Welcome, President & Sister Evans! (Week 17 in Aregua "C")

Dear Friends and Family,

My redhead and I have seen a lot of great things going on lately here in Aregua and Paraguay: We have a new president; the weather is still great (though it has started getting hotter lately...); we're seeing lots of good progress with investigators;  and we've started a more rigorous exercise/eating plan together (which means that now we go on a short jog each morning before working out and that we each eat about 30 bananas a week in stead of tons of bread and jam. (#missionaryfitness)

On Thursday, we also had the opportunity to do one of the hardest service projects of my life for one of our hermamas, Hermana A S. She had us level out a patch of dirt that was about 20 x 20 feet, and move what felt like and might have literally been 2 tons of dirt in the process. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted in my life! But I can't really say anything because Elder Smith shoveled a good 2/3 of the entire area on his own -- that guy is a machine! I nearly killed myself trying to keep up with him. Even though I felt "amanoite"(which means "super dead" in Guarani) afterwards, it was all worth it because Hermana A fed us and gave us jugo de Maracuya, which is probably the best fruit juice ever.

To our surprise, we were called into a multi-zone conference on Saturday, where we officially met President and Hermana Evans. Right off the bat, they introduced themselves, explained that, as parents of 3 or 4 returned missionaries, obedience is important to them, and told us that they love us and have been praying for us for six months -- since they received their call. It was really interesting to see the president and his wife going through what I went through when I first got here to Paraguay 8 months ago. Hermana Evans doesn't even speak Spanish yet, and President hasn't spoken Spanish for 30 years (since his mission), so he's a little bit rusty too. It wasn't hard to see that they were a little shaken up, but all the same, President Evans bore a powerful testimony that, though he has no idea why the church would sacrifice so much to get him -- a seminary teacher from Illinois -- on a mission, he knows that it is the Lord who called him, and he's going to make sure we do His work during our time together here in Paraguay. I'm excited to get to work with Him.

Elder Smith and I have also seen a few notable occurrences as we've taught lessons this week.The first of those was a lesson we taught with a family on Monday night after returning home from our p-day adventures. We found this family about three months ago when I was still with Elder Silva because they invited us to eat dinner with them on a day that it was raining super hard. We had a great lesson with them, but never stopped by again because their house is in a confusing neighborhood where all the streets look exactly the same. I've been looking for the house ever since, and finally, two or three weeks ago, our work paid off and we found their house and talked to the wife. She told us that Mondays are the only day her husband is home. Last Monday we stopped by to give them a visit, and the lesson we had with them was one of the best lessons I've had here in the mission. This family, familia F, is so prepared to accept the gospel. They already know how to pray (which is awesome because most Paraguayans just recite memorized prayers); their response to the question, "Do you attend a specific church?" was, "We are Christians. Currently we attend the church CFA, but our faith is in Christ, not in the church." They seemed legitimately excited to read the Book of Mormon. I don't think I'll still be here in Aregua to see them progress, but I'll be happy to leave my area with such great investigators.

This week wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, though. On a visit to A, the inactive young woman with Cancer, she told us that she's been attending another church for 3 weeks because she feels, more comfortable there. We left her with the invitation to ask God which path He wants her to take. If she does that, she'll come to know that the church is true. Elder Smith and I haven't given up on her yet!

Have I shared much about J yet? He's an older man who lives with a less active member. He's wanted to be baptized for a long time, but he's not married to the woman he lives with yet and they can't get married until she gets a divorce (which costs about an arm and a leg here in Paraguay). So baptism has been out of the question. For a few months, we've taught J and told him that if he wants to be baptized, he has to live separately from his señora until she sorts out the divorce. But he's been really resisting that idea. This week, Elder Smith and I taught about baptism, why it's important, a little bit about the Plan of Salvation, the blessings of baptism, and temple marriage. We explained that he basically has to decide between living apart from his señora now, to be able to live with her forever after this life, and living with his señora now, but sacrificing the opportunity to live with her forever. We left him with the decision to be baptized on the 9th of July or to wait until he could marry E, his señora first (in their case, waiting for a marriage could mean waiting years). We left them with those options and promised that we'd come back on Sunday to hear what they decided and to make plans accordingly. When we got back, J told us that he wants to be baptized on SaturdaY, the ninth, and that he'll start talking to people immediately to see where he can live. The amount of faith J is exercising is incredible. He might have to live apart from the woman he loves for two or three years, but he's willing to do it because he believes that God has even greater blessings in store if he makes this sacrifice to be baptized.

With J and his faith in mind, I'd like to share something that I've learned about faith here in the mission. Alma 32:21 says "And now as I said concerning faith - faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." J doesn't have a "perfect knowledge of things." He doesn't know what's going to happen with him and Etelvina; He might have to wait years to live with her again, but he "hope[s] for things which are not seen, which are true." He hopes that if he follows through with his baptisms, he'll be able to enjoy eternal life with the woman he loves. Faith doesn't only mean that we believe that God exists even though we can't see him. It means that if we have righteous goals (things that "are not seen, which [we hope to make] true"), and we work to accomplish them, we are exercising faith and we will have the power to accomplish those goals.

I love you all. Thank you for the love and support you send each week in your emails. It means the world to me!

Elder Fairbanks

"Photo with President and Sister Evans!"

"My Guarani name tag!"

"Service project photos"

"Finished work (our two tons of dirt)"

"Dinner with a Brazilian family! The guy sitting next to me is the best and cooks super good meat! His name is P (not a member -- but were working on that)"