Dallin's Blog (Paraguay Asuncion North Mission): Week 12 in Concepcion (Half-way through training my son)

Dear Friends and Family,

Elder Smith and I had another great, fun-filled week here in Concepcion. We had some divisions, some cool lessons, some good food, and we were super excited looking forward to conference. And in the end, all that excitement paid off well. What a great general conference this was!

To start off the week, I had another division with Elder Behrens. I'd say it was a pretty successful division. We had a bunch of lessons, found an awesome less active member who wants to come back to church, and we did our best to invite as many people to general conference this weekend as possible. We had one interesting experience when we accidentally contacted a church... It looked like a nice house with a gate and a doorbell. But after we rang, I read words on the front that said, "Iglesia Nueva Jerusalen." (A church we've heard about frequently here in Concepcion, whose members are firm and well-trained in Biblical knowledge.) Immediately, I warned Elder Behrens, and suggested that we get out of there as fast as possible. But he stayed and said, "Let me talk," and proceeded to talk to the wife of the minister of the church, inviting her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon... She was absolutely opposed to the idea, but I was impressed with how confidently Elder Behrens handled the church contact!

Not going to lie though, I was sort of nervous to do divisions with Elder Behrens. After visiting his house--and knowing his standard for clean houses--as I waited for him to visit my house, I was struggling with nerves and stress between the level of a 16-year-old going on his first date (knowing he'd probably have a personal interview with his date's father) and a high schooler waiting for the test scores on a test he knows he probably should have studied for more... But all was well! When Elder Behrens entered my house he was "pleasantly suprised" and rated my house the 3rd cleanest house he's seen in Paraguay (his own being first, and number two being the house of hermana missionaries he helped move out in Pedro Juan). So I guess I've learned a thing or two about keeping a clean house here in Paraguay!

The interesting divisions didn't end there, though. The next morning, Elder Barreto had a run to the hopital (he's had some pretty serious stomach illnesses lately), so I stayed at his house with his comp, Elder Saavedra, while Elder Behrens (who has pretty expansive medical knowledge) went with Elder Barreto to the hospital. It was just divisions for the morning, so all we did together was study and do one or two visits before lunch. But while we studied, Elder Saavedra drew my attention to the light above their study desks, explaining that we'd have to study in darkness because it never works. Well... in addition to praising my house's cleanliness, Elder Behrens also gave me a 15 minute crash course on electricity. So we gave it a shot... And now their study light works. (But don't tell mom.)

On Thursday, we worked through an awesome thunderstorm. It didn't rain all that much, but a bolt of lightning fell every 20 or so seconds, and they were close. We weren't listening to the rumble of thunder; we were hearing the atmosphere tear itself apart every time lightning struck. Seriously, never heard thunder so strong, so close, or so impressive in my life! Nevertheless, my comp was a little concerned for our safety and had made a promise that he would return home alive. So we quickly made our way to the house of a member, where we shared a quick spiritual thought and waited out the storm (which only lasted about 20 more minutes).

I don't have all that much news on our investigators, as they all still seem to be out of town or too busy to meet with us right now. But we did meet a cool new investigator named J. After teaching him a little bit he told us that he's actually a friend of J, L, and "I," the three young men that were baptized recently, and that he's already made up his mind to learn more about, and to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Member missionary work really is a thing, and really does work! The coolest miracles and the greatest investigators I've had in the mission have all come from it.

After going through some of those cool experiences, Elder Smith & I got to enjoy all 5 of the sessions of this year's general conference. Before the mission, conference was always a big, special deal for the both of us, so we decided to do what was possible to make this conference a special deal as well. What we ended up doing was a Sunday morning conference breakfast. We cooked German pancakes, hash browns, homemade syrup, and real orange juice (not the juice that we always drink here that comes from powder). It was a great breakfast and the coolest thing was "the miracle of the German pancakes" that I experienced. Before my mission, I loved cooking and eating German pancakes, but I never got around to memorizing the recipe and it's officially been over a year since I last cooked it... So even though I promised I'd cook it for Elder Smith, I was really scared I wouldn't be able to fulfill my promise. Well... I started cooking it to the best of my memory -- mixing nine eggs, milk, flour, and butter. I put everything I remembered in the blender, mixed it up, and was almost positive I forgot 1/3 cup of something. I spent a good deal of time racking my brain, but nothing came to mind. In the end, I just had to throw the mixture into the oven and pray (literally) that it would turn out (because if it didn't, we didn't have enough eggs for a second attempt, and it was Sunday, so we couldn't buy more and the special breakfast I had been planning with Elder Smith to help him feel a little more at home would go down in flames). In the end, it did turn out. Perfectly. It puffed up just the way it was supposed to and was delicious with the homemade syrup we made. Super simple thing, but I am so grateful that -- whether I forgot an ingredient or not -- the breakfast turned out well and was a happy experience for the both of us.

After that, conference was just fantastic. This year, there wasn't surprise sickness. No technological errors forcing us to listen in Spanish. It was just Elder Smith and I, and the general authorities of the church. It really was an awesome conference this year and there were tons of awesome talks. I especially loved the talks about prayer by Carol F. McConkie, and Juan A. Uceda, David A. Bednar's talk (love that guy) about getting to know Christ, and the talk from Gary E. Stevenson about the importance of the Book of Mormon.

For us Mormons, general conference is kind of like New Years. We set all sorts of new goals from what we heard and learned to be better people, and that's all great. But sometimes, after a few weeks, I either forget about the changes I wanted to make, or I get discouraged and give up for lack of consistency. This year, thinking about that personal problem I have, I reflected on conference and what I learned and Gary E. Stevenson's talk came to mind. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. Of our faith. Of the gospel. Of testimony. I believe that it is also the keystone of becoming better people and applying conference talks in our lives. If we read the Book of Mormon every single day of our lives, really paying attention to what we read, we will never lose our testimonies or fall away from the church. As we read and stay faithful, all those goals we set (like ponderizing a scripture every week, being more patient, or preparing better for sacrament each week) will either be natural parts of the process of our spiritual growth, or they will become easier to complete with consistency. As a missionary I've had many opportunities to read and share from the Book of Mormon, and I've also seen it change lives -- including my own. I testify that it is a book that came from God and that if we read it every day of our lives, we will be able to make the changes we want in our lives to better follow our Savior Jesus Chris

Thanks for everything guys. You really are the best. Thanks for the prayers and the emails, and the letters, and the love. I really feel the support out here serving.

Love you all,

Elder Fairbanks

Divisions with Elder Behrens (and fixing the house)

More of the division with Elder Behrens

"I sort of became an electrician... Please forgive me! Haha. Don't worry, though. We were super safe and always turned off the switch thing that gives energy to the socket. Here's a picture of the poor person's materials we had to use to fix the socket. I'd say we were pretty ingenious."

This electrical work must've been a pretty big deal, as Dallin sent three short videos documenting the process: