tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29491308554461229422024-03-05T03:16:30.806-08:00Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-38511574075335124992012-06-04T19:11:00.001-07:002012-06-04T19:11:16.282-07:00June 4, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
How are you all doing this fine week?! Things are going great here in<br />
Armenia! Summer weather is finally here and it is really really hot.<br />
But that is okay because they sell ice cream cones around every block<br />
so I'm staying nice and cool haha. As of this last week I have<br />
officially been in Erebuni for 7 months! I'm probably just going to<br />
spend the rest of my mission here haha. Things are going great though<br />
and Elder Peterson and I are having a good time with the work.<br />
I had the opportunity of going on an exchange this last week with<br />
Elder Hall! We had a great time together. It made me think back to the<br />
MTC and I was amazed at how much we have both grown since then. He is<br />
an amazing missionary and it was really cool to actual serve with him<br />
here in Armenia for a day. We had a cool experience together. We were<br />
street contacting and we came across this guy. He knew a good bit<br />
about us and he just seemed like a good guy. I talked to him for a<br />
minute and found out that his brother was baptized about 5 or 10 years<br />
ago and is currently inactive. He told me that he had just gotten back<br />
from Russia and that there were things in his life that he wants to<br />
change and that he wants to be baptized so he can get on the right<br />
path. It was really a miracle cause I don't think his brother is on<br />
our records, for one reason or another. But we ended up bringing him<br />
to a baptism this last weekend and he really enjoyed it and then he<br />
came to church yesterday as well. It just amazed me at how God put him<br />
in our path and the chances of all that working out. We are hoping to<br />
get over to his brother's house with him this next week and see if we<br />
can reactivate his brother. What a blessing from the Lord!<br />
Our other investigators are doing well also. Angin and her sister<br />
Marieta are doing well and we are continuing to teach them. They are<br />
accepting everything well but because of health problems I'm not sure<br />
they are going to be able to progress. We'll have to wait and see with<br />
them. Aram is doing well also and is still pumped to be baptized. He<br />
is still struggling to get to church on time but we are seeing<br />
improvements with him and we are hoping to help him get over the hump<br />
this next week. Haik is doing great also! We hadn't been able to meet<br />
with him for about a week cause of his work but randomly one day I<br />
called him and I wasn't expecting for him to pick up cause I thought<br />
he was at work, but he picked up. I invited him to a baptism that was<br />
scheduled for that day and it turned out that he was already on the<br />
other part of the city were the baptismal font is. Everything just<br />
kind of fell into place and we were able to attend that baptism with<br />
him and afterwards talk about what he needs to do to be ready for his<br />
baptism. We are working to help him get some time off work so that he<br />
can come to church on Sundays. Hopefully it will all work out!<br />
Mom, I forgot to tell you. Abraham invited us over to his house last<br />
Sunday and when we got there we ended up celebrating your birthday<br />
with him haha. He is such a good guy. I had told him it was your<br />
birthday and he decided he wanted to throw you a party over here haha.<br />
We ate ice cream and other treats. So, know that your birthday was<br />
celebrated all the way over here in Armenia as well.<br />
This last week was Abraham's birthday and he threw a little party. It<br />
was funny cause he invited me and Elder Peterson, the two other<br />
missionaries in our branch, Elder Steglich and his companion, the<br />
senior couple from our branch, and President and Sister Carter and<br />
then just people from his family. When we walked in this huge table<br />
was set and full of food haha. And so he has us sit down and we start<br />
to eat. And once we get done eating he starts blasting Armenian music<br />
and him and his family all start dancing Armenian style. And I'm just<br />
thinking in my head, "oh man, please don't make me dance." haha. And<br />
next thing I know Abraham comes over and makes everyone of us stand up<br />
and come over with him and dance. He honestly would not let us sit<br />
down. He got everyone up except President Carter, who pulled out his<br />
camera and said he was taking pictures...I was proud of him for the<br />
excuse. I noted it and added it to my list of excuses for next time<br />
somebody tries to force me to dance. But we ended up having a really<br />
good time. Abraham taught us all how to Armenian dance and what not. I<br />
think President Carter has some very embarrassing evidence of me<br />
dancing, which I hope and pray that he keeps to himself haha. We then<br />
had some cake, which Abraham had written a missionary verse from the<br />
bible and then it said Happy Birthday future Elder Abraham haha! For<br />
Abraham's birthday I didn't want to just buy him a tie or something so<br />
I decided to compile together some of my favorite talks from General<br />
Conference over the last 5 or so years and made it into a book. At the<br />
first thought of it all I thought it would be a quick and easy<br />
process, but it turned out to be a weeklong project. I ended up<br />
spending most of last preparation day and a lot of my lunches this<br />
last week to put it all together. It was really hard just choosing a<br />
few talks from each Conference issues cause there are so many amazing<br />
talks! I picked out talks that were about missionary work and the<br />
priesthood and the temple and anything else that I thought could help<br />
him in his life. I've found that when I go through times that are kind<br />
of hard or that I'm struggling with something, the thing that helps<br />
the most is when I go to Conference talks and read about it. So, with<br />
doing this my hope was to give him something that he can turn to for<br />
guidance and strength when he needs. I ended up cutting talks out of<br />
the magazines and then putting them into protective pages and then<br />
into a binder. Like I said, it took a lot longer than I had planned<br />
but it turned out well. I put around 50 talks in there. But the<br />
process of doing it all made it something that I will never forget. It<br />
made me realize just how thankful I am for the fact that Joseph Smith<br />
restored this Church and for the fact that we have living prophets<br />
today who receive revelation for our day. I love General Conference<br />
and for the words of comfort and for the guidance and direction that<br />
we can receive for ourselves from it. I took a few pictures of it and<br />
I'm going to try to send them to you next week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Fairclough<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3NeCLkWt7fCVD6qTMRGQSzr18pJ9W08C9yquZ6lhlMt7hHQ-lcRhAZ7Z8e_usTcD7k0zLfMD4tHC4x5nmDnLdOjmXsJF0fj5gT5ymLB1YmsFnSw9hxuhoA7fwfh5-trIRGbkhsY5IuDmF/s1600/4.30.2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3NeCLkWt7fCVD6qTMRGQSzr18pJ9W08C9yquZ6lhlMt7hHQ-lcRhAZ7Z8e_usTcD7k0zLfMD4tHC4x5nmDnLdOjmXsJF0fj5gT5ymLB1YmsFnSw9hxuhoA7fwfh5-trIRGbkhsY5IuDmF/s400/4.30.2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Steglich, Silva, and Elder Faiclough</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-19477682387050032252012-06-04T19:01:00.001-07:002012-06-04T19:01:06.891-07:00May 21, 2012How are you all doing? It's been another great week here in Armenia.<br />
I've some exciting news too. As of Friday, I have officially been in<br />
Armenia for a year! Isn't that crazy?! I can't believe how fast this<br />
past year went by. But I've got a lot to fill you in on so I'll go<br />
ahead and get started.<br />
We had an amazing meeting with Aram the other day. He is doing so<br />
great and working his way towards baptism! One thing we have been<br />
trying to help him understand a little better is the concept of sin<br />
and repentance. So we had been trying to figure out how we could help<br />
him understand those principles and the other day when we met he told<br />
us about an experience he had had. Apparently he was in a store with<br />
some friends and they were goofing around and a window got broken. The<br />
store manager told him he had 30 minutes to pay for the broken window<br />
or else he was going to call the police. Neither Aram nor his friend<br />
had the money, so Aram had to call another friend to come and pay for<br />
him. Are you seeing how perfectly that all fits together with<br />
repentance and the atonement? haha. Elder Peterson and my eyes both<br />
got really big as we were listening to him tell us this. So we tied<br />
him breaking the window in as him sinning and him calling his friend<br />
to come pay for the window as him calling on Christ to be freed from<br />
the burdens of sin. It was so amazing to just see it all click and<br />
make sense to him. Big, tough Aram who wants to be a body builder like<br />
Arnold Shwartzineger (?), was left there with tears in his eyes as he<br />
made the connection that Christ is His Savior. The Holy Ghost was so<br />
strong and it was a meeting that I will never ever forget. I know that<br />
Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he suffered for pains, afflictions,<br />
and for my sins so that I can call on Him when I am in those moments<br />
of need and distress.<br />
We also had a great meeting with Abraham this last week. He met with<br />
President Carter yesterday and he told Abraham that in October they<br />
can start working on his mission papers! How cool is that?! Abraham's<br />
B-day is the 31 of this month and he wants to have a little party and<br />
he invited President Carter and us and some other missionaries. But we<br />
have zone leader council that day so I wasn't sure if we were going to<br />
be able to go. But President Carter told him that he'd bring us all in<br />
his car to his party after our meeting haha. Abraham says hi and hopes<br />
that you are all well!<br />
I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Steglich this<br />
last week. It was so great. I always wondered what it would be like<br />
serving with him once I knew the language better and it turned out as<br />
great as I thought it would be. Even though the exchange was only for<br />
a day I was able to learn so many things that I can do better with and<br />
improve on, just by watching his example. It was funny cause a year<br />
ago I had just gotten to country and here we were a year later,<br />
serving together again for a day. We had a great time and I learned a<br />
ton from him. I'm just crossing my fingers that we can somehow<br />
miraculously serve together again haha.<br />
I'll end this weeks letter with a funny story. I realized last week<br />
that I haven't been sharing funny experiences lately and I don't want<br />
you all to think that I've lost my humor...haha. I haven't said a<br />
whole lot about Elder Peterson so I'll share one with him. He is such<br />
a great missionary. He's what I call a busy bee, he always has to be<br />
doing something or speaking to someone. So, last Prep day I was super<br />
tired cause we had had to get up real early so that he could go skype<br />
his family for Mother's day. So we got back and I just crashed and<br />
took a nice long nap haha. And when I got up he was deeply insued in a<br />
game of Monopoly...against himself haha. I mean he had cards and money<br />
going and was even talking to himself. My initial thought was, "man, I<br />
must be driving him crazy" haha. I was such a party pooper! haha. But<br />
I will have you all know that I play games happily these days without<br />
being begged to do so haha. Well, I think that's it for this week. I<br />
hope you are all doing well and know that I love you! Have a great<br />
week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-20141293746491054382012-06-04T18:58:00.003-07:002012-06-04T18:58:35.945-07:00May 14, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
How are you all doing? It was so good to see you all yesterday! Man,<br />
I've missed you all! I couldn't believe how big Claire and Bexley have<br />
gotten. They are the cutest little girls ever! Mom and dad, you two<br />
seem like you're in heaven haha. It made me so happy to see that all<br />
of you are happy. Family is what it is all about and I am so thankful<br />
for the closeness of our family. I love you all so much and am so<br />
thankful for your support!<br />
I know I already explained a bit about the work here when we skyped<br />
but I'll go ahead and give another little overview of the week. Things<br />
are going really well here in Armenia. We've been able to pick up some<br />
new investigators this last week and the work is rolling along. We<br />
re-picked up Aram as an investigator this last week, which we weren't<br />
planning on doing but we felt like we needed to give him a call. He<br />
told us he wants to be baptized and that he is ready to make the<br />
changes to do so. We talked a lot about the things he needs to do to<br />
be ready, and getting to church every week was definitely a focus of<br />
that conversation. He got to Sacrament meeting 10 minutes after the<br />
Sacrament had gotten done getting passed and he leaned over to me and<br />
asked if the Sacrament was over and I told him yeah, that it had just<br />
finished. And then he leaned over to me and said, "Quick, reload the<br />
Sacrament." hahaha. What a good guy. But we are seeing good progress<br />
with him so we'll see where it goes.<br />
Elder Peterson and I were thinking that we were going to have to drop<br />
Angin this last week cause she hasn't been able to come to church<br />
because of her health. But we were going to kind of end things off and<br />
