June 4, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this fine week?! Things are going great here in
Armenia! Summer weather is finally here and it is really really hot.
But that is okay because they sell ice cream cones around every block
so I'm staying nice and cool haha. As of this last week I have
officially been in Erebuni for 7 months! I'm probably just going to
spend the rest of my mission here haha. Things are going great though
and Elder Peterson and I are having a good time with the work.
I had the opportunity of going on an exchange this last week with
Elder Hall! We had a great time together. It made me think back to the
MTC and I was amazed at how much we have both grown since then. He is
an amazing missionary and it was really cool to actual serve with him
here in Armenia for a day. We had a cool experience together. We were
street contacting and we came across this guy. He knew a good bit
about us and he just seemed like a good guy. I talked to him for a
minute and found out that his brother was baptized about 5 or 10 years
ago and is currently inactive. He told me that he had just gotten back
from Russia and that there were things in his life that he wants to
change and that he wants to be baptized so he can get on the right
path. It was really a miracle cause I don't think his brother is on
our records, for one reason or another. But we ended up bringing him
to a baptism this last weekend and he really enjoyed it and then he
came to church yesterday as well. It just amazed me at how God put him
in our path and the chances of all that working out. We are hoping to
get over to his brother's house with him this next week and see if we
can reactivate his brother. What a blessing from the Lord!
Our other investigators are doing well also. Angin and her sister
Marieta are doing well and we are continuing to teach them. They are
accepting everything well but because of health problems I'm not sure
they are going to be able to progress. We'll have to wait and see with
them. Aram is doing well also and is still pumped to be baptized. He
is still struggling to get to church on time but we are seeing
improvements with him and we are hoping to help him get over the hump
this next week. Haik is doing great also! We hadn't been able to meet
with him for about a week cause of his work but randomly one day I
called him and I wasn't expecting for him to pick up cause I thought
he was at work, but he picked up. I invited him to a baptism that was
scheduled for that day and it turned out that he was already on the
other part of the city were the baptismal font is. Everything just
kind of fell into place and we were able to attend that baptism with
him and afterwards talk about what he needs to do to be ready for his
baptism. We are working to help him get some time off work so that he
can come to church on Sundays. Hopefully it will all work out!
Mom, I forgot to tell you. Abraham invited us over to his house last
Sunday and when we got there we ended up celebrating your birthday
with him haha. He is such a good guy. I had told him it was your
birthday and he decided he wanted to throw you a party over here haha.
We ate ice cream and other treats. So, know that your birthday was
celebrated all the way over here in Armenia as well.
This last week was Abraham's birthday and he threw a little party. It
was funny cause he invited me and Elder Peterson, the two other
missionaries in our branch, Elder Steglich and his companion, the
senior couple from our branch, and President and Sister Carter and
then just people from his family. When we walked in this huge table
was set and full of food haha. And so he has us sit down and we start
to eat. And once we get done eating he starts blasting Armenian music
and him and his family all start dancing Armenian style. And I'm just
thinking in my head, "oh man, please don't make me dance." haha. And
next thing I know Abraham comes over and makes everyone of us stand up
and come over with him and dance. He honestly would not let us sit
down. He got everyone up except President Carter, who pulled out his
camera and said he was taking pictures...I was proud of him for the
excuse. I noted it and added it to my list of excuses for next time
somebody tries to force me to dance. But we ended up having a really
good time. Abraham taught us all how to Armenian dance and what not. I
think President Carter has some very embarrassing evidence of me
dancing, which I hope and pray that he keeps to himself haha. We then
had some cake, which Abraham had written a missionary verse from the
bible and then it said Happy Birthday future Elder Abraham haha! For
Abraham's birthday I didn't want to just buy him a tie or something so
I decided to compile together some of my favorite talks from General
Conference over the last 5 or so years and made it into a book. At the
first thought of it all I thought it would be a quick and easy
process, but it turned out to be a weeklong project. I ended up
spending most of last preparation day and a lot of my lunches this
last week to put it all together. It was really hard just choosing a
few talks from each Conference issues cause there are so many amazing
talks! I picked out talks that were about missionary work and the
priesthood and the temple and anything else that I thought could help
him in his life. I've found that when I go through times that are kind
of hard or that I'm struggling with something, the thing that helps
the most is when I go to Conference talks and read about it. So, with
doing this my hope was to give him something that he can turn to for
guidance and strength when he needs. I ended up cutting talks out of
the magazines and then putting them into protective pages and then
into a binder. Like I said, it took a lot longer than I had planned
but it turned out well. I put around 50 talks in there. But the
process of doing it all made it something that I will never forget. It
made me realize just how thankful I am for the fact that Joseph Smith
restored this Church and for the fact that we have living prophets
today who receive revelation for our day. I love General Conference
and for the words of comfort and for the guidance and direction that
we can receive for ourselves from it. I took a few pictures of it and
I'm going to try to send them to you next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

Elder Steglich, Silva, and Elder Faiclough

May 21, 2012

How are you all doing? It's been another great week here in Armenia.
I've some exciting news too. As of Friday, I have officially been in
Armenia for a year! Isn't that crazy?! I can't believe how fast this
past year went by. But I've got a lot to fill you in on so I'll go
ahead and get started.
We had an amazing meeting with Aram the other day. He is doing so
great and working his way towards baptism! One thing we have been
trying to help him understand a little better is the concept of sin
and repentance. So we had been trying to figure out how we could help
him understand those principles and the other day when we met he told
us about an experience he had had. Apparently he was in a store with
some friends and they were goofing around and a window got broken. The
store manager told him he had 30 minutes to pay for the broken window
or else he was going to call the police. Neither Aram nor his friend
had the money, so Aram had to call another friend to come and pay for
him. Are you seeing how perfectly that all fits together with
repentance and the atonement? haha. Elder Peterson and my eyes both
got really big as we were listening to him tell us this. So we tied
him breaking the window in as him sinning and him calling his friend
to come pay for the window as him calling on Christ to be freed from
the burdens of sin. It was so amazing to just see it all click and
make sense to him. Big, tough Aram who wants to be a body builder like
Arnold Shwartzineger (?), was left there with tears in his eyes as he
made the connection that Christ is His Savior. The Holy Ghost was so
strong and it was a meeting that I will never ever forget. I know that
Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he suffered for pains, afflictions,
and for my sins so that I can call on Him when I am in those moments
of need and distress.
We also had a great meeting with Abraham this last week. He met with
President Carter yesterday and he told Abraham that in October they
can start working on his mission papers! How cool is that?! Abraham's
B-day is the 31 of this month and he wants to have a little party and
he invited President Carter and us and some other missionaries. But we
have zone leader council that day so I wasn't sure if we were going to
be able to go. But President Carter told him that he'd bring us all in
his car to his party after our meeting haha. Abraham says hi and hopes
that you are all well!
I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Steglich this
last week. It was so great. I always wondered what it would be like
serving with him once I knew the language better and it turned out as
great as I thought it would be. Even though the exchange was only for
a day I was able to learn so many things that I can do better with and
improve on, just by watching his example. It was funny cause a year
ago I had just gotten to country and here we were a year later,
serving together again for a day. We had a great time and I learned a
ton from him. I'm just crossing my fingers that we can somehow
miraculously serve together again haha.
I'll end this weeks letter with a funny story. I realized last week
that I haven't been sharing funny experiences lately and I don't want
you all to think that I've lost my humor...haha. I haven't said a
whole lot about Elder Peterson so I'll share one with him. He is such
a great missionary. He's what I call a busy bee, he always has to be
doing something or speaking to someone. So, last Prep day I was super
tired cause we had had to get up real early so that he could go skype
his family for Mother's day. So we got back and I just crashed and
took a nice long nap haha. And when I got up he was deeply insued in a
game of Monopoly...against himself haha. I mean he had cards and money
going and was even talking to himself. My initial thought was, "man, I
must be driving him crazy" haha. I was such a party pooper! haha. But
I will have you all know that I play games happily these days without
being begged to do so haha. Well, I think that's it for this week. I
hope you are all doing well and know that I love you! Have a great
week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

May 14, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? It was so good to see you all yesterday! Man,
I've missed you all! I couldn't believe how big Claire and Bexley have
gotten. They are the cutest little girls ever! Mom and dad, you two
seem like you're in heaven haha. It made me so happy to see that all
of you are happy. Family is what it is all about and I am so thankful
for the closeness of our family. I love you all so much and am so
thankful for your support!
I know I already explained a bit about the work here when we skyped
but I'll go ahead and give another little overview of the week. Things
are going really well here in Armenia. We've been able to pick up some
new investigators this last week and the work is rolling along. We
re-picked up Aram as an investigator this last week, which we weren't
planning on doing but we felt like we needed to give him a call. He
told us he wants to be baptized and that he is ready to make the
changes to do so. We talked a lot about the things he needs to do to
be ready, and getting to church every week was definitely a focus of
that conversation. He got to Sacrament meeting 10 minutes after the
Sacrament had gotten done getting passed and he leaned over to me and
asked if the Sacrament was over and I told him yeah, that it had just
finished. And then he leaned over to me and said, "Quick, reload the
Sacrament." hahaha. What a good guy. But we are seeing good progress
with him so we'll see where it goes.
Elder Peterson and I were thinking that we were going to have to drop
Angin this last week cause she hasn't been able to come to church
because of her health. But we were going to kind of end things off and
we went to meet with her and her sister, Marieta, just happened to be
there. We were able to talk a bit with her and she ended up being
interested. Talk about a blessing from the Lord. We've been able to
meet with her a few times and she seems like a great lady.
Our other investigators are doing well. We are continuing to focus on
the things that will help them to progress towards baptism; daily
prayer, daily scripture study, and weekly church attendance. Three
things that investigators and members need to do in order to build and
maintain a strong testimony of the gospel. Some of our investigators
are lacking one or two so we are doing our best to help them all see
the importance of these three things. But I want to share my testimony
that doing those three things really do strengthen our testimonies and
give us the strength that we need in order to handle the daily things
that Satan throws at us. If we do those things then we will remain on
the Lord's side and have His help.
This last week I thought a lot about where I am at right now and the
changes that I want to make. As I thought about these things, I
started to write down the things I want to be and the changes I want
to make (one of the many things that I learned from Elder Cook when we
were companions). I then wrote down the things I need to do in order
to become those things. I've learned throughout my mission the
importance of the principle of change. We are always changing, whether
for good or for worse and I want to make it a point of always moving
forward in the right direction. So, I've set some really good goals
that I'm excited to work on this next week and in the next little bit
to come. I read a quote recently that I really like that said, "You
prepare 19 years to serve your mission, 2 years doing it, and an
eternity reflecting upon it." I want to make sure that I give
everything I have and to make the most of these two years that I have
to serve here because I know I'm not going to get another chance like
this. I want to make sure that when I reflect on these two years that
I can remember all the things I learned and how much I grew and I
especially don't want to have any regrets.
I already explained this during skype but I wanted to write about it
again cause it left a big impact on me. Our branch president's dad
died this last week and we were able to go to his funeral. It was such
a new experience for me. At the time of death they don't celebrate a
life well lived, rather they mourn the loss and only think about that.
It was a lot of crying and screaming, especially from those that
weren't members, which was everyone but our branch president and his
brother. It made me appreciate the Plan of Salvation that much more.
I'm thankful for the perspective that it brings and the comfort that
we can feel in times of sorrow and pain. Yesterday when I bore my
testimony in Armenian, I spoke about families and how much I love each
of you and how thankful I am for the opportunity to live with you all
again after this life. As I said before, family is what it is all
about and it is an honor and privilege to share eternal truths with
these wonderful people. Truths that have brought me more happiness
than I can even describe.
Well, I love you all and am so grateful that I was able to see and
speak with you! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

May 7, 2012

Dear Family,

How is everyone doing this week?! I want to start out by saying HAPPY
MOTHER'S DAY to the best mom in the world! And also to my two lovely
sisters! I'll of course get to tell you to your faces when we skype
this weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and tell you now as well. I
can't believe it is already time to skype again. It really doesn't
feel like 5 months have passed since we last skyped. Crazy how fast
time goes by. But I'm going to send a separate email with skype times
and what not.
Also, there have been a few changes with email again and I'll be able
to give more details when we skype but we now only have an hour to
write all of our emails, which includes President Carter. So that is
why you didn't get a response from me personally last week or this
week. Sorry! I'm working on fitting it all in though. I'm going to
start printing off your emails and reading them afterwards when I have
time to enjoy them. But I'm going to try to do my best to fit answers
to all your questions into this email as well. One of the favorite
scriptures I like to share with people is Mosiah 2:41, cause when we
are obedient, we truly are blessed and happy. Thank you all for
helping me and supporting me with that!
The work is going really well here. We were able to pick up a few new
investigators this week, one of which is a 70ish year old German man.
His name is Wolfgang Rickman (isn't that such a great name?!). He
speaks perfect English and is a pretty funny guy. He is living here
cause Germany was too expensive and if he lived there he would have to
continue to work. So he has retired here in Armenia, of all places
haha. He was actually a referral from Salt Lake. Apparently he had
spoken to missionaries in Germany. He made it clear that he didn't
want to changes his religion again but he agreed to read the Book of
Mormon and give it a chance. So we'll see where this one goes!
Haik is doing really well too. He has been pretty busy with work this
week but we were able to have a great lesson with him about the Book
of Mormon. I've found in my mission that if you can get an
investigator seriously into the Book of Mormon that everything else
starts to fall into place. Anyone who sincerely reads and prays about
it will get an answer, regardless of age, social class, or how smart
you may or may not be. It just takes a willing and sincere heart. What
a blessing!
Abraham is doing well. He says hi to everyone. We are going to try to
meet with his brother and mom tonight actually. Hopefully it goes over
well. We're planning on doing a little FHE with them. They are great
people and like us a lot, just not quite sure how interested they are.
We are hoping to start teaching them and spark some more interest so
we'll have to wait and see!
A couple of you have asked about what exactly a zone leader does so
I'll go ahead and explain that. So the mission is made of zones that
consist of districts. So there are 3 zones here in Armenia with 2
districts in each. So before, when I was a district leader, I was in
charge of personally working with 6 or 8 missionaries with their work
and any other training given from the mission. And as a zone leader,
we are in charge of helping district leaders so that they can better
help the members of their district. And then their are 2 assistants to
the Mission President who help train the zone leaders and work closely
with the Mission President. Elder Steglich is an assistant still and
so we work closely with him now report to him every night, which is
fun. Hope that all makes sense!
I wanted to end on a spiritual note. I studies the principle of grace
during one of my studies this last week (thanks for the things you
wrote to me about that last week dad). In the bible dictionary, grace
is defined as divine means of help or strength, given through the
bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ. It reads in 2 Ne. 25:23,
that grace is counted unto us, AFTER we do ALL that we can do. It
hough a lot about the trials that we all face and how most of the time
the solution doesn't come until we try and try and it seems like we
can't try anything else and we have done all that we can. That is when
Christ's grace kicks in, if we are humble and turn to the Lord, like
it says in Ether 12:27, then we are given the strength to rise to any
situation, trial, or need we may have in order to go beyond our own
strength, capacities, or desires. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ
and that because of him we can be gifted with grace to overcome all
that we face in this life, no matter the circumstance or difficulty.
I love you all so much and hope that you are all doing well and having
a good week. I can't wait to skype you this weekend. See you soon!

Love,
Elder Fairclough

P.S.
Don't forget to have some questions ready for when we skype!

