Winter in Aregua "C"

Dear Friends and Family,

A week ago, I wouldn't have believed it, but Paraguay actually got cold! One day, Elder Smith and I were walking around sweating, and the next morning, we woke up shivering. It's been cold like that all week and, not going to lie, I've really enjoyed pulling out the winter gear to keep myself alive (it really has been cold!)

This week started a great way: divisions with my new zone leader, Elder Garcia. He's a Uruguayan with over a year-and-a-half in the mission. I was amazed how much knowledge he has of scriptures and doctrine. He explained that it all came from reading the scriptures and listening to the spirit and that he'd be disappointed if I don't know even more when I get to his point in the mission. I sure hope he's right because to me he seems like a spiritual giant! My favorite thing that he taught me was that the way we respond to invitations often shows the depth of our conversion. For example, us missionaries extend invitations all the time, and Paraguayans love to say, "Puede ser," "Si Dios quiere," and "Voy a procurar." ("It's possible," "If it's what God wants," and "I'll try"). Responses like that usually mean that the investigators aren't willing to progress. That day, I realized that I say things like that all the time too: "Elder Fairbanks, are you going to contact 70 people this week?" My typical answer was, "I'll do my best." Now I'm "doing my best" to change the way I respond to, "Yes. I will."

After the awesome division, reality hit and it hit hard! I had a wedding to plan and prepare. Without a doubt, it was the most stressful day of my entire mission so far, and so many things went wrong that we literally spent all day running from place to place and making tons of calls. It was a really close call, but in the end, everything worked out and the couple (C and L) got married! I even got to be a legal witness to the marriage because a few of the witnesses they chose didn't show up on time. So all in all, it was a super stressful experience that ended super well with their marriage and baptisms! It was the most humble wedding I've attended in my life, but I don't know if I've ever seen a happier couple. If they keep learning and attending church, I'll even be able to attend their temple sealing next year!

Even with all the stress and work that went into the wedding, Elder Smith and I were able to get some good work done this week. In all, we set 6 new baptismal dates, (the goal is 2 per week per companionship), 4 of which are looking really good so far. I don't know how we're getting numbers like that when we've been so busy and distracted with other things, but I know that the Lord's hand is in it.

Something cool about my mission in particular is that President McMullin organized a "Guide to study Preach my Gospel," a booklet we follow to study a certain topic each week. This week, the focus was on Hope, and I learned a lot. My two favorite verses from what I studied this week are Ether 12:4 and 2 Nephi 7:6-7. Ether teaches us that our hope should be based in the fact that we can live again in a better world through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That hope is "an anchor for the souls of men that makes them secure and firm, always abounding in good works." Or in other words, if we have hope, we won't stop doing what we know is right for any reason because we know that in the end, if we do what we're supposed to, we'll live with God in a perfect world. In 2 Nephi, Isaiah demonstrates that same Hope when he said, "I turn my back to the smiter... and I didn't hide my face from humiliation. Because the Lord God will help me so that I can't be confounded." Isaiah understood that it doesn't matter what people do or say to us in this life because he had hope that he'd live with God again. That hope was his anchor. My wish is that hope can be my anchor here in the mission and the anchor for all of you, my friends and family.

I love you all!

Elder Fairbanks