we went to meet with her and her sister, Marieta, just happened to be<br />
there. We were able to talk a bit with her and she ended up being<br />
interested. Talk about a blessing from the Lord. We've been able to<br />
meet with her a few times and she seems like a great lady.<br />
Our other investigators are doing well. We are continuing to focus on<br />
the things that will help them to progress towards baptism; daily<br />
prayer, daily scripture study, and weekly church attendance. Three<br />
things that investigators and members need to do in order to build and<br />
maintain a strong testimony of the gospel. Some of our investigators<br />
are lacking one or two so we are doing our best to help them all see<br />
the importance of these three things. But I want to share my testimony<br />
that doing those three things really do strengthen our testimonies and<br />
give us the strength that we need in order to handle the daily things<br />
that Satan throws at us. If we do those things then we will remain on<br />
the Lord's side and have His help.<br />
This last week I thought a lot about where I am at right now and the<br />
changes that I want to make. As I thought about these things, I<br />
started to write down the things I want to be and the changes I want<br />
to make (one of the many things that I learned from Elder Cook when we<br />
were companions). I then wrote down the things I need to do in order<br />
to become those things. I've learned throughout my mission the<br />
importance of the principle of change. We are always changing, whether<br />
for good or for worse and I want to make it a point of always moving<br />
forward in the right direction. So, I've set some really good goals<br />
that I'm excited to work on this next week and in the next little bit<br />
to come. I read a quote recently that I really like that said, "You<br />
prepare 19 years to serve your mission, 2 years doing it, and an<br />
eternity reflecting upon it." I want to make sure that I give<br />
everything I have and to make the most of these two years that I have<br />
to serve here because I know I'm not going to get another chance like<br />
this. I want to make sure that when I reflect on these two years that<br />
I can remember all the things I learned and how much I grew and I<br />
especially don't want to have any regrets.<br />
I already explained this during skype but I wanted to write about it<br />
again cause it left a big impact on me. Our branch president's dad<br />
died this last week and we were able to go to his funeral. It was such<br />
a new experience for me. At the time of death they don't celebrate a<br />
life well lived, rather they mourn the loss and only think about that.<br />
It was a lot of crying and screaming, especially from those that<br />
weren't members, which was everyone but our branch president and his<br />
brother. It made me appreciate the Plan of Salvation that much more.<br />
I'm thankful for the perspective that it brings and the comfort that<br />
we can feel in times of sorrow and pain. Yesterday when I bore my<br />
testimony in Armenian, I spoke about families and how much I love each<br />
of you and how thankful I am for the opportunity to live with you all<br />
again after this life. As I said before, family is what it is all<br />
about and it is an honor and privilege to share eternal truths with<br />
these wonderful people. Truths that have brought me more happiness<br />
than I can even describe.<br />
Well, I love you all and am so grateful that I was able to see and<br />
speak with you! I hope you all have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-51361151672573000172012-06-04T18:54:00.005-07:002012-06-04T18:54:59.259-07:00May 7, 2012Dear Family,<br />
<br />
How is everyone doing this week?! I want to start out by saying HAPPY<br />
MOTHER'S DAY to the best mom in the world! And also to my two lovely<br />
sisters! I'll of course get to tell you to your faces when we skype<br />
this weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and tell you now as well. I<br />
can't believe it is already time to skype again. It really doesn't<br />
feel like 5 months have passed since we last skyped. Crazy how fast<br />
time goes by. But I'm going to send a separate email with skype times<br />
and what not.<br />
Also, there have been a few changes with email again and I'll be able<br />
to give more details when we skype but we now only have an hour to<br />
write all of our emails, which includes President Carter. So that is<br />
why you didn't get a response from me personally last week or this<br />
week. Sorry! I'm working on fitting it all in though. I'm going to<br />
start printing off your emails and reading them afterwards when I have<br />
time to enjoy them. But I'm going to try to do my best to fit answers<br />
to all your questions into this email as well. One of the favorite<br />
scriptures I like to share with people is Mosiah 2:41, cause when we<br />
are obedient, we truly are blessed and happy. Thank you all for<br />
helping me and supporting me with that!<br />
The work is going really well here. We were able to pick up a few new<br />
investigators this week, one of which is a 70ish year old German man.<br />
His name is Wolfgang Rickman (isn't that such a great name?!). He<br />
speaks perfect English and is a pretty funny guy. He is living here<br />
cause Germany was too expensive and if he lived there he would have to<br />
continue to work. So he has retired here in Armenia, of all places<br />
haha. He was actually a referral from Salt Lake. Apparently he had<br />
spoken to missionaries in Germany. He made it clear that he didn't<br />
want to changes his religion again but he agreed to read the Book of<br />
Mormon and give it a chance. So we'll see where this one goes!<br />
Haik is doing really well too. He has been pretty busy with work this<br />
week but we were able to have a great lesson with him about the Book<br />
of Mormon. I've found in my mission that if you can get an<br />
investigator seriously into the Book of Mormon that everything else<br />
starts to fall into place. Anyone who sincerely reads and prays about<br />
it will get an answer, regardless of age, social class, or how smart<br />
you may or may not be. It just takes a willing and sincere heart. What<br />
a blessing!<br />
Abraham is doing well. He says hi to everyone. We are going to try to<br />
meet with his brother and mom tonight actually. Hopefully it goes over<br />
well. We're planning on doing a little FHE with them. They are great<br />
people and like us a lot, just not quite sure how interested they are.<br />
We are hoping to start teaching them and spark some more interest so<br />
we'll have to wait and see!<br />
A couple of you have asked about what exactly a zone leader does so<br />
I'll go ahead and explain that. So the mission is made of zones that<br />
consist of districts. So there are 3 zones here in Armenia with 2<br />
districts in each. So before, when I was a district leader, I was in<br />
charge of personally working with 6 or 8 missionaries with their work<br />
and any other training given from the mission. And as a zone leader,<br />
we are in charge of helping district leaders so that they can better<br />
help the members of their district. And then their are 2 assistants to<br />
the Mission President who help train the zone leaders and work closely<br />
with the Mission President. Elder Steglich is an assistant still and<br />
so we work closely with him now report to him every night, which is<br />
fun. Hope that all makes sense!<br />
I wanted to end on a spiritual note. I studies the principle of grace<br />
during one of my studies this last week (thanks for the things you<br />
wrote to me about that last week dad). In the bible dictionary, grace<br />
is defined as divine means of help or strength, given through the<br />
bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ. It reads in 2 Ne. 25:23,<br />
that grace is counted unto us, AFTER we do ALL that we can do. It<br />
hough a lot about the trials that we all face and how most of the time<br />
the solution doesn't come until we try and try and it seems like we<br />
can't try anything else and we have done all that we can. That is when<br />
Christ's grace kicks in, if we are humble and turn to the Lord, like<br />
it says in Ether 12:27, then we are given the strength to rise to any<br />
situation, trial, or need we may have in order to go beyond our own<br />
strength, capacities, or desires. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ<br />
and that because of him we can be gifted with grace to overcome all<br />
that we face in this life, no matter the circumstance or difficulty.<br />
I love you all so much and hope that you are all doing well and having<br />
a good week. I can't wait to skype you this weekend. See you soon!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Fairclough<br /><br />
P.S.<br />
Don't forget to have some questions ready for when we skype!Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-4170717560096816872012-06-04T18:52:00.003-07:002012-06-04T18:52:57.868-07:00April 30, 2012Dear Family,<br />
<br />
How's everything going this week? I hope all is going well back home!<br />
Things are going great here! Armenia is really pretty at this time of<br />
year cause everything is starting to bloom. You walk outside and you<br />
can't help but be happy haha. Also, big news, this last week was the<br />
memorial day here in Armenia commemorating the genocide. Everyone goes<br />
to the big memorial here and throws flowers in by this fire that<br />
always stays burning. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to go during<br />
their memorial week, but we are hoping to go sometime soon and pay our<br />
respects.<br />
This last week was pretty crazy but went really well. It was my<br />
busiest week here in Erebuni meeting wise since I got here. It seemed<br />
like we were just running from meeting to meeting. Which is always a<br />
great feeling. Like they say, a busy missionary is a happy missionary.<br />
We also had our mini missionary serving with us for most of the week,<br />
which turned out to be really great. His name is Sahak and he came to<br />
us Wednesday and left Saturday night. He currently has a mission call<br />
to the Arcadia, California Mission, where Elder Buel is serving.<br />
Armenians are so great though. It was really interesting cause they<br />
think way differently than we do, which I knew before, but living with<br />
an Armenian helped me to see that even more. He was able to help me<br />
out a lot with the language and also with helping me to see the<br />
Armenian viewpoint on things. Sahak also became really good friends<br />
with Abraham. It was so great to see them both talk about missions and<br />
serving and what not. Overall, another great experience to remember!<br />
Also, Abraham was able to pass the Sacrament at church yesterday! It<br />
was so great to see. I wanted to pass with him but I was translating<br />
so I got to just watch. He is really doing so great. He found a job<br />
this last week which I was happy about. The Lord is blessing him for<br />
the things he is doing and he recognizes that. In applying for the<br />
job, the only day he asked to have off was for Sunday. I was so happy<br />
when he told me that! So we probably aren't going to be seeing him<br />
quite as often but I'm glad that he was able to find some work!<br />
This last week we pick up 4 new investigators. Unfortunately, for us<br />
at least haha, 3 of them live in the other Elders' area. A lot of<br />
times we have to meet the people that we find on the street in our<br />
church because a lot of people are embarrassed about the homes that<br />
they live in. So we meet all these people at church and then found out<br />
that they live in a different area. It got funnier as it kept<br />
happening. I'm looking forward to this next week though, so that we<br />
can find some investigators that we can actually teach haha.<br />
Our investigators are doing well though. Haik is probably our most<br />
solid investigator at the moment. He's the one we got from the<br />
Assistants. We met him again yesterday and taught him the Plan of<br />
Salvation and it went really well. We set a baptismal date with him<br />
for June 16th.<br />
Greta is also doing well. Her baptismal date is for May 26th but she<br />
still struggles sometimes to get to church so that is what we are<br />
focusing on with her. She really wants to be baptized though so we<br />
will see where it goes!<br />
We also had a really great lesson with Angin this last week. We taught<br />
the Plan of Salvation to her as well and it really hit home with her.<br />
She has been in a wheelchair state for the past 8 years and we can<br />
just see how much it has weighed down on her. But as we taught the<br />
Plan of Salvation you could just see the peace that she felt and she<br />
kept saying how much it all made sense. I'm so thankful for the Plan<br />
of Salvation and for the peace and comfort that it brings. It truly is<br />
God's plan of happiness for us and is the "do-it-all" band-aid that<br />
covers up ANY wound.<br />
Well, I'm running out of time for this week but I want you all to know<br />
how much I love you and admire the testimonies that you have. You<br />
strengthen me so much and I appreciate the love and support that I can<br />
feel from you all. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-73103976368478348392012-06-04T18:49:00.003-07:002012-06-04T18:49:30.723-07:00April 23, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
I want to start out by saying how thankful I am for all of you, that<br />
you support me the way that you do. Most missionaries don't get<br />
letters from their entire family every week but I am so grateful that<br />
you each take the time to write me and let me know how you're all<br />
doing. You're all the best!<br />
Well, things are going great here in Armenia. The weather has really<br />
heated up and we are already wearing short sleeve shirts. I was hoping<br />