April 30, 2012

Dear Family,

How's everything going this week? I hope all is going well back home!
Things are going great here! Armenia is really pretty at this time of
year cause everything is starting to bloom. You walk outside and you
can't help but be happy haha. Also, big news, this last week was the
memorial day here in Armenia commemorating the genocide. Everyone goes
to the big memorial here and throws flowers in by this fire that
always stays burning. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to go during
their memorial week, but we are hoping to go sometime soon and pay our
respects.
This last week was pretty crazy but went really well. It was my
busiest week here in Erebuni meeting wise since I got here. It seemed
like we were just running from meeting to meeting. Which is always a
great feeling. Like they say, a busy missionary is a happy missionary.
We also had our mini missionary serving with us for most of the week,
which turned out to be really great. His name is Sahak and he came to
us Wednesday and left Saturday night. He currently has a mission call
to the Arcadia, California Mission, where Elder Buel is serving.
Armenians are so great though. It was really interesting cause they
think way differently than we do, which I knew before, but living with
an Armenian helped me to see that even more. He was able to help me
out a lot with the language and also with helping me to see the
Armenian viewpoint on things. Sahak also became really good friends
with Abraham. It was so great to see them both talk about missions and
serving and what not. Overall, another great experience to remember!
Also, Abraham was able to pass the Sacrament at church yesterday! It
was so great to see. I wanted to pass with him but I was translating
so I got to just watch. He is really doing so great. He found a job
this last week which I was happy about. The Lord is blessing him for
the things he is doing and he recognizes that. In applying for the
job, the only day he asked to have off was for Sunday. I was so happy
when he told me that! So we probably aren't going to be seeing him
quite as often but I'm glad that he was able to find some work!
This last week we pick up 4 new investigators. Unfortunately, for us
at least haha, 3 of them live in the other Elders' area. A lot of
times we have to meet the people that we find on the street in our
church because a lot of people are embarrassed about the homes that
they live in. So we meet all these people at church and then found out
that they live in a different area. It got funnier as it kept
happening. I'm looking forward to this next week though, so that we
can find some investigators that we can actually teach haha.
Our investigators are doing well though. Haik is probably our most
solid investigator at the moment. He's the one we got from the
Assistants. We met him again yesterday and taught him the Plan of
Salvation and it went really well. We set a baptismal date with him
for June 16th.
Greta is also doing well. Her baptismal date is for May 26th but she
still struggles sometimes to get to church so that is what we are
focusing on with her. She really wants to be baptized though so we
will see where it goes!
We also had a really great lesson with Angin this last week. We taught
the Plan of Salvation to her as well and it really hit home with her.
She has been in a wheelchair state for the past 8 years and we can
just see how much it has weighed down on her. But as we taught the
Plan of Salvation you could just see the peace that she felt and she
kept saying how much it all made sense. I'm so thankful for the Plan
of Salvation and for the peace and comfort that it brings. It truly is
God's plan of happiness for us and is the "do-it-all" band-aid that
covers up ANY wound.
Well, I'm running out of time for this week but I want you all to know
how much I love you and admire the testimonies that you have. You
strengthen me so much and I appreciate the love and support that I can
feel from you all. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

April 23, 2012

Hey everyone!

I want to start out by saying how thankful I am for all of you, that
you support me the way that you do. Most missionaries don't get
letters from their entire family every week but I am so grateful that
you each take the time to write me and let me know how you're all
doing. You're all the best!
Well, things are going great here in Armenia. The weather has really
heated up and we are already wearing short sleeve shirts. I was hoping
to get a month or two in just long sleeve but it went from wearing a
jacket to short sleeve over night. Pretty crazy. Things are rolling
along here though. New missionaries got here this last week, which is
always exciting. I can't believe that it has almost been a year since
I got here. I'm slowly getting to veteran status haha. We've got two
new missionaries in our zone so it will be fun to be able to see them
at district meetings and what not. I love being around missionaries
just out of the MTC cause they bring so much life and excitement that
it is contagious to other missionaries around them. Well, I'll go
ahead and fill you all in on the work here.
Abraham is doing really great! He comes to meetings with us or the
other missionaries in our branch every single day. It is so great to
see his desires to get out and serve God. He talks about how he wants
to be a missionary all the time. We gave him some of our church books
that have been translated into Armenian and he has been reading them
daily. While we were teaching him he would read daily but he would
wait until 10 or 11 at night to read and he would wake up around 12 in
the afternoon. But as he was reading our Missionary Handbook, which
has all of our "rules" and standards that we live by, he came across
the part about our schedules and how we need to wake up at 6:30 and go
to bed at 10:30. He hasn't started waking up or going to bed that
early but after he read that he decided he wanted to change to be more
like a missionary so now he wakes up around 8 every morning and reads
his scriptures and he told us he has been trying to go to bed around
11 too. What a good guy! It always amazes me how he will read
something and once he feels that it is true and from the Spirit, he
will follow it full heartedly. Also, he received the Aaronic
Priesthood yesterday! He was so happy. He didn't feel like he was
ready to have that kind of responsibilty but he said that if it was
God's will for him to receive it, that he would and trust that he
would use it right. President Carter came to our branch yesterday and
told Abraham that he wants to be the one that sends him on a mission
in a year and that made Abraham smile from ear to ear.
We were also able to pick up another investigator named Haik. The
assistants, Elder Steglich and Elder Wahl, actually picked him up as
an investigator but then found out that he lives in our area. So we
did a little trade off meeting and the four of us missionaries met
with him. He is a great guy. He is 22 or 23 years old and he is just
looking for some direction. He said he had never had any desire to dig
deep into religion but that the message we are sharing has made him
interested and that he wants to learn more. We talked to him about the
Book of Mormon and prayer, and that through those two things he can
find out that this is Christ's true church. We are taking him to FHE
at a senior couple's home tonight so hopefully that will go well also!
Angin and Greta are doing well also. Greta was able to come to church
yesterday and she is starting to progress really great. We had taught
Greta a few months back but she would never come to church. And out of
no where she has started to come again and she has come the past two
weeks. We struggled so hard to figure out how to get her to come to
church and then we let her go and she has started coming on her own
haha. Hopefully she can continue to move along and work her way
towards baptism. I'll let you know how they both come along.
Here is some exciting news. This next week Elder Peterson and I will
be getting a mini-missionary. Mini-missionaries are natives that are
working towards serving a mission. So they pair them up with actual
missionaries so that we can help teach them how to be a missionary and
what not. I don't really know the guy that will be serving with us but
his name is Sahak and as far as I know he doesn't speak English. Looks
like it's all Armenian this next week haha. He comes on Wednesday and
will stay with us for a week. I'm really excited to serve in a
three-some with an Armenian. It will be a great opportunity to help
him out and also to hopefully improve my Armenian a little bit!
And unfortunately I still haven't finished conference. I might just
have to read it in the Ensign when it comes out. But I'm hoping that
the assistants will be able to burn it on a disc for us so that we can
watch it during our lunches or at night.
I think that is about it for this week. I hope you all know that I
have a testimony of this work. There really is no greater thing that I
could be doing with myself right now than to be here in Armenia,
serving a mission. Who would have thought Armenia. I know I didn't
cause I didn't even know Armenia existed haha. But I know that I am
supposed to be here and I am so thankful to be able to serve these
Armenian people. I'm also so grateful for the learning experiences and
the life lessons that I come across on a daily basis. And through
those experiences and lessons, I know without a shadow of a doubt that
this Church is true. Nothing has ever brought me more happiness and I
am eternally thankful to be a member of this Church and to be able to
invite others to find the same happiness that I have found. I love you
all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

April 16, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this week? I know I say this a lot, but it
really was great to be able to read your emails and see that you are
all doing well and are happy. It sounds like you all had a great week
and that Grandpa's funeral went well. It is so great to hear that our
family came together the way that they did and that everyone was able
to pitch in and be a part of it. That is what it is all about. I'm
sure the love could be felt and was seen by others. I'm so thankful to
be a Fairclough! And that is so cool that President Monson came and
spoke at Grandpa's funeral. I was really touched by that. As a Prophet
I can only imagine what his days are like and what his schedule is,
but he took the time to go to Grandpa's funeral. What a great example
of love and service. I know that President Monson is God's Prophet on
the earth today and I'm sure that you were all able to feel that on
Saturday.
Things are all going really well here. Again, no complaints! I really
can't believe that I'm back at this computer writing you all again. It
does not feel like another week has come and gone. The work is going
well here. Elder Peterson and I are enjoying the work and trying to
keep things moving along and even pick up a little more. We are
working hard and giving it our best and we've seen a lot of good
blessings come from that this last week. We were able to pick up a few
new investigators and we are hoping to add even more to our teaching
pool this next week. We picked up a woman named Angin, which in
Armenian means priceless haha. I thought that was pretty cool. But she
is a great woman, with a really sad story. Something happened with her
legs to the point that they are so big that she can't walk. She hasn't
walked for 8 years and as we sat down with her for the first time we
were able to see the toll it has taken on her. She cried as she
explained her situation. It is always sad to see how some people are
placed in such difficult situations, yet keep such great faith. It is
a great reminder to me. Since being in Armenian I've seen so many
people in such difficult situations, yet there faith in Christ is
solid and sure. How can I look at the problems I have and even think
about complaining or thinking why they've come my way? It really has
been a great life lesson for me. I know that the gospel can help this
lady and heal up the pains and sorrows that she has. That is the best
part about being a missionary, even though we see people in all kinds
of different situations, we have what will make them truly happy.
Abraham was like that. He has had a really rough past and he was
telling me that he has had many friends that have helped him with
money or clothes, but we've given him the greatest gift that there is,
this gospel. It is kind of like the analogy of giving a man a fish and
he eats for a day, but teach him how to fish and he eats for a
lifetime. We also picked up a woman named Greta. We have taught her
before and had to part ways with her but she called me yesterday
before church and said she wanted to come. We watched conference in
church yesterday and she stayed the entire time. I was really
disappointed to see that 3/4 of our members left after the first
session. But her and Abraham stayed for it all. I thought that was
pretty cool. Watching conference in Armenian was pretty crazy. Let's
just say it was a humbling experience...haha. The words they used were
really proper and the translation was really fast cause everyone is
trying to fit their talk into a time slot. I'm just glad that we were
able to watch it in English. It was a good experience as well cause
last conference I watched a few minutes from the Armenian translation
and I didn't understand anything. So I was able to see how far I have
come.
Watching conference in English went well also. I've only seen Saturday
and half of Sunday though. This last week when we were watching
Sunday's session after District Meeting, the bathrooms in the church
started to flood and we all ended up spending the next hour or two
trying to clean it up and keep it from spreading haha. It was quite
the event. I'm really excited to see the rest of Sunday and Priesthood
session. I'm hoping it will be this next week but we'll have to wait
and see. I love President Eyring's and Elder Holland's talks from
Saturday. I always love it when the both of them speak. I know that
President Monson is our Prophet on the earth today and that we have
twelve apostles who all hold the Priesthood authority of God. I'm so
thankful for conference, that we can gather together as saints and
here the things that God wants us to hear at this time in our lives.
Abraham wanted me to tell you all hi and that he is thankful that you
sent me so that I could help him find the true path. That is exactly
what he wanted me to tell you haha. I love you all and am so thankful
for our family and for the blessings that come from the temple. I know
that this church is true and I am thankful for the happiness that that
fact brings to me in my life. I love you all so much and hope that you
have a great week! I can't wait to hear from you all next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

