Ever since changes last week, I've felt a little off balance. Every time I start feeling like I'm starting to get my footing things get shaken up and weird again. Right now, I'm living out of two houses, I've spent a day in the hospital, I had my first day of proselyting work and I've had to teach in a few training meetings. What a week! The bad thing about all this weird stuff going on (for all you guys) is that it's become almost impossible for me to maintain all my old little habits: writing in a journal each night, taking lots of pictures, preparing a list of things I need to touch on in my weekly email, watering my baby Venus flytrap plant daily, etc... When you wake up each morning not knowing exactly where you'll be going or what you'll be doing, it's really hard to keep any sort of regular routine.
But it's been a fantastic week! On Monday, Elder Crofts and I taught a lesson on leadership to all the zone leaders in the mission. I was pretty nervous at first, but we had come up with a pretty great lesson plan about the importance of being a Christlike leader, training the "rising generation," and various other responsibilities that zone leaders have. So I was never left wondering what to teach or what to say. Truth is, during all the opportunities I've recently had to teach missionaries (many of whom could teach me a thing or two about being a missionary), I've really felt the hand of the Lord sustaining me -- maybe more than in any other phase of my mission. The words come easily, my hands don't shake with fear as they have in the past, and I've been able to teach with confidence. It's been a really cool experience--and it was even better because after the zone leader training I got to eat a "lomito" (a delicious type-burrito with meat, lettuce, sauce, and magic) for free. So all-in-all, great experience.
On Tuesday, Elder Crofts and I were going to discuss the topics for the zone conferences we're going to be teaching over the next month... But President got a call from a missionary that his comp was passed out on the floor and wouldn't wake up. We flew (figuratively) over to the hospital, got things sorted out, and the missionary was fine. But I was assigned to stay behind with him in the hospital while the other missionaries, president, and Elder Crofts ran errands to get what the missionary needed for his hospital stay. The missionary and I talked for a while, but after about a half hour, due to a recent overexposure to sleep-deprivation, I passed out on the couch... and woke up two-and-a-half hours later when Elder Crofts and President came back. So that was my day in the hospital!
After getting all the hospital health stuff sorted out, our job was to get drivers licenses for us new office elders that are going to be driving (Elder Behrens and I). Just so ya'll know, since the accident last week, I have been driving and it's been perfectly fine. No more wrecks. So we went to the official government building and tried to get it sorted out. But turns out we have to take a blood test, bring a slip with all our fingerprint information, and bring a little card that shows that we're here in Paraguay legally. Blood test and fingerprinting? Easy. Little card? Easy... or not... Turns out, there was a mistake made in my application process and I was sort of forgotten about and taken off the lists or something like that and... I'm not even sure if I'm here in Paraguay legally yet! I'm not worried about legal problems or anything like that, but it's a bummer because now I'll probably have to go through the long process of legal registration here which could take a month to three or more. I won't be driving again for a while!
Then Wednesday was my first day of real proselyting work in Mariano "C." We went on a few visits to investigators, met some members and found some great new people. It really was fun to work with Elder Crofts, who's a great, experienced missionary. The bummer is that with our other responsibilities, it's really hard to get back to our area to teach. Most of the people we visited at one point said something to the effect of, "Hey, where have you guys been? It's been weeks!" It's going to be really interesting to have to juggle and balance office responsibilities with those of regular proselyting, but I'm ready for the challenge and really excited to see what Elder Crofts and I can do together in such a great area!
That's pretty much my week, though. Lots of fun stuff, lots of sort of regular stuff, and quite a bit of sitting around (which is the hardest).
Other news:
Today I'm writing super early because at noon today, Elder Crofts, President, the Hermana Training Leaders, and I are headed up to the Chaco to do... something up there. Not quite sure what yet, but I'm excited. I'll tell you all about our adventures next week!
I've been thinking a lot this week about the scriptures--especially the missionary stories in Alma. My whole life, I've read those and always thought that Alma and his brothers were superhuman missionaries that confidently called miracles down from heaven and baptized hundreds every time they taught. But as I've worked with President and other missionaries this last week, I've started thinking about those stories in a different way... In Alma it says that they served 14 year missions and in Alma 26:22, Ammon says: "It shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance." In 14 years, they baptized thousands of people, changing the whole Lamanite nation. This week, President said to us in one meeting, looking at the math, that our mission should be able to baptize 1000 and 1 people this year of 2017. If you multiply that out by 14 years, we could baptize 14014 people. The Paraguay Asuncion North mission could baptize thousands of people in the space of a few years if we put our minds to it with faith. Seeing that hit me really hard and taught me: Ammon and his brothers were really just normal people like us that went out to teach. They faced rejection; they probably had days when they wondered whether or not it was all worth it. But over the space of years, as they served faithfully, they saw miracles in their lives and in the lives of those they taught. It may be a few thousand years later, but I have the same calling today, and I know that even though sometimes it's difficult, If I do my best out here, I will see miracles just like they did. The church is true and the Lord blesses his missionaries today just like he did way back when.
Thanks for all you guys do for me. Hope you had a great new year!
Love,
Elder Fairbanks
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