to get a month or two in just long sleeve but it went from wearing a<br />
jacket to short sleeve over night. Pretty crazy. Things are rolling<br />
along here though. New missionaries got here this last week, which is<br />
always exciting. I can't believe that it has almost been a year since<br />
I got here. I'm slowly getting to veteran status haha. We've got two<br />
new missionaries in our zone so it will be fun to be able to see them<br />
at district meetings and what not. I love being around missionaries<br />
just out of the MTC cause they bring so much life and excitement that<br />
it is contagious to other missionaries around them. Well, I'll go<br />
ahead and fill you all in on the work here.<br />
Abraham is doing really great! He comes to meetings with us or the<br />
other missionaries in our branch every single day. It is so great to<br />
see his desires to get out and serve God. He talks about how he wants<br />
to be a missionary all the time. We gave him some of our church books<br />
that have been translated into Armenian and he has been reading them<br />
daily. While we were teaching him he would read daily but he would<br />
wait until 10 or 11 at night to read and he would wake up around 12 in<br />
the afternoon. But as he was reading our Missionary Handbook, which<br />
has all of our "rules" and standards that we live by, he came across<br />
the part about our schedules and how we need to wake up at 6:30 and go<br />
to bed at 10:30. He hasn't started waking up or going to bed that<br />
early but after he read that he decided he wanted to change to be more<br />
like a missionary so now he wakes up around 8 every morning and reads<br />
his scriptures and he told us he has been trying to go to bed around<br />
11 too. What a good guy! It always amazes me how he will read<br />
something and once he feels that it is true and from the Spirit, he<br />
will follow it full heartedly. Also, he received the Aaronic<br />
Priesthood yesterday! He was so happy. He didn't feel like he was<br />
ready to have that kind of responsibilty but he said that if it was<br />
God's will for him to receive it, that he would and trust that he<br />
would use it right. President Carter came to our branch yesterday and<br />
told Abraham that he wants to be the one that sends him on a mission<br />
in a year and that made Abraham smile from ear to ear.<br />
We were also able to pick up another investigator named Haik. The<br />
assistants, Elder Steglich and Elder Wahl, actually picked him up as<br />
an investigator but then found out that he lives in our area. So we<br />
did a little trade off meeting and the four of us missionaries met<br />
with him. He is a great guy. He is 22 or 23 years old and he is just<br />
looking for some direction. He said he had never had any desire to dig<br />
deep into religion but that the message we are sharing has made him<br />
interested and that he wants to learn more. We talked to him about the<br />
Book of Mormon and prayer, and that through those two things he can<br />
find out that this is Christ's true church. We are taking him to FHE<br />
at a senior couple's home tonight so hopefully that will go well also!<br />
Angin and Greta are doing well also. Greta was able to come to church<br />
yesterday and she is starting to progress really great. We had taught<br />
Greta a few months back but she would never come to church. And out of<br />
no where she has started to come again and she has come the past two<br />
weeks. We struggled so hard to figure out how to get her to come to<br />
church and then we let her go and she has started coming on her own<br />
haha. Hopefully she can continue to move along and work her way<br />
towards baptism. I'll let you know how they both come along.<br />
Here is some exciting news. This next week Elder Peterson and I will<br />
be getting a mini-missionary. Mini-missionaries are natives that are<br />
working towards serving a mission. So they pair them up with actual<br />
missionaries so that we can help teach them how to be a missionary and<br />
what not. I don't really know the guy that will be serving with us but<br />
his name is Sahak and as far as I know he doesn't speak English. Looks<br />
like it's all Armenian this next week haha. He comes on Wednesday and<br />
will stay with us for a week. I'm really excited to serve in a<br />
three-some with an Armenian. It will be a great opportunity to help<br />
him out and also to hopefully improve my Armenian a little bit!<br />
And unfortunately I still haven't finished conference. I might just<br />
have to read it in the Ensign when it comes out. But I'm hoping that<br />
the assistants will be able to burn it on a disc for us so that we can<br />
watch it during our lunches or at night.<br />
I think that is about it for this week. I hope you all know that I<br />
have a testimony of this work. There really is no greater thing that I<br />
could be doing with myself right now than to be here in Armenia,<br />
serving a mission. Who would have thought Armenia. I know I didn't<br />
cause I didn't even know Armenia existed haha. But I know that I am<br />
supposed to be here and I am so thankful to be able to serve these<br />
Armenian people. I'm also so grateful for the learning experiences and<br />
the life lessons that I come across on a daily basis. And through<br />
those experiences and lessons, I know without a shadow of a doubt that<br />
this Church is true. Nothing has ever brought me more happiness and I<br />
am eternally thankful to be a member of this Church and to be able to<br />
invite others to find the same happiness that I have found. I love you<br />
all and hope you have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-78285543625614684462012-04-19T20:39:00.002-07:002012-04-19T20:39:20.162-07:00April 16, 2012<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
How are you all doing this week? I know I say this a lot, but it<br />
really was great to be able to read your emails and see that you are<br />
all doing well and are happy. It sounds like you all had a great week<br />
and that Grandpa's funeral went well. It is so great to hear that our<br />
family came together the way that they did and that everyone was able<br />
to pitch in and be a part of it. That is what it is all about. I'm<br />
sure the love could be felt and was seen by others. I'm so thankful to<br />
be a Fairclough! And that is so cool that President Monson came and<br />
spoke at Grandpa's funeral. I was really touched by that. As a Prophet<br />
I can only imagine what his days are like and what his schedule is,<br />
but he took the time to go to Grandpa's funeral. What a great example<br />
of love and service. I know that President Monson is God's Prophet on<br />
the earth today and I'm sure that you were all able to feel that on<br />
Saturday.<br />
Things are all going really well here. Again, no complaints! I really<br />
can't believe that I'm back at this computer writing you all again. It<br />
does not feel like another week has come and gone. The work is going<br />
well here. Elder Peterson and I are enjoying the work and trying to<br />
keep things moving along and even pick up a little more. We are<br />
working hard and giving it our best and we've seen a lot of good<br />
blessings come from that this last week. We were able to pick up a few<br />
new investigators and we are hoping to add even more to our teaching<br />
pool this next week. We picked up a woman named Angin, which in<br />
Armenian means priceless haha. I thought that was pretty cool. But she<br />
is a great woman, with a really sad story. Something happened with her<br />
legs to the point that they are so big that she can't walk. She hasn't<br />
walked for 8 years and as we sat down with her for the first time we<br />
were able to see the toll it has taken on her. She cried as she<br />
explained her situation. It is always sad to see how some people are<br />
placed in such difficult situations, yet keep such great faith. It is<br />
a great reminder to me. Since being in Armenian I've seen so many<br />
people in such difficult situations, yet there faith in Christ is<br />
solid and sure. How can I look at the problems I have and even think<br />
about complaining or thinking why they've come my way? It really has<br />
been a great life lesson for me. I know that the gospel can help this<br />
lady and heal up the pains and sorrows that she has. That is the best<br />
part about being a missionary, even though we see people in all kinds<br />
of different situations, we have what will make them truly happy.<br />
Abraham was like that. He has had a really rough past and he was<br />
telling me that he has had many friends that have helped him with<br />
money or clothes, but we've given him the greatest gift that there is,<br />
this gospel. It is kind of like the analogy of giving a man a fish and<br />
he eats for a day, but teach him how to fish and he eats for a<br />
lifetime. We also picked up a woman named Greta. We have taught her<br />
before and had to part ways with her but she called me yesterday<br />
before church and said she wanted to come. We watched conference in<br />
church yesterday and she stayed the entire time. I was really<br />
disappointed to see that 3/4 of our members left after the first<br />
session. But her and Abraham stayed for it all. I thought that was<br />
pretty cool. Watching conference in Armenian was pretty crazy. Let's<br />
just say it was a humbling experience...haha. The words they used were<br />
really proper and the translation was really fast cause everyone is<br />
trying to fit their talk into a time slot. I'm just glad that we were<br />
able to watch it in English. It was a good experience as well cause<br />
last conference I watched a few minutes from the Armenian translation<br />
and I didn't understand anything. So I was able to see how far I have<br />
come.<br />
Watching conference in English went well also. I've only seen Saturday<br />
and half of Sunday though. This last week when we were watching<br />
Sunday's session after District Meeting, the bathrooms in the church<br />
started to flood and we all ended up spending the next hour or two<br />
trying to clean it up and keep it from spreading haha. It was quite<br />
the event. I'm really excited to see the rest of Sunday and Priesthood<br />
session. I'm hoping it will be this next week but we'll have to wait<br />
and see. I love President Eyring's and Elder Holland's talks from<br />
Saturday. I always love it when the both of them speak. I know that<br />
President Monson is our Prophet on the earth today and that we have<br />
twelve apostles who all hold the Priesthood authority of God. I'm so<br />
thankful for conference, that we can gather together as saints and<br />
here the things that God wants us to hear at this time in our lives.<br />
Abraham wanted me to tell you all hi and that he is thankful that you<br />
sent me so that I could help him find the true path. That is exactly<br />
what he wanted me to tell you haha. I love you all and am so thankful<br />
for our family and for the blessings that come from the temple. I know<br />
that this church is true and I am thankful for the happiness that that<br />
fact brings to me in my life. I love you all so much and hope that you<br />
have a great week! I can't wait to hear from you all next week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Fairclough</span></span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-219852979686756172012-04-19T20:34:00.002-07:002012-04-19T20:34:54.339-07:00April 9, 2012<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
It was great to hear from you all this week and to read the great<br />
emails that you sent me. I appreciate all of your support more than<br />
words can say and I'm thankful that you all do such a good job at<br />
writing me! Things are going great here in Erebuni. This week was full<br />
of its ups and downs, but I am so thankful for it all. There is<br />
nowhere I would rather be or anything else I would rather be doing,<br />
than being here in Armenia serving these people and the Lord. With<br />
that being said, I'll go ahead and tell you all a little bit about my<br />
week.<br />
First of all, Abraham got baptized this last week! You all already<br />
know but I figured I'd go ahead and tell you myself haha. We actually<br />
weren't planning on him being baptized this last week but with<br />
Conference being this next week we decided it would be better to do it<br />
this last weekend. It was such an amazing experience. Serving here in<br />
Erebuni has definitely had its difficulties, but it was so great to<br />
really feel like I helped someone get on the path back to our Father<br />
in Heaven. Abraham is such a stud and it was showing on Saturday haha.<br />
He was there in a suit and tie and was smiling from ear to ear. He<br />
invited all of his family too so that they could see what path he is<br />
going on. His family loved the baptism and their all asking us when we<br />
can meet now! I'm going to send some pictures home but he really was<br />
SO happy. It was great to see. He really understood that he was making<br />
a covenant with God and it showed in his countenance. After being<br />
baptized he got up and bore an amazing testimony. He shared<br />
experiences of how he came to know that the Book of Mormon is true and<br />
how we aren't just his friends, but that we are his brothers. After<br />
bearing his testimony, President Carter got up and had all the<br />
missionaries who were there come up to the front and stand so that<br />
Abraham could see us all. Abraham has already voiced that he wants to<br />
serve a mission and so President Carter got up and spoke to him about<br />
how he'll be serving in Armenia for another year and a half and that<br />
he has to wait a year before he can serve a mission, but that he wants<br />
to be the one to send him off. Abraham was beaming when he said that.<br />
It was so great. Then yesterday he received the Holy Ghost. Abraham<br />
had asked me to baptize him and for Elder Rackham to give him the Holy<br />
