BIG Change Week

Dear Friends and Family,

We just wrapped up another long week of changes without much sleep. Over the course of the week, problems arose, but it all came together in the end and I'm super excited for the next six weeks of this new change -- but even though "changes" are over, even more changes are ahead... more on that in a sec.

Elder Crofts' Last Sunday

This Sunday we passed was Elder Crofts' last Sunday in Paraguay as well as his last day in our area, Mariano Roque Alonso "C." We had a great sacrament meeting; he said goodbye to all the members; we had a fantastic lunch (with tons of meat and delicious mandioca); said a few final goodbyes (including a "quick" visit to our friend Goyo); and then we were off for the last time...

Elders Fairbanks & Crofts with "our friend Goyo"!

Changes Begin.

From Sunday afternoon until Wednesday night at about 9:00 we couldn't stop. We were in continuous motion going from place to place, preparing lists, preparing rooms for meetings, cleaning, driving, picking people up, dropping them off, backtracking, finding lost cellphones, and pretty much any other thing you could imagine. Here are a few notable stories/things that occured.

1.) About seven or eight months ago, our mission received a brand new 12-seater van. We use it to run errands in Asuncion, to deliver things, to travel from house to house, and for loops the day of changes. Every change, we also borrow a second 12-seater van from the Paraguay Asuncion Mission ("South Mission"). Everything  with changes was going smoothly up until our *almost* brand new van broke down Monday night. Elder Murphy was driving it in Asuncion after picking up food or something and as he drove, he realized that he could no longer put the car into gear and that the clutch pedal was stuck down on the floor. Elder Behrens ended up passing by a little later and together, they managed to get the van back to the office. They had no idea what happened, but whatever it was was BAD. So bad that after the van was checked up on (this morning) the dealership said that pretty much the whole transmissions would have to be replaced, but that it would be covered by the warranty because what happened never should have happened. Ever. So that was exciting, and because it was the day before changes, we had to borrow PBO's (the church office's) van.

2.) This time around, I drove loops again, but this time, without the help of Elder Behrens. Going to sleep on Tuesday night, I was pretty stressed out; my mind kept on running over every single thing I was going to have to do and where I'd have to go and every potential problem, and my biggest concerns were 1. that I would have to parallel park and 2. that I would get lost (without the help of Elder Behrens as my navigator.) After a few prayers and breathing exercises, I finally got my mind to stop running around in circles and got to sleep. At 4:00 in the morning on Wednesday, we were up and got on our way to start driving missionaries around. My loops got kind of complicated and went a lot longer than usual, but for me the most significant thing that happened was that nothing significant happened. I drove from 4:30 in the morning to 11:30 and not a single problem occured. At one point, I had to parallel park, but it went perfectly, and every time I got to a new turn, I remembered exactly where I had to go. The whole day I had a really strong feeling of peace, knowing that as I transported missionaries, the Lord would protect us all and help everything run smoothly... and it all did, which was awesome!

3.) It was about time for a new comp wasn't it? This change, Elder Crofts, who has been my comp for the last 4 months went home, so it became necessary for me to receive a new one. Truth is, I've been 90% positive who my new comp would be for the past 4 months, and I've known for sure for about two weeks now, so it was no surprise when, after driving loops, I walked into the office, set down my stuff, and joined Elder Villacreses while he trained the new trainers. So yeah, my new comp is Elder Villacreses, the missionary that was my comp for just one week before I started training Elder Schmidt. He's an incredible missionary, and I'm super excited to work with him for the next change and however long president decides to keep us together!

Reunited! Elders Fairbanks & Villacreses

Chau, Elder Crofts!

Yesterday at about noon, we went to the airport with the missionaries that were finishing their missions... So there is where I said my final goodbye to Elder Crofts. There's not a whole lot of fun things to tell, except that last week Elder Crofts invited our Friend Goyo to the airport (not actually expecting him to show), and faithful and excited as ever, Goyo showed up to say goodby to his good friend "Jakob." The best part was when Goyo met President Evans and started talking to him about how we visit him and read the scriptures with him. Thank goodness he didn't mention werewolves or Nazis, or any of the other non-spiritual things he usually talks to us about! haha

Changes Ahead.

Elder Villacreses and I have been together for about two days now, and in that time, we've had quite a bit of time to talk. We've also had a meeting or two with President to plan out the zone conferences for these next six weeks. In this time, we've made a few decisions to change how we've been working. This change, we really want to be as "normal" as we possibly can be as missionaries. We're going to start attending district meetings each week; we're going to start calling our district leader to report the progress of our area; we're going to try to be in our area a lot more; and one final, big change, is that we've decided (with President's support) that we should go to having our p-days on Monday like regular missionaries. So from now on, I'll be back onto the regular "missionary Monday" schedule. I don't necessarily expect you guys to write me before this next Monday, but that's when I'll be sending you my next email! So I'm excited!

I didn't take very good notes this week on all the things that went on, but that's the gist of the big changes that have recently happened in my life!

Love you all! Thanks for your support and the weekly emails!

Love,
Elder Fairbanks

Dallin's explanation of the following photos is as follows:

"I'm a grandpa again! Elder Schmidt started training this change. So here we are..."

President Evans photobombing a 3-generation shot

Elder Fairbanks (Grandpa), Elder Schmidt (Father), and Elder Schmidt's brand-new greenie (Son!)

Here's the "little brother" of the mission, President & Sister Evans' youngest son, Travis. Once again, Dallin's camera fell into his hands (this time, while saying goodbye to the departing missionaries at the airport). Gotta love him!