Elder Smith and I started off this cold week in a great way... spending more than half an hour weaving through some complicated streets looking for a house I thought I knew... Just this last week, an elderly woman (with an awesome Brazilian accent -- hearing Spanish with a Brazilian accent is probably one of my favorite things) asked us to visit her and her family. We asked who they were and she said: "Do you know Hermana P?" (one of the less active members in our area that I visited once or twice with Elder Silva). She went on to explain to us that She is Hermana P's grandmother from Brazil and that she needs us to visit her family because they need help getting back to church and the ward seems to have forgotten about them. I confidently told Elder Smith, "Don't worry. I know the house. It's neon green in one of the nicer neighborhoods in our area. It won't be hard to find," So we committed to visiting them on Tuesday. Problem was, though I had visited the house before, I'm not super familiar with Conavi the "nicer neighborhood" in our area. So we spent a lot of time weaving through street after street "like maze runner" (in the words of my comp). We were both starting to get frustrated because it was getting late and we had promised to show... But we couldn't find the house. At this point, I offered up a silent prayer to ask for help finding the house. I didn't have to wait long for an answer because, less than a minute later, Elder Smith said, "Hey, that house is a pretty green!" We walked up to check it out and, sure enough, that was the house! Elder Smith had seen it from over a block away on a street we weren't planning on turning down. After that ordeal, we were able to sit down with the family, share a message, and invite them to church. The best part? They actually showed up to sacrament this week! It's really great to see people make steps like that to better their lives so quickly.
Another great thing that happened this week is that we were able to share with the older sister (and caretaker) or our perfect investigator M. Up to this point, we haven't shared anything with her because she wants nothing to so with the church. But when we passed by her house on Thursday to have her sign M's baptismal paper (to give her permission to be baptized), we just started up a conversation with her about the church, baptism, and the Book of Mormon. Without any awkward shift in the conversation, we invited her to listen to us to help answer some of her questions about our "mysterious bible" (the Book of Mormon). She accepted our offer and listened to us share the purpose and history of the Book of Mormon as well as our testimonies. At the end, P (M's sister) accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it to see if it was the word of God. Elder Smith and I are going to be offering a lot of prayers to see if we can't bring this whole family to the waters of baptism! M could really use the familial support!
Elder Smith and I also started a new thing: cooking lessons! Over the past few weeks, we've been invited multiple times to teach families how to prepare pancakes and Mexican tortillas, some of the "traditional meals" of the United States. We taught familia M, the less active family that Elder Silva and I never passed by to teach again, how to make pancakes and then we taught their daughter, D, about the Word of wisdom and how there are good things and bad things for our bodies. Drugs, alcohol, coffee, and tea are bad, but grains, meat (in moderation), and pancakes are good. I don't think I've ever seen a nine year old so excited to learn about the Word of Wisdom before... haha. But it was really fun to share with the family.
Then on Sunday, we cooked tortillas with Familia A so we could make some chicken fajitas. I didn't really have much of a role in the cooking process, aside from keeping the children out of the kitchen. But man. Those fajitas were one of the most delicious meals I've had in Paraguay! I think this whole "cooking+lessons" thing is working out pretty well for us!
I'm also glad to report that this week we were able to baptize M. In the words of Elder Smith, "I don't think I've ever had a baptism that was so easy, but at the same time, so easy." With M, we really didn't have to do much. We invited her to church once. She showed up every week. On her own. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon. She read 1 Nephi in less than a week. But at the same time, as willing as she was to learn and listen to us, we had to work hard to get her to actually develop a testimony. Elder Smith and I worried a ton about M and preparing her for her baptism date, but finally, we got there! We spent all morning deep cleaning the baptismal font (something that probably hasn't been done in years) and arranging the room so that the activity could be as spiritual as possible (because her older sister promised to come). We even brought the (awful, out of tune) piano from the chapel into the room so that those who attended the service could sing with music instead of trying to sing acapella like always... After all our work, the baptism went smoothly and M, the perfect investigator, got baptized! It was a pretty great way to end the week.
During my studies of the Book of Mormon this week, I re-read about one of my favorite prophets: Nephi, the son of Helaman (in Helaman 10:2-5,12). Nephi had just performed a miracle by solving the murder of the chief judge of the land from his own garden, but the wicked people still didn't believe that he was a prophet. After that experience, Nephi was "much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites." In other words, he was exhausted and maybe a little depressed after working so hard to preach and help people with no success. and he "went his way towards his own house." On his way home, he received these words of comfort from the Lord: "Blessed art thou Nephi... for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." After hearing those words from the Lord, the scriptures say that Nephi "did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land." Nephi was tired, and depressed at the hardness of the hearts of the people -- I would say that he completely deserved a chance to return home and rest -- but when the Lord called him to work, he didn't even return home for a snack. He turned around right then and there to start preaching again. No doubt, he was going to face the same challenges and the same rejection as before. But he knew that the Lord was happy with his "unwearying" service, so he went to work. That's what I want to do here in the mission. I want to work "unwearyingly" to bring the people here in Paraguay to a knowledge of their Savior. I know that He lives, and I know that He loves us. The church is true, and the best way to find lasting happiness in this life is to dedicate ourselves to obeying the commandments of our loving Heavenly Father.
I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do for me.
Elder Fairbanks
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| Elder Fairbanks, M ("the perfect investigator"), and Elder Smith |
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