Dear Family and Friends!
Well let me first start by
apologizing for the lack of email last week. Im pretty disappointed about it
myself actually. my nice email explaining my week is lost somewhere in
cyberspace because of an internet outage something (i dont really know
actually). None the less, i hope this week i can make up for it!
Shoot, where to start. Well,
one of the highlights of my week was definitely email time last monday. From
seeing pictures of Ash and Clark to Dad's most entertaining email all made my
day! Hearing about Max's cat fights and the new family purchases of water
softeners and massage chairs definitely makes me laugh for some reason. It was
great. not sure if you mean to be dad, but sometimes youre just hilarious. :)
Ashley, I loved your thoughts
on gratitude. We have not gotten conference Liahona yet, but my companion's
family sent him one in a package so I was actually able to read that talk from
Elder Bednar this week! Wow, it was so powerful and will really help me as i
teach tithing now. I love the quote you shared, "A subtle but significant
blessing we receive is the spiritual gift of gratitude that enables our
appreciation for what we have to constrain desires for what we want. A grateful
person is rich in contentment. An person suffers in the poverty of
endless discontentment."
It is interesting to me that
even the poorest of people are given this blessing of contentment. Many people
here ARE rich in contentment! Yet, many arent. And even though they dont have
much, you can see that the Lord expects all of us, rich and poor, to have
gratitude for our blessings and the things we DO have.
This week I have been pondering
on the universal laws that govern this universe. Things such as gratitude
results in happiness. Sacrifice brings forth blessings. Exact obedience results
in miracles, etc etc... I had an opportunity this week to teach a lesson on the
Sabbath day that i hope i will remember for the rest of my life. It was one of
those moments where your testimony is strengthened so much and you feel that
bedrock of faith being strengthened.
The member we were talking to
expressed to us that she may not be at church this coming sunday because she
has to sell her small market (by small market, it is just small foods and
odds and ends, picture the check out stands at walmart). She told us that she
needed this small money to pay for small dry rice to feed her young children
because her man wasnt giving them food money. We decided to sit down and
discuss the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. I want you to picture
yourself staring into the humble eyes of a woman, trying to provide rice to eat
for herself and her children, and asking her to not sell on Sunday knowing that
if she does so, all indicators say that she will likely not have money to buy
food that day. But as you do this, you put all the faith you can possibly muster
into those words and promise her that God will provide. It is not an easy
thing, i can testify.
It is so simple! it is a
commandment, and no matter what, we are to keep it. But for you and i, keeping
the sabbath day holy usually does not mean going hungry. When i came on a
mission, i was prepared to ask people to sacrifice the boating day, their
football games and their superbowl sunday. I pictured myself asking people not
to work on sunday, and to sacrifice their luxuries and entertainment to honor the
Lord. But it is a whole different ball game asking people to put ALL their
faith in God to provide the simple necessity of FOOD while they sacrifice to
keep the sabbath day holy. But the beauty of it all is that im NOT asking them
to go hungry! im asking them to trust in the Lord the He will provide for them
so that they will NOT go hungry!
I have such a powerful
testimony that when we keep the Lord's commandments, He will provide for us. He
knows our needs and will not let us down. I hope and pray that the next time i
am tempted to make an exception to break the sabbath day, i will remember this
woman who sacrifices' so much to keep it. And i hope that you will too. It is
such a blessing to be here in Liberia where i can learn that no matter who you are,
in what circumstances you are in, the Lord expects us to keep those simple laws
of the universe. Obedience brings blessings, every single time, no matter what.
Well, its Christmas time! but
you wouldnt be able to tell round here! haha its so stinkin hot all the time,
no christmas decorations and well, it just doesnt feel like christmas. so for
all of you wondering if im homesick- NOPE! haha yeah, yeah i do miss the
holiday season, but for me its just a bit more of time to celebrate the birth
of our Savior. The commercialization of Christmas isnt here! what a blessing!
Im enjoying the holiday season by celebrating with a fresh coconut each day :)
Ill try to condense last weeks
info about how we get water: We have a 500 gallon water tank in the attic of
our apartment that is filled by our good pal Kamarah. No idea where the water
comes from, but its fairly clear and smells fine! but we put a splash of
antiseptic in it before we bath for that bit of water that enters your mouth and
open wounds etc... we also run it through a three stage water filter for
drinkinng and cooking. Anything else we do, such as washing clothes or mopping,
we just use the water strait from the tap. It trickles out from the small water
pressure created in the tank.
Now, when the tank has water
its great. but when we run out of water its a bit rough. Kamarah sometimes
comes the day we run out, and sometimes he comes one week later. so, to resolve
this problem, we have a ten foot well, ill take a picture of it someday, that
we draw water from. This water is a bit browner, smellier, and we dont use it
to cook or drink. haha and when we bath, lets just say those of us that are
brave enough TO bath with it, put a few EXTRA splashes of antiseptic in it.
haha and we steel filtered water from the apartment across the hall for our
cooking and use our trusty filter bottles for drinking. YEP, thats water for
ya! :)
We are one of the apartments in
the mission blessed with Electricity, not generator. although the Liberian
power grid stinks, to be frank, and this week its been on and off quite
frequently. No need to fear though! almost every night this week we have
studied throughout the evening by candlelight! woot! haha its been quite fun
when you do it with the right attitude :)
well, so much more i wish to
write about but that stinking time limit is hindering me. haha. All is well
here in New Kru Town. Elder Fairwell is happy, healthy and loving the mission
life. I dont think there is a place i would rather be! Life is great :)
till next week,
Elder Fairwell
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