priesthood on Sunday as well and that was also great to see someone that we baptized a few weeks ago continue to grow and advance in the Church.

Well, nothing really all that exciting to write about. Day of the Dead is coming up so it will be neat to see how they celebrate that in this city! I will be sending pictures of that here in the next week or so!

So, I hope everyone has a great week, I really love it here in Mexico and being able to serve full time as a missionary.

Love

Elder Fawcett

Elders Fawcett and George at Nancy and Ruby's Baptism

Ward Members at Baptism

Zone Meeting

My Area Missionaries

Countryside Flowers

Week 63 - A Really Strange Question!

Hola Everyone:

Well once again, this past week we have been working really hard trying to find new people to teach!  We have found a few people who have invited us to their houses to teach them but so far, no one is really progressing past the first few lessons. This area is a little harder than some to find people to teach. But as a trainer, I am spending a lot of time with Elder George helping him to get down the basics and learn his Spanish so that is alright!

One of the guys we found this past week turned out to sort of be a little interesting!  So, he invited us over to his house and things looked like they were going to go pretty good with him.  He seemed really interested in our message.  After going into his house, he offered us some tea or coffee which is pretty standard for us to get offered, but of course we turned them down!  As we sat down and started to get to know him a little before starting our lesson, he looked at us and the first question that he asked us was how we felt about someone killing someone else?  Well needless to say we were not really expecting that, but tried to give him a good answer.  While we were giving him the answer, he continued to talk to us and told us that his son had killed his mother with a kitchen knife a few weeks earlier in the house we were in.  The spirited turned really bad and we could tell that we needed to leave so we wrapped things up and got out of there!

The highlight of the week was supposed to be the baptism of Nancy and her daughter, but unfortunately, she had somethings come up a few days before so we have had to reschedule her baptism for this coming Friday.   Honestly it was kind of a letdown, but at least it didn’t completely fall through!

The other thing that happened this past week was that we had Zone Conference and interviews with the President.  The Zone Conference was about obedience to the mission rules. I guess there have been a few problems around the mission, but don’t worry because I wasn’t part of the problem!  During my interview with President, he told me that I was doing a great job and he was really please with the work that my Comp and I are doing!
  
Well, that is about all for the week. I love being here although I am getting tired of the heat every day! I love being a missionary!

Love 

Elder Fawcett

District Meeting

Really Big Full Moon This Week!

Week 62 - Hard to Believe How Much I Have Learned!

Hola Everyone:

Well, this past week has been really good and my companion and I have been working really hard trying to contact new people to teach, but it has been going a little slow! The people in this area are just not really receptive to our message it seems lately. We have found a few people and have taught a few lessons this past week, but no one is really starting to progress yet.

This coming week we are looking forward to the Baptism of Nancy and her daughter. We have finally finished up the lessons with them, so that will be the highlight of the coming week! They were both referrals from our Bishop and should be great members of the Church.

As for exciting stories for the week, I really can’t think of any. Elder George and I are spending a lot of time studying together. I really enjoy being a trainer and it is really hard to believe how much I have learned myself since I have been on a mission. Four weeks before I entered the MTC, my brother Taylor came home from Peru and I remember listening to him speak Spanish and knowing that I would never be able to speak like that. But having been here in Mexico for over a year now, I know how much I have been blessed to learn Spanish and I feel that I am just as good as my brother is.

This past weekend, our District got together at the Church to watch General Conference in English. There were a lot of great talks that really made me feel the spirit and it was great to hear from the Prophets of God. Unfortunately, we really didn’t do anything fun with any members, but just enjoyed our Coke’s with real sugar while watching.

This coming week, we have Zone Conference and interviews with the Mission President so that should also be something exciting to write about next week!  My pictures for the week are sort of lacking but I really enjoy being out of the city and the countryside that I get to enjoy while riding around my area!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Elder Fawcett

Kind of Reminds Me of Home!

Long Road to????

Week 61 - Miracle at the ATM!!

Hola Everyone:

So, this past week has been really good! It has been good to have a new son to train and the bonus with Elder George is that I not only get to help him learn to be a missionary but also, I get to help him learn Spanish! Elder George is really hard working so I really think that we are going to work well together and he will be a great missionary!

This past week, we have been doing a lot of street contacting and things like that will put him in situations that will help him to learn faster. We have been having a few random lessons here and there but as always, contacting here has been really tough!

The highlight of this past week was having Demetrio get baptized this past Saturday. Demetrio is about 65 or 67 years old and was a referral from one of the members of the Ward, so his conversion went really smooth and he progressed fast. In the pictures, you will see that he was baptized by his friend in the Ward, Brother Moi. Which is really great because it helps to connect him better to the Ward so he is less likely to become inactive when we get transferred out in the future. Also, this past week, we continued to teach Nancy and her kids and they are still progressing really well! They have a baptismal date scheduled for 12 October.