Ghost. Elder Rackham was really nervous but he did an amazing job. I<br />
was so proud of him. And again, Abraham had the biggest smile on his<br />
face. After he church he talked to Branch President about the<br />
Priesthood and he told us that he wants to start talking to Branch<br />
President about serving a mission. He also told us that he wants to<br />
come to meetings with us and street contact with us too. I have a<br />
really great feeling about Abraham and I have since we met him. I<br />
think he is going to be a great strength to the church here and that<br />
he is going to bring a lot of people to the church. I'm excited to see<br />
him grow!<br />
This last week we were able to pick up Abraham's brother as an<br />
investigator and we are hoping to pick up the rest of his family as<br />
well. They are all calling us and asking us when we can meet which has<br />
been really cool for us. We are looking forward to involving Abraham<br />
in the process of teaching his family and we are hoping that he can<br />
put the Priesthood to use and baptize them! It really is a fun<br />
experience for us. I'll be sure to let you all know how it comes<br />
along.<br />
In other news, I was able to go to Charentsavan for a few minutes this<br />
last week. Charentsavan is in our zone and we had to go there for a<br />
baptismal interview for the elders that are serving there. I'm not<br />
sure if you all remember Silva or not, but Elder Steglich and I taught<br />
and baptized here when we were serving there. But the interviews were<br />
for her daughter and grandson! I was so happy when I found that out.<br />
Silva has been such a good missionary and has done such a good job at<br />
sharing the gospel with her family. It is so great to see her not only<br />
active, but also helping her loved ones find the happiness that she<br />
has found. That is what it's all about right?!<br />
I hope you all had a great Easter Sunday yesterday! It was definitely<br />
a good one here. We ended up going over to Abraham's grandma's house<br />
last night and apparently it is a tradition in Armenia to eat a boiled<br />
egg on Easter. Everyone was so amazed that I had never eaten a boiled<br />
egg haha. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They then turned<br />
on some Armenian music and made us dance for a few minutes. It is<br />
ridiculous how much they make me dance! I don't even care anymore<br />
haha. I learned very early that my normal excuses that were regularly<br />
used at stake dances do not cut it here with Armenians haha. I love<br />
Armenia and the culture here. It really is extremely different from<br />
home but it has all become so normal for me by now haha. I hope Claire<br />
and Bexley had a fun Easter egg hunt!<br />
I hope you all know that I am doing well and am happy here. It is such<br />
a comfort and blessing to know that you are all well. I'll miss<br />
Grandpa Jack, but he's done everything he was sent here to do and I<br />
know he is happy and with Grandma. I've thought a lot about the Plan<br />
of Salvation this last week and it's importance to me in my life. It<br />
truly is a plan of happiness and brings great comfort and meaning to<br />
life. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to share Heavenly<br />
Father's plan for us and for families with these Armenian people. Our<br />
family has brought me more happiness in my life than anything else and<br />
gives me purpose to my life and it is the greatest blessing to know<br />
that that will continue on after this life. Not only continue on, but<br />
become something even grander than I think any of us can imagine. I'm<br />
thankful for that knowledge and that that was taught to me by loving<br />
parents and sisters. I love you all and hope that you are all doing<br />
well and know that you are in my prayers. I hope you all have a great<br />
week and I can't wait to hear from you next week.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Fairclough</span></span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-56209980620314239492012-04-19T20:33:00.000-07:002012-04-19T20:33:02.362-07:00April 2, 2012<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
How are you all doing this week?! I'm happy to say that I do again<br />
have a voice. I'm not really sure what happened, but thankfully it<br />
came back. This last week was another great one here in Armenia. We<br />
had some changes take place. They surprise attacked me with a transfer<br />
call haha. I'm no longer training Elder Rackham, which I was really<br />
sad about. But I've been called as a Zone Leader again and I'm serving<br />
with Elder Peterson. They moved the Zone Leader area to Erebuni, so<br />
I'm staying in the same area. And Elder Rackham went to the city right<br />
next to Erebuni so we are still in the same branch! We actually had<br />
Zone Leader Council today, which is where all the Zone Leader's and<br />
the Assistants to the President get together with President Carter and<br />
we talk about the mission. It was really good and is always a very<br />
spiritual experience. Due to the meeting though, we don't have a lot<br />
of time to email today. I'm going to do my best to send you all a<br />
little note but know that I will definitely have more time come next<br />
week.<br />
So, this last week has really just been a lot of getting used to the<br />
changes. It is always interesting getting a new companion, and a<br />
little awkward until you get to know the person. But I really like<br />
Elder Peterson. He is from Leighton, Utah and is just a super happy go<br />
lucky guy haha. It has been fun serving with him so far. He is from<br />
the group that was in the MTC right before I was, so it has been<br />
really interesting serving with someone older than me again. There<br />
isn't quite as much stress with the language, which has been nice.<br />
It's also been nice cause it has made me realize that I still have a<br />
long way to go with the language myself. I guess a little bit more<br />
about him, he is really good at singing and was in a lot of plays<br />
before his mission. Not a whole lot in common, but we get a long well<br />
and I really feel like we are going to get a lot of good work done<br />
here. I'm excited!<br />
The work is also going really well. Abraham is going to be having his<br />
baptismal interview this week, which we are pumped about. It has been<br />
really hard getting things going here in Erebuni, but I finally feel<br />
like the hard work is starting to come around. Abraham is such a good<br />
guy and keeps telling us how he is inviting EVERYONE to his baptism so<br />
that they can see the path that he is going down. What a good guy. He<br />
asked us the other day if he could video his baptism so that he could<br />
put it on the internet for other people to see haha. We are still in<br />
the process of explaining that one to him. To say the least, he is<br />
really excited and we are too! We are also working on picking up some<br />
new investigators. Last week with the transfer and some other stuff we<br />
weren't really left with a whole lot of time to find. So we are really<br />
focusing on that for this week. I love missionary work and the<br />
continuous cycle of it all. There is always someone else out there,<br />
ready to receive the gospel. It is just up to us to be worthy and to<br />
work for it. I know that God is preparing people here in Armenia, as<br />
well as all around the world. It just takes faith, a lot of hard work,<br />
and a smile to get it all done :).<br />
Here is some other good news...I bought my first pair of Armenian<br />
dress shoes today. Haha I couldn't resist any longer. Armenian shoes<br />
are pretty funny. A lot of times they are super pointy, but the ones I<br />
got aren't. Not the most comfortable things, so I'm not going to be<br />
tracting a ton in them but I figure I can wear them when it is time to<br />
bring out the swagger. It is funny, Armenians are either wearing dress<br />
shoes, or slippers haha. I mean sometimes they wear normal shoes, but<br />
most the time they just wear European dress shoes with even jeans.<br />
Gotta love Armenians. Anyways, my street cred here in Armenia just<br />
went up today so I thought I'd let you all know.<br />
I'm glad you all had such great experiences with Conference this<br />
weekend! We actually are going to be able to watch Saturday's session<br />
tomorrow after District Meeting, which I am way excited about. We'll<br />
have to wait until the next Tuesday to watch Sunday's session and<br />
Priesthood session but it is worth the wait. Then the 13 and 14 of<br />
April we are going to watch it in Armenian with all of our members.<br />
Normally we don't do that. In the past we have just gone in another<br />
room and watched it in English while the members watched it in<br />
Armenian. But the leaders here in Armenia asked President Carter if we<br />
could watch it with the members cause apparently the members think if<br />
the missionaries aren't there then they don't have to come. We're<br />
still in the early stages here haha. So, we will be watching it in<br />
English and Armenian which I am really looking forward to. They use<br />
crazy words for the Conference talks but I'm interested to see how<br />
much I understand. I'll be sure to let you all know in a couple weeks<br />
after we watch it!<br />
To close this letter I want to add a thought that Sister Carter<br />
actually shared with us all. She was talking to us all about the<br />
importance of Conference. She then asked us all a question. She said,<br />
"If Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father were coming to earth this next<br />
weekend to speak to us about the things that would help us the most at<br />
this time, how many of you would go and watch?" She then shared D&C<br />
1:38, that whether it is by His voice or the voice of His servants, it<br />
is the same. I know that there is absolutely nothing better that we<br />
could be doing at this time than to be listening to the servants of<br />
God. I know that we have a Prophet, Apostles, and General Authorities<br />
that speak for God today. I can't tell you all how excited I am to<br />
watch Conference and hear what counsel they have to give. It is such a<br />
blessing to be able to gather together and learn the things that are<br />
the most important to us right now, at this time. Conference has<br />
become such a special thing to me since I have been on my mission and<br />
I'm thankful for the strength and guidance that it always brings.<br />
I love you all and hope and pray that all is well back home! Thank you<br />
for all that you do and I can't wait to hear from you all next week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Fairclough</span></span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-74553019965299229222012-04-19T20:28:00.000-07:002012-04-19T20:28:26.447-07:00March 26, 2012<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
How are you all doing this week?! It was great to hear from all of<br />
you, as it always is. I had to laugh that you were all trying to read<br />
between the lines of my email last week haha. Everything really was<br />
good, just limited for time. I tried to type up the best letter I<br />
could as fast as possible haha. But to make sure that doesn't happen<br />
again, know that I am doing well this week and am as happy as can be!<br />
Sounds like you all had a great week together. I loved the pictures!<br />
Haha I do have to say, I have the two cutest nieces ever. Just<br />
sayin...haha. But I'll go ahead and tell you a little bit about my<br />
week.<br />
Our investigators are doing really well! We had a cool experience with<br />
Abraham this last week. We took him to a young single adult fireside<br />
this last week where the CES director over the Eastern Europe areas<br />
was speaking. He was a German guy but he spoke perfect English and<br />
Russian as well. He actually just got called as a Mission President in<br />
Germany and when he met Abraham he started asking him questions about<br />
his baptism and what not. And then he told Abraham that after he is<br />
baptized he should come serve as a missionary in Germany. We haven't<br />
explained the missionary process to Abraham yet about how our Prophets<br />
call us where to serve. So Abraham took it seriously and for the past<br />
4 days all he has talked about is saving up his money to go to Germany<br />
and serve God. Haha I thought that was pretty cool. He really enjoyed<br />
the fireside though and is moving his way towards baptism! He's doing<br />
great. We taught him the Word of Wisdom this last week and he accepted<br />
it somewhat at first. He already doesn't smoke or drink alcohol, which<br />
is extremely rare for males here. He doesn't even drink coffee, but he<br />
did drink tea. As we explained it he agreed with it all but didn't see<br />
anything wrong with tea. We explained the teas that he could drink,<br />
but he still just didn't see why. So we asked him to pray about it.<br />
Well, after church yesterday he said that the day before he was alone<br />
at home and was hungry. He said the only thing he had in his house was<br />
tea (the kind we can't drink) and he said he made it and when he went<br />
to drink it he just got a really disgusted feeling. He was so<br />
disgusted that he poured it out and said he will live the Word of<br />
Wisdom. Pretty cool huh?! That was a real answer to our prayers. Aram<br />
is doing well also. What a good guy. He was so close to making it to<br />
church on time yesterday! He got there with about 10 minutes of<br />
sacrament meeting left. We're hoping that we'll find some sort of<br />
solution this next week. He is doing way good though. We taught him<br />
the ten commandments this past week and we focused on keeping the<br />
Sabbath Day holy. We had him write on the board the things that we can<br />
and can't do on Sunday. On the things that we can do he wrote going to<br />
the park and going to the zoo and some other stuff. We then taught<br />