April 9, 2012

Hey everyone!

It was great to hear from you all this week and to read the great
emails that you sent me. I appreciate all of your support more than
words can say and I'm thankful that you all do such a good job at
writing me! Things are going great here in Erebuni. This week was full
of its ups and downs, but I am so thankful for it all. There is
nowhere I would rather be or anything else I would rather be doing,
than being here in Armenia serving these people and the Lord. With
that being said, I'll go ahead and tell you all a little bit about my
week.
First of all, Abraham got baptized this last week! You all already
know but I figured I'd go ahead and tell you myself haha. We actually
weren't planning on him being baptized this last week but with
Conference being this next week we decided it would be better to do it
this last weekend. It was such an amazing experience. Serving here in
Erebuni has definitely had its difficulties, but it was so great to
really feel like I helped someone get on the path back to our Father
in Heaven. Abraham is such a stud and it was showing on Saturday haha.
He was there in a suit and tie and was smiling from ear to ear. He
invited all of his family too so that they could see what path he is
going on. His family loved the baptism and their all asking us when we
can meet now! I'm going to send some pictures home but he really was
SO happy. It was great to see. He really understood that he was making
a covenant with God and it showed in his countenance. After being
baptized he got up and bore an amazing testimony. He shared
experiences of how he came to know that the Book of Mormon is true and
how we aren't just his friends, but that we are his brothers. After
bearing his testimony, President Carter got up and had all the
missionaries who were there come up to the front and stand so that
Abraham could see us all. Abraham has already voiced that he wants to
serve a mission and so President Carter got up and spoke to him about
how he'll be serving in Armenia for another year and a half and that
he has to wait a year before he can serve a mission, but that he wants
to be the one to send him off. Abraham was beaming when he said that.
It was so great. Then yesterday he received the Holy Ghost. Abraham
had asked me to baptize him and for Elder Rackham to give him the Holy
Ghost. Elder Rackham was really nervous but he did an amazing job. I
was so proud of him. And again, Abraham had the biggest smile on his
face. After he church he talked to Branch President about the
Priesthood and he told us that he wants to start talking to Branch
President about serving a mission. He also told us that he wants to
come to meetings with us and street contact with us too. I have a
really great feeling about Abraham and I have since we met him. I
think he is going to be a great strength to the church here and that
he is going to bring a lot of people to the church. I'm excited to see
him grow!
This last week we were able to pick up Abraham's brother as an
investigator and we are hoping to pick up the rest of his family as
well. They are all calling us and asking us when we can meet which has
been really cool for us. We are looking forward to involving Abraham
in the process of teaching his family and we are hoping that he can
put the Priesthood to use and baptize them! It really is a fun
experience for us. I'll be sure to let you all know how it comes
along.
In other news, I was able to go to Charentsavan for a few minutes this
last week. Charentsavan is in our zone and we had to go there for a
baptismal interview for the elders that are serving there. I'm not
sure if you all remember Silva or not, but Elder Steglich and I taught
and baptized here when we were serving there. But the interviews were
for her daughter and grandson! I was so happy when I found that out.
Silva has been such a good missionary and has done such a good job at
sharing the gospel with her family. It is so great to see her not only
active, but also helping her loved ones find the happiness that she
has found. That is what it's all about right?!
I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday yesterday! It was definitely
a good one here. We ended up going over to Abraham's grandma's house
last night and apparently it is a tradition in Armenia to eat a boiled
egg on Easter. Everyone was so amazed that I had never eaten a boiled
egg haha. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They then turned
on some Armenian music and made us dance for a few minutes. It is
ridiculous how much they make me dance! I don't even care anymore
haha.  I learned very early that my normal excuses that were regularly
used at stake dances do not cut it here with Armenians haha. I love
Armenia and the culture here. It really is extremely different from
home but it has all become so normal for me by now haha. I hope Claire
and Bexley had a fun Easter egg hunt!
I hope you all know that I am doing well and am happy here. It is such
a comfort and blessing to know that you are all well. I'll miss
Grandpa Jack, but he's done everything he was sent here to do and I
know he is happy and with Grandma. I've thought a lot about the Plan
of Salvation this last week and it's importance to me in my life. It
truly is a plan of happiness and brings great comfort and meaning to
life. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to share Heavenly
Father's plan for us and for families with these Armenian people. Our
family has brought me more happiness in my life than anything else and
gives me purpose to my life and it is the greatest blessing to know
that that will continue on after this life. Not only continue on, but
become something even grander than I think any of us can imagine. I'm
thankful for that knowledge and that that was taught to me by loving
parents and sisters. I love you all and hope that you are all doing
well and know that you are in my prayers. I hope you all have a great
week and I can't wait to hear from you next week.

