Peachy!

Friends and family!!

So first off I would like mention happy birthday mom! You are the best mom ever! I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you in my life! Well this week has been pretty good! On Monday we went and played football and ultimate frisbee with our zone and it was awesome! 

On Tuesday and Wednesday we helped the library again! We basically just directed people where they needed to go because the whole place is like under construction and a mess!

Thursday we just OYM and we also had a lesson and dinner with our investigator Jr.! He isn't married to his spouse so we have to wait for that to happen! These Samoans just don't like to get married! 

On Friday we had zone conference pretty much all day at is was awesome! We talked about a reservoir of living water talk by elder Bednar and just lots of things about our mission and what we all need to work on! We talked about comp unity and our present pulled our 2 2x4's and talked about how 1 can support 577 pounds but when you put 2 together they can hold 4610 pounds! So the new saying in the mission is "Be 4610!"  They really are the best because you walk out just so motivated and ready to like karate chop some cinder blocks haha! 

So I have some pretty crazy statistics about the church for ya! The church has the second biggest fleet of cars in the world!.... First is the US military! And they have about $500,000,000 in cars! The Alaska Anchorage Mission has about $2,700,000 in cars! We learned these all from our mission vehicle coordinator who had a training about our cars! It's makes you realize how big the church is!

On Saturday we went to Cheney pond and just walked around and talked with people that were fishing! Elder Judd loves to fish and knows lots so it kinda gets our foot in the door so this next week we get to go visit some of the people! Kind of a cool thing! They stock this pond so no joke everyone just rips fish out of it every 5 seconds! So there's like 20 people huddled around this little cove type deal! I have some pictures I'll send! That night we had a ward dinner and auction and movie night fundraiser for the young women's camp! Dinner was good! It was also pretty awesome too because a lot of the things people bought they just gave to us! So we got a bunch of pies and food and even some gift cards including a $50 card to Costco so it was cool! We didnt stay for the movie though haha!

We have a new investigator! Her name is Margaret and she just moves up here with her 2 daughters from Samoa! She was taking the lessons and we contacted her yesterday! So we will start teaching and getting to know her this week! Kinda awesome!

I learned why there are so many Samoans up here! It's because there is a military base up here and a lot of the Samoans are in the military and when some of the family moves.... ALL of the family moves! So yea that's why!

Well I love it up here! Everything is going good! Thanks for all you do for me!

Alofa atu!

Love, Elder Fawson

                   Ty holding a fish! 

         Doing service at the library!

                          His Zone!

      He opened his hymn book he has had since he was 8 and saw this cute souvenir from Blake when he was 4!

Friends and family!!

Well this week has been interesting to say the very least! Haha elder Judd and I have had like a cold/ flu bug type deal like all week so that wasn't too fun! 

On Monday we had a big zone park day and played games at the park and it was way fun! There were 3 sprained ankles and 1 torn hamstring and then I'm wasilla there was 4 sprained ankles! Sister Taylor (mission nurse) said that every year this happens when the sun starts to come out and it starts to get warm that injuries just flood in so we are praying we are all safe now! Haha our dinner that night was awesome and remember when I said that people here are so surprised and love that a white kid like me could speak Samoan? Well they kept like taking videos of me in Samoan and kept asking me to say different things! It was hilarious!

Tuesday we did lots of OYM (open your mouth) at parks by us because so many people are our and about when the weather starts to become super nice! That night we went to the Ah Sam family for kinda of a family home evening thing and they invited their daughter and son in law that are less active and we have been working with them for a little while to get them back to church! It was really awesome and they asked lots of questions so basically it went from us sharing ether 12:27 to us talking about how the father son and Holy Ghost are separate beings and why we pray in the name of Jesus Christ! So it was totally directed by the spirit which was kinda awesome!

On Wednesday and Thursday we were quarantined to our apartment by sister Taylor so we could get better! Haha 

Friday we had a lesson with Futi and we are waiting for her to get marry her boyfriend that she lives with! Samoans just don't like to get married haha! But she's in her 30s and says she knows it's true so we are just like them get married so you can be baptized!!!!!! It's been a fight! Haha

Saturday we did a service for this estate sale that we just told people to not park in certain places so it was pretty easy! The guy that owned this house owned a thrift shop in town so you can only even imagine the weird stuff in this house! I think I saw some of the weirdest things of my life here! Haha I don't even know how to explain it! 