about how we don't buy things on Sundays and he got up, walked<br />
straight to the board, and erased go to the zoo hahaha. It was pretty<br />
funny. But he is determined to keep the Sabbath Day holy now. I think<br />
that is about it as far as investigators goes for right now.<br />
Something interesting happened this past week. So I woke up the other<br />
day and my voice was a little scratchy and I kept joking to Elder<br />
Rackham that I was going to lose my voice and that he was going to<br />
have to do all the talking. I didn't actually think I would though.<br />
Well, long story short, I haven't had a voice for the past three days.<br />
And it is driving me NUTS. I never realized how much I actually do<br />
talk. I'm sure these past few days have been pure bliss for Elder<br />
Rackham haha. Poor guy. He's had to do all the phone calls and all the<br />
talking. I think it has been really good for him so far though. It has<br />
made him stretch and push himself a little more. I'm ready to have my<br />
voice back though. Church was pretty funny yesterday. The members kept<br />
trying to take care of me and tell me what I need to do to get better<br />
haha. Armenians are such nice people. I'm not sure I trust a lot of<br />
their remedies, but that's okay. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll have my<br />
voice again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!<br />
I can't believe General Conference is already here again! I'm so<br />
excited. I'm really disappointed in myself for all the Conferences I<br />
missed and for not taking it as seriously as I should have until I was<br />
at college. Even more so since I've been on my mission. It really is<br />
an amazing blessing to have Prophets and Apostles on the earth today<br />
that lead and guide us. I'm still trying to make my way through last<br />
Conference's talks. We won't see conference here in Armenia until the<br />
following weekend so I have a little bit more time to get through it.<br />
But I hope you all know that I know that we have a living Prophet<br />
today, President Monson. And that through him I have been called here<br />
to serve the people of Armenia. I know this church is true and I love<br />
the spirit and comfort that I feel as I listen to our modern day<br />
Prophets speak. I can't wait to hear all of your thoughts about<br />
conference and your favorite talks and what not. Know that I love you<br />
all and am so grateful for all that you do for me! Have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Fairclough</span></span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-26407342188656834882012-04-19T20:22:00.008-07:002012-04-19T20:27:31.895-07:00March 12, 2012<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white;">Bari Louis!<br />
<br />
I'd like to start off this email by telling all of the women Happy<br />
Women's Day! Haha. So, apparently they have a holiday here in Armenia<br />
called Women's Day and it is one of the biggest holidays here. They<br />
celebrate it big on March 8 and then they pretty much consider the<br />
next month dedicated to women until April 6 or 7, which is Mother's<br />
day here. Interesting huh? That is what I love about holidays here.<br />
They don't just celebrate for a day, they celebrate for weeks and<br />
months. I like to call it "the dad birthday week effect" since he<br />
always tries to make his birthday a week long instead of just one day<br />
haha. I spent most the day telling the women I saw Happy Women's Day<br />
so I wanted to go ahead and tell the most special women in my life the<br />
same thing. Happy Women's Day!<br />
So, this last week went really well. The work is really starting to<br />
pick up here and we've finally got a really solid teaching pool that<br />
we are working with. For the last little bit it has been a little<br />
frustrating cause we've been picking up investigators but then they<br />
haven't been going anywhere. But the Lord is really blessing us and<br />
we've got some investigators that are sticking really well! First,<br />
I'll fill you all in on how they are doing.<br />
Aram is doing really well. Still the same old Aram haha. But he is<br />
progressing really well and is set to be baptized April 7. The only<br />
thing really holding him back right now is church attendance. He comes<br />
to church every week but he never gets there in time for sacrament.<br />
Which we aren't going to baptize him unless he can get to the most<br />
important part of church every week. So we have just been working with<br />
him on that. It is kind of hard because where he lives the<br />
transportation doesn't go by his house that early so he gets there as<br />
soon as he can. We've been trying to find a way to help him get there<br />
but I think it is just going to take a lot of effort and devotion on<br />
his part to get there in time. Kind of a tough situation but he feels<br />
confident that he can get it to work and he really wants to make it<br />
work. So we'll see. It is so strange teaching in English though. I<br />
think I've just gotten into the rhythm of teaching in Armenian. It is<br />
just different cause you learn to say only the essential stuff in<br />
Armenia and then you go to English and all of a sudden you can say<br />
absolutely anything you want haha. But it has been a good experience<br />
for us all. It has been tough doing the Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes<br />
to him without Elder Seegmiller though haha. I'm just not that good at<br />
it. I guess with some practice it will come. GET TO THE CHOPPER!<br />
Abraham has also been doing really well. We've been meeting with him<br />
almost everyday. He has a really great, questioning soul. Usually our<br />
commitments to our investigators is for them to pray to know if the<br />
things we teach are true, if the Book of Mormon is true, if Joseph<br />
Smith was a true prophet, etc. But he just tells us that he already<br />
prays after every meeting to know if what we are teaching is true<br />
cause we should all know from God what is true and what isn't. Which<br />
makes our job just teaching everything simply and clearly and give him<br />
the best chance to get an answer. He says that he believes everything<br />
that we have taught up to this point is true! He also told us a really<br />
cool experience this last week that he had. He hasn't been able to pay<br />
his phone bill for the past few months and hear they give you court<br />
papers if you miss paying your bills. The bill was for 36,000 dram,<br />
which he had no way of paying. But he hasn't had a job and hasn't been<br />
able to pay it. Well, the deadline was coming up and he was really<br />
worried about it. He had an impression that he should try putting his<br />
debit card in and pulling money out, even though he knew there was no<br />
money on there. He said he decided to just follow it and he put the<br />
debit card in and miraculously he was able to pull out 39,000 dram. He<br />
said he had absolutely no idea where the money came from, but he knew<br />
it was a miracle from God. And he said that was just one of three<br />
miracles that have happened to him since we've met him. He has been in<br />
a really tough situation and it was really cool to see how Heavenly<br />
Father provided for him. It just goes to show that we are all children<br />
of Heavenly Father and that He is looking out for us all. But he is<br />
doing great and we are really excited to continue to work with him.<br />
We also found an investigator named Anahit this last week. She is<br />
doing so well. We were only able to meet with her once this last week<br />
but she accepted everything really well. Apparently we spoke to her on<br />
the street a few weeks ago and gave her a pamphlet with our names and<br />
number on it (for some reason I do not remember talking to her at all<br />
haha) and just last week she called us out of no where and told us<br />
that she read our pamphlet and that she wants to come to our church<br />
and be baptized. I was extremely confused cause I didn't know who in<br />
the world this lady was. I had written her name in my planner but I<br />
couldn't remember her face to save my life. But we were able to plan<br />
up and meet with her and it went really well. She came to church<br />
yesterday and stayed for all three hours and said that she loved it!<br />
Like I said, the Lord is really blessing us.<br />
Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet with the new family this last<br />
week. The dad got really sick and they said that this next week would<br />
be better. So, I'll be sure to let you know how things with them go<br />
this next week.<br />
This last week, on Women's Day, our branch had an activity and we<br />
brought our investigator Abraham to it. It was a really interesting<br />
experience, to say the least haha. At the activity they did a thing<br />
where we went around and talked about the importance of women and then<br />
we made them lunch, which was really good. But the interesting part<br />
was they had a karaoke type thing and one of the members who sings at<br />
restaurants here sang for everyone and they played Armenian music. And<br />
I'm sure you all haven't seen how Armenian's dance but it is really<br />
sweet. I'm sure they've got videos on the internet if you wanted to<br />
look. You could just type in Armenian dancing or Armenian wedding<br />
dancing or something. But they all start dancing. And all the members<br />
here are fairly new, within the last 10 years or so, so they consider<br />
us all to be there own. Which is really great cause they all love<br />
missionaries so much. But they would not let us stay sitting down. And<br />
you all know how I am with dancing. But I figured when in Armenia<br />
right? So they taught me how to do the dance. It will take some time<br />
and I'm sure I looked like an idiot haha but it was really fun. Just<br />
thought you would all get a good laugh out of that.<br />
Also, we are getting a missionary from Ukraine this next week. Because<br />
Armenia has one of the biggest Embassies over in this part of the<br />
world, the missionaries in neighboring missions are going to start<br />
coming here to renew their visas. But long story short we are going to<br />
be getting a missionary that is from Georgia! He actually is a friend<br />
with one of the sisters in our district who is from North Carolina.<br />
Small world. But I thought it was cool that we are going to have<br />
another Georgian with us for a few days this weekend.<br />
Other than that, everything is going great! I love this work and am so<br />
thankful for this opportunity to serve a mission and to serve the<br />
people of Armenia. Even more so, to serve my Heavenly Father. I know<br />
that this Church is true! I love you all so very much and am so<br />
grateful for your examples and support! Have a great week and know<br />
that you are all in my prayers!<br />
<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder Fairclough</span> </span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-9868553131610645432012-03-11T18:49:00.000-07:002012-03-11T18:49:24.353-07:00Pictures from 3-5-2012<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpu6VcH7c6uxSlR8fiMkm_0-g5dyt5Wc9zxdy7BVRWX1YTCTZ28qZN_26awq6pdNxYqNIc0bG6UobTpiGF1d1-Ecag8JXR8vPmQRUF4bHwpUXq9j2v5hf0RrrEwFtAvwDY9Q20191Wn3M6/s1600/3.5.2012(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpu6VcH7c6uxSlR8fiMkm_0-g5dyt5Wc9zxdy7BVRWX1YTCTZ28qZN_26awq6pdNxYqNIc0bG6UobTpiGF1d1-Ecag8JXR8vPmQRUF4bHwpUXq9j2v5hf0RrrEwFtAvwDY9Q20191Wn3M6/s400/3.5.2012(3).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_BHxQq5i4UZJXc5EJGZmayHhRf3ZzHIiUwFLMHgjM5snH52TR-nHW3G6K4oYvdUvn6gs5x8W6VFa5sc7hu5WVMdw_RA7y-JyeHweJbcEcC07aRByf5T_Olz8hpK-fRnvnUcJdTJw2QdM/s1600/3.5.2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_BHxQq5i4UZJXc5EJGZmayHhRf3ZzHIiUwFLMHgjM5snH52TR-nHW3G6K4oYvdUvn6gs5x8W6VFa5sc7hu5WVMdw_RA7y-JyeHweJbcEcC07aRByf5T_Olz8hpK-fRnvnUcJdTJw2QdM/s400/3.5.2012.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">playing basketball...he's still got it! </div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumZCs0ZuEYWRMhqXlvL-1DU77tys3Y38yN7uxL7dh-ETkaXFGEMUjBrmIO52x9yYOvAiHQvAF79xaAweS-Dn96nv0DU5T-WsAEdgBU2JElSnCsYPNrGeSmfLzRV8i1Jjj2-6AXyjjxgSq/s1600/3.5.2012(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhumZCs0ZuEYWRMhqXlvL-1DU77tys3Y38yN7uxL7dh-ETkaXFGEMUjBrmIO52x9yYOvAiHQvAF79xaAweS-Dn96nv0DU5T-WsAEdgBU2JElSnCsYPNrGeSmfLzRV8i1Jjj2-6AXyjjxgSq/s400/3.5.2012(4).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knarik's baptism</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtWaeKU6Ft0Oi6u1VY27oXX7rkijXmYhVwfxsCexUNHa2owD8CGgeQthYxv91jtOJGQfTqLvS80AUXik1v9aavVpCaaudHP3vV-aHP1wFyjnS2ic4aRzliHkMZ5P6iKx2Op9ena5x9jqNQ/s1600/3.5.2012(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtWaeKU6Ft0Oi6u1VY27oXX7rkijXmYhVwfxsCexUNHa2owD8CGgeQthYxv91jtOJGQfTqLvS80AUXik1v9aavVpCaaudHP3vV-aHP1wFyjnS2ic4aRzliHkMZ5P6iKx2Op9ena5x9jqNQ/s400/3.5.2012(5).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knarik's baptism</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-38450971667684565322012-03-11T18:26:00.000-07:002012-03-11T18:26:04.120-07:00March 5, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
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<br />
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!<br />
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<br />
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.<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-63179083046937543772012-03-11T18:18:00.000-07:002012-03-11T18:18:07.848-07:00February 27, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
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!<br />