Love,

Elder Fairclough

April 2, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this week?! I'm happy to say that I do again
have a voice. I'm not really sure what happened, but thankfully it
came back. This last week was another great one here in Armenia. We
had some changes take place. They surprise attacked me with a transfer
call haha. I'm no longer training Elder Rackham, which I was really
sad about. But I've been called as a Zone Leader again and I'm serving
with Elder Peterson. They moved the Zone Leader area to Erebuni, so
I'm staying in the same area. And Elder Rackham went to the city right
next to Erebuni so we are still in the same branch! We actually had
Zone Leader Council today, which is where all the Zone Leader's and
the Assistants to the President get together with President Carter and
we talk about the mission. It was really good and is always a very
spiritual experience. Due to the meeting though, we don't have a lot
of time to email today. I'm going to do my best to send you all a
little note but know that I will definitely have more time come next
week.
So, this last week has really just been a lot of getting used to the
changes. It is always interesting getting a new companion, and a
little awkward until you get to know the person. But I really like
Elder Peterson. He is from Leighton, Utah and is just a super happy go
lucky guy haha. It has been fun serving with him so far. He is from
the group that was in the MTC right before I was, so it has been
really interesting serving with someone older than me again. There
isn't quite as much stress with the language, which has been nice.
It's also been nice cause it has made me realize that I still have a
long way to go with the language myself. I guess a little bit more
about him, he is really good at singing and was in a lot of plays
before his mission. Not a whole lot in common, but we get a long well
and I really feel like we are going to get a lot of good work done
here. I'm excited!
The work is also going really well. Abraham is going to be having his
baptismal interview this week, which we are pumped about. It has been
really hard getting things going here in Erebuni, but I finally feel
like the hard work is starting to come around. Abraham is such a good
guy and keeps telling us how he is inviting EVERYONE to his baptism so
that they can see the path that he is going down. What a good guy. He
asked us the other day if he could video his baptism so that he could
put it on the internet for other people to see haha. We are still in
the process of explaining that one to him. To say the least, he is
really excited and we are too! We are also working on picking up some
new investigators. Last week with the transfer and some other stuff we
weren't really left with a whole lot of time to find. So we are really
focusing on that for this week. I love missionary work and the
continuous cycle of it all. There is always someone else out there,
ready to receive the gospel. It is just up to us to be worthy and to
work for it. I know that God is preparing people here in Armenia, as
well as all around the world. It just takes faith, a lot of hard work,
and a smile to get it all done :).
Here is some other good news...I bought my first pair of Armenian
dress shoes today. Haha I couldn't resist any longer. Armenian shoes
are pretty funny. A lot of times they are super pointy, but the ones I
got aren't. Not the most comfortable things, so I'm not going to be
tracting a ton in them but I figure I can wear them when it is time to
bring out the swagger. It is funny, Armenians are either wearing dress
shoes, or slippers haha. I mean sometimes they wear normal shoes, but
most the time they just wear European dress shoes with even jeans.
Gotta love Armenians. Anyways, my street cred here in Armenia just
went up today so I thought I'd let you all know.
I'm glad you all had such great experiences with Conference this
weekend! We actually are going to be able to watch Saturday's session
tomorrow after District Meeting, which I am way excited about. We'll
have to wait until the next Tuesday to watch Sunday's session and
Priesthood session but it is worth the wait. Then the 13 and 14 of
April we are going to watch it in Armenian with all of our members.
Normally we don't do that. In the past we have just gone in another
room and watched it in English while the members watched it in
Armenian. But the leaders here in Armenia asked President Carter if we
could watch it with the members cause apparently the members think if
the missionaries aren't there then they don't have to come. We're
still in the early stages here haha. So, we will be watching it in
English and Armenian which I am really looking forward to. They use
crazy words for the Conference talks but I'm interested to see how
much I understand. I'll be sure to let you all know in a couple weeks
after we watch it!
To close this letter I want to add a thought that Sister Carter
actually shared with us all. She was talking to us all about the
importance of Conference. She then asked us all a question. She said,
"If Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father were coming to earth this next
weekend to speak to us about the things that would help us the most at
this time, how many of you would go and watch?" She then shared D&C
1:38, that whether it is by His voice or the voice of His servants, it
is the same. I know that there is absolutely nothing better that we
could be doing at this time than to be listening to the servants of
God. I know that we have a Prophet, Apostles, and General Authorities
that speak for God today. I can't tell you all how excited I am to
watch Conference and hear what counsel they have to give. It is such a
blessing to be able to gather together and learn the things that are
the most important to us right now, at this time. Conference has
become such a special thing to me since I have been on my mission and
I'm thankful for the strength and guidance that it always brings.
I love you all and hope and pray that all is well back home! Thank you
for all that you do and I can't wait to hear from you all next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

March 26, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this week?! It was great to hear from all of
you, as it always is. I had to laugh that you were all trying to read
between the lines of my email last week haha. Everything really was
good, just limited for time. I tried to type up the best letter I
could as fast as possible haha. But to make sure that doesn't happen
again, know that I am doing well this week and am as happy as can be!
Sounds like you all had a great week together. I loved the pictures!
Haha I do have to say, I have the two cutest nieces ever. Just
sayin...haha. But I'll go ahead and tell you a little bit about my
week.
Our investigators are doing really well! We had a cool experience with
Abraham this last week. We took him to a young single adult fireside
this last week where the CES director over the Eastern Europe areas
was speaking. He was a German guy but he spoke perfect English and
Russian as well. He actually just got called as a Mission President in
Germany and when he met Abraham he started asking him questions about
his baptism and what not. And then he told Abraham that after he is
baptized he should come serve as a missionary in Germany. We haven't
explained the missionary process to Abraham yet about how our Prophets
call us where to serve. So Abraham took it seriously and for the past
4 days all he has talked about is saving up his money to go to Germany
and serve God. Haha I thought that was pretty cool. He really enjoyed
the fireside though and is moving his way towards baptism! He's doing
great. We taught him the Word of Wisdom this last week and he accepted
it somewhat at first. He already doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, which
is extremely rare for males here. He doesn't even drink coffee, but he
did drink tea. As we explained it he agreed with it all but didn't see
anything wrong with tea. We explained the teas that he could drink,
but he still just didn't see why. So we asked him to pray about it.
Well, after church yesterday he said that the day before he was alone
at home and was hungry. He said the only thing he had in his house was
tea (the kind we can't drink) and he said he made it and when he went
to drink it he just got a really disgusted feeling. He was so
disgusted that he poured it out and said he will live the Word of
Wisdom. Pretty cool huh?! That was a real answer to our prayers. Aram
is doing well also. What a good guy. He was so close to making it to
church on time yesterday! He got there with about 10 minutes of
sacrament meeting left. We're hoping that we'll find some sort of
solution this next week. He is doing way good though. We taught him
the ten commandments this past week and we focused on keeping the
Sabbath Day holy. We had him write on the board the things that we can
and can't do on Sunday. On the things that we can do he wrote going to
the park and going to the zoo and some other stuff. We then taught
about how we don't buy things on Sundays and he got up, walked
straight to the board, and erased go to the zoo hahaha. It was pretty
funny. But he is determined to keep the Sabbath Day holy now. I think
that is about it as far as investigators goes for right now.
Something interesting happened this past week. So I woke up the other
day and my voice was a little scratchy and I kept joking to Elder
Rackham that I was going to lose my voice and that he was going to
have to do all the talking. I didn't actually think I would though.
Well, long story short, I haven't had a voice for the past three days.
And it is driving me NUTS. I never realized how much I actually do
talk. I'm sure these past few days have been pure bliss for Elder
Rackham haha. Poor guy. He's had to do all the phone calls and all the
talking. I think it has been really good for him so far though. It has
made him stretch and push himself a little more. I'm ready to have my
voice back though. Church was pretty funny yesterday. The members kept
trying to take care of me and tell me what I need to do to get better
haha. Armenians are such nice people. I'm not sure I trust a lot of
their remedies, but that's okay. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll have my
voice again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
I can't believe General Conference is already here again! I'm so
excited. I'm really disappointed in myself for all the Conferences I
missed and for not taking it as seriously as I should have until I was
at college. Even more so since I've been on my mission. It really is
an amazing blessing to have Prophets and Apostles on the earth today
that lead and guide us. I'm still trying to make my way through last
Conference's talks. We won't see conference here in Armenia until the
following weekend so I have a little bit more time to get through it.
But I hope you all know that I know that we have a living Prophet
today, President Monson. And that through him I have been called here
to serve the people of Armenia. I know this church is true and I love
the spirit and comfort that I feel as I listen to our modern day
Prophets speak. I can't wait to hear all of your thoughts about
conference and your favorite talks and what not. Know that I love you
all and am so grateful for all that you do for me! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough

March 12, 2012

Bari Louis!