A cool thing that happened this week was we contacted a guy named Juan and he was sort of interested in the Church. He told us that he had been to the United States to work in the past and had some contact with the missionaries then. He told us he didn’t’ have time right then, but to come back the next day and talk to him more about the Church. So on Sunday, which was the next day, we went back and got to know him better. While getting to know him, he told us about something that had happened to him the night before after we had left him. He said that Saturday night he was really hungry, but didn’t have any money and that his job only paid him on the 15th and 30th of every month. Saturday was the 28th and he really wanted something to eat so he decided to walk down to the Centro of Actopan to the ATM. While he was walking, he said a prayer in his head and asked the Lord if we were actually missionaries for the true Church and if we were, give him a sign so that he would listen to us. As he put his card into the ATM, he found that there was money in his account although he knew there should not have been. He knew it was a miracle and he cried as he told us the story! The spirit was super strong when he told us the story, so I am hoping that he progresses well with the lessons!

I love being a missionary and love changing the lives of his children that are ready!

Love

Elder Fawcett

Elder George and Elder Fawcett

Come Meet Your New Comp!!

Waiting for Assignments

Missionaries at the Bus Station!

Elder Fawcett, Demetrio, Bro. Moi, Elder George

Demetrio's Baptism and Ward Members

Week 60 - Sheep Tacos and Son #2!

Hola Everyone:

Sorry for not getting my letter out yesterday, I was at the Mission Office all day and didn’t have a chance to write so I am having to send this out Tuesday morning but I will explain a little more about that in a minute.

So, this past week was the last week of the changes and it went by really fast and was a really good week. On Tuesday, we had interviews with President Maldonado and my interview went really well and he is pleased with the work that I am doing. This is a pretty hard area to find new people to teach, but by working with the members, we are starting to have some success. Finding new people to teach on the streets is still going pretty slow, but the investigators that we have received as referrals are really progressing!

We had a great discussion with Demetrio this past week and he is ready to be baptized so we set a date for him actually this Saturday the 28th! He is really excited to become a member of the Church and so we will be working really hard with him this week to finish up the discussions and get him ready for his baptism. Nancy and her daughter are also continuing to progress really well and we are also working hard with them to get them ready for their baptismal date here in a few weeks.

So, with it being the end of the change, I actually got a surprising phone call on Sunday morning! President Maldonado asked me to once again train a new missionary straight out of the MTC. That means I will be staying here in Actopan for a while which I am really happy about! Sunday night, the Tony Family in our Ward had a little party for the missionaries and in particular for Elder Buttar’s who is leaving. We had some sheep tacos and cake which were really good!

So yesterday, I went to Pachuca in the morning and spent the entire day in various meetings with my new Companion. His name is Elder George from San Diego California. Yep, I got a Gringo straight out of the Mexico MTC. He is a great Elder and wants to work hard so we should really work well together. I don’t have any pictures of him but will get them for next week.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week!

Love

Elder Fawcett

Member's Daughter Painting My Nails

Sheep Tacos

Party with the Tony Family

Elder Buttars Leaving!

Elder Spangler liked the Cake!

Bishop Garcia and Wife With Elders Maquin and Fawcett

Week 59 - Viva Mexico!!!

Hola Everyone:

Well this week has been really normal and we haven’t had anything too crazy happen. It has really been hot here like it normally is so hopefully all of you back home are starting to enjoy some cooler temperatures.  

This past week, we have been continuing to do a lot of contacting of inactive members with the active members and honestly there really has not been anything of interest happen to really report on.  This past week, the Bishops Dad did give us a referral that actually did come to Church.  His name is Demetrio and he is an older gentleman.  He seems to really like the Church and we were able to teach him the first lesson and things went really well with that so we are hoping that he starts to really progress.

Also this past Sunday, we had a Mom that we contacted, Nancy, come to Church with her daughter.  We taught both of them the 1st lesson as well.  They seemed really great and I felt like I needed to extend the offer of baptism to them which they accepted so we have a date for them on 12 Oct.

Yesterday was Noche Del Grito which was pretty cool and is basically the kickoff to their Independence Day from Spain.  They party in the streets and in the center of town and throw confetti filled eggs at each other.  It was really neat and then later in the evening, they all shouted Viva Mexico which just means long live Mexico.

Well, I still really love it here in Mexico and can’t believe how fast time is going.  It seems like P-Day comes around faster and faster each week.  I hope everyone has a great week.

Love

Elder Fawcett

Elder Fawcett and Elder Maquin

Independence Day

Party Tonight!

Party in the Center of Town

Love The Suit!

Viva Mexico

Our District

City Lights