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-33304006791941726202012-02-26T12:34:00.000-08:002012-02-26T12:34:43.901-08:00Pictures from letter on 2-20-2012<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZ-rXw23fUHxCY4pV03vXhDAeqwMSAA6BcYBDTZf-gThnJjRNgK22OvINpzgoD32fXYeVSdke9-3m9mQnNHVLCFDZO4AWImbSupUIOPtt5SgW0jF0OgHK2pv2sfdtg-hF-vkvXA1tQM41/s1600/2-20-2012(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZ-rXw23fUHxCY4pV03vXhDAeqwMSAA6BcYBDTZf-gThnJjRNgK22OvINpzgoD32fXYeVSdke9-3m9mQnNHVLCFDZO4AWImbSupUIOPtt5SgW0jF0OgHK2pv2sfdtg-hF-vkvXA1tQM41/s400/2-20-2012(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Fairclough's Bed</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZIMHD7qJSD_W9QxcU58yFwr9nxVXoKnJsHyydo4ZqG_78aDfbNlKTiaS84g3jFJr4X5rH_uhG5ROt88XUCWJxxHFtRdmL7UKhnQT5DPaic-uDRELX9Ddxpkpkk-ye-nWAPNTJOAdFs1P/s1600/2-20-2012(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZIMHD7qJSD_W9QxcU58yFwr9nxVXoKnJsHyydo4ZqG_78aDfbNlKTiaS84g3jFJr4X5rH_uhG5ROt88XUCWJxxHFtRdmL7UKhnQT5DPaic-uDRELX9Ddxpkpkk-ye-nWAPNTJOAdFs1P/s400/2-20-2012(3).jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The large icicles outside their apartment</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjer08LhZVrO81-mZRmetmHzR0GmaceCVC7HrlVAG0i6NMzLLZdgRhV7k9KqObLlfIMj1JbxDYZzEqBdAkBKwAT0P93ofegLg4whWKgsSp9ZdWSTnu9D3OhhiV-sZh-pRtoHKmwm6bBiD9v/s1600/2-20-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjer08LhZVrO81-mZRmetmHzR0GmaceCVC7HrlVAG0i6NMzLLZdgRhV7k9KqObLlfIMj1JbxDYZzEqBdAkBKwAT0P93ofegLg4whWKgsSp9ZdWSTnu9D3OhhiV-sZh-pRtoHKmwm6bBiD9v/s400/2-20-2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Fairclough's study area...with valentine's day hearts from mom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-41393663515817740712012-02-26T12:25:00.000-08:002012-02-26T12:25:47.840-08:00February 20, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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.<br />
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!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-924331833454395482012-02-26T12:13:00.000-08:002012-02-26T12:13:52.758-08:00February 13, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
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<br />
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!<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-4058451807882643202012-02-26T12:06:00.000-08:002012-02-26T12:06:42.059-08:00February 6, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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<br />
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!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-88931416645799962382012-02-01T12:18:00.000-08:002012-02-01T12:18:33.491-08:00Pictures!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWLdi8AKbgQVlYM078kw67hfShvJIPe06bW58q05lH5URGO99jePSW4gwCBkKgkXH9c1puP2o3M7B_V1RlbpwkbyPjCJvfgaBTjLNbGr_zGXtta1CruvIabsFRzUE7okeV7IqzytOIqsb/s1600/1-23-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWLdi8AKbgQVlYM078kw67hfShvJIPe06bW58q05lH5URGO99jePSW4gwCBkKgkXH9c1puP2o3M7B_V1RlbpwkbyPjCJvfgaBTjLNbGr_zGXtta1CruvIabsFRzUE7okeV7IqzytOIqsb/s400/1-23-2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Seegmiller & Elder Fairclough after a "ridiculous" haircut</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5dRw9koHFmN8RShuBib58F-34_Po-dNiUhLp5trgUqtHFd49MqzMaIiUkaLy2Zkb2eZ6HTbMQgXF7f-UAJtmO6YWqVU2xjY_qCzzzjNyG3IQAvjoTsntQgOahixAS0zlfcUSgjfR3Yew/s1600/1-30-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5dRw9koHFmN8RShuBib58F-34_Po-dNiUhLp5trgUqtHFd49MqzMaIiUkaLy2Zkb2eZ6HTbMQgXF7f-UAJtmO6YWqVU2xjY_qCzzzjNyG3IQAvjoTsntQgOahixAS0zlfcUSgjfR3Yew/s400/1-30-2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Fairclough & Elder Rackham at the Genocide Memorial</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFc767UfMEBhUaWgSZG4gsviqWFYD_m3CkAgUQvrOZLVLk_oaNPaW-Z3aXonX8j2tAaBRz2Vzc0s0fGu6CJ5i-zqPNQSJ1bJq_n4jzdR7rleNyVV67XIfMKrOnGNkC70aUMeX6Gv_I8AY/s1600/12-23-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFc767UfMEBhUaWgSZG4gsviqWFYD_m3CkAgUQvrOZLVLk_oaNPaW-Z3aXonX8j2tAaBRz2Vzc0s0fGu6CJ5i-zqPNQSJ1bJq_n4jzdR7rleNyVV67XIfMKrOnGNkC70aUMeX6Gv_I8AY/s400/12-23-2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Seegmiller, Elder Steglich & Elder Fairclough</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVmnZzFSh9AFkwKqBUpN0BAtX0JDDAtUiwSHjRM3CeQwJv3CSpQs76aj4q96aL21Ge4ZDfE8cRPuXLB-0t_LZr_t35LjwVOPTMFw_Rr5RP2u9V9gjKNQ60DjyNndsHlCI-QzUG24rq62Z/s1600/12-24-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVmnZzFSh9AFkwKqBUpN0BAtX0JDDAtUiwSHjRM3CeQwJv3CSpQs76aj4q96aL21Ge4ZDfE8cRPuXLB-0t_LZr_t35LjwVOPTMFw_Rr5RP2u9V9gjKNQ60DjyNndsHlCI-QzUG24rq62Z/s400/12-24-2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wearing Christmas Pajamas sent from Mom</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64eMbShxB6CGPeTNcSKF8z9iJTxeP2ITLn20ABHypqZJCufjIrMRVYlede5jFpG-7zm1__6xTa44WzPifiNGJpWrVhlctlpeu9fRsotCJV_56Xa4J4pM67YyhJ4PvewY1SAxjT5wChspl/s1600/12-24-2011(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64eMbShxB6CGPeTNcSKF8z9iJTxeP2ITLn20ABHypqZJCufjIrMRVYlede5jFpG-7zm1__6xTa44WzPifiNGJpWrVhlctlpeu9fRsotCJV_56Xa4J4pM67YyhJ4PvewY1SAxjT5wChspl/s400/12-24-2011(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cooking Christmas breakfast</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNJlYBU9wq15jHlCkqtfTzKPrhJKpjixqQLobp-_I9GlC4T3y1TFZ8onL3o7z4wtJXqVeGt73LYkeTKH9NXq4QyyTb0dBhPm3AbPu5_D7XjdDCyNiQvC6UgdeKKKkwqCIeQAXcx5Ts3cy/s1600/12-24-2011(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJNJlYBU9wq15jHlCkqtfTzKPrhJKpjixqQLobp-_I9GlC4T3y1TFZ8onL3o7z4wtJXqVeGt73LYkeTKH9NXq4QyyTb0dBhPm3AbPu5_D7XjdDCyNiQvC6UgdeKKKkwqCIeQAXcx5Ts3cy/s400/12-24-2011(3).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to go to church Christmas Day</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmlpGVaIO_APfZYMOXioPB5Ivpp-UEBeyCh8b9PLQBfdfbt8IccJyprY5eGGu1IBwBS19zMmqVBjdlzICvD1O4896NLQHdhlDO08RhSe4ObcmVLdLg654L21p5fqu8YMo9p6nKtWrh7GE/s1600/12-26-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzmlpGVaIO_APfZYMOXioPB5Ivpp-UEBeyCh8b9PLQBfdfbt8IccJyprY5eGGu1IBwBS19zMmqVBjdlzICvD1O4896NLQHdhlDO08RhSe4ObcmVLdLg654L21p5fqu8YMo9p6nKtWrh7GE/s400/12-26-2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating a big-mac</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-24523944322641676472012-02-01T11:59:00.000-08:002012-02-01T11:59:06.049-08:00January 31, 2012Hey everyone! How are you all doing this fine day? It was great to get your emails and see that you are all doing well and are happy. Things are going great here as well! It has been a pretty busy week, full of lots of changes but it has been great. So, my new companion's name is Elder Rackham and he is from Brigham City, Utah. He is a great missionary and fresh out the MTC. On Thursday I went to the mission office where we had a "meet your mentor" meeting. It was really cool cause Elder Steglich was the one that announced who I was training. I still remember that first day and meeting him, so it was really cool to have the roles reversed. It has been a really interesting experience for me so far training. First of all, it has helped me to see how far I have come these past 8 months. I had completely<br />
forgotten how lost and confused I was when I first got here haha. Not just with the language, but also with the everyday things of missionary work. Sometimes I have to catch myself and realize that I have to explain some things and what they mean, cause I'm just so used to doing it. It has also been a very humbling experience for me so far as well. It has helped me to find the joy in the little things of missionary work again. The first day we were street contacting and his guy called us over and so we went over and talked to him. Long story short we wended up getting his phone number and giving him a pamphlet with our number on it and he ended up saying he wanted to come to church. I didn't think anything of it as we walked away, but Elder Rackham just turned to me and said, "That was SO cool!" Haha I stopped and was like yeah you're right, that was really cool. Plus, new missionaries always bring a lot of energy from the MTC so it has been really great to get that MTC excitement all over again. So overall, it has been really great training and serving with Elder Rackham so far. The work is going pretty well here also. This last week we were able to take Aram to a baptism which was really great. Elder Steglich and his companion baptized two Iranian guys this last week so the baptism was in English, which was perfect for Aram. The Spirit was really strong and he felt it. After the baptism Aram told us that him getting baptized isn't a question, it's just a matter of time. So, we'll see how things progress with him this next week. Also, this last week we were at the church meeting with a member and out of no where this guy comes in a pulls up a chair haha. His name is Haik and he is a<br />
nonmember. Apparently he came and just wanted to know more about our church. It was really cool though cause the member we were meeting with was totally cool with our meeting being interrupted and just started teaching with us and sharing her testimony. And by the end of the meeting we had a new investigator with a baptismal date haha. Other than that we have a few investigators that are kind of in the newer stages but I'm not sure how much longer we are going to work with a lot of the investigators we have. We are going to focus on finding this next week and getting the investigators that we do have to progress. But I'm excited for this next week and to see how things develop. I'll let you know how it all comes along this next week! I'm so glad that you all found so much joy in the story that Elder Seegmiller shared last week haha. I totally was just staring blankly at the wall as I was eating a bowl of cereal, so I was a pretty easy target. But no worries, I got him back pretty good. So, I found out that I was training in Erebuni on Monday, thus meaning that he was leaving. But President Carter told me that Elder Seegmiller would get his transfer call on Tuesday. He was freaking out cause he had no clue where he was going. It's always nervewracking when you're waiting for a transfer call. And while we were studying Tuesday morning we got a call from another missionary saying that President Carter was doing transfer calls that morning during our studies. And so Elder Seegmiller started freaking out cause he thought President Carter was going to call any second. This is where it gets good. We have a special ringtone for President Carter so that we know when he is calling. And so when he wasn't looking I went to the ringtones and clicked on the ringtone that we have assigned for when President Carter calls. I wish I would have gotten this all on video hahaha. He jumped up and ran out of the room and then started pacing back and forth all the while just telling me to answer it. I was trying so hard not to laugh it didn't last long haha. To say the least, he was not very happy which made it that much more funny to me haha. Good times with Elder Seegmiller.<br />
I think that is about it for this week. I'm attaching some pictures from the past month or two so I hope they all reach you! Let me know if they don't. I just want to leave my testimony with you all about the power of prayer and the love that our Heavenly Father has for each of us. I know with all my heart that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that he hears our every prayer. He is always watching over us and is always there waiting for us to come to Him. I think that is so amazing and something that I take for granted far more than I should. I'm thankful for the experiences that I have had with prayer and for<br />
the opportunity that I have to testify to others and promise them that God will hear and answer their prayers, just like he did mine. I know that this church is true and am eternally grateful for the blessings<br />
that it has brought to me in my life. I am especially thankful for this opportunity that I have to serve. Thank you all for your support and love and care! It truly means a lot and I appreciate it so much.<br />
Have a great week and know that I love you all!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-26304328446428473612012-02-01T11:52:00.000-08:002012-02-01T11:52:08.656-08:00January 23, 2012<span>Hey everyone!</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>How are you all doing this week? It was great to read all of your</span><span> emails and see that you are all happy! I'm also you all got a very</span><span> good laugh at imagining me cleaning for 4 hours last Monday haha. Our</span><br />
<span>place wasn't very dirty but we did all the little stuff like scub the</span><span> bathroom tiles and what not so it did take a while. But now we have a</span><span> squeeky clean house. As for this week, everything is going really</span><span> great! I actually have some exciting news. I got a call from President</span><span> Carter this morning and he told me that I'm going to be training one</span><span> of the new missionaries that gets here in a few days! I'm going to be</span><span> staying here in Erebuni as a District Leader and that is about all I</span><span> know so far. There are two elders and one sister coming and Elder</span><span> Cook, my last companion, is going to be the other Elder trainer. We</span><br />
<span>have an information meeting tonight so I'll know a little bit more</span><span> about it all after tonight. I'm sad that Elder Seegmiller and I won't</span><span> be serving together anymore. He is such an amazing missionary and he</span><br />
<span>has really come to be one of my closest friends. We'll keep in touch</span><span> though. But I am really excited to be a trainer. It will be tough but</span><span> with the help of the Lord it will all work out well. I'll let you all</span><span> know who my "kid" is next week and I'll send you a picture as well!</span><span> Other than that, all is going well here in Erebuni. Elder Seegmiller</span><span> and I had a good week and were able to find a new investigator off of</span><br />
<span>the street. His name is Gurgen and he actually came to church</span><span> yesterday. Unfortunately, he lives in the other Elder's area so we are</span><span> going to have to hand him over to them. Funny story with that though.</span><span> I gave the other Elders his name and number the other day and told</span><span> them to give him a call and set up a meeting with him and all that</span><span> good stuff. And they called me last night and were super confused.</span><span> They said they called Gurgen and explained who they were and that they</span><span> weren't the Elders that he had met with earlier in the week. They</span><span> introduced themselves to our investigator Gurgen at church yesterday</span><br />