I'd like to start off this email by telling all of the women Happy
Women's Day! Haha. So, apparently they have a holiday here in Armenia
called Women's Day and it is one of the biggest holidays here. They
celebrate it big on March 8 and then they pretty much consider the
next month dedicated to women until April 6 or 7, which is Mother's
day here. Interesting huh? That is what I love about holidays here.
They don't just celebrate for a day, they celebrate for weeks and
months. I like to call it "the dad birthday week effect" since he
always tries to make his birthday a week long instead of just one day
haha. I spent most the day telling the women I saw Happy Women's Day
so I wanted to go ahead and tell the most special women in my life the
same thing. Happy Women's Day!
So, this last week went really well. The work is really starting to
pick up here and we've finally got a really solid teaching pool that
we are working with. For the last little bit it has been a little
frustrating cause we've been picking up investigators but then they
haven't been going anywhere. But the Lord is really blessing us and
we've got some investigators that are sticking really well! First,
I'll fill you all in on how they are doing.
Aram is doing really well. Still the same old Aram haha. But he is
progressing really well and is set to be baptized April 7. The only
thing really holding him back right now is church attendance. He comes
to church every week but he never gets there in time for sacrament.
Which we aren't going to baptize him unless he can get to the most
important part of church every week. So we have just been working with
him on that. It is kind of hard because where he lives the
transportation doesn't go by his house that early so he gets there as
soon as he can. We've been trying to find a way to help him get there
but I think it is just going to take a lot of effort and devotion on
his part to get there in time. Kind of a tough situation but he feels
confident that he can get it to work and he really wants to make it
work. So we'll see. It is so strange teaching in English though. I
think I've just gotten into the rhythm of teaching in Armenian. It is
just different cause you learn to say only the essential stuff in
Armenia and then you go to English and all of a sudden you can say
absolutely anything you want haha. But it has been a good experience
for us all. It has been tough doing the Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes
to him without Elder Seegmiller though haha. I'm just not that good at
it. I guess with some practice it will come. GET TO THE CHOPPER!
Abraham has also been doing really well. We've been meeting with him
almost everyday. He has a really great, questioning soul. Usually our
commitments to our investigators is for them to pray to know if the
things we teach are true, if the Book of Mormon is true, if Joseph
Smith was a true prophet, etc. But he just tells us that he already
prays after every meeting to know if what we are teaching is true
cause we should all know from God what is true and what isn't. Which
makes our job just teaching everything simply and clearly and give him
the best chance to get an answer. He says that he believes everything
that we have taught up to this point is true! He also told us a really
cool experience this last week that he had. He hasn't been able to pay
his phone bill for the past few months and hear they give you court
papers if you miss paying your bills. The bill was for 36,000 dram,
which he had no way of paying. But he hasn't had a job and hasn't been
able to pay it. Well, the deadline was coming up and he was really
worried about it. He had an impression that he should try putting his
debit card in and pulling money out, even though he knew there was no
money on there. He said he decided to just follow it and he put the
debit card in and miraculously he was able to pull out 39,000 dram. He
said he had absolutely no idea where the money came from, but he knew
it was a miracle from God. And he said that was just one of three
miracles that have happened to him since we've met him. He has been in
a really tough situation and it was really cool to see how Heavenly
Father provided for him. It just goes to show that we are all children
of Heavenly Father and that He is looking out for us all. But he is
doing great and we are really excited to continue to work with him.
We also found an investigator named Anahit this last week. She is
doing so well. We were only able to meet with her once this last week
but she accepted everything really well. Apparently we spoke to her on
the street a few weeks ago and gave her a pamphlet with our names and
number on it (for some reason I do not remember talking to her at all
haha) and just last week she called us out of no where and told us
that she read our pamphlet and that she wants to come to our church
and be baptized. I was extremely confused cause I didn't know who in
the world this lady was. I had written her name in my planner but I
couldn't remember her face to save my life. But we were able to plan
up and meet with her and it went really well. She came to church
yesterday and stayed for all three hours and said that she loved it!
Like I said, the Lord is really blessing us.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet with the new family this last
week. The dad got really sick and they said that this next week would
be better. So, I'll be sure to let you know how things with them go
this next week.
This last week, on Women's Day, our branch had an activity and we
brought our investigator Abraham to it. It was a really interesting
experience, to say the least haha. At the activity they did a thing
where we went around and talked about the importance of women and then
we made them lunch, which was really good. But the interesting part
was they had a karaoke type thing and one of the members who sings at
restaurants here sang for everyone and they played Armenian music. And
I'm sure you all haven't seen how Armenian's dance but it is really
sweet. I'm sure they've got videos on the internet if you wanted to
look. You could just type in Armenian dancing or Armenian wedding
dancing or something. But they all start dancing. And all the members
here are fairly new, within the last 10 years or so, so they consider
us all to be there own. Which is really great cause they all love
missionaries so much. But they would not let us stay sitting down. And
you all know how I am with dancing. But I figured when in Armenia
right? So they taught me how to do the dance. It will take some time
and I'm sure I looked like an idiot haha but it was really fun. Just
thought you would all get a good laugh out of that.
Also, we are getting a missionary from Ukraine this next week. Because
Armenia has one of the biggest Embassies over in this part of the
world, the missionaries in neighboring missions are going to start
coming here to renew their visas. But long story short we are going to
be getting a missionary that is from Georgia! He actually is a friend
with one of the sisters in our district who is from North Carolina.
Small world. But I thought it was cool that we are going to have
another Georgian with us for a few days this weekend.
Other than that, everything is going great! I love this work and am so
thankful for this opportunity to serve a mission and to serve the
people of Armenia. Even more so, to serve my Heavenly Father. I know
that this Church is true! I love you all so very much and am so
grateful for your examples and support! Have a great week and know
that you are all in my prayers!


Love,

Elder Fairclough

Pictures from 3-5-2012

 

playing basketball...he's still got it!

Knarik's baptism

Knarik's baptism

March 5, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this week? It was great to hear from you all. Everything is going really well here and really starting to pick up. As most of you said, the year mark came and went pretty fast. No
worries though, you better believe that Elder Rackham and I had some cake and ice cream haha. But overall it was a great week. No complaints here!
The work is going well and really picked up here this last week. The Lord really blessed us with finding some solid investigators this last week and so we managed to stay very busy this last week. First, we found a family of three. Their names are Hakob (the father), Ripsik (the mother), and Khachik (the son). They are older and Khachik the son is probably in his 30's or 40's. But they are really great people. We met Hakob on the street earlier in the week and he brought us back to his house and had a meeting with them. The wife was pretty skeptical at first, but then when she found out that we weren't Jehovah's Witnesses she really lightened up. It was really funny actually. Everybody here thinks we are Jehovah's Witnesses, which most the time is not good haha. For some reason they are not huge fans of them. But once we tell them we are from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints they all seem to lighten up. But this family is doing really well. The parents are a little older, but they are very kind and humble and we are hoping to make a lot of great progress with them this next week. We also picked up an investigator named Abraham who is 19 years old. He is such a great guy. He is really looking for truth and we've gotten really close with him this last week. He came to church yesterday and is reading from the Book of Mormon already. We are looking to meet with him a lot this next week and I'm really looking forward to teaching him. I'll for sure let you know how things
go with him this next week. Aram is doing great! He came to church yesterday and it just chugging along. We weren't able to meet with him much this last week cause he was pretty busy with school but he is going to be coming to a family home evening with us tonight at one of our senior couples apartments. So we are really looking forward to that. Other than that, the work is just moving along.
So, probably the coolest part of my week was going back to Charentsavan again! This is a really cool story. Do you all remember Knarik? The girl that Elder Steglich and I taught when I first got here to Armenia? Well, she is from Gyumri, which is up north, and was only visiting so she couldn't get baptized. But she read the entire Book of Mormon and into the Doctrine and Covenants for those 2 months we taught her. She was such a great investigator. Well, she ended up getting married to one of our member's sons in Charentsavan and now she lives there. And her and the son got baptized this last week! She came down and they got married about a week and a half ago and then they got baptized together on Saturday. The elders there had already been teaching the guy and they just reviewed everything with Knarik cause she we had already taught her everything and she was already living it all. How cool is that?! And the rule here is that you have to have an investigator with you in order to go to a baptism. So, we brought our new investigator Abraham and Elder Steglich and his companion brought one of their investigators and we all made it to the baptism Saturday night. It was so great. I sent some pictures from it. Long story short, it was so great to finally see her get baptized. I remember Elder Steglich and I just promising her that the day would come when she could get baptized if she would continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray, and the day finally came! I didn't think it
would come while I was still here but I considered that a huge blessing of the Lord that I was able to be there for that. The weather has been pretty crazy here the past two weeks. It had started to heat up and I actually went a few days without my coat, but then yesterday it snowed a ton. I was so sad haha. Oh well. From what I hear, in the next month it will be pretty warm here. I wanted to take the time and bear my testimony about Jesus Christ. I've been trying to focus a lot of my studies around Him and His
mortal ministry and it has made a huge difference. I've been reading from the New Testament as well as from the book Jesus The Christ, and it has been amazing the things that I have learned that I didn't know before. But I want you all to know that I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He is our Savior. He lived a perfect life full of love, kindness, charity, patience, and many more things. And we have
His example to follow. Although we will always fall short in our efforts to become like him, we are able to move closer and closer because of Him and His atoning sacrifice. It is because of His grace
and mercy that we will someday be allowed to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our families, if we will but do our part. I'm so thankful for the atonement and the love that I have felt and feel in
my life because of it. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves us all. I hope that you all feel that in your lives and that you also know that I love you as well! I'm so grateful for you all and for the support that you give me. You're in my prayers and can't wait to hear from you next week.

Love,
Elder Fairclough

February 27, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing?! I loved hearing from you all and am so thankful for the support that I receive from you all. I can't believe that Friday will be my year mark. It is really blowing my mind how fast that came. This first year of my mission has been the best experience of my life and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to serve. I know that this next year is going to be just as great!

