Week 54

Friends and family!

Well this week was awesome! We are seeing miracles here in Kodiak!!

Lots of tracting! We are in finding mode right now but this week we had a lot of really good things come from tracting! We have refined our tracting approaches so much and I guess you could say we are pretty good now! Haha our goal is to start teaching right away and to not give them any time to say no and it usually works out really good! We have a couple of new investigators from it that we are really excited for! Earlier in the week we were tracting in some awesome rain and wind so we were soaked! It was fun and we hoped that people would feel bad for us and let us in but that didn't really work out as we thought it would! Haha 

This week we helped Manuel a lot with his Trailer he is trying to move from the trailer park (back story: so there is a place called the Jackson trailer park and it has this really awesome view of the ocean so they are selling the land so they can put estates there so they told everyone hey have to leave so we have been helping people with that). We helped jack up his trailer this week so that was pretty cool! Learned something new! So his trailer is ready to go now! Manuel speaks Spanish and so good thing we have elder bacon! He's not really interested in religion but we are still helping him and asking questions and teaching him when we can!

So a week ago or so we were tracting in a apartment complex and we got in the truck but a really strong impression to just do this group of doors by the truck. We got out and the first door we knocked this lady answered and said you found me! Haha we were like uhhhhh yeaaaa!! She is a really less active member and hasn't been to church in 30 years. She said earlier that day she had seen us driving and waved and we had waved to here and she said she had been thinking about the church all that day. She said it was a sign that maybe heavenly father wants her back at church! So this week we got to go see her with our Ward mission leader (he went to byu in Hawaii) and Shannon is from Hawaii so they hit it off pretty well! The Ward is already assigned people to go over and see her and she is raising her grandson who is now 10 and she said she wants him to learn about the church and be baptized! So we will be soon teaching both of them! Which is awesome!

Saturday we did a service with our Ward and it was to unburry this bunker at the fort Abercrombie here! It was really cool and then after the park took us on a tour of the museum. It is really cool the history from there! So history moment for all you... Alaska actually was really big in world war 2 because if your were to fly from Japan to essentially Washington you would fly over Kodiak/illusion chain/kenai peninsula and so there's lots of watch places here where they basically had forts and would make sure none of Japan or russia was flying over! Pretty cool!

This week was fun, wet, and full of the gospel! I'm thankful for this opportunity to be in Kodiak and I love it! And most of all I love the people! Thanks for  everything you guys do for me! Love you all!

D&C 6:36

Oh and I forgot to mention we had dinner with a Filipino family this week and they gave us balut! Weirdest thing I have ever eaten!! Haha there's a picture of the bird!

Love, Elder Fawson

Week 53

Friends and family!

Well this week was a crazy week! I feel like it was so action packed! I can't believe I've been out longer than a year now! Weird!

On Monday we hiked a hike called termination point! It was super cool and I have tons of pictures to send! 

Tuesday we got to do some service for this family that is investigating the church and their name is young and robin Keily! They are super cool and he is a teacher over at the high school. They are renovating their house and so we went over and helped them paint their kitchen! It was actually really fun! Young (the husband) is huge into basketball and played college basketball so we get along really well and he always gives me exercises I can do to dunk! He can throw down Haha but we got to help them and have dinner with them and share a lesson and it was really good! The wife is really active in her church so we are still just helping them understand the gospel. And funny thing is I think we are going to be doing their baseboard soon! (Thanks dad for all the practice I got to do with you!)

Wednesday we flew to anchorage and had zone conference and it was awesome! We did it with 3 different zones! The soldotna zone and north and south and anchorage zones. We talked about president uchtdorfs talk that he talked about lift where you stand. It was really good! We talked about repentance and how that's what we teach people but we also do it ourselves! We talked about the morning schedule and the importance of loving those we teach and serve! It was really awesome and we learned so much! We stayed with the Spanish elders in anchorage that night then flew home Thursday morning.

Thursday we got to do a couple of hours of service for Manuel our Spanish investigator. It was really good and we got to have dinner and a lesson with him after. We don't think he is too interested but he's doing good!

Friday we did lots and lots of the glorious task of tracting! Haha we Tracted pretty much all day which is something I hadn't done too much in the Samoan Ward! Haha but we found a few people who wanted us to come back! Then we decided to go down to the docks and tract there and it was pretty cool! We didn't have too much success but we got to see some of the huge fishing boats like the ones on deadliest catch! 

Saturday we tried to visit all the less and Inactives in our area and it was good! We got to visit some people and invite them to church! The Keily family invited us to this church activity they were having so we decided to go and it was actually a really cool finding opportunity! We met some people that were baptized in the Lds church but didn't go so we got their info and we are going to go visit them! Lol!

Sunday was well good! Last pday my dad asked if with having a small Ward here do we speak in sacrament a lot and elder bacon has never spoken here in his 5 months here but ironically enough on Tuesday we got asked to give a talk! We spoke on the family which was pretty fun and easy to talk about! I have never felt so involved in church before! Haha we blessed he sacrament then spoke in sacrament then taught in 2nd and 3rd hour! Haha so we had a very busy church! But it was really good! Sunday night we were tracting and walked up to this house and it was kind of in the woods so we were a little nervous but we walked up and a guy and his wife were there and they were a younger couple. We talked to them for a second then asked if we could share a message sometime and they said yea you can right now! So we were like oh okay! This never happens! Haha we didn't say that though! Lol! We talked to them outside and shared the restoration lesson and they took a Book of Mormon and were really interested so we are really excited to see how it goes! But it was such a cool experience!