<span>(there is us and another companionship in our branch), and the Elder</span><span> that was talking to him said that he was the one with the glasses that</span><span> he met at church. And apparently the guy was like that is cool but I</span><span> didn't come to church today, actually I haven't left my house today.</span><span> Haha they didn't know what was going on. But Elder Seegmiller and I</span><span> write down the names of all the people that we talk to on the street</span><span> and if they give us their phone numbers then we write that down next</span><span> to their name. But I guess we talked to more than one Gurgen last week</span><span> and got both of their numbers and I gave them the wrong one... Haha</span><span> oops. Oh well. Just too many Gurgens out there. But things are going</span><span> well with all of our investigators. Slowly but surely some of them are</span><span> coming along. We are hoping that Aram can continue to make progress.</span><span> We have a baptismal date set for him for February so we'll have to</span><br />
<span>wait and see. He is doing really well though!</span><span> We have a senior couple in our branch now as well and it is really</span><span> cool to have them there. They are from Cache Valley and are in charge</span><span> of the institute and seminary classes here in Armenia. I've done a</span><span> little translating for them the past two weeks. It is really weird</span><span> going from Armenian to English. I've also realized the difference</span><span> between the way Armenians say things and the way we say things. Like</span><span> the Armenians speaking were giving examples that made absolutely NO</span><span> sense in English. Haha it was interesting to say the least. President</span><span> Carter wants us to involve them in meetings with our investigators and</span><span> have us translate for them. It really is great having their experience</span><span> here in our meetings. We were able to have them come along for one of</span><span> our meetings with Aram this last week, so the meeting was in English,</span><span> but they helped out a lot. I'm looking forward to having them</span><span> participate with our other investigators as well. I'll let you know</span><span> how that all goes!</span><br />
<span>It was starting to warm up here until about the middle of the week</span><span> last week and then it got really cold haha. Like I was getting to the</span><span> point where I no longer had to wear a coat anymore and it was really</span><span> nice. But then we woke up one morning and there was a good bit of snow</span><span> out. So now I'm back to long johns and bundling up haha. It is good</span><span> though. We stay warm and are healthy so no worries there. I'm just</span><span> ready for the summer weather to get here! haha</span><span> So, this is actually a really cool story. Two p-days ago Elder</span><span> Seegmiller and I went with our investigator Aram to his University to</span><span> play basketball. It was only the second time that I have really played</span><span> here in Armenia and I was super pumped haha. It was an indoor gym but</span><span> it looked like a gym from the 60's that hasn't ever been refurbished</span><span> haha. But hey, a gym is a gym and there was a net and the goal was</span><span> actually 10 foot so no complaints. But we had to call and get</span><span> permission from President Carter cause I honestly wasn't sure if we</span><span> are allowed to enter universities here in Armenia. He gave us the go</span><span> ahead and said to try to pick up some investigators in the process.</span><span> So, we went and it ended up just being us three playing. It was super</span><span> funny though. I'll send the picture, but Aram was wearing some John</span><span> Stockton shorts and a tank top and I was trying so hard not to laugh.</span><span> It felt so good to shoot a basketball again haha. Long story short,</span><span> one of the instructors walked in and watched us play for a bit. We</span><span> told him who we are and where we are from and he seemed actually</span><span> interested. He asked for a Book of Mormon and we were able to give him</span><span> a Joy to the World dvd as well. Then at the end he invited us back to</span><span> help train some of the guys there at the University and told us all</span><span> the days and times and what not. And that night we reported this all</span><br />
<span>back to President Carter and he told us to go back once a week and</span><span> play and try to use it as a missionary tool. Haha I was not expecting</span><span> that. Never would have thought that I could use basketball as a</span><span> finding tool but maybe it will work out. We aren't allowed to</span><span> proselyte on campus but we are allowed to invite them to meet with us</span><span> so we'll see if we can get anything to come of it. I'll let you know</span><span> how it comes along and if it works!</span><br />
<span>So this next part is from Elder Seegmiller haha. It's a story from</span><span> this past week and he told it to his family much better than I could</span><span> so I had him send it on over to me haha.</span><span> Funny story real quick though, I found out that Elder Fariclough does</span><span> not like cockroaches! So there I was in the spare room justa puttin my</span><span> tie on when I decided I wanted to throw something at Elder Fariclough.</span><span> You know how that feeling is, when sometimes you just gotta do</span><span> something unexpected just to keep things interesting. Well it was one</span><span> of those moments so I started looking for something I could throw that</span><span> wouldn't impale him but would still leave a mark. Like the sun</span><span> bursting through the clouds on a rainy day, there it was! An actual</span><span> size rubber cockroach! It was perfect, all I needed to do now was hit</span><span> him right in the face! So I creaked the door open a bit and it was the</span><span> perfect set up! I had a broad side of Elder Fairclough as he was</span><span> sitting on the couch eating cornflakes staring blankly at the wall in</span><span> front of him. Without making a sound I wound up, and chucked the</span><span> little roach in his direction... I missed. Whizzed right by without</span><span> him even noticing. Discouraged and sorely distraught I decided to be a</span><span> good missionary and get back into my routine. As I fought through the</span><span> emotions of complete failure I continued to tie my tie when all of a</span><span> sudden I heard a blood curdling scream from the other room! I run out</span><span> to find Elder Faiclough on the opposite side of the room with a look</span><span> of horror on his face staring at the rubber cockroach by the couch! I</span><span> asked him what the matter was and he explained how that huge cockroach</span><span> had fallen on his arm from the ceiling and scared the living daylights</span><span> out of him! Being the kind, loving, understanding companion that I am,</span><span> through a storm of laughter I showed him that the cockroach is only</span><span> rubber. Anyways I thought you might appreciate this story, Elder</span><span> Fairclough is such a good sport, he laughed when it happened and wants</span><span> me to send this story to him so he can send it to his family.</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Hello Elder Faircloughs family, since I had to send this to Elder</span><span> Fairclough I decided I wanted to say some more stuff about your son</span><span> and brother Edler Fairclough real quick. I had to spice the story up a</span><br />
<span>bit to make my story sound interesting I wasn’t really trying to hurt</span><span> him haha. He is such a great example to me, he truly is a natural</span><span> leader and I have learned so much from him. I’m so excited for him</span><span> that he gets to train a new missionary, they couldn’t have picked a</span><span> better trainer, he is amazing at the language! I'm sure you already</span><span> know he is amazing just as a missionary alone but I don’t know how</span><span> much he has told you as far as the language goes because he is a</span><span> really humble guy but he speaks perfectly. He doesn’t speak unless he</span><span> knows how to say what he is trying to express and if he doesn’t know</span><span> how to say it he thinks of another way to get the point across. I have</span><span> often told my family that if he went to my high school we would have</span><span> been best friends. I’m sure a lot of people say that about him because</span><span> he such a great man! He is always telling me about his family and how</span><span> great all of you are! Anyways I’m going to miss being companions with</span><span> him but I gotta go now we are going to go get some burgers!</span><span> </span><br />
<span>What a good guy! I'm going to miss serving with him. I know that we</span><span> are going to be great friends for the rest of our lives. Like he said,</span><span> if we had gone to the same high school we would have hung out in the</span><span> same group and everything. He is an amazing missionary and I have</span><span> learned a great deal from him. Well, like he said, we are going to go</span><span> get some burgers! I hope you all have a great week and know how much I</span><span> love you all!</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Love,</span><br />
<span></span><span>Elder Fairclough</span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-91618736935598444672012-01-31T18:18:00.000-08:002012-01-31T18:18:15.895-08:00January 16, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
So, this week is kind of a weird P-day. It is mission wide cleaning day and it is mandatory that we put at least 4 hours into deep cleaning our places and then we are supposed to go get pizza with our districts afterwards. So, basically we have no time to email. I'm sorry! I actually haven't even been able to read all of your emails. I am going to print them off and read them later on today. But I will respond to anything next week as well as the emails for next week. I have some good/bad news. I finally got my birthday package!... haha. I am so sorry. I had a feeling it would come as soon as you sent another<br />
one. I feel really bad though. I want you all to know that that was the best package ever though! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I loved it all. The letters were amazing and I really appreciate you rounding those up for me. They meant a lot. And the scriptures are so great. I can't wait to start reading from them and breaking them in. The journals, and little cards, and everything was great. So, thank you so much! I wanted to just bear my testimony really quickly about The Book of Mormon. I finished reading The Book of Mormon again yesterday and I want you all to know that I know with all my heart that it is true. I am so grateful for the peace that it brings into my life. Being on my mission has really shown me it's importance as well. I have had the great opportunity to see many people gain a testimony of this church and it's truthfulness, because of The Book of Mormon. I have also had the sad opportunity to see many people that once were on the path, but have wandered off. It almost always leads back to The Book of Mormon. They either never prayed to know if it is true or they stopped reading it daily. That is why many of our Prophets have said that it is the foundation of our religion. I know that to be true. I am so thankful for the Spirit that The Book of Mormon brings everytime we take the time to open it's pages and read and for the strength that it can bring to our souls. I am looking forward to starting it again today! I hope you all have a great week and know that I love you! You're the best!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-85154112800296456862012-01-14T09:16:00.000-08:002012-01-14T09:16:49.219-08:00January 9, 2012Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
How are you all doing this week?! I can't believe another week has come and gone by. Things have been going really well here in Erebuni. I wasn't really sure what to expect this week with the holidays and all, but this week actually turned out to be one of Elder Seegmiller's and my best weeks together. Funny how things work out that way. But I'll start out by telling you a few things that happened this week and then I'll explain a little how they celebrate the holidays. This week Elder Seegmiller and I were able to find a few new investigators. It was really interesting how it happened too. So we went out to street contact and we made it maybe 5 minutes and the very first person we walked up to invited us into his house. When we first walked in his family all looked at us really standoffish but after sitting down and talking for a few minutes they all kind of warmed up to us. There was the man, his wife, his wife's sister, his mom, and his two little kids. They were all really nice and were basically shoving food down our throats haha. But they kept telling us how we have a light about us and how peaceful we are. It was really cool to be told that. And then before we left, we asked them if there was anything that we could do to help and they just said that us coming was the biggest help they needed. Then the father made us promise that we would come back later in the week. All in all it was a really great<br />