Everything is going well here in Armenia. The work is going great and I'm loving it! I'll go ahead and fill you all in a little bit. So, Aram is doing really good. He is such a good guy haha. It is really weird teaching him in English cause I've gotten so used to teaching everything in Armenian. It is nice in some ways and in some ways I don't like it as much. But he is doing really well. He is still moving towards baptism, but we had to push his date back to the first week of April. We want him to be more consistent and steady with church attendance. Here is some good news. He actually won a weight lifting competition this last week! haha. He was calling us during the whole competition and letting us know how he was doing. There were only 5 people in the competition, but hey, a win is a win. He was really excited about it all. Today, we are actually going to go play basketball with him again, which I'm really excited about. Elder Seegmiller and his companion and Elder Steglich and his companion are
coming too so it should be a good time! We also picked up two new investigators this last week. There is actually a really cool story that goes along with it. So, about two or three months ago, we met
this lady on the street and she seemed really great. We were really excited to meet with her but we fell out of contact with her and weren't ever able to meet. Well, this last week for some reason her
name came back into my mind, so I gave her a call and she was so happy that we called. She told us that she had been wanting to meet with us but she had lost our phone number and didn't know how to get in contact with us. We ended up going over there this last week and picked her and her grand daughter as investigators. They seem like really great people and are searching for truth. I'm really excited to start working with them! Other than that, we have a few potential investigators that we met on the street this last week whom we are hoping to meet with this next week. I'll let you know how that all goes! Things with Elder Rackham are going really well. I really love training. Really I love teaching. It is so interesting seeing him go through a lot of the same frustrations with the language that I did and being able to pull from my experiences and help him out with it. This last week as I talked to him about some of these things I realized what a blessing it has been for me to be able to learn another language. Even though it has been one of the hardest things I've ever done, I realized the great blessings that it has brought me. It has also brought me so much closer to God and helped me to understand the doctrines of this gospel better. It has taught me how we always need to rely on the Lord, and how much of a blessing the Holy Ghost is. That we can receive that help and guidance when we are doing our part. Elder Rackham is doing so great though. I found that he does what I did/do a lot and looks ahead. He just wants to speak and understand perfectly right now, something I still want haha. One thing we both have been focusing on is just controlling the things we can control and never forgetting how far we have come. Just a year ago, I didn't know any Armenian and for Elder Rackham, just four months ago he didn't know any Armenian. Yet, The Lord still trusts both of us enough to do His work and serve His children. What a blessing! Yesterday Elder Rackham and I gave talks in Sacrament Meeting. Elder Rackham spoke about The Holy Ghost and did an amazing job. I had the
opportunity to speak about tithing. I took a few days to study tithing and I learned a lot of really amazing things. So many people look at commandments as restricting and something that holds us back. But commandments are really such a blessing. Especially the law of tithing. As I studied it, I realized that the law of tithing really gives us two great blessings. It gives us a way to thank our Heavenly Father for all of our blessings. I will pay tithing until the day that I die because I have so much to be thankful for haha. But it also gives Heavenly Father a chance to bless us. It is impossible to pay tithing and not receive blessings, whether temporal or spiritual. Obviously, that is not the reason we should pay tithing, but it certainly is something that we need to put our faith and trust in. I'm so thankful for the great blessing that this gospel is in my life. I can't imagine what my life would be without having this gospel in my life. Neither do I want to imagine that. I read a really great quote this last week that I'll finish this letter off with. It is from Elder Oaks. "Testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them, than on the knees praying for them." (Alma 4:19) What a true principle. I'm so thankful for the strength that my testimony has received as I've been out here bearing it. There is nothing I would rather be doing with my life and there is nothing that I could be doing that could even
compare. A testimony means nothing unless it is being acted upon, and I hope you all have a great week of acting this next week! I love you all and am so grateful for your support!

Love,
Elder Fairclough

Pictures from letter on 2-20-2012

Elder Fairclough's Bed

The large icicles outside their apartment

Elder Fairclough's study area...with valentine's day hearts from mom

February 20, 2012

Hey everyone!

It was great to hear from you all and hear that you are all doing so great! This last week was another great one here in Armenia. It was definitely a busy week, which made it go by really fast. But I had a
lot of really great experiences this last week that I'm excited to share with you. So first, Charentsavan. I went back to Charentsavan after district meeting with Elder Morris. To answer your question mom, Elder Cook actually got transferred this last transfer and is now training in a different area. But it was so much fun to go back to my training area and see so many old friends. Everybody was asking if I
was back to stay, which made it pretty disappointing when I had to tell them no haha. But Elder Morris was kind enough to let me chose some of the members that we went and visited with. We were able to
meet with Silva and with Larisa. It was SO good to see them and to see that they are still strong and coming to church. It was funny cause it honestly felt like I had never left but at the same time it was really interesting being there cause this time I actually understood what was being said and could really respond to them haha. It was such a good feeling. Branch President was pretty sick and so we went to his house to talk about the branch and so that I could see him and that was really great too. Armenian people are super funny when they get sick. First of all, they think all sicknesses come from "getting cold". There is actually a word for it but that is what it literally translates to. But if ever you aren't feeling well, that is what they diagnose it as haha. But we were sitting there and talking with each other and I looked over on his desk and there was some drinking alcohol. I just thought in my head that, "why does he have that?!" And then he unknowingly answered my question. He started like rubbing it all over his face and neck and up his nose haha. It was so weird. I wanted to tell him to stop rubbing alcohol on his body haha. But as Elder Morris and I were leaving, he turned to me and was just like, "that is the Word of Wisdom at it's finest" haha. I guess that is what it is supposed to be used for but I would never in a million years consider rubbing that on my body. Gotta love Armenians haha. Also, I'm not sure if you remember a picture that I sent home a while ago when I was back in Charentsavan. But it was of me and these two little kids. Well apparently one of the little boys, Haik, has been calling the elders in Charentsavan Elder Fairclough for the past 4 months haha. I was so surprised cause normally Armenians can't pronounce Fairclough, let alone remember it haha. But we went and saw them and he was so happy. He spent the whole lesson trying to play with his toys with me haha. Made it a little hard to follow the lesson but it was pretty funny. I had Elder Morris take a picture of me and him with his camera and he said he'd forward me the picture next week. So I'll send it on home next week. But overall, it was really great to be able to go back to Charentsavan and see everyone. I also had to go down to a city called Artashat and do another baptismal interview for a little kid. This time it was a little boy named Gevorg and he is about 9 years old. He was such a funny little
kid. A little crazy and hyper, but I'm not sure what else to expect from a 9 year old kid haha. I just pictured him as Eddie and talked to him the same way I would with Eddie. It was a really cool experience though. For part of the interview the Sister missionaries who taught him were in the room and that is when he was really hyper and not focusing very well. But when I had them all leave so that I could pray about it I felt like I should have the little kid come back in and that I should talk to just him. As I sat down with just him, it was a completely different feel. He sat there perfectly quiet and we just talked about the Holy Ghost and listening to the Branch President and being a good example for the other little kids. And then at the end I asked him to go outside of the room so that I could pray again, and he just looked at me and asked if he could stay and pray with me. So, we prayed together haha. Before he was being resilient to kneel down and pray but this time he got down on his knees before I did haha. It was really cool to try to picture him as a future Priesthood holder. He is going to be baptized this Friday and Elder Rackham and I are hoping to make our way down there. If we do, I'll be sure to send some pictures! As for our investigators, we didn't have a whole lot of time to get
meetings in with our investigators but we were able to make a lot of progress with Aram. Out of the blue this last week he called us and said he wanted to meet, which usually we have to pursue him pretty hard. But he has been calling us all week and has been showing a lot more interest than he had been. I'm not sure what the change was but I am really thankful for it. He came to church yesterday and was able to stay for all of our meetings. I will be sure to let you all know how he comes along this next week. Other than that, right now we are in the stages of finding new investigators. I feel really good about this next week though and am ready and excited to get to work with it! I'll
be sure to let you know how this next week turns out! Lastly, we were able to go to a training meeting for all the new missionaries this last week and they had the trainers come as well. It was really great to be in a small group and receive some counsel from President and Sister Carter, as well as the assistants. I was able to learn a lot of things that I think are really going to help Elder Rackham and I get the work going in this area. I wanted to share one of the things that was said that really stuck out to me. Elder Steglich was actually teaching something and he was talking about the love that Heavenly Father has for each of us, He also has for every single Armenian. Which is really simple and seems obvious, but as I thought more and more about it, it became really profound. I just thought about how blessed I have been in my life. I am so thankful to have this church in my life and for such a wonderful family. Because of these huge blessings in my life, I've been able to feel God's love for me. I know that God and Jesus Christ love me because I have felt their love in my life and am reminded of it on a daily basis. But they love every one of these Armenians with the same love that he has for me. They want these people to enjoy the same blessings that I have enjoyed and that is why I am here. There are a lot of things I can't do, but I can promise anyone that God exists and that He loves us. As we went out on the street after the meeting, I found that I was talking to people with a totally different perspective. Like I said, it was really simple, but I found a lot of direction and guidance with it.
Well, it's about that time. I hope you are all doing well and know how very much I love you all. Have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,
Elder Fairclough