Our favorite place ever here is Costco! We had it seriously like everyday this week whether we went and had lunch there or the family had Costco food for us for dinner! It was crazy! That place is seriously like as close to the celestial kingdom as you can get on earth haha!

Well that's been about it this week! I love you guys! Thanks for all you do for me!

Love, Elder Fawson

Week of service!

Friends and family!!

Well this week was pretty good! We did a lot of service!! It's crazy how fast these weeks are going! I bet Eric's baptism was awesome! I saw some pictures and it looked like it was such a cool day for Eric! Love ya Eric! I feel like I just said Eric some much haha!

On Wednesday we went to the anchorage storehouse and helped pretty much all day there! We bagged potatoes and put tons of cans on shelves! So fun!

On Thursday we went and did service for the anchorage library because the whole building is under construction so they shut down the normal elevators to move them so they had to use the service elevators but you have to have a key to use them so elder Judd and I's job was to both sit in the elevator for 5 hours and push the button to each level so the elevator could keep running without the key! We were in the elevator for 5 hours! You can only imagine how crazy we went haha! There are all sorts of people that visit the library haha!

Friday we had zone meeting which was really awesome! We had 2 lessons with investigators too! One with Kayla and and one with tupe! Kayla is having a baby and is due like may 20th so we have to wait for that but then after she's done with all that she will be baptized! Kinda awesome! Tupe just married Opapo who is member and she is just very questionative! But she said she's 90% sure it's the true church so that's where we are with her!

On Saturday we helped move 2 families! It was awesome! It's kinda nice to get out of the white shirt and tie for a little bit! We almost died on Saturday night! Just kidding but something crazy happened! We were driving home from our dinner on old Seward which has two lanes on each side of the road and we were in the right and this Silverado was in the left and hit the center divide and flew up into the air and into our lane and we slammed on our brakes and almost hit the curb! We are all fine though! No need to worry mom! We pulled over to see if she needed any help and she didn't but she said saw us and thought to herself that we were probably up to something good because she saw our white shirts and name tags and then drifted into the divide and popped both of her tires and ruined both the rims also! We felt so bad! But luckily we were all safe! Tender mercy of the lord! 

Overall this week was full of service and I love it! It's nice to get into normal clothes and help people! And mosiah 2:17 doesn't lie! Thank you for all the emails and for everything you guys do for me!

Love, Elder Fawson

Happy General Conference!

Friends and family!!

Well this week was pretty awesome! General Conference was pretty dang awesome too! Oh and happy birthday Brody!!!! You're getting old! Last Monday P-day was so fun! We did some shopping then went and played sports at a church with a bunch of other missionaries and it was awesome! I have some pictures and videos to send!

We had to go to the mission office tons this week so I feel like our whole week we were there haha! But on Tuesday night we went and gave our Brother Brown a blessing because he was getting open heart surgery the next day! We had dinner before that visit and we got there and did the blessing then they gave us pizza, cool ranch Doritos, and Mountain Dew! Haha it was just dandy! The Samoans here seriously just like light up when we tell them I served in Samoa and when I speak Samoan to them! It's weird because I feel like I know more right now then I did when I was in Samoa! Crazy! It's so cool too because they like love us now and when we leave they give us soooo much food and stuff! Haha hopefully I gain weight from it all!! Haha 

A tender mercy we had this week was on Friday we were visiting with a family and they had their granddaughter over and she was super funny. We were just about to start our spiritual thought and their son and daughter in law walked in to pick up their daughter and they haven't ever really been to church. They were super cool and we talked with them for a while and invited him to come play basketball with us on Saturday mornings and invited them to come to the church to watch General conference at the church or on TV and they came to the church to watch it!! It was the right place at the right time! It was one of those moments where you just have to thank to lord for it! We are meeting with them this week again so hopefully they start coming to church haha!

General Conference was pretty dang awesome too! We watched it at one of the chapels here with basically our zone. I feel like the whole conference they talked about temples and families! It was good to see President Monson speak again! One of the talks I loved was Elder D Todd Christofferson's about fathers! And man I love you dad! You have been such an awesome example to me. Especially with dealing with life's trials and keep pressing forward with a good attitude! I am so excited for the opportunity to one day be a father! I'm so grateful I have been blessed with an awesome father and a pretty amazing mother and family too! I love you guys! 

