December 19, 2011

Merry Christmas everyone!

How are you all doing this week?! I can't believe another week has gone by. Better yet, I can't believe it is already Christmas time again! I hope you all are enjoying the spirit of the holidays. It is strange being away from home at this time of year, but I have a feeling that this is going to be a really memorable and great Christmas, not just for me, but for us all. I'll start off by telling you a little bit about things from this last week. The work is going really great. We are putting a really big focus on
working with members and getting them more involved. It is really cool working with the members here. Everyone is a fairly new member since the church has really only been here for 10 or so years, so they all have a special place in their hearts for elders. We were in Priesthood last Sunday and their was a non-member there and he was asking questions about missionaries and we kind of just sat back and let them answer the guy's questions. They were all explaining what we are doing here and how we've left things back home to come here and they were all saying things like these are my grandsons or our brothers and stuff. It was really cool to see. As a zone, each companionship was given the responsibility to come up with a member plan to work on and Elder Seegmiller and I decided to chose 5 members/families from our branch and really just focus on them for the next month. That has been going really well. We've seen a lot of improvement from the ones that we have seen. We've also been making a greater effort to involve members in all of our lessons with investigators. That has really been making a big difference on some of our investigators. Aram and Avetis both came to church yesterday and I'm sure it is nice for the both of them to be able to come to church and see a familiar face besides mine and Elder Seegmillers. We also took Gretta to institute again and the members that were there all took over again and really helped her to feel like she is wanted. All in all, things are going really well. We didn't find any new investigators this week, but we are putting a much greater focus on finding those prepared people this next week. I feel really good about this next week and am really looking forward to getting to work!
Is everyone ready for Christmas?! I know that Elder Seegmiller and I certainly are haha. We put up a bunch of Christmas lights in our apartment and around the little tree that you sent me haha. I'll have to take a picture of it this week and send it to you next week. I'm so excited to skype you all! I really can't wait. I can't wait to see you all! Especially Claire and Bexley for the first time! I was just thinking the other day and I realized that it has almost been a year since I've seen any of you. I couldn't believe it. It really doesn't seem like it has been that long. Nonetheless, I can't wait to see you all. So I went ahead and set up a time to skype you all. This is what worked best for us, so I hope it works well for all of you. 7:30 Monday morning (for us), so it should be 8:30 pm Christmas night for all of you. Does that work? I really hope that it does. And I'm really sorry if that makes things hard for anyone! We found that Christmas night for you would work better for us cause things are going to be a little crazy Sunday. I'm so excited to see you all though! Make sure you write down some questions so that you don't forget to ask anything while we are skyping too. It is going to be so great! Well, I hope that you are all doing well and getting ready for Christmas and remembering the true meaning of it. I want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I'm so thankful for Him and for all that He has done for me and for us. Although we should always try to be more like Christ, Christmas is especially a good time to focus on that. There are so many opportunities to lift and serve others at this time of the year. The world gets caught up on the material things of the world, but I am so thankful for you all and the examples that you have always shown me in not forgetting the true meaning of Christmas. This truly is a time to count our many blessings. I have been blessed so much and I want you each to know
that I count you all as my most prized blessings. I love you all with all of my heart and hope that you are enjoying the holidays! Have a great week and I can't wait to see you this next week!

Love,
Elder Fairclough


P.S.
2 Timothy 1:7-9
3 Ne. 12:16
Just two verses that I really liked from this last week. I hope you enjoy them too! Keep being a light for the world and don't be afraid to share your testimonies and lift those whose hands hang low. Have a
great week!