This week I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time on my mission and I know that book is true and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ! If you haven't read it... You should! It will help you with anything!

Well that was kind of our week in a nutshell!! I hope you all had a great week and I love you all! Thanks for all you do!

Moroni 10:32

Love, Elder Fawson

Week 52!!! Kodiak!!

Friends and family!!!

Well hello out there from Kodiak island! So I'm not sure how last week was week 52 but I hit my 1 year mark on Friday September the 16th! So that's pretty cool! It definently has felt like a year out in the field! Well I am out here in Kodiak! I guess I'm just meant for the islands! Haha I flew in on Tuesday and I already love it!

Well one thing I've learned here is that we do tons and tons of service!! Haha we do about 20 hours a week of just service for people! And most of the time it's stacking wood! Haha I have some pictures but we have helped an investigator named Manuel stack wood and it has been... Fun! Haha but this up coming week we are helping some people paint their house and stacking some more wood! So it should be fun!

One super cool thing about Kodiak and the reason why I know the lord looks out for us is Kodiak doesn't get much snow at all! Everyone here says it's the best place to be for the winters! So that's pretty cool! I guess Heavenly Father knows I'm not much of a fan of the cold! People here say it's 30s 40s in the winter! Sweet I'll take it! One thing I found out when I got here is that there are Samoans here! Which is super cool and maybe it's one of the reasons I am here! But we are just searching for them too! Elder bacon is awesome! He hits his year mark sept 30th! He was called Spanish speaking and there are a lot of people that can only really speak Spanish here too! Kodiak is very diverse!

There's lots and lots of fishing here! That's what Kodiak is really known for is the fishing! There are tons of big fishing boats in the harbors! The other big job here is the coast guard station. The coast guard station here is the biggest in Alaska! It's the main one for the Bering sea and everything.

Wednesday morning we fly to anchorage for zone conference then fly back Thursday morning! It's kind of different to not be around other missionaries! The Ward is really awesome! And the chapel is even cooler! It's totally Alaskan! I'll send some pictures because it's so cool!

Our investigators are doing good! I am still meeting them! We have some only Spanish investigators so that's pretty cool! So you can say I get a little lost during the lessons. Those 2 years of Spanish didn't work! Haha it's a really diverse population here. And lots of people come here to work in the summer then go back but we are starting to get some good referrals and more work! 

Well that was my week in a nutshell! It's so awesome to be out here in Kodiak and I'm excited for this new adventure! It's crazy on Friday I'll have been out a year already! Time goes fast when your serving the lord!

Matthew 10:39

"After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel" ~Joseph Smith 

Love, Elder Fawson

Week 51!!! TRANSFERRED

Friends and family!!!!

This week was action packed!!!!

Well..... I'm being TRANSFERRED!!!! After 6 months of being in the northern lights Samoan Ward I'm leaving! I am going to KODIAK ISLAND!!! I'm so excited and pumped! It will be super awesome! I fly out tomorrow at 3:30! Just a really crazy fun fact for ya... Bears out number people so this will be fun! I will be serving with Elder Bacon who is a stud! Something funny is that I was talking to president Robinson last night and I am going to be learning some Spanish and Tagalog! Haha he said they have some investigators that only speak those languages so this is going to be awesome! Haha We will be the only missionaries to cover the whole island which is kinda crazy! It's one of those super cool areas that is the dream area so it made me feel cool to get called there! Haha! So if you have ever seen the movie "the guardian", it was based from Kodiak US Coast Gaurd station and I think the bush people do stuff there too lol! With being on the island we do a lot of skyping! Skyping in on district and zone meeting and then they fly us in for zone conference and interviews!

It's so weird to say bye to all the people here in this Ward! It was awesome to get the call to leave but I sat there for a second I feel like I'm leaving my home! I love the people of this Ward! One of the coolest things ever was the primary actually all wrote me little letters and gave them to me which was awesome! 

On p day we got to go golfing and that was so sweet! Haha we had a fun time! (Pictures below)

Wednesday we got to go to the temple! It was super awesome! It's really cool to be there because that is literally the goal of where we want everyone to be is in that sealing room! 

Friday we had zone meeting. It was such an awesome zone meeting and everyone started getting weirdly emotional in it! We have talked about pride and how there are soooo many different ways it affects each of us. So we each kind of self analyzed ourselves and stuff like that!

On Saturday we got to have our baptism for Ryan and Tifa Nonu and it was super awesome! Went really good! I got baptize and confirm Ryan! Such awesome dudes and I love them! (Pictures below)

Miracle for the week: so Krispy Kreme just opened up here and everyone is going crazy over it! It opened Monday and was packed! We went to get some on Thursday and it was over an hour wait so we were like oh well! We tried! That night we got home and our neighbor had left us some on our porch! Haha super awesome!

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" ~ David A Bednar

Love, Elder Fawson

Tyler said this is Brother Brown, he is from Compton and is a legit crip! He is the man!!