February 13, 2012

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing this fine week? As always, it was great to sit down and read all of your emails and see that you are all doing well. I really feel like I was just sitting at this computer emailing you
all. I can hardly believe that it has been another week. Time flies when you're having fun! Everything is going great here in Armenia though!
I'll start out by telling you all a bit about the work this last week. We were able to meet with the man from Russia (Arshon is his name), his wife (Arpine), and her father (David) this last week. It went
really well. Arpine had a billion questions, which made it a little difficult to teach her haha, but the questions that she had were really good. Funny story with that. We were getting to know them a little bit and they were looking at our pictures and I was explaining our family and what not. And they were ask a ton of random questions. They started asking me questions like if we own our house and how much dad makes and I was like I have no idea actually haha. And they were like how do you not know that, they're your family aren't they. And I had to explain that parents don't usually share those types of things with their kids, which they didn't really understand cause here they know pretty much everything about their kids and parents. But here is where the funny part comes in. She asked me what dad does and I've never had to tell anyone that here. Because Armenian is such an old language they don't have a lot of the more modernized words so they just use the Russian words, which are sometimes very similar to the English word. So sometimes you can just throw an English word out there and just hope that the Russian word is similar and then they'll understand. Very risky business though and most the time it doesn't work haha. But I through designer out there and Arpine was like, "oh yeah, that is so cool. I am a designer too." And then I realized that she she was talking about like a clothes designer haha. I quickly corrected her on that one and made sure they understood that my dad
isn't a clothes designer haha. Good times. But Arpine and Arshon came to church yesterday and stayed the whole time! Also, we are working with a lady named Greta. She is what we call an "eternal
investigator", which means she is someone who is interested but never does everything they need to, just some of things, so they get dropped for a while and then they start investigating again a little later and then the same thing happens. Kind of sad. But she called and told a set of sisters that she wanted to get baptized and turns out that she lives in our area. So, we've been working with her for a little bit and it seemed like she'd make steps of progress and then steps back. The big struggle with her has been getting her to come to church. Cause she is reading and praying. But for some reason she hasn't been
coming. So, we've been working with her on the things that she needs to do in order to be baptized. And I'm not quite sure what made the difference but she finally came to church yesterday! We were so glad to see her there. She stayed the whole time and participated. To be totally honest I'm not sure what the difference was but we are really thankful that she came! haha. Aram is doing okay. He has kind of
started to plateau a little bit. He has been getting really busy with school and hasn't had a lot of time to meet with us or anything like that. We are still trying to work with him but not sure for how much longer. Hopefully something turns around this next week. If not, then we might need to stop teaching him for now. So, we'll see how it all goes this next week. I really do love being a missionary and doing
this work. It really is a blessing to be able to share the gospel. At times it can be really difficult, but it is always worth it. Everything is going really well with Elder Rackham. He is such a good missionary. He works really hard and is doing great. It is really interesting training cause I remember how I was feeling at that time and how foreign everything seemed but now it all just seems so normal to me. I also remember how frustrating it was with the language sometimes, but as I look back on my training that isn't what I think of. All I remember really from my training is how happy I was and all the good experiences. I've been relating these things to Elder Rackham in hopes that he isn't getting frustrating with the language. So, hopefully it's helping. It really helped me to realize that as long as we are doing our best and keeping a good attitude about things, to the best that we can, that when we look back we won't see the frustration or shortcomings, rather we'll see the happiness and the good memories. A very comforting thought. But it has also been really great to see how much he is improving on a weekly and even daily basis. It's helping me to keep an eye open for the progress that I myself am making as well. Overall, training is a really great experience so far! The weather has been really crazy here this last week. It snowed a couple feet earlier on in the week and was pretty cold. The weather has heated up a little bit, but not much and there is still a ton of snow. We were able to go do some service for a member out in a village and we shoveled snow for him and for this other old lady. As I was shoveling I realized that I've never really had to shovel snow before haha. Which made me realize that this is the most snow that I have ever seen or lived in. But it was really good to get out and help some
of our members and get some energy out haha. So, really exciting news. I'M GOING BACK TO CHAR THIS WEEK. Haha hopefully you caught my excitement. I'm going there on an exchange, so
I'll only be there for two days but I'm really looking forward to going back and seeing everyone. I'm especially excited because I can actually talk and understand now haha. But be prepared for a full
report on how that goes next week! haha. Well, I love you all so much and am so grateful for all of your support. You're all the best! Know that you're in my prayers daily. Happy Valentines day!

Love,
Elder Fairclough

February 6, 2012

Hey everyone!

Like I say every week, it was great to hear from you all and to see that you are all doing well. No complaints here either! This last week was full of some ups and downs but the week ended on a very good up so we'll just go ahead and say that the whole week was really good haha. But Elder Rackham and I are having a good time together and are working hard. Here's something pretty funny. He told his family last week that I was from Georgia and they all wrote him back asking him how it is like being with someone from another country and to just stay patient and realize that people from other countries do things a little differently... Apparently, they thought I was from the country of Georgia. Sadly, I'm sure the advice still applies. Either way he is prepared now haha. As for the work, all is well. This last week was kind of rough for meeting with our investigators. None of them could meet which put us
out on the street which wasn't too effective. It was actually really good cause we were able to see what we need to do with some of our investigators and see which investigators we need to let go of for now. So, right now we are focusing on finding the elect haha. We had a really cool experience yesterday after church though. We were walking back home and I was walking kind of fast and then all of a sudden realized that Elder Rackham wasn't beside me anymore. So I turn around and see that he is talking to these two men. The first thing one one of them said to me was that he wanted to meet with our president cause he wants to be sealed with his wife. I was like who are you haha. But turns out he is a member from Russia and is now living down here with his wife and her parents. And he was with his wife's dad. So, we took them back to our Branch President and sat down and met with them and
apparently he is a member but his wife isn't and her father isn't either. We ended up meeting with the both of them and picked up the father and hopefully we will pick up his wife this next week! It
really was an answer to my prayers. I feel like this last week was a prove up week for Elder Rackham and I and I'm just glad that Elder Rackham was paying more attention at the time than I was! It gets
cooler though. After meeting with them I asked the one guy where in Russia he was from and he said Samara. I told him that my best friend's brother was serving up there not too long ago and I told him
his name was Elder Bolt and he said that he recognized him. Small world huh? I'll definitely let you all know how meeting with the rest of their family goes. Hopefully well! Also, yesterday was fast and testimony meeting in our branch. It is always so great to hear the testimonies of the people here and how they came to know that this is true. It is funny how much it is like America too. A little kid, probably 7 years old, got up yesterday and talked about the adulterer who was thrown at Jesus's feet and how he forgave her. I was so surprised that he knew that story and that of all the ones to share he decided to share that one haha. Gotta love the random stories. A guy we invited to church came!...but he was drunk haha. He made things a little interesting. Hopefully we can help him work that out. This last week we also went down to Artashat for a baptismal interview. I had to conduct it and it was for a little 8 year old girl. She was so smart for being 8 years old! I was so amazed. It was a really interesting experience. I ended up giving her one of those ctr rings that you sent me mom and she loved it. The sisters in that branch called me last night and told me that she went around church yesterday showing everyone her ring haha. So good work mom. Other than that, everthing else is going great! The weather has gotten pretty cold here. Everyone keeps telling me that in about a month things should start heating up though so I'm looking forward to that. Right now it is just snowy out until the middle of the day and then it all turns to slush, which always makes these interesting haha. I've been wearing my boots though so I haven't fallen in a while. Now that I've said that, I'm sure I'll fall by the end of the day haha. But I'm staying warm and layering up! I think that is about it for this last week. I love you all and am so thankful for your support and for all that you all do for me. I couldn't ask for a greater family! I hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Fairclough