It's pretty awesome they they are building 4 new temples also! They seemed to talk about temples  and the importance and blessings of the temple! It really is one of the coolest and most spiritual moments ever to go through the temple! Kassidee and Josh will know what it's like pretty soon! Brace yourself! Haha 

Well that's kinda been my week! Have a good baptism Eric! It's going to be awesome! Send me some pictures! Love you guys! 

Love, Elder Fawson

Happy Easter!!!

Friends and family!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!! Such an awesome time of year! It's been so cool to be a missionary at this time and ponder everything Jesus Christ has done for us! Our dinner cancelled on Easter so we just made sandwiches but it was still awesome!! 

And my uncle Eric is being baptized! That's so awesome! I wish I could be there for it but hey it's all good! It's going to be the best decision you'll have ever made! I love you guys! 

Well this week was awesome!! I love the Samoan ward! It's kinda awesome because when I tell them that I served in Samoa for a little bit they just light up! And they love that I can speak the language too! It surprises the heck out of them!! I love it! So one super cool thing is we were talking to our bishop and he grew up in Alafua and that was basically right in the center of my area in Samoa! He was explaining where he lived  and I had dinner with his two of his nephews so it's kinda awesome! Again..... It's a small world!!

So my companion is Elder Judd from Arizona and he is the man! I could have seen us being super good friends back home! It's always nice when you get a companion and you're like best friends! He's teaching me how to play the ukulele so soon I'll be able to play some good stuff!:) and he loves subway too!!!!

Our area is huge! We cover northern anchorage and eagle river and into wasilla so it's pretty big!! Remember when I was back home and I said I wanted to go to Compton? Well we cover mountain view which is basically the Compton of Alaska! It's awesome!

Our week has been filled with talking to less actives! Our bishop gave us a list with all the less actives so we have just been calling and visiting trying to get people back to church! And they came!!!! We had soooo many people at church on Sunday! Hopefully they all keep coming haha!

Haha so one thing I love is our first counselor! His name is brother brown and he's hilarious!!! He always calls us gay and not to fufu and he calls everyone n*ggers and he's this old crazy guy!!! 

On Saturday night elder Judd and I had take some stuff to the mission home and then ended up having dinner with president and sister Robinson so that was cool! 

Well that's all I can really think of this week! It's so cool to be back in the Samoan culture again because the people are just too awesome! I love speaking and learning the language again too! I haven't really had any Samoan food yet but probably this week! Well hopefully! Happy Easter again! I love and miss you guys! You're in all my prayers!

Love, Elder Fawson

I got transferred to the Samoan ward!!

Friends and family!!!

Well to start off thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! I got lots of emails on Wednesday and it was pretty awesome! We had dinner with a family and somehow they found out it was my birthday (I think I mentioned in my sacrament talk) and they made me a cake and sang to me! It was kinda awesome! 

Oh and transfer calls were on Friday and IM BEING TRANSFERED TO A SAMOAN WARD! It's the northern lights ward and it's I'm northern anchorage but we basically cover all of anchorage if they speak Samoan! Crazy! So on Wednesday morning I go there! I'm so excited! 

Well this week was pretty awesome! On Monday we had a super busy day and ran all over anchorage doing errends and getting some stuff! 

On Tuesday we had district meeting and after our zone was together and we guessed where everyone was going and what was going to happen! Haha it was so fun! The YSA missionaries and us did lots of Tracting in our area this week because we don't have any investigators at the moment! But anyway after that we Did some service for an older lady! We just gathered a bunch of garbage around her house and took it to the dumps! We do lots of service for people. I love it! It was also free ice cream cone day at Dairy Queen so went there 3 times! It was awesome!!!!

On Wednesday well it was my birthday!:) we did some Tracting in the morning after studies until lunch! We met the cook inlet elders and went to IHOP for lunch because we got gift cards! Haha so that's so funny! After that our zone went and helped that one guy that we helped move take some trash to the dumps and stuff! It was fun! We had dinner with the Sego family and they made a cake and stuff! It was super cool! I. Don't know what it was about it but I was just in such a good mood and wanted to just work!!

On Thursday we did a lot of Tracting! Like ALL DAY!!!!! And the weirdest things happen! It's the funniest thing ever because sometimes you just have to laugh instead of becoming discouraged! Your fear of man definitely goes away that's for sure! One of the doors this native guy opened the door and start like singing and acting out bible scriptures and it was hilarious! He had like 300 note cards in his pocket he pulled out and started like saying random ones and we were just dieing on this guys front porch!!

