God lives and He answers our prayers!

Dearest Family and friends!

i am so excited to read my emails this week! I've got them printed off and for the sake of computer time, ill read them when im finished here. thank you all for taking the time to keep me updated and motivated :) I also got one terrific letter from madison this week and i just want to make a shout out to her and say thank you very much for the encouragement on a day when i really needed it!

Life this week has been good. i cant complain! its not always easy, not going to lie. but without any resistance, there is no growth! so i am grateful for the small challenges that come across my path that help me grow. this week i've been developing my humility, patience, and my personal prayers.

I finished the BOM this week and took some time to flip through my marked up copy and see all of the wonderful things i've marked and written in the margins. wow, that book seems to be able to answer so many of life's questions. the hardest part is choosing which scripture you want to share! hah there are so many! i particularly enjoyed Moroni's words today on charity, from Chapter 7. i'd invite all of you to go back and read that chapter, albeit long, and ask yourself how you can improve your love for all people. thats one thing im constantly doing here in this foreign land! haha. but it is a wonderful reminder for all of us.

We are focusing on finding and converting husbands and wives here in Liberia. We could probably baptize hundreds if we just searched for teenagers and children, which is great. but how much better would it be to bring families into the church?!

Families are the most important social unit in time and all eternity. They are vital to our eternal happiness! i am so ever grateful for my wonderful family, immediate and extended! ya'll are so incredibly supportive and loving! i could not ask for a better family. I have felt your love so strongly all the way over here in africa, and i just want to thank you all. your prayers DO NOT go unanswered! every heartfelt and sincere prayer is heard by our Heavenly Father who loves us most! i do know that to be true, as i have been on the receiving side of so many prayers, as well as the asking. God lives, and He answers our prayers.

In our quest for married couples, we often find many people who are not married yet are living together, often with multiple children. There is one woman who has been attending church every week since i've been to the area, and we cannot baptize her because she is not married to her 'husband'. Her husband does not want to marry her, and they are even considering separating if they find enough money to do so. Soooo, no progress has been made towards baptism for her. It breaks my heart to see such wonderful and sincere people desire to be baptized, and we simply have to tell her 'no' she has been in my prayers for some miracle to happen so that her husbands heart will be softened, or some other way so that she can be baptized. We believe in miracles in Liberia. i look forward to telling you about her story someday! pray for her! we can use all the faith we can get!

i hope all is well in your lives. i listened to elder Andersen's April 2013 talk this week and was inspired by his counsel for those seeking more missionary experiences. He counseled us to simply pray, and have faith that the Lord will inspire our minds with faces and names of people that we can share the gospel with . be it our words, or our actions! dont feel that being bold requires us to be pushy with the gospel, but it does require us to have the faith to open our mouths when the spirit prompts us to do so :) maybe carrying a pass along card with mormon.org will make our efforts easier. haha

life is good. i love my family so much :) i hope you are all doing well, and know that i miss you tons! haha its so great to have a wonderful family. take care of yourselves :)

love-

elder fairwell