experience! I'm not sure if I've explained our investigator Aram very much, but he is 17 years old and he speaks English. He is actually from Austria and is learning Armenian right now too. But he is a really funny kid. He wants to be a body builder and Arnold Shwartzineger (sp?) is his biggest hero haha. Whenever Elder Seegmiller calls he yells, "GET DOWN", in an Arnold accent haha. It never gets old. He speaks pretty good English but not great. He understands really well though. He says some funny stuff such as instead of saying big guy, he says bigger guy. Also, he struggles with saying Fairclough so he just calls me The Max. Haha that is probably my favorite. But we had been struggling to get him to really grasp the gospel. He really likes us though, especially Elder Seegmiller, and he calls us his brothers. He reads from The Book of Mormon every day and talks to Elder Seegmiller about it on the phone every night before we go to bed. But he still didn't have a testimony and we both felt like he was doing it just because he likes us so much. So we decided to be really straight forward with him one meeting this week and we focused on really helping him receive an answer about The Book of Mormon. He said he believed it was true, but we had to explain to him the difference between believing and knowing. We first talked about why we are here and made sure that he understood and then we explained (probably for the fourth time) how to receive an answer through prayer. But this time we decided to kneel down with him right there. First, we prayed and showed him how he needs to ask and then we had him say a prayer. It was by far the best prayer I have ever heard him say, which we were way pleased with. After talking for a bit longer we both went on our ways. Then about an hour later he called and told us that he was feeling the calm and peaceful feelings that we had been talking about, that everything was starting to make sense, and that he knew The Book of Mormon was true! It was really neat. We were then able to take him to another set of missionary's baptism which was really amazing. Normally things with Aram are kind of hit and miss with meeting with him. We found out the morning of that there was going to be a baptism at the mission office for a guy from India and that it would be in English. It was perfect! We really wanted to take Aram but were pretty worried since he is usually so busy. But Elder Seegmiller and I knelt down and prayed together that<br />
it would work out. We then called Aram and he said the usual, "I'm not sure right now, but we'll stay in contact." Things were not looking very good haha. But we continued to pray together and when we called an hour later before we needed to leave he told us that he could come. I know for a fact that the Lord was helping us and that He answered our prayer. Cause things are NEVER that easy when setting up appointments with him haha. But the baptismal service went really well and I think Aram felt the Spirit there. Elder Seegmiller and I are really excited for this next week and seeing how he progresses.<br />
Also, we were able to work a lot with our members this last week. We got fed a ton but the meetings we had with our members were some of the best member meetings that I've ever had. The district presidency here is pushing for the members here to spend more time in Preach My Gospel and so in these meetings we taught them from different chapters from Preach My Gospel. I'm not sure if any of you have a copy of Preach My Gospel, but if you don't I hope that you can get one. I love Preach My Gospel and it has given me some amazing direction in my life. I'll let you know how the meetings go with members these next few weeks as we focus more on that. This last week was really great overall. People are slowly starting to snap back to reality here, just like most of you have been haha. I never would have imagined that an entire country would pretty much shut down for a week. It was so crazy. Sometimes we walked outside and it was like a ghost town. The Lord really blessed us with a great week and I am really thankful for that. Basically what they do here is they just fill the tables in their house with food and just invite family and friends over and have a good time. They didn't do anything special for Christmas, which was actually really sad. You couldn't tell any difference between their Christmas day and any of the other days of the week. I'm not sure why they celebrate on January 6th to be totally honest. They had some crazy decorations all around the city though. They set up some huge trees and decorated them and then some people put up Christmas lights. It was definitely very very different from how we celebrate at home. I'm just really happy that I get to be here for this next year cause it really was an exciting time. Generally, most Armenians are kind of down in the dumps but, at least for this week, everyone was really happy. So, if any of you are feeling down in the dumps, just try taking an entire week off and eating as much food as possible... The more I think about it the more I realize that that is actually not a good idea at all haha. But the Armenians seem to love it! haha.<br />
I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying life. I wanted to share something that was said in church yesterday. One of the leaders said that we can be followers of Christ and not expect hardships or trials. But when those hardships and trials find us, we can at least rejoice in the knowledge of knowing that we are following Christ and are ready to grow and become more like Him. I know that this is true and I hope that you all can remember that if you ever feel overwhelmed or like you are having a hard time. I love you all and am thankful for all that you do for me. Have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-85334125095326757022012-01-14T09:07:00.000-08:002012-01-14T09:07:03.472-08:00January 3, 2012<span>Happy New Years everyone! How are you all doing this week? I'm sorry I</span><span> am emailing you all a day late. Things have been a little crazy here</span><span> the past couple days and there weren't any internet cafes open</span><br />
<span>yesterday. It's really crazy actually. Pretty much everything in the</span><span> country shuts down for the first week in January and they all just</span><span> throw big parties and have a good ole time. It made missionary work</span><span> this past week pretty interesting cause they were all preparing for</span><span> this week. Armenians save up ALL year just for this week and then they</span><span> just blow it in a matter of a few days. What they do is they make a</span><span> ton of food and buy a ton of food and then just set it out on a table</span><span> for the whole week and they just have family and friends come over</span><span> throughout the week and they eat and party. We got the first dose of</span><span> it yesterday actually. We went to a members house and they pretty much</span><span> forced food down our throats for about an hour haha. I've also run</span><span> into some of the most drunk people that I have ever seen in my life</span><span> these past two days haha. On the other hand so many more people are</span><span> willing to talk to us right now, cause at least for this one week</span><span> there aren't any problems here in Armenia haha. People are just coming</span><span> up to us and saying hi and telling us Happy New Year, which typically</span><span> is a very rare thing. So, there are definitely some upsides to the</span><span> holiday. It will be really interesting to see how the rest of the week</span><span> progresses though.</span><br />
<span> </span><br />
<span>As I said earlier, the work was a little slow this week. Everyone was</span><span> getting ready for New Years and said they didn't have time to meet.</span><span> But we have a pretty packed week for this week cause when we were</span><span> trying to get meetings last week they all told us we have to come next</span><span> week. Things were really crazy here. People were just going to the</span><span> grocery stores and making food, so it wasn't too productive of a week</span><span> on the streets either. I think this next week is going to be really</span><span> good though. It will be good to take advantage of everyone being in</span><span> such a good mood and hopefully we'll see some really great things flow</span><span> from that. I'm sure we'll eat some really interesting things this next</span><span> week as well. I've already eaten a beet salad... haha. I just wrapped</span><span> it in a ton of bread and shoved it down my throat. I'm sure there will</span><span> be worse to come. I realized that I have definitely grown a lot with</span><span> the foods that I eat these past few months cause I'm not sure I could</span><span> have finished that 10 months ago haha. Elder Seegmiller and I are</span><span> really trying to us the church video Joy to the World as a finding</span><span> tool on the street this next week, as well as with members. We both</span><span> feel that a lot of Armenians get caught up in the festivities of the</span><span> week and don't remember Christ as much, so we are definitely trying to</span><span> focus everything we do as we street contact on Christ. It is really</span><span> sad to see these people get so caught up in the food and alcohol and</span><span> the worldly things. They celebrate Christmas on January 6, and as far</span><span> as I can tell, it kind of melts away into the week because they've</span><span> been partying for the 6 days before. We'll see though. We've been</span><br />
<span>focusing all of our lessons with members on Christ as well which has</span><span> been a really great experience for me. I mean, we always teach and</span><span> testify of Christ but we've put an extra emphasis on Him this last</span><br />
<span>week and it has been really great to see the Spirit that has come into</span><span> our work. It has really shown me the importance of always keeping</span><span> everything we do centered on Christ. Because these people all believe</span><span> in Christ, I sometimes don't put as much emphasis as I should on the</span><span> Savior, but this last week has shown me the importance of that.</span><span> Everything in this gospel is made possible through Christ and He truly</span><span> is our perfect example. I was reading a little in John this last week,</span><span> and Christ is talking to the apostles and He tells them, "If ye love</span><span> me, keep my commandments." I was just thinking about how true that is.</span><span> We show Christ our love for Him by keeping His commandments. It is</span><span> that simple. The people here have great faith and believe in Christ,</span><span> but because they don't have the fullness of Christ's gospel, they</span><span> aren't keeping all of His commandments. That is why we teach the</span><span> gospel and invite them to be baptized, so that they can show their</span><span> love for Christ by keeping all of His commandments. I'm truly thankful</span><span> for the opportunity that I have to spread that gospel and to help</span><span> others to show their love for Christ. It truly is a blessing to be</span><span> able to do that and is a way that I can show my love for Him. This is</span><span> an amazing work and I am so grateful to be a part of it!</span><span> We had an opportunity this last week to bring a bit of the Christmas</span><span> spirit to some of our members. We chose a few families and members</span><span> from our branch that are really struggling right now and we decided to</span><span> help them the only way we knew how... by leaving bags of food on their</span><span> doorstep and knock and run haha. Elder Seegmiller and I, as well as</span><span> the two elders in the city next to ours, all got together and bought a</span><span> ton of food (in case you're wondering where some money went from my</span><span> account...haha). It was really fun to still help people the way that</span><span> our family and Elder Seegmiller's family has always helped others. It</span><span> was so much fun though. I have some funny videos to show you in the</span><span> future. But it felt really good to help some people who did have</span><span> anything to celebrate the New Years, let alone do the traditional</span><span> Armenian week long celebration. We weren't able to give a lot but the</span><span> spirit of Christmas really hit us and reminded us what it is all</span><span> about. I love this time of year and the opportunities that we have to</span><span> lift others. I am so gratefully for all of you and for always setting</span><span> such an amazing example for me and showing me what Christmas is all </span><span>about!</span><br />
<span>Well, I think that about does it for this week. I hope you are all</span><span> doing well and know that I love you. Stay healthy, be safe, and enjoy</span><span> the holidays! I hope you all have a great week!</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Love,</span><br />
<span></span><br />
<span>Elder Fairclough</span>Elder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949130855446122942.post-70928862171233488242012-01-14T08:57:00.001-08:002012-01-14T08:57:43.383-08:00December 26, 2011Hey everyone!<br />
<br />
We're a little short on time for emails this week but I still wanted<br />
to write an email and wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope you all<br />
know that I love you very much and am so thankful for each one of you.<br />
I want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and<br />
Redeemer. I know that He loves us all. It is because of that love that<br />
He fulfilled all that Heavenly Father sent Him to do. It is because of<br />
that love that we can be cleansed from sin and live with our Heavenly<br />
Father after this life. I am eternally grateful for Jesus Christ and<br />
all that He has done for me. I have felt of His love in my life and I<br />
am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to share this gospel,<br />
so that others can feel that same love in their lives as well. This<br />
Christmas time brings a great spirit into the world and I hope that<br />
each of you have felt that this December. I testify that Jesus Christ<br />
lives and that He loves us all. I hope you all have a great Christmas<br />
and know of my love for each of you!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
Elder FaircloughElder Faircloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10594645277715030914noreply@blogger.com0