Friday was an interesting day because we had transfer calls that night so you're mind is just going 110 MPH and it like the feeling of Christmas Eve! So like I said before I'm going to a Samoan ward and I will be with elder Judd and he is awesome! I met him a little bit at our Iditarod service! im excited!

Saturday we went to the baptism of this girl makayla that Klatt ward Elders had! It was really awesome! There was a million people there so we didn't stay very long so that all the other people could be there and sit and everything! After we went to Costco for lunch with a companionship in our zone! Nothing like paying a $1.50 for a drink and polish dog! It's the best! And then after we basically just Tracted with the cook inlet YSA elders! And on Saturday nights our zone gets together and does zone caroling to investigators or less actives and such! And man is it fun! Haha it's a blast! 

Well that was kinda my week! Not a whole lot of lessons because we are just looking for people to teach! We shared the new Easter initiative video called #hallelujah with tons of people and everyone actually really likes it! It's awesome how just a 2 minute video can bring the spirit sooooo quick! It's really kinda awesome! 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! They were awesome and made my day! Love you guys! 

1 Nephi 9:6

Love, Elder Fawson

Joke of the week: What did the Mexican fire chief name is two sons?

                                Hose a and hose b

Friends and family!!

Holy crap this week went by quick! This week was awesome! So last P-Day we went on this hike up flat top mountain in the snow and man was it awesome! With it being snowy we slid down the side of it to get back down and that was probably the sketchiest and craziest thing I've ever done! haha I'll try to get a video of it the next time we go! 

On Tuesday we did exchanges with our zone leaders after district meeting and I went with elder Garver to his area! He's the funniest guy ever and from Provo! So we did lots of door knocking and well you never know what you are going to get when you knock on the door of a random house! One of the houses we knocked and this lady said to come in so we just cracked the door open and this lady was just distraught and sobbing. We asked her what was going on and if she needed any help and she was telling us that she has to murder her best friend and we were like Ohhhh no no no! Come to find out she was talking about her cat that was appearently dieing of liver failure! She kept asking us if God was going to forgive her and she kept saying she was going to go to heck and stuff like that so we kinda just gave her a card with our number on and got the heck out! We think she was on drugs because her house smelt kinda funky too!

On Wednesday we finished our exchange and it was awesome to be with elder Garver. Goes home in like a month in a half so he taught me lots of tricks of the trade! Haha we then went to help some other missionaries in our zone move a guy! We pretty much helped him all day so that was fun to do some service! 

On Thursday we did lots of tracting in our area and got lots of doors to the face! It was just awesome! I'm not sure why but I love it! Haha and then towards the end of the day elder Bailey began to spend much time in the bathroom with good ole diarrhea! Haha he had a fever and no energy and the nurse came and look at him and said he had this flu type bug going around and told us we had to stay in the rest of the night and the day after so we basically just sat around the apartment all Friday! Good thing for ipads! I just watched a bunch of gospel videos while elder Bailey slept! It wasn't too much fun!

Saturday was pretty dang awesome! We did a distract tract in a little town called Girdwood and it is so cool there! The drive from anchorage to Girdwood is actually one of the top 5 most beautiful drives in the US! It was awesome! We got dropped of in a van to a road and basically knocked doors and talked to people! There were some guys we talked to that were doing stuff out front and they talked to us and then there were people that told us to get off their property so it was kinda crazy! Haha all you can do is just laugh! We did that for a little bit them went back to our areas and we did some tracting after! We actually some pretty awesome people! There was this one guy that hunts in Utah all the time and showed us all of his animals that he shot and invited us to come back! So that's way cool and then we met another guy that seemed really interested and was going somewhere and told us to come back! So we have some things rolling! 

Sunday we got the just stupendous opportunity to speak in sacrament... And it was actually really good. I didn't feel nervous at all! I had explained our I'm related to Dottie and all the old lady's came up to me after and telling me how much they loved her and taking pictures of me to send to her so it was kinda funny! I met a sister bluemail and she grew up in Roosevelt Utah and she told me she knows my grandma and they grew up together! Small world!! It's crazy!  I felt like today I got comfortable in the ward! We have transfer calls coming up this week on Thursday so we will see what happens! 

This week was pretty dang awesome! Just know it's all true! I love you all sooo much and I think it so awesome that josh and kass got their mission calls! We are all right by eachother! Crazy!!

Love, Elder Fawson