Miracles Everyday

Dear wonderful family and friends,

Im happy to report this week has been a great start to a new year. Nearly every day has had miracles which have strengthened my foundation of faith :)

One of  those miracles occurred at the end of our proselyting on friday when we came across a small semi truck stuck in the sand. Its fairly common for one of these "aqua-life" trucks to stop somewhere they shouldnt and then sink down to their bearings in sand. My companion and i took the opportunity to lend a hand of service as well as a bit of brain power and help un-stuck the truck. It was funny because our very first suggestion was that all 10 of the men standing around come help us simply PUSH the truck out, and abandon their efforts to try and dig, put rocks underneath the wheels and whatnot. they had been at this for nearly 3 hours, and their efforts were not exactly too effective if i may say so myself. anyways, i was a bit unsure that we could push out a semi, but it was worth a shot.

After 30 minutes of pushing, shoving, digging, reversing and creative tactics, the truck came free. It was a miracle! Then we took a moment to share with the large crowd that had gathered that when each of us simply "lifts where we stand", we can perform miracles. The community loved that we had taken time to help, even if we were in white shirts and ties and got completely dirty. We have been focusing on serving this companionship by drawing water for people every where we go, sweeping, helping wash and simply doing anything we can see that needs doing! people love to talk around here, and we're getting pretty famous for our service. I hope it results in us finding more people to teach in the coming weeks!

also, we are getting pretty famous simply as missionaries in new kru town. first, because elder elliot served here 6 months ago and was appropriately named "biggies" because hes a huge african american footballer. then elder pearmain, known to the locals as "butter-pear" (the african name for avocado). Now, elder Conners is here and he wears a hard rimed cowboy hat so the locals call us "white men cowboys"! haha today, we're going to search for a cowboy hat for me so i can match him. yeah, we're pretty cool in new kru town.

P. baptism was wonderful this saturday. We told him to be there by 8:00 AM (not telling him that it starts at 10:00 simply because they always show up an hour or so late...) and he actually came at 7:00 AM! im always so impressed when africans are early to appointments. it shows their committment and concern. anyways, when elder conners and i arrived, the pump to the font was broken and therefore, no water to baptize with! problemo! haha. and the wheelabarrow which we use to haul the large drum of water we can fill with the well outside was broken so we were in a bind. A dude was "on his way" to come fix the pump, but in LIB that probably means an hour or 2. or never. So elder conners and i went out to see what we could do to fix the pump and with our two brains and maybe a bit of spiritual insights, we fixed it! and within an hour the baptism was in progress. It was a miracle. And the greatest part of it all was that i didnt get stressed or frustrated with all the problems that occurred. for instance, the TV to play a film on Christ broke so the investigators had nothing to do for the hour or so that they had to wait. usually, this would have caused me to shake my head at LIB and sigh for something always has to go wrong. this time, rather, it didnt bother me and we just started sharing our testimonies! it was great. I felt the spirit so strongly that day, and felt so grateful for the privilege i had to immerse my good friend P. into the water and then bring him up out of the water, cleansed from sin and on the pathway to heaven.

I also had a bad case of food poisoning Sunday. During the second hour of sacrament meeting, i couldn't take it anymore and asked my companion to give me a blessing. He offered me a blessing of healing which i immediately felt much stronger, although the pain was still present. I sat in the back of the class as my bowels were filled with immense pain, my entire body was aching from every joint, bone and limb. I dont think i have ever felt so much discomfort and pain from any sickness i have ever had. I literally just wanted to just pass out. I stumbled back to the bathroom, one of the most disgusting, filthy, humble bathrooms on the face of the earth, and went to relieve myself from both ends. it was in this humble moment that i gained a deeper appreciation for the healing power of the atonement. This physical pain that i was experiencing helped me see the spiritual pain that so many people on this earth are going through, and that the desire for relief is so strong. At that moment, all i wanted was for the pain to be taken away. I cried out to my Father in Heaven that if it be His will, i would continue to endure, but i pleaded that it may be taken from me.

The gospel truths that i offer not only bring happiness to peoples lives, it is not only truth, it not only brings people into the fold of God, but it helps cleans and heals them from the immense spiritual pains that all of us go through in our mortal life. It reminded me of the people that i will come in contact with that only want relief from the massive burden of sin that they may be carrying. Think of it- an adult of 40 year, all the sin and burden that they carry! I am grateful for this physical experience which i had to remind me that all of us seek relief from pain, and that the spiritual pain we want relief from only comes from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can only receive a remission of sins through Him.

My body has been on the uphill ever since that moment in the grossest bathroom on the face of the planet (maybe exaggerating a bit... haha) and i am so grateful for the blessing of healing that was pronounced upon me. The power of the Priesthood is real, i am a witness of it.

I was also reminded of the truth that when we are on the Lord's errand, He will not let us fail! i have tried to apply this to all aspects of my life, and it has brought an immense amount of satisfaction and direction to my life. As a full time missionary, its such a wonderful blessing to be in the service of the Lord 24/7. so all i do requires His direction. It has been a great blessing to see miracles result from following that direction. To all that have a task places before them that need direction and help, first seek the Lord through prayer and scripture study! It has worked for me, i promise it will work for you.

The time for the Lord to hasten His work is NOW. i am a witness of this! and all of us need to remember that the Lord will assist us in our efforts to serve Him in His work. We are His children, He loves us, He will not leave us alone! Trust and expect Him to inspire us with names and faces to share the gospel with. Trust that we will be guided in what we do and say in our efforts to serve Him.

Sorry for the preachy email today, but i hope we each start out this new year by relying on the Lord in all that we do :)

lots of love from Africa,

Elder fairwell

ps wow, im famous! thats awesome that im on the front page of lds.